Yonkers Pol Sandy Annabi Charged With Corruption in Ratner (Atlantic Yards) Project

By Ward Harkavy

Yonkers Democratic pol Sandy Annabi and two others were charged today with conspiracy, bribery, and extortion in connection with the startling reversal in 2006 of Annabi's opposition to a Forest City Ratner project in Westchester County.

Forest City Ratner, currently trying to ram Atlantic Yards down Brooklyn's throat, is unnamed and unindicted and unmentioned by specific name even in the U.S. Attorney's official statement.

But the case centers on its controversial Ridge Hill development. (Indictment here; "Developer No. 2" is Forest City Ratner.)

Annabi had led the opposition to the project, blasting Forest City Ratner as "probably richer than God" and "robbing the city blind." But in July 2006, with the project imperiled, Annabi, who was on the Yonkers City Council, suddenly dropped her opposition to it. The feds say she was bribed.

They're whooping it up over at Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, which points to Norman Oder's piece at Atlantic Yards Report detailing Forest City Ratner's alleged role: FCR supposedly gave one of the conspirators, GOP muckety-muck Zehy Jereis, a consulting contract after he supposedly got Annabi to change her mind about the Ridge Hill project.

All suspects are innocent until they're proven guilty or unless they somehow wriggle off the hook. Except for the New Jersey Nets, the condemned property owned by Bruce Ratner. The NBA team is currently 3-31, and not even eminent domain can save it.

In the Westchester case, the feds say Annabi sold her vote "for baubles and trinkets." That's standard practice for New Yorkers: In 1626, Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan from the natives for wampum worth about 60 guilders. Some say that was about $24, others $72. As Straight Doper Cecil Adams points out, "There are some who would contend that $72 or even $24 for Manhattan was not such a hot bargain. These people are mostly Republicans."

Denis Sheil, A Great Union Leader Retires? You Decide...

On Friday November 20, 2009 Page Six had this posting:

"WORD is...Denis Sheil had an unlucky Friday the 13th. Seems the federal government would like to ask the former "Unity Team" partner a few questions. Sheils however is not in the talking mood, he advised his lawyers that he would have to plead the fifth if questioned. Sources say district council lawyer Gary Rothman advised Sheil to use his sick time and retire. Dennis was spotted last Friday cleaning out his desk."

It has been well documented at the UBC Hearings, both Pete Thomassen (salary $268,827) and Denis Sheil, (salary $253,500) among other things, turned a blind eye to contractor corruption and failed to protect our financial interest, yet these two men remained in positions of power. Why?

With the retirement of Sheil (rumored to collect a yearly pension over $200,000) on December 31 2009, Pete Thomassen, who Page Six is reporting will be fired, is the last remaining member of the disgraced "Unity Team".

Reprinted below from The Carpenter, winter 2009

Scan

Spencers Supervision Update

Below is a letter from Frank Spencer regarding the supervision of the NYC District Council. It is reprinted from The Carpenter Magazine, winter 2009 issue.
Update

Page Six

We hear... THAT assistant supervisor Pete Thomassen will be fired this week. Sources say the feds have subpoenaed district council financial records for the last three years and are paying special attention to Thomassen’s credit card and travel expenses. Sources also say Supervisor Frank Spencer has hired Jack Mitchell and Dennis Walsh to assist him in the supervision over the district council, both men were hired years ago by federal judge Conboy...story developing.

Carpenters Lay Off 58 Organizers

By Katie Drews, for ChicagoUnionNews

Though unions are usually fighting against job cuts, one Chicago union recently issued layoff notices to its own employees.

Effective Jan. 1, the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters laid off 58 organizers -– the majority of its full-time organizing staff.

The positions were eliminated as a cost-saving move for the union at a time when there's not much work to organize, according to Frank Libby, president of the council, a union consortium based at 12 E. Erie St. in Chicago.

"We still have the organizing department running, but there's not a whole lot going on out there. The residential field has hit rock bottom," Libby said. "With the lack of income coming in and the lack of jobs out there, it's a double-edged sword."

The layoffs could save the union well over $1 million, based on 2008 salary figures filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. However, Libby said he could not immediately provide financial details.

The role of an organizer is to find nonunion work sites and persuade the contractors and carpenters to join the union. Some workers fear that nonunion construction could increase because of the layoffs.

"It will be on the rise," said Randy Drogos, one of the laid-off organizers. "There's organizing work to be done out there, but if there's no money to pay you, what can you do?"

Libby, however, does not believe the amount of nonunion work will increase, saying both union and nonunion work has "flatlined." He also said the remaining union staff of around 140 can pick up the slack from the cut positions, which covered northern Illinois, eastern Iowa and southeast Wisconsin.

As for the organizers, most of them are also carpenters and could look for work back in the field. That's the case for Drogos, who said he plans to find a job with a contractor.

"You don't have a choice when they tell you the money is not there," said Drogos, a 62-year-old Des Plaines resident. "You pick up your shoes and you go looking for work elsewhere."

Jawin Site Closed

Brothers and Sisters recently the popular Jawin message board has been shut down. There are those in the UBC that are actively seeking to silence those who speak out. These UBC leaders are upset that common citizens like you are exercising your right to free speech, and are using it to let the UBC know you had enough of their lies and are going to let their voice be heard.

It has been well documented at the UBC Hearings, both Pete Thomassen and Dennis Sheil, among other things, turned a blind eye to contractor corruption and failed to protect our financial interest. 

We are intentionally being kept in the dark by these UBC leaders. This is our union, these are our employees taking bribes and narcotics, hiding illegal weapons and drugs on our property, while Frank Spencer installs the person closest to the corruption, Pete Thomassen to a position of power.  

Local157.blogspot believes in the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions in the belief that as union members you have the right to hear, and to be heard. I urge you to get involved, stand up and speak out. Make phone calls, send the e-mails, use this forum.  Don't let the UBC silence you! The future of our union is at stake. Please keep it up!

Job Referral System

Referral System

Off The Wall

Winter 2010

Frank Spencers Conscience, His Brain Speaks...

The Health Care Fight Has Just Begun

The months long drama over the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care plan ended at 1 AM this morning when the Senate voted  60 - 40, on a strictly party line vote, to end debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) manager’s amendment; a mere 38-hours after it had been unveiled to the American public.

With Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) threatening to veto the bill if any significant changes are made by the House in conference, it is virtually guaranteed that this is the version of Obamacare that will be signed by the President before his State of the Union address in January.

Final passage of this health bill will be historic, but not in the way President Obama intended. Never before has such a large restructuring of the U.S. economy been passed on a straight party-line vote.

Never before has legislation so unpopular with the American people been passed on a straight party-line vote. Never before has the fate of one-sixth of our economy been so dependent on backroom deals and payoffs the full extent of which may not be known for years.

To defend this abomination of a bill yesterday on the Sunday shows, the White House did not send Health Reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle or Budget director Peter Orszag. Instead they sent White House sent political consultant David Axelrod to defend the bill on three of the five top Sunday shows. But there simply is no defending the policy substance of this bill:

Busts the Federal Budget: According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the amended Reid plan would reduce the federal budget deficit by $132 billion over the period 2010 to 2019, but that is a mirage. The CBO can only score what the Senate tells them they will do, not what everyone knows they actually will do. For example, the Senate bill cuts Medicare fees for doctors by 20% starting in 2011. Nobody believes these cuts will be allowed to happen. By changing just that provision, Obamacare ends up adding $196 billion to the deficit in the first 10 years and $765 billion in the second decade.

Busts State Budgets: According to The Fiscal Survey of States, 31 states cut higher education and 26 states cut K-12 education in 2009. This is because Medicaid and education are almost always any states two highest budget items, and states cannot touch the entitlement to Medicaid. Obamacare only increases state Medicaid obligations thus further bankrupting states. This is why Sen. Nelson demanded a permanent Medicaid bailout for Nebraska in exchange for his vote. Other states like Hawaii, Vermont, and Massachusetts also won key federal bailouts for their health programs. Who are the losers? All the other that are forced to pick up the $1 billion tab.

Increases Health Care Costs: Throughout the health care debate, President Obama promised reform that would “bend the cost curve down” on health care spending. But according to the President’s own the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) the Senate does exactly the opposite, actually driving health care costs up by adding $234 billion to national health expenditures.

Endangers Americans Quality of Care: President Obama used to promise that “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” But as the CBO confirmed this month 10 million Americans will be forced out of their current health insurance plan should Obamacare become law. Even worse, CMMS has reported that Obamacare’s $493 billion in Medicare cuts could force as many as one-in-five health care providers into insolvency thus forcing them out of the Medicare program.

Forces Americans to Pay for Abortions: Despite the inclusion of the Nelson amendment, when the federal government’s role over the financing and delivery of health care grows, as it does under this bill, a requirement to segregate premiums that cover abortion services would be merely cosmetic in practice.

$400 Billion in New Taxes: From taxes on employment to taxes on tanning beds, Obamacare is funded with over $400 billion in new taxes at a time of double digit unemployment, including $29 billion in taxes on 19 million Americans who still will not receive any health insurance.

A “Starter Home” for Government Run Health Care: While technically not a public option, this scheme will have the same results. By giving unprecedented power and authority to the Director of Office of Personal Management, the multi-state plans created in the bill will simply become the government plan. Single payer advocate Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) is even calling the bill a “starter home” for further reform.

This bill will only make every single problem with out health care system worse: higher spending, higher deficits, and worse care. Former-Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean said on Meet the Press yesterday, “[This bill] simply sets us on a track in this country which is expensive and where we’re going to have lots more political fights.” Dean is dead on. President Barack Obama’s signature on this health care bill settles nothing: it is only the beginning of a much larger health care fight.

Posted December 21st, 2009 at 9.55am in Health Care.

Bill Comparison

Labor vs. Labor

By Elizabeth Benjamin

It's hard to overstate just how angry members of the labor community - particularly the building trades - are over the death of the Kingsbridge Armory project and the loss 1,000 construction jobs it would have created.

That anger erupted at a Central Labor Council monthly meeting yesterday, sources said, when PSC's Barbara Bowen stood to congratulate RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum, who led the Kingsbridge opposition.

"As soon as she opened her mouth, the building trades and the teamsters went crazy," a labor source said. "They're absolutely furious. They had to stop the whole meeting."

Things got so heated that a special meeting is being called next month just to address this issue - and provide both sides with some time to cool off.

The trouble is, as my source put it: "People aren't going to move on."

Kingsbridge was the talk of the AFL-CIO's annual labor dinner at the Sheraton last night. I ran into Steve McInnis, the political director for the carpenter's union, who darkly told me: "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

He recalled the 2007 fight between the UFT and the carpenters over the teacher's union plan to use non-union labor on a Bronx housing project for educators.

The building trades threatened to demonstrate outside then-UFT President Randi Weingarten's birthday celebration, but ended up calling off their plans at the last minute after she caved and agreed to use union construction workers.

McInnis didn't offer any details on what sort of retaliatory tactics the building trades are planning, but it doesn't sound pretty.

Appelbaum is the chief target of most of this ire. There has been talk of the building trades pulling their historic support for preventing Wal-Mart from coming into the city - a key bread-and-butter issue for the RWDSU.

Adding fuel to the Kingsbridge fire is the fact that many in the labor community consider this fight a continuation of the mayor's race, in which the bulk of the trades backed Mayor Bloomberg while Appelbaum was an outspoken supporter of Comptroller Bill Thompson.

"He didn't win the mayor's race, so Kingsbridge is Miss Congeniality. But he won it at a huge price - he cost union jobs," my source complained. "We have always, as a group, been able to work out the best deal for everyone we could. This is the first time a single union threw everyone under the bus."

Appelbaum and his supporters have argued that Kingsbridge is a real victory because it changed the political landscape in the city and established a benchmark for so-called living wages in publicly-funded projects. They have pledged to make the fight citywide, and perhaps even statewide with IDA reform legislation as the vehicle.

Opponents insist the Council's Kingsbridge votes, which Mayor Bloomberg vetoed - as promised - yesterday, were actually a political anomaly born both out the still-fresh results of the mayor's race and the yet-to-be held speaker's vote, which curtailed Christine Quinn's power to corral the renegade Bronx delegation.

The Council now has 10 days to vote to override Bloomberg's vetoes. The mayor himself has said isn't holding out much hope there and expects the Kingsbridge project to remain dead. He has consoled himself by pointing out the passage of the West Side Rail Yards rezoning, which he noted is a much bigger project than Kingsbridge.

Next up: The Broadway Triangle battle, which will perhaps shed some light on whether Kingsbridge will have a lasting effect or really was just a blip on the City Hall radar screen.

Changes Job Referral Department

Effective January 1, 2010, carpenters on the Out of Work List will have to be available to receive a call from the Job Referral Office between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m, Monday to Friday.
Members(2)

Page Six

We hear... THAT Joe Firth is calling for early elections in Local 608. Seems he and his supporters are not happy that Firth was fired and made a scrapegoat for violations of the job referral rules.

Firth is rumored to mount a challenge newly installed Martin Devereaux for local 608 president.

The November and December local 608 meetings had to be shut down and police called in to avoid a riot. Spencer and Devereaux sent the below letters to 608 members, in an effort to calm things down.

Spencer Letter

To Whom Will We Give Thanks?

To the God whom George Washington, in the first national Thanksgiving Day proclamation in 1789, called on all Americans to “unite to render unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection.”

To the God to whom Abraham Lincoln looked in the midst of the Civil War as he made Thanksgiving an annual national holiday in 1863:

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

Today we give thanks to the Creator who is the source of our sovereignty.

We pause in gratitude to He who has endowed us with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And just as no government has granted these rights, no government can legitimately take them away.

This is the freedom the pilgrims prayed for, Washington fought for and Lincoln stood for.

As important as it is to give thanks today is to remember, as Americans have before us, to whom we give thanks.

May you and your family have a happy, healthy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Mayor Signs $5.3B PLA's

NOVEMBER 24th -- Mayor Mike Bloomberg today announced the signing of long-awaited Project Labor Agreements (PLA's) worth $5.3 Billion in public projects over the next four years. The signing of the PLA's caps an eight-month negotiation process between the Trades and the City administration. These are the first-ever PLA's for City agencies. The PLA for the School Construction Authority builds on a previous PLA agreement. The announcement was made at the Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School at Spring and Broome Streets in Soho.

Calling the PLA deals "the economic downturn's silver lining," the Mayor said hard economic times have allowed the City to win $300 million in savings from labor unions by exacting concessions in work rules and overtime, including a waiver of Wicks Law provisions. (Hear audio of the Mayor here.) Building and Construction Trades Council President Gary LaBarbera, in response to a question, countered by noting that the PLA's put savings dollars back into the City's capital budget, where they will be used to fund an additional 1,800 unionized construction jobs. (Hear audio of Mr. LaBarbera here.)

The solid turnout of labor leaders at the event -- including top officials of the Mason Tenders, Ironworkers, Painters, Elevator Constructors, and others -- was a clear indication that they support the PLA's and believe their funding guarantees will be instrumental in helping many union members ride out the recession. The PLA's mean different things to different unions, with some -- like Mason Tenders Local 79 -- looking to see significant hiring. Others, like the Elevator Constructors, are expecting just a small boost.

Building Trades Employers' Association President Lou Coletti thanked the Mayor for stimulating jobs and said that his contractors would "compete very heavily" for the work, thus insuring greater savings for the City. (Hear audio of Mr. Coletti here.)

Overtime is capped at time-and-a-half for work performed from Monday through Saturday with no restriction on the ability of contractors to schedule overtime to meet deadlines. All trades have agreed to standardization of terms and flexibility of scheduling at job sites, including eight standard holidays, 8-hour day, 40-hour weeks, flexible start times, and coordinated lunch periods. Strikes are prohibited even if broader work stoppages exist outside the work sites.

The Mayor's office said the PLA's will fund 32,000 construction jobs over the four year life of the agreements. He was joined by Reverend Jacques A. DeGraff of the Minority Business Leadership Council, who noted that the PLA's have specific provisions to increase the numbers of minorities and women who can be placed on construction jobs. For contracts and subcontracts of less than $1 million, managed by non-union Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises, the contractor will be allowed to fill as many as half of the first eight jobs on a project with their own workforce. The PLA's commit unions to the goal of hiring 45% of apprentices from the ranks of minorities, women, returning veterans, and new high school graduates of the City's public schools.

Here is a breakdown of the four Project Labor Agreements which were finalized today:

The first covers $942 million in projects for the general renovation and rehabilitation of existing City-owned buildings and structures.

The second and third, worth $1.9 billion, covers eleven large-scale, new construction projects, including a new Police Academy, a new branch library in Far Rockaway, and the City's new 911 dispatching center.

The fourth PLA, between the School Construction Authority (SCA) and the Building and Trades Construction Council, funds $2.5 billion or renovation and rehabilitation of schools.

The Mayor made it clear that other PLA's are in the works. including one which would cover an additional $509 million of work at wastewater treatment plants, housing properties owned by the City and at other sites.

Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn Clears Legal Hurdle

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

The last major obstacle to a groundbreaking for the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn fell Tuesday when New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, dismissed a challenge to the state’s use of eminent domain on behalf of the developer, Bruce C. Ratner.

Mr. Ratner, whose 22-acre development has been delayed for three years by a flurry of lawsuits, the collapse of the credit and real estate markets and a glut of luxury housing, plans to begin selling tax-free bonds next month to finance the development’s cornerstone project: an 18,000-seat basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues near downtown.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the state could exercise eminent domain in seizing the 22 acres, much of which sits within an urban redevelopment area, for Atlantic Yards. Critics of the project had argued that eminent domain on behalf of a private developer was improper and a violation of the state’s Constitution.

“Once again the courts have made it clear that this project represents a significant public benefit for the people of Brooklyn and the entire city,” Mr. Ratner said. “Our commitment to the entire project is as strong today as when we started six years ago. Today, however, this project is even more important given the need for jobs and economic development.”

The developer expects that construction of the arena will take about 28 months, enabling the Nets to move from East Rutherford, N.J., to Brooklyn about June 2012.

Those opposed to the project said that the decision, while a setback, was hardly the end of the fight.

“The fight against the Atlantic Yards project is far from over,” said Daniel Goldstein, a spokesman for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, a community group that opposes the project. “The community has four outstanding lawsuits against the project and, meanwhile, the arena bond financing clock ticks louder and louder for Ratner. While this is a terrible day for taxpaying homeowners in New York, this is not the end of our fight to keep the government from stealing our homes and businesses.”

If construction begins in the coming weeks as expected, Atlantic Yards will stand out in a city where 530 different construction projects are stalled, sitting lifeless and without adequate financing in virtually every neighborhood.

Atlantic Yards would transform a busy intersection of two major thoroughfares dominated by a deep railroad cut where Long Island Rail Road trains are cleaned between rush periods. The billion-dollar arena would be the most expensive in the country and home to Brooklyn’s first major league ball club since the Dodgers baseball team left after the 1957 season. Plans also call for 16 high-rise towers on the adjacent blocks, mostly residential buildings with as many as 6,430 apartments.

Still, Mr. Ratner and state officials, who support his project, have to contend with at least three other lawsuits, an uncertain real estate market and a lack of construction financing. The developer has said that he will start the first residential building six months after beginning the arena. But with so many new apartments sitting vacant, analysts say it could be many years before demand would justify building so many units in one neighborhood.

The arena would be built on an 8.5-acre railyard and on adjacent property. Some of the owners of the property oppose the project, and brought the initial eminent domain lawsuit. On Monday, Mr. Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, turned over a $50 million temporary yard, just to the east of the original, to the Long Island Rail Road. (Forest City Ratner was the development partner for the new Manhattan headquarters of The New York Times Company.)

Also on Tuesday, a state-sponsored local development corporation approved issuing a combination of tax exempt and taxable bonds to finance construction of the arena.

Labor Department Targets Wage and Hour Violations

The Department of Labor is cracking down on wage and hour violations.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced that the department has hired an additional 250 wage and hour investigators, boosting staffing by one third to respond more quickly to complaints and undertake more targeted enforcement.

"There is no excuse for employers who disregard federal labor standards – especially those that are designed to protect the most vulnerable in the workplace," said Solis in a statement. "The failure to comply with these basic labor standards means that workers are not receiving the money they have earned."

In the past three months, the Labor Department has brought two enforcement cases that resulted in the recovery of nearly $2 million in back wages for 500 workers.

The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour division administers the Fair Labor Act, which sets standards for minimum wages, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor. The act applies to companies with at least $500,000 in annual business.

It also covers domestic service workers, such as day workers, housekeepers, chauffeurs, cooks, or full‑time babysitters, if they receive at least $1,700 in 2009 in cash wages from one employer in a calendar year, or if they work a total of more than eight hours a week for one or more employers.

Next year, the department plans to launch a national public awareness campaign titled "We Can Help" to inform workers about their rights.

Supervision 100 Days and Counting

It's been over 100 days since the "emergency supervision" of the New York City District Council Of Carpenters and what has the membership been officially told by Supervisor Frank Spencer?

Other than Spencer's message on the councils web site (posted below), there has been little information about what changes have been made, what actions have been taken and has anyone been removed, fired or held accountable for revelations of:

• Corruption
• Drug use
• Prostitution (see page 505)
• Hiding illegal weapons and drugs on our property
• Employees removing hair from their bodies in order to avoid detection of drug use 
• Financial Mismanagement
• Cash Flow Mismanagement, costing $300 to $500 thousand per year in lost interest (see page 5)
  
• Trustees not adequately performing their duties
• Losing control over the management of employee spending
  
• Employees with serious driving offense are provided union cars and expense reimbursements
  
• Flawed systems of accountability in place
• Taking sick leave
  

Certainly this blog has done a much better job of keeping the membership updated and informed.

Also have you noticed, every link on the councils website points to a page that is "Under Construction" (snapshot pictured). I wonder why?

Is this how Spencer defines effective supervision?

After nine years of being misled and lied to, by the "Unity Team" administration, the hard working dues paying membership of this union deserves a whole lot better than what we are getting!

*****Spencer's Message*****

"We would like to thank all the members who participated in the NYC District Council hearings held in NYC on October 15th and 16th. We are committed to a District Council that acts in the best interests of the members and will be updating our website regularly with information regarding any procedure and/ or policy changes pertaining to our membership and the District Council. We welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing from you. In order to ensure that members who were unable to attend the Supervision Hearings at the Javits Convention Center have full access to the information presented to the hearing panel we have posted the testimony presented by Frank Spencer, Phil Newkirk and Terrence Mooney."

Below you will find the testimony from:

Frank Spencer, Supervisor of the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

Phil Newkirk, Assistant to the General President, who was assigned to investigate the affairs of the New York City District Council of Carpenters relevant to the Emergency Supervision.

Terrence R Mooney, a Certified Public Accountant, who performed an audit of the accounting records and internal controls of the New York City District Council of Carpenters for the period of July 1, 2006 to August 9, 2009.

Letter from Douglas J. McCarron to Peter Thomassen

Letter from Douglas J. McCarron to the membership of the NYC District Council of Carpenters

United States of America V. Michael Forde, et al., S3 08 Cr. 828

Letter from Frank G. Spencer to the membership of the NYC District Council of Carpenters

Page Six

WORD is...Dennis Sheil had an unlucky Friday the 13th. Seems the federal government would like to ask the former "Unity Team" partner a few questions. Sheils however is not in the talking mood, he advised his lawyers that he would have to plead the fifth if questioned. Sources say district council lawyer Gary Rothman advised Sheil to use his sick time and retire. Dennis was spotted last Friday cleaning out his desk.

Page Six

Sightings…Dennis Sheil and Lawrence D'Errico were spotted at the Empire State Regional Council for a meeting with EST, Patrick Morin on November 10, 2009.