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! ! ! CALLING ALL FREEPERS - CALLING ALL FREEPERS ! ! !

Last week, you were told about a scam where certain Ithaca officials are using taxpayer- i.e. YOUR- money to harm a productive, law-abiding citizen (Tom Pine/tel: 607-273-1011).

They want Pine to clear out his office supply business (Race Office Supply) that he has painstakingly built over the past decade and sell his property to a friend of theirs'- Frank Ciminelli- or else they would use eminent domain proceeding to take Pine's property and hand it over to Ciminelli themselves!

Ciminelli apparently wants to build an office and hotel on the property and then lease the new buildings himself. The fact these projects are not even commercially viable on their own is one of several red-flags.

The scam also involves ignoring a widow's co-ownership share in the property, as well as, the use of taxpayer- i.e. YOUR- money to fund kickbacks with the proposed construction projects!

You were asked that- if you object to what these Ithaca officials are doing with YOUR hard earned taxmoney- to take a few minutes and call the officials involved and make sure they clearly understood your objections across their monstrous behavior and their misuse of YOUR hard earned taxmonies in such a fashion.

Well FREEPERS, your telephone calls to the officials involved are WORKING!

The Ithaca officials have suddenly changed their tactics. Rather than having open meetings and publishing how they vote on the matter- like they are SUPPOSED to- they have instead decided to now be sneaky about it and NOT tell the American people how they are voting or what they planning to do with YOUR taxmoney.

In other words, the Ithaca officials are aware of FREEPER objections. They apparently just didn't hear you very well or perhaps figured they could avoid your "annoying" demands for civil servants to serve the public. (How dare those FREEPERS try to stop our gravy train. So what if it's their money, we want our gravy-train!)

Perhaps Ithaca officials thought you were just kidding.

Let's turn up the volume so that these Ithaca officials can CLEARLY hear you and CLEARLY understand that your No Means NO!- not maybe.

FYI: Gary Ferguson is another one of the local parasites pushing for the handover of Pine's and the widow's property to Ciminelli- even if it means doing so against their will!

Without question, he stands to financially gain from the scam too, THAT's why he is promoting it without regard to any moral, legal, or commercial sensibilities.

Ferguson KNOWS that the actual cost to build the proposed construction projects is not anywhere near the $26,000,000 quoted. He also KNOWS that the proposed parking garage related to the project does not require $3,000,000 to cover "soft legal fees".

Ferguson also KNOWS that the projects are not even commercially viable in their own right and will result in continuous subsidies and abatements saddled upon the taxpayers of this country for YEARS to come.

He doesn't care because as long as he personally benefits, that's good enough for him. (What a trooper!)

Ferguson has wormed himself into an organization that ostensibly "promotes business" in Ithaca. He doesn't seem to understand the simple fact heavy tax and regulatory burdens, as well as, egregious mismanagement of public funds by Ithaca officials is NOT the way to attract businesses nor foster a healthy commercial marketplace.

Of course by keeping taxes high and regulations invasive, Ferguson and others can then arrange sleazy side-deals that avail tax "discounts" to certain select individuals who would "take care of them"- at everyone else's expense, of course.

Ferguson "works" closely with the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency (another useless, parasitic bureaucracy set up by certain individuals in the 1970's as part of a corrupt patronage system and does little more than waste taxpayer funds on pork-barrel projects that do nothing of any real or lasting consequence but enrich a handful of select political beneficiaries- at EVERYONE else's expense while also spurring on inceasingly higher taxes to fund generous salaries and benefits packages for the administrators of these programs and their cronies.)

Ferguson has shown his stripes with his prosposterous public remarks that completely disregard Pine's and the widow's interests as productive, law-abiding citizens.

Let's also remind this bozo Ferguson (Phone:607-277-8679 Fax:607-277-8691, E-Mail:IDP@downtownithaca.com ) and the other characters that:

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in ANY way support the private development of the proposed office/hotel- it is a private development NOT a public works project;

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in any way threaten, harass, intimidate, or forcibly expel the co-owner of the property Tom Pine- a productive, law-abiding citizen- and his business (Race Office Supply) from his property- this is a free country and the price of something is determined on the basis of what the interested buyer and seller freely agree to- NOT what Ferguson or any other Ithaca official decides is a “fair” price.

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in any way pressure and basically extort one side to enrich the other- this is barbaric and also completely unacceptable;

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in any way execute an eminent domain proceeding to seize the property from Pine and the widow against their will and hand it over to another private party (Ciminelli)- This is a free country and we just got rid of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Baathists in Iraq- you do NOT tolerate tyranny, theft, and extortion carried out by Ithaca officials with YOUR taxmoney here in the USA;

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to convey the woman's ownership interest without any compensation to her- this is the land of the free NOT the land of the thieves and American citizens are NOT entitled to being embezzled- INCLUDING widows.

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to fund kickbacks of ANY kind- we are NOT interested in having local officials practice Taliban and Baathist economics.

BTW Freepers, Ferguson also KNOWS Ithaca officials secretly used taxpayer- i.e. YOUR- money to hire an attorney to show them how to execute an eminent domain proceeding to "legally" expropriate the property from Pine and the widow and hand it over to Ciminelli. Adding insult to injury, said attorney is connected to...Ciminelli!

FREEPERS, I ask you again to take a few minutes to consider the threat this situation poses to ALL Americans because the crooked lawyers and corrupt officials involved are sharing their techniques with others around the country.

This case could set a precedent where eminent domain is used to extort concessions from one party of a private commercial transaction to the benefit of another and DIRECTLY at taxpayer expense to boot!

VERY ominous indeed!

NOTE: HUD's Inspector General (tel: 202-708-0430) cited Ithaca agencies as lacking the controls necessary to properly administer taxmonies given to them. In fact, when HUD's Inspector General discovered monies had not actually been spent in the manner specified and asked for the whereabouts of these monies, these Ithaca officials involved simply took monies from another taxpayer funded account and replenished the funds missing from the other! In other words they took money from one taxpayer funded account to cover their embezzlement from the other and, thusly, also continue to keep a few steps ahead of the United States Attorney's Office too.

If you share concern across this threat to our great Republic and all of her productive, law-abiding citizens, call Gary Ferguson (Tel: 607-277-8679) and the other Ithaca officials involved (See Below) and let them know No Means NO!

Ithaca Mayor Alan J. Cohen Phone: (607)274-6501 Email: mayor@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Paulette Manos Phone: (607) 273-4170 Email: paulettem@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Susan Blumenthal Phone: (607) 272-3931 Email: susanb@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Patricia Pryor Phone: (607) 273-1741 Email: patp@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member David Whitmore Phone: (607) 273-1254 Email: davidw@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Diann Sams Phone: (607) 277-8188 Email: dianns@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Patricia Vaughan Phone: (607) 273-3870 Email: patv@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Carolyn Peterson Phone: (607) 272-8129 Email: carolynp@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Peter Mack Phone: (607) 253-7070 Email: peterm@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Daniel Cogan Phone: (607) 273-2076 Email: dcogan@cityofithaca.org