1 2 CITY COUNCIL 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 4 -------------------------------x 5 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES 6 of the 7 SUBCOMMITTEE ON PLANNING, 8 DISPOSITIONS And CONCESSIONS 9 -------------------------------x 10 February 27, 2008 11 Start: 9:40 a.m. Recess: 10:05 a.m. 12 City Hall 13 Committee Room New York, New York 14 15 B E F O R E: 16 DANIEL GARODNICK Chairperson, 17 18 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Sara Gonzalez Inez Dickens 19 Vincent Ignizio 20 21 22 23 24 LEGAL-EASE COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC. 17 Battery Place - Suite 1308 25 New York, New York 10004 (800) 756-3410 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S 3 Carol Clark 4 Assistant Commissioner NYC Housing Preservation and Development 5 Meilin Chiu 6 Director of Manhattan Planning NYC Housing Preservation and Development 7 Julius Tajiddin 8 Member, Land Use Committee Community Board No. 10 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Good morning, 3 and welcome. This is the Subcommittee on Planning, 4 Dispositions and Concessions of Land Use of the New 5 York City Council. I'm going to slow down for a 6 moment. Sorry, we got started a moment ahead of 7 time. I will start again and say that this is the 8 Subcommittee of Planning, Dispositions and 9 Concessions of Land Use of the New York City 10 Council. My name is Dan Garodnick, I'm the Chair of 11 the Subcommittee. We're joined today by Council 12 Member Sara Gonzalez and Inez Dickens, and we have 13 two related Land Use items on the calendar for 14 today, Land Use No. 662 and 663, which are related 15 items, at Frederick Douglas Boulevard, Manhattan, 16 Community Board 10, C080043 and C080044. The first, 17 which is Land Use 662, is an application by HPD for 18 the designation as a UDAAP to facilitate the 19 development of a 12-story mixed-use building, with 20 about 89 residential units, and Land Use 663 is an 21 application by the Police Department and DCAS for 22 the acquisition of property for vehicle storage. 23 We have representatives here from HPD 24 and Ms. Clark, as always, and as is our custom, 25 would you introduce these items, and anybody else 4 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 who will, from the public who wishes to speak we'll 3 go to after that. So, thank you. 4 ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER CLARK: Thank 5 you, Chairman Garodnick. Good morning, Council 6 members. My name is Carol Clark. I'm an Assistant 7 Commissioner at HPD. I'm joined this morning by 8 Meilin Chiu, who is the Director of Manhattan 9 Planning for HPD. 10 LU 662 consists of the proposed 11 disposition of two City-owned vacant lots located at 12 2282 and 2284 Frederick Douglas Boulevard for 13 development under HPD's Negotiated Sale Program. The 14 proposed sponsor, RGS Holdings will construct one 15 12-story building with 88 condominium units, plus 16 one superintendent unit. The project will also 17 contain approximately 9,000 square feet of 18 commercial space, and approximately 1,500 square 19 feet of community facility space, which will be 20 leased to a local, community based non-profit, for 21 free in perpetuity. The building will have 150 22 underground parking spaces, ten of which will be 23 used by the New York City Police Department. These 24 ten parking spaces comprise the ULURP action before 25 the Council, which is known as LU 663. 5 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 Moving on to that second item then, 3 663 consists of the proposed acquisition of interest 4 such as an easement or lease within the two 5 City-owned lots and three privately owned properties 6 located at 2278-2284 Frederick Douglas Boulevard, 7 and the subsequent disposition for development of LU 8 662 under HPD's Negotiated Sale Program. 9 This will enable the NYPD to maintain 10 a ten-space parking facility for impounded vehicles. 11 Council Member Dickens has reviewed 12 the project, and we appreciate very much the 13 dialogue that HPD has had with her on this matter 14 and we thank you all for that. 15 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Thank you all 16 very much. We appreciate your testimony. 17 I know Council Member Dickens has 18 comments and thoughts, but I thought it would make 19 sense for us first to go to the public testimony on 20 this item. So, Ms. Clark, we thank you and Ms. Chiu 21 for being here. And we have one person wishing to 22 testify on this item. I believe it's in opposition. 23 Julius Tajiddin, welcome back. And come have a seat 24 and as soon as you're ready you can go ahead and get 25 started. 6 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 Welcome. 3 MR. TAJIDDIN: Good morning, Council 4 members. 5 When this project first came to the 6 Land Use Committee and then the full Board, there 7 were many issues of concern from the public, as well 8 as Committee members, and ultimately the full Board. 9 When I first was presented, or was 10 expecting to come down to testify, I had written my 11 objections back on February 6, but I feel, you know, 12 it's only fair that you know I go through that real 13 quick, and the changes that materialize afterwards 14 that would lead me to bring another statement. 15 But the background of this, the Land 16 Use Committee initially voted against this project 17 because of concerns with the affordability of the 18 units and the safety of an on-site parking garage at 19 this particular site. 20 There was also concern about the 21 transferring of air rights because the presentation 22 of such transfer wasn't clear. 23 The developer was requested to have 24 those issues worked out by the next general Board 25 meeting, if he and HPD expected the Committee Board 7 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 members support. These issues were not worked out. 3 Instead, there appear to be some underhandedness 4 going on and as a result the full Board voted 5 against this project. 6 Thereafter the matter went to the 7 Manhattan Borough President for approval. The 8 Manhattan Borough President did approve the 9 application, however, he did so without considering 10 CB 10's reasons for disapproving the application. 11 Although it might be looked at that 12 the Manhattan Borough President did not have a 13 qualifying letter from CB 10 to go on, the fact that 14 he has representatives at all of these kind of 15 meetings, at least the general Board ones, he should 16 have known that the Community Board had good reasons 17 to disapprove of the application. 18 In any event, this justification for 19 approving this application was short of qualifying 20 merit. The application then went on to the City 21 Planning Commission. 22 City Planning failed to consider the 23 oral and written testimonies of the opposition. And 24 I say this with confidence because when I show you 25 certain documents, our testimonies, people who did 8 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 come down to oppose it, were mischaracterized. 3 In any event, it was made clear to 4 the City Planning Commission that there were issues 5 dealing with the air rights, and whether or not they 6 could be transferred and so forth, which brings us 7 really -- well, let me just go with the parking. 8 Also, it was testified to that the on-site parking 9 garage is not mandatory under the current zoning 10 laws. It can be waived if additional parking would 11 generate more traffic than desirable, is unsafe, and 12 mass transit is available and good, such as the case 13 as this was repeated over and over. That you can 14 find in New York City's Zoning Handbook, Zoning 15 Today, Chapter 2, pages four and five. Which brings 16 us to the transfer of air rights issues. 17 It has since come to my attention, 18 and resolve, that the transfer of air rights, which 19 would be necessary in order to build this project as 20 presented before you today, and I believe the 21 changing -- well, I found out later that it was, the 22 Frederick Douglas Boulevard was rezoned in part. But 23 these air rights that we're trying to transfer over, 24 they came from that particular block which is 1928 25 from Lot 61, 2 and 1. And these properties were part 9 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 of a bundle, I mean part of a building bundle 3 conveyed to the Neighborhood Partnership Development 4 Fund, a not-for-profit, for the sum of $1 per 5 building, and subject to the restrictions set forth 6 in the deed by the City of New York, acting by and 7 through its Department of Housing Preservation and 8 Development, pursuant to Article 16 of the General 9 Municipal Law, for the redevelopment of the 10 disposition area as an Urban Development Action Area 11 Project pursuant to Section 694 of the General 12 Municipal Law. 13 The development project consisted 14 solely of the rehabilitation or conservation of 15 existing private or multiple dwellings, or the 16 construction of one- to four-unit dwellings without 17 any change in Land Use permitted by existing zoning. 18 Furthermore, failure to complete 95 19 percent of the value of construction in accordance 20 with the approved plans, as such percentage and 21 compliance are determined by HPD, on or before the 22 completion date, and prohibit a transfer without the 23 prior written consent of HPD created a default. And 24 there was to be no transfer of any property interest 25 prior to issuance of certificate of completion for 10 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 the entire project, except in accordance with 3 Article 3 of the Land Disposition Agreement 4 associated with this deed. 5 The foregoing was approved by the 6 City Council, via Resolution No. 2023. Be that as it 7 may, despite any appearance of default, although 8 NPHDF, the non-profit company, transferred these 9 properties to C&C Management, which is controlled 10 and owned by Shaun Covington, a New York limited 11 partnership, it did so subject to all encumbrances 12 thereon, including, without limitation, those 13 restrictions contained in that certain deed between 14 the City of New York acting through HPD and NPHDF, 15 dated July 8th, 1997. 16 And I would bring to your attention 17 that some of those lots, at least one, has not been 18 developed in all of these years, and it was proposed 19 in the plan that the developer presented to 20 everyone, the Department of City Planning, the Land 21 Use Committee, and the full Board, that this 22 project, in order for it to be completed, would need 23 the air rights from 1, 2 and 61. This is a copy of 24 the drawing. As you can see from here, this is Lot 25 61. This whole block is Block 1928. This is Block 11 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 61, and the block to the far corner of West 122nd 3 Street is Block 1 and this is Block 2. And if you 4 look at the drawings, you know, in order for him to 5 do this project, you know, he was told if you can't 6 transfer the rights, then don't use them. 7 So, what happened was -- 8 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: And you should 9 see if we can wrap it up? Thank you. 10 MR. TAJIDDIN: So, what happened was 11 all of this came to the attention of everyone, you 12 know, people got to see the deeds, and the land 13 disposition agreement and so forth, and there was a 14 meeting held on February 21st, Mr. Futterman came 15 back to the Land Use Committee. I had a conflicting 16 meeting at the Borough President's Office that 17 evening, but I still decided to attend the Land Use 18 Committee arriving late. I learned that evening that 19 the present application was again seeking approval 20 for the development project that is before you this 21 morning, with no changes. Because I missed HPD's 22 presentation, I abstained my vote in the matter, 23 because I sit as a community resident on the Land 24 Use Committee now. 25 I have since been filled in on what 12 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 transpired with the Futterman Project presentation. 3 I learned that under no circumstances is property 4 interest that Shaun Covington acquired in a property 5 interest transfer from Neighborhood Partnership 6 Housing Development Fund, which was granted to them 7 by the City via HPD, is to be merged with 8 Futterman's project. 9 This means for all who do not know, 10 that any air rights or lot owned by Shaun Covington 11 and Block 1928 originally acquired by the 12 Neighborhood Partnership Housing Development Fund 13 from HPD, the block where Futterman's project sits, 14 cannot transfer over to this project, and this is 15 because of those restrictions in the deed. 16 So, it doesn't matter if Mr. 17 Futterman wants to use the air rights that he first 18 presented, there are other lots on that block that 19 were all part of a deal and so they would be 20 excluded as well. And he failed, no one presented 21 any new drawings, it's still the same project. It's 22 88 or 89 units, so essentially what they're saying 23 is that, you know, they still want to put this 24 forward even as is, I mean it has to be that. 25 But I do want to also say that when 13 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 HPD made its presentation, I learned that they did 3 not present to the community with a plan showing how 4 and when a business enterprise, which must be 5 controlled by members of minorities in the 6 community, will get involved with this project. 7 This is pursuant to General Municipal 8 Law, Article 16, Section 691, nor has HPD presented 9 a draft of any land disposition agreement that goes 10 along with UDAAP property. 11 So, this project comes defective on 12 all fronts, HPD, as well as the developer. 13 And I know Council Member Dickens has 14 seen the deeds and so forth, if copies of all that 15 got to you. But if you need to see, you know, the 16 plans again or the deeds, the land disposition 17 agreement or the deeds, you know, for proof, I have 18 them. 19 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Okay, we thank 20 you for that, and also for your advocacy, and we 21 appreciate your time. 22 Are there questions for Mr. Tajiddin? 23 Council Member Gonzalez. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Good 25 morning, sir. 14 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 MR. TAJIDDIN: Good morning. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: First of 4 all, thank you for your testimony. 5 I just have some concerns, I've been 6 reading over all of this material that you gave us, 7 and it seems to me that it has gone through process, 8 you're part of the community board? 9 MR. TAJIDDIN: No, the Land Use 10 Committee. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Yes, but 12 you're part of the Community Board. 13 MR. TAJIDDIN: That's under the 14 Community Board, right. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Right. And I 16 just have to say, as part of the community board you 17 have different choices - you either abstain, you 18 vote yes, you vote no. You do your research. I 19 really am concerned a little bit about your 20 statement here where you say these issues were not 21 worked out, instead there appear to be some 22 underhandedness going on. 23 You know, I think some times as an 24 elected official, and most times we do our job and 25 we do it very diligently. And I have not really 15 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 spoken in depth to my colleague, but I cannot sit 3 here and read material like this and feel 4 comfortable with it. Because Ms. Dickens, Council 5 Member Dickens, when she does her job, from the 6 moment that she stepped into this Council it's 7 always been a matter of ethical and respect for her 8 community. Sometimes she's made decisions that 9 people favor and sometimes she's made decisions that 10 people don't favor, and I understand that that's our 11 job. 12 I just think that when you make a 13 statement of something that's underhanded, and come 14 into this process in this Chamber, that makes me 15 feel very uncomfortable. 16 MR. TAJIDDIN: Well, I didn't say who 17 was underhanded. I didn't want to go into the 18 details, but I'll tell you briefly, what happened 19 was -- 20 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Okay, before 21 you continue, okay, because you didn't say just to 22 even put it in writing, as a perception that's 23 inappropriate, I don't think it's appropriate, and 24 you have the right to come and testify and this is a 25 democracy. I'm not trying to stifle that. But as an 16 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 elected official our jobs are not always easy. We do 3 fact finding, we meet with developers, we get 4 criticized because we meet with developers, we get 5 criticized because we do our job, and on top of it, 6 when you come in and testify, if you come in and 7 tell us this is wrong, this is right, there are 8 problems or whatever, I clearly understand that and 9 I will listen. But to even make a statement of any 10 kind of underhandedness and respect to a process 11 that you've been given and a right, I think it's 12 wrong. And I just want to say that for the record. 13 Thank you. 14 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Thank you. 15 MR. TAJIDDIN: Can I respond to that? 16 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Very briefly, 17 please. If you must. I think it was really more of a 18 comment. But, okay. 19 MR. TAJIDDIN: I just want to say this 20 had not come before City Council, everything that's 21 in those statements, this is all below the City 22 Council level, so I just want to make that clear for 23 the record. 24 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Thank you, Mr. 25 Tajiddin, are there any other questions, comments? 17 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 Okay, with that, Mr. Tajiddin, thank you very much 3 for your testimony. 4 And with that, I failed to note at 5 the outset this is an item in the district of 6 Council Member Inez Dickens, and I'd like to give 7 her an opportunity to speak and add anything to the 8 record. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Thank you, 10 Mr. Chair. 11 First, for the clarification of my 12 colleague, Council Member Gonzalez, Mr. Tajiddin, 13 who I appreciate coming down to give testimony, is 14 absolutely not a member of the Community Planning 15 Board. As such, there is no such thing as being a 16 member of any committee, on any community board in 17 the entire City of New York, in accordance with the 18 Charter or the Borough President's requirements. So, 19 the vote that he expressed has absolutely no meaning 20 or bearing on anything in any process, whether it's 21 Land Use or anything else. So, I wanted to make that 22 clear. Although community is welcome and should 23 attend all meetings, the vote has no bearing. 24 Having said that, I take seriously my 25 community boards, although their votes absolutely 18 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 cannot foster a vote of City Council, I consider 3 them because the Community Board in this case, CB 4 10, is representative of the community, whether any 5 one individual agrees with that assessment or not. 6 This project got hung up at a time, 7 unfortunately, when this Board was going into 8 transition because of some problems with CB 10. And 9 in November I had a discussion with HPD on this 10 process because of the fact that this got hung up in 11 a board that was going through a transition and had 12 a very definite problem with the Chair at that time. 13 There is now a new Chair at CB 10 as a result of 14 some of the activities that was going on. 15 I spoke with HPD and told them they 16 had to take it back to the Community Board. I don't 17 know what happened in the process, however, this 18 project went back to CB 10 to the Land Use Committee 19 starting over again on February 21st with a vote of 20 six to zero in favor of this project. 21 Now, originally I had expressed to 22 HPD that I was prepared to vote this down because of 23 process, and because they had done what I had asked 24 them to do which was to take it back to the 25 community board, and I do that with a heavy heart 19 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 because my community is under siege and has not had 3 the availability of sufficient affordable units for 4 my community residents to live in. 5 This project has 88 units plus one 6 for a superintendent. Having worked with HPD, and 7 having expressed to them that I don't like the 80 8 percent AMI. 9 They were able to work with this 10 developer to bring that AMI for 18 units down to 70 11 percent AMI, for 18 units. 12 If this project is voted down today, 13 then that's 18 units that will not be developed 14 affordable because this developer will not do 15 anything. He will walk away. And in so doing it will 16 go back through the ULURP process, possibly with 17 another developer that will not do any affordable, 18 because if they build it as of right, or if they 19 build it within the 421-A, it will be just merely 20 20 percent and the AMI does not have to be 70 percent, 21 it could be significantly higher. And my community 22 wants those units. 23 Now, in addition, there is a problem 24 with a precinct that is in the area, a police 25 precinct. The police are disrespectful, they bring 20 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 their cars and park in the community so that the 3 residents cannot even cross the streets because 4 they're in the crosswalks oft times. They do not 5 move, and nor are they subject to any type of 6 movement for street cleaning, for alternative side 7 of the street parking, and obviously they don't give 8 themselves a ticket like the community residents 9 would get. 10 And this project will get some of 11 those cars from that police precinct off the street. 12 There will be 150 spots available, of which at least 13 30 of them will be for the police precinct to 14 utilize, including when they impound cars when 15 there's been accidents and they bring them in those 16 unsightly and hazardous for children to climb into 17 these units will be off my streets. So, I take this 18 very, very seriously. 19 In addition, there is 1,400 square 20 feet of community space that will be given to a 21 community-based organization within CB 10 that will 22 be able to have it at no cost whatsoever, and I've 23 only been down here two years, but I've never heard 24 any other Councilperson get that in any project in 25 their development. Correct me if I am wrong. 21 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 So, because of these reasons, I tried 3 to work with HPD and I got a letter that I have 4 shared with my Chair that I'm going to ask my Chair 5 to read into the record, where HPD has committed 6 that if indeed it passes today, they will not fund 7 it until the full Board, even though it's passed at 8 the Land Use Committee, until the full Board votes 9 on it. And that's because I respect my Community 10 Board, I respect the current Chair, and respect the 11 fact that my community must have affordable units 12 that is below an 80 percent AMI. 13 Therefore, I ask my colleagues to 14 support me and vote yes for this project. 15 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Thank you, 16 Council Member Dickens. As you requested, I will go 17 ahead and read this record into the record. It's a 18 letter dated February 27th, 2008. It's a letter from 19 the Commissioner of HPD, Shaun Donovan, to you, 20 Council Member Dickens. Re: Land Use 662, 663, the 21 items that are open for hearing right now. 22 "Dear Council Member Dickens: 23 The above-referenced project consists 24 of the proposed disposition of two City-owned 25 parcels and the proposed acquisition of privately 22 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 owned parcels for development under the negotiated 3 sale program. 4 As you know, on February 21, 2008, 5 the Land Use Committee of Community Board 10 voted 6 six to zero in favor of the project. 7 As we have discussed, HPD will be 8 attending the Community Board 10 meeting on March 5, 9 2008, to present it to the full Board. We recognize 10 that the Council's time frame for considering the 11 matter results in votes by the Subcommittee of 12 Planning, Dispositions and Concessions, the Land Use 13 Committee and the full Council on February 27, 2008. 14 Should your vote on February 27 be a 15 favorable one, HPD will obtain the approval of the 16 project from the community board, or we will not 17 proceed with the project at this time, but instead 18 undertake to ensure that it goes through another 19 ULURP. 20 Please let me know if you have any 21 questions, and thank you for your assistance. 22 Sincerely, Shaun Donovan, 23 Commissioner." With cc to Land Use and the Speaker, 24 Land Use Division of the Council and also the 25 Speaker's Office. 23 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 So, with that, we will enter that 3 letter into the record, and on your recommendation 4 here and your articulation, Council Member Dickens, 5 the Chair will recommend an aye vote on this matter. 6 And unless anybody has anything to add, members of 7 the Committee, I should note that Council Member 8 Vincent Ignizio, a member of this Committee, has 9 joined us and also Simcha Felder and Mike McMahon, 10 who are members of the full Land Use Committee have 11 also joined us. With that, we are going to -- we'll 12 lay over every other item that's on the calendar for 13 today at the request of individual members in whose 14 properties the proposals sit, and I'm going to ask 15 the Council to call a roll, call the roll on Land 16 Use No. 662 and 663, and I will recommend an aye 17 vote. Thank you. 18 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Chair 19 Garodnick. 20 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Aye. 21 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 22 Gonzalez. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Aye. 24 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 25 Dickens. 24 1 PLANNING, DISPOSITIONS AND CONCESSIONS 2 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Aye. 3 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 4 Ignizio. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: At the 6 request of the Chair and the passionate speech of my 7 colleague, I proudly vote aye. 8 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: By a vote of 9 four in the affirmative, none in the negative and no 10 abstentions, the aforementioned item is approved and 11 referred to the full Committee. 12 CHAIRPERSON GARODNICK: Thank you for 13 that, and with that we are going to move in a few 14 moments to the full Land Use Committee. We will keep 15 the roll open in the Subcommittee until the moment 16 that Land Use commences, and at that point we will 17 be adjourned. Thank you. 18 (Hearing concluded at 10:05 a.m.) 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 25 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 5 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 6 COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified 10 Shorthand Reporter, do hereby certify that the 11 foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the 12 within proceeding. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related to any of the parties to this action by 15 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 16 interested in the outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 18 set my hand this 27th day of February 2008. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 26 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified Shorthand 10 Reporter and a Notary Public in and for the State of 11 New York, do hereby certify the aforesaid to be a 12 true and accurate copy of the transcription of the 13 audio tapes of this hearing. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ----------------------- CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25