Progress vs. Gangsterism

The International Village Board of Directors election and annual meeting is just a week away, and the choice couldn't be any clearer. It’s a choice between continued progress and savings on the one hand – and a return to the high maintenance fees, special assessments and shady dealings of the past on the other.

Only three candidates – Colbert “Carl” Simmonds, Luis Jimenez and myself, John Labriola – have pledged to continue cutting spending to reduce maintenance fees. All three of us want to build on the successes of the last year, during which more than $1 million was saved, maintenance fees were reduced for the first time in decades, and the building renovations were resumed with no special assessment.

The remaining two candidates have not only made no promise to cut maintenance fees, but at least one of them – Ilan Weiss – appears to be running on a platform of rehiring AMG, the management company that gave us a convicted felon, Jason Levy, as property manager and engineered a $1.3 million special assessment and 27 percent maintenance fee increase over its two-year tenure. Not only has Mr. Weiss continued to give AMG an “A” rating even after Mr. Levy’s conviction, but he has repeatedly made statements suggesting he has no interest in investigating how much Mr. Levy stole from International Village or in recovering that money for the association. Listen to his own words HERE.  Apparently, Mr. Weiss wants to be on the board to represent the interests of the people who stole from the association and to interfere with our current efforts to get our money back from them. That shouldn't surprise us considering he was able to enrich himself off the association during AMG's reign of corruption while the rest of us suffered. (Mr. Weiss received $70,000 from the association in 2012-13 to settle two bogus lawsuits. Contrary to his lies at last Tuesday’s Candidates Night forum, he never gave the association back a penny of that money, but used it to line his own pockets and bragged that he had “won the lottery” to sue the Board again, which he did last year to "punish" the Board for firing AMG and Mr. Levy.) The final candidate, Petrina Smith, denied being associated with Mr. Weiss even though he threw an exclusive “Candidates’ Party” on Feb. 9 in the Olde Village Tea Shop to which she was the only other candidate invited. Although she began her Candidates Night presentation fairly well, she displayed some embarrassingly unprofessional behavior during the question and answer session, when she attempted to shout down another candidate.

Finally, many of you have heard that my apartment door lock was sealed with superglue the day of Candidates Night and had to be replaced. Someone apparently acted on Mr. Weiss’ now-infamous blast email in which he gave out my unit number and encouraged people to commit various acts of vandalism to my property, including soiling my entrance with dog feces, splashing paint on the door, and other acts of criminal mischief. When the police came, I showed the officer Mr. Weiss’ email, and I intend to press charges over this thuggish attempt to intimidate me. (The officer found it interesting that Mr. Weiss, who lives year-round in New York, was on the property when this incident occurred, although he comes to International Village only one or two days per year at most.)

Send a message in this election that you reject this kind of gangster-style politics. For continued progress, decency, and further maintenance fee reductions, please vote for John Labriola, Colbert “Carl” Simmonds and Luis Jimenez. Your vote must be received by Feb. 24, so if you haven't done so already, please drop it off at the association office or mail it in immediately. For more instructions on voting, click here. 

John Labriola
International Village Treasurer