Frank Castiglia: Ask Me No Questions

by Contributor | September 3, 2020 10:14 am

Ask me no questions?
On September 1st I attended my first City of Fulton Common Council meeting sense the new administration took office.
Things have changed a lot.
Due to the pandemic and an anticipation of a large attendance the meeting was moved to the community room.
There were more people than I had seen in a while other than when big issues arose.
The meeting started out with a very inviting nature.
It ended shortly after I addressed the Common Council.
I attended the meeting because of the issue of the sale of City Owned Property.
The reason I have such a great interest in the sale of City Owned Property is that in most cases they are sold to out of City and some times out of State buyers (Carpet Baggers-as I call them). They purchase the property at a rock bottom price and rent them out and make a small fortune off taxpayers’ dollar. In the mean time they because they don’t live in the city, they let the property become run-down therefore causing a domino affect in the entire neighborhood. Causing quality of life issue and costing the taxpayers a ton of money with public safety issues.
Also, property is sold in an effort to gain P.I.L.O.T. agreements. These are a way of life and are accepted if they generate enough jobs to off-set the agreement and the loss of tax dollars.
I asked questions about the sale of four properties.
361 N.1st Street
505 Utica Street
215 W.1st Street S.
308 Erie Street
I wanted to know if the properties were going to be assessed at the sale price or the assessed value listed on the Oswego County Real Property Tax Rolls.
I wanted to know if they were going to be owner occupied or rentals.
I already knew who three of the owners were going to be and two of them owned other rentals in the city.
One owns two, two family properties and they are not what anyone would like to have in their neighborhood. Therefor depreciating the values of all the properties around them. This is what causes the value of the city to decline and solid taxpaying residents to leave. We will soon become the rental capital of Central New York.
One of them owns 28 other properties in the city and of those properties 5 of them were listed as 2 family houses as early as 2013. All five have multiple bedrooms and bathrooms and more than one mailbox. Causing one to question the fact that the city has them listed as single-family homes. This causes the questions to be asked about how much money is the city losing in rental permits.
Well when I asked the questions as to whom they were being sold, I was given a very short and to the point answer. “You will find out when we bring that resolution forward” to that I said “Yes I know but when you bring it up then I won’t be able to ask any questions, so I’m asking now”
I asked the same question again and it was like I was talking to the wall or speaking a foreign language.
I then requested that when they make deals like in the past with these buyers on giving them a break on the assessed value you say no. This statement was answered at the end during the Mayor’s chance to speak.
I was told that my time was up and sit down.
I felt like a CNN reporter at a prominent politician’s press conference.
The difference is one has the right to end and not answer questions and the other really doesn’t have that authority in that one is holding a press conference and the other is sitting in a Common Council Meeting, and is only there as an official that is to make sure Roberts Rules are followed. According to PML (public meeting law) the Mayor is only there in a legal capacity it is a Common Council meeting and the president of the CC is to be in charge not the mayor.
So, go if you so choose to any Fulton Common Council meetings and speak your mind but if you ask questions that a leader feels are offensive to the authority of that leader, be ready to not have your question answered.
This from a leader that ran on a “Transparency” platform.
Well that didn’t take long to abandon.
So, ask me no questions.

-Frank Castiglia Jr
Fulton Taxpayer.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/frank-castiglia-ask-me-no-questions/

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