A rumor Gossips heard last week but was asked by the source not to share has been confirmed by the Register-Star. Jeff Baker, counsel to the Common Council, has resigned: "Baker resigning as assistant city attorney." A reason for Baker's resignation was not given, but it's possible to imagine that Alderman Rebecca Wolff's public rebukes and allegations that Baker was dragging his feet on drafting inclusionary zoning legislation and the Council's disregard of his advice not to proceed so quickly with the "good cause" eviction law may have contributed to the decision.
Update: New information suggests that disrespect for his legal opinion played little or no part in Baker's decision to resign. There is more information to come.
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Nope, that's not the reason.
ReplyDeleteBetween the Council's monthly circus, the mayor being a shill for his robber baron landlord, and the City attorney's shady land transfer from Colarusso to her non-profit, Hudson is not a line I think anyone wants on their resume right now.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Cheryl Roberts also serve on the board at TSL? And doesn't TSL receive money from Colarusso?
DeleteAll eyes should be on Cheryl Roberts and her potential ethics violations.
Roberts should be shown the door along with Baker, who probably quit because he was being shown the door.
It’s all so obvious now the good ppl are jumping ship ! Sad .
DeleteWhat good people? I wouldn't call Jeff Baker or Cheryl Robert's that. Jeff Baker was our lawyer for the Rossman Avenue Association and jumped ship at the crucial point and became the Planning Board's lawyer instead. Cheryl Roberts sold us down the drain on the LWRP and hence it failed to pass the State's requirements. I can't believe the City hired them back for whatever. Puleese. Also looks like the other lawyers aren't too bright, not knowing what passed before, concerning Colarusso and the LWRP and the Zoning board decision of 2011 regarding alternative routes to the Wetland causeway 'road'.
DeleteYes, that's some story you have to tell about Baker and the Rossman Avenue Association. What kind of operator just dumps a client like that to join the other side. Just amazingly bad conduct.
DeleteBut all of your points are well remembered. What a curse many of Hudson's lawyers have been - some not all - but still very like a curse.
I certainly didn’t mean complicit Cheryl Roberts . I didn’t know the Baker story. So there’s not one honest person in this ship of fools. Why am I not surprised.
DeleteIs the circus in town permanently?
ReplyDeleteIt is worth noting that Baker had previously served as counsel to the Planning Board, and was moved out of that role as well.
ReplyDelete"Moved out." So polite.
Delete...at the insistence of the member of the Planning Board!
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ReplyDeleteIt was in May that a press release for the Greenburger Center's Wellness Hub announced a parcel "soon to be donated" by A. Colarusso and Son in Greenport. Cheryl Roberts, Executive Director of the Greenburger Center, should have recused herself at once, especially as the gift was still pending.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, is the donation still "soon to be"? Why didn't she recuse herself from any involvement with the Colarusso application ages ago?
Because anyone familiar with Roberts already anticipated her interference with the Planning Board's Colarusso application, last year I wasn't alone in my concern when she offered to personally tutor the board members in SEQRA issues. Naturally, she'd take the opportunity to finally explain her confusing Core Riverfront Zoning District law in a way that favored the applicant. (Thanks very much, but Ken Dow already sorted that mess!) In the end, though, there was no reason for concern. The Planning Board was already on to her and declined her generous offer.
Roberts is in denial, arrogant and blind to her conflict of interest. So we must tell her loudly (and somehow convince the mayor too). Informing NYS Attorney General Letitia James isn't a bad idea, but there are other ways of registering formal complaints for her sell-interested meddling, none of which will end well for her. This time Roberts has gone too far.