Venditto: Claims by Mall Giant 'Malicious'

This story was written by Joe Dowd. 

Supervisor John Venditto urged Oyster Bay residents to reject "malicious falsehoods" now being perpetrated in a mass public information campaign financed by mall giant Taubman Centers, Inc. 

In a detailed interview with Patch, Venditto on Wednesday contested point-by-point recent assertions by Taubman and it's affiliate, Long Island Jobs Now, which is trying to build a mega-mall on Robbins Lane in Syosset, a battle now raging for two decades between two mall giants.

Oyster Bay has sold an adjacent parcel of land to Taubman's rival, Simon Properties, Inc., pending the approval of the voters on Aug. 20. If the sale goes through, the town's finances will be significantly improved, town officials said.

"Taubman has perverted the process to keep alive their misguided attempts to build their mall that the people of Oyster Bay don't want," Venditto told Patch. "When the truth is not on your side they have to make up the truth, make up a  juvenile story, and its frankly insulting to the intelligence of our residents."

Venditto's continued his scathing rebuke, saying: "Taubman is seeing this slip away from them and our residents are more intelligent than Taubman gave them credit for."

Among Venditto's key points were: 

• Oyster Bay negotiated for nine months with Taubman over the land in question. Simon's offer was a better deal for the town. None of the negotiations were conducted in a "backroom" but, rather, in an effort to get the best price for an outdated tract of town land.
• Claims that money transferred at Tuesday's meeting were part of a "slush fund" were "ridiculous...Part of me hates to dignify these lies with a response." Venditto said the town was paying legal fees to its law firm which, in part, is defending the town against Taubman's multiple lawsuits and also for their work negotiating with both Taubman and Simon.
  
• Venditto dismissed claims that the town could not meet its expenses if the proposition fails. He repeated that a contingency plan is in place and the town will meet its financial obligations.
  

For the past two weeks, Taubman's forces have begun blitzing local media outlets and employing robo-calls, urging Oyster Bay residents to vote against the land sale. Recent radio advertisements were placed on WCBS News Radio, targeting Oyster Bay voters. WCBS has a signal that reaches nearly 100 miles in all directions from Manhattan. 

Many Patch readers have said they are confused by Taubman's campaign and don't understand the claims being made. The town, in turn, sent out a town-wide flier explaining their position. It is available here on their website.

The latest salvo came Wednesday, when Taubman affiliates made claims of a  "suspicious" transfer of town funds. 

"(Tuesday’s) vote by the Oyster Bay Town Board raises serious questions about whether the Town is illegally funneling taxpayer money into a slush fund to pay for its campaign to sneak this bad deal past the taxpayers,” said Kyle Sklerov, spokesperson for Long Island Jobs Now.

The statement came on the heals of a Bloomberg Businessweek report that said the land deal is vital to the town's financial future. If the deal is defeated by the voters, its bond ratings could be lowered again, making it more expensive for Oyster Bay to borrow money, Bloomberg reported.

For some time, Taubman's team has repeatedly called the sale a "backroom deal," cut quickly by the town with Simon despite Taubman's offer to pay more for the 54-acre site than any competitor. 

Their forces garnered the signatures necessary to force a referendum on the land sale. That came at the same time a Suffolk County Judge ruled against Taubman, saying the town acted "legally, appropriately and reasonably," in its sale to Simon.

But Venditto said the town negotiated for nine months with Taubman over the town's DPW property. Far from a "backroom" deal, all of Taubman's offers contained the caveat that they would be granted the necessary permits to build their mall. 

That, said Venditto, was a deal-breaker. The DPW property would serve partially as the super mall's giant parking lot.

"We told them (Taubman) that was not going to happen," Venditto said. "The people of this town don't want that mall and it's not going to happen on my watch."

During the same time frame, Venditto and town lawyers were negotiating with Simon, who continued to increase their offers for the DPW, admittedly to keep their competitor from building, he said. Eventually, Venditto and town officials decided $32.5 million was a good deal for its DPW property; the property was assessed at $25 million.

Simon doesn't want a mall on that site; only a small portion of it can be developed for housing or similar uses. 

The town is not required to open up land sales to competitive bidding or even take the highest bid. State law allows townships to make decisions in the best interest of its citizens, Venditto and other experts said.

The vote is not a referendum on building the mall. If the land sale is approved (a "Yes" vote) the town would get $32.5 million from Simon, money Venditto said would be used to offset rising costs and keep taxes low. 

Voting "No" would merely be a rejection of the sale of Oyster Bay's DPW complex off the Long Island Expressway in Syosset, the parcel adjacent to Taubman's land. 

The town board has made it clear they will not grant the necessary permits to build a mall on Robbins Lane regardless of the outcome. Whether the sale goes through or not, a legal battle could continue over the site, once occupied by Cerro Wire.  

"If there is one message above all it is to make sure our residents come forward to vote 'Yes,' not only to stop Taubman from building a regional shopping mall in our town, but to send a message to Taubman that this kind of behavior won't be tolerated in the Town of Oyster Bay," Venditto said.