Riverside Info Tag: RCA

Riverside Info Tag: RCA http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ Discussion Forum for Riverside Illinois en Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:50:47 +0000 spatny on "Fiscal Emergency / Wextrust / Arcade Building" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/fiscal-emergency-wextrust-arcade-building/page/18#post-15444 Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:48:30 +0000 spatny 15444@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ Good news. Sounds like something we can all support. In cas you didn't see this... the CEO of Wextrust got some job security from the Feds: "New York - WexTrust Capital LLC co-founder Joseph Shereshevsky was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding victims of at least $9.2 million as part of a Ponzi scheme. Shereshevsky, 54, and WexTrust co-founder Steven Byers were charged in 2008 with lying to investors in their now-collapsed real estate fund. Many of their victims were members of the Orthodox Jewish community. The penalty was at the top of the range suggested by federal guidelines. Byers was sentenced to more than 13 years in April. “Mr. Shereshevsky very much had a controlling role in this criminal enterprise,” U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin said in a hearing today in Manhattan. “Although he purports to be a religious man, he preyed on his own community.” Shereshevsky, the former chief operating officer of Chicago-based WexTrust, pleaded guilty to mail fraud, conspiracy and securities fraud in February. Chin said today that victims may have lost more than $20 million. Prosecutors claimed Byers and Shereshevsky told investors they planned to buy residential and commercial properties in Illinois, North Carolina, Wisconsin, New York and elsewhere. Instead, they paid investor returns and financed unrelated projects, the government said Earlier in today’s hearing, Shereshevsky admitted that he had destroyed the lives of some WexTrust investors. “The bottom line is that I knew what I did was wrong and I did it anyway,” he said. Shereshevsky choked up at times while reading his statement and asked the court for mercy. Chin also order him to pay restitution of $7.89 million and to forfeit $9.2 million from his criminal activities. Then in August Judge Chin struck again: This is from the AmLaw bulletin: "August 25, 2011 7:28 PM Judge Scrutinizes Legal Fees in WexTrust Ponzi Scheme Case Posted by Sara Randazzo It's been a tough month for law firms looking to be paid for their work on the receivership case connected to WexTrust Capital, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm that collapsed in 2008 after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two of its executives with running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 1,200 primarily Orthodox Jewish investors. According to the SEC, WexTrust Capital illegally diverted $100 million of the $255 million it raised to invest in commercial real estate, commodity funds, and South African diamond mines for other purposes. In addition to raising concerns about the proposed hiring of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman as insurance coverage counsel on the matter at an early August hearing, Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has also limited fee awards to several firms working on the case and rejected what he said was too lenient a settlement with a Chicago law firm accused of malpractice by the WexTrust estate. (Chin continues to oversee the case, filed in Manhattan federal district court, though he was elevated to the appellate bench last year.) In a court order filed Wednesday, Chin recognized the "diligence, competence, and skill" of ther various professional services firms working on the matter, but also said he was troubled that the WexTrust estate has paid more than $15.5 million to those firms so far—"more than three times the approximately $5 million paid to the victims." Of that $15.5 million, more than half has gone to Dewey & LeBoeuf, the former firm of court-appointed WexTrust receiver Timothy Coleman. When Washington, D.C.–based Coleman jumped to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in March 2010, he took the WexTrust work with him. Chin ruled Wednesday that Dewey has received enough money from the estate for now and denied the firm's latest fee request, its tenth, for $666,605 covering its work on the matter from November 2009 to June 2010 (Dewey says approximately $23,000 of that belongs to Coleman). According to Chin's order, he will reconsider Dewey's fee request when the case concludes. A fee request from Freshfields for work done between March 2010 and December 2010 fared better. Chin approved payment of $155,479, including $17,438 billed by Coleman specifically. The approved amount reflects a previously agreed upon 50 percent holdback of the firm's already discounted fees. Freshfields, too, can apply to receive the balance of its fees at the conclusion of the case, Chin ruled. In his order, Chin did express concern over Freshfields's rates which, even factoring in its agreed-upon 35 percent discount, still run between roughly $179 and $634 an hour. It wasn't the first time this month that the judge raised the issue of high law firm billing rates in connection with the case. At an August 3 hearing to discuss a proposed settlement with Much Shelist Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein, a Chicago law firm facing a malpractice suit for its work representing WexTrust on securities matters before it collapsed, Chin considered a request from Coleman to hire Kasowitz to help pursue professional liability claims against Much Shelist's insurance company. "Kasowitz Benson is a terrific law firm, an expensive law firm," Chin said at the hearing, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Then he asked, "Do we need Kasowitz Benson here?" Chin questioned whether Kasowitz's fees would consume a significant portion of the $13 million Coleman had proposed hiring the firm to recover, the Virginian-Pilot reports. A number of defrauded investors filed court papers objecting to Kasowitz's hiring. In one such letter, an investor pointed to the proposed hiring of Kasowitz as continuing "the pattern of draining excessive fees from the estate for the benefit of the lawyers." The question of Kasowitz's hiring may be moot for now. On Wednesday Chin also denied the proposed settlement that would have allowed Kasowitz to go after Much Shelist's insurer. The proposed settlement, filed with the court on May 6, suggests that it would be futile to try and extract any money from Much Shelist directly and would only generate more litigation-related legal fees for the estate. Chin took issue with that position, pointing to a public record showing that Much Shelist generates more than $15 million a year in income. Chin, according to Wednesday's order, objected to the proposed settlement's leniency, saying it "would not require Much Shelist to pay even a nickel" and would bar any future claims from being brought against the firm over its WexTrust work. He also questioned why Much Shelist should be able to keep $2.38 million it collected for work done between January 2005 and December 2008 for the investment fund. In Wednesday's order, Chin also approved $35,133 in fees for Arent Fox, and $262,760 for real estate adviser Badger Real Estate. Chin has expressed concern about skyrocketing legal fees since the beginning of hearings. In December 2008, the judge asked Dewey to explain its billing practices, including why it should be paid $2.2 million for 20 days of work. The following month, he slashed that bill by 20 percent. Dewey later reduced its fees even further because of a lack of returns for WexTrust victims. In attempting to recover some of the defrauded funds, the receivership got into at least one battle over where it's going to recover that money. The Am Law Daily reported in February 2010 that a group of 77 commodity pool investors claimed Dewey seized a $17.6 million fund unrelated to the fraud in order to pay itself millions in legal fees. " The first month Coleman filed for charges in the millions and Chin was after him, and he hasn't stopped yet. CuriousResident on "Fiscal Emergency / Wextrust / Arcade Building" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/fiscal-emergency-wextrust-arcade-building/page/18#post-15442 Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:25:11 +0000 CuriousResident 15442@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <a href="http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=8319&TM=47991.21">Coffee shop slated to open in Arcade Building Urban Leaf and Bean shooting for Christmas week opening</a>! spatny on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/6#post-15200 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:15:32 +0000 spatny 15200@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ You mean because I am against this "jobs" project? It will create jobs for years and years, decades to come, as we try and fix what it causes. On our own dime. anonymous on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/6#post-15196 Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:35:54 +0000 anonymous 15196@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ This is amazing. I'm in. <blockquote>Why are we wasting $5-7 million on a project like this when the dam - a block of concrete sitting in the water that would last another 50-100 years - isn't broken? People here are up in arms about wasteful spending and taxes rising that they can't afford, but nobody says anything about this boondoggle. It's not someone else's money - it's yours. If you want to turn the gravy train around you have to start somewhere. </blockquote> Better watch it spatny---you're sounding a lot like a conservative! spatny on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/6#post-15195 Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:10:15 +0000 spatny 15195@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ I went up there today and nothing repeat nothing is being done. No one is working. No vehicle, nobody around. The staging area is empty, deserted. We should not allow any work in Riverside until we see what the results are at Armitage. We should say, " Finish up there and lets see what the results are before you come down here and tear up the parks" No more of this "Hurry up-Use it or lose it BS." Suspend the easements in Riverside pending the completion and an unbiased appraisal of the results up there. Isn't that only prudent? The Feds kicked in $5 mil for this nonsense. The State of Bankruptcy $2.6. They awarded contacts for $3.1 mil total. They have spent more than $2 mil paying themselves for a plan that was never finished. Ask them a hard question about sediments - how much or how will it be removed and they still say stuff like "The Contractor will ascertain that." Ask them to do better quality work in the Swan Pond and they say "It's too expensive." So where is the money? I filed a FOIA with the State andthey told me if I wanted to see it I had to come to Springfield. I asked our homegrown Comptroller three times to look into this and never even got the courtesy of a reply. We should go to court and ask that a competent Outcome Assessment be prepared by a neutral party and then vetted by our Commissions before anything is done. This is your Village, your Historical Landmark, your park they are screwing with. Why will no one join me in this effort? "Steve Jobs said, "Don't be trapped by dogma." He also said, "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." This Village is recognized worldwide as a masterpiece of design, created by a genius. Why are we allowing this profound alteration of that work to be altered without even the benefit of architectural input? So somebody upstream can fish differently than he does now? And one more thing... as Steve used to say: Why are we wasting $5-7 million on a project like this when the dam - a block of concrete sitting in the water that would last another 50-100 years - isn't broken? People here are up in arms about wasteful spending and taxes rising that they can't afford, but nobody says anything about this boondoggle. It's not someone else's money - it's yours. If you want to turn the gravy train around you have to start somewhere. Where the heck is our vaunted Comptroller and fiscal conservative on this? She can't even take the time to get us the numbers. These agencies have crapped around with this deal for more than a decade and still haven't finished the details. No Village Commission has passed on this plan, which is nothing like the only one we ever saw back in 2006. How long do you need to wake up? anonymous on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/6#post-15190 Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:15:02 +0000 anonymous 15190@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ "That's kind of one of our hopes," Zuercher said. but Zuercher said the dam is simply no longer necessary. "This dam is a very small dam. It's not one that has a big impact on the river," he said. "It's really more of an ecological restoration project." We're spending how much money that we have to borrow from China, at great cost, because they are HOPING that removal of the dam should give a boost to recreational fishing. Are you kidding me? spatny on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/6#post-15189 Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:27:15 +0000 spatny 15189@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ These arguments are getting to sound weaker and weaker... "Armitage Dam, which is located just north of River Forest on the Des Plaines River, is slated to be fully removed by mid-October. That change in the river should increase the overall health of the river, as well as increase the number of fish downstream from the dam. "There will be [an] ecological benefit," said Jeff Zuercher, the project manager from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the removal project. Zuercher said the dam is so small that residents won't notice much of a distraction during removal, and the impact won't be great enough to affect flooding in River Forest. But the removal of the dam should give a boost to recreational fishing. "That's kind of one of our hopes," Zuercher said. "There should be an increase in some fish species." Zuercher said the project began early this month and if the weather cooperates, should be completed by next month. There won't be any negative affect on the village, but Zuercher said the dam is simply no longer necessary. "This dam is a very small dam. It's not one that has a big impact on the river," he said. "It's really more of an ecological restoration project." Reconsider. It's not too late to say "NO, thank you." spatny on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/6#post-15140 Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:31:22 +0000 spatny 15140@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ From the Landmark: <a href="http://rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=8072&TM=76508.8" rel="nofollow">http://rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=8072&TM=76508.8</a> <blockquote> 10/4/2011 10:00:00 PM Email this article • Print this article Phase two of Hofmann Dam contract awarded Illinois Constructors Corporation wins with $2.64M bid By BOB UPHUES Editor On Friday, Sept. 30, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $2.64 million contract for phase two of the Hofmann Dam removal project to Elburn-based Illinois Constructors Corporation. Illinois Constructors will be responsible for notching the center 150 feet of the Hofmann Dam, stabilizing and planting the exposed riverbank and regrading Swan Pond Park and making other improvements, including repairing the park's concrete retaining wall and installing a walking path along the riverbank. </blockquote> This story gets worse and worse. There is little/no progress at Armitage, so why would we want them to come down here and tear up the park, put up a chain link fence and then wait until spring to remove Fairbank Dam? Like everything they do it makes no sense. They should have first gathered all their data definitively, then finish their plans, hash out their differences with the village, get approval for those plans from the commissions, then get their easements, come in and do the work in Swan Pond and at Fairbank first and then do Hofmann from the South Bank. This is all ass-backwards. Nobody knows exactly what is included in the contract, let alone what the contractor's plans are for operating here. They talked about this deal for over a decade, and after lots of starts and stops they identified this project as the "best buy" approach. Then the Feds put up $5.0 million, and the State chipped in $2.6 million. Then they half-finished some plans, came around with a "use- it-or-lose-it" pitch and got an easement with details to be supplied later, and awarded a contract in a big hurry to a company for $500K to take out Armitage and Fairbank last year. So far, very little accomplished except tearing a road through a Forest Preserve and stringing a cable across the river. Then they horsed around for over a year with dog and pony shows but produced no Outcome Assessment that anyone could verify, and now they have awarded a contract even though they don't know everything that will need to be done sediment wise, with the 1908 Dam removal, or even what the road will be in the Swan Pond. And where is the money going? $7.6 mil appropriated, two contracts for a total of $3.1 mil awarded, leaves $4.5 mil for what? I'm sure they have spent over $2 mil on engineering and other costs (in other words paid themselves) and there is still not a completed plan. But that should still leave $2.5 mil for changes and contingencies. So why do they say "that's too expensive" when we want something done right or ask them to do a design that won't cost us the loss of all those trees? And how much leverage do we have now that they have the easements? Will we be able to get the kind of job here that Riverside, a National Historic Landmark deserves? spatny on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/5#post-15130 Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:39:24 +0000 spatny 15130@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ A Suggestion for The new Swan Pond Path and Access Road I believe the Swan Pond access road that the Army Corps will build as part of the Swan Pond Park improvements phase of the dam removal project should do a couple of things: It should allow for a pleasant stroll along the river and be usable for people walking, pushing strollers, riding bicycles, roller skatering, etc., and should go from the sidewalk at the top of library hill all the way to the end of the park next to the bridge. I think this should be a hard, smooth surface - asphalt or macadam, and be only five feet wide and follow a more “Olmstedian course” - in other words meander rather than be some straight concrete driveway. Since there is also a need for access by emergency and maintenance vehicles I think it should have two outside strips of the type of grass block now in use for decades between Burling Road and the sidewalk that these vehicles have driven over in all weather. If a two foot wide strip of those blocks was added to each side of the center black top surface it would allow the wheeled vehicles a hard surface and yet, with grass grown up as it does now between the sidewalk and Burling Road, be all but invisible. This road should not go all the way to the bridge but exit on a slant to Fairbank road north of the monument stone and the trees there now, approximately across from 164 Fairbank.. This would allow entry or exit for police, emergency and maint. vehicles. The side strips of block would hold the edges of the blacktop in place and prevent erosion when there are floods and be maintenance free, and his would be far less visually invasive than the proposed 8 ft. wide concrete driveway the Corps was proposing. Right above where Fairbank Dam is now there should be a wye that would be a continuation of the blacktop strip only, for walkers and cyclists down to the end of the park at the bridge. We should also have at least two benches along the river path. I think we must insist that the Corps recognize the natural character of the park in their work. We need to insist they get this right. spatny on "Dam it!" http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/dam-it/page/5#post-15092 Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:09:15 +0000 spatny 15092@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ I just visited Armitage Dam, and nothing is going on. The safety cable they strung across the river is about a foot under water and snagging all the dead wood and debris that comes down rivert ,heir two boats are mired in a flotilla of flotsam - or is it jetsam - and they haven't made any progress and now, until the water recedes, probably won't. So I would think they will have to wait for spring to start down here.