Law Office of John J. Tormey
III, Esq.
John J. Tormey III, PLLC
1636 Third Avenue, PMB 188
New York , New York 10128 USA
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
www.tormey.org
NEW REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (“FOIA”)
Monday, May 5, 2025
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
FEMA-FOIA@fema.dhs.gov
Deanne Criswell, Administrator
Andrew D’Amora, Acting Regional Administrator – Region 2
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
P.O. Box 10055
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-8055 USA
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
askia@fema.dhs.gov
FEMA-R2-ExternalAffairs@fema.dhs.gov
Colt Hagmaier, Esq. – Office of the Chief Counsel
Donald Caetano, Acting Deputy Regional Administrator – Region 2
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Grant Program
P.O. Box 10055
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-8055 USA
Re: The
Village of Piermont, New York – All Comprehensive Plan Grant Documentation
Dear Administrator Criswell,
Attorney Hagmaier, Mr. D/Amora, Mr. Caetano, and Colleagues:
Without limitation to the further specificity of my
itemized queries hereinbelow, this FOIA request seeks all Records relating to
the Village of Piermont, New York’s Comprehensive Municipal Plan alias
“Comprehensive Plan” or “Comp Plan”, including without limitation all grants
sought or obtained in connection therewith and all applications and entreaties
therefor since January 1, 2018.
The background on this FOIA request is as follows. The
Village of Piermont and its finances have recently been under New York State
Comptroller “Risk Assessment” scrutiny. Additionally, the Village of Piermont
just rammed-through a rushed draft uncorrected Comprehensive Plan by a
unanimous 5-0 Board of Trustees vote this past Tuesday evening, April 29, 2025
at Piermont Village Hall in Piermont, New York. Yet the Piermont Comprehensive
Plan appears to have been kicking around with minimal activity for years prior
to that. The so-called Piermont “Comprehensive Plan Committee” or “CPC”
continued to kick that proverbial can down the road until the more recent
fervor of activity over the past several months. The reasons that lame-duck
Mayor Bruce Tucker and his Village Hall cronies rammed-through the Piermont
Comprehensive Plan on Tuesday night were: (1) to seek to bootstrap-in a harmful
real estate development at 447-77 Piermont Avenue to be built over the site of
a former Sunoco gasoline station that had underground gasoline tanks, as well
as (2) to avoid the requirement of generating an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) in favor of a Negative Declaration (“Neg Dec”) instead.
Yet, a third reason for the bum’s-rush that Piermont
residents suffered on Tuesday night, is the most alarming and the most
directly relevant to you and your agency. Videos of April’s Board of
Trustees meetings on April 15, 2025 and April 29, 2025 at Piermont Village Hall
are linked here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPRpiePQSEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYpJIEuOb5w
At these meetings, Piermont’s publicist-planner Maximilian (“Max”) Max Stach of the Nelson Pope Voorhis firm spoke to the public and the Village Board of Trustees, on behalf of the Village and Village Board. Mr. Stach admitted that the Village of Piermont was in jeopardy with respect to Comprehensive Plan grant monies. Mr. Stach further indicated, by admission, that Piermont needed to rush its Comprehensive Plan - not simply to obtain future prospective grant money, but in order to not be forced to refund Comprehensive Plan grant money back to the original grantor.
This was an astounding admission against interests for
Stach and Piermont to make in an open tribunal.
Why would any governmental agency such as yours confer
Comp Plan grant money to a village, but only if subject to a naked promise of a
full or partial after-occurring “rebate” or “refund’ if the Comp Plan was later
unapproved or otherwise failed? A condition subsequent? Unless Piermont failed
to match and then lied to you about it, that confounds logic and makes no
sense. I am therefore concerned that the Village of Piermont may have already
made off with grant money previously paid over to the Village of Piermont by
one or more other government entities - perhaps yours – and perhaps predicated
upon a prior written Village misrepresentation that the Piermont Comp Plan had
already been approved, or was somehow already in effect.
Well, it hadn’t.
Therefore, this letter is not just a FOIA request. It
is also a demand for an investigation of the Village of Piermont by your
agency.
The Village of Piermont appears to have been
less-than-transparent with its residents as to the amount of Comprehensive Plan
grant money it has applied for and obtained over past years. To my knowledge,
the Village of Piermont never posted its Comp Plan grant applications
themselves to the Internet or social media. Therefore, I am back-tracking
through the list of agencies that the Village of Piermont “credited” in the
textual acknowledgments of Piermont’s latest draft Comp Plan, and I am serving
this FOIA request (or FOIL request, in the case of New York State agencies)
upon all of you. When I obtain the Records in response, I will publish them for
all Piermont residents to review in the interests of the First Amendment and
investigative journalism. I will also likely forward copies to a few friends in
a few other “agencies”.
I am an attorney in New
York, and a citizen and resident of the Hamlet of Pearl River, the Town of
Orangetown, and the County of Rockland.
Under Title 5 of the United States Code, Section 552 (5 U.S.C. §552) (“FOIA”):
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/552
request is hereby made that your offices timely provide to this, my law office, full, complete, unredacted, and otherwise unexpurgated copies of each and every document and other item of material dated, generated, or otherwise materializing from January 1, 2018 forward to the present day (collectively, “Records”) which may be at all responsive to the following:
1. Grant Solicitations. All Records
constituting, reflecting, or otherwise referencing requests, solicitations,
applications, amendments, bids, or other inquiries seeking grants, awards,
loans, commendations, funds, matching funds, or other things of value in
connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
2. Grant Monies. All Records constituting,
reflecting or otherwise referencing payments, grants, awards, loans, funds, matching
funds, commendations, recognitions, other things of value, or rebates,
refunds, economic penalties, or fines, in connection with the Village of
Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
3. Grant Conditions. All Records
constituting, reflecting, or otherwise referencing “ground rules” or other
pre-conditions for payments, grants, awards, loans, funds, matching funds,
commendations, recognitions, or other things of value in connection with the
Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
4. Audits. All Records constituting,
reflecting, or otherwise referencing any audits or other follow-up on payments,
grants, awards, loans, funds, matching funds, commendations, recognitions,
or other things of value in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York
or its Comprehensive Plan.
5. Piermont Entities. All Records
reflecting or otherwise referencing any Piermont, New York non-profits,
commissions, societies, alliances, associations, boards, or other associated
entities including the following, and including without limitation all e-mails
and other communications to or from these entities, in connection
with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan:
-Piermont Comprehensive
Plan Committee (alias the “CPC”).
-Piermont Civic Association.
-Piermont Historical Society.
-Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance.
-Village of Piermont Planning Board.
-Village Of Piermont Zoning Board Of Appeal (ZBA).
-Village of Piermont Waterfront Resiliency Commission.
-Nelson Pope Voorhis and “Planner” Maximilan (“Max”) Stach.
6. Piermont People. All Records
reflecting or otherwise referencing any of the following individuals in
connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan:
-Mayor Bruce
Edward Tucker alias “Bruce Tucker”.
-Sylvia Welch – “Grant Writer”, “Commissioner For Funding And Development”, and Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Maximilian (“Max”) Stach of the Nelson Pope Voorhis firm.
-Barbara Scheulen - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”, and President, Piermont Historical Society.
-Rod Johnson - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Klaus Jacob - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Paul Kadin - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Chris Sanders - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Lino Sciarretta, Esq. - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Mark William Blomquist - Deputy Mayor and Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-“Richard Owen Burns” alias “Rob Burns” alias “Dick Burns” - Ex-Piermont NY Village Trustee
-Christine McAndrews - Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Rondi Marie Casey alias “Rondi Casey” - Ex-Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Nathan (Nate) Mitchell - Piermont NY Village Trustee and current Mayoral Candidate.
-Michael Emerson Wright alias “Michael Wright” - Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Jennifer DeYorgi Maher - Piermont NY “Chief Fiscal Officer”, “Treasurer”, “Village Clerk”, and “Registrar of Vital Statistics”
-Michele Marzo, Piermont NY Deputy Clerk, Treasurer.
-Sylvia Carbonell, Piermont NY Village Clerk.
-Maggie Cavanaugh - Clerk, Piermont NY Building Department.
-Charles (Charlie) Schaub, Piermont NY Building Inspector and “Flood Plain Manager”.
-Joe Knizeski, Assistant Piermont NY Building Inspector.
-Christian (Chris) Catania, alias “Christian Charles”, Piermont NY “Clerk to the Boards”, “Administrative Assistant Building Clerk”, and “Secretary of the Planning and Zoning Boards”.
-David Levy, Piermont NY Planning Board “Chairman”.
-Daniel Spitzer, Ex-Piermont NY Planning Board Chair
-Ed Nelson – Ex-Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Jerry Warshaw – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Kim Stiefel - Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Don Guyton – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Mary Kirby – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Jacey Raimondo – Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-David Kristiansen - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Adra Bubesi Mounier – Ex-Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Usha Wright – “Chairman”, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Walter Cain – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Kevin Timoney - Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Peter T. Metzler – Ex-Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Dr. Philip Tierno – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Gregg Manzione – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Rochelle Spooner - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Molly MacQueen - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Joanne Ottaviano - President, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Margaret Grace - President Emeritus, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Mary Lukens - Vice-President, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Greg Barrett - Treasurer, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Dan Sherman - Vice President, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Steve Kulovits - Secretary, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Betsy Franco Feeney - Board Member, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Lola Esnard - Board Member, “Piermont Historical Society”.
7. Other Grantor Agencies. All Records
reflecting or otherwise referencing any other governmental entity grantors including
those below-listed, in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its
Comprehensive Plan – and including without limitation all e-mails and other
communications to or from these agencies.
-New York
State Department of State (NYSDOS).
-New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) “Smart Growth Community Planning Program”.
-New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) “NYS Smart Growth Program”.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Grant Program.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), DEC SDVOB Compliance Unit
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), SDVOB Program
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), MWBE Program
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Hudson River Estuary/Hudson River Programs
-New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
-New York State Environmental Protection Fund.
-Empire State Development (ESD).
-New York State Water Resources Institute – Cornell University.
-Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland County.
-Climate Resilience Partnership.
-U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
-New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR).
-All New York State Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs).
-The Town of Orangetown, New York.
-Rockland County, New York.
-The Rockland County Department of Planning.
8. Title 11. All Records reflecting or
otherwise referencing Title 11 of the “Environmental Protection Fund” in connection
with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
9. Downtown Revitalization Initiative. All
Records reflecting or otherwise referencing the “Downtown Revitalization
Initiative” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its
Comprehensive Plan.
10. NY Forward Program. All Records
reflecting or otherwise referencing the “NY Forward Program” in connection
with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
11. Brownfield Opportunity Area. All
Records reflecting or otherwise referencing the “Brownfield Opportunity Area” in
connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
12. Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.
All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing the “Local Waterfront
Revitalization Program” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or
its Comprehensive Plan.
13. Federal Funding CFDA #97.047. All
Records reflecting or otherwise referencing “Federal Funding CFDA #97.047” in
connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
14. Buzzwords. All Records reflecting,
or otherwise referencing the following in connection with the Village of
Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan:
adaptation
adoption
budgeting
citizen input
climate change
community development
community facilities
economic development
elevation
environmental development
flood plain
flooding
goals
implementation recommendations
infrastructure
land use
mitigation
outreach
parking
planning
revitalization
SEQR
SEQRA
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (“SWOT”) reports and analyses
sustainability
transportation
workshops
zoning
15. E-Mails And Correspondence.
Specifically, I am seeking all Records of any e-mails, memos, notes, correspondence,
documents, or other writings to, from, referencing, or otherwise relating to the
Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
16. All Other Records. Specifically, I
am seeking all other Records of any other kind or nature relating to the
Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
17. Definition Of “Records”. “Records”
should be construed in the broadest sense and manner possible and should
include any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or
for your agency or office in any physical form whatsoever, including without
limitation all audio recordings, blog posts, correspondence, data maintained
electronically, data, e-mails, executive summaries, extracts, faxes, instant
messages, Internet posts, letters, log-book entries, memos, paper records,
personal messages, social media communications, spreadsheets, summaries,
synopses, telephone records, test-reports, visual recordings, and any other
materials. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2).
18. Headings. The headings to numbered
Items #1 through #21 herein are for convenience of reference purposes only, and
should not be construed to be words of limitation or otherwise of any
substantive significance relative to this FOIA request.
19. Costs. If there are any copying or
other fees for this, please let me know what they are and how they are
calculated, before filling the request and forwarding the Records to me. As
this FOIA should be considered a matter of public importance, and as its results
will be shared with the general public, I am asking that any
otherwise-applicable fees be waived for this document-production, as further
indicated in the attached “Exhibit A – FEE WAIVER REQUEST” incorporated by
reference herein and made a part hereof. I am also asking that all documents be
provided to me electronically to the full extent possible, so as to obviate the
need for any photocopying expense.
20. Timing. As you know, the Freedom of
Information Act requires that any agency, including your own, respond to a
request such as this one within twenty (20) days of receipt of the request. In
the event that any portion of my request is denied, please inform me of each of
the specific reasons for any such denial in writing - and provide me with the
name, address, and other contact information of the person or entity to whom an
appeal should be directed.
21. Additional Requests. This FOIA
request is not intended to be exhaustive, and I may need to make additional or
follow-up requests.
I will appreciate a response from you and your office
as soon as possible. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Respectfully, and with thanks,
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
John J. Tormey III, PLLC
1636 Third Avenue, PMB 188
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
www.tormey.org
Monday, May 5, 2025
FEMA-FOIA@fema.dhs.gov
Deanne Criswell, Administrator
Andrew D’Amora, Acting Regional Administrator – Region 2
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
P.O. Box 10055
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-8055 USA
askia@fema.dhs.gov
FEMA-R2-ExternalAffairs@fema.dhs.gov
Colt Hagmaier, Esq. – Office of the Chief Counsel
Donald Caetano, Acting Deputy Regional Administrator – Region 2
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Grant Program
P.O. Box 10055
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-8055 USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPRpiePQSEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYpJIEuOb5w
At these meetings, Piermont’s publicist-planner Maximilian (“Max”) Max Stach of the Nelson Pope Voorhis firm spoke to the public and the Village Board of Trustees, on behalf of the Village and Village Board. Mr. Stach admitted that the Village of Piermont was in jeopardy with respect to Comprehensive Plan grant monies. Mr. Stach further indicated, by admission, that Piermont needed to rush its Comprehensive Plan - not simply to obtain future prospective grant money, but in order to not be forced to refund Comprehensive Plan grant money back to the original grantor.
Under Title 5 of the United States Code, Section 552 (5 U.S.C. §552) (“FOIA”):
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/552
request is hereby made that your offices timely provide to this, my law office, full, complete, unredacted, and otherwise unexpurgated copies of each and every document and other item of material dated, generated, or otherwise materializing from January 1, 2018 forward to the present day (collectively, “Records”) which may be at all responsive to the following:
-Piermont Civic Association.
-Piermont Historical Society.
-Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance.
-Village of Piermont Planning Board.
-Village Of Piermont Zoning Board Of Appeal (ZBA).
-Village of Piermont Waterfront Resiliency Commission.
-Nelson Pope Voorhis and “Planner” Maximilan (“Max”) Stach.
-Sylvia Welch – “Grant Writer”, “Commissioner For Funding And Development”, and Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Maximilian (“Max”) Stach of the Nelson Pope Voorhis firm.
-Barbara Scheulen - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”, and President, Piermont Historical Society.
-Rod Johnson - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Klaus Jacob - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Paul Kadin - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Chris Sanders - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Lino Sciarretta, Esq. - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Mark William Blomquist - Deputy Mayor and Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-“Richard Owen Burns” alias “Rob Burns” alias “Dick Burns” - Ex-Piermont NY Village Trustee
-Christine McAndrews - Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Rondi Marie Casey alias “Rondi Casey” - Ex-Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Nathan (Nate) Mitchell - Piermont NY Village Trustee and current Mayoral Candidate.
-Michael Emerson Wright alias “Michael Wright” - Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Jennifer DeYorgi Maher - Piermont NY “Chief Fiscal Officer”, “Treasurer”, “Village Clerk”, and “Registrar of Vital Statistics”
-Michele Marzo, Piermont NY Deputy Clerk, Treasurer.
-Sylvia Carbonell, Piermont NY Village Clerk.
-Maggie Cavanaugh - Clerk, Piermont NY Building Department.
-Charles (Charlie) Schaub, Piermont NY Building Inspector and “Flood Plain Manager”.
-Joe Knizeski, Assistant Piermont NY Building Inspector.
-Christian (Chris) Catania, alias “Christian Charles”, Piermont NY “Clerk to the Boards”, “Administrative Assistant Building Clerk”, and “Secretary of the Planning and Zoning Boards”.
-David Levy, Piermont NY Planning Board “Chairman”.
-Daniel Spitzer, Ex-Piermont NY Planning Board Chair
-Ed Nelson – Ex-Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Jerry Warshaw – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Kim Stiefel - Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Don Guyton – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Mary Kirby – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Jacey Raimondo – Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-David Kristiansen - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Adra Bubesi Mounier – Ex-Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Usha Wright – “Chairman”, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Walter Cain – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Kevin Timoney - Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Peter T. Metzler – Ex-Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Dr. Philip Tierno – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Gregg Manzione – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Rochelle Spooner - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Molly MacQueen - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Joanne Ottaviano - President, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Margaret Grace - President Emeritus, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Mary Lukens - Vice-President, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Greg Barrett - Treasurer, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Dan Sherman - Vice President, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Steve Kulovits - Secretary, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Betsy Franco Feeney - Board Member, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Lola Esnard - Board Member, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) “Smart Growth Community Planning Program”.
-New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) “NYS Smart Growth Program”.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Grant Program.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), DEC SDVOB Compliance Unit
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), SDVOB Program
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), MWBE Program
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Hudson River Estuary/Hudson River Programs
-New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
-New York State Environmental Protection Fund.
-Empire State Development (ESD).
-New York State Water Resources Institute – Cornell University.
-Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland County.
-Climate Resilience Partnership.
-U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
-New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR).
-All New York State Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs).
-The Town of Orangetown, New York.
-Rockland County, New York.
-The Rockland County Department of Planning.
adoption
budgeting
citizen input
climate change
community development
community facilities
economic development
elevation
environmental development
flood plain
flooding
goals
implementation recommendations
infrastructure
land use
mitigation
outreach
parking
planning
revitalization
SEQR
SEQRA
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (“SWOT”) reports and analyses
sustainability
transportation
workshops
zoning
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
- - - - -
EXHIBIT A – FEE WAIVER REQUEST
Freedom Of Information Act – Fee Waiver Request
Monday, May 5, 2025
Under 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6), 17 CFR §200.80(f)(1):
1. Disclosure Is Not In My Personal Interests. I am not a “Commercial Use” requester. Disclosure in this case is not at all in the interest of me, the requester. 5 U.S.C. Section 552(a)(4)(iii). The disclosure will not further any commercial interest of mine. While I am an attorney in New York, I am not pursuing this matter for any client, and I represent no client in this matter. Rather, I volunteered to assist the people of the small Village of Piermont, New York out of my own initiative without being asked, pro bono and solely out of my own pocket, as an environmental and community advocate, watchdog, and private citizen - once I realized in April 2024 that Piermont was being threatened by a crooked village government, a corrupted mayor, over-development, and environmental harm. To date I have spent thousands of dollars out of my own hard-earned money for expenses to pursue the matter at hand, and I will not see any of it back. See, e.g., Coalition for Safe Power v. U.S. Dep’t of Energy, Civ. No. 87-1380PA, slip op. at 7 (D.Or. July 22, 1988) (citing Better Gov’t Ass’n v. Department of State, 780 F.2d 86, 94 (D.C. Cir. 1986)).
Therefore, the public interest in disclosure is far greater than my non-existent commercial interest as requester under 17 CFR § 200.80(g)(12). I have no commercial interest whatsoever in this matter.
2. Disclosure Is In The Public Interest. Disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest, and disclosure will contribute significantly to operations and activities of the government, both federal and state. Again, I am in the process of exposing a corrupted local village government and local village mayor in the State of New York. The mayor is named Bruce Edward Tucker, and the Village of Piermont is within federal (FEMA and EPA) jurisdiction. Whenever I obtain results relating to the Piermont matter, I blog them to my own Google Blogger blog, to between 10 and 300 local Facebook pages, to Twitter/X, and to BlueSky, at minimum. I also e-mail blogs to individual Piermont residents, and they are approximately 2,500 in number. Examples of such blog entries are below, and many thousands of readers have viewed these entries:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com
See, e.g., Friends of the Coast Fork v. U.S. Dept. of Interior, 110 F 3d. 53, 55 (9th Cir. 1997).
3. The Requested Records Concern The Operations And Activities Of The Federal Government. The subject matter of the Records that I request of FEMA concern the operations and activities of the federal government – namely, the manner in which FEMA interacted with and oversaw, or did not interact with and oversee, the Village of Piermont on Comprehensive Plan grant matters.
4. The Requested Records Will Be Informative And Increase Understanding Of Government Activities. The requested Records will be meaningfully informative on those operations or activities so that their disclosure will contribute to increased understanding of specific operations or activities of the government. Right now, there are 2,500 residents of Piermont, New York, many of whom are waiting to see what FEMA will reply to today’s May 5, 2025 FOIA request. They read my blog and my other social media posts on a regular basis, as indicated by my Google Blogger statistics. Many of them want to know what oversight the federal government, in the form of FEMA, may or may not have exercised over Mayor Bruce Tucker and the Village of Piermont, New York. See, e.g., Better Gov’t Ass’n v. Department of State, 780 F.2d 86, 88-89 (D.C. Cir. 1986); McClellan Ecological Seepage Situation v. Carlucci, 835 F.2d 1282, 1284-1286 (9th. Cir. 1987).
5. Disclosure Will Contribute To The Understanding Of The Public At Large. Disclosure will contribute to the understanding of the public at large, rather than the understanding of the requester or a narrow segment of interested persons alone. My blog, for example, is worldwide, and not just limited to Piermont, New York residents:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com
How the Piermont matter resolves will be
precedential with respect to every other local village government in New York
State, and indeed every other local village government within the United States
of America. My cause to bring out the truth about Piermont village government
and Mayor Bruce Tucker’s malfeasance, has already been picked up by media, and
these news outlets also transmit world-wide:
https://rocklandnews.com/unhand-piermont-mayor-bruce-tucker/
https://patch.com/new-york/nyack/discussion-continue-controversial-piermont-apartments-proposal
6. Disclosure Will Contribute To Public Understanding Of Government Operations And Activities. Disclosure will contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities - namely, the manner in which FEMA interacted with and oversaw, or did not interact with and oversee, the Village of Piermont on Comprehensive Plan grant matters. The residents of Piermont, and members of the public generally, want to know and have a right to know what oversight the federal government in the form of FEMA may or may not have exercised over the Village of Piermont on Comprehensive Plan grant matters.
In closing, as set forth hereinabove, I have borne the burden under FOIA of showing that the fee waiver requirements have been met. I have provided you substantive information relating to all of the six (6) factors to be considered under the statute.
I am not a “Commercial Use” requester.
Respectfully submitted,
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
https://rocklandnews.com/unhand-piermont-mayor-bruce-tucker/
https://patch.com/new-york/nyack/discussion-continue-controversial-piermont-apartments-proposal
6. Disclosure Will Contribute To Public Understanding Of Government Operations And Activities. Disclosure will contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities - namely, the manner in which FEMA interacted with and oversaw, or did not interact with and oversee, the Village of Piermont on Comprehensive Plan grant matters. The residents of Piermont, and members of the public generally, want to know and have a right to know what oversight the federal government in the form of FEMA may or may not have exercised over the Village of Piermont on Comprehensive Plan grant matters.
In closing, as set forth hereinabove, I have borne the burden under FOIA of showing that the fee waiver requirements have been met. I have provided you substantive information relating to all of the six (6) factors to be considered under the statute.
I am not a “Commercial Use” requester.
Respectfully submitted,
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
