Whats the most disturbing in this NY Times article about the Ziffs, investors in Clean LIne ? 1- 60,000 sq. foot mansion? 2- Taking cornfields for their private domain? 3- Their sense of entitlement to the VIRGIN WOODS owned by the county? 4- Cutting rocks out of the park WITHOUT permission? 5- Hiding the fact heavy equipment had been in the park for months? 6- Raping the landscape? 7- Throwing a measly $15,000 at the people thinking they would grab at it? 8- Finally just wiring money to make the problem go away? 9- Never admitting wrongdoing? 10- Claiming the public benefitted because they would give PRIVATE tours? 11- VAGUELY saying that maybe someday it would be a park ?? GIVE. ME. A. BREAK. Our Towns; Citizen Ziff And a Rosebud Made of Stone By DAVID M. HALBFINGER Published: March 20, 2002 WHEN William B. Ziff Jr., the publishing magnate who built Ziff Davis into an empire of computer magazines, decided to build himself a Xanadu on a 1,000-acre hilltop in Pawling, N.Y., a few miles north of here in Dutchess County, he spared no expense. To erect his 60,000-square-foot mansion, Mr. Ziff and his three sons -- who sold the company for $1.4 billion in 1994 -- hired a contractor who had built homes for Guggenheims, Roosevelts, Rockefellers and E. F. Hutton. They hired Louis Gerstners and Sanford Weills roofer. They hired Steven Spielbergs interior lighting designer. Even more impressively, the Ziffs set out to sculpture their grounds into a world-class arboretum. On what neighbors say was once just a cornfield, they have created a naturalistic environment -- complete with newly dug lakes and reservoirs -- for countless species of flora from up and down the Eastern Seaboard. The Ziffs apparently also wanted the big boulders that would give their manufactured habitat the look of virgin woods. And here in Patterson, officials say, the Ziffs found just the rocks they had in mind: in virgin woods owned by Putnam County. In 1998 and 1999, a representative of the Ziffs twice asked for permission to cut rock out of a little-known preserve, the Walter G. Merritt County Park, a two-mile-long rectangle at the southern end of the Taconic Ridge where Putnam and Dutchess Counties meet Connecticut. The Ziffs offered $15,000 at one point, but Putnam officials declined. But while those talks were under way, and then again in 2000 after the countys second refusal, heavy machinery was spotted at work on the parks western edge. A little detective work revealed the machines had been there for months: Putnam officials traipsed through their woods and found roads cut, boulders sliced apart or removed, trees and shrubs missing. It looks like a comet went through there, said Sam Oliverio Jr., a county legislator. He just raped that area. The district attorney, Kevin Wright, began an investigation (it is continuing, he insists) and the county threatened to sue, estimating its losses at $6 million. Then, on Wednesday, County Executive Robert Bondi announced a settlement. He said Mr. Ziff and his sons had just wired $9.25 million -- a $1 million settlement and an $8.25 million contribution -- to the countys treasury. The Ziffs admitted no wrongdoing. THE windfall is more than 10 percent of the county budget. Mr. Bondi, who did not respond to several messages left at his home and office yesterday, plans to spend it mainly for health-care initiatives, including reopening a hospital in Cold Spring that closed a decade ago. Not everyone is happy about the arrangement. Mr. Oliverio, the county legislator, said he was sickened that Mr. Ziff could avoid jail time. He said the outcome confirms the worst that people with less money imagine about the rich. I guess you figure, if a person disagrees with your selling price for something, you go take it anyway, because in the worst case, youll pay more for it, he said. This money to Mr. Ziff is like me paying a 15 percent tip at a restaurant. Yet the damage he did can never be repaired. And Ted Kozlowski, a forester who lives in Patterson and is its environmental inspector, worried aloud that the damage to the park was not being remedied. Is this a case where the criminal is allowed to keep the stuff he stole? Mr. Kozlowski said. A spokesman for the Ziff family, Owen Blicksilver, said the incursion into Putnams park had arisen from confusion over a property line separating it from a Ziff-owned parcel. The Ziffs were embarrassed by the situation, admitted the mistake, and acted responsibly and quickly to correct it, he said. Besides, he added, nothing of value was removed other than some generic rocks. But Mr. Blicksilver would not discuss the scope or history of the arboretum project, which is still very much under way, to tell from the dozens of men who swarmed over the grounds yesterday. He said that the Ziffs had given tours to local garden clubs and would continue to, by invitation only. Members of the public who do not have an invitation are not advised to take a peek. A reporter who drove up the driveway seeking a foreman or family member to interview was stopped, questioned, threatened with trespassing charges, and ejected. Mr. Kozlowski, who was given a tour not long ago, noted that Mr. Ziff is not going to live forever, and said he hoped that the estate would one day become a park. This was better than anything Ive seen anywhere, he said. It would be a shame to see it lost in a sea of houses.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 16:05:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015