“I do remember that e-mail, I do remember the conversation, but I believe I was the one who called the Brennans,” says Mike Kelly, deputy director and counsel of the Nassau County Real Estate Planning and Development. “That’s how I recollect it.”
The Brennans also cite Local Law No. 14-2002, entitled “Participation by Minority Group Members and Women in Nassau County Contracts,” which requires women-owned businesses to be solicited.
“There’s an actual law that takes up six pages of the proposal from the county to us showing how they have to solicit women and minority businesses first and give them more time than the general public to prepare their bid to be able to compete in the male-dominated business,” says Brennan. “They’re going against their own law.”
The county says if the Brennans were given any preferential treatment it would be unfair, and it would be illegal.
“They asked for an extension and we did it,” says Kelly. “We have an RFP committee of six people and those people unanimously agreed to give the property to Cornell Cooperative. That’s the bottom line.”
Why do the Brennans think the county would purposely exclude them?
The Brennans believe the property was promised to Cornell at the time of its purchase years before, and that going through the RFP process was just a formality by the county to make it look like a fair and open bid.
It’s not so much that they lost the bid, say the Brennans, it’s that they feel they never had a chance at getting the property in the first place.
PLAYING DIRTY?
On March 2, 2009, a picture was posted on Norma Gonsalves’ website (normagonsalves.com), in which Gonsalves is seen standing next to Mark, alongside a statement announcing the county had bought the property. This was a full year before the RFP went out. The statement goes on to say, “The County will make significant improvements to the property including painting the historic house, replacing fencing, clearing debris, preparing soil for planting and much more. All improvements to the property are planned to enhance the historic integrity of the farm. Cornell University Cooperative Extension will also play a role in organizing and supervising the farm. [Emphasis added.] Growing and raising crops, as well as flower gardens, will be the basic uses of the land.”
The Brennans and supporters of the farm say the statement posted on Gonsalves’ site is undeniable proof that Cornell was promised the land from the beginning, before the RFP was ever released to the public.
“It’s amazing that a year before the bid she would know that,” says Sean Gill, a longtime patron of the farm. “It’s not a secret, it’s blatant—you can look at it on her Web page. People just have to discern whether or not that is a fair and open bid. They can make their own decisions.”
But Gonsalves denies she had any previous arrangements with Cornell.
“That had nothing to do with Cornell,” insists Gonsalves. “That had nothing to do with Cornell because Cornell was not in the picture at the time. I had absolutely no role in the bid process.”
But the Brennans don’t believe that.
“If it was someone else who bid and won, it’s irrelevant,” says Danielle. “But here Norma went public a year before and Cornell just happened to be the only ones bidding against us and the only ones who won the bid.”
Danielle worries there won’t be much farming going on once Cornell takes it over, that the farm will be more of a teaching model run by a big organization than an authentic functioning small-time farm.
“[Friendly Farms] is telling people that there will be no farming going on,” says Gonsalves. “There sure as hell better be farming, otherwise [Cornell] wouldn’t get it.”
And Nassau County denies any favoritism, saying they were actively seeking proposals from anyone and everyone from the very beginning.
“Our biggest fear when we put out an RFP is that nobody responds,” says Carl Schroeter, director of real estate for Nassau County. “Do you know how bad it is when the RFP deadline comes and not one person put a bid in and our bosses are screaming at us? It happens. We want people to respond to an RFP.”
A phone call made the decision to award Cornell the Friendly Farms property official, or as official as it was going to get, according to the Brennans. On Monday, Oct. 18, Schroeter called the Brennans to inform them Cornell Cooperative was granted the bid for the property. They still haven’t received an official letter—something the Brennans say they were promised—containing an explanation of why they lost the bid.