To
Whom It May Concern:
Unfortunately,
they are not the only groups being priced out of the facility. Many of the
schools and organization that have or desire to use the facility have the
similar concerns and complaints. They have continued to see their rental fees
increase each year, diminishing accessibility.
Paul
Griffin couldn’t state it any better when he said, “What is going on there is an
atrocity.” The 168th Street Armory has become a high profiting money-making
machine for upper management. Unfortunately, it seems that a facility and
programs intended for equal access has created an “If you can’t pay then you
can’t play” environment.
As
Dr. Norbert Sander points out, “this is the New York City track, the most famous
and best used indoor track in the country.” The track should be priority for the
children in New York City, but he has lost sight of his original goals. Armory
leadership has also lost sight that the facility has and will always be part of
the Washington Heights community.
“It
just happens to be in Washington Heights”?
Has
he forgotten how much the community and the community board have helped him over
the years? By the end of this letter, we are hoping that you will have a better
understanding of Armory management and policies.
1.
Background/History
a.
The Armory Foundation has an open-ended agreement with New York City and falls
under the Division of Homeless Services.
b.
The foundation does not have to pay a rental fee to the city nor does it have to
pay for heating, electricity, fire alarm or the sprinkler system services.
c.
Any emergency repairs to the building will be paid for by the City of New York.
The homeless shelter must remain in the building and occupies half of the first
and second floor.
d.
The original name of the Foundation was the Armory High School Sports Foundation
and its mission was to return New York City High School track & field to the
building. The name changed soon after the funding and local support was
achieved. As you may or may not know, track meets were held at the Armory going
back as far as the 1920’s but in the early 1980’s it became one of the largest
and most dangerous homeless shelters in the city. In the late 1980s, Dr Nobert
Sander and the Foundation fought to get the Armory back for the children of the
City of New York so they could once again participate in the sport of track
& field.
e.
Many of the major construction projects that you see happening at the Armory
have been funded by the City of New York as well as the state.
f.
The late Councilman Stanley Michaels, Councilman Robert Jackson, Assemblyman
Denny Farrell and Congressman Charlie Rangel have been huge supporters in
getting funding to the Armory. The installation of new windows, refurbished
bathrooms, air conditioning units and the recently refurbishment of the track
have all been funded by grants.
The
question that needs to be addressed is “Where do all the fundraising, rental and
admission fees go? Unfortunately, the obvious answer will be administrative
salaries, including astronomical rates of increase from year to year.
Reported
Salaries – (Form 990 – Return of Organization Exempt From Income 2010 –
2012)
Salaries
Other Compensation Total
2010 Norbert Sander $ 187,665.00 $ 20,947.00 $
208,612.00
Rita Finkel $ 83,396.00 $ 83,396.00
Total $ 292,008.00
2011
Norbert Sander $ 202,569.00 $ 21,208.00 $ 223,777.00
Rita Finkel $ 91,302.00
$ 91,302.00
Kimberly Ver Steeg $ 103,916.00 $ 103,916.00
Total $
418,995.00
2012
Norbert Sander $ 211,639.00 $ 21,422.00 $ 233,061.00
Rita Finkel $ 116,547.00
$ 116,547.00
Kimberly Ver Steeg $ 129,782.00 $ 6,892.00 $ 136,674.00
Total
$ 486,282.00
Form
990 – Return of Organization Exempt From Income 2010 – 2012
foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/133/133680286/133680286_201306_990.pdffoundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/133/133680286/133680286_201206_990.pdffoundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/133/133680286/133680286_201106_990.pdfThe
salaries you see above are for the top three earners. It does not include the
following management staff:
• Patrick Tomasiewicz – Director of Creativity
(estimated salary – $100,000)
• Kenny Dwyer – Building Manager (estimated
salary – $100,000)
• Tim Fulton – Director of High School Track & Field
(estimated salary – $90,000 – extra benefit uses armory timing equipment for
outside timing services for additional income
http://www.fultonaccuratetiming.com/about/ )
• Tom Healy – Director of Track
& Field (estimated salary – $80,000)
• Jack Pfeifer – Director of College
Track & Field (estimated part-time salary – $60,000 plus illegal rooming
accommodations at the Armory during the indoor track season)
• Clayton
Harding – Director of Armory Prep (estimated salary – $80,000)
The top nine
positions are close to one million dollars in salaries. Not included, are the
following full-time positions:
• office manager
• assistant office
manager
• track & field director
• assistant track & field
directors
• website director
• Information technology director
•
assistant director of creativity
• maintenance
• resident DJ’s and video
staff
• security
Examining this list, one must ask how many of these
positions are currently filled by minorities. How many actually originate or
reside in the Washington Heights community? How many live outside of New York
City?
Positions that are offered to members of the Washington Heights
community are typically seasonal and low paying. What is the percentage of
income/salary that is dedicated to local residents as opposed to the hierarchy
of the Armory?
• An unspoken practice at the facility occurs at the end of
the season; if you want employment the following year do not think about filing
for unemployment. (Various staff have been told this and others have been fired
for this reason – which violates federal law)
• Prime examples of this
practice can be seen with Ed Small and Sharon Warren. Mr. Small was the first
Director of track and field (13 years) and Ms. Warren served as his assistant at
the Armory. Both filed for employment insurance at the end of the track season
and both were soon fired.
http://masterstrack.com/2006/06/1147/Minorities
that have worked at the Armory and displayed satisfactory performances in their
positions have either been fired or have been “pushed out” for similar
actions:
• Ed Small – Director of Track & Field
• Sharon Warren –
Assistant Director of Track & Field
• Louis Vazquez – Director of
Operations
• Jamie DeFour – Office Manager
• Derrick Adkins – Director of
Track & Field/Armory Prep
• Christian Mariano – Technology Director
•
Aliann Pompey – Director Armory Prep
• Janine Davis – Assistant Director
Armory Prep
Research within the track & field community may find that
each one of these individuals have outstanding reputations and performance
records. In addition, none of the past employees received salaries similar to
the current top earners at the Armory, before their service ended.
2.
Returning to the topic of hierarchical salaries: How does the Armory Foundation
pay for them? As you may know, most grants and funding sources do not permit its
use towards employee salaries. Unfortunately, self regulated salary amounts at
the Armory Foundation are funded on the backs of the Washington Heights and the
greater New York City track and field community in several manners:
a. Track
& Field Event Rental Fees –
The
Armory charges fees for use of the facility. Most facilities charge an hourly
rate based on staffing, maintenance, security, clean-up and timing cost. If you
were to look at the entire contracts for the events nowhere would you find an
equal or standard hourly rate for any of these items. Each applicant or
organization is charged different rates, arbitrarily. Basically, the more the
Armory feels an organization can afford to pay the more they may be charged. Per
the Armory contract:
•
Fee Determination:
o Meet costs for each individual date is determined prior
to the signing of the contract.
o It is based on size of the meet and number
of hours required.
o Determination of the fee is dependent upon our knowledge
of what it will cost the Armory to provide the necessary equipment and services
for the organization to run the meet, while preserving the Facility at the same
time.
o Your invoice will be itemized showing the base rental fee, actual
costs for security, cleanup, automatic timing, supervision and any extras
requested by the Organization.
•
Overtime charges – All persons must exit the facility after the contracted meet
time, after which, overtime charges will apply. The Organization will be charged
at a rate of $1800 an hour for overtime.
Fees
for use of the Armory have steadily increased each year, along with the salaries
of administrative staff. Slowly, the New York City track & field programs
have continually been pushed off the schedule to make way for Westchester,
Rockland, Long Island, New Jersey, outside colleges and Armory events. An
examination of the Armory schedule will reveal that that most of the New York
City Public School PSAL events are squeezed in at the beginning or at the end of
the season, far from accommodating for the majority of our city’s young
athletes.
PSAL
Indoor Schedule
Sunday, November 30 PSAL Pilgrims Games – 9-5pm
Saturday,
December 6 PSAL Jim McKay Memorial – 9am-5pm
Sunday, December 7 PSAL Jim
McKay Memorial – 9am-5pm
Friday, December 12 PSAL Night at the Sprints –
4pm-9pm
Sunday, December 28 PSAL Holiday Classic – 9am-5pm
Friday, January
2 PSAL Distance Night – 4pm-10pm
Monday, January 19 (PSAL MLK Relays) Martin
Luther King Jr. Relays – 9am-7pm
Monday. February 9 PSAL Manhattan Borough
Championships – 4pm-9pm
Sunday, February 15 PSAL Borough Championships –
9am-10pm
Monday, February 16 PSAL Borough Championships – 6pm-9pm
Sunday,
February 22 PSAL Indoor Championships – 9am-4pm
Sunday, March 8 PSAL Freshmen
and Sophomore Championships – 10am-5pm
The
Catholic High Schools’ Freshmen and Sophomore City Championship had to move to
Saint Anthony’s High School in Long Island, since their normal date was given to
Westchester and Rockland County for their Championships. The meet was held at
the Armory since the facility first opened. Citing another example, the City of
New York (CUNY) Track & Field Championship, their requested championship
date was given to a New Jersey track & field association. CUNY was only
given their requested date for this season when political pressure was put on
foundation. The Armory is a New York City facility and has been funded by New
York City money then why is it not supporting the children of New York City?
Many local groups (for profit and not-for-profit) have been shut out of the
Armory and many of these groups can afford to pay the cost of hosting a track
& field event but they chose to give it away to non–NYC organizations as
indicated below breakdown.
The
Armory decided to put on youth events for middle school children but it you look
at the participation of children, you will notice that the majority are not from
the New York City area. The Armory has refused to offer functional access to the
youth organizations of New York City, which caters to the majority of youth
athletes in the 5 boroughs prior to their entering high schools. The youth
leagues have been forced to utilize venues of lesser quality. Ultimately, the
youth athletes enter New York City high schools, extending their limited access
to the Armory.
Meet
# 1
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=9240&mgroup_id=45586&year=2013
Meet
# 2
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=9248&mgroup_id=45586&year=2014
Meet
# 3
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=1734&mgroup_id=45586&year=2014
Meet
# 4
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=9279&mgroup_id=45586&year=2014
USATF-New
York, which caters to the youth of New York City had to hold their championship
meet at West Point. The majority of the student-athletes coming out of this
league will end up attending New York City high schools and colleges. Why are
they forced to travel so far to hold a championship?
http://ny.milesplit.com/meets/160705/results/282244
Armory
Schedule
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=events&mgroup_id=45586
Breakdown
of Armory Events
Armory/Sponsors NYC Based Events Non NYC Based Events Other
Not-For-Profit
NYRR 10 PSAL HS 15 Section 1/Westchester HS 14 Club Team Open
(NY) 1
Armory Foundation 9 CHSAA HS 4 Long Island HS 3 USATF NY Open
1
Staten Island HS 1 New Jersey HS 11 USATF NY Youth 0
Private NY Schools
HS 4 College Meets (NJ) 4 City Sports for Kids 4
College Meets (NY) 4 College
Meets (other) 4
HS Invitational’s 2 HS Invitational’s 2
Total 19 Total 30
Total 38 Total 6
b.
Admission Fees –The Armory charges admission fees for all events.
i. High
School\Youth Events – $10.00 per person – General Admission
ii. – $20.00 per
person – Reserved seating
iii. College Meets -$20.00 per person – General
Admission
iv. -$30.00 per person – Reserved seating
In
the beginning, each meet director made a decision on whether or not they would
charge an admission fee. The admission fee was collected by meet management and
the money was used to help defray the expenses of putting on their event.
Admission fee was $2.00 at the time and it also helped to provided security at
the front entrance. Dr Sander saw the opportunity to further profit from the
parents, friends, and families of competing athletes at the door and told meet
directors that his staff would now collect all fees at the gate. Initially, he
suggested that the gate would be split between the organization and the Armory
since he was providing the staff to supervise ticketing. The price of admission
went up to $4.00. The agreement lasted one year and now the Armory keeps all
profits from the gate, in addition to the fees for rentals. Last year, the price
of admission went up in January from $6.00 to $8.00 and no public announcement
or warning of the change was distributed in a timely manner. This year, once
again, the price has been increased and once again, no public sharing of the
change in policy is available. Like the salary increases of Armory Foundation
administration, the increases are too frequent, and unrelated to the rate of
costs, inflation, or services being provided. Many families can no longer afford
to come to watch their children compete at the Armory. The minimum wage in New
York State is $8.00 per hour in 2014. It would cost a family of four between $40
and $80 to watch their child run for 10 – 20 minutes. How many other local
facilities charge at the door? And if they do, what is the cost? Most are
usually free or at a reasonable fee with the exception of their state and
national championships.
High
School Fees:
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=576&mgroup_id=45586&year=2015
College
Fees:
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=577&mgroup_id=45586&year=2015
c.
Outside rentals and not-for-profits fees (non-track) –
i. An Armory motto has
become “if the not-for-profit has money, we should be charging them more and if
they want to come to the Armory they will find the money.” A perfect example of
this, which you mention in your article, was the Isabella Geriatric Center
Walking Works Wonders program. The free program was a perfect fit for the
Armory. It brought about 60-70 Washington Heights senior residents to the Armory
for a two day weekly program. The program started at 7:30am and was completed by
9:00am. Perfect time slots since most activities at the Armory were happening in
the evenings or on weekends. A good portion of the walking program was also
scheduled during the off season (September – November, April – June).
ii. The
instructor of the walking program was Lon Wilson, a top race walker in the New
York area. It was an excellent program that worked on the seniors’ flexibility,
strength and conditioning. Walking was a major component but some eventually
some started running towards the end of the program. You would think the walking
program would be a natural fit for the Armory. What better way to get support
from the residents of Washington Heights. Everybody understood that there are
staffing costs to run a facility and Isabella was willing to pay a rental fee
(not a donation) of $5,000 for about 70 hours of use per year. Dr Sander felt
that the fee wasn’t high enough and decided to increase the rental fee to
$15,000.
iii.
Why is this event being mentioned? The same thing is happening to the Harlem
Children’s Zone (HCZ). The HCZ has been running a three day track & field
event during the summer at the Armory for a number of years now. They have just
been told that they are not paying enough for use of the facility and have been
asked to pay $61,000 for next summer for their three day event. What can
possibly warrant this increase for an event serving our city’s youth during the
off season. When you have staff members that are working on commission it makes
sense. The more money that you bring in from rentals the higher your salary may
be at the end of the year. If the Armory feels an organization has money then
why not charge a higher rental fee. If you can’t afford the “suggested donation
(rental)” fee you cannot use the facility. What would the cost be to run this
event at another facility? I have only listed two examples but I am sure if you
ask other not-for-profits you will hear the similar stories.
d.
Registration (practice) fees – Registration fees can be broken down in a few
categories. Again, fees vary among organizational types, arbitrarily. Different
teams are being charged different rates to train alongside each other on the
same day. Many use the same equipment, have similar roster sizes, and train for
the same amount of hours.
Fees
& Registration
Fees are for the 2014-15 Indoor Season: Nov. 17, 2014 –
April 16, 2015
Membership Cost Notes
Youth Club $400/club From 5 to 30
athletes; $100 for each additional athlete
Youth Individual
$100/athlete
High School Team $900/school A school may sign up an unlimited
number of students
thanks to a generous grant from the New York Road Runners
If not for this grant from NYRR, what would the fee be for High School teams to
train?
High School Individual $100/athlete
College Team $200/athlete Per
number of athletes at any given training session
College Individual
$200/athlete
Adult Club $300/athlete
Adult Individual $300/athlete Day
rate on adult open days is $15/athlete.
Read
more: ArmoryTrack.com – Training –
Traininghttp://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586#ixzz3JHXH1ewo
Once
again, all of these fees continue to increase year after year. Many youth
individuals, seniors and New York City High School and college teams can no
longer afford to pay these fees.
Armory
Prep Program – The Armory College Prep (ACP) program extends a long-term
commitment of putting kids first by adding to the sports venue an after school
educational program to increase college opportunity for underserved New York
public school students. Educational attainment is more important to our economic
success than ever before, and achieving proficiency in Math and English has been
part of the Armory’s Academic Achievement Initiative for almost a decade,
providing complete college preparation and admission resources to our community
students.
As
you can see from the statement, which was copied right from the Armory Prep
website that this program should be open to any New York City public school
student.
http://www.armory.nyc/armory-college-prep/
Unfortunately,
as you read further down you will find that the ACP is now only open to students
who train at The Armory (pay a practice fee). Local education leaders, such as
Angelo Ortiz, director of school culture at the Inwood Academy, should be upset
that his Washington Heights students do not have the opportunity to participate
in this program. Wasn’t the program funded by New York City grant money? How was
the Charles Rangel Center funded? You would think that a wonderful facility like
the Armory would try to give something back to the community, but then again
“The Armory just happens to be in Washington Heights”. I am sure that a program
receiving funding requires accurate roster and attendance recording. How many of
the students enrolled are residents of the Washington Heights community?
A
large portion of Armory Prep was provided by Citibank as a sponsor and was meant
to be a free program but now you can only participate if you’re paying to
practice? They have also told coaches and athletes in Staten Island if they
chose to practice and compete at the new Ocean Breeze Track & Field Complex
in Staten Island then they cannot participate in the program, point blank.
Do
you know that Derrick Adkins (Olympic Gold Medalist), Aliann Pompey (4 time
Olympian), and Janine Davis were Directors or Assistant Directors of the ACP?
All are well educated, successful and motivated minorities and all of them were
either fired or forced out from the Armory. The new director of the program was
a member of the Armory Foundation Board. Very interesting, one must wonder how
this change happened to come about.
Other
items that might interest you:
•
Jack Pfeifer – Director of College Track & Field
o
Jack receives a full time salary and only resides in NY four months a year. The
other months he lives in Eugene, Oregon.
o
Jack lives at the Armory those four months with two assistants he brings with
him from Eugene.
o
The “apartment” has beds, a refrigerator, microwave, cable TV all being paid for
by the Armory. Or does the Armory pay an electric bill?
o
When the Department of Buildings arrives to inspect the facility, Armory
leadership ensures that boxes are thrown in the room and the “apartment” is
labeled storage.
Armory leadership finds the practice hysterical, laughs
publicly, and then brags about deceiving the DOB officials.
o The building is
zoned for homeless and not for individuals making high end full time salaries to
live there for free.
•
Employees using Armory resources and equipment to create their own businesses
during the off season, using timing equipment that costs $20,000 per camera. Is
there a conflict of interest agreement for the Armory?
•
During events of all levels; Youth, High School, College, and Elite Armory
administration use their own rules and do not follow the national organizations
guide lines for competition, even when stated in writing. Many of these
decisions are not ethical and in many circumstances they lie about results.
Their entire experienced timing staff has left and/or been fired (many
minorities other than those listed above) and were replaced by “friends” of
timing supervisors who have little or no experience. The experienced timing crew
was also asked many times to lie about results and make up times when the
Armory’s faulty equipment would fail.
•
They do not perform background checks on any of their employees, which are
required by New York City for anyone working with children. It is also required
by USA Track & Field.
•
Paying their staff
o
Many staff members over the years have experienced not being paid in a timely
manner, in fact some have worked for 6-8 weeks without being paid and not paid
until refusing to come to work. Workplace intimidation and discrimination is
evident, but getting Armory staff to admit this would be next to impossible. The
individuals being paid the high salaries are not being mistreated, those at the
bottom end and living locally experience less than perfect conditions,
often.
o
Others have worked events and then the Armory has refused payment due to their
contract error with the rental client saying that the rental client didn’t pay
for the service so they refused to pay the staff they hired. Is it the
administration’s responsibility to ensure payment for services to their
employees or is this a profit share company.
•
USA Track & Field National Hall of Fame
o
The Armory houses the Hall of Fame, which is a beautiful display of history but
it is closed 90% of the time. Visitors must pay to see the HOF, but the Armory
has made decisions to keep it closed because it is not profitable enough. Is
this a way to extend access to a national treasure of American Sports history in
our city? What has the Armory done to expand the exhibits, attract visitors, and
engage the local and visiting track communities in experiencing the hall?
o
The Armory claims that thousands of school kids have seen the displays and that
may be correct but each school trip or summer camp pays a high entrance fee to
bring the kids through the doors. It would be interested to survey the youth and
high school aged track and field athletes in New York City who have competed at
the Armory over the last 10 years. How many would say that they never had the
opportunity to visit the hall? Why is the hall not open for the first and last
two hours of every meet? Would the thousands of dollars collected for rental
fees, concessions, vendor/store rentals, door fees not cover a few additional
staff members to supervise children walking through the venue? Or even fund
guided tours by knowledgeable curators. I am sure there are hundreds of local
high school and college track enthusiasts, or even retired coaches and elite
athletes who would thrive in a part time employment opportunity to share sports
history with children. It may even fit into some of the grant and funding
sources that the Armory receives.
o
In the above tax returns, you would see they declared expenses for the Hall of
Fame 2010: Not listed, 2011: $398,426, 2012: $378,146
o
For a small area of the building that is never open nor has been updated in many
years how are expenses that high? The Hall of Fame area is usually rented out
for cocktail parties but they have the Hall of Fame listed as bringing in ZERO
income!
What
has happened at the Armory is a travesty to the children of Washington Heights
and the entire city of New York! Unfortunately, the Armory, “which just happens
to be in Washington Heights,” has forgotten about the needs of this community
and it has lost sight of its original mission.
A
change in leadership and policy is needed immediately and the only way that this
will happen is through informed pressure from our community, local politicians
and a boycott/protest of the prestigious Millrose Games. As Dr. Norb Sander and
company try to rally support at the upcoming community board meeting, it is
important that the information in this letter be shared and investigated. Our
children, our student-athletes, our coaches, parents, and residents deserve
better.
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