dispute raises ruckus in Lackawanna
By Jay Tokasz

News Staff Reporter

Published:August 30, 2012, 12:09 AM


Abdulsalam Noman envisioned building a new home on the three parcels of land he purchased in 2009 for $1,500 from the City of Lackawanna.

There was one catch to the deal: Construction of the house was required within 18 months, or else the land would revert back to the city.

Those 18 months were up about a year ago, with no house built, which means the city once again owns the property on Ingham Avenue and James Street.

Noman, who was elected to the City Council later in 2009, hasn't given up on his plan to build a house on the property.

But the current 1st Ward councilman is now being accused by some residents of using the office for his own personal gain.

Noman has asked his fellow Council members to extend the so-called "reverter clause" on the purchase of the property so he can retain the land and have more time to build. The clause is attached to the sale of city properties to prevent land hoarding.

Noman's request was not acted upon at the council's August meeting. But it raised a ruckus anyway, with some residents charging the councilman with trying to skirt city laws.

"If it was me that bought the property, it would have been foreclosed upon a year and a half ago," said Andrea Haxton, a former 1st Ward councilwoman who is now one of the Council's primary gadflies.

Haxton, who was on the Council when Noman bought the property, said the city erred in the first place by selling the land too cheaply. The parcels along Ingham were assessed at $19,000 at the time.

During the Council meeting, Noman maintained he had assurances from city officials that he could appeal to the Council for more time to build. He also said the city has rarely followed through with the reverter clause on property it has sold. He speculated that the current mayoral administration was retaliating against him because he voted against Mayor Geoffrey M. Szymanski's proposed budget.

Noman did not return several phone calls from The Buffalo News seeking further comment.
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Wrong......this cheap deal has back-fired on them all..... the covenants are what they are........
( I have a hunch who is behind opening this can of worms up, but they are telling the truth, and the cover-up of what went down is just wrong ).........I did not start this and all my pleading to get more money for the CITY properties in 2009 fell on deaf ears. That is all I cared about.....pay the fair price, and he could "speculate" for 100 years , whatever. The lots total just under appr. 1/2 acre or so.

This mess that they created should have been dealt with a year ago........it has to do with doing the right thing and stop the behind the door self-serving deals for votes!

When I was on the Council I constantly fought to protect Citizens' hard-earned TAX dollars ......... now, I have to be careful how I say things, but here is the basis of my comments on the Councilmans agenda item a few weeks back.
And it is NOT personal against the person in the article, it has to do with poli-tricks and mis-management of Public Funds. I took an oath to defend it, and even as a Citizen I am still trying to do so.

As many of you know I have struggled with financial hardships which got me behind on my property taxes. I like many in Lackawanna/America find it hard to come up with the money to pay them so I refuse to condone any politricks with "The People's Money"!

January 2009 they put it on the agenda to sell him that property for only $1500.00. ALL of my peers voted yes, I vehemently said NO because I felt it was a gift of public funds and you don't mess with that! It closed in April 2009 and had a 18 month revert-er clause to return it to the City if he did NOT build by then. The Council Pres. said he was going to build a $200,000 house by the end of 2010.

The Assessor's rule of thumb for selling property was 33 1/3 % of the assessed value for an "UNBUILDEABLE" lot ( < 60 ft frontage) and 66 2/3 % of the assessed value of a buildeable lot (60ft frontage or >)......................

These contiguous corner lots were assessed at $19,000 by the City of Lackawanna Assessor. You can do the math.
The City......"US".......have been jipped---poli-tricked out of appr. $8000.00 or better.

The property should have REVERTED back to the City over a year now......under the same LAW that they sold it to him because he did NOT build.
Something is going on.....why has he not built like he promised them and why the double standard?
More politricks to the story AND why should self-serving deals be allowed, especially by an elected official?

I bet if others knew those parcels were for sale they would have paid the City more.....a lot more.
That $8000.00 or so would make a nice down-payment on a modern-handicap accessible swing set.....wouldn't it?!?