Assemblywoman Vivian Cook’s taxpayer-funded shopping sprees went beyond department stores.
The Rockaway Boulevard Local Development Corp., a nonprofit she founded and ran, spent $560,000 in 2006 to buy a derelict plot of land in Jamaica that remains a vacant eyesore.
The plot, on Rockaway Boulevard, was to house a business-resource center.
The Port Authority, which funded the purchase, wanted any construction work to go out to bid. The nonprofit objected, with Cook explaining, “Sometimes, we like to hire our own people.”
The PA had agreed to pay the group $8 million to mitigate the impact of the AirTrain’s construction on the community. By 2010, it had paid out $2.5 million.
But the PA cut off the funding in March 2010 after The Post revealed dubious spending by the group. The PA and feds opened a probe, and the nonprofit shut soon after.
“We have frozen the $5 million that has not yet been disbursed to this group,” PA Executive Director Patrick Foye said.
But the nonprofit hasn’t petitioned the state to dissolve, so the land remains in limbo. The group owes the city $12,670 in property taxes because it lost its exemption for the land.
Board members refused to comment. Cook did not return a call for comment.