SAMUEL L.

RIVERS
30 Rockledge Avenue  Mount Vernon, NY 10550  (914) 760-8136  samuelrivers@gmail.com

May 5th, 2010

New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct
6100 Broadway, Suite 1600
New York, New York 10006

Dear Sir/Madam:

I hereby respectfully request that your honorable body initiate an immediate investigation into Mount Vernon City Court
Judge Adam Seiden.

Judge Seiden has engaged in conduct that is in violation of opinions issued by the New York State Bar Association's
Committee on Professional Ethics and the New York State Court system's Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics.

In 1992, the above mentioned bar association directed that part-time judges should not appear before zoning and planning
boards in municipalities where they serve.

Judge Seiden has represented numerous applicants before the City of Mount Vernon Planning and Zoning Boards.

Some of the properties that Seiden has represented applicants before the planning and zoning boards are: 520 E. 3rd Street;
24-26 E. Devonia Avenue, and 440 Franklin Avenue. There are many more.

At the time Judge Seiden appeared before the zoning board, the applicant, Ralph Tedesco, was Commissioner of buildings
for the City of Mount Vernon. The applicant of 440 Franklin Avenue, Terrence Horton, is currently the Commissioner of
Public Works for the City of Mount Vernon.

Judge Seiden was successful for all of the above mentioned applicants that appeared before the zoning and planning boards.
However, the City of Mount Vernon and the applicant for 520 E. 3rd Street are facing legal challenges in New York State
Supreme Court from a neighboring business who contends that the project was rushed through without appropriate review
from city officials.

Sincerely,

Samuel L. Rivers

cc: New York State Bar Association Committee on professional Ethics

cc: New York Court System Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics
cc: Press
Copyright 2008 - Journal News, The White Plains, NY - All Rights Reverved

MOUNT VERNON - Associate City Judge Adam Seiden has represented several development projects
before the Mount Vernon planning and zoning boards in apparent violation of ethics guidelines for
judges.

Seiden said yesterday that he was unfamiliar with opinions by the New York State Bar Association's
Committee on Professional Ethics and the state court system's Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics
until the issue was brought to his attention Friday by The Journal News.

He said he has written to the advisory committee asking it to reconsider.

"But if they uphold (the opinion), I can't do that work and I won't do that work," he said, adding that he
would not take on any new clients until he heard back from the committee.

In 1992, the state bars' committee directed that part-time judges should not appear before zoning and
planning boards in municipalities where they serve because of the potential for the appearance of
impropriety. The Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics issued similar opinions in 1990 and 1998.

The concern was that public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary could be damaged if a lawyer
appearing before those boards was also a judge within the same governmental entity.

Seiden stepped down from the Mount Vernon Board of Education in 1995 to become an associate city
judge. He is also a past president of the Westchester County Bar Association. He said he began doing
land-use work only in recent years and probably has represented 10 to 12 clients before the boards
during that time.

He recently won zoning board approval for several variances that would permit a 14-story, 150-foot
apartment building on East Third Street, where the zoning prohibits buildings taller than 30 feet.

That ruling is being challenged in state Supreme Court by a neighbor who contends the project was
rushed through without appropriate review by the city.

Full-time judges may not practice as lawyers, but part-time judges can. Seiden said it never occurred to
him to ask whether he could be a judge and appear before the planning or zoning boards because the
City Court has no jurisdiction over them. "I never even thought about it before," he said.

He said it was not uncommon for his clients to come before him on other matters when he is a judge
and that he recuses himself.

The opinions warning judges not to take on clients in land-use cases in their communities are advisory
and neither the state bar nor the advisory committee has enforcement power.

Violations could be reported to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Reach Jonathan Bandler at jbandler@lohud.com or 914-694-3520.

Copyright 2008 - Journal News, The White Plains, NY - All Rights Reverved

MOUNT VERNON -A condominium proposal developed by the newly appointed Department of Public
Works commissioner is before the city Planning Board and on its way to being approved.

Terrence Horton, president of QFI Inc., the city-based property development and real estate
management company behind the project, was appointed to the city post last month. But he says the
approval of the project has nothing to do with him being commissioner.

The Roosevelt at Franklin, a 12-story condominium complex with 42 units, is designed to offer upscale
amenities at affordable prices for the city's working class.

"The process to develop this has been three years in the making. I have committed myself to this project
before accepting the post," Horton said. "My commitment is to the city and not about making money."

The public hearing for the project has closed, said Ralph Tedesco, the Planning Board chairman. A final
vote will take place either later this month or during the next scheduled meeting in April, he said.

Horton was appointed by Mayor Clinton Young.

Tedesco, who also is the city's building commissioner, said the project preceded Horton's appointment.
He said if there was a conflict, the board would have addressed it.

Horton's attorney in the matter is Adam Seiden, a city judge who has represented several development
projects before the city's planning and zoning boards in violation of ethics guidelines for judges.

Horton, whose brother, Steven, is a long-serving councilman, said he has always been dedicated to
bringing affordable and quality housing to the city.

He said his commitment to building in the city is sometimes not very profitable for him. When he
worked on a Third Street initiative for the city several years ago, he didn't make a profit, he said.

The Roosevelt will be one of the few housing options designed for law enforcement, teachers and civil
service workers, Horton has said.

The $14.5 million project at 450 Franklin Ave. had an original completion date of August, although
Horton now says he is holding off on starting construction as he reconsiders the asking value of the units
because of the current state of the housing market.

The building is expected to offer amenities such as concierge services, a fitness center and an executive
conference room. Its original expected asking prices were said to be $260,000 for a one-bedroom unit
and about $375,000 for two-bedroom condos.

QFI previously developed Union Lane, Franklin Crest and Canterbury Commons, other residential
developments in the city.

Reach Desiree Grand at dgrand@lohud.com or 914-696-8456.

Copyright 2008 - Journal News, The White Plains, NY - All Rights Reverved

MOUNT VERNON - The son of the city's former Democratic Party chairwoman got bailed out over the
holiday weekend on a drunken driving case - a benefit not afforded three others who were held on
misdemeanor charges at the same time.

Nahshon Halevi, 34, was released on $500 bail Monday morning by Associate City Judge Adam Seiden
even though police and court staff had not yet determined whether he had a criminal record. The other
three defendants in the same situation had to wait in the police holding cells until Tuesday morning to
be arraigned.

Halevi, a deputy city marshal, is the son of City Marshal Serapher Conn-Halevi, who headed the
Democratic Party until stepping down this spring.

Halevi was arrested early Sunday at a police checkpoint at Fourth Avenue and Third Street. Halevi was
charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, after failing field sobriety tests and registering a
blood-alcohol level of 0.11 percent. He also was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, a
violation, after police said they found an envelope containing what appeared to be marijuana in his back
pocket.

Judges generally will not arraign defendants and set bail on misdemeanor charges if police or the court
have not been able to confirm whether there are outstanding warrants through a criminal-record check.
The record, or rap sheet, is obtained by computer from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services
after the police forward a suspect's fingerprints.

Halevi and eight others arrested Saturday and Sunday were held by police until Labor Day morning,
when Seiden handled weekend arraignments. Two men charged with robbery, a felony, were arraigned
and sent without bail to the county jail. Rap sheets were available for three others charged with
misdemeanors, and they were arraigned. One man was held as a fugitive from a justice warrant.

The three others who were not arraigned were Michael Anderson and Arkey Brown, who were charged
with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, respectively, following an incident
Saturday morning; and Wayne Wright, who was charged with third-degree assault for allegedly
punching and kicking a man early Sunday morning.

The files for each of the four defendants without rap sheets Monday morning showed that the same
documentation was provided by police on each: the misdemeanor charge and a brief narrative of the
accusations.

Seiden, an appointed judge who is a Democrat, explained that the difference with Halevi was that his
was a traffic offense and that he used the defendant's state Department of Motor Vehicles record to
justify arraigning him, said David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the New York state court system.

"He had no information on the others, and they did not have driving offenses," Bookstaver said. "He had
enough information to comfortably arraign (Halevi) and set bail."
The driving record told Seiden whether Halevi had any prior license suspensions or DWI convictions. It
could not reveal whether he had a criminal record or the existence of any arrest warrants for him, some
of the factors which judges rely on when setting bail.

A review by The Journal News of all the court calendars for weekend or holiday arraignments this year
showed just one other DWI case, on Feb. 16. Seiden released the defendant on $400 bail. A check of the
file for that defendant could not determine whether Seiden had the defendant's rap sheet when he set
bail.

Anderson, Brown and Wright were released Tuesday morning following their arraignments.

Halevi, who is a broker at Four Seasons Real Estate Center, also returned to court Tuesday morning. His
driver's license was suspended, and the case was adjourned until Sept. 16.

He faces up to one year in the county jail if convicted. His lawyer, Tameka Coverdale, refused to
comment about his case on Friday.

Both Halevi and his mother were appointed to their marshal positions by the chief judge of the City
Court, Brenda Dowery-Rodriguez. The marshals carry out court-ordered evictions in the city.

The Division of Criminal Justice Services computer check would have revealed no criminal record for
Halevi. He was arrested in New Rochelle in early 2005, charged with criminal mischief and harassment
following a complaint by the mother of his three children. The woman, Shoshana Woodbine, was
identified in court papers as Shoshana Halevi and described as his ex-wife. Later that spring, the case
was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. When Halevi stayed out of trouble for one year, the
charges were dismissed in the summer of 2006.

The Journal News has written a series of articles about Conn-Halevi and her family this year. A political
fund she ran, the Chairwoman's Trust, paid her and her daughter, Naomi, $20,000 in 2007. Conn-Halevi
got a permit from the city building commissioner - who also is the Democratic Party treasurer - to
renovate her fire-damaged home on California Road without the necessary architectural board approval.
Her daughter was getting federal rent subsidies even though county records listed her as the owner of
the California Road home. And Nahshon Halevi's company, Front Page Realty, was paid $162,000 in
brokers fees by the county Department of Social Services over a four-year period.

That included a payment to find Woodbine and their children a federally subsidized apartment; $15,000
in fees while Nahshon Halevi worked for the DSS; and $12,000 in fees while he worked for the county
Planning Department, an apparent violation of that office's policy.

Reach Jonathan Bandler at jbandler@lohud.com or 914-694-3520.