The Pacifica Foundation has agreed to a settlement with the Empire State Realty Trust to pay off debt and relocate the transmitter for its station in New York City, the foundation announced Thursday.
ESRT sued the foundation in February 2017 over late rent payments for the transmitter for Pacifica’s WBAI. A judge ruled in October that Pacifica owed ESRT more than $1.8 million in unpaid rent.
Pacifica was able to secure a loan from nonprofit lender FJC to pay off its debts, some of which had accrued since the October judgment, according to the release.
ESRT will release Pacifica from the last two years of its lease agreement as of May 31.
The foundation said it is in the “final stages” of an agreement to move the WBAI transmitter to a new transmission site at 4 Times Square.
The Pacifica board is also launching a search for a permanent executive director.
FJC gave Pacifica a $3,7 million loan to pay off ESRT even though Pacifica cannot qualify for the loan and has demonstrably no way to pay back the loan. One seriously wonders how this happened.
Also, Pacifica’s CFO quit. The outside auditor will finish up the overdue FY2016 before the CFO leaves but will not do the FY2017 audit (already a year late). It’s easy to put a happy face on a press release but it looks like a lot of lipstick on somebody’s pig.
Elected a new government on your radio show nationally and through your listeners!! Could you get 150+ million people to sign-on???