The New Rochelle Armory is still standing and the Save Our Armory Committee (SOA) is continuing to contact Albany and the Attorney General about the deed to the Armory. The City of New Rochelle was given the Armory with specific guidelines which stated it was to be used for community purposes. Several members of the SOA committee at their April 27 meeting suggested that Councilman Lou Trangucci be asked to place a discussion about the Armory on the City Council agenda. Jim Murphy noted that if this Armory was destroyed, the only building left for veterans in the city would be the American Legion Post 8 building.
John Verni, legal counsel for SOA, told the committee that Forest City Residential’s contract with the City of New Rochelle was extended to January 2010. Scoping of the project should be completed. Information has to be current and the developer has to put money in an escrow account. The environmental study must be complete. Phase I consists of looking at the records of the sites to see if there were any spills or contaminated areas. Then in phase II the soil and other areas are tested. Ron Tocci, co-chair of SOA, suggested use of stimulus money to remediate the present City Yard. The PCB’s and “hot spots” at the former Con Edison substation and the surrounding areas were also brought up. It was also stated that the city has never applied for an easement fom the state for the proposed Beechwood Avenue city yard site.
Frank Jones asked what happens if the site is too polluted? Does Forest City Residential walk away? Ron Tocci,, co-chair of SOA, spoke of his alternate plan using the name, La Rochelle Village, which relates back to the original founding of the city by French Huguenots from La Rochelle, France. He is assembling an alternate plan which he feels is would a more positive way to develop the area. He recently visited the river walk in San Antonio, Texas, which annually attracts two million people.
The next SOA meeting will be held on June 15 when the Tocci proposal will be discussed.
[reprinted from Westchester Herald,May 7, 2009)
River Walk? I would invite
River Walk? I would invite the members and Ron Tucci to walk along the proposed La Rochelle site during a down pour. The area can only be accessed from the former Mancuso boat yard, the cement yard, the city yard, or Armory, so I’m sure it’s escaped the vigilance needed before such grandiose planes are proposed. Every manor of filth, oil, grease, trash, blood viles, dead animals, needles, condoms, emit from two massive storm drains that drain everything seen in the above photo. The often one foot thick mess of floating filth is homogenized by the 2 daily nine foot tides and eventually settles into the toxic PCB contaminated mud. I would suggest before tax dollars are squandered go there reach down for a hand full of this toxic soup and when you see your stained blistered fingers you would pause and agree the fundamental work of fixing the basement and removing the toxins are fundamental foundation before any project can be considered.