On November 10, 2009 Mr. Joseph Apicella, Cappelli Senior Vice-President, delivered an update on the LeCount Square project to the New Rochelle City Council. After touting the investment made to date, Apicella was questioned by members of council. Apicella fully acknowledged the probability of downsizing the project and the need to take another look at a full service hotel. Apicella also confirmed that the New Rochelle Post Office was a major stumbling block in that New Rochelle Revitalization, LLC (NRR) part of the Cappelli umbrella, is no closer to acquiring the post office then it was several years ago despite the efforts of Mayor Bramson who recruited Senators Schumer and Lowey to apply pressure. When Councilman Tarantino questioned Apicella about 5 Anderson Street Apicella stated NRR has exercised the option agreement and that NRR has “made any and all payments due.” The balance of Apicella’s presentation was filled with catch phrases; like to remain in the game… don’t have a magic bullet… to cut and run would send a bad message … and my personal favorite; don’t desert me now if you’re a true partner. Apicella stated that there is no litigation and no dispute on option properties. In desperation, Apicella pulled out all stops saying this extension is vital to continuing downtown development like the New Roc expansion. In reference to the New Roc expansion Apicella stated that the Target deal was contingent on Kohl’s signing and that Kohl’s was a week to ten days away from signing an agreement.
At Citizens to be heard that evening, the owners of 5 Anderson Street disputed Mr. Apicella’s assertions to council. They stated that Mr. Cappelli exercised his option to acquire the property on December 21, 2007 and that Cappelli was over a year behind in payments due according to the option agreement. They also stated that Cappelli has full control of the property in reference to maintenance, leasing and the like while assuming all related costs as outlined in the agreement. My sources tell me this property is in arrears on taxes and I have submitted a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for verification which as of yet has not been answered.
At the end of the day, we cannot look at the 13th extension in a vacuum. There are too many negative mitigating circumstances;
Cappelli is in arrears on property taxes due the city of White Plains
Cappelli has major development investments in Yonkers and the Catskills pending
Capelli’s retail development in New Rochelle has been abysmal
Cappelli has requested release of a $673,000 letter of credit from the IDA
NRR has no hope of reaching an agreement with the New Rochelle Post Office
NRR has litigation with multiple properties within the LeCount Square Project
Apicella stated down sizing was a probability
Apicella stated New Rochelle should be offering more tax abatements
Apicella’s statement that Kohl’s would sign an agreement within 10 days is false
I implore every New Rochelle taxpayer to call your council representative and tell them to stop the insanity, stop tax abatements to wealthy developers and take New Rochelle back from greedy developers who demand more tax abatements while the City Manager proposes an 8.9% property tax increase. I believe the facts overwhelming support a NAY (NO) vote on the 13th extension for LeCount Square and to borrow a phrase used by Mayor Bramson, I hope the council gives the LeCount Square Project a “decent burial” tomorrow night at the council meeting.
If you are skeptical, click on this link to view the agreement and the option to acquire 5 Anderson Street for yourself.
Anthony Galletta
Warren
Warren, I am sorry that you chose to enter the ring of public opinion with a very thin skin. I have taken question, comment, criticism and ridicule from many and thrive on it. That’s what drives me to delve as deep as possible with facts that support my opinions and what drives my opponents crazy. I don’t consider you an opponent but we do have differing opinions. I know when someone has taken my comments to heart when they attack me personally or the newest tactic of referring to my change of residence. It’s a backhanded insult by people who insinuate I have no business being involved in New Rochelle issues because they can’t dispute the facts. I have family in New Rochelle and my heart will always be in New Rochelle because I was born there and New Rochelle sculpted me. I love New Rochelle and will always love New Rochelle that’s why I am soooo passionate about the issues. I grew up in New Rochelle’s heyday and have watched it deteriorate. I have seen the Queen City’s luster and watched her become less brilliant. I fight to return her to that glorious state and if I offend you it’s not personal it is what it is.
In your initial post on this issue you state “no one raises the most important questions” in a know-it-all attitude. What gives you the right to decide that your opinion is more important than mine or Bob’s or John’s or Peggy’s or anyone else? You also question my business knowledge without knowing me. I managed an auto repair business for the better part of 30-years and maybe that can’t hold a candle to your business experience but to call for a cost/benefit analysis on a proposed project that hasn’t moved past the MOU stage for over a decade and at each extension has suggested downsizing is not as rational or relevant as you perceive.
You continue by challenging me to “say something positive for once in your life. Shock me”. I guess you missed my post giving kudos to the building department for their investigation and success in finding STAR tax cheats. That Warren is something I believe we can both support but it may require you to criticize Mayor Bramson. You see Bob Cox revealed the Civil Service Administrator received illegal STAR and Combat Veteran exemptions and the City decided not to recoup the ill-gotten STAR benefits estimated at over $10,000. The Civil Service Administrator serves at the pleasure of the mayor and while Bramson didn’t appoint him don’t you agree Bramson should consider giving him the option to pay-up or resign? Do New Rochelle a favor, give Noam a call on the Bat-Phone and tell him to rectify this embarrassment.
If I were on council I would allow the 12th extension to expire. This would legally allow the city to send out a Request For Proposal and entertain other developers and options. A 13th extension just begs for a 14th & 15th in that the economy will not rebound quickly. I apologize for not responding in a timely fashion (yesterday) but I was in New Rochelle gathering more information. Maybe the fact that the property at 5 Anderson Street which Cappelli exercised his option to purchase is $45,000 in arrears on taxes will help you realize it is time to explore other options by ending Capelli’s exclusivity. I will be in New Rochelle and available on December 17 from 11 am to 3 pm and December 18 from 12-4 pm. Let me know which works best for you. I will gladly pay for your coffee and……
Anthony Galletta
final blog entry from misterg
I am done! not good for the nerves or disposition to have my fragile emotions tested by galletta or cox with personal remarks or condescending follow-ups. I don’t need your respect and despite your constant hositlity, I usually have a pretty damn good idea of what I am talking about.
I will appear next Wednesday if you have any issues with me concerning what is going on now or in the past.
what you two don’t know or accept is that you are getting much too personal and I draw the line at that point. If you are such great researchers and zealous defenders of the press and your fellow citizens, you will see that I never, never picked a fight with either of you on any issue. If there was a disagreement, I handled it with respect. cox, especially, you have a load of files where you were praised by me and deservingly so. Galletta, you have far less, but some exists — after all it has been awhile since you reemerged.
don’t question my research skill and zeal — I am published by reputable publishers and that requires honest research. I never questioned either of your skills or dedication — only your negativity. but, both of you have called me a liar and you are never too old to take offense to that and so I do.
Cox and Galletta, you provide a valuable service to the community; Cox more so, since he confronts directly. We are better off having you than not. My issue has been your feckless egos — God help anyone who says anything you cannot live with or disagree with.
So no more written blogs for me. I will read as Cox is right, this is a valued public service. But, I will not take one more persoanl statement made to insult or provoke me. Say anything you want as a response but I am outta here.
Yeah, I support Bramson until I feel or see a good reason not to. You guys don’t and that is fine! But I will close on this note. You are so anti-Bramson, then form some political entity or some forum to attack the current system. He says he is a “ceremonial mayor” — apparently a decade or so back the ‘strong mayor” concept was voted down. So, maybe you ought to figure out how to support introducing the strong mayor concept anew to the voter. Maybe that will solve some of the issues we face as Strome will tell you he follows the lead of the Council. What is what? Might as well put something in front of the electorate about changing school board composition by ensuring equal respresentation council district by district.
You see, you say I “pontificate” or you split hairs — you don’t offer any ideas to address the issues; none whatsoever. What are your views on new business expansion in midtown? What can or should be done about the proliferation of street front churches, dollar stores, etc…. what can or should be done with the landlords? No ideas? Maybe you should use your contacts to provide a platform for the Republican Party — given Obama’s screw-ups, it is a good time. I am sure Galletta is on good terms with Colety. That is positive. Maybe a new party can be form and certified via petition that will build these things into its plank.
Come on — you say talk is cheap; good do something. Again, I’m outta here and I will hopefully see both of you Wednesday the 16th
warren gross
whatever
I named the web site “TALK” of the Sound for a reason.
I do not want people to agree with me and I certainly do not allow only people who agree with me publish here. But I do not see anything wrong with the sort of give and take which occurs here regularly. If I felt that people were purposely provoking others in order hijack discussions I would take some action but none of this banter rises to the level of either Anthony or Warren or anyone else being a “troll” and intentionally seeking to take the discussion off-topic.
Folks here are welcome to be pro-Bramson or anti-Bramson and are free to publish their views. That is not the same thing as being free to publish their views without other people publishing their views about their views. Know what I mean?
I have been blogging for a long time and active on discussion boards going back to the old Compuserv days. Flame wars (and this is hardly one) are a long-held tradition and hardly new or a surprise. It is natural that someone who feels they have been unfairly maligned wants to punch back and just a little bit harder. I do it myself all the time. But generally you CAN drive yourself a bit crazy worrying about every little snide comment.
I am sorry Warren felt the need to drop out of the discussion. I know many readers are new to the world of blogs. But this is sort of thing is standard operating procedure. It is hard but if you feel yourself getting REALLY annoyed with another comment(s) it may be time take a stroll or otherwise take a break.
As for the point I made about FOILing, that was not meant at all to attack anyone but to continue what I have done here, foster the idea of what a hyper-local community news site is here in New Rochelle. I have a lot of experience with this helping folks all around the country with these sorts of web sites. The life’s blood of a good community site like this is FOIL. Getting public records and then discussing them.
All this arguing is what democracy is all about. We should all want many voices. We want competition of ideas. My only point about FOIL is that we are all better off when one of us takes the time to get the actual public record on a particular issue and publishes it so we can make apples to apples comparisons and correct any misperceptions about the public record by citing a particular chapter or verse from a document.
Me thinkst it’s the coffee Warren
Personally, I’ll miss your insight, suggestion and opinion. Believe it or not, the dialogue between the contributors is what truly brings out the heart of the challenges faced by our city. Lack of argument and debate may be the safest, but it is also the most dangerous path to the naturaly entropic state of affairs. How else will we view the many aspects of the issues without challenge to opinion and fact. It will be the ultimate validation when an idea stands up to the most drastic of scrutiny. I think we should get the three of you (Warren, Bob and Anthony)together in a round table discussion on the Bob Marrone show because you all have the interest of the city as your motivation. Teddy Roosevelt said “nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”. That explains the passion of your efforts, to me at least. I have the highest regard for all of you even when I might disagree, but I welcome and look forward to the time taken to put your thoughts together. If it all ended tonight, the city is still a better place for the dialogue to date. Things do get heated, and our founding fathers would be proud to see the intensity of conviction at the local level. That drive and yes, ego, is what helped form the this great republic as it grew from the debate and argument. OK, so maybe Hamilton and Burr took it a little to far, but you get my point. Bring everyone to the table and talk about things over a cup of coffee, but for Petes sake, make it a decaff. 🙂 Thanks guys !
developmental projects
i read weekly the cons and some pros about what we should do or not do regarding the development projects of echo bay and lecount place.
frankly no one raises the most important questions. and frankly, despite comments to the contrary, i see little evidence that the council even including the south, west, east end representatives are that much more effective than their central and north side colleagues.
the horse is out of the barn and has been running down the track for years. what i want to know is a simple cost benefit analysis from someone or somewhere. I don’t much care about a retrospective analysis of what we should have done; I can only hope that any and all mistakes in negotiatons will be rectified in the future.
by way of background information, i believe the Westchester Herald reported earlier on the poor health of Louis Capelli. this, combned with rumors of a bankrupcy consideration on trump towers plus issues they are having elswhere — white plains and yonkers is one thing. Concerning that horror of a devloper forest city, with its legal and financial issues, that tells me even a worse story,
by cost benefit analysis, I want to know the terms and conditions of ANY stay or go decision. we all suspect, even know that developers have had it pretty much their own way prior to the current economic climate. we all know what this has meant in terms of our city business plan and the seemingly endless requests for renewal of coming due renewal documents. What we do not know is what is contained in the documents in terms of default, pulling out, delay, etc…. it is too simplistic to say “bail out and start anew” and equally simplistic to say,”in for a penny, in for a pound.” as someone who has worked on venture capital and other similar investment deals here and abroad, my suspciions are that for a number of reasons, some of them sound like business; others seem to be matters of setting up a legacy (think obama and his zeal for national health insurance), we did not get the most skilled counsel possible to cut deals with mutual benefit to city and developer and proper language to penalize or at least, ease existing terms, given the need for delay (for example, reducing the time period for any tax abatement period) — now we have an angry citizenry, an unacceptable tax rate which will be aven worse next year, rising taxes elsewhere, and a political team that will not really dig into the matter and provide answers to the public, relief to the taxpayer or best, renegotiaton of negative deals so it will likely be approved, nothing will counterbalance at the school district end because of political cowardice and empty questions and squeaky voices will protest in council and chambers and off we go until the developers default, bail out or extend. If you really think apocella is going to tell you he has kohls and target in his briefcase, I have a nice bridge in brooklyn i can sell you for a good price.
what would i do even now with no information just relying on my past experience.
1. hire the most experienced law firm specializing in contracts, etc to go over the deals with a fine tooth comb.
2. bail, bail bail on forest city. they represent a multiple risk — business, strategic, opertional and moral,
3. ask chuck strome whether he actually did say tha we could realize no gain from echo bay even during good times — pin this deal down for what it is. we don’t need a legacy, we need to be able to pay our bills and build our community. doesn’t the council have hire and fire rights on strome or more importantly, the right to direct his actions?
4. pay more attention to the capelli deal. get to the heart of the matter; chck carefully into the health situation, comb through the cotract with a fine tooth comb, extend with concessions as we are very heavily invested unless it is impossible to do. ask shumer and lowey to put the post office to rest. As we have an “opportunity loss” financially for years for unused and idle property, squeeze that lemon with them even if it involves deferred considerations. and see how close they are to bailing and if so, do wwe have a standing in the creditor line and where.
two other points.
1. if chuck strome is unable or unwilling to take a business like planing and development approach to downtown — the so called non profit churchfronts, cheap dollar stores, multiple other non growth businesses — ask for his resignation.don’t feed me this politically correct junk about churches, rights of landords, etc…. NO NO downtown planning is possible without adderssing this issue, rezoning, maybe even eminent domain. if you canot do that, then stop babbling about development. control and manage the landlord.
2. and, if you do not see the direct, inarguable relation between an effective school disrict and community growth and the simple busines issues around relentless taxing, lack of strategic capital planning, disequality between costs and results (we are slipping quite dramatically even compred to county, then we are in for a terrible future.
all of you critics need to collecct around two or three basic issues. begin with the above.
and, stop with empty praise on this council. they have done nothing! and while we are at it, let’s look at all political donations above say $500 made to any office holder or candidate and see whether the contributor is doing business with the city or has some other relationship we ought to worry about.
warren gross
Wake Up Warren
Warren, you state; “what I want to know is a simple cost benefit analysis from someone or somewhere.” That is a blanket statement with no substance and I say that respectfully. Who should do the analysis; the administration, the developer, the Mayor or maybe the City Hall Custodian? There in lies the problem. The cost/benefit analysis is done by the developer and reviewed by staff. Do you think anyone working for the City of New Rochelle has as much moxie as Louis Cappelli? Do think any City employee has as much insight, the vocabulary or slight of hand as Joseph Apicella? The reality is that the current and past administrations have the mindset that anything is better than nothing. That’s why the horse has been let out and is causing a stampede. The little Dutch Boy with his finger in the dike is no longer sufficient to stop the bleeding. It is time to STOP Cappelli (LeCount Square) and reassess where we are, where we need to go realistically and move forward. The problem is that common sense NEVER prevails in New Rochelle. LeCount Square is requesting its 13th extension. If every previous extension was six months, this project has been floundering for 6-years. If any developer can’t get past the MOU phase in six years the project is dead. Your Boy Wonder (Mayor Noam Bramson) will espouse the words used by Apicella at the November 10 council meeting and say no one has been breaking down the door to develop LeCount Square. Well, that’s because Cappelli has an exclusive and the City keeps extending that exclusive. When Cappelli wanted to be the sole developer for Parcel 1A it cost him $1 million for a one year agreement. Follow that standard, call Apicella to the council table on television and tell him the City of New Rochelle is prepared to extend the MOU for one-year for the sum of $1 million as a good faith gesture. See if Cappelli can come across with the cash. It’s called Show Me the Money.
Cappelli does not have the luster he once had. Cappelli is over extended, has too many projects pending and my sources tell me he won’t sign the Land Disposition Agreement in Yonkers because he doesn’t have the cash. Many of these deals are done using property or projects as collateral to get loans. With the collapse of the housing market and real estate in general Capelli’s collateral has dried up. Cappelli has little chance of getting the New Rochelle Post Office and is in a dispute with multiple properties he holds the options to in LeCount Square, that combined with the 6-year delay means it’s time to stick a fork in Cappelli because LeCount Square is done.
What is interesting is that the newest spin is that denying LeCount Square would affect the New Roc Expansion. If that’s true it will be because Cappelli makes it personal. For years, Mayor Bramson, IDA Chairwoman Marianne Sussman & City Manager Charles Strome has stated that every project is judged on its individual merits. You can’t have it both ways. We would all like to have our cake and eat it too but the chickens have come home to roost and the taxpayers are getting roasted.
Anthony Galletta
anthony
anthony i am wide awake and you seem to have picked up very little since your move from new roc in terms of understanding what the hell i just put in front of you and i say that with respect. tell me what you want your friends and associates in your ex place of residence to do — a binary yes or no decision based on what? I gave you rationale and opinion. I did not give you who should do it — frankly if you had a proper protocol to follow i would have no trouble with you doing it. thing is i see a lot of passion around matters such as this and little in the way of concrete remedial actions.Even if your source is right, and maybe it is, what do you suggest? we vote it down without knowing the risk and consequences of that? I already told you my views — we are in deep, we need to look for a good strategy; be it an exit strategy or a buy-in for another round strategy and I told you how i would approach it and why I believe this is a different investment than echo bay; emotionally I would bail in a heartbeat, intellectually, i need to know what is in the contracts, terms of agreement, etc. and I don’t think you, Bob or I fully figure this out by ourselves without counsel although my sense is I have seen a hell of a lot more of these than you.
so you say WHO? ideally we would have a political entity or citizens’ group with sufficient funds to undertake the task with the help of a forensic audit/accoutant source. Anthony, I cannot do it, I am lucky enough to afford a cup of coffee. Bob Cox mentions FOIL — again, we would not either understand it well enough, get enough or the right information, or likely would be chinesed walled from the start. Lawyers equal discovery and that is the way to go. I read your comments several times and you offer NO Solution only venom and spite at people involved in the process. So lets suppose you are 100% right? waht have you accomplished by what you have said in your remarks. Zero, zip —- give me something to hang onto. what is your answer and how much personally responsibility will you take in putting forth your views?
I welcome any and all readers to compare our comments and see which is rhetoric and which at least offers a business solution.
you know it reminds me of all of the initiatives that are brought forward in this city. we hear about congestion, traffice, parking — no critic seems to argue about the pros and cons of the proposed initiative. this is no different.
anthony, maybe i don’t have the same problems you do with bramson, but we can agree that this city has a long way to go to get on an even keel.
let me tell you where i do have my problems
1. city council — they are essentially a do little or nothing group. I can live with that i suppose but they have authority over the city manager and his business plan and he is really a much greater issue than bramson and, therefore, so is the council. unfortunately for the city, we don’t have an advocate like mike boyle to intelligently represent a different perspective.
2. school district — surely you read this blog daily and know of the work bob cox and others have put into full disclosure. again, as a business issue, i blame the council. they could be more aggressive in charter revision — peggy godfrey, for one, has excellent insight into how things went in the paduano days.
yeah, i am a little ticked off at your comments because agree with me or not, they are reasoned and i come from a business more than an emotional base.
come to new rochelle when you are able and I will buy yuo a cappuchino and croissant at kaleidoscope and you can risk your diet for a day
anyway, glad to see you are still active and happiest of holidays to you and your family.
warren gross
Regular Joe
Warren, short and simple; your reasoned, business based opinions are not backed by research and or fact. My emotions drive me to passionate research which involves time and expense. I don’t just sit back and pontificate. That is the difference between us. This is the second time you offered to buy me a cappuccino and croissant I am in New Rochelle two times a week and can be found at Java Dreams at the base of Avalon 1. Yes I do support New Rochelle business even when I disagree with the policies. The real difference between us is that I don’t offer to pay, I pay, and I don’t drink cappuccino I drink Maxwell House.
Anthony Galletta
anthony 2
sure they are backed by facts. what is this pontificating claim. what would you accept as facts. I will be happy to provide them for you. in fact, what are you complaining about — a time honored business technique of understanding what a deal is all about, etc.
ok, enough of you. did you move from new rochelle? not sure. lets go over your facts in the java cafe you name time and date.
tell me anthony with the clipboard and the passionate research
1. what are the specific terms and conditions of both the echo bay and the le count place deals.
2. what constitutes a default option
3. if the city bails out without doing any form of analysis, what the the opportunity losses?
you call this pontificating because you don’t know much about how the hell a large business is run. you have contacts and “facts” congratulations/ Now do the hard work of putting them into some semblance of order and meaning.
say something positive for once in your life. shock me. i read your pontificating monthly in letters to the editors blogs and what have you and cannot see much in the way of your influencing anything.
what you call pontificating is my opinion. get off my back by personalizing this and that gee you’re a real guy, you drink maxwell house. i don’t drink cappuccino either so you can buy me a maxwell house.
bob cox, you seem to be in the mood of following up all of my comments as well. i know what FOIL are — I know what they are used for, what you often are liable to get and what you will get. I also know that you cannot question a piece of paper.
this is my city as well as anyone elses. both of you geniuses get off my case. neither of you have a goddam clue as to what i research, what i do, all you know if GOD help anyone who disagrees with you or tries to introduce a little positive slant to anthing
I am f—-g sick of blogs If you have something you would like to discuss I will be at the Kaffeine at 8:30 to 8:45am on December 16 and Java AHouse at 9:00-9:30. Maybe Galletta can explain what the blazes he means by “the difference between us is that I don’t offer to pay, I pay…” Is there something important in that I missed.
warren gross
Warren wrote:
“ideally we
Warren wrote:
“ideally we would have a political entity or citizens’ group with sufficient funds to undertake the task with the help of a forensic audit/accoutant source.”
While it would be ideal to have a well-funded organization and one where everyone involved agreed on how to spend that money and what issues to target and a way to sustain that over time, I do not see this as even remotely possible.
“Bob Cox mentions FOIL — again, we would not either understand it well enough, get enough or the right information, or likely would be chinesed walled from the start. Lawyers equal discovery and that is the way to go.”
For the price of an email you can request public records in less time than it took for you to write this comment. Maybe YOU would not understand a particular public record but that is not the same thing as no reader of Talk of the Sound understanding the record.
========
Dan Gillmor, a well-known blogger, author, professor and former tech columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, once famously said about his blog:
“My readers know more than I do.”
Based on this principal he wrote an entire book, We The Media. You can read a chapter for free online here. You might even recognize one name in that chapter (me!).
It is not necessary that any one person know everything or understand everything. If each person will do a little bit, a web site like Talk of the Sound allows for collaboration in surfacing information, understanding it and connecting the dots. No one person need do that.
To bring it back to this particular point, the raw material we need is to source and publish records and that means FOIL. Governor Patterson changed the law to make FOIL easy and, in most cases, free or very cheap. Under the law we can seen emails to any state “agency” which for purposes of FOIL includes schools, municipalities and so on and request electronic records where they exist. If the agency has a Word Doc or a Spreadsheet or a PDF file and you make a request via email they have to respond via email with the electronic document and cannot charge you unless it takes more than two hours to produce a record (very rare, if ever). If the record is only in paper you can still request it via email but would have to pay 25 cents per page. They either mail it to you or you pick it up.
Given how easy it is to request a record, it is faster to request a record than to write about requesting the record.
Now, it may be that some stonewalling occurs but we will not know that until we request the record.
It may be that we do not fully understand a record but we will not know that until we read the record.
In short, unless a record request has been made there is no point in having “cudda, wudda, shudda” discussions.
Talk is Cheap, Gather Facts
Warren wrote:
— What we do not know is what is contained in the documents in terms of default, pulling out, delay, etc…. it is too simplistic to say “bail out and start anew” and equally simplistic to say,”in for a penny, in for a pound.”
You can file a FOIL request and obtain every document. You can publish them here for everyone to see. You can provide your own analysis and publish it.
— let’s look at all political donations above say $500 made to any office holder or candidate and see whether the contributor is doing business with the city or has some other relationship we ought to worry about.
All of this information is online. Just Google for it and you can publish all donations to all campaigns of all elected official in New Rochelle and/or who represent New Rochelle. Start with the Mayor. It is actually quite easy to find.
Bramson, On the Take?
Why would Noam Bramson push Senators Schumer and Lowey?
Did Cappelli make a deal with Bramson?
How much MONEY changed hands under the table on this deal?
How involved are Senators Schumer and Lowey? Are they on Cappelli’s payout list as well?
Bramson has done nothing but ruin New Rochelle, far worse then Idoni did, which at that time was thought impossible.
New Rochelle, since 1991, has been dying and is now on life support. City planning is a joke. New Rochelle didn’t need residential high rise buildings. New Rochelle needed businesses, especially higher end. If city planning was done correctly from the beginning, New Rochelle could have been the home to many corporations that have fled Manhattan and New Jersey to move into Westchester. By having major corporations making New Rochelle there corporate head quarters or satellite office locations; New Rochelle redevelopment would have been much different. It would have been similar, if not better then White Plains. By having large corporations making New Rochelle there home, property and school taxes could have been lowered, New Rochelle unemployment would be low, there could have been actual places for New Rochelle residents to shop in their home town, rather then give White Plains, Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, Bronx, Manhattan… revenue through sales tax.
But then again people. These are the people you voted for. So I say to you all, Thank you for destroying New Rochelle by electing corrupt, money hungry politicians that care only for themselves and their bank accounts.
New Rochelle is no longer the “Queen City of the Sound”. Bramson and Idoni have made New Rochelle, “The Tramp on the Docks”.
Corrupt Politicians like Bramson and Idoni belong behind bars, and if Lowey and Schumer are involved and on the take, they should be right there besides them.
Give Tarantino Credit
Councilman Tarantino deserves credit for asking both Cappelli (Apicella) and Forest City Residential to this November meeting to tell the Council what they have done to promote their development. Apicella obviously chose to lie. What does this say about their true interest in our city?
Giveaways
I agree. St Paul, Trangucci and Tarantino have been courageous in their efforts in bringing transparency to City Council – they are the winds of change that was desperately needed (and yes, we still need more change!). This trio cares about downtown and the residents that occupy the whole southern end of New Rochelle. They advocate for their constituency 100% of the time. It cannot be said that the other City Council people do the same nor give a semblance that they try. Their sole purpose for being on City Council is to support Noam Bramson and his effort to maintain the dirty dancing with Cappelli and to build bike paths to nowhere. The 13th, 14th or 15th extension will accomplish nothing but reward the pockets of political action committees of some people on City Council.
While we wait before Cappelli rises to the occasion, Stop n Shop at New Ro doesn’t know whether to fill its shelves with food. We have empty space in New Roc where a popular gym and ice skating rink once stood. We have an empty club where Miami was. We have dozens of empty apartments on North Ave and Anderson where working class people could live (and landlords benefit). There is empty commercial space in this vicinity that is the direct result of extensions 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 etc.
What will a 13th extension bring? Have they laid out a plan? We need to move forward with a vision that takes into consideration the urgency of now. Come election next year, we will all be entertaining again a 14th extension and the same lame excuses will be used by Cappelli and the majority in City Council.
heh
This IS a serious issue but..
THIS is funny: “bike paths to nowhere”
I think that might just stick.