The City Council of New Rochelle will meet today in a Committee of the Whole Meeting starting at 3:45 PM and hold public hearings tonight at 7:30 PM with Citizens to Be Heard to follow.
OCT 2010 COW AGENDA_ DETAIL PDF.pdf
Today’s meet is chock-full of notable agenda items from increased parking fees to an increase in homeowners insurance for residents in flood-prone areas, to the emergence of yet another developer with their hands out looking for tax abatements. My personal favorite is the observation by BID Executive Director Ralph DiBart in his memo to the City Council in which he reveals that paying with quarters is unpopular. Ya think? He also notes there is no a mismatch between supply and demand for parking permits, that there are now waiting lists for permits and that there are problems with signage and awareness of the new parking rules. Just a thought but aren’t these the sort of things that were easy to foresee? Don’t they show that absolutely no thought was given to the effect of the changes implemented last May?
Highlights
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has revised City’s Flood Insurance Rate Map which will require the City to adopt a revision to the Flood Insurance Rate Map (Letter of Map Revision). — some homeowners will now be required to purchase expensive federal flood insurance
- Transfer of federal funds away from the North Avenue and Webster Avenue Traffic Signal Replacement Projects and to the Main Street and the Pelham Road Traffic Signal Projects.
- Removal, storage, restoration of murals at New Rochelle Armory.
- Establish the Avalon East Parking Garage (ground level) as a City Parking Lot to be known as the “Avalon East Parking Garage,” that restrictions for use be established, and that the appropriate fees be set — part of the deal involving the sale of Avalon 1 to Hartz Mountain.
- Increase in parking permit fees for 2011 — part of a two-step involving the change in parking policies in downtown area (24/7 parking fees), having pushed demand for parking permits beyond supply (there is now a waiting list) the City seeks to increase fees which will reduce demand none of which explains where the cars brought into downtown by Avalon and other developments are supposed to go.
- Youth Board membership to increase from eighteen to twenty one — how many people does a board like this need? 18 seems like too many already so what is the need to increase this board other than to flatter people with titles?
- Michael W. Freimuth, Commissioner of Development, recommends that the City Council authorize a Letter Agreement with the Preferred Developer for the Main Street Core Project — this is all about a building to be located bear the Church/Prospect Street lots which might explain why the City has failed to properly maintain those lots, expect more IDA giveaways to developers friendly to Noam and the North End clique.
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