In the Febraury 17, 2011 issue of the Westchester Guardian
In New Rochelle, 22,000 Metro North commuters now have access to a bathroom that had been closed by their City Manager, Chuck Strome. The announcement at the City Council meeting on February 8 was the culmination of an action that started when Strome closed the two station bathrooms. Strome posted a sign on the bathroom door announcing they were closed. Soon after, Council member Richard St. Paul placed another sign saying the bathroom was in his Council district and asked anyone who did not like this decision to contact Strome and to come to the next Council meeting. This sign was removed by an order of Strome.
The morning of the Council meeting, Strome on WVOX recounted the cost of City funds that had been used last;year to keep these bathrooms open. At the City Council meeting that evening he suddenly announced that the Metropolitan Transit Authority had agreed to assist in maintaining the bathrooms by giving some money to restore them and to help in monitoring them.
During the Council meeting the Commissioner of Development, Michael Friemuth, was asked to explain how much money had been spent in the last year for these bathrooms. While $25,000 was budgeted for the bathrooms, they required 40 repairs and additional expenditures of over $33,000. Strome said he had sent a memorandum to Council that he was considering closing the bathrooms but Councilman Richard St. Paul replied he had not seen the memo or had had any conversation with the City Manager about this proposed closing. Strome stated the number of repairs from the previous year had exceeded the budgeted amount of $25,000 by $33,280. St. Paul continued, saying during the budget sessions last year nothing was “brought back to Council” about the extra $33,000 in expenditures for vandalism and the needed 40 repair visits by the Department of Public Works. He said, “We have the power of the purse.” Strome said it was a “fair comment.”
Strome as City Manager according to knowledgeable sources should be following policies set by the Council, not establishing them.
St. Paul said Council passes a budget for having the bathrooms maintained and open at the railroad station. It is the Council’s policy to prioritize the budget and to pass a budget which includes the maintenance of the bathroom in the station. When the City Manager closes the bathrooms he is changing our policy. “In order for the City Manager to reverse that policy, the City Manager should come back to the Council.” The posting of a sign brought awareness to the people that used the bathrooms. It received a lot of local attention. ” I just felt it was necessary for me to bring public attention to this matter.”
Residents have commented on what happened here. Mitch Spalin, Vice President of the South End Civic League, felt the bathrooms should be open because they are part of the station’s facilities. “Strome should not have closed them unless he arranged for something else to replace them. Why is the bath room in such disrepair if it is cleaned regularly? In Europe the floor would be concrete, angled with a center drain.”
Anthony Sutton, a real estate broker, felt this situation was a disgrace. This negative publicity puts us down as a community and hurts the real estate industry. There are residents using this railroad who are paying $30,000 a year in real estate taxes to the City.
Lorraine Pierce added, some people are giving Strome credit for fast action, but there would not have been a problem if he had checked with the Council and the residents. After the New Rochelle City Council meeting an associate remarked that “Councilwoman Marianne Sussman, who gave away millions of dollars to developers as part of the IDA (Industrial Development Agency), has now become fiscally conservative when the interest of New Rochelle residents are concerned. She questioned part of their $20,000 allocated for the immediate use of the bath room that would have to be replaced in the future. Too bad she wasn’t that thorough with the developers.”