In the April 7 issue of the Westchester Guardian
The City of New Rochelle has been encouraging development in the
downtown area since the Democratic majority took over. Since that time
there has been criticism of the type of development and the tax
abatements given. It was surprising to hear how far the City coffers
have diminished during this period according to the guest speakers,
Councilman Lou Trangucci and former Assemblyman Ron Tocci, at the New
Rochelle Citizens Reform Club March 24th meeting.
Councilman Trangucci said that Avalon had 30 years to pay the city
for the land on which it built its apartment complexes. He took the
initiative to make a request of the Council suggesting an early payment
to the City for part of the money owed. Avalon agreed to give New
Rochelle $9 million of the money they owed over the next five
years: three million dollars the first year and one and a half million
dollars for each of the next four years. He told the members of the
New Rochelle Citizens Reform Club that half of Avalon’s nine million
dollar payment has already been used. In his view Mayor Bramson did
this to help the Democratic candidates running for office this year.
For next year he said a ten percent increase in taxes would be needed.
Other city liabilities were contrasted including pension
costs, which were $198,000 in 2002 and will rise to $9.8 million in
2011 Sales taxes in 2008 were $25.7 million but in 2009 it dropped to
$23 million and in 2010 it went up a little to $23.3 million. The
increase in the number of people in the new downtown buildings have not
contributed to sales tax revenue. Instead of constantly spot zoning,
Councilman Trangucci felt the City needs a master plan. The City
collects $48.6 million in property taxes but another $18 million is off
the tax rolls. Three newly proposed projects were described and these
developers are all going to request tax abatements. Forest City
Residential for the first phase wants to use only City properties
without paying for them. Lamenting, “The City never maintains
anything,” Trangucci said, as an example, the city has to use so much
money now to upgrade the City Yard. If Mayor Noam Bramson and the
Democrats win five seats on Council, they will be able to bond the
money needed to move the City Yard. “This is a tale of two cities.” he
added, and he did not want Forest City’s Residential’s project. He
added that the Council had removed all the costly mandates from the
GreeNR plan.
When Tocci began his talk he stated that one thing that galled him
was that with Forest City Residential and other developers, the Council
had chosen a policy for housing. There was “no retail that we need,”
and the sewage treatment plant which is operating over its capacity, is
not considered. The downtown is congested with no parking areas and
density is overwhelming, yet the developers still suggest having only
one parking space per apartment unit. For 20 years we have had the
wrong policy: “housing, housing, housing.” He suggested watching the
film, “Field of Dreams,” (If you build them they will come.)
His vision was to build a store “with lots of parking.” Cross County
in Yonkers, he continued, was the first outdoor mall in the country and
people feel safe there because they can see other people. Contrasting
White Plains which has 56,000 people to New Rochelle with 77,000, he
said White Plains receives $125 million in sales tax, but New Rochelle
has so much less, $23 million. “Homeowners are paying for all the
services in New Rochelle,” adding, “Unless New Rochelle goes on an
aggressive campaign, we will get astronomical tax increases.” Mayor
Bramson wants to reassess but he felt people should be encouraged to
file certioraris. The New Rochelle majority on Council have “urbanized
the suburbs” and after four years, Forest City Residential has no
environmental statement. Tocci, who is the co-chair of Save the Armory
Committee, continued, “Now they have suggested a modified plan using
only property owned by the City including the Armory and City Yard.”
He recounted how the City misused the Armory, and that Forest City
Residential still does not know the best use of the Armory and the
waterfront property. “I am ashamed and embarrassed with the Council
that is so amateurish. People have to wake up.”
John D’Alois added that Forest City Residential needed to be
exposed. Bramson took campaign money from this developer’s family.
Tocci added you would think the Council would do something special on
the waterfront such as boutiques and restaurants which would generate
some taxes. The Mayor voted for all this development during his term
of office, then added, “Make sure all Council persons are held
accountable.”
