On Saturday, a crew from A & J Cianciulli of Yonkers lifted a Carrier air conditioning system onto the roof the New Rochelle Police Department headquarters and New Rochelle City Court.
Since it was first built about 9 years ago, the building has required a regular series of repairs to replace defective equipment that was installed under a no-bid contract given to Valenti, a local developer.
Among the many problems that showed up in the first few years after the building was opened?
- Heating & air conditioning defects plus fire suppression sprinkler defects (rotted pipes) – $92,000.
- Rainwater infiltrating courtrooms – $35,000.
- Steel tarp installed in the police pistol range to prevent bullet ricochet was replaced due to defective design – $50,000.
The building cost tens of millions of dollars ($291.66/sq. ft.) and soon began to spring leaks — budgetary leaks. The developer, Mr. Valenti, refused to pay any of the costs because, he argued, mostly everything had only a one year warranty so taxpayers were left footing the bill. The City is still paying many millions in debt service on the building. The HVAC system had to be replaced over the past year.
Having received tens of millions from the City, Mr. Valenti last year agreed to spring for a few thousand dollars to cover the cost of the New Rochelle Thanksgiving Day parade so that residents could have the privilege of marching past the lemon of a building he foisted on New Rochelle taxpayers. Think about the next time you have to pay a parking ticket and have to walk around the entire building to get inside.
This building went up before Talk of the Sound was around so if you have further insight into this building please add a comment.
Abuse of overtime.
It takes 2 highly paid DPW supervisor to work Saturday and Sunday
doing nothing.Chuck need to look into these guys,Al & Frank.
These 2 geeks sit on there ass everyday doing nothing,but waiting
for pay check. If City Hall close at 4:30pm,why is the building stay open
until midnight.Ratner need to look into this.
Bob,
My father actually sued
Bob,
My father actually sued the city over this building before it went up. He claimed the city failed to put it out to bid properly. Ron Tocci knows a lot about it too.
Here’s what I know:
The city was directed by the State to update City Hall because 1) the police station was in disrepair and 2) the courtrooms were not up to State standards. Idoni and the council struggled for many months trying to fogure out if they should remodel the existing city hall or build a new police/courthouse building. They also couldn’t decide where to build–in the downtown or next to the existing one. Finally, just before the clock ran out, the city came up with the plans for this new facility. Garito was somehow involved if I remember. My father and Tocci thought the cost of the building was excessive so they tried to block its construction but failed.
What an idiot I am. All
What an idiot I am. All along I thought the windfall from Idoni’s “new” sales tax paid for the court/police building.
Apparently the city didn’t pay all the costs and borrowed/bonded most of the costs that why we’re still paying debt service (interest on the loan/bond), but I’m not surprised as the Democrats running New Rochelle are truely clueless when it comes to handling our money.
Taxpayer gets screwed again, well actually I’ve been getting screwed the whole time and never realized it.