Talk of the Sound has confirmed that the Scarsdale-based developer behind the 35 Maple Avenue project gave money to New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson.
Joel B. Mounty of 700 White Plains Road in Scarsdale, NY contributed $1,000 to the Bramson for Mayor campaign just weeks before a proposed a deal was made public to convert ownership for the senior housing building at 35 Maple Avenue from not-for-profit to for-profit.
Mr. Mounty owns Mountco Construction and Development Corporation.
Under the deal, as originally proposed, the City of New Rochelle would get $60,000 per year for 30 years, going up 2.5% a year annually. The new owner would pay a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) of $150,000 upon signing the agreement. Additional funds for the City were negotiated based on some last minute negotiations which reportedly secured an additional $170,000.
Development Commissioner Michael Freimuth told City Council the renovation project would cost about $11.8 million. Most of that ($7.3 million) would be funded through federal tax credits. The balance would come from then-unnamed private investors.
A number of promises have been made for renovating the building, something residents have heard before. Additional promises have been made that rents would stay the same. According to proponents of the deal, any amount over 30 percent of annual income would be covered through the Section 8 program at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At no point during the City Council discussions did Mayor Bramson disclose that Mounty was a contributor to his campaign.
RE: The MONEY VAMPIRE: a Halloween story in NR.
Kids, does any of this surprise you at all? Finding out that the current mayor, the malignant narcissist, is also a money vampire? How apropos during Halloween, right? Its scary, right? Scary how people get shot and robbed on the streets, property taxes rise, rise, rise, quality of life declines, declines, declines, and all the while the current mayor–the Money Vampire– keeps lining his pockets sucking up all the money he possibly can while touting New Rochelle as ” the safest, most family and business friendly city” in Westchester. Yes, what a scary Halloween nightmare this all is. YET, the voters do not care. The Money Vampire hypnotizes them into voting for him over and over again. Kids, where is the garlic? Better yet, get me a stake, any jagged stake will do… Happy Halloween, New Rochelle !!
Good
I am not sure what the issue is here. You have a building now paying taxes that used to be a non for profit.
I thought that was our goal as a city. We need tax money.
Sometimes you have to look at the bright side rather than hinting that the agreement was based on a $1,000 contribution.
If you feel the city did not negotiate a good deal then that is a point. I have no parameters to compare it to.
Oh well, just another day in the Noam Zone!
But maybe they should be paying closer to $100k per year instead of $60k? How much are they going to pay to the schools?
Questions we’ll never know the answers to as its a done deal. The developer is making money; otherwise he wouldn’t be taking it over.
Now that we know the developer is donating to the campaign of the mayor and the mayor accepted the developer’s proposals without a counter offer or even batting an eye lash, that seems a little fishy to me.
You need to think outside the box on these issues as nothing’s ever as good as it seems and if the developer offered $40k upfront, then they were prepared to go higher (which they did a little thanks to Ms. Spertus) but perhaps we could have done better had the city not accepted the proposal and then backtracked to ask for more. Not really a strong negotiating on the part of the city.
Oh well, just another day in the Noam Zone!
Somebody keeps voting for the people who support these policies, but I have to ask myself why?
It is an issue because the
It is an issue because the developer is in this to make money. He did not buy the building out of the goodness of his heart. The money he pays in property tax and the money spent to renovate the building will now be tacked on to the rents. It doesn’t matter if the rent is paid by section 8 or the the tenant. In the the end, the cost of owning and maintaining this building will be passed on to the taxpayer, but the tenants will no longer have the security they once had and the building can change ownership over and over again.
BTW, if the boy blunder didn’t bankrupt the city and give abatements to Avalon, there would have been no reason to sell this building. Just another way the public is being sold out to wealthy developers.
This is how Bramson plays the
This is how Bramson plays the game. Wipe out the competition (Republicans) and buy the Democratic support. What a weasel this guy is. Anything to pave his way into Congress.
UNREAL
As the Norm in New Rochelle Bramson and crew at it again.He gives his fellow dens on council a 1000.00 each no wonder he can since he is always getting his pockets padded by people who do business in this city.What a joke.Welcome to New Rochelle
Councilman Richard St. Paul Should be Informed of this
I remember it was Councilman Richard St. Paul who brought up campaign contributions on Council. So dirty politics is apparently the name of the game in New Rochelle. Councilman Richard St. Paul and his Republicans on Council are honest and I hope they all win.
Isn’t This Why Democratic Council Refused to Support St Paul
Now it makes sense as to why democratic council refused to approve the republican motion to prevent couincilmembers and the mayor fron accepting donations from developers towards their campaigns. It’s a pay to play gravy train of funding. We don’t need to have voting, we can just buy the next mayor