In only two months newly elected Democratic Councilman Ivar Hyden has been active, working on issues in the New Rochelle. As a long time business owner in downtown New Rochelle he has a strong awareness of issues that effect the City. He answered these questions for the Westchester Guardian.
1. Godfrey: You are a new, fresh presence on the New Rochelle City Council. Are there any areas of the Council’s policies that you want to change or de-emphasize?
1: Hyden: After being in office for only the past two months, it is my feeling that the City Council should be more involved in policy making from the onset of a project and should be actively involved in long term planning for the city’s future.
2. Godfrey: Do you have any opinion on whether corruption exists anywhere in City Government?
2: Hyden: I know of no systemic corruption in New Rochelle city government and I firmly believe that none of our City Council members would tolerate corruption. Any public official who commits a corrupt act should be immediately removed and any person or business involved should be permanently barred from doing business with the city.\
3. Godfrey: This year the 2% tax cap for the budget resulted in an increase of the refuse fee from $66 to $233. Do you feel the City should continue this or other fees to raise revenue in the future?
3: Hyden: I am not a proponent of fees if their sole purpose is to avoid an increase in property taxes. My primary focus is to find ways to bring revenue to our city using creative development concepts, strengthening and enforcing city code, and utilizing the resources we already have, such as the Armory and David’s Island, to bring new revenue streams.
4. Godfrey: Do you feel more retail and/or residential development is necessary in downtown New Rochelle? Are you in favor of the
development consultant which was recently approved, Why did you feel the staff of the City and the Bid could not attract retail that would be successful, especially in the downtown?
4: Hyden: I was not on Council when the vote was taken to bring in a development consultant but I approve of the concept. I have said for a long time that there needs to be more attention paid to presenting a positive image of our city. New Rochelle has a wonderful geographic location and an intelligent, sophisticated, and diverse population and we should be able to use those attributes to bring quality retail and commercial business to our downtown. I believe that there still is a benefit to creating more residential housing in the downtown as long as it is market rate and carefully sited. But the focus needs to be on commercial and retail. We especially need office population that will provide daytime customers for retail and food service businesses. I think the BID has done a good job but City Hall needs to pay more attention to the downtown.
5.Godfrey: Do you feel the City Council stresses their policy making power, or do you feel they tend to approve the initiatives of the City Manager?
5: Hyden: I haven’t been on City Council long enough to answer that question with certainty. But as I said earlier I firmly believe that the council should take a proactive role in policy making. It is also important that a true “comprehensive plan” be created as a roadmap for downtown development. We need to decide what we want our downtown to be in the future and it makes no sense to me to let development occur in a haphazard fashion without such a plan.
6. Godfrey: Do appointments to various boards and commissions which have powers, such as the IDA or Planning Board, reduce the power of the electorate to influence important decisions in the City?
6: Hyden: I don’t think so. The IDA appointments need to be approved by elected members of council, so there is a check there; and in reality the City Council has the power at various points in the development process to stop projects that it doesn’t’ think are appropriate.
7, Godfrey: What do you envision as the best way for citizens and civic organizations to present their concerns to the City Council?
7: Hyden: The best and most effective way is through their council person directly. Neighborhood organizations such as the Residence Park Association and the Glenwood Lake Association are also powerful advocates for their residents and have real political clout. I will be having Town Hall meetings for district 4 residents once I get a bit more organized since I believe this a very important way for me to learn about issues and to let my constituents know what is going on.
8. Godfrey: Echo Bay’s developer was given a 60 day MOU (memorandum of understanding) extension. What do you feel is the best course of action for the City at this time?
8: Hyden: I did vote to extend the Echo Bay MOU for 60 days. The extension will be up in March and I have publicly stated that unless Forest City comes back to council with a better proposal I will not vote to extend again. I was on the original citizen’s committee that was involved with the Echo Bay project and I still feel that a properly conceived development, strong on retail and opening up the waterfront to our citizens, would be a good thing. I have also always been an advocate for adaptive reuse of the Armory building provided that it produces revenue for our city. It is a very special building and needs to be part of New Rochelle’s future.
9. Godfrey: What direction do you feel the City of New Rochelle should take for the next four years?
9: Hyden: The City of New Rochelle needs to focus on increasing revenue through sensible development, creative use of resources, and a positive attitude. The creation of a “comprehensive plan” will help target what we need to do as we move forward. We need to decide what we want our downtown to be 10 years from now and then use all of our energy and imagination to get there. There are many small things we can do right away to increase revenue and improve the visual appearance of our city, making it more attractive to new business and customers. We should enforce existing city code, help new and existing small businesses to succeed by helping them to open and to grow, and use the arts as a hook to bring new enterprises to our city.
10. Godfrey: Do you have any ideas or suggestions you would like to share?
10: Hyden: Over the next year, I plan to introduce several new development ideas as well as new legislation to improve our downtown business district. I am a strong believer that the renaissance of New Rochelle will continue and accelerate if we insist on intelligent, sensible, and creative ways to grow.
In the March 15 issue of the Westchester Guardian