SIGN THIS PETITION PLEASE: You Can Save Our School System $38,000 A Year

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION: President, New Rochelle Board of Education: Do not grant a tax exemption to Larchmont

RichardOrganisciak.jpgAt the July 2 New Rochelle Board of Education Meeting, School Superintendent Richard Organisciak asked the Board to grant a tax exemption of $38,000 to the Village of Larchmont. The only reason given for this request is that the City of New Rochelle and the Library have granted similar exemptions, since Larchmont is using the land as part of the Larchmont Reservoir-James G. Johnson Jr. Conservancy, stewarded by the Sheldrake Environmental Center at 685 Weaver Street.

In presenting his request for the tax exemption, Mr. Organisciak misinformed the Board as to the size of the property that lies within New Rochelle. He told the Board that only a small piece of the Conservancy’s land is inside the New Rochelle borders. However, the Sheldrake Environmental Center’s website states: “The Conservancy straddles the New Rochelle-Mamaroneck boundary, with most of the area in New Rochelle but all the buildings in the Town.” [emphasis added]

A quick hunt through the City’s assessment rolls confirms this. Larchmont owns three parcels of land in New Rochelle with a market value exceeding $1.9 million for which they pay property taxes of $37,950.

Our School District’s finances are under severe strain. We have cut staff and services for three consecutive years, even as our taxes have continued to rise. More cuts are coming. The tax exemption request for Larchmont amounts to a full teaching position every other year.

Giving away $37,950 in perpetuity, at a 3% interest rate, amounts to well over $750,000 on a net present value basis. In simple terms, if you bought a lottery ticket and won $37,950 a year for life and took the cash option you would get a check for $750,000 today. I see no reason to give Larchmont three-quarters of a million dollars just because they would like to have it.

Granting a tax exemption for this property also makes no sense when New Rochelle residents are not given equal access to all of the programs that take place there. The Town of Mamaroneck runs a summer day camp for children on the grounds of the Conservancy. New Rochelle children must pay a higher fee to attend, and even then can only go if there are free slots available after Mamaroneck children have had their requests filled.

Granting this exemption would provide Larchmont with money they can use to support services for Larchmont residences, such as the Hommocks pool and Manor Beach, both of which exclude New Rochelle residents from their use.

Please tell the Board of Education NOT to grant this tax exemption to Larchmont by signing this petition.

39 thoughts on “SIGN THIS PETITION PLEASE: You Can Save Our School System $38,000 A Year”

  1. I will sign it
    Andrew,

    I am glad to see someone took the initiative on this. Why on earth Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak thinks it is a good idea to give money to Larchmont is beyond me. I could not believe it when I recommending doing this at the last BoE meeting. This was during the same week we were firing Teaching Aides who make about that much a year.

    There are a lot of ways to look at the value of $38,000 a year in a tax abatement for Larchmont and NPV at $750,000 is one.

    Consider also that taxes only go up so the tax abatement will grow in value every year from now until the seas swallow up New Rochelle. You can make a case for just straight-lining the $38,000 or even adding a growth rate of 2%.

    $38,000 x 30 years = $1.14 million

    $38,000 at 2% growth rate over 30 years = $1.54 million

    However you want to run the numbers, we are not just giving away $38,000 but a future cash flow of $38,000 a year in perpetuity which is worth anywhere from $750,000 to $1.5 million.

    This ones is a no brainer. Vote “No”.

    1. Larchmont?
      Did they not already get a gift from
      New Rochelle when we abandoned our
      IKEA plans because of their bitching?

      1. How to Ruin a Jewel
        Hey FedUp-

        Here’s the deal with Ikea, Larchmont, and the shitty tax base New Rochelle has been suffering with for many, many years.

        Your political leaders in New Rochelle since the 1960’s have destroyed one of the premier small cities in New York State, as far as tax revenue and financial conditions are concerned. As far as I can see, the choices they have collectively made are a textbook disaster on how to manage a city.

        Your crummy downtown attracts no one, unless you’re in need of a taco, a cell phone battery, used furniture, or something from a 99 cent store. I shopped in New Rochelle, as did everyone I knew growing up at the time, here in Larchmont. We spent our money at Bloomingdales, Arnold Constable (before there was a Macy’s) Paul Scott, etc. Went to see movies at Town, Proctors and Lowes, most likely before you were born. Schrafts, Crumley’s, and many fine restaurants and pubs in a city that people looked forward to visiting every weekend. If I want the atmosphere you offer now, I’ll go down to Fordham Road.

        A few years back, you wanted to declare the City Park area of N.Rochelle a “blighted zone” so you could park a monster box store bigger than Ikea in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the ass end of New Rochelle and on the back porch of Larchmont, ruining OUR quality of life, to solve Tim Idoni’s political headaches; and you thought you’d actually get away with that crap without a knock-down drag out fight?

        Think again.

        You want an Ikea in New Rochelle? Got a great place for it, right behind City Hall, with easy access off I-95.

        Better yet, build it on top of City Hall. At least something productive for your city might have the potential of happening there.

      2. Point taken…
        but to a point. That “blighted zone” is in fact just that. And the IKEA invasion would have done very little to impact the quaint elitist nature that Larchmont so projects.

        But I hardly blame the village for being so self absorbed, whereas they can not get along with their sister town and village. But let’s not get into the preservation of that political pride.

        In fact, New Rochelle cowered and could barely muster a fight. If I was in LArchmont, I might take issue with the IKEA deal. I mean who wants to hear the excess traffic on 95? But sadly New Rochelle pulled a Roberto Duran and gave up a fight they easily could have won.

      3. Yes, We’re “quaint and elitist”
        We’re “quaint and elitist” in the same sense your own citizens in Wykagyl, Beechmont, Davenport, Quaker Ridge, Forest Heights, etc. are too. I’ll wager none of them make any considerable purchases in the downtown area of their own city, either. Anyway, we’re a small village, and shouldn’t have it held against us that we don’t offer Federal Housing projects, acres of decrepit apartment housing like the Union Avenue/Webster area, crowded with so many illegal aliens to a room, it would keep the U.S. Immigration busy for months if Obama gave a damn about enforcing American law.

        You really are a kind of schizophrenic place, aren’t you?

        When your city proffered it’s phony traffic study about Ikea, before the days of automobile GPS systems available to every driver, they actually tried to sell the idea, that Ikea shoppers from Rockland County, Putnam and points north and west, would drive south and east, across I-287, all the way around to I-95 and then exit into New Rochelle.

        Not one word was mentioned about the hundreds of thousands of people who would soon discover this little artery called the Hutchinson River Parkway, and exit into Larchmont on Weaver Street, right onto Murray Avenue, and through Larchmont into the backdoor of Ikea on 5th Avenue.

        Every weekend, every month, permanently.

        So you see, your argument that it would have “very little impact” is kind’a full of crap from the get-go, isn’t it?

        Thankfully for the Larchmont/Mamaroneck neighborhood potentially involved by this fiasco of a New Rochelle tax revenue gambit, the legion of attorneys, doctors, educators, housewives, bankers, brokers, and everyone else who studied hard, worked long hours, delayed gratification to achieve a goal, sacrificed and saved, and had the good fortune and opportunity to purchase a home and move their families here, were gonna’ be damned, if they were going to have Tim Idoni and his City Council escape the decades of your city’s lousy financial decisions, at the cost of our lovely, elitist, quality of life, here in Larchmont..

        In short, you picked the wrong neighborhood to f*%k with.

      4. Good for you
        Good for you! Now please drive to Portchester for your cosco and home-depot needs, no one wants your Larchmont stuck up rich asses using our pothole filled streets.

      5. Now that you mentioned it
        Well, actually, we rich asses in Larchmont never actually “shop”, per se, in those establishments. After all it’s just so much easier to have my man run over and pick up whatever it is the chauffeur or household staff requires.

        And that’s “Costco”, with a “t” my good man.

      6. This just helps
        to fortify the fact that Larchmont is operating under a guise of super-elitist. So take your lovely Cape Cod houses of 1000 sq feet and pay your taxes in excess of 20K. Share schools with the hyphenated Americans living in the flats, and keep sending your sick to SSMC.

        Ask about the prospects of the NRFD absorbing your fire district.

        And kindly tell New Rochelle to disregard any concessions mentioned in this post. Apparently you need not our charity.

      7. What Larchmont doesn’t have
        You were going strong (but way off course) & then made the stupid commnet about Sound Shore Medicial. Nobody goes there, I’ve heard its a horrible place for medical services. I’ve never come close to stepping inside & I’ve gone to the emergency room a couple time over the last 15 years, just not in NR as I took my business elsewhere.

        What Larchmont doesn’t have & NR does, is 1 housing project after another. All this public housing has to be a drain on the emergency services not to mention the city & school’s finances.

      8. SSMC
        I think we are fortunate to have a thriving medical center in our city. Considering how many in our area have closed up. Also, the reputation is not well deserved. It is easy to criticize a local hospital, and in some cases rightfully so, but its’ reputation is not necessarily the reality.

        But this thread is really less about Larchmont, and more about Organishak. Clearly, as Mike Scully has been very open about, Larchmont needs not our charity. But perhaps Mike can organize a way to give back to the city of his childhood. Surely the 2% in the village have the resources and know how.

      9. How much further?
        Congratulations!

        That “2%” quote you used here is right out of the Obama Class-Warfare Playbook. Although they usually like to refer to it as the 1% who are robbing the country.

        So, you’re right on schedule for the 2012 general election. (P.S. don’t tell anyone, but I hear Mitt Romney is really wealthy! shhhh.)

        But in a city with 3/4 Democrat voter registration, what can you expect?

        One wonders what exactly it will take for the city of New Rochelle to finally, once and for all, hit bottom.

      10. Truth Be Told…
        New Rochelle has been a dump since Bloomingdales moved out and your downtown looks like a Third World Country. Everyone in Westchester knows that Sound Shore Medical Center is where people go to die and Donald Trump’s high-rise looks like it was photoshopped from a Communist Bloc country because it would fit in nicely with your housing projects.

        Sorry folks, New Rochelle LOOKS like a city where all the politicians are self-seeking, greedy scoundrels. But my puzzlement is, “how can elected office in this place be considered a stepping stone to anything at all?”

        Just asking.

      11. Can mega-elitist be far behind?
        Thanks for the promotion to “super-elitist”. On behalf of the entire Village, we’re flattered.

        As far as occasional sickness and such, we wouldn’t send our household pets to Sound Shore Medical Center. And we would be much more likely to toddle on up to Greenwich Hospital, when need for such a facility arises.

        Someday, when your city gets it’s financial house in order (if your still alive) you’ll find this envy and resentment about Larchmont, which presently washes over you like a high tide at full moon, subside.

        Calmer forces will take over, and you’ll once more take pride and satisfaction in the arrangements that New Rochelle finds itself in. Until then, keep on dodging those potholes from two winters ago, renting out those “Luxury Condos” to college kids, convicting sex offenders in your school system, and electing politicians yearning for their step-up to County Clerk (nothing like a dream, eh?) on the backs of the citizens they govern.

        When Noam takes Nita’s seat, oh what will you do then?

      12. Excellent posts, Mike…
        and right on the mark, especially yours on ‘How To Ruin A Jewel’. New Rochelle is a sewer and will always be a sewer. The corrupt political system will ensure that.

        Not to worry, when Noam is rewarded for his inattention to New Rochelle, he will ensure that another crook will ignore New Rochelle for another generation, and the ignorant voters will go along with him.

        Warrior Princess, you are also spot on. Sound Shore, especially their ER, IS where people go to die. Their biggest problem is getting the dead people out, since their shoes usually stick to the filthy floors.

        Mike, when will New Rochelle (New Roc to the more intelligent citizens) hit rock bottom? It already did that, when Noamy was elected by said citizens. Then again I may be wrong – the corrupt politicians and inattentive, uncaring citizens just MIGHT drive it further into the ground. Let’s see if, next election, they go along with Noamy’s clone, Idoni III.

        Good for you that you chose to live in Larchmont, where they take pride in their downtown and environs. By the way, kudos on not being hit by Cox with his ‘bemoaning’ insult, I guess he is selective in his use of that. He has failed to realize that without ‘bemoaning’, which he himself does so well, there would be no TOTS.

      13. Ikea was a bad idea from the get go.
        Ikea was a bad idea from the get go. Kind of like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. It just didn’t fit.

        All of NR is indebted to our good friends in Larchmont for thwarting that disaster.

        And from the whole Ikea discussion, it became very apparent that New Rochelle’s finances weren’t balanced, that NR routely spends more than it takes in. Fast forward 15 years and nothings changed so I’m anticipating (& so should everyone else) more of those 10++% tax increases that we saw last January. Maybe it’ll hit 20% if we borrow the $13 million for the city yard. If the city’s hell bent on borrowing $13 million maybe there’s a better use for it?

      14. Couldn’t be more Incorrect
        The Downtowns in New Rochelle and similar Cities of old were predicated on independent, Specialty stores and Boutique sized Department stores. Citizens had few options other than shopping ‘local’ and this model of things flourished.

        Well, change happens and retail morphed into large mega indoor and outdoor centers. New Rochelle did not have the large tracts of land needed to get in this new game of retail. Other areas did. Traveling 30 or 60 miles to ‘hit the mall’ soon became the norm for many. Today’s families are in Paramus when the mall opens in the AM , at Woodbury Commons by 1PM and back for the soccer game at City Park by 3PM.

        The leaders of NR saw this trend and at least attempted to bring in the HENRY set (High Earner Not Yet Rich) to balance the changing demographic in the immediate downtown area.

        Please refrain from your snooty comments, unless you have some constructive suggestions on how to improve things -STOP YOUR NASTINESS & STAY OUT OF NR!

      15. What’s your excuse?
        What’s your excuse for “Bodega Alley”, AKA “99 Cent Lane” and also known as Main St. New Rochelle?

        Are you going to chalk that seven block wasteland up to HENRY too?

        Why don’t you go check your history of N.R. and discover the deal that was made with Macy’s when the first “mall” was developed in 1966. (were you even around then? I doubt it.)
        A church cemetery was unearthed and graves transferred to make the space for this “new and exiting” Mall. And this very famous national department store demanded in the contract the provision, that no other nationally known brand name retail stores be under the same roof with them.

        Your “leaders of New Rochelle” signed off on that.

        Some Mall.

        A single department store surrounded by alleyways of unknown brand shoe stores, incense and bead shops, stores where you could buy a baseball cap with anything embroidered on it, and two more floors of the same kind of crap nobody wants or needs.

        A movie theatre that eventually failed, and finally a new, modern first rate four story retail shopping mall in New Rochelle, that was so damn successful, it had to be demolished, and turned into an amusement park/penny arcade/movie complex that provides no real tax base for the city’s genius politicians who signed on for that one, also.

        (Maybe you should hoist Idoni, Bramson and the rest of that City Council to the top of this ridiculous tower above New Roc City (that never worked), strap them in and drop ’em down. Sell tickets for it, and donate the money to the Save New Rochelle Before It’s Too Late Committee.)

        The transformation of downtown White Plains in the early 1970’s ( The Galleria, Bloomingdales, Sears Roebuck, etc) was first offered to New Rochelle in the 1960’s. But these great leaders of vision in charge of New Rochelle, who as you say could “see a trend”, would have none of that kind of a “trend”.

        So, how’d that trend work out for White Plains?

        My constructive suggestions for your city are quite simple.

        1.) Stop blaming the surrounding villages and towns like Larchmont for standing in the way of your progress (we’ve had nothing to do with the political choices you’ve made and the asinine decisions those elected to office have chosen).

        2.) Get yourselves some politicians who aren’t using New Rochelle for their resume for election to higher office.

        You need another Condo/Rental housing development in this city like fish need a bicycle.

      16. I said Stop Your Nastiness
        Sorry about your personality disorder…
        I’m listening to the Radio now (you know, radio programs with actual listeners) and will respond later.

      17. I knew we’d get to the personal stuff soon!
        Childish response, but thanks for listening to the show.

        At least I’m not afraid to sign my name or use my own voice.

      18. Anyway…
        I listened to that show 2X. Saw quickly there was nothing to learn…

        So with your flawed logic I’m then supposed to believe politicians also blew it and are to blame for a similar change in demographic and economic decline in Scranton PA, Dayton and Cleveland OH, Flint MI, Camden NJ, Downtown Albany and Schenectedy NY, Buffalo NY, New Haven and Bridgeport CT – the list goes on and on. All suffered when one socioeconomic group left for southern locales in the US or nearby suburbs for the respective cities. No politician can alter or counter what are the forces and moves of the free market society and economy. New Rochelle is no different than any of the above examples.

        You are a one trick pony who only casts blame and provides no REAL solution.

        Mr Cox – since you mentioned it. My Grandfather cut a deal with Adolph and was able to chill in South America during the War and rebuilding years. Then moved back to Lugano, CH. So your remark is, as usual, dumb at best…

      19. Here’s a trick for you…
        Every city you’ve mentioned has been run by the Democrat Party for decades.

        What a coincidence.

        See. You learned something, anyway.

      20. 3 Words
        Nassau County Republicans…

        BTW I’ve been a Registered Member of the GOP since the Reagan administration when I was eligible to 1st Vote.

      21. Really?
        It’s an Example that things go bad no matter who is at the helm.

        And Yes, I’m smarter than you All Day, Every Day…

      22. and
        Why interject your little nasty comments always?

        Must suck to be a bitter individual who only has blame and no ideas. You sound like our current President…

      23. And who’s running the show there now?
        And who’s running the show there now? Republicans. Why? Because the Dems did an even worse job running the place and reverted to their old play book to bring back the tax & spend policies that gave them the boot in the 1st place.

      24. Wrong
        The State Oversees Everything there now. Sos not sure I’d say any one party is runnung things.

      25. Hey Slick, did any of those
        Hey Slick, did any of those towns give 30-year tax abatements like NR did to the Avalons? Or 15-year tax abatements like NR did to a Pinball Mall (New Roc City) which returns zilch in sales tax? Or 10-year tax abatements like NR did to Home Depot & Costco, who received a certiorari before their tax abatement expired? The HENRY people you reference were actually deemed “people with disposable income” (PWDI) by Idoni and Bramson. They turned New Rochelle into a bedroom community because PWDI worked and played elsewhere returning to NR’s Avalons to sleep and head out of the area for another day. Trump has gone rent to own and tenants are renting and running when leases are up. Scully is correct in that there exists two NR’s, as others have noted, Eastchester Road is the Mason Dixon Line.

        You are an enabler who keeps these blood suckers in office for your own benefit, I’ll bet you live above Eastchester Road, and refuse to hold politicians accountable. Many years ago the north end tried to mobilize and secede from NR and it wouldn’t surprise me to see that effort revitalized. Look at what Lacher and company did to Hastie on the school board. They are an extension of Idoni, Bramson & company. Hastie is playing nice in the sandbox claiming he believes it isn’t racial but if you believe that, I have some snake oil as a solution.

      26. Wow…
        30 years for the Avalons? Wow.

        “Home Depot & Costco, who received a certiorari before their tax abatement expired?”———yup, or they woulda been outta there and the sewer that is New Rochelle would have had a ghost anchor as well as a ghost downtown.

        Don’t forget the ‘I think I’ll invent a church and put it on Main Street’ waste of spaces that went up instead of decent stores.

        “Eastchester Road is the Mason Dixon Line.”—–hah, ain’t that the truth. Remind me again, where does Noamy live? Yeah, thought so.

      27. Heard it Before
        How is living by Glenwood Lake any different from living by Paine Lake?

        How is living on Kensington Oval any different from living on Stratton Road? Oh yeah, the amazing view of the Sound is better on Kensington.

        It’s an ill conceived notion with no validity.

        We have 1 City with many issues to solve. Divide and Conquer is NOT the path to addressing and solving them…

      28. Did someone say, “Hitler”?
        As a matter of fact, when young Adolf was painting water colors in Vienna…

      29. Slick, are you related to Noam?
        Or as he is known in New Rochelle, Idoni III?

      30. Why Would You Think that?
        Did I ask you to bend over to see if you were using compliant lightbulbs?

        Perish the thought…Related to Noam, Indeed.
        I was fed up with Noam by the 6th Grade at Roosevelt School!

      31. One Fish, Two Fish, Throw them to the fishes!
        Hey Mike,
        At least the fish will be safe so long as they follow the bike routes. I still have yet to figure out where they go that is any different than the main roads themselves. Do they have a GPS or Map before they go out? They won’t stop to shop or even take a swim in the wonderful lakes and stores they pass. They are in just as bad of shape as New Rochelle and the City Council and staff. As a matter of fact, They Both Stink and need cleaning out!

      32. Hah…
        “(Maybe you should hoist Idoni, Bramson and the rest of that City Council to the top of this ridiculous tower above New Roc City (that never worked), strap them in and drop ’em down. Sell tickets for it, and donate the money to the Save New Rochelle Before It’s Too Late Committee.)”

        I’d buy tickets to that.

      33. The Incredible
        “You need another Condo/Rental housing development in this city like fish need a bicycle.”

        Hum!… the Incredible Mr. Limpet just may need that bicycle you talk about

  2. Petition
    Andy, Please post the petition. I would love to sign. Perhaps Mr. Organisciak will be seeking employment in Larchmont/Mamaroneck school district.

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