New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson is scheduled to appear before the East End Civic Association tonight at 7 p.m. at Holy Name Church. He is to be accompanied by Abe Naperstak, a representative of Forest City/Ratner. Bramson will make a presentation and answer questions.
There are three sticking points when it comes to Echo Bay and the New Rochelle School District. First the number of students projected to be enrolled from the Echo Bay project, 28. Second, the amount the school district should be compensated for the “actual cost” of educating students. Third, Forest City’s refusal to agree to a “sliding scale” whereby Forest City pays for the actual number of students enrolled adjusted on actual yearly enrollment.
First, the 28 students projected were derived from the state of the art Rutgers Table. A similar state of the art calculation was performed for the Avalon Project that encompassed 1,000 rental units projected to produce 58 school age children. There are currently 146 Avalon students enrolled in New Rochelle schools, a 151% gaffe. The 146 students represent an additional $3 million subsidy that New Rochelle taxpayers must suffer. It is crystal clear that any projected number has, at best, a clairvoyant’s chance of being accurate.
Second, the NRBOE is requesting that a base cost-per-student of $21,000 be applied when calculating a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) to “keep the district whole”. The City of New Rochelle and Forest City have determined that $17,500 is a more realistic number. That represents a difference of $3,500 per student or $98,000 for the projected 28 students.
Third, Forest City is refusing to incorporate a sliding scale where they pay for the actual number of students enrolled in any given year. This is a double-edged sword in that while the number of students will vary year-to-year it could be more or less than the projection of 28. If less, Forest City pays less if more they pay more, seems fair to me.
The most glaring fact is that regardless of the number of students, computations to “make the district whole” or whether there is a sliding scale, Forest City will be saving TENS of MILLION$ of dollars in school district taxes that New Rochelle taxpayers must bear. School taxes are based on a formula (structure & land value) X’s the school tax rate, not on the number of students. That factor alone should be ample reason for Forest City to agree to pay any amount requested by the NRBOE per-pupil multiplied by the actual number of students, which will vary year-to-year.
The short analysis is that the diminutive Echo Bay project, 6 acres as opposed to the original 26 acres, is an extremely bad deal for New Rochelle taxpayers.
Forest City is quibbling over $98,000 while saving tens-of-millions of tax dollars. Forest City refuses to stand by their projection and refuses to pay for the actual number of students it introduces into the school district. In real estate there are sticking points to be negotiated and there are deal breakers. The fact that Forest City is holding out to add an additional $98,000 in profits, to their already overstuffed pockets, defines how bad this deal is for New Rochelle taxpayers.
On the political side, we have Mayor Bramson touting this postage stamp size project as New Rochelle’s newest development star. Bramson cannot find enough accolades in his attempt to pull the wool over taxpayer’s eyes.
Bramson and representatives from Forest City will appear before the East End Civic Association (EECA) tonight in an attempt to persuade homeowners that the Echo Bay project will be the newest gem in the Queen City’s Crown. The community represented by the EECA will be the most impacted by this project. This community has existing traffic, parking and other problems that the Echo Bay project will compound. But not to worry as the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) will address all concerns. These are the same studies, paid for by the developer, that projected 58 students from Avalon and proclaimed that there would be no additional police, fire or sanitation workers required for Avalon’s 1,000 apartments. The firm to be employed to conduct the EIS will be chosen by the City. So, the developer pays for the EIS and the City chooses the firm conducting the EIS; sounds like the fox watching the hen house.
Bramson has no edifice that he can lay claim to. New Rochelle’s skyline, good or bad, is Idoni’s legacy. Bramson is hell-bent on ramming this project through as he controls a super-majority of city council. Bramson will use his silver tongue and speech-writing skills in an attempt to sway taxpayers with unsubstantiated projections of grandeur on return from investment. Bramson is prepared to bond ever-increasing amounts to move the city yard. He will use the deplorable state of the city yard to add substance to his position yet it is Bramson who allowed the city yard to deteriorate to its disgraceful state much the same as the New Rochelle Armory.
In the end, a leopard cannot change his spots so Bramson will use the commercial development strategy to put his position over the top. Unfortunately for Bramson, his development strategy is flawed. I’m not speaking about tax abatements, although Bramson is king of corporate welfare to wealthy, campaign donor developers. I’m speaking about how Bramson judges the merits of development. Bramson’s record speaks for itself and we need only to review Bramson’s judgment on Ikea to understand his mindset. In reference to Ikea, Bramson stated:
“The decision to uproot residents and business owners was a “difficult” one, but added that, in his view, the projects benefits outweigh its drawbacks. “It’s likely to generate 10 times the revenue that the existing properties are producing,” Bramson said. “We’re not elected only to make the easy decisions. We’re elected to make the difficult decisions as well.”
(NR SOUND REPORT 6/25/1999 pg. 12)
There you have it! The current city yard and city-abandoned Armory are generating ZERO tax dollars. Any project will generate more than $0. So Bramson will accept a bad project over no project at all. Echo Bay will burden the taxpayers of New Rochelle for 20-years.