As we near election day, voters would do well to consider what Noam Bramson’s promises have been worth in the past.
JULY 2008: Forest City’s New Rochelle project faces hurdles
Clearing the Echo Bay land in New Rochelle will be tricky. Some taxpayers oppose the city’s proposal to float a $2.5 million bond to relocate a municipal garage for city trucks from the site, known as the City Yard, and on June 17, the City Council delayed a vote on the measure indefinitely. And it takes a so-called super majority — five out of seven votes — to authorize the borrowing.
In addition to a five-acre park, the plan calls for 62 townhouses, 42 condos, 606 luxury rental apartments…150,000 square feet of retail, a 20,000 square foot community space to replace the armory and two 150-room hotels.
“We selected Forest City after our RFP process because we were impressed by their vision for the site, their organizational depth and strength as well as their capacity to surmount some of the challenges this plan clearly presents,” said Mayor Noam Bramson.
And Westchester voters wonder why New Rochelle voters have turned against Noam Bramson and his plans for Echo Bay?
62 townhouses? Nope.
42 condos? Gone!
150,000 square feet of retail? Down to 25,000 square feet — enough for a dry cleaners, a liquor store and a deli.
2 150-room hotels? Not even a Motel 6.
606 luxury rental apartments? All we get are 285 regular rental units, a large number studio apartments.
And $2.5 million to move the City Yard? Try $30 million!
Toss in various tax abatements and what do you get?
You get almost none of the revenue promised in the original Forest City plan and you get costs to move the City Yard that are now 12 times greater than claimed in 2008.
Noam gushes about Forest City’s “vision for the site”.
How is that vision today? a 285-unit dormitory for Monroe College students built next to mudflats in the shadows of a 10-story tall monstrosity of a sewage treatment plant.
Hard to know what smells worse?
The stench from the raw sewage? The scaled down plan? Or the tens of thousands of dollars Noam has reaped from his relationship with Forest City, a company that appears unable to build a project in New York without elected officials supporting their plans being indicated for taking bribes?
