NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The City of New Rochelle is investigating yet another unauthorized removal of trees directly in front of a car dealer after residents complained.
“We are looking into this,” said Public Works Commissioner Alex Tergis. “The tree inspector has been asked to work up a replacement cost as part of the penalty plus the fine for removal.”
The City will likely need not look far. The trees were all removed in the immediate vicinity of New Rochelle Chevrolet.
@TalkoftheSound Why are New Rochelle's trees disappearing? https://t.co/4H86WzAeMl
— UglyNewRochelle (@UglyNewRochelle) November 26, 2014
Residents have complained for years about trees disappearing from in front of car dealerships in New Rochelle.
…city trees are being mysteriously being chopped down in front of or near car dealerships. You would think that at the very least, Mayor GreeNR would be concerned about this as he has been the leading (i.e. only) proponent on Council of urban forestry issues in New Rochelle. When they Mayor said he wanted to plant 10,000 trees in New Rochelle maybe he meant 10 trees in front of Honda and Mercedes, chopped down and re-planted 1,000 times.
The Car Dealers could care less about New Rochelle!
These dealers could care less about New Rochelle. Why do you think they have left Larchmont and other areas and we have become the Auto Mall City? The City of New Rochelle needs to do a review of how much these car dealerships really bring to New Rochelle. New Rochelle loves committees, let’s form a committee or hire a consultant to do some research to see what value these dealerships actually bring to New Rochelle. Considering the sales tax on the sale of the cars is charged at a tax rate from where the buyer lives and that city gets the taxes from the car sale not The City of New Rochelle.
The City of New Rochelle needs to rein these dealerships in and get them in compliance with local codes as well. Many don’t comply with the codes for their frontage plantings now. I know at one zoning meeting Development Commissioner Luiz Aragon even asked the owner of one dealership looking to get zoning approval for construction upgrades, “why is his dealership is called Larchmont and not New Rochelle” . The majority of the dealership was located in New Rochelle with only a corner of the property in Larchmont. With all these dealerships and their off-site storage locations, I see some prime locations for a new City Yard. There is one Used Car Dealership right next to the current City Yard and they once owned the Beechwood Ave property, how about a trade or in this case use eminent domain as a point to convince them to sell.
New Rochelle has to work more in the interest of New Rochelle and not the Dealerships and Developers as in the past. No more sweet political or patronage deals! Prove that New Rochelle can no longer be sold to the more influential or connected bidder.
The butler did it
An inside job