New Rochelle Council Discussion of Flowers (City) Park Gets Heated

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (October 21, 2025) — City Council Member Albert Tarantino put on the agenda for tonight’s New Rochelle City Council meeting a Discussion Item on “Flower’s City Park”.

News Analysis

Al Tarantino was there primarily to ask his colleagues to join him in supporting pulling the RFP. He pointed out that David Peters and Matt Stern told him they were unaware of the RFP until after it was published. He said a developer was lurking in the background but would not say their name. The name is Bob Young.

City Manager Will Melendez came with a presentation on flood mitigation — not provided to the public in advance of the meeting so yet another violation of Open Meeting Law.

Shane Osinloye made a truly bizarre, imperious statement that is better watched than described.

David Peters was very angry about “process” by which he meant that he was “blindsided” by the RFP.

Martha Lopez sided with the speakers at last week’s CTBH. She wondered why the County was not consulted as they have the capability to help. She got particularly animated talking about what happened with the Playland public-private partnership.

Sara Kaye was soft-spoken but conveyed that it was clear the people did not want a public-private partnership.

Matt Stern said he was skeptical that a public-private partnership was a good idea.

Yadira Ramos did not say much at all but this is here baby so she did not need to say much.

Dawn Warren and Vin Parise spoke briefly.

The Democrats remained unified on allowing the RFP to proceed but it sounded like it was 2-5 against a public-private partnership.

Was Alarmist Nature of City Manager Presentation Unwarranted?

City Manager Will Melendez once again violated New York State Open Meeting Law by refusing to provide an advanced copy of his presentation on flood mitigation to council, to the City Clerk and thereby to the public my posting on the city web site (it is still not there). The Flowers Park slideshow was intended as a rebuttal of the public’s CTBH criticism last week. The public and all council members should have had a copy before the meeting. It was especially harmful to Al Tarantino and David Peters who should have been afforded the opportunity to prepare in advance a rebuttal to Will Melendez’ rebuttal.

Because Melendez withheld his presentation there was an awkward pause in the meeting when Yadira Ramos and Sara Kaye were raising questions about the downtime of the splash pad. They were trying to make the case that the splash pad was offline for two years due to flooding and believed the splash pad was a bullet point on the slide below.

The splash pad is not on that slide because it was not damaged in a flooding event, it is not on parkland, not a part of City Park, it’s on property owned by a private company. Parkside Place is owned and managed by NDR Group Inc., a private not-for-profit organization dedicated to affordable housing development and preservation in New Rochelle. NDR Group acquired the property in the mid-1980s from the New Rochelle Housing Authority. As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, NDR operates independently of direct government control, though it participates in public-private partnerships like PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) agreements with the City of New Rochelle to support affordability.

The splash pad was offline for 2 years due to unrelated plumbing issues which had nothing to do with flooding and were the responsibility of NDR to repair. The splash pad was built as an alternative to a swimming pool which was removed based on tenant complaints due to numerous police incidents such as illegal entry after hours, trespassing, noise violations, and safety violations.

According to Melendez, Flower’s City Park has faced flooding damage from three major weather events over 18 years. He starts with a 2007 Nor’easter which raises a cherry-picking issue; why did he not go back further? It suggests there were no other flooding events in the years before so he is removing those years from his calculations for dramatic effect. He goes on to Hurricane Ida in 2021 to Tropical Storm Ophelia in 2023.

These storms spread over decades resulted in 166-170 days of unusable fields—averaging 5-10 days annually across multiple fields. Impacts included turf lifting, infield damage, and closures ranging from days to, in one case, 3 months. Melendez slide shows a tiny number of concentrated events in episodic bursts rather than chronic issues.

Mitigation efforts accelerated in the past 1-2 years after a September 2023 citywide drainage study, which pinpointed 170 projects across six watersheds, including the park’s Hutchinson River area, at a $350 million cost. Spring 2024 initiatives focused on surface improvements, green infrastructure, and river enhancements, with key City Park area RFPs underway: one awarded to H2M Architects & Engineers for hydrologic analysis (deadline November 20, 2024), another for stormwater upgrades (pre-bid September 8, 2025), and now a third for what Melendez claims is for flood-resilient park redevelopment.

While the park’s low-lying location warrants proactive measures amid climate concerns, historical data suggests manageable disruptions without evidence of rising storm frequency, balancing prevention against potential overstatement of urgency.