Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park (an 8-Part Series)

Written By: Robert Cox

DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 30, 2025) — During last Tuesday’s City Council RLM meeting, New Rochelle City Manager Will Melendez co-opted a Discussion Item on Flowers Park requested by Council Member Albert Tarantino with the unprecedented step of delivering a 6-slide “ambush” presentation. In my two decades reporting on New Rochelle I do not recall this ever happening.

The presentation was kept secret in violation of New York’s Open Meetings Law. Melendez — acting as a hatchet man for Mayor Ramos, in turn fronting for developer Bob Young — used his deceptive slideshow to rapidly spew a series of lies, and misrepresentations. There was no way Tarantino could effectively respond on the fly to such a firehose of misinformation.

I can. And I have.

By the weekend, I had written about 8,000 words dissecting Melendez’ dissembling presentation, slide by slide. It was a great deal of work so I put the 8-Part “Flowers Park Gaslighting” series on my subscription-based site: Words in Edgewise at robertcox.ie. As this is the first major series I have published since acquiring so many new readers I want to explain that when I do a massive amount of work like this I limit access to paid subscribers — it’s what they pay for, to support my best work.

I was hoping to complete the series before the October 29 deadline for bids responding to the Flowers Park RFP. I got 7 of the 8 done with the 8th part posted this morning.

I did FOIL yesterday and today asked Will Melendez directly about getting any bid documents submitted by the deadline. Here is my email to him with a cc to all members of council.

😮‍💨 me not holding my breath!

I also reached out to Bob Young to ask if he submitted a bid, whether he would provide me the documents he submitted (if any), and if he is now willing to sit down for that interview with me he agreed to last week then cancelled.

If anyone else gets the bid documents please send them along.

Given the public interest in the Flowers Park RFP, I created a “public preview” summary of the first 7 articles published for my Words in Edgewise subscribers. I am adding them all here (and adding the unpublished summary of Part VIII) under a link to each article. A subscription is $7.00 a month. There is a 30-day free trial. There is a further free 60-days if you get an annual subscription. The point of these subscriptions is not like buying Fresh Direct, it’s a way to support my work with recurring revenue so if you appreciate my effort please get a subscription (you will be prompted by clicking on any of the links below).

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part I

Part I of this series criticizes New Rochelle City Manager Will Melendez for misleading statements and lack of transparency regarding a Request for Proposal (RFP) to redevelop Flowers Park into a major sports and entertainment complex. During a City Council discussion prompted by Council member Albert Tarantino, Melendez evaded questions about a developer’s involvement, particularly Bob Young, who is believed to have privately pitched the project to the Mayor. The RFP, described as plagiarized and overly ambitious, proposes a “world-class Community Sports Center” and even suggests eminent domain, raising suspicions of a predetermined deal. Melendez’s “ambush” presentation violated New York’s Open Meetings Law by not being shared 24 hours in advance, undermining public trust. The article suggests the RFP is a facade for privatization, with Melendez misrepresenting it as a mere exploration of ideas to address flooding and improve facilities, while public opposition grows to protect the park.

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part II

Part II of this series targets New Rochelle’s contentious RFP (Bid 5820) for a “Master Redeveloper” at Flowers Park, which was presented last week by City Manager Will Melendez as a flood mitigation effort but is actually a secretive public-private partnership aimed at handing over control of the park to a private developer. Released on September 12, 2025, with bids due by October 29, the RFP was plagiarized from a Pelham RFQ while bypassing any pre-release public input or council involvement, leaving most council members unaware of its existence until after it was published. Melendez and Corporation Counsel Dawn Warren portrayed the RFP as a non-binding “search for concepts” and a mere “expression of interest,” rather than a direct route to an exclusive MOU, yet the document explicitly outlines plans for a massive sports complex with public participation postponed until after MOU negotiations—projected for Q1 2026 approval hearings or SEQRA environmental reviews spanning March to August 2026—restricting community input to already-finalized terms (MOU) or draft environmental concerns (DEIS) are decided. Assertions of built-in protections, such as uninterrupted park programming and mandated community benefits, are dismissed as toothless and unenforceable, while proposals to retroactively amend the RFP are seen as compromising fairness; the entire process is deemed excessive for what is needed as a 25-year flood remedy, far short of the administration’s claim of a century-long solution.

Councilmember Shane Osinloye’s vehement opposition to rescinding the RFP is condemned as riddled with factual inaccuracies and hypocrisy, including erroneously linking it to earlier flood discussions that never contemplated surrendering the park, misidentifying residential flooding impacts (Flowers Park contains no homes), misrecalling the Wildcliff fire as a morning incident under clear skies instead of a rainy afternoon arson, and overstating deterioration at locations like Five Islands Park (where pavilion repairs are already in progress) or foul odors at Pratt Landing (stemming from natural sulfurous mud, not brownfield contamination). The critique also highlights the suppressed evidence of Echo Bay’s pollution, which could implicate the city as a past polluter, as symptomatic of systemic mismanagement.

Ultimately, city officials engaged in performative “kabuki theater,” potential criminal conduct, and politicizing the issue under Democratic leadership, with calls for immediate RFP withdrawal, authentic community engagement, and law enforcement investigation to ensure taxpayer interests take precedence over preferential treatment for developers.

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part III

Part III of this series targets City Manager Will Melendez’ claims Flowers Park is chronically flooded (it’s not). To demonstrate this he points to three storms—the 2007 Nor’easter that caused $1.6 million in damage, Ida in 2021 with over $700,000, and Ophelia in 2023 at $25,000—for a total of $2.4 million. Yet two-thirds of that figure stems from a single event 18 years ago. After reviewing 50 years of records, he omitted far more significant storms, including Sandy in 2012 with a 9-foot storm surge and $527 million in countywide damage, Floyd in 1999 with 10–13 inches of rain, Eloise in 1975 with more than 10 inches, and the 1992 Nor’easter with 8–11 inches.

He notes, correctly, that there is more heavy rain (over the past two decades): 6-inch rains are now occurring every 2–3 years compared to every 15 in the 1970s. But he ignored factors that amplify flooding from those heavier rainfalls like sprawl creep (60–80% impervious cover across New Rochelle), an antiquated and poorly maintained water drainage system, that 5,000 acres of Westchester have been paved over since 1990, and hyper-locally, that every grass field at Flowers Park has been replaced with synthetic turf that does not absorb water and generates significant runoff. Anyone claiming Flowers Park is “high risk” (it’s not) might want to consider installing grass fields.

Whether residents accept that man-made climate change is real or not (and I am stipulating that there are heavier rains over the past 20 years) Melendez fails to explain why the need for flood mitigation projects to deal with heavier rainfall during storms justifies a public-private partnership to build a soccer arena and a professional-level sports complex on Flowers Park.

Because he never makes the connection between the (stipulated) need for flood mitigation it does not really matter what Melendez says about down time at Flowers Park fields or the cost of FEMA reimbursement (in the next slide) but it does not help that he is cherry-picking data and drawing unfounded or misleading conclusions from that data.

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part IV

Part IV of this series addressed Melendez’ slide on weather-related damages to Flowers Park in New Rochelle, citing three events over 18 years— a 2007 Nor’easter, Hurricane Ida in 2021, and Tropical Storm Ophelia in 2023—that collectively caused about 170 days worth of field closures, averaging less than 10 days per year when prorated across multiple years. He used these incidents to claim the need for flood mitigation to ensure the park’s viability for the next 50 years (and later 100 years).

He exaggerates the issue by ignoring major storms like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Floyd that caused no reported field downtime, and by including Ophelia’s negligible $25,000 in damages to create an illusory trend. As a former DPW Commissioner, Melendez advocated targeting ten 25-year annual exceedance probability (AEP) events through cost-effective micro-projects like culvert upgrades and bioswales, which can reduce expected annual damage by 60–70% at a fraction of the cost of 50- or 100-year standards. High levels of protections are costly and unwarranted for non-critical assets like Flowers Park, where no lives or personal property are at risk, and where additional flood depth reduction yields diminishing returns at exponentially higher costs. The city’s self-funded plan prioritizes 5–10 annual projects under $500,000 to build resilience incrementally without tax hikes, bonds, or over-reliance on grants, reserving advanced upgrades for vital infrastructure.

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part V

Part V of this series dismantles New Rochelle City Manager Will Melendez’ slide on storm-related costs at Flowers Park. Melendez highlights three storms—2007 Nor’easter, 2021 Hurricane Ida remnants, and 2023 Tropical Storm Ophelia—to argue for 50- to 100-year flood protection for Flowers Park. The article provides a 50-year historical analysis of 13 major storms. In inflation-adjusted 2025 dollars, 2012 Super Storm Sandy ($74 mm) was the costliest with 2021 Hurricane Ida ($25 mm) next on the list.

The 2007 Nor’easter ($2.6M) and Ophelia ($25,000) cited by Melendez were relatively trivial by comparison. Melendez ignored major storms like Sandy and 1999 Hurricane Floyd, which caused no park downtime, as he inflated small incidents to push expensive standards. As former DPW Commissioner, Melendez advocated for cost-effective micro-projects like culvert upgrades and bioswales to address frequent minor flooding—reducing 60–70% of expected damage at low cost—without tax increases. He now calls for overbuilding protection for a non-critical recreational site. Bar charts reinforce that Melendez’s examples misrepresent a low-damage trend, undermining the case for urgent, high-cost intervention which, according to him, can somehow be addressed by giving operational control of Flowers Park to a private developer.

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part VI

Part VI of this series scrutinizes a presentation slide used by New Rochelle City Manager Will Melendez to justify expensive 50- to 100-year flood protection for Flowers Park. The slide features four flooding videos, of which only one actually depicts the park—near Gate 226, a drain that captures water flowing down from Barnard School. The other locations are two from Pinebrook Boulevard near Forest Avenue and one from Ashland Street near East Place. By conflating off-site flooding with park conditions, Melendez misrepresents the severity of issues at Skidelsky and Fosina Fields, the park’s main areas. Melendez’ videos highlight three “hot zones” (Pinebrook/Forest, Ashland, and Gate 226). The article includes four Vimeo links to the footage.

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part VII

Part VII of this series documents how New Rochelle City Manager Will Melendez misled the city council claiming he has plans to put in place costly 50- to 100-year flood protections for Flowers Park when no such plan exists (or is needed). The 2023 Pinebrook Watershed Drainage Analysis (part of a citywide study post-Hurricane Ida) documents that flooding in 2021 was the result of issues at three interconnected hotspots—Ashland Area ($704,000 to fix), Barnard Area ($3.9 mm to fix), and City Park Gate 226 ($731,000 to fix)—totaling $5.34 mm for 25-year protections via pipe upgrades, catch basins, and maintenance. The full watershed’s 45 fixes cost $19.8 million but won’t withstand 100-year storms. Only one critical site (348 Pinebrook Blvd/2 Briar Circle) is getting 50-year protection; the park isn’t deemed high-risk or flood-prone historically. The article debunks Melendez’s claims point-by-point, arguing he exaggerates risks, inflate costs (e.g., claiming $9-15 mm for park fixes that cost a fraction of that), and ignore simple alternatives like routine grate cleaning, all to advance a back room deal with a particular developer.

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part VIII

Part VIII of this series shows how Will Melendez grossly exaggerated FEMA funding risks to push a public-private park deal, using a New York Times headline flashed briefly during a presentation. Melendez warned that Trump-era policies could end federal disaster aid, inappropriately citing an Oct. 16, 2025, Times article “How FEMA Is Forcing Disaster-Struck Towns to Fend for Themselves.” He urged a partnership with developer Bob Young to redevelop flood-damaged Flowers Park, saying cities may soon compete with states for aid. The Times report details delayed FEMA payments and fewer declarations (32 vs. 60 average) but notes funds are deferred, not cut. Trump wants states to lead responses, not eliminate federal aid. Biden-era reimbursements for Hurricanes Ida and Ophelia took 21 months each. New Rochelle claimed $25 million for Ida; Flowers Park was under 3% of that figure.

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