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WPCNR Balustrade Gallery. By John F. Bailey. March 2, 2005: Forty persons attended the Mayor’s Comprehensive Review Committee meeting held on the Central Core (downtown) center of the city Tuesday evening, but it was clear to this reporter that the rank-and-file citizenry has not gotten their arms around the concept of planning their future downtown, thinking of the possibilities of what it is now, can be, could be, or should be, or what they the citizens want.
THE CORE AREA OF THE DOWNTOWN WAS THE SUBJECT OF LAST NIGHT’S COMPREHENSIVE PLAN REVIEW PUBLIC HEARING. PHOTO BY WPCNR NEWS.
Other than worry, and wringing of hands, no citizen, other than merchants, advanced any ideas for what they would like the downtown to be, except their apprehension about infrastructure, traffic, pollution, and city finances. They brought no ideas. No passion. No creativity. No vision.
No Guidance from the Administration.
The citizenry were not given any graphic idea on how the 1997 Comprehensive Plan would be executed in the future by the Planning Department; what would be promoted or sought by the city or what development would be sought where in the Core Area. No one from the administration said, “we want to put affordable housing here, a west-to-east pedestrian strollway here, a gentrified brownstone Park Slope look-alike neighborhood here, a casino here, a hockey rink here, and a minor league baseball stadium here.”
The citizenry were not offered any design concepts on how the downtown should grow. They were not presented with any sweeping visions as to how areas of the downtown could be themed, refreshed or redeveloped previously targeted by the Comprehensive Plan.
Waiting for Roarks.
Until visionary professional thinking is put into how the downtown should grow, block-by-block, by the city Planning Department and some design-theme possibilities generated either through independent architects’ competitions and visions, (as New York City did with the World Trade Center), the city will, it appears, continue to develop on a parcel by parcel basis in collusion between developers and city officials with minimal citizen input.
Tuesday evening’s Public Hearing on the Core Area, the only meeting on the Core area, featured no such visions, no unveilings of how the Comprehensive Plan might advance.
There are likely not to be any, either, unless the Comprehensive Review Committee recommends to the Common Council that a growth and design plan be commissioned to generate concrete possibilities of how the comprehensive plan might be activated from now on in a comprehensive design with organization.
One Idea Advanced: March of Apartments Down Mamaroneck Avenue
Only two residents made specific suggestions for how the downtown core should be developed of the kind that citizens could have a reaction to.
Leon Silverman an owner of 13 parcels of land in the downtown, proposed the only solid idea for development that emerged from the audience. He advocated the city continue to bring more residents to live in the downtown, specifically suggesting lowrise apartment dwellings proceding down either side of Mamaroneck Avenue. (By low-rise, Mr. Silverman meant 5 to 6 story buildings.) Silverman said he did not know how many more residents the city needed to generate revival of the Mamaroneck Avenue corridor. He threw out the figure of 6,000 to 8,000 residents. Silverman said the downtown needed “a concentration of people.”
Silverman said he has a business acquaintance living in another city who has owned property for years, who has confided that he is now making money that would have his father “roll over in his grave.” Silverman said his friend gave the reason: the gentrification of his downtown that has brought thousands of new residents, and service establishments have come to town to service those residents.
Strong Merchant Support
Rick Ammirato, Executive Director of the BID (Downtown Business Improvement District), earlier had started pounding the tom-toms for continued residential growth in the downtown core. “We forget where we were (7 years ago),” Ammirato said, crediting the administration for “creating an environment that made things happen.”
Ammirato said that “We need more residents in town. We need more development downtown.” Mr. Ammirato said that the present 1,600 new residential units and 3,000 new residents (at Bank Street Commons, JPI, City Center, and 221 Main) “was not the saturation point,” and that that saturation point for new residences in the downtown had not been reached. He said the downtown (with the new residents to come), would make it “as vibrant as good as the rest of the city. You should not stop us now.”
Mr. Ammirato’s boss, Jeffrey Stillman, Chairman of the BID also said his organization and merchant owners supported continued downtown residential growth, and said the city should continue to “partner” with developers.
Two business owners along Mamaroneck Avenue praised the way the city is going, and encouraged more residencies in the downtown, and said they were making more money than they were seven years ago thanks to the development.
A resident of Lake Street took to the podium and called for doing something about Mamaroneck Avenue roundly criticizing it as a shadow of what it used to be. (“It looks as if we’ve thrown it away,”) Another resident, too, called for making “Mamaroneck Avenue what it really can be.”
Complaints, Caveats and Counsel.
A number of other citizens spoke about issues they wanted the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee to watch out for and analyze.
Marc Pollitzer urged that the Review Committee hire an independent consultant to analyze the effects the new development on the city’s revenues, and citizen’s property tax, (property taxes going up, certioraris being lost, assessments down) and why resident’s property taxes continue to go up. Pollitzer also urged the Committee have the consultant, if hired, look into the feasibility of sharing sales taxes with the City School District.
John Martin assured Pollitzer this would be accomplished in the fourth public hearing on “Community Resources and Implementation.”
Glen Hockley spoke up on behalf of his incentive density bonus plan for creating more affordable housing in the downtown. He hoped that would be incorporated in the Committee’s recommendations. He asked that police and fire departments be given the resources to hire and train personnel to bring both departments up to full strength.
Hockley also suggested expansion of the city’s Economic Development Office budget to promote the city locally and nationally to attract residents.
Hockley added that the city needed to communicate better to its citizens, informing them of events through media in more timely and widespread, aggressive fashion, so events would be better attended. He advocated creating an electronic bulletin board downtown.
The former Councilman, Mr. Hockley, also called for more trains from White Plains past midnight to accommodate patrons to stay at city restaurants to 2 A.M. in the morning. He wants to run a shuttle bus to move patrons of these late night establishments to the train station.
Other residents complained about traffic, pollution, and an unfriendly parking environment, and infrastructure issues. One resident was very negative on the development characterizing the last seven years as increasing the number of malls in the city from 3 to 5. Another resident raised concerns about pedestrian safety.
No residents raised any visions of what they saw happening to the downtown after the 221 Main Street development is completed, where they saw it going, what they wanted to see, they just fretted.
At the outset of the meeting John Martin, Co-Chair said that the Committee would be very tolerant of comments on other areas of the city at the next three public hearings scheduled for March 22 (Close-in Areas), March 29 (Other Areas, Major Properties, and Gateways/Major Corrirdors), and April 5 (Community Resources and Implementation).
He said the places where those hearing would be held would be school buildings, but they had not been confirmed yet.
After Mr. Martin had completed his remarks, he turned it over to Susan Habel, Commissioner of Planning, who presented a 30-minute presentation on the downtown core showing its delininetions which run North to Park Circle, South Southeast to Rochambeau School, East to Bloomindale Road, and South to Post Road.
Some items that WPCNR noted were items of interest but not discussed were the Gateway II lot that was never built, and the 10 Main Street lot, and what use could be made of those office space approved parcels.
Ms. Habel’s presentation which gave an excellent look at where the downtown stands and what has been done is scheduled to be placed on the city website within a week, according to Mr. Martin.
A total of 10 of the 15 members of the Mayor’s Comprehensive Plan Review Committee attended the meeting. Only Councilman Tom Roach attended from the Common Council. Mr. Hockley was the only other politician to attend. Several members of the Citizens Plan Committee that challenged the city to hold these hearings were in the audience but did not speak on any subject.
