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WPCNR  Common Council Chronicle Examiner. By John F. Bailey. May 2, 2006 UPDATED 9:45 A.M. E.D.T.: Mayor Joseph Delfino, after listening to an hour and a half of unrelenting, scorning  criticism of his Common-Council appointed committee’s Comprehensive Plan Review document expressing the committee members’ vision for the city’s future, the Mayor lost his self-control.  He staunchly defended his Common Council against citizen Dan Seidel’s comments the committee and Common Council were “paying lip service” to the comprehensive plan review process.  

 

 

In the two sole achievements of the 4-1/2 hour meeting, the Downtown Business Improvement District budget was increased to $750,000, resulting in increased assessments to businesses in the central business district. In an exclusive interview with WPCNR, Rick Ammirato, the Executive Director of the BID said this bump-up “allows us to increase our allowed expenditures to $750,000, allowing us (the BID) room to grow.” Ammirato said the assessment to the 145 assessible properties in the BID District would increase $75,000 to $575,000. Mr. Ammirato told WPCNR this amounts to about an additional $100 for each of the 145 assessible properties in the Central Business District, but this would fluctuate on the larger properties. He said the typical property of Gross Floor Area of 3,000 square feet and a 50 foot frontage pays $700 now and would pay approximately $800 this year.

 

 The city will also get a new nightclub “Aura,” approved for 107 Mamaroneck Avenue.

 

Continuances.

 

The Avalon Bay project, and  the White Plains Hospital Medical Center emergency room expansion were continued to the June 5 meeting. Avalon Bay’s attorney, Mark Weingarten made it clear Avalon Bay was not negotiating any further with the property owner who owns a house on the block where the Avalon was going to be built, and said that since his client has met council conditions, they are obligated to approve the special permit (allowing 14 stories).

 

The $146.3 Million City Budget hearing had only two speakers address the 2006-2007 budget. The budget is scheduled for approval May 25. (Marjorie Davies, Co-President of the League of Women Voters urged increasing city worker’s health co-pays and functional consolidations to lower city expenses, urged the city not to sell land assets in the future, and endorsed continuation of the ½ cent city sales tax.)

Pounding the Comprehensive Plan Review

Previously, in the first hearing of the night, an orchestrated procession of 20  Comprehensive Plan Review critics took the Comprehensive Plan Review apart.  Mr. Seidel, speaking 13^th in the anti-Comprehesive Plan Review lineup, laid on a litany of the city’s failures to observe state environmental statutes and meet its own Open Space Committee, and charged it failed to seek outside help in conducting the review arousing the brooding, smouldering Mayor’s ire.

The sizzling exchange unfolded dramatically at around 10 P.M like this:

 

Mr. Seidel: Where is it? You’re not doing it. You’re paying lip service, so you can use the document to justify the variances to show that now you have a big rezoning going on and you’re going to base it upon this updated document. Wrong! It doesn’t hold water. It won’t hold legal muster. I urge you not to accept this as a plan update. You can use it as a status report and I urge you to merge the Citizens Plan Committee with the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee and get some real expert advice.

           You don’t have experts sitting on one or two committees. You should go to outside people as well and get a full panoply of ideas and take a future development course. You haven’t been proactive. I keep saying that. Please be proactive. That’s what you’re getting paid to do. Be proactive. Think about our future. Think about where you really —

 

Mayor (interrupting): Stop being critical. Stick to the topic.

 

Seidel: How can I not be critical?

 

Mayor Delfino: You’re being critical of the council. O.K., please…(Unintelligble)

 

Seidel: I am because you’re not doing the job you’re being paid to do.

 

Mayor Delfino (voice rising): In your opinion! That’s your opinion!

 

Seidel: That’s my opinion! It’s my five minutes. Mayor do not bully me. This is not Stalin! Don’t do this. Do not make like Russia. I’ve got a right to five minutes. Give me my five minutes.

 

Mayor (overriding Seidel’s comments): Don’t just criticize this council. I’m telling you right now not on this (Unintelligible)…

 

Seidel: I’m here to give you public comment, and my public comment right now my comment is criticism

 

Mayor(interrupting, snapping drowning out Seidel): Don’t tell them they’re not doing their job. They are doing their job and they’re doing a good job.

 

Seidel: You’ve been given zoning changes for two years, and refused to act on them for environmental reasons Why?

 

Seidel then walked away from the podium. The Mayor appeared to have had had about all he could take after listening to a fine-tuned onslaught of criticism of his planning process.

 

It did not start out that way.

 

Previously, there was a genteel introduction to the hearing by the Commissioner of Planning, followed by a glowing description by the Co-Chair of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee, John Martin. Marting describing the Mayor-Council appointed Plan Committee process. He noted the 8 community meetings they had held (in a year) and 13 meetings the committee had held with staff departments. He described the completed review as “not a perfect document.” Isabel Villar, another committee member said how the committee “did everything we could.”

 

Then Comprehensive Plan Review critics took over and worked the document over like a tag team.

 

 

Robert Levine, Pauline Oliva, Robert Stackpole, Mike Graessle, Jeffrey Smith, Barbara Pollack, James Kirkpatrick, Mr. Seidel,  Marc Pollitzer, Carry Kyzivat, Jack Harrington, Sol Yanofsky, Terry Conroy (who raised some highly interesting questions about parking alone), Allan Teck, Carl Albanese, Paula Piekos and Dennis Power and a  Battle Hill resident  all roasted the comprehensive review turned in by the Mayor-and-Common Council appointed committee as not going far enough, ignoring the financial condition of the city, ignoring the school system role in the community, and for not recognizing the big box retail has not delivered the full economic punch the city was expecting. No one spoke in favor of the review.

 

 Teck was the first to suggest the members of the Citizens Comprehensive Plan Committee which “jump-started” the Comprehensive plan review process two years ago by submitting their review first), be combined with the Mayor-Council committee members. Seidel echoed that sentiment.  Ms. Pollack took particular exception to the city committee’s comprehensive plan review confining affordable housing to the downtown. Linda Tow, gave particularly poignant testimony about how she has lived in White Plains, but now cannot afford to live in the city. She also pointedly said that Centro Hispano could not find her housing for less than $900 a month. Tow also said that the reason people live in substandard illegal housing is that is all they can afford and that was why it was happening in Battle Hill.

 

After the Mayor’s outburst at Mr. Seidel a recess was taken for ten minutes at 10:10, and afterward, Dennis Power was the next speaker urging in 10 seconds the Comprehensive Plan Review not be adopted.

 

Not to Worry Says the Council.

 

Each member of the Common Council then went to great lengths to assure the public that the process of the Comprehensive Plan Review was just starting and that the Council would hold public work sessions to address their comments. (This is not exactly a big thing. All Council work sessions are public anyway. It was not clear whether the public would be able to speak at those public comprehensive plan review work sessions the Common Council promised. That would be a big thing.  Public comment is prohibited at work sessions.)

 

The Kindly Mayor Returns.

 

When the Mayor closed the Common Council meeting fifteen minutes before midnight, he recovered his dignity and assured the public the Comprehensive Plan Review would include their input, saying, “We had a lot of hearings tonight. It was interesting to hear. Each speaker had their own subject and you try to define it to a single point to get things done. Councilman Boykin, as usual, summed it up exceptionally well. Every day something changes. Every day.You put the best plan in the world together. It’ll change. The Comprehensive Plan,  that plan is going to change somehow a little bit. It’s going to be tweaked a little bit, I tell you that right now.

 

We thank you for your patience in bearing with us this evening. It was a long meeting, but I think in many ways, I’m very pleased that we had it. Because it is important to us to all recognize that when the community tries to work together, they should be heard, always should be heard. As Mrs. Malmud  and others have said, it’s only the beginning of the process. I’m sure when we get through the process, the comprehensive plan maintained most of our meeting time tonight, but keep in mind this plan isn’t to be rewritten, it sounded like it was going to be rewritten. This is solely a review. A review has never been done in this city before. We had two other comprehensive plans written and they were not reviewed, and I’m glad we reviewed it. Because times have changed since 1997.

 

      I think as we took each and every project on, I can tell you we adhered to the comprehensive plan of this city and we will continue to adhere to the comprehensive plan of this city. It is only a guide. As times change, as Councilman Boykin says, we must change, because it’s the only way we can conceive our future and where we’re going.

 

      There’s 41 cities in the state of New York. I’ll tell you one thing. This city is very proud in the direction it went, because you should only go up to the northern tier of New York State and you’ll understand what we accomplished here following the Comprehensive Plan is something this community and this council, this council should be very very proud of.”

 

 

WPCNR The Immigrant News. May 1, 2006. UPDATED May 2, 2006, 9:45 A.M. E.D.T. UPDATED May 3, 2006, 10:45 A.M. E.D.T.: The National Day of Immigrant Demonstrations for Citizenship  in White Plains began with a march of approximately 200 students from White Plains High School down Bryant Avenue and up Mamaroneck Avenue to Renaissance Plaza Fountain Monday.

Contrary to what high school students who signed up previously for the national day of demonstration for immigrants’ rights have said to promote participation in the march their absence was not condoned by the high school administration.

The Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors told WPCNR Wednesday the children who left the high school to attend the march were not excused from school. Their absences were noted and marked “an unexcused absence.” Connors said the students were not assigned detention for cutting school to attend the March. He said that depending on the number of unexcused absences each child had in each class, it  eventually could effect their academic grade.  

 The large protest group, joined by the high school students in mid-morning,  gathered in the morning and chanted all day at the intersection of Mamaroneck Avenue and Main Street where a crowd estimated by White Plains Police to be about 200 persons  with the number of demonstrators dwindling to about 60 persons by 3:30 P.M. By 5 P.M., the demonstration had disbanded. White Plains Police estimate the crowd at both the student march and the Fountain demonstration to be about 200 for each event.

Hispanic and Latino Demonstrators at Mamaroneck and Main, 3:30 P.M. Photo, WPCNR News.

Signs Read: “We Are Not Criminals,” and “Everyone Deserves a Chance at the American Dream,” The last hours of the Immigrants Day protest Monday in White Plains. Photo, WPCNR News.