WPCNR Greenway Ranger. By John F. Bailey. March 25, 2006. UPDATED March 26, 2006 1:20 A.M. E.S.T. UPDATED March 27, 9:10 A.M. E.S.T.: An outpouring of approximately 80-85 White Plains residents rallied for their Greenway Saturday morning, to hear Jack Harrington, “Father of the Greenway” describe the history of the Greenway (the former N.Y. Westchester & Boston Railway track bed, now a park) and point out why the 9 properties alongside Railside Avenue should not be divested by the City of White Plains as planned.
Councilpersons Rita Malmud and Tom Roach called for a citizen campaign to change the minds of Councilpersons Arnold Bernstein, Benjamin Boykin, Robert Greer, and Glen Hockley, as well as Mayor Jospeh Delfino whom they reported today are going to vote to approve the sale of the lands April 3.
Saturday evening Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR bid on the property would be opened 5 P.M. Tuesday and the winning bids for the property announced to the Council Wednesday. He said he planned to attend the Monday night meeting of the Rocky Dell/Reynal Park Association.
Sunday Councilperson Rita Malmud advised WPCNR, “I do not have any firm info on when the bids for the Railside lots will be opened and the winning bid announced. It is possible that it is Thursday of this coming week, and it is possible that the Council vote on the sale of the property will be on our April 3 agenda.”
The March to Stop the Railside Sell-Off. Behind the 80 or so marchers on a crisp, brooding 45 degree morning that chilled a reporter’s hands, is the 30-foot high ridge of the compost pile of the city dump that Jack Harrington in the brown jacket, “Father of the Greenway,” marching with Councilperson Rita Malmud in the yellow jacket said was composed of years of ashes from the former city incinerator. Harrington also noted that removal of trees from the Railside lots, once sold, would expose the unsightly compost pile to Greenway users, deteriorating the appeal of the Greenway trail as a park. Photo, WPCNR News
Newsconference: Rita Malmud, Anne Jordan-Duffy, Jack Harrington, “Father of the Greenway,” Paul Piekos, President of the Rocky Dell, Reynal Park Neighborhood Association and Councilman Tom Roach.Councilpersons Rita Malmud and Tom Roach called for citizen contact with their other four councilpersons who were not present at the rally and planned to vote for the land sale April 3 to turn around the sale.
Photo, WPCNR News.
County Legislator Ryan told WPCNR afterwords he was going to have the County Planning Department render an opinion on the sale because the city move violated the county policy of acquiring property “contiguous” to parkland when such property became available for sale. Photo, WPCNR News
Taking questions in a adlib news conference, Councilperson Malmud said the lands would be up for approval of their sales at the April 3 meeting of the Common Council. Asked by Dennis Power of the Westchester County Department of Economic Development, and former candidate for Mayor why Mr. Roach and Mrs. Malmud did not call a Special Meeting of the Common Council to head off the sale instead of allowing the sale to come to a vote, Mrs. Malmud responded she and Mr. Roach did not have the votes yet to overturn the sale policy.
Mrs. Malmud urged residents to lobby her colleagues: Arnold Bernstein, Benjamin Boykin, Robert Greer and Glen Hockley to change their votes to deny the sales, April 3. The Railside Sell-Off was planned and suggested by the Budget & Management Committee last spring to contribute a one-time only $2.7 Million towards the current budget when revenues were not coming up to expectations.
Tom Roach called the sale of the lands “ridiculous.” He said the tax benefit from building homes on the nine properties was neglibile, amounting to about $80,000 a year. He said the only reason to sell the properties was to bring in money. Roach said, the city instead should concentrate “not on bringing money in, but on what’s going out.”
Ryan to Bring in County Planning Department for an Opinion.
County Legislator Bill Ryan, a White Plains resident, said the sale plan was a barometer on “where the city’s going, where the city stands on development, and as a city that regards the environment.” Ryan said he plans to ask the County Planning Department this week to take a position on the White Plains sell-off because it goes against the Westchester County policy of acquiring land “contiguous”(bordering) to parkland when such adjacent lands came up for sale.
Ryan noted that this was the same battle residents had to fight in Woodcrest Heights three years ago to preserve the woods beneath the heights from massive development.
Anne Jordan-Duffy, a spokesperson for the rally, said residents needed to bring their friends and show up at the 7 P.M. Monday meeting of the Rocky Dell-Reynal Park Neighborhood Association at Ridgeway School Monday when Councilpersons Arnold Bernstein, Benjamin Boykin, and Glen Hockley, all currently reported as Yes votes for the sales will be in attendance. Mr. Greer, battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ALS, and wheelchair bound is not expected to attend, but that is not confirmed.
Jordan-Duffy also urged residents to write letters to the councilpersons urging the sales not be completed, and to show up at the April 3 Common Council Citizens to be Heard portion of the Common Council meeting, as well as the regular council meeting, if a public hearing is scheduled.
Going Down? Too Late to Save: Mr. Harrington said this lot on the East side of Railside Avenue, already sold by the council, if developed into a homesite would eliminate the trees that currently block the ugly compost mound, seen vaguely in the background this morning, because of the trees. Harrington said neighbors on Railside and walkers on the Greenway would see the compost mound when and if development took place. Photo, WPCNR News
As citizens threw questions at Mrs. Malmud and Mr. Roach, one resident raised a question about how the council could do something allegedly illegal as not properly informing the neighborhood of the plans to sell the lots, Mrs. Malmud said, “The council can do anything illegal if they have the votes.” This brought uneasy laughter from the crowd. Asked by WPCNR if she wanted to rephrase that answer for the press, Ms. Malmud laughed, and so did most of the crowd.
Speaking with organizers afterward, they placed their faith in being able to convince the councilpersons in favor of the sale that the neighborhood did not want the land sold.
One resident asked if Mrs. Malmud and Mr. Roach could bring legal action and stop the sale as Mrs. Malmud did with other citizens to block movie theaters by mounting a suit that contended the former Hole in the Ground (filled with rainwater at the time) was “wetlands.” Marc Pollitzer said that legal action could be mounted, however he noted an expensive bond about $50,000 had to be put up by individual citizens bringing the suit.
