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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. March 27, 2009: The Common Council last night approved a resolution continuing the Open Arms Homeless Shelter “Drop-In” capacity (of approximately 17 additonal beds) through May 31. In a marathon Executive Session lasting at least and hour and a half, that was still going on at about 10 P.M., the council considered and approved 12 certiorari settlements for a series of co-operatives and condominiums, signaling another round of crippling certiorari filings. Details will not be revealed until the Common Council meeting of April 6.
The council was cool towards a proposal by the owners of 14 Mamaroneck Avenue to post a computerized message board overlooking Renaissance Square. The Board, estimated by its presenters to cost $1 Million to install was envisioned as a delivery system for advertisements, community messages, and emergency messages by its promoters. Rita Malmud, the councilperson, was particularly skeptical, especially about the possibilities of audio messages and visual distractions. Glen Hockley supported the concept as a wave of the future. Dennis Power the Councilperson worried about its intrusiveness on the parklike atmosphere of the square. Such a board exists presently in the city of Milano, Italy on one of the famous old squares. The project will be referred out for comment.
The Council learned it had been approved for approximately $652,000 of green energy grants in federal stimulus money from Congresswoman’s Nita Lowey’s office to execute energy audits and energy “retrofits” in residential and commercial buildings, and the development of advanced building codes and inspections, and creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements.
Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel announced the city had learned it would receive $241,000 for Community Development funds to create jobs and enable part-time jobs to keep persons employed (such as camp programs), in addition to the city’s present annual allotment from the federal government, believed to be about $400,000, which has been declining in recent years. The full amount, she said, was not known at this time. She expressed chagrin that the city would have received more if the American Community Service had not used data from 2000 which showed White Plains population declining. Yonkers, Habel said Yonkers receive $4,000,000, New Rochelle, $1,000,000 and Mount Vernon, $600,000 in like grants.
On the matter of the new hotel rooms about to open April 1 at the Ritz-Carlton, Commissioner Habel noted that the council had approved reduction in office space in the second tower in August 2006 and earlier in 2005, and that the Planning Department approval of moving the lot line simply reflected those changes in the plans. No one on the Council expressed any qualms about the fact that the addition of 24 new hotel rooms springing up was a complete suprise to the council. City Assessor Lloyd Tasch noted that the addition of hotel rooms reduced the assessible value of the property because hotels rooms were assessed lower than office space. No one asked what this meant in terms of dollars to the city. Tasch observed that the Ritz said they needed the rooms to be competitive for the business conference market because they did not have enough room capacity to handle a major meetings.
Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti expressed frustration on the state’s confusing process of awarding stimulus money for public works projects. He observed that it appeared to him many of the projects had already been pre-selected by the state, from the laundry list of projects submitted by Mayors, leaving very little big time stimulus money to trickle down to cities like White Plains based on applications. White Plains has an $18 Million water supply tank (first brought up three years ago, and postponed for three years) and $5 Million sewer connection line pending, but Nicoletti felt the city had little chance of obtaining funding for those shovel-ready projects. Nicoletti lamented that most projects were traffic oriented, and expected the city would get funding for traffic signal modernization.
Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel said that the city affordable housing stock was mostly filled, but a handful of studios and 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units were still available. She said credit worthiness handicapped many singles from qualifying for the studio units, as well as families.
The council met in executive session on certioraris and WPCNR has learned that 12 certioraris and assessment reductions involving co–ops and condominiums were approved. They had already been figured into this year’s assessment roll. The very long executive session lasting as long as the public portion of the meeting, might have involved budget discussion, otherwise in this time of anxiety over budget cuts and deficits, the council did not bring up the budget at all.
