by Jen White

After nine years of meetings, hearings and research, Governor Cuomo’s request to have the reconstruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge fast tracked was approved last week.  The members of the public and the local officials who participated in years of meetings were shocked that the final plan dismissed the need for public transportation that they expressed.

On Thursday, October 27th, the Federal Transportation Authority will present their plan for the reconstruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge in the Adler room at the Palisades Mall.  The meeting is from 4:00pm until 9:00pm.  I will be there to express my opposition to a construction scope that has inadequate public transportation, has rejected years of public comment and jeopardizes our waterfront.  I urge you to join me.

The plan that has been released by the Federal government is a betrayal to the spirit of public comment and participatory democracy.   If we fail to show up in large numbers, we are surrendering our ability to shape the final stages of this project.  Even more alarming, our failure to turn out for this hearing will send the message that it’s acceptable for the State and Federal government to ignore us.   If we fail to boldly assert our interests at this critical moment, we are placing the fate of our village into the hands of others.

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Boxing, Birthday and Stolen Campaign Signs

The other big event last week was the emergence of a world class boxing program for Nyack.  The Acker family, who owns the property that used to house the Wet n Wild cosmetics firm, is interested in developing that property but the process is not a quick one.  I had a great lunch with Karen Acker and she agreed that, in the interim, it would be a wonderful place for Nyack to host a US Olympic/PAL boxing gym.  I introduced her to Kevin Yeffeth, a trainer who I met because he trained this year’s Gold Gloves Heavyweight Novice winner Max Tassey, who we are proud to claim as Nyack BORN AND RAISED.

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Downtown Developments

As some of you may know, we received two responses to the RFEI (Request for Expressions of Interest) for the Superblock.  Both firms are world class developers (Jonathan Rose and Company and the Richmond Group). Their proposals are innovative, green and add new ideas to the discussion.

 

I’m thrilled that they looked at Nyack’s relatively small plot of downtown land and saw potential, particularly during this time of economic disarray. But my opinion is not the most important.  I have asked our downtown consultant to take the hundreds of pages in their proposals and cull them into an easy to read version that highlights key points that will be available at Village Hall with copies of the full proposals. 

 

I have started the process of setting up meetings with our Federal officials to talk about financing options and plan to go to Washington in late September.  We are also going to begin the process of really finding out what arts organizations might be interested in participating.  Some possibilities are very exciting.

Cleaning Creeks and Dodging Floods

On Monday, I met with the wonderful

Gene Conroy who is in charge of the Nyack Plaza apartment complex.  We had had some complaints from residents about the state of the creek behind the building and, in fact, during the flooding we had logged some time there ourselves making sure storm drains were clear. It was wildly overgrown and dirty and needed some serious attention. Gene showed up with a team of his employee; landscapers, trash haulers, general maintenance workers, and fence people. 

 

I brought along Don Butterworth, the Police Lieutenant in charge of Nyack.  Gene committed to a large and expensive cleanup, paid for by the Nyack Plaza ownership and by Wednesday afternoon, the creek had been weeded and cleaned.  It was a great improvement and I can’t thank the Robert Martin Housing Corp enough. 

 

I was scheduled to meet with both the County Executive and Susan Spear from Senator Gellibrand’s office about our flooding issues. Ironically, Susan had to cancel and reschedule due to, you guessed it, flooding in her neighborhood.  I am happy to report that last week’s storms did not hammer Nyack with the same force they struck other areas of the county. 

 

News 12 showed up to interview me about the flooding on Monday and my response was “What flooding”?  Sometimes we get lucky!! 

The Truth About the Superblock

I’ve found a new hang out at the Post Office where I spend a few hours every morning handing out campaign materials.

I love talking to all of you.  After a few recent questions, I realize there are some misperceptions I need to address.

It has been suggested that I want to put a parking garage next to the Senior Center and low income community on the site that has been referred to as the Superblock.

I oppose a parking garage on this location, primarily because it will be harmful to the children and seniors that live nearby.

Furthermore, there is no designated developer for this site at this time.  A document fancily called an RFEI (Requests For Expressions of Interest) was issued by the Village six weeks ago.  Two developers have just submitted plans that we will now have to review.  I have not seen these plans and I assure you that residents will be given any opportunity to review these plans.

The current Mayor has expressed, in no uncertain terms and in both the media and multiple public meetings, his desire for the Superblock.  He would like to remove the Millbrook property from the tax rolls and have a philanthropy driven multiplex that shows art films like Jacob Burns in Pleasantville. This is his vision and the only one he has said he is interested in considering.

While it is certainly a nice enough vision, it is a plan the Village cannot afford.  His movie theater would not bring tax revenue or enough jobs. It would also bring hundreds of additional vehicles into the Village, mostly at night, leaving the space unused during the day, wasting a valuable commercial location.

Did you know that 49% of the property in Nyack is off the tax rolls because it is owned by not-for-profit entities like churches, schools or hospitals?  We cannot afford to lose any more properties from the tax rolls. More than that, depending on a philanthropist puts the taxpayer at a tremendous risk should the movie theater fail and the Village be left holding the bag.

If responsibly developed, this site could generate in taxes more than twice the $500,000 in income it currently produces for the village from parking. This would reduce our dependence on parking revenue. A vibrant development might attract residents to our downtown which creates the foot traffic that is needed for daytime businesses to thrive.

I too have a personal vision for this site.  Feel free to call me and I will share it with you, but until we see what those who do this for a living have to say, I think the rest of us should stick with what we know best and not hold the taxpayer hostage to our personal pipe dreams.

The Mayor is a school teacher and I am a journalist by trade. As public servants, we have the responsibility to put our personal and dare I say uninformed preferences aside, obtain professional guidance and engage the public before we attempt to put our personal stamp on plot of land that sits at the center of our village.

We have already seen how heavy handed development on this site can leave generational scars and irreversible problems for our community. Our village needs the kind of leadership that can bring experts and residents together to create a plan that will make us proud.  I believe I have the experience and personality to lead us through this critical development process and that is one of the reasons why I want to be your Mayor.

Good Bye Jimmy

Parks and Recreation 

Downtown Construction Zone