WPCNR'S MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. July 18, 2003: The city will ask the Common Council to bond some $350,000 for the construction of a cafe' on the Court Street side of the new Renaissance Plaza fountain being constructed at the intersection of Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenues, according to George Gretsas, the city's Executive Officer, relating the events of the Mayor's "Open Space Incubator" News Conference Thursday.

The cafe' building is a new evolution of the refreshment kiosk originally planned for the Mamaroneck Avenue side of the Renaissance Plaza, Gretsas said.

The cafe structure is to be constructed adjacent to the Hudson Valley Bank branch on Court Street, in partnership with a cafe operator such as a Starbucks, Gretsas explained.  He said it is the city's intention to use the revenues generated from the cafe operation (estimated at about $50,000 a year) to build a fund to purchase open space within the city limits as open space becomes available on the market. Gretsas said the $50,000 a year could generate future bonding in the amounts of $500,000 or more to purchase and preserve open land within the city. The initiative was announced at a news conference Thursday at City Hall. Gretsas reported that Cappelli Enterprises now constructing the fountain plaza, will also build the cafe' and has agreed to cap the cost of the cafe building at $550,000. The cafe building is anticipated to be completed in October, with the operator being selected after bidding, initiating service shortly thereafter.