WPCNR North End News. April 5, 2005: The Comprehensive Plan Review Committee held its fourth public meeting Tuesday evening at George Washington School. The Citizens Plan Committee which spearheaded the formation of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee had one spokesperson deliver their take on the process. John Kirkpatric isolated six areas of concern that he and the committee feels need to be addressed by the CPRC.

The next meeting the CPRC will hold will be on April 10th at 12:30 P.M. at Centro Hispano, at which WPCNR understands their will be translation offered in Spanish. This will be followed by a sixth meeting at Thomas H. Slater Center, 7:30, April 12. The public is encouraged to attend and make know their views on White Plains growth, development and their visions for the White Plains future. Here is the text of Mr. Kirkpatrick's remarks:

Transcript of Remarks of John Kirkpatrick speaking for the Citizen Plan Committee, Tuesday Evening:

The Citizens’ Plan committee came together from a concern that the City was not addressing the implications of recent change. Put simply, the planning achievements of the 1997 Plan, projected to occur over fifteen years, were occurring much more rapidly - more like seven years.

In response to our pushing, the Mayor and Council appointed you, the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee. You have been meeting and addressing at each meeting two major agenda items: first, and in great detail, what has occurred in terms of Plan implementation; and second, comments of the public on chosen subject areas.

Your willingness to do this is very much appreciated. You are performing a public service. However, we are very concerned that you are missing the big picture.

White Plains has a rich and noteworthy tradition of city planning and a respected and well-deserved reputation as a planned city. Its strength lies in its geographic location, its diverse population, its variety of housing types and neighborhoods, its well-defined commercial districts, and the substantial amount of public and privately-owned open space interspersed throughout the city.

A great deal of development and redevelopment has taken place in White Plains since the 1997 Plan. Exactly as was the case with the development that followed the 1977 Plan, the most interesting point in an examination of such development is the difference in its pattern. Some sectors were hugely successful, others not so, and some were totally unforeseen.

A major lesson to be learned from that is this: the City is not an island. Increasingly, the City is subject to what is rapidly becoming a world economy. Thus, planning for White Plains requires an understanding and appreciation of all the influences on the city's economy, including world, national, state, regional and local. This understanding and the City’s choices must then be projected over the period of any plan.

What does this mean for White Plains and the big picture?

Most immediately, it means that your Committee should seriously address six major issues. Your Committee needs to get beyond enumeration of accumulated successes, and start a serious discussion of some major concerns.  None of these are new issues - unfortunately - but we are running out of time.

These issues are:

1.  Finances – we are too dependent on sales taxes

2.  Migration – this Country was built on migration, and it made us great. White Plains can also benefit, but we need to understand the people moving in and plan for their needs and their contributions.

3.  Quality of our Schools and its effect on property values – we need to recognize this interdependence and treat the school system as a community resource.

4.  Housing – we need to provide for all income strata.

5.  Commercial trends – we cannot let the World Economy pass us by.

6.  Health care - both in terms of health care delivery to our citizens and in terms of the vitality of our health care infrastructure

Given how limited the amount of citizen participation has been, we urge you to resist the pressures to meet some arbitrary timetable and produce a final report within a month or two.  Such a timeline will not allow for the level of analysis, research and public consideration of options that we believe is essential, given the seriousness and complexity of the issues that confront our City.

There is substantial unease in this City, and considerable disagreement among its citizenry about the directions that the City administration is taking.  Your committee has the potential to create a process that will invite citizens to contribute ideas and suggestions about this City’s future, in an effort to reach some consensus about a vision and set of priorities for future development. We ask you to take the time necessary to do your job well, and to enlist whatever resources you need to assist you in your efforts.  Your responsibilities are too important to be subjected to an imposed political calendar.