WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. October 31, 2005: A reader responds to a previous letter praising the present administration for the present White Plains Renaissance:
In your letter from a resident who moved back because of development, I see
a lot of confusion in their decision to give credit to Mayor Delfino for
downtown. The reality is, mayors don't build buildings. Developers build
buildings.
Mayor Delfino has been brilliant in riding the coattails of the developers
who've come here. But in an era of absolute real estate boom across the
country, it's not any great accomplishment to stand by and watch someone
hoard real estate. That's shooting fish in a barrel.
The way Delfino promotes himself, you'd think he laid the brick and mortar
himself. But what exactly did he do? Well, aside from the photo ops and
power lunches, he basically paid these developers for coming here-- handing
one of them a parking garage for instance.
Delfino put in a movie theater and a fountain. Wow. Is that worthy of a vote
while your taxes are going up and meter maids stand hovering over your car
so they can stick you with the next $15 bill? This is the decision at hand.
Ask the Mayor about Wal-Mart-- a revitalization-stopping monster-- and he'll
shrug his shoulders. Sorry, Mr. Mayor, you can't brag about Starbuck's and
then feign "No comprendo" about Wal-Mart.
We can't look at downtown and be seduced by neon-- but not think about the
next decade or so when people stop coming into White Plains because, as I
hear from may outsiders, "parking is SUCH a bitch there!" Or, because the
crime rate has risen as it has done so recently.
As I recall, we saw a similar leader stand on top of rubble with a bullhorn
in 2001 and take credit for something that wasn't his... and look what
happened...
Mayors don't build buildings. Developers build buildings.
J Manzini Sr.
