WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. November 4, 2005: Mayor Alfred Del Vecchio, former Mayor of White Plains explains his positions on development:
John,
You are certainly not biased, but Carl Albanese is right when he writes that the mayor and the rubber stamp council are responsible for what is happening in White Plains.
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Joe Delfino together with the council who voted to give away all the taxpayer's money to put up a few nondescript, ugly and poorly constructed buildings are to blame for the fiasco we have in White Plains--with the major disaster yet to come when we have to pay for overloaded water and sewer lines created by all these high-rise buildings. In previous administrations developer's paid for these damages to our infrastructure--and previous administrations actually lowered taxes.
I, for one, have not ignored the fact that an outside, truly independent and unbiased international agency like Moody's has said that White Plain's financial standing has a "NEGATIVE OUTLOOK" warning investors, like myself, that White Plains' bonds are not as good as they were during previous administrations, like Del Vecchio and Schulman. I think that White Plains thinking voters would take Moody's warnings more seriously than Albanese boost for Joe. Delfino, and those who voted with him took a very solvent city and gave it away to developers and got nothing in return for the taxpayers. Then, they raised taxes and blamed it on previous administrations. That's just plain INCOMPETENT.
Carl, I don't dislike Joe Delfino. Stick to the issues. I do hate what he has done to this city. I, and my predecessors, together with Sy Schulman worked very hard to achieve a dignified, solvent city for people who live, work, shop, and visit here. That is the mission and the purpose of local government. Commercial development is supposed to create wealth for a city to fund programs to improve the quality of life of the city dwellers--it is not only to enrich the financial standing of the developer. Both need to enjoy the benefits. After eight years, I have yet to see the benefit to the taxpayers!! Enough is enough!!
Alfred Del Vecchio
Independent Thinker
