WPCNR MR. & MRS. &  MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. November 17, 2005: A reader writes and recalls how, in his opinion, the rooftop restaurant atop the 221 Main Cappelli Renaissance Square Hotel & Condominiums came about:

John.

Thanks for your story on the re-emergence of a restaurant over the top of the Hamilton Ave. office building.  When I first proposed the idea of a rooftop restaurant or public observation deck to the Common Council during a public scoping session in late ‘03/early ’04, I told the Council that they had properly spent much time in tasking the developer to provide for sufficient open space on the ground around Grace Church

  However, I suggested that Council members expand their concept of "open space" to “go vertical” and include the open vistas from the top of these higher luxury buildings that they were now permitting to be built here in the center of town.

I would be remiss in not also disclosing the source for my skyline initiative: an earlier CitizeNetReporter article where you accompanied some members of the Council on a “look see” at the top floor of a then unfinished City Center high rise building. I recall that one of the Council members gushed to you that the views up top were “spectacular.” 

A few months later, I told the Council that they should let all citizens in our town – not just the rich ones -- enjoy the views of the NYC skyline and the LI Sound, by requiring the developer to include a public observation deck or a restaurant on the top floor of either the hotel or the office building behind it in exchange for whatever concessions the developer was seeking from the City.

Some council members seemed to agree with my idea and I thought it was sure to happen, but later on when the site plans moved further along, the restaurant idea seemed to fizzle out.

At any rate, I’m glad that the rooftop access idea has resurfaced and I am equally happy to share the credit for this plan with source of inspiration for it:  the White Plains CNR. 

Tim Sheehan

The CitizeNetReporter replies: Thank you Mr. Sheehan for the generous credit to CNR, but  as America's Favorite Mayor is fond of saying, "We could never have done it without all working together. We can never thank you enough. There is nothing we can't accomplish if we all work together." WPCNR is content  to remain the observer in the fedora, reporting what I see and hear to alter and illuminate our time, as Walter Cronkite was fond of saying.