WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. March 20, 2006: The Vice President of the Rocky Dell/Reynal Park Neighborhood Association defines its opposition to the Railside Avenue sale of adjacent Greenway property:
An abandoned piling from the tracks of the old Westchester and Boston Railway looks out over the lots running out to Railside Avenue. The property just below the elevated Greenway Trails is scheduled to be sold by the city and the Neighborhood Association is hopping mad about it as explained in the accompanying letter. Photo, WPCNR News.
March 20, 2006
Letter to the Editor:
On March 12, 2006, the Rocky Dell/Reynal Park Neighborhood Association sent a letter to Mayor Delfino and Councilmen Bernstein, Boykin, Greer, and Hockley expressing its opposition to their plan to sell existing open space which adjoins the City’s Greenway Park in exchange for the development of 9 new houses. We also asked why the City never contacted the Neighborhood Association to get its input before it put the open space up for sale.
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Today our neighborhood has the beautiful Greenway to share with the ENTIRE City of White Plains. During the March 6 Common Council meeting as well in the Journal News, Councilman Glen Hockley stated “there’s a lot of folks out there that never heard of the Greenway…That’s not to say, it’s not important, but when I weigh the dollars from the sale of the property - $3 million to $4 million- I think the city has plenty of open space.”
We don’t know where Councilman Hockley is getting his information. We also don’t think that is true as evidenced by the hundreds of White Plains residents who have signed petitions opposing the sale of this important city owned open space. These petitions also demonstrate how concerned White Plains residents are about the short sighted action of the Mayor and four councilmen to sell valuable and irreplaceable open space to fill a one time gap in the 2005-2006 operating budget to cover the costs of things such as office supplies and salaries.
The Greenway is the City’s only extended, contiguous trailway available for free for all city residents to walk on and enjoy. The woods which adjoins it is an integral part of the Greenway’s character, function, and ecosystem. We hope the Mayor and Council will recognize that and vote to keep this land open and finally dedicate it as parkland as we have long requested.
Sincerely,
Anthony Solimine, Vice President
Rocky Dell/ Reynal Park Neighborhood Association
The CitizeNetReporter Clarifies: On page 2 of the 2005-2006 City Budget, and in discussions of the budget prior to its adaption, the Common Council made it quite clear they approved of the sale of this land as a means of balancing the budget. I quote: "The 2005-06 estimate is based on bouth receipt of revenuse for certain air rights, along with current City property inventory appraised in excess of $3 million. It is recognized that property sales are "one-time" revenue sources, but building lots will allow for additions to the assessment roll and a permanent property tax revenue going forward. Clearly, the property sales is a policy decision to be reviewed by the Common Council. If the Council determines that property sales are not a goal of the city, the $2,667,000 removal of property sales revenue will result in an additional tax increase of $8.80/ or 7.5%."
Eleventh months ago on April 20, 2005, The CitizeNetReporter published this article with this lead reporting that Railside Avenue lots were being considered for sale to balance the budget:
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| $3.2 Million in Certioraris Paid in 03-05. Council Sweats Land, Fund Balance Posted on Wednesday, April 20 @ 23:33:46 EDT by jfbailey | | |
WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. April 20, 2005: The Common Council met for the first time Tuesday evening in the Mayor’s Office to discuss the proposed $129.8 Million 2005-06 City Budget. They took exception to the city sale of land (along Railside Avenue) to balance the budget.
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