WPCNR Common Council-Chronicle Examiner. By John F. Bailey. May 25, 2007:  Councilman Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR Friday morning, that he and several other Councilpersons had seen the drawings of Louis Cappelli's giant Station Square project, including learning of the need for an Exclusivity Agreement to negotiate with the city,  about six weeks before the May 10 Work Session when Cappelli formally presented it to the Common Council.

Louis Cappelli presenting Station Square on May 10. Council appeared very surprised and stunned by the presentation. But they shouldn't have been. Five of the 6 saw drawings 6 to 10 weeks prior according to Paul Wood, City Executive Officer, and Councilman Benjamin Boykin.

Paul Wood, City Executive Officer released a statement to WPCNR unsolicited today stating emphatically that all members of the Council with the exception of Dennis Power had been shown the drawings on the proposal two months before May 10. This is the second time the Council has done this to us, Wood says in the statement, feigning ignorance and surprise when a critical item is put forward for a vote.

 Boykin told WPCNR this morning that after seeing the drawings sometime between March 10 and April 10, he was receptive to the Exclusivity Agreement,  but he did not receive a copy of the Exclusivity Agreement until Tuesday evening, 48 hours before Thursday evening's vote.

Boykin advised WPCNR Friday morning that he was one of those council people who had seen the drawings in late March to early April. Boykin did not recall the date. He did not recall the other councilmen who had seen “the drawings."

Asked by WPCNR why the Council, if they had known about the proposal for the better part of two months, would not have voted down the Exclusivity Resolution outright Thursday evening, rather than taking the tabling action, Boykin said he wanted the full proposal aired in public at the June 4 meeting when the Exclusivity Resolution would be explained in public by Cappelli executives.

Actually, the council had the opportunity to have that very explanation Thursday evening on live television for the public to see, but the Mayor prevented Mark Weingarten, the well-known Cappelli attorney,  and Bruce Berg, Louis Cappelli's aide-de-camp,  from stepping to the podium to speak on the Exclusivity Agreement for some reason.

Boykin said the reason he was prepared to vote against the Exclusivity Agreement last night was that he had not seen the text of the Exclusivity Resolution until Tuesday night. The original presentation was made to the council May 10.  Boykin also said the Exclusivity Agreement had the effect of committing the council to the project.

Asked if the Council would demand a monetary fee for the Exclusivity favor to Mr. Cappelli, Boykin did not say. It is also not known why, if the council was not prepared to vote on it, why the Council President Rita Malmud would allow it to be placed on the agenda

Paul Wood detailed the sequence of the birth of the Station Square project in this statement released to WPCNR today:

In the interest the record John, I offer the following:

Louis Cappelli approached the administration a few months ago (6 months) to discuss some concepts regarding the train station, office development, and some city-owned parcels in that section of town.

A couple of months ago, (March 10 to April 10) Louis presented his plan to the Mayor and administration officials and asked for feedback.  The plan was then subsequently shown to each Council Member none of whom voiced any opposition to the "concept," but all agreed that the proposal would face much more scrutiny should the plan move forward.  The only Council Member not to view the proposal was Dennis Power, who declined an invitation from the Mayor's Office to do so, prior to Mr. Cappelli's presentation at the work session. (May 10)

It was Mr. Cappelli, not the administration, who asked that the matter be put on for a vote on May 24.  We acted on his request and the council "tabled" the item, thus halting any discussion and preventing Mr. Cappelli's representatives from discussing the issues related to it, at that meeting.

Let's be clear, the Mayor in his Economic Development Plans Two and Three had already articulated a vision for this section of the downtown, one very similar to the Cappelli proposal.  But the City was not actively seeking to market the city-owned parcels at this time.

Mr. Cappelli had a very creative idea regarding this section of the City, coupled that with the realities of the office market at this time and brought a unique proposal to the City.  No other developers have approached the City in recent history regarding the city-owned parcels in question.  Mr. Cappelli, asked the City simply to give him a period of time (in this case seven months) to protect his "intellectual property," or creative vision for the area, by not acting to move on the parcels in question.

It seemed a fair proposal.  Why would any developer with a creative vision and the track record of completion that he has had in White Plains, spend several hundred thousand dollars to develop the vision into a concrete proposal only to have someone else highjack the idea and offer the City something else.

Again, the City was NOT actively engaged in marketing the parcels at this time.  In order for the City to do so, it would require the City to go to the expense of undertaking studies, appraisals, and other preparatory work in order to develop a concrete proposal for the area.

Mr. Cappelli did show his proposal to the executive board of the Battle Hill Association at meeting earlier this week.  The representatives of the Association were very receptive and open to the idea, especially to the new train station that would be included in the plan.

In any case, the proposal was not being "rushed" in any way by the administration and the "exclusivity agreement" had nothing to do with approving the resulting project.  It only would have enabled the developer to refine his creative vision into a concrete proposal without the fear of the idea being "ripped off" by someone else for seven months.  At the end of that period he would return with a plan that the Mayor and Council could accept and work with or reject.

I also need to defend the administration which is attacked routinely as being engaged in "secret" negotiations and "springing" things upon the  Council.  The Council was informed of Mr. Cappelli's idea shortly after the administration became aware of it, and was briefed on it. 

This is the second time in recent months when the Council was involved in the development of a proposal (the other being the most recent New York Hospital proposal for parkland)  at nearly the same time as the administration.  In both cases, the Mayor was then left out of discussions the council members then subsequently had before the issues were brought to the floor.