WPCNR Common Council-Chronicle Examiner. By John F. Bailey. June 1, 2007: Councilman Dennis Power promised WPCNR decisive action by the Common Council Monday evening on the Exclusivity Agreement resolution on the Common Council Calendar that was tabled last week until June 4, by the Common Council.
Power said the paperwork he received, better known among the news media who attempt to cover the city as the “backup material,” had not indicated there had been any revisions in the Exclusivity Agreement made public May 22. Usually, Power said, if there is a revised resolution in the backup material it is indicated upfront in the backup material. However, WPCNR has known surprise revisions of resolutions to appear miraculously on late Monday afternoon before Council Meetings.
If passed, the resolution as it stands, would grant Cappelli Enterprises exclusive rights to negotiate for key pieces of land the city owns adjacent the White Plains Railroad Station; automatically extend the exclusivity “freeze out” of other developing interests until the council decides to approve or deny Mr. Cappelli’s plans; and has the Council agreeing that “the Proposed Project (Station Square)…is a fundamentally sound concept for the redevelopment of the Redevelopment Site and an appropriate and acceptable basis and framework for the formulation of a Redevelopment Plan, and the Common Council and the Agency agree that they shall in good faith consider the Redevelopment Plan.” The Exclusivity Agreement essentially prohibits the city for entertaining other proposals for the land, if Cappelli Enterprises does not cowtow to Council demands. It locks the council in to the plan.
Power told WPCNR that the item on the calendar would be moved up so citizens could speak on the Exclusivity Agreement concept.
Asked if he held any animosity towards Council President Malmud, Councilman Benjamin Boykin, and Councilman Thomas Roach for not telling him about the plan when all three knew about the plan weeks before the May 10 “introduction” of the plan, Mr. Power said he was not going to address that.
Last night, a White Plains “CitizeNetReporter” who attended the Highlands Neighborhood Association Meeting where Rita Malmud was the guest, reports that when pressed by a hostile audience of 35 people who strongly criticized the Exclusivity Agreement and asked if she was going to vote down the Exclusivity Agreement, Mrs. Malmud repeatedly equivocated and refused to answer the question. “She just outlined the Cappelli position and the Council position, but would not say one way or another what she was going to do,” our source says.
The Four Members of the council who are undecided: Roach, Malmud, Boykin and Power are under intense pressure to vote down the exclusivity agreement, including a published letter to The Journal News by Paul Schwarz, “kingmaker” of the Democratic City Committee Nominating Committee, that described Station Square as a “monstrous proposal.”
What is interesting is that the three Councilpersons (Boykin, Roach and Malmud) who knew beforehand of the Exclusivity Agreement, apparently felt the concept of the exclusivity agreement was O.K. before May 10, and did not immediately balk when the Cappelli organization first proposed it in private schmooze sessions with them before May 10. They even did not protest strongly at the May 10 meeting. It was only after their prior knowledge was disclosed by this reporter that they have been ruminating against the Exclusivity Agreement.
