WPCNR MILESTONES. May 24, 2008 UPDATED 1:30 PM EDT UPDATED 9:10 PM E.DT.: White Plains was saddened to learn Saturday evening of reports that Marc Pollitzer, the longtime respected, well-liked, and tireless community activist who championed and pioneered the Council of Neighborhood Associations, serving as its President, and speaking up faithfully, forthrightly and powerfully at public hearings on key White Plains development decisions  affecting the outer neighborhoods of the city,  died Saturday, after reportedly collapsing playing tennis at Ridgeway Country Club. 

A Familiar and Imposing Advocate for White Plains: Marc Pollitzer

The Council of Neighborhood Associations posted an In Memoriam Message on its website announcing Mr. Pollitzer’s passing. The CNA, through its Co-President, Candyce Corcoran released this statement Sunday afternoon observing the loss of Mr. Pollitzer:

"Marc was one of the  most prominent voices in the community. White Plains was very fortunate to have Marc for as long as we did. He was a tireless advocate, fighting to make White Plains the best it could be. White Plains has lost a model citizen and pillar of the community. I like many have lost a good friend."

Common Council President Benjamin Boykin issued this statement about Mr. Pollitzer Sunday evening:

"My family and I wish to express our condolences to the Marc Politzer family. We are saddened to learn of the unexpected death of Marc. Marc loved White Plains. He was very involved in city affairs and passionate about planning, urban development, protection of neighborhoods, excellence in our schools, open space and quality of life issues affecting residents throughout our city. Marc was a champion fighting to make White Plains a better place for all of us. Marc has left a great impact on our city and he will be missed." 

Politzer was reportedly stricken Saturday afternoon. Police report responding to Ridgeway Country Club (where Mr. Pollitzer was a member), to the report of a possible heart attack.

 Later in the year 2001,  he also fought vigorously, but unsuccessfully,  in leading opposition to the proton accelerator project proposed by New York Presbyterian Hospital, which was approved but never built. Pollitzer, longtime head of the North Broadway Civic Association,  spearheaded a decade long opposition to the German School expansion of their enrollment in the North Street area.

His eloquent and erudite appeals before the Common Council in public hearings were always distinguished by his earnest, booming, James Whitmore-type voice, beginning, “Good evening Mayor, my name is Marc Pollitzer, President of the North Street Civic Association….”.  His addresses were earnest, fact-based, passionately argued, and persuasive and you had to fasten your seat belt.

Pollitzer served on the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee for many years in advising the school district on the school budget year-to-year. He was also one of the few members of the Budget Advisory Committee to sound the alarm in recent years about the certiorari drain, the inability of the city to help the school district financially with its development policies, and the unexpectedly low amount of PILOTS and revenues from the new development  in the city.

Pollitzer argued strongly, but always commanded respect from adversaries, and stood in high regard among his peers and other community leaders, and had the easy-going ability to maintain cordial, effective relations with political adversaries.  He was a champion of preserving White Plains and its neighborhoods  as they were in the past. He also was a leader in devising the White Plains Master Plan in the mid-90s, which was completed in 1997.

In 2007, he was briefly a candidate for Common Council and spearheaded the campaigns of at large council candidates Robert Levine and Robert Stackpole.

Pollitzer was a model community-conscious citizen and he epitomized the concern that a resident should show towards what was happening in his community.  He was 61 years of age.