Honorable Mayor and Council,
My name is Christina Lee and I reside at 57 Hathaway Lane
I would like to read a letter from my grandfather, Mayor Al Del Vecchio. As an introduction I would like to mention, My Grandfather was the longest running Mayor the City of White Plains ever had. During his service, he oversaw one of the largest Urban Renewal projects in the North East. And, I might proudly add, he was the first “GREEN” mayor this city had. White Plains municipal fleet included an electric-powered van and two cars fueled by low pollution ethanol. During his tenure he was Chairman of the Top National Energy Committeethat proposed ways Congress could promote fuel-efficient cars and homes and other energy saving measures.
Hon Alfred Del Vecchio
13 Ridgeview Avenue
White Plains, NY 10606
Dear Honorable Mayor and Council,
The City of White Plains has always been a City of Neighborhoods. There were 28 active neighborhood associations during my tenure and they were sacrosanct. Their sole purpose was to protect their neighborhood and they did their job well. When a developer came to the City with a proposal within or close to a neighborhood we always advised them to sell your plan to the neighborhood’s first. We always negotiated with the developer to give something back to the City.
As mayor of this City, the County seat of Westchester, businesses were always attracted to develop here. But a problem we had was keeping developers out of the neighborhood. There was a constant push to encroach on neighborhoods by developing “just across the street into a neighborhood,” or by “just one block into the neighborhood” and before you knew it, we were faced with what we called “commercial creep.” I could have commercialized this entire City with the influx of developers interested in this City. This is precisely why zoning exists, to protect residential areas and to limit commercialism to the business area.
FASNY is a private school. It is not a tax supported public school taking care of White Plains residents. This is a private business and should be treated that way. A business of this size and scope does not belong in a residential area. This area is zoned for single family homes. You have given FASNY more than enough assistanceto try and make their plan work and clearly it does not. Their conservancy is situated on land most of which can not be developed. The Conservancy isclearly part of their school which the City has absolutely no control over.
If you say yes to this project how does the City propose to hold back the tide? What’s going to happen when NY Hospital returns with a development plan? You destroy a City one neighborhood at a time and a neighborhood one house at a time. You have the right and duty to the citizens of this great City to vote NO for a special permit .
Sincerely
Alfred Del Vecchio