FASNY: IT'S ALL ABOUT NEIGHBORHOODS

June 17,  2014
Dear Common Council members,

As you know our names are Marie and Ron Rhodes and we have lived in our current house in White Plains for the past 35 years. 

We are looking for more Common Council leaders, like Milagros Lecuona, who have the backbone and courage to listen to residents and do what's right for the future of White Plains.  Among the many strange things that have occurred so far with this FASNY proposal is that. . .Ms. Lecuona, an expert in Urban Planning, who has had problems with FASNY's proposal all along. . .yet whose concerns have repeatedly been ignored by her male-dominated Common Council members who are lawyers by training.  Hard to figure!

We also find it strange as only lawyers have been added to the Common Council by the our current Mayor (who is also a lawyer and who we actually voted for)...unfortunately most of the new additions seem more preoccupied with politics than resident concerns.  Who knew that in White Plains we would end up with lawyers as leaders who don't know how to uncover or don't want to consider critical information.  Not good for the City! 

Our position is while you don't have to agree with us. . .we expect you to show us respect by listening to what we have to say.   Don't tell us what you think would be good for our neighborhood. . .and then try to push forward this FASNY review without asking the right questions and demanding key information particularly on the topics we have listed below.  We're confused as over our 35 years in White Plains prior Mayors and Common Councils have always protected residents and neighborhoods.     In any case as a first step we would like this Common Council to delay the review of FASNY's Special Permit and Site Approval Plan from the July 7, 2014 meeting until sometime after Labor Day.

Our reason is that during this FASNY review this Common Council and Mayor have allowed a process to continue which has been flawed. . .
because critical facts that describe our current neighborhood character have been omitted.  The result if continued will lead to the destruction of our neighborhood and certainly diminished residential personal property values including our own.

We find this strange because when you all ran for elected office you stressed in your campaigns:                            
 1.protecting WP neighborhoods
 2.preserving Open Space 
 3.increasing Quality of Life for all residents

When the FASNY review process started over 3 years ago whose decision was it not to let the Common Council ask any probative questions as most good lawyers do and which is certainly allowed by the SEQUA regulations?  A strange circumstance as even US Supreme Court Justices ask questions on cases before them.   Whoever made this decision did a disservice to residents and to all Common Council members by not allowing pertinent information to be uncovered and openly discussed while allowing an atmosphere of confusion, deception and innuendo.  

Surely as Common Council members you must see some of the deficiencies that already exist within our City such as. . .no coherent plan for dealing with all of the proposed major downtown projects (right now outside developers appear to be telling the City what to do), the plan for filling the 40 or so vacant downtown storefronts is not working (the situation is getting worse not better) and there is a need for a new traffic initiative for dealing with all the current distracted White Plains drivers (you know all the people that don't stop at stop signs, tailgate and speed thru local streets and make u-turns across double yellow lines. . .does the City even know we have an existing traffic safety problem?)  Why is it with these existing distractions the Mayor is more focused on destroying our residential neighborhood than taking action and solving problems?  There is much conjecture as to why the Mayor is turning his back on WP residents in favor of a large outside developer.  We'll leave the Mayor's decision-making for others to judge!

This Common Council can take back control of this FASNY review process by delaying any discussions until at least September and demanding critical facts that have been ignored to date.
It is our belief that in any type of planning you start with "current facts" before you get to "future assumptions".   And so far in this SEQUA process the City has allowed FASNY to start with an incomplete and inaccurate "current facts" about our Gedney Farms neighborhood that does not correctly present a base level description of our Gedney Farms "neighborhood character". . .particularly on the subjects of traffic, water, quality of life, historical special permits granted and FASNY money.  

While the City and FASNY failed in their fact-gathering to date.. .you as Common Council members can correct the situation if you demand. . .
→  an updated traffic report. . .that reflects FASNY's choice of the North Street entrance after soundly rejecting and trashing this same North Street option in their own prior DEIS submission. . .that considers right now the almost 5,000 of our school children and staff who already travel into our neighborhood each day. . .and since the Hutchinson River Parkway Northbound is always backed up in the mornings that cut thru FASNY cars and buses will use our local WP streets of Ridgeway, Hartsdale, Prescott and Bryant Avenues. . .all of which put our existing WP drivers and school children at further risk.  Why hasn't the City ever notified residents of these neighborhoods of the possibility of additional FASNY traffic?  On page 4 of the Cover Letter to FASNY's most recent submission the "mandatory busing" is now referred to as only a "75% goal".   Is FASNY trying to slip another one past the City?  And will the Common Council have the courage to force FASNY back to the 75% mandatory busing and really enforce it going forward? 

→  a real current hydrology analysis. . .prepared by a independent organization with stature, like the Army Corps of Engineers, that will acknowledge that the original golf course was built over underground streams.  And then will provide expert analysis and opinion on how FASNY's 47-acre construction will divert these existing underground streams potentially to neighborhood residences.   The City and residents also need a firm determination on where all rainfall will drain to after FASNY builds on top of 47 acres of land.  We've been asking for an independent hydrology report like this from the beginning because part of the FASNY property is designated as NYS Environmentally Sensitive Land, others are flood-prone areas right now and the unknown is how FASNY's construction will impact all parts of their property as well as surrounding residences.  In the SEQUA all FASNY came up with were some old maps that certainly don't provided needed answers of where water will flow to after FASNY's construction.  Isn't now the time for the Common Council to get this needed hydrology information?  

→  a quality of life impact report. . .previously we told all of you on the Common Council that this FASNY project will be a "10-year construction project". . .well now all of us know for sure as page 1 of the Construction Management Plan in FASNY's latest submission states that construction "will not go beyond the year 2025".  Is FASNY really serious?  Does anyone of the Common Council believe that 10+ years of FASNY's construction, noise, traffic, fumes, water or any other FASNY disruption to our neighborhood and quality of life "will not be material"?  How many other development projects in the history of a White Plains residential neighborhood have taken 10 years to complete?

→  a history of special permits granted in our neighborhood.  We know no special permits have ever been granted in WP history for the center of our Gedney Farms residential neighborhood where FASNY now wants to build.  However, special permits have been granted outside on the perimeter of our neighborhood. . . so what are the details by requesting organization, size of property, intended use and date granted for all past zoning exceptions?  Has a special permit exception the size of FASNY's 47-acre construction ever even been considered in White Plains? 

→  Where is FASNY's money?. . .again we asked this before. . .where is FASNY's money to complete this project?  Shouldn't FASNY demonstrate up front that they have the money for a 47-acre project in the middle of a residential neighborhood?  Or is this Common Council going to risk that FASNY runs out of money before their project is completed. . .and we residents are left with another "hole in the ground" project as we had down by the train station causing a further decrease in our property values.  So we ask where is the Common Council's plan for protecting residential property owners?
All of this information and analysis should have already been included in the SEQUA submission as our current neighborhood "base level facts".  Our question is was it left out on purpose or simply due to incompetence?

As Common Council members to date you haven't shown a lot of interest in uncovering the real current facts about our neighborhood's current environment. . .so going forward your effort to get updated traffic, water and other necessary facts. . .will tell us a lot about the quality of your leadership and your real concern for residents. And if you feel that the White Plains Comprehensive Plan and Zoning needs updating. . .recommend the changes out in the open with full transparency. . .rather than trying to get around the existing Comprehensive Plan and Zoning with "exceptions" which is what you are doing with FASNY.

You know it's not our job to tell you how to do your job.  However when you stay silent and act like mannequins for 3 years while you are receiving taxpayer-funded salaries. . .we feel it's our responsibility to call you out.  However, you now have the opportunity to step up and speak out to make a difference for the future of White Plains.

Thanks in advance to those with the courage for taking action now,
Marie and Ron Rhodes