Economic Development Talk has Lost its Panache By Hezi Aris

When the strong mayor form of government made its presence felt in Yonkers, John Spencer wrestled power and control from a rudderless City Council and infused it with his vision. The formative years of his administration formalized a paradigm of governance that today may actually be choking the miracle of economic development rendered in drawings for all to see. All who scrutinize Yonkers will find government delineated superficially under the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The promise of vision has been subordinated by the very construct and design of the strong mayor form of government. If Yonkers economic development barometer is a guage of Yonkers health, Yonkers would be diagnosed comatose and wheeled into the intensive care unit (ICU). The malady revolves about “control.”

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When John Spencer took the helm, he was able to impose his leadership, will, and vision among a motley crew of characters or weeded them out of the equation. Those were simpler days. The tentacles of control brought every aspect of governance under the umbrella of the executive branch. The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, the Community Development Agency, the Yonkers Board of Education, the Planning Board, the Zoning Board, The Board of Contracts, the Office of Economic Development, the Yonkers Downtown / Waterfront B.I.D., the South Broadway B.I.D., the Yonkers Police Department, the Yonkers Fire Department, the cities ten unions, and even the political parties, must be cleared to move ahead City Hall, barring that, they atrophy in place, costing millions to developers and becoming a mirage in Yonkersites' minds. Spencer built a corral of development projects. As the baton moved from Spencer to Mayor Phil Amicone, the political scene had changed;  and the economic environment had changed. With a little over 3 years left to his lame-duck term in office, Mayor Amicone has yet to put one economic development notch onto his belt. As the daily din of gloom and doom bellow over the financial markets, City Hall is desperate for the SFC Yonkers project to be approved. Non-committal in its expression of thought over the value of development to Yonkersites, Mayor Amicone has lobbed a salvo across the Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick’s lethargic approval process over the SFC Yonkers project. Reticent to make a public challenge, and deflecting attention from his own lack of leadership, Mayor Amicone has City Councilmember John Murtagh demand a deadline date by which the Yonkers City Council is to vote its approval or disapproval of the project.

Murtagh makes some salient points about needing to move ahead with the SFC Yonkers project. His only result may be to expose Lesnick having cornered himself politically between a rock and a hard place. No matter how Lesnick proceeds, he will have diminished his supposed base of supporters from one side of the political divide or the other.

While Mayor Amicone, Councilman Murtagh, some developers, and agenda driven trough feeders decry the stalling antics of some so-called “naysayers,” City Hall hides the fact that AKRF, Inc., in the case of the Point Street Landing project, as verified by its developer Robert MacFarlane, CEO of Homes for America Holdings, Inc. (HfA), employed by City Hall to update the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement), stopped working on the DEIS for 7 months. The FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statement) is now 1 ½ years late noted HfA Senior Vice-President Dan Tartaglia. While Lesnick may not be loathe to move faster, some of his colleagues are barely capable of keeping up with the information before them. Even if the collective acumen among the City Council membership was stellar, they are collectively or individually kept on a need to know basis by an administration more concerned about “controlling” the decision making process of the City Council than seemingly to moving economic development projects forward.

The ineffectiveness of channeling the projects still in the economic development corral has become subordinate to the SFC Yonkers project. The prospect for Cappelli Enterprises, Inc. (majority partner of the SFC Yonkers Inc. project) prodding approval is likely. Some sources, who have asked to be unnamed, believe that when the SFC Yonkers project receives approval, it will be mothballed. Cappelli Enterprises has become smitten by the economic development plans slated for Sullivan County.

Economic development projects can be scrutinized and distilled into palatable visions and economic logic. Why would City Hall thwart bringing about the HfA project upon which Point Street Landing is planned for development from its present tax status of paying $200,000 per year from reaching its completion value of $15 million? The need for control is choking Yonkers potential.

While the blame game will cause some to salivate, City Hall must facilitate economic development if, and when it is appropriate to Yonkers future viability. Before Yonkersites fully consider the macroeconomic issues, we may be best to contend with the will of Mayor Amicone, President Chuck Lesnick, and their respective surrogates.

Background articles:

Articulating Economic Development by Hezi Aris; and

Murtagh Calls for Swift Action on Downtown Redevelopment - Concerned Yonkers in Danger of Losing Major Developer Team; and

South Yonkers to Sullivan County By Hezi Aris

Comments

Whether things work out the way they should or not, at least Amicone has let some agencies and citizens operate they way they see fit. He is not a contol - freak and a decent person, sometimes this comes with its problems, but it is a better way to work.

Spencer's style was wrong for the city and wrong for the citizens, Amicone has moved the city in the right direction, is everything perfect - no; however, people are able to have divergent opinions, and disagree.

Too much negative, too much politics, it all needs to be put aside for the future of this city and it will inevitably happen. Despite all the criticism, its a good city and the citizens of Yonkers are good-caring people.

Are we talking about the same city??

Are we talking about the same city??

Hezi flip flops like a fish on the beach. What the hell is he trying to say? Whatever it is, it makes no sense and contradicts other things he has said.

Just when you think Hezi has it together and about what is or isn't going on... poof! He goes off in some indecipherable directions.

Amicone is Spencers apprentice with a beard. He's a nastier version of Spencer. He just smiles at you and gets his monster staff to stab you in the back when you turn around.

And the first poster is either one of those bought off community members or a City Haul staffer. Keep smoking city haul crack, it will keep you dumb.

WHY IS BARBATO SILENT ?? rumor has it she committed her vote to cappelli, to keep her job with spano and her husbands job with iodoni. cappelli is a big contributor to both and has worked closely with iodoni in new rochelle.

Tonite I was down on Main street...almost every business was closed by 8pm. Last week I came down to Main st same thing
the week before the same
so on & so forth...

except for the existing businesses down there trying to create the lively downtown waterfront area that people will visit all the time yonkers downtown has nothing to offer except for thugs, homeless people, more thugs and empty store fronts that the deveoplers are sitting on BANKING & WAITING for this project to be ok's

this doesnt benefit anyone because there aren't ANY revenue made at all since these store fronts are dead empty or closed by 6pm. The restaurants west of riverdale & warburton stay open but no one else does becasue the entire area is owned by the developers waiting for the wisslte to blow behind the SFC project

Chcik blow the damn whislte already, if you really want to be the next Mayor this is the best shot you have!! hurry, times a wasting and your window of opportunity,small as it is already, is going to go bye bye!

[the inside scoop]

the problem with the waterfront stuff
is what you have to navigate through to
get their...just plain garbage.....so
the rest of the downtowne needs to be
developed as well...see san antonio

I'm not quite sure what you're saying here- but I do know that unless the Sharing Community's 'drop-in' shelter is moved out and the area is cleaned up, nothing we have down there will take off, because no one will go down there after dark.

I agree. The article is confusing and the Sharing Community has to go.

The blame for development delays now belongs squarely on Lesnick and the Council, no one else.

When Yonkers citzens elect the kind of toads that make up most of the Council, it's too much to even hope those Council members are capable of acting professionally and quickly on anything of importance. Because they are not.

Further, not acting in the interest of the taxpayers on the recent budget is another example of the Council's ineptness. This is the fault of both parties, who put these inferior candidates up to run in the first place.

they dig and dig as if they are to find something wrong. what they find are matters that they can't understand because they simply never study the items before them. Meetings are held just to help them crawl through the learning process.

SFC, have patience. This is horible.

NICE TO SEE THE DEVELOPERS WHORES OUT IN FULL FORCE TODAY.

The Socialist Sisters never sleep. Wackadoos that they are.

I see RADICAL GUY is monitoring the site again. Good Morning. What's the weather like down at City Haul today?

Id love to know what the NON DEVELOPER types on this site want to do with the waterfront or downtown development? To me they seem to like things the way they are but to me they must be blind and like a downtown area that looks, smells and produces nothing but shit.

so soc. sisters...what do you want?

They want what all Fidel lovers want. "Power to the people!" socialism, communism, and a failed Yonkers with no new development. They await the ghost of Abbie Hoffman to spur them on. They think it is still 1968.

They say otherwise, but they have stalled forever only because they are against everything. All their other excuses are just stunts and delaying tactics. They like the slums and the bums and the druggies. VIVA FIDEL! HURRAH HOFFMAN! FREE ANGELA DAVIS! LONG LIVE THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND!

I can only speak for myself...but more open space and no obstruction of the view. Bldgs. are too high and cheaply constructed. Too much residential not enough creativity. A state-of-the-art aquarium would fit nicely with the Bezac Center. The view of the river and the majestic Palisades from Yonkers is just spectacular and we should treasure it and not allow anyone to destroy it. I am not against fixing up the area, but let's do it right and not the way some fast talking developer tells us. In time all that residential is going to turn into more section 8.

BEWARE the Communist hunter is back!

BEWARE the Communist hunter is back!

Well if you don't like the Socialist Sisters, you have to get down to city hall when there's a city council meeting and speak up, otherwise, the socilist sisters command the mike. That's their thing. And if they even so much as make a gesture, Lesnick is saying, "Oh, a member of the public!" No, Chuck, these are members of a group that wants to derail all investment in Yonkers except what they deign to be worthy. They have a special interest. They don't represent the public-at-large. So, if you want to be heard, just get down to city hall, be seen and heard, and then go on about your life. This process has for too long been hijacked by these socialists.

THE RESIDENTS OF THIS CITY ARE SICK OF CARRYING THE CAN FOR ALL OF THESE DEVELOPERS. NOT A SINGLE DIME COMING IN. TAXES GO UP EVERY YEAR AND EVERY $UCKING POLITICIAN TELLS US THEY ARE GOING TO EXPAND OUR TAX BASE. THE ONLY THING WHICH TAXPAYERS FEEL IS THEIR WALLETS BEING EMPTIED BY DEVELOPERS AND THE UNIONS WITH LACK OF FISCAL MANAGEMENT BY THE BEARDED ONE AND THE COUNCIL.

THIS WHOLE CITY IS A LAUGHING STOCK. SPEAKING OF SOCIALISM, THIS IS THE BIGGEST SOCIALIST STATE ON THE PLANET. THE ONES REALLY $UCKING THE TAXPAYER ARE THE RICH.

DID YOU EVER ASK YOURSELF WHY WELL KNOWN CORPORATIONS NEVER COME TO YONKERS?
BECAUSE THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY CLUB HAVE TO EXTRACT THEIR POUND OF FLESH OR YOUR NOT WELCOME.

YONKERS IS THE ASSHOLE OF WESTCHESTER AND THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

Yes I agree with the above poster. The CC should tell Collins that his days of passing the cup around to the Yks. taxpayers is OVER!
No one forced him to build that ughly project. He came in here with his eyes wide open and his hands out. He asked for more height and a willing CC gave it to him regardless of the fact that they were stealing our view. So now they should tell Collins NO more favors. He asked for it now let him suck it up.

Many businesses have come to Yonkers. Executive Blvd. is just one example of many. And more want to come when the downtown is fixed up, which it has needed for about 40 years or more.

But screwball Yonkers politics and people who are like Lesnick is today always managed to derail progress. Lesnick is on the verge of doing that again right now, if he and the rest of the Silly Council don't wake up fast.

for the size of Yonkers, its long standing history and decetly large population we have relitivly no large businesses placed here. People outside know better especially large corps to come into Yonkers...now my question what do they know that we don't seem to?

Yonkers is an unfriendly business environemt except you own a trash hauling company or cement company....get it!

NO BIG COMPANIES, FORTUNE 500 TYPES COME HERE BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT WILLING TO DO THE YONKERS SHUFFLE. OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY SHAKEDOWN.

THE BIGGEST EMPLOYERS IS TITTY HAUL.