City Manager and Development Commissioner take their show on the road

On March 30, 2023, the new City Manager, Kathleen Gill, teamed up with the new Deputy City Manager and Commissioner of Development, Adam Salgado, in the first in a series of appearances to share what they call “An Overview of Development and Other City Initiatives.”  Speaking at Temple Israel, they presented slides providing a look into their 2023 Workplan Objectives, which include Public Safety, Attract Investment, Promote Sustainability, Develop Jobs and Businesses, Infrastructure, Shape Growth, Broaden Engagement, Youth & Senior Programming, Equity, and Quality of Life.  

Their idea is that all of these objectives interact with one another to create a newly developed New Rochelle community.  Taken at face value, their overview of the plan provided a savvy and enticing appeal to those coming from the outside to move to a beautiful, developing, “Ideally Yours,” New Rochelle.  Yet, to many residents living south of Eastchester Road, the city is rapidly becoming  unrecognizable as the New Rochelle they knew even five years ago.  And the question of equity is still open for interpretation. 

Gill opened up with the overall mission to increase community engagement (more activities at Ruby Dee Park, with restaurants and “community activation” and a mobile City Hall), create equity among city employees (recruiting a diverse workforce and staff training), and focus on youth programming, including a summer program that can extend to part-time work after the summer, special needs employment, and enhancing Judge Jared Rice’s second chance “Opportunity Youth” program to include housing options and afterschool programming.  The city, Gill said, is also looking to upgrade various parks.

Salgado presented the idea of a new focus, “From Buildings to People,” and raised the question, “how do we build community?” He spoke about the concept of “resiliency” as the basis for “creating safe spaces for humans and communities to conduct their everyday lives.”  Did city officials finally get the message that the surge in new buildings is taking away from the communal landscape that once enticed outsiders to relocate to New Rochelle?  

The shift to a focus on people sounds great, yet New Rochelle officials continue to make decisions that reinforce environmental racism and exclude low income families from new rental units and the promise of good jobs, careers, and business opportunities.  When asked about a push to have developers invest in 100% local union labor, Gill responded, “we will lose the developer.” Developers have reportedly said they will never use more than 15% local union labor.  The city’s unwillingness to set expectations for developers and contractors to meet the needs of all New Rochelle residents is clear in the reports the developers provide to the city as part of the Economic Opportunity and Nondiscrimination Policy.     

Development has focused a great deal on market rate rental housing.  The skyline is filled with high-rises promising an earmarked number of units listed as “affordable,” yet an individual can earn up to $77,650, or a family of four can earn up to $110,900, and still qualify for apartments designated “affordable” for those earning less than 80% of Area Median Income (AMI).  Gill and Salgado tout that New Rochelle has been a leader in “affordable housing.”  The city, they say, is committed to expanding funding for first time home buyer down payments and much of the development moving forward will be considered “mixed use.”  The highlights of New Rochelle’s development plan show there are 10,000 units available for development.  Thirty projects have been approved to date with 6,292 residential units 19% (1,177) of which are listed as “affordable”. The breakdown includes 14 “completed and leasing” projects (2,456 units) with less than 10% (224) “affordable,” 12 projects under construction (2,677 units), with 838 (31.3%) “affordable,” and 4 remaining projects with “site plan approval” (1,159 units), of which 10% (115) are “affordable.”  

It is known  that development results in gentrification, pushing rents up, pushing people out of their neighborhoods and excluding them from the benefits of the redevelopment.  Gill highlighted the fact that revenue collected through the development  amounts to $33 million so far.   She did not make clear how this revenue is being used to support the hardships faced by many residents who suffer from living below the poverty line.   (According to the 2021 census, 10.3% of New Rochelle residents live in poverty.)  Gill did offer up the idea of an Affordable Home Ownership Pilot allowing for “affordable for-sale” units.  

Gill and Salgado also highlighted the Community Benefit Bonus and Fair Share Mitigation with an expected non-cash contribution value close to $16.8 million.  This includes infrastructure improvements, parking, and various facilities, including the new Remington Boys and Girls Club that replaces the old city-owned building.  But the City has not contributed any funds to help with the furnishing or initial start-up cost of this new facility, which has historically served young Black people in what is now City Council District 3.  Where does the city’s emphasis on youth programming and support of key community partners fit in here?    

Development in New Rochelle continues with a focus on redesigning the Transit Center, the development of Echo Bay, as well as the LINC project, which proposes to partially replace Memorial Highway with a linear park.   

Gill and Salgado plan additional community meetings to present and discuss their plans.  The next one is scheduled on Thursday, April 13, at 6 pm at St. Catherine Church (19 Lincoln Avenue).