Ward Acres Park "Core" Proposals

[Dennis C. During]

The Honorable Noam Bramson
Mayor of the City of New Rochelle
515 North Avenue

New Rochelle, NY 10804

Dear Mayor Bramson:

I was pleased to see you refer to the “Master Plan” for Ward Acres Park in your newsletter and to find that you “support the swift implementation of the plan's core proposals related to trails and park ecology.”  I have some questions about what you mean.

What’s the rush ?  Shouldn’t there be a full and open public discussion of the final recommenda­tions ?

Furthermore, I only wish that I knew what it was that you were supporting.  The “plan’s core proposals” concerning “park ecology” seem to be some kind of secret.  I found no reference in the Master Plan recommendations to the word or concept “ecology”.  Similarly, I find no refer­ence to the term “open space”, though the Park was purchased from Mr. Ward with the proceeds of a voter-approved New York State Open Space bond issue, which, together with the Parkland status of Ward Acres, provide the most significant limitations on permitted use of the Park.

Although I had frequent discussions with members of the steering committee on Ward Acres Park, they did not seem to have been made aware during the life of the Committee what the final recommendations would be.  I also find that I cannot now determine what those recommenda­tions are and participate in any informed discussion of them.

Three of the most obvious barriers to full, open, public discussion now are:

1     As I understand it, members of the Steering Committee never received a full copy of the Master Plan.

2     The exclusion of all of the Volume Two of the Master Plan from the City of New Rochelle website, including appendix “o” on “Management of Invasive Vines” makes it impossible for any taxpayer of the City of New Rochelle to understand just what it is that you say you support.  In your newsletter, you said that “[a] full copy of the Vollmer report can be viewed at the City's website.”  The exclusion of Volume Two makes this statement simply false.

3     The encrypted, fragmented form of the Report makes it unnecessarily difficult to cite the lan­guage of the report, although it does preserve the pretty pictures and formatting that Vollmer provided the taxpayers.

To further public discussion, I have a few specific recommendations:

1.       Provide each person who served on the steering committee with a full copy of the Master Plan, including all sixteen (16) appendices.

2.       Put all of Volume Two of the Master Plan online.

3.       Make the simple text of the report (both volumes) available in a single, unencrypted file.

I look forward to your clarification of your position and your facilitation of informed, open, pub­lic discussion of the Master Plan recommendations that you support.

 

Dennis C. During

dcdu...@gmail.com

 

 

 

[Dennis C. During]

I include below my original letter concerning the barriers to public discussion of matters concerning Ward Acres Park.  I have omitted my subsequent reminders that no action on the matters discussed has taken place other than e-mails from you to the Parks Commissioner that have occasion no response.  It is true that New Rochelle has a "weak mayor" government, but this is "weakness" beyond what I would have expected.

 

The effect of the unresponsiveness is to make a mockery of the idea of open public discussion.

 

It is particularly distressing that your endorsement of the "the [Ward Acres Master] plan's core proposals related to trails and park ecology” seems to have little if any effect on the actions being considered by the City Council.

 

Dennis C. During

dcdu...@gmail.com