WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. January 4, 2006: Mayor Alfred Del Vecchio, Mayor of the City from 1976 to 1993, reacting to the WPCNR series in progress on issues the city faces, writes:

 In the matter of public- private developer partnerships that officials of  the city of White Plains have engaged in with major taxpayer investments in the past eight years, the major problem is that none of the taxpayer investments have resulted in increased wealth for the city.

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Instead, the long-term city costs of accommodating the increased commercial building activity has only resulted in increased property taxes for the homeowner and a decrease in the assessed value of total city property.

The question which begs for an answer is: How can a city of 50,000 people which claims to have done more than $2 billion worth of commercial construction show a decrease in net wealth?

Projections of great wealth for the city justifying tremendous cash and tax incentives, which were supposed to be self-liquidating, not only never materialized but only contributed to an increase in our property taxes and an increase in developer's profits.

This kind of public/private partnership is of no benefit to government and should not only be avoided, but investigated. A thorough and critical investigation of all public/private written partnership agreements that the city has engaged in for the last eight years should be undertaken by members of the legislative body.

These are public documents involving public equity and are subject to scrutiny by and on behalf of the taxpayer. A critical path analysis of the city's plan for the future is needed now.