Thread: Developer's consultant wanted day laborers in Mamaroneck mov

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 70457/1018

Developer's consultant wanted day laborers in Mamaroneck moved
By CANDICE FERRETTE
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: March 17, 2006)


MAMARONECK — A consultant to the developer of luxury condos going up across the street from Columbus Park confirmed yesterday that he was among those who urged the village to disband the day laborers who gather there.

"We shouldn't have day workers who can't get jobs hanging around there loitering," John Lese, the consultant, said yesterday in response to questions about a letter he wrote to the village board during the project's planning stages three years ago. "People are going to be living here."

In his April 2003 letter to the village attorney, which The Journal News obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Lese writes "... a problem exists on Van Ranst Place which would affect, if not inhibit, any contemplated development. The daily 'loitering' of day workers soliciting employment, which now number in the hundreds, severely effects the economic opportunity of any development in the area."

Lese, a resident of the Orienta section of the village, represents the New Jersey-based developer of Park View Condominiums at Mamaroneck, LLC. The two buildings will contain 41 duplex units and will be built in the style of Manhattan brownstones with price tags of more than $500,000 on Sheldrake and Van Ranst Place, across the park from the Metro-North Railroad station.

The contractors broke ground for the buildings in late December.

The finding has angered advocates for the laborers, who are wary of the village board's 3-2 vote that abruptly closed the village's official hiring site Feb. 1.

It also comes at a time when the advocates, local clergy, village and county officials continue to look for a new hiring site.

"We heard rumors that the developers would not lay a brick down if those workers (day laborers) were still there," said Mariana Boneo-Lvoff, co-president of the Hispanic Resource Center of Larchmont and Mamaroneck.

"We said, 'We know that the condominium is going up, and we know that they don't want this,' but the mayor assured us at that time it wasn't going to be a problem," Boneo-Lvoff said, recalling conversations with the village board in 2004, before the village designated Columbus Park as an official hiring site.

Mayor Phil Trifiletti said yesterday that he had never seen Lese's 2003 letter.

"I can tell you that the condos being built there have nothing to do with the decisions I have made or anyone on the board has made with regards to the hiring site," Trifiletti said. "This all started with the park being abused, and we did what any municipality would do — we took an out-of-control situation and brought it back to control."

Since the closing of the site, day laborers have continued to wait along Mamaroneck Avenue, near Van Ranst Place, where they say a police presence has made it difficult for them to meet contractors who want to hire them.

Trustee Tom Murphy, who along with Trifiletti voted against closing the Columbus Park site, called for the developer to work with the day laborers.

"I would hope that the developer would participate in finding a solution to where the day laborers could gather since it would obviously be economically beneficial for them to be moved to another spot," Murphy said.

Mr. Developer, those are your contractors' illegal construction workers you're bad mouthing. Better cut it out or they'll go on strike.