Thread: More memos found urging Mamaroneck to displace day laborers

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 90335/1018

More memos found urging Mamaroneck to displace day laborers
By CANDICE FERRETTE
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: March 19, 2006)


MAMARONECK — A consultant to a luxury condominium project overlooking Columbus Park wrote other memos urging the village to displace the day laborers who gather there, but the village failed to provide them to The Journal News under a recent Freedom of Information Law request.

The newspaper had filed a request for copies of all letters between January 2003 and February 2006 regarding the former day-labor hiring site at Columbus Park.

In response, the village forwarded one 2003 letter from John Lese, a consultant to the New Jersey-based developers. The new memos were sent to the village in 2004 — one page bears a "received" stamp from the village clerk — but were excluded from the file. Both were signed by Lese.

Written mostly in capital letters, one memo dated Feb. 23, 2004, says, "OBVIOUSLY WE CANNOT BUILD A LUXURY CONDO UNTIL THE DAY WORKERS HAVE ANOTHER PLACE TO WAIT AROUND."

The other memo requests "MORE EXPEDIOUS ACTION," — he apparently meant "expeditious" — on the day laborers.

The paper received the memos yesterday from Trustee Tom Murphy, who said he had obtained copies by simply opening a file in the village manager's office.

"I saw that a previous article referenced only one letter," said Murphy, who along with the mayor voted against closing the site. "And I knew there were more, so I was happy to provide them."

The village's mayor, attorneys and clerk-treasurer could not explain why the memos were not provided in the newspaper's initial FOIL request. All suggested an administrative oversight.

The memos were given to the paper on the same day a group of about 15 day laborers performed an organized spring cleaning of the park in an effort to repair their reputation in the village.

Lese is a village resident and has acted as the local coordinator for the New Jersey-based developer of Park View Condominiums at Mamaroneck LLC. The two luxury buildings are under construction on Van Ranst Place.

The day-labor hiring site closed within weeks of the start of construction on the condos.

Lese's repeated requests to disburse the laborers have given more credence to the argument that village officials voted to close the site in the name of gentrification, Hispanic advocates say.

The village board, after a 3-2 vote, closed the official day-labor hiring site at the park Feb. 1, citing quality-of-life complaints from neighbors.

The day laborers have been accused of harassing women walking across the park, indecent exposure, smoking marijuana, drunkenness and public urination, according to police reports.

Laborers and advocates say that although incidents do happen, most of the men are law-abiding village residents looking for an honest day's work and that they deserve a safe place to congregate.

"What we did down there had nothing to do with anyone trying to build condominiums," Mayor Phil Trifiletti said yesterday. "It has everything to do with the quality of life and people walking across the park.

"Why hasn't anyone come out to say that it has to do with Metro-North repairing the sidewalks or the building of a new, beautiful restaurant down there?"

Even if Marmaroneck's Columbus Park were cleared out of the day laborers for gentrification the real estate developers were and are legitimate while if the day laborers are illegal aliens they are not.

What? We have American citizens who have lived in their homes for 20 yrs. or more, and the government is taking their homes for development!

This is outrageous. What's the matter, are they afraid to tell them to hit the road?

American's better start raising some He__!