Dear Friends,
If you missed yesterday’s town hall with Mayor deBlasio, you missed a great representation of the many serious quality of life issues that affect Staten Island.
The Save Mount Manresa Committee was in full effect. Committee Member Loretta Drogon strongly stated to Mayor de Blasio, “If anyone has the power to turn this around, its you.” Watch video at 1:40 to see Loretta in action.
Mayor de Blasio committed to reaching out to the Savo Brothers, but he has the power to do more with eminent domain. The city can buy Mount Manresa (at Fair Market Price of $15million). Its been done before with Chapin Woods and Fort Hill Park. It can be done at Mount Manresa.
Imagine the traffic on Staten Island if the Savo’s are allowed to cram 250 townhouses at the Mount Manresa site???
We urge you to write Mayor de Blasio and Community Affairs Commissioner Marco Carrion and all our elected officials to take Mount Manesa out of the hands of greedy builders, and prevent the destruction of an entire community for overdevelopment. WIth eminent domain, Mount Manresa can be made into a much needed park. (see email addresses below).
Mayor Promises to Ask Mount Manresa Developers to Sell Site to City
By Nicholas Rizzi | April 21, 2016 5:50pm DNAinfo.com
CONCORD — Mayor Bill de Blasio will ask developers of the controversial Mount Manresa project if they’ll sell the land to the city to turn it into a park.
The mayor was responding to a plea for campaigners at a town hall meeting in Staten Island Wednesday.
Loretta Drogon from the Committee to Save Mount Manresa asked him to find a way to turn the former Jesuit retreat house into a park instead of condos.
He promised to look into the possibility of purchasing the land from developer’s the Savo Brothers — who bought it for $15 million.
“If there is any alternative, I may be the person who’s in a position to do something,” de Blasio said at the town hall.
“If you got someone who doesn’t want to sell, I don’t know what the options are. If you got someone who does want to sell, that’s a different discussion. So I will pledge you this one thing… we will make that inquiry and report back to you.”
Drogon said she was happy her group finally got to reach the mayor to let him know about their hopes they’ll eventually get a park at the Fingerboard Road site.
“I would hope that the sellers and the mayor would not like this to be in their legacy,” she said. “I’d like to see the Savo’s not answer the phone for the mayor.”
In 2013, the Savo Brothers bought the property from the Jesuits to turn it into 250 townhouses.
Despite protests, they pulled down trees and demolished the retreat that stood on the site, but construction stalled on the project in September 2014 after city inspectors found asbestos — despite the developer’s inspector filing paper work saying there wasn’t any.
The inspectors — Gaspare and Paul Santoro — were eventually indicted for lying on the asbestos report and Borough President James Oddo attempted to halt work on the site until the city fully investigated the incident.
However, the judge ordered Oddo to issue street numbers for the new homes. The borough president fired back by issuing the project street names based on greed, trickery and deception.
“This was a tremendous lost opportunity,” de Blasio said at the town hall, adding that if his administration was in office it would’ve worked out differently.
“The reason that it was lost to you is greed, plain and simple.”
Despite developers continuing with the plans in the face of numerous protests from elected officials and residents, Drogon said she’s still hopeful the site can return to the public.
“Everybody has a price,” she said. “I want to believe at the end of the day they don’t want to be known for this.”
Contact Your Elected Officials
Let Mayor de Blasio and our electeds know that you want to save Mount Manresa as much needed park or school for the community. Our mayor has the power to change the fate of this site.
The overdevelopment the Savos plan at Mount Manresa site will jam Staten Island with traffic. Our infrustructure can’t handle what the Savos have planned for Mount Manresa. Mayor de Blasio can prevent this with eminent domain. Mount Manresa can be bought at fair market price of $15 Million and he can be a hero for Staten Island.
Mayor Bill de Blasio City Hall NY, NY 10007 | (212) 788-2958 |pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov
Community Affairs Marco Carrion | (212) 788-2958 mcarrion@cityhall.nyc.gov
Borough President Oddo |718.816.2000 joddo@statenislandusa.com
Council Member Rose (Mount Manresa’s District) | 718-556-7370 |DROSE@Council.nyc.gov
State Senator Senator Savino (718) 727-9406 savino@senate.state.ny.us
Assemblywoman Malliotakis 718-987-0197 NYSAssembly60@gmail.com
State Senator Lanza (718) 984-4073 lanza@senate.state.ny.us
Assemblyman Cusick 718-370-1384 CusickM@assembly.state.ny.us
Assemblyman Borelli 718-967-5194 BorelliJ@assembly.state.ny.us
Council Member Matteo 718-980-1017 SMatteo@council.nyc.gov
Council Minority Borelli 718-984-5151 jborelli@council.nyc.gov
Office of The N.Y.C. Public Advocate, Letitia James
Jenny Fischman Outreach Coordinator| 212.669.4662| jfischman@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
Staten Island Advance |718-981-1234 |editor@siadvance.com
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We are your friends, your neighbors, and we will be there if you need us too!
The Committee To Save Manresa is a dedicated group and we support many other civic and community groups on Staten Island. Count on us at every Community Board Meeting and every where we need to go to fight for change. To help us continue our efforts, please consider giving your support:
Friends of Mount Manresa Park
P.O. Box 50086
Staten Island, N.Y. 10305 Write: Save Mount Manresa Fund in the memo line.
For more information contact Committee Secretary Barbara Sanchez 917-428-8117
Website: www.savemanresa.org
Contact: Barbara Sanchez, Committee to Save Mount Manresa Secretary
Email: Savemm2013@gmail.com
