Common Council

I went to the Common Council meeting this evening. My friend wanted to go because of what was on the agenda - there was a proposal to grant a variance to a residential development to allow 14 stories on a lot where 6 stories are allowed as of right.

The meeting was packed - standing room only - and the proposal did not pass. Or it was tabled; I'm not really sure. These meetings are deadly boring and sort of confusing. We arrived about 40 minutes after it had started and I got a an agenda about an hour later. It was hard to understand what they are even voting on - the acoustics in the room are pretty bad.

White Plains government structure is an odd mix. Most of the advisors are unpaid volunteers. The mayor is paid a significant salary, the elected members are paid, but the rest are given nothing or a token amount. The council welds enourmous power.

I remember when I was in college, the weak mayor was in vogue. My recollection was that the idea started in Phoenix and was seen as a model to good government. The thinking went like this: city government should consist of a professional manager (paid appropriately) and an elected mayor (largely ceremonial position; unpaid); the city is run as a corporation. The reason for this is that the forces of capital too easily corrupt or overpower the political process; you need a powerful, benevolent manager to match wits with capital and labor. Locally elected talent is unlikely to attract the appropriate skill level to the job.

There was more, but that talk was 20 years ago and I can't remember the details. What we have here in White Plains is about the oposite - a charismatic mayor wheeling and dealing. I'm all for growth - I like a lot of what's happened in the last decade - I also take it as a matter of fact that the logic of capital and the interests of the city are fundamentally at odds. The mayor takes credit for every project built within city limits; if he spent any time traveling around the county, he might realise that we are just past the peak of the 20 year construction boom and taking credit for a couple of skyscrapers is about as honest as taking credit for a rainstorm; it would of happened no matter who was sitting in that seat.

What doesn't get such high marks is what the council gave away over the last decade; they allowed enormous variances to developers to get the ball rolling. What's worse, they've made no effort to encourage smaller investors. Commercial real estate within city limits is in a very small number of hands, and any business that wishes to operate here has got to pay for the priveledge.

It remains to be seen how this chapter in the history of White Plains will play itself out. It's clear that there have been some big winners, and to be fair, they have created value. But that value has come at a long term cost; there's been a concentration of commercial real estate in fewer hands and that will inevitably have a dampening effect on entreprenurial retail activity - no one wants to build a business only to pay $12,000 a month to the man.