Kickstarting Revival Starts With Restoring Transparency in City Hall

Pascucci Field is an excellent opportunity to experiment with free-market reform of underutilized public property, which would be a win-win for taxpayers and the city's economy. But it must start with transparency from government.

When I first learned about the planned city council vote to move forward with the sale of Pascucci field to dementia care facility operators, I immediately checked the City of Glen Cove website to get details. An agenda and some resolutions were up on the site, specifically on the Glen Cove Mansion, but nothing regarding the proposed sale.

Almost a week later on the day of the council meeting, Adam Ramadan released a blog on this site that exposed to residents the lack of transparency regarding the sale. Within a couple of hours, his blog was inadvertently deleted for some time. Around the time of the meeting, a revisit to the city council page revealed that at some time earlier, the resolutions and agenda had also gone missing.

Ramadan’s blog was quickly re-posted. There were, and still are two resolutions on the City site regarding the Mansion–though the meeting agenda and other resolutions weren’t as fortunate. Nearly a week after the council meeting, resolutions still have not been posted online regarding the planned Pascucci field vote, which was tabled after concerned residents showed up at the council meeting. According to one meeting attendee, the resolutions were available at the council, but the land was identified by block, section, and lot number, and not by name–an obvious effort to avoid transparency. Further, recent NYS open meeting law changes ramp up requirements for providing access to documents before most government meetings.

The cycle of controversial votes by the city council and boards seems to be that surprised residents take time to show up and get answers, only to be invited three hours later to a hearing at some time weeks later and promised a vote on the issue two weeks after that. Other stalling tactics are also employed to run out the clock during meetings. Often, those most legitimately concerned with council votes are nonpolitical, busy residents who don't regularly attend meetings. This was on display most recently, when the city council voted to table the “vested rights” amendment, which gifts the waterfront developers with 12 years of frozen zoning on land granted to them by the city. At least one Democrat admitted reluctance–they passed it, anyway.

This is connected to the dire situation we now see the city in, it is the price of politics. The 1970s era of central-planning, “urban renewal”, has left Glen Cove’s downtown a shell of what it once was. Village Square is a virtual ghost town after occupants moved out temporarily either in fear of possible eminent domain or in hopes that the development would bring medical students who would hang out in our downtown and spend money. Soundview, after years of transience and overinflated rent, was on the verge of vacancy for this summer and became the subject of political fiasco over finding an operator. There is no more movie theater. A graduate of Glen Cove High School this year might not see real development at the waterfront until after they turn thirty.

The City Council could take several steps to reverse course. First, transparency requires work. We are often told that “the real debate happens at pre-council,” which takes place in a conference room with a closed door on the second floor of City Hall. The charter says, “The City Council shall sit with open doors.” It’s not just pre-council meetings–we don't all have the time to be there every Tuesday. We need our elected body communicating through local media.

We have a real opportunity at Pascucci Field. Rather than banking on what was a secret sale to swap land and dollars, let’s talk about putting out a transparent, competitive request for proposals from the business community and see what we get. A public-private partnership (PPP) could turn out successful beyond imagination on a property which has been too underutilized for too long as it is, while generating revenue. The field also needs some serious work. Under a PPP, it would be in the operator’s interest to have a playable field bustling with pickup and team soccer-playing every day of the week. Visitors from other towns could generate even more economic activity in the city. Ask the Glen Cove soccer players who drive all over the island to find a place to play rather than staying in our city.

Both taxpayers and soccer fanatics would benefit from a public-private partnership at Pascucci Field. But, if it turns out soccer isn’t what the market wants for the land next to the station, we can always revisit the debate and put it out for another competitive RFP.