Welcome back to part two and the conclusion of this series. We wish to thank Mr. Vince Ferrandino for developing this story.
PART IV — THE FOIL REQUEST: WHAT CITY HALL DOESN’T WANT TO SHOWOn November 12, 2025, Ferrandino filed a FOIL request for:- The 2025 DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) application submitted by Mount Vernon to the New York State Department of State
- All previous unsuccessful DRI applications, including rankings, ratings, and all correspondence between the City and the State
Why it matters:Documents and testimony indicate that the City may have submitted its DRI application referencing only the Phase 1 Downtown Vision Report — a document that was silently removed from the latest amended Comprehensive Plan.
This raises three critical concerns:
1. The City may have represented to New York State that it has an “adopted plan” when it does not.The Comprehensive Plan is:- Not legally adopted
- Missing required SEQR documentation
- Missing its central 62-page Phase 1 Downtown Vision Report — deleted without disclosure
- Missing the zoning changes and density maps that trigger a mandatory GEIS
2. The removal of Phase 1 appears designed to avoid the legally required Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS).Phase 1 contains:- Major zoning changes
- Height increases up to 21 stories
- Density expansions
- Parking reductions
- Land-use changes affecting downtown and multiple corridors
By stripping Phase 1 from the Plan — and failing to disclose this to the public — the City created the false appearance that no zoning changes exist, thus attempting to avoid triggering a GEIS.
3. The DRI application may have misled the State as to what “Plan” the City is actually operating under.If the DRI application:- referenced only Phase 1
- OR presented Phase 1 as the City’s operative planning document
- OR omitted the fact that the Comprehensive Plan is incomplete, unadopted, and under challenge— this would constitute a serious breach of public trust and a possible misrepresentation to a state agency.
Ferrandino’s FOIL request is now the only path to discovering what the City told the State.
We will publish the FOIL results immediately upon receipt.
PART V — A PATTERN WE’VE SEEN BEFORENone of what is happening with the Comprehensive Plan occurs in isolation.
Mount Vernon residents have seen this pattern before:- Infrastructure collapses hidden from the public
- Persistent dysfunction within public safety agencies
- Lawsuits triggered by procedural missteps and unlawful actions
- Senior planning staff resigning without explanation
- A Charter Commission that rejected the introduction of professional city management
- Financial controls so weak they have drawn scrutiny from auditors and watchdogs
- Zoning approvals overturned by the courts for violating state law
The pattern is unmistakable:
Major decisions are being made without transparency, without accuracy, and without lawful procedure.
he removal of the Phase 1 Downtown Vision Report — without disclosure — is simply the latest example of a government culture operating in the shadows.
PART VI — WHAT HAPPENS NEXTBased on all documents reviewed — including the amended Plan, public testimony, meeting records, and the incomplete SEQR filings — one conclusion is unavoidable:
If the City Council adopts this Comprehensive Plan and rezoning framework without a full GEIS, the action is legally vulnerable.Residents are already preparing to challenge the adoption in court.
The public record now shows:- Procedural violations
- Hearings that were never properly scheduled
- Legally required documents missing from Legistar
- The Long Form EAF left blank, unsigned, and undated
- An environmental review that fails to address zoning, traffic, density, fiscal impact, or infrastructure
- Expert testimony ignored
- Material portions of the Plan deleted without disclosure
- A possible misrepresentation to New York State in the DRI application
The process is no longer merely flawed.It is on a collision course with the law.
CONCLUSIONMount Vernon deserves — and is legally entitled to — a transparent, lawful, community-based, and data-driven planning process.
What it received instead was a rushed, opaque, error-filled sprint toward adoption, marked by missing documents, concealed changes, and procedural shortcuts that undermine public trust and violate basic principles of good government.
The facts speak for themselves.
Residents are not imagining this.
The evidence does not lie.
Mount Vernon is being reshaped:- without the studies the law requires,
- without the honesty residents deserve,
- and without the transparency the public was promised.
This is not planning.
This is not participation.
This is a blueprint for chaos — delivered behind closed doors.source materialFerrandino Memorandum (Amended 11/11/25)— Provided by author; available upon requestFOIL Request Filed 11/12/25City of Mount Vernon FOIL Portalhttps://cmvny.com/foilSEQR LawNYCRR Part 617https://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/357.htmlOpen Meetings LawNYS Committee on Open Governmenthttps://opengovernment.ny.govMount Vernon Legistar (Public Documents Portal)https://mountvernonny.legistar.comNYS Downtown Revitalization Initiative Overviewhttps://www.ny.gov/downtown-revitalization-initiativePrevious Phase I Downtown Vision Report (2023)— Archived publicly; available upon request |
|
