NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Longtime New Rochelle resident Charles Mirabella was one of a dozen residents that took advantage of seeing the New Rochelle city yard for themselves during a public tour earlier this month following the city councils February approval to finance the design phase of a new yard.
The building has been here all my life, Mirabella said.
The New Rochelle City Council approved the financing (through the issuance of bonds) of $600,000 to fund the design phase and planning cost of a proposed new replacement public works facility.
The city has discussed Beechwood Avenue as a possible location of the new city yard, but has not decided on where to actually relocate the facility from its current site on Main Street.
Bureau Manager for Streets and Highways Fred Alston remembers hearing talk about moving the location when he came on board many years ago.
When I first started they were talking about it, Alston said.
New Rochelle Department of Public Works Commissioner Alex Tergis said the yard is in its current condition because of lack of upkeep. Nothing was done to renovate the space, however, because it was always thought the yard was going to be relocated.
We just kept letting things go or doing minor repairs, Tergis said.
Having enough manpower to maintain city streets and the yard has also always been problematic due to recent reductions in the city budget.
Residents that asked Tergis for an overview and update about the tour at last weeks city council meeting, including District 1 Council member Louis Trangucci, have expressed concern about how deteriorated they feel the yard and its facilities have become.
Trangucci, who opposes the relocation of the yard, felt that workers should spend 20 to 30 minutes a day cleaning up the yard following the end of their daily shifts.
Tergis explained that workers must operate under their union contracts. He also said that he would rather have workers out working the streets than cleaning the yard so that enough workers are working the city.
Theres always been a juggling act, Tergis said.
Tergis added that hes always looking for locations that might be suitable to have a satellite location, possibly to service the citys north end. He is also on the lookout for locations for the current city yard and current transfer station, which would have to be moved from the Beechwood site before the new city yard could be relocated there.
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