Build all projects with respect and community appropriateness 

The Riverdale Community Coalition (RCC) has made every effort to reach an agreement with the Hebrew Home at Riverdale since the initial presentation by its CEO Dan Reingold over two years ago. While Mr. Reingold and others associated with these proposed 340-unit CCRC high-rise apartment houses have played the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) card, this has not been and is not the case. 

 Neither the RCC, nor I, have objected to the Hebrew Home expanding into its “back yard.” Rather, it has encouraged Reingold to design a project that would be compatible with all the “back yards” in the R1-1 zone of Riverdale. Mr. Reingold may have listened, but has not heard us. We hope our elected officials will hear us.  

From the “beginning,” the Hebrew Home failed to consult with the community. It is argued that a developer should meet with the community at the earliest stages of a project. The Hebrew Home failed to do that, starting with its stealth purchase of the 14 acre Passionist Father’s facility. Only by chance did the Riverdale community learn about the sale of this purchase. 

Mr. Reingold argued that he reached out early to community. He suggested he did so in the form of community “charrettes” and invited the community to attend. He argued that he had “brought simple sketches and concept documents to these meetings and solicited feedback from Riverdale residents.” Mr. Reingold did nothing of the sort. What he brought were fully developed plans, renderings, traffic studies, expensive elevations and models formulated without one iota of community input. 

Mr. Reingold claims the process was “organic” and  “allowed potential objections to be aired.” The fact is there was never anything “organic” about the process. There was no opportunity for the community to air objections until after the architects had been engaged and an almost intractable design established.