New Rochelle issued its call this afternoon for developers to propose “creative” uses for the former naval Armory on Echo Bay this afternoon.

The city wants a developer to reinvent the East Main Street building, with its vaulted ceiling, perhaps as a performing arts center, restaurant and banquet hall, festival market or a combination of such uses, on the 2.9-acre site next to the public works yard.

The city “welcomes creative proposals, providing that they are practical and financially viable,” reads a document issued yesterday called a “request for proposals.”

Proposals for the 1931 brick building should fit with the larger development of homes, stores and park space planned on the 10.4-acre public works site when city operations are moved from that site to an inland location.

The plans also must preserve space along the waterfront for a “continuous, publicly-accessible shoreline promenade along the length of Echo Bay’s northern shore.”

Finalists will be chosen by an evaluation committee. The developers who made those proposals will meet with the committee and City Council, the document says.

The building includes a 11,200 square-foot main space with a small mezzanine level, and a basement of 11,000 square feet.

An attached annex is a two-story building with more than 14,000 square feet.

Proposals can include plans to demolish the annex, as well as plans to preserve and adapt it.

My colleague Ernie Garcia filed this report about a new restaurant at the Radisson Hotel on Huguenot Street just northeast of downtown New Rochelle:

The Radisson Hotel celebrated the opening of its new 125-seat restaurant last night, another phase in the hotel’s $2 million renovation that started last year.

NoMa Social offers a Mediterranean-style menu with tapas, organic  meats and a full bar. The restaurant’s décor combines a lounge with a restaurant, meaning that some of the eating spaces are lower tables, such as what you’d see at New York City restaurants like Spice Market.

Bill Rosenberg, formerly executive chef of F.I.S.H Restaurant and Two Moons, both in Port Chester, created the menu, which also has traditional entrees for those who don’t like to share small plates.

We tried some of Rosenberg’s tapas last night and a must-order is the ham and cheese croqueta, which was crispy on the outside and wonderfully creamy within. The patatas bravas, a traditional Spanish fried and spiced potato, were also very good.

Tom Corbia, who won a Port Chester school board seat Tuesday and ousted incumbent Blanca Lopez, said his victory came from supporters throughout the community and from the “non-support” of a board decision to cut 14 reading specialists from next year’s budget.

Corbia, 63, a retired Port Chester teacher, claimed one of two open seats by placing ahead of Lopez, the board president. James Dreves, 70, who has served on the board for 21 years, placed first and won an eighth term.

Corbia repeated promises that he can help reach a deal on the high-stakes teachers contract, currently under negotiation. In doing so, “I want to get the reading teachers back,” he said. Dreves and Lopez are on the negotiating team, and Corbia said he’s asking to join.

Lopez, 36, is leaving after one term. “I am thrilled that the budget passed.  As for the board election, I wish all the best to Mr. Dreves and Mr. Corbia,” she said. “They have a lot of challenging work ahead.  It’s a hard time to serve on a board.”

Lopez took issue with a pro-Corbia letter sent out  just before the election under the heading of the Rye Town Conservative Committee. It is signed by Saverio Terenzi, the party chairman, who said he sent the letter to 1,000 homes at his expense.

“It sets a bad precedent to mix politics with school business,” Lopez said today. The letter charts tax rate increases since 2009-10, saying: “If you have been living in the district since July 1, 2010 and the assessed valuation of your home has remained constant then your school tax bill will have increased by 29.69%.

“Who has a constant assessed home valuation?  Most people have seen wild swings in their assessments,” Lopez said. Assessments are updated regularly in Rye Town (which includes Port Chester). Home values have dropped overall, and that has fueled part of the rate increase.

(To calculate your own school tax bill for next year in Port Chester, see this page.)

Terenzi defended the claims in the letter and his use of the party name, noting that Lopez has long been involved in the Democratic Party. “I made sure everybody knew where it was coming from,” he said.

Corbia declined to comment, saying Lopez’s issue was with Terenzi.

Several months ago, New Rochelle boosted the price of parking by the meters on downtown streets – now a quarter buys 15 minutes – but starting this week, at least the city is making them more convenient.

New meters coming this week will take credit cards, so you won’t need so much metal in your pocket to leave your car by the curb for an hour or so.

The city is testing 75 of the meters on and around Main, Lawton and Division streets. They will be installed beginning Thursday.

(HINT: There are some places where a quarter buys a half hour. See below.)

There are already some places downtown where you don’t need coins to pay for parking. At some off-street places – the lot along the south side of the New Rochelle Public Library, the Prospect  Street lot and the garages at New Roc City and the train station, for example – parking is paid at machines that take coins, bills or credit cards.

The new meters being tested, from three different companies, will be the first individual meters on the streets that offer the credit card option.

Says a press release from the city:

“Each of the three models will communicate wirelessly and all credit card information will be encrypted, with no information stored on the machine. The City will monitor each meter’s status to ensure they are functioning properly. There will be no paper receipts and no need to remember space numbers. Patrons will simply park, slide their card into the meter, and be on their way.”

Now, here are those downtown places where you get more time for your money: Meters in lots on Church and Division Street and across Lawton Street from the Library give a half hour for a quarter. The Prospect Street lot charges the same rate, but you have to buy at least an hour, which is 50 cents.

(Want to do the math? If you pay a quarter for 15 minutes, that’s a penny for 36 seconds. If a quarter buys a half hour, that’s a penny for one minute and 12 seconds.)

For more information on the credit card meter program, visit the city website at www.newrochelleny.com/parking.

School budgets, nearly all complying with the state tax cap, passed by large margins today in Westchester County. Results from across the region are tallied on this page.

One noteworthy result is in Port Chester, where the board president, Blanca Lopez, was defeated in her bid for a second term. Retired teacher Tom Corbia and 21-year board veteran James Dreves won the two open seats.

Lopez became the first Hispanic elected to any office in Port Chester when she won a spot on the board three years ago, in a mostly Latino school district.

In neighboring Rye, Board President Laura Slack won a third term along with Nancy Pasquale and Chris Repetto. Patrick Cox, the last entrant in the race, ran unsuccessfully. Board member Nancy Barr and Daniel Savitt won in Blind Brook.

Read more election coverage at LoHud.com.

The New Rochelle City Council decided today not to give up hope that it could collect at least some of the $2 million it says the African nation of Cameroon owes in back taxes on a mansion used as a diplomatic residence.

I reported in today’s Journal News and on lohud.com that most council members – all those I could reach yesterday – were not ready to pass a resolution this afternoon that would have wiped the debt away. It had been proposed because a federal court had dismissed the city’s lawsuit against Cameroon after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on a similar case New York City filed against other foreign countries.

Council members, speaking at a meeting in City Hall, said they want to see if the money can be recouped another way, possibly by the efforts of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, who has said he would try to get diplomatic pressure exerted on foreign countries to pay back taxes.

Not that the council members are holding out much hope. Several of the council members doubted whether Cameroon could be persuaded to pay. But they still didn’t want to erase the debt.

“We ought to keep trying,” Councilman Ivar Hyden said at the meeting. “I think Senator Schumer was interested in doing something to help. He probably can’t, but why not keep trying?”

After a short discussion, they pulled the from their agenda.

Foreign countries have a diplomatic exemption on most taxes, but are still liable for sewer fees in New York State. But New Rochelle claims that Cameroon owes more than that. The city argues that the residence at 50 Montgomery Circle, not far from New Rochelle High School, was abandoned by the country from 1999 through 2009.

Press release from Missy Marchese:

The Garden Education Center of Greenwich

130 Bible Street, Cos Cob, Ct. 06870

Media Contact-  Madeleine Marchese   203-869-2759 missymarchese@me.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Presents

THE ANNUAL GREENWICH GARDEN TOUR

AND

PATRON PARTY

 GRANDIFLORA:  GLAMOUR IN THE GARDEN

Event:           Greenwich Garden Tour Patron Party

Date:              June 6, 2012

Time:            6:30pm to 8:30pm

Location:     Private Greenwich Garden

Cost:              Please go to gecgreenwich.org for ticket information

***************

Date:           June 7, 2012

Time:         10 am to 4pm   Self-guided – Rain or Shine

Cost:           $75 single ticket.  Please go to www.gecgreenwich.org for

additional ticket options

The Garden Education Center of Greenwich is pleased to present

Grandiflora: Glamour in the Garden.  One of the most anticipated events of the season, this self –guided tour features spectacular Greenwich gardens.  Visitors will be enchanted by glorious flowering plants and shrubs, magnificent vistas including waterfalls, terraced gardens and hidden outdoor rooms.

A glamorous patron party will be held the evening before at a private Greenwich home and will set the stage for the next day’s event.

The Garden Education Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting horticulture, conservation and the arts through educational outreach activities and special events.

Rye Neck—A resolution awarding the Beach Avenue & Pine Street Drainage Improvement Project was approved by the Board of Trustees Monday night with a 3-2 vote.

The Beach Avenue and Pine Street Municipal Drainage Improvements Project, initiated in September, involves installing a storm pipe under Pine Street to solve a longstanding problem with poor stormwater drainage.

Neighbors have long worried that the project would endanger a centuries-old oak tree, known locally as the Tompkins Farm Oak — named for its location on the former farm of Noah Tompkins, one of the earliest settlers of Rye Neck — which stands at the edge of the roadway.

Many of them are unhappy with the vote, and feel not enough safeguards are in place to ensure the red oak’s protection.

Read more about the story in an upcoming issue of The Journal News.

Clay Art Center in Port Chester is promising “piles of pottery” for sale at bargain prices from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 2 to raise money for the center’s  Audrey Greenwald Memorial Fund.

It is also planning an exhibit on a very familiar topic in town: the use of eminent domain.

Details:

Ceramic artists from all over the tri-state area have donated their irregular, overstocked or outdated pieces of artwork to CAC; bowls, cups, mugs, handmade tiles, serving pieces, teapots, sculpture and more. Family-friendly food and activities throughout the day,i ncluding face painting, tile painting, hands-on clay, live music, and more. Families can register for our twenty-three summer camps. All proceeds from this event will go to the Audrey Greenwald Memorial Fund dedicated to updating and upgrading equipment at the Center.

This year’s event will coincide with the opening reception in our gallery for Takings, a new interactive clay and mixed media installation of work by New York clay artist Gail Heidel that promotes an emergent system that self-organizes communities while critiquing the use of eminent domain. The reception will be held on June 2 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. while Seconds Sales activities are going on. (The exhibit will run June 2 – July 6, 2012.)

New Rochelle has received proposals from 18 engineering firms vying to design the new city yard at an inland site so that homes, stores and a park can be built along Echo Bay, City Manager Charles Strome III said this morning.

At the same, Strome said he had just signed the new agreement with the developer of the Echo Bay site, Forest City Residential. The deal, called a memorandum of understanding, is not a final approval of the project, rather it is the city’s agreement to move forward with the concept of the development.

With the new deal, the Echo Bay plan is less than half of what was hoped several years ago, before the economy took a dive. But, with up to 300 rental apartments and 50,000 square feet for stores, plus a park and other features, it is still one of the largest developments around.

The larger project would have required the developer to buy private properties off East Main Street, just south of Salesian High School and Five Islands Park.

The current plan is limited entirely to the 10.4-acre site of the city yard.

Before it can be built, the new site for the city’s sanitation and tow trucks would have to be created at a vacant site on Beechwood Avenue partially underneath Insterstate 95. Some neighbors of the site object to having the yard moved there.

The City Council approved the agreement with Forest City, called a memorandum of understanding, last month. That authorized Strome to sign the deal.