by Cindy Goldstein and Kathy Savolt -
After Mayor Sharon Torres read her statement about the numerous contacts between Village Officials and Westhab/WHA employees (see HERE) an anonymous source sent a YouTube video excerpting Torres’ July 8th remarks to Damon K. Jones, a prominent African American author and co-host of Black Westchester’s radio program, People Before Politics. Jones, concerned that Mamaroneck’s process may have excluded qualified Black-owned development companies, wrote an article about the video and posted it on Black Westchester’s website on July 19th. See HERE.
Shortly after, AJ Woodson, Editor-in-Chief, owner of Black Westchester, and co-host of People Before Politics, reported receiving messages and phone calls, or as he puts it “my phone blew up,” alleging that the Mayor’s words were misleading, untrue and she was attacking the Trustees who supported the Hunter Tier Project. First among those complaining was Richard Nightingale, CEO of Westhab, who said Torre’s statement was one-sided, misleading and that she was fronting for a group who opposed the project.
Woodson, who has had Trustees Rawlings, Young and Yizar-Reid on the show before, invited them on his July 28th People Before Politics radio show in order to get the facts behind the criticism leveled against Torres. When Trustee Young joined them while the show was in progress, it made their appearance a violation of the State Open Meetings Law. Deputy Director and Counsel Kristin O’Neill of the Committee on Open Government confirmed that any time a quorum of a public body gathers, the meeting must conform with the Open Meetings Law. That means providing, among other things, proper meeting notice and a public location where they may be observed in person. See previous article HERE when Ms. O’Neill came to the Village on April 29, 2024 to provide training.
Mayor Torres watched the program and subsequently contacted Woodson who invited her to appear on August 5th to discuss her concerns.
Editor’s Note: Black Westchester is dedicated to “the News with a Black Point of View since 2014.” They publish a print newspaper, host radio programs and post commentary on their website, BlackWestchester.com.
July 28 Radio Show with Three Trustees
The co-hosts of the show that evening were AJ Woodson and Dr. Bob Baskerville (“Dr. Bob”) who was filling in for Damon K. Jones. Dr. Bob is a consultant and an adjunct professor of Sociology at Bronx Community College.
Woodson described how they obtained and then posted Torres’ video from the July 8th BOT meeting where she outlined some of the disturbing emails she had discovered dating back to 2021. Woodson declined to identify the origin of the video but did state that it was sent via text to Jones. Woodson explained that the purpose of this show was to get the facts behind the criticisms leveled at Mayor Torres that were sent to him without any substance backing them up. See video HERE.
At the beginning of the discussion, only Trustees Rawling and Yizar-Reid were present. Trustee Young joined later. See video HERE.
Yizar-Reid and Rawlings Steer the Conversation Elsewhere
When asked about the process and the issues Torres had raised, Yizar-Reid initially stated (at 28:58) that they could not talk about the video and what the Mayor said because of litigation “happening right now.” Editor’s Note: There is no current litigation about the Hunter Tier development. Yizar-Reid continued by saying that there is “a lot going on in the overall scheme” and it has been “going on…since before I was born.”
Both Yizar-Reid and Rawlings went on to describe their advocacy for affordable housing and that they feel like targets in that people said they were going to benefit from the project in some way. They insisted that they ran their 2022 campaign with affordable housing as a prominent plank in their platform.
Woodson kept trying to bring the conversation back to Torres’ statements that she was not against affordable housing but rather she was criticizing and raising questions about the process.
Yizar-Reid referred to the recently adopted Comprehensive Plan which included affordable housing as a top issue for the community and stated that approximately 8% of the Village was Black and the Black population was shrinking because people couldn’t afford to live in the Village and said that “people didn’t even know that Black people lived in Mamaroneck.” Both Rawlings and Yizar-Reid also pointed out that although residents praise the diversity of the community there won’t be future diversity without affordable housing. Rawlings continued and said that people “want to maintain diversity, we just lack how to do it.”
Editor’s Note: The Comprehensive Plan states that approximately 4% of the Village is Black while the overall Non-White population is 37%.
Yizar-Reid took the opportunity to continue to talk about her experience as a Trustee and went on to say that “as two members on the board who represent or who identify as black we struggle to even have an existence, a respected existence at that.” She said that taking a (video) clip did not show the progression of “where we are and how we’ve gotten here to this point.”
Again, Woodson reminded the Trustees and his listeners that Torres’ statement was made at a Public Meeting and Jones had posted it without edits or commentary. He asked anyone with any facts to back up the accusations against the Mayor to share that information with him.
Young Repeats the Criticism without Facts
Trustee Lou Young joined the discussion (see 34:37) and had plenty to say on Torres’ statement starting with, “What the mayor said was stringing together a bunch of emails that had been exchanged between staff members and one of the applicants for the affordable housing project.”
He continued: “it seems a bit of a stretch” that the RFP was constructed favoring one particular applicant. It is now well known that Westhab/WHA had significant input into the RFP terms and conditions. See HERE.
He charged that Torres’ statement was “written and constructed and developed by people who are opposed to affordable housing and was written, I believe, for the mayor, for her to say, is disingenuous.” This is similar to one of the charges leveled by Nightingale.
Young went on to vehemently defend the RFP and the process saying it was purposefully vague as the BOT was “looking for creativity.”
Yizar-Reid interjected to complain about volunteer boards by saying “And the weaponization of the Ethics Commission, by political activists, every committee is not just the ethics committee, but they use it, the people use committees to push agendas”. (See 44:00.) She went on to say she’s received two or three ethics complaints while in office.
The Heart of the Matter
Dr. Bob re-directed the conversation to the heart of the matter – was there a conflict of interest if one of the known bidders on the project had a substantive role in crafting the RFP that was subsequently issued? He stated, “So to insist that money be properly handled is to me not beyond the pale and should be one of the central focuses of elected officials as well as concerned members of the public.” Young appeared to agree and said “Absolutely.”
Dr. Bob continued “it is considered to be a conflict of interest for a potential beneficiary of a program, who is going to compete for grant monies, to have any substantive input whatsoever in the writing of the RFP and to me, that is really what the issue is here. If Westhab did engage in exchanges with elected officials or appointed officials in Mamaroneck that allowed them to specify the terms of the RFP that, on its face, raises very troubling concerns about the conflict of interest.” (See 47:15.)
Dr. Bob also commented that usually RFPs are very specific so they can be objectively scored to allow comparisons between respondents using similar criteria. He seemed to question that aspect of the process as well.
Young Offers His Conclusion – It’s Racism
Young’s last words were “We’re dealing with a concerted effort to stop affordable housing…we are confronting a reactionary movement to stop affordable housing, to stop a multifamily housing, to keep the Others out.”
Despite Woodson’s efforts to determine the reasons for the criticisms leveled against Torres, the Trustees did not offer any.
Torres Responds the Following Week
Mayor Sharon Torres watched the July 28th radio show which was also streamed live and contacted Woodson who invited her to join the next broadcast on August 4th.
The regular co-hosts, AJ Woodson and Damon K. Jones were back at their mics for a conversation with Mayor Sharon Torres. After describing the many calls, emails and texts they received, they said it was time to hear directly from Torres. Woodson and Jones had looked for any facts to rebut Torres’ remarks and seemingly found none. See video HERE.
Woodson summarized how Black Westchester got interested in this issue by reminding everyone that he got a message from Nightingale calling the article they posted “inaccurate and extremely one-sided,” and he (Nightingale) would have expected that they would have reached out to him before publishing it.
Is Racism a Factor?
For the first time, Woodson added that Nightingale reportedly interjected another layer to the conversation – he said that Torres had been on “a completely ridiculous campaign against our organization because she really doesn’t want affordable housing, and she attacked two Black Village Trustees as well.” This comment is similar to issues raised by Trustee Yizar-Reid who was more circumspect in her remarks and Trustee Young who was blunter.
Torres’ History and Response to Racism Charges
Torres started the conversation giving the history of her upbringing in the Bronx in the Edenwald Projects as a product of affordable housing. She dispelled the idea that she was against affordable housing stating, “My concern is that we’re putting everything in the same bucket. We’re saying, if you don’t like the project I presented to you today, that you must be racist. You must be NIMBY; you must be against affordable housing. I don’t think that’s accurate.”
Torres denied ever attacking either Yizar-Reid or Rawlings. She made clear that they disagree and that conversations can get heated at board meetings, but no attacks ever took place.
Woodson Asks for Facts, Again
Woodson felt the need to interject that he was receiving messages and had no problem if people wanted to stay anonymous. He went on to say that the Mayor was here, and he would ask her any questions a listener wanted her to answer. As far as attacking two Black trustees he addressed Torres and said “But no one provided me proof. I can’t attack – I can’t accuse you of something without proof.”
Emails with Westhab/WHA Go Back to 2018
Torres dropped the bombshell that emails with Westhab/WHA go back as far as 2018 – not just 2021 as she had originally thought. They included eventually adopted Village zoning changes to allow a bigger building and to have less parking requirements.
Torres Claims She is Her Own Person
Torres addressed the several comments that implied she was just the mouthpiece for others who opposed affordable housing. She began by strongly denying Trustee Young’s charge that her words were not her own saying “I don’t carry water for anyone.”
Continuing the theme, a text came through that claimed Woodson and Jones were being “played by the Mayor of Mamaroneck” because she founded The Mamaroneck Observer and they “destroyed Manny and Leilani consistently.” Torres explained that she was a founder of the online newspaper but left as soon as she started her run for Mayor in May 2023. Torres went on “So we can argue about whether they (The Mamaroneck Observer) should or should not have (written articles) but I’m not involved anymore so I have no control over what they do…”
Editor’s Note: Torres did leave The Mamaroneck Observer in May 2023 and has had no part in any articles or planning since then.
Woodson Again Asks for Facts
Woodson remarked that people are listening, and some keep texting me saying “you don’t know the whole story” and “the mayor is full of shit.” He continued “that’s my point. No one is giving me the story.”
Torres commented “They are upset, and I understand that, but they have not told me where my facts are wrong.”
Future Conversations
Woodson pressed his point that no one was giving him anything other than adjectives leveled against the Mayor. He invited listeners to continue to contact him if they had any facts. Torres committed to coming back on the show to answer more questions.
Westhab CEO Nightingale
One name that kept popping up during both radio shows was Richard Nightingale, CEO of Westhab/WHA. Woodson said his “phone blows up” from Nightingale who first told him the story was one-sided. Woodson reported and repeated several times that although multiple invitations were extended to Nightingale to come on the show and explain his comments, he never responded to them. See previous article HERE for Nightingale’s letter to Torres.
The co-hosts said they would invite Nightingale to any future conversations but speculated that since they had invited him four times and even sent him links to join, they didn’t think “Nightingale is going to show his face on this show.”
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