Why I oppose demolishing this building

I almost did not go to the Riverhead Town Board meeting Tuesday evening because there were no hearings or any controversial resolutions.  I guessed they wanted to avoid stirring pre-election waters.

It wasn’t like two years ago when the Town Board panicked on the eve of the election about the political firestorm created by its partnership with the Ghermezians for a jet cargo port at EPCAL.  Readers may remember that Hubbard, et. al. were so anxious to use an IDA decision to finally walk away from the disastrous deal despised by voters that they even failed to announce the emergency board meeting would take place for the first time in the new town hall rather than in the old building. As a result of the board’s abrupt cancellation of the deal, the Ghermezians charge they were double crossed.  They have tied up in court the use of EPCAL for years to come, to the benefit only of highly paid lawyers.

I was wrong on Tuesday.  A surprise awaited.  With no advance notice and no text shared with the public as required by law, Mr. Rothwell moved to take from the floor an additional resolution.  This is a parliamentary maneuver appropriately used for a technical oversight or a real emergency.  Or it is used to try to sneak one over in the hope no one notices soon enough.

The last motive was the play.  The board had agreed in advance to lease 127 East Main Street to Joe Petrocelli so he could demolish the CRAFT’D building before the election. 

This is exactly the kind of arrogant deception that has characterized the town’s handling of the Petrocelli hotel project from the beginning.  A towering hotel was not part of the town square park plan originally proposed by Supervisor Aguiar or director of development Dawn Thomas.  It was not part of the expensive and time-consuming Pattern Book and Comprehensive Plan Update.

The idea came from Joe Petrocelli who already owns two hotels adjacent to the aquarium that he also built.   He is well integrated into Riverhead’s one party governance, modernized the new town hall, serves on the Landmarks Preservation Commission and has been a major Republican donor.  Under the urban development law, members of the board and staff of the Community Development office chose to do an in-house deal without the complication and harder work of public bidding.   

The town redirected the role of the pattern book consultants and, for more than three years, negotiated only with Petrocelli behind the scenes because of their mutual comfort.  They responded to his desire for greater profit, allowing the project to add a fifth story for condominiums.  When they went public for needed legal action by the board, they conveyed a sense of inevitability and immutability.  

There was no real opportunity offered for the people of Riverhead to express an opinion on whether or not they wanted to add another five story building to the town square park.  The only open consultation was a public meeting to consider the kind of playground.  The board appeared to want to avoid unruly democratic debate about the hotel as happened with EPCAL, the Sound Avenue resort and safe water for Calverton residents. 

In fact there was no rush required for the lease resolution.  It could easily have followed normal agenda process and been postponed two weeks until after the election.  If the people of Riverhead choose change and reform by the Democrats and the Taxpayers First Party on November 4, one reason will be rejection of misgovernment typified by Main Street overdevelopment.  The incumbent board, while not obligated legally, will be able to infer that public opinion prefers to cancel the demolition and have the contract with Petrocelli renegotiated by their successors.

Even if some of the incumbents win, we should find a way to prevent the destruction of this building that embodies the town’s history and its replacement by a five-story tourist hotel and condo box that will overwhelm the town square park, the Suffolk Theater and the East End Arts Council.  See how it will look here.

Read the post by the Suffolk County Historical Society about the Sigal Building that the Town Board and Joe Petrocelli want to demolish on October 30.

Days after 1,000 people demonstrated in Riverhead for No Kings Day, the historic East Wing of the White House was demolished to build a ball room, with royal disregard for normal protocol and consultation.  The controversial demolition of the Sigal/CRAFT’D Building to erect a hotel is not as significant historically and culturally, but is disturbing on a local scale. The question is whether aroused public opinion can still save the Sigal Building or at least will lead to reconsideration of hotel and ball room construction.