Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part IX

Robert Cox

Robert Cox

— 6 min read
Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park – Part IX

DUBLIN, IRELAND (November 4, 2025) — Part VIII of this series accuses New Rochelle City Manager Will Melendez of misusing a New York Times headline to alarm the city council into approving an unnecessary, costly public-private partnership for Flowers Park. Melendez misled the city council by displaying a misleading headline from an October 16, 2025, NYT article reports that the Trump administration is shifting disaster recovery burdens to states by denying or delaying FEMA aid. FEMA serves as a strained backstop reliant on congressional appropriations, not a guaranteed fund; a related piece highlights Trump’s shift from threatening to eliminate FEMA to advocating state-led coordination while preserving federal funding. FEMA delays in New Rochelle of 21 months predate Trump. With the park claiming just 3% ($740,000) of the city’s $25 million Hurricane Ida damages, Melendez exaggerates threats, ignoring cheap maintenance, to push a developer-backed deal under false urgency.

I had thought Part VIII would be the final installment of my gaslighting series but as Melendez is continuing with the gaslighting so to will the gaslighting series continue.

New Rochelle’s handling of the Flowers Park (aka City Park/Facina Field) RFP has been a textbook case of opacity wrapped in the thinnest veneer of transparency. With the October 29 bid deadline now passed and very likely just one submission — widely rumored to be from developer Bob Young — the city’s response to my Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for the bid documents has only deepened the suspicion.

City Manager Wilfredo Melendez’s email denial, citing New York’s Public Officers Law (POL §87(2)(c)), is technically correct under state procurement rules. But in the shadow of an active Westchester County District Attorney’s corruption probe into City Hall—including subpoenas for Melendez, Mayor Yadira Ramos, and others—it’s also a sleight of hand that leaves the public in the dark while dangling false promises of engagement. This isn’t just bureaucratic foot-dragging; it’s gaslighting, potentially deliberate, and it risks turning a public park into a private developer’s playground without real community input.

The FOIL Denial: Legally Sound, But Why the Smoke and Mirrors?

Melendez’s response to my FOIL request was polite, professional—and utterly by-the-book:

Mr. Cox,

Please note that the requested bid proposals are not available for release at this time under POL. Since the City has not yet made an award, sharing the bid materials at this stage could affect the fairness of the ongoing process and the City’s ability to get the best value for the public. Once the selection process is complete, extensive public outreach of the proposal selected to be advanced, will be made. Once the procurement process is complete, we’ll be happy to revisit your request and provide the records as appropriate.

Sincerely,
Wilfredo Melendez, P.E.
City Manager
City of New Rochelle

Under POL §87(2)(c), agencies can withhold procurement records if disclosure would “impair present or imminent contract awards.” With bids still under committee review (a step that may not have even started yet), followed by MOU negotiations, this exemption applies squarely—even for a likely single-bid RFP like this one. Courts and the Committee on Open Government (COOG) have upheld similar denials, emphasizing that premature release could tip the scales in negotiations, especially when the city has limited leverage against a sole bidder.

Melendez’s nod to “fairness” and “best value” echoes the exact language of the law, and his promise of full disclosure “once the procurement process is complete” (i.e., post-MOU signing or rejection) aligns with precedents like Cross-Sound Ferry v. Dep’t of Transp. (2007).

So why does it feel so off? Because it’s not just withholding—it’s the framing. By law, the city could release redacted versions now (e.g., bidder identity or high-level scope, sans pricing), but they refuse. And amid the DA’s probe—now in its 18th month, with grand jury subpoenas issued in June for Melendez and Ramos over ethics lapses, FOIL stonewalling, and misuse of public funds—this delay smells like a stall tactic.

New Rochelle’s track record on RFPs is riddled with favoritism allegations, from plagiarized documents to no-bid contracts benefiting insiders. If this RFP was indeed tailored for Bob Young—as Councilmember Albert Tarantino hinted at the October 21 meeting, referencing a “lurking” developer—the “fairness” argument is laughable cover for a rigged game.

The “Public Outreach” Promise: Engagement or Elaborate Bait-and-Switch?

Here’s where the real deceit creeps in. Melendez assures that “once the selection process is complete, extensive public outreach of the proposal selected to be advanced, will be made.” He said pretty much the same thing at the October 21 City Council meeting, responding to questions from members like Matt Stern and David Peters, who said he was “blindsided” by the RFP’s existence.

On its face, this sounds like a win for transparency: Committee picks a winner (likely Young’s bid), then the public gets a peek before MOU talks lock in terms.

But read the RFP closely: After selection comes direct negotiation of the MOU—no mandatory public step in between. Melendez’s “outreach” is a voluntary add-on, which could mean anything from town halls to slide decks. The problem? The public won’t see the actual bid document—just the city’s filtered summary. Under POL §87(2)(c), the full proposal stays sealed until the MOU is done (or ditched), shielding pricing, subcontractors, and strategies that could expose any pre-rigging.

This isn’t hypothetical—it’s a pattern. At that same October 21 meeting, Melendez ambushed the Council with an unannounced “flood mitigation” presentation justifying the PPP as essential for 50- to 100-year protections. As detailed in my series on Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park, it was a barrage of misrepresentations: exaggerated flood risks (no such grand plan exists or is needed), plagiarized RFP language from unrelated projects, and zero mention of clawback risks from prior public grants (e.g., $9.8M county funds, ARPA/FEMA aid). He violated Open Meetings Law by withholding the slides in advance, forcing reactive debate. If his “outreach” on the bid mirrors this—cherry-picked renderings, vague cost summaries, no raw data—how can residents verify anything? Who holds him accountable when the DA’s already probing his FOIL evasions?

Stern, Peters, and I (along with petitioners collecting 2,000+ signatures) were led to believe selection would trigger real pre-MOU input. Instead, per Melendez’s own logic, full disclosure waits until the MOU is “complete”—months after October 29, when the deal’s a fait accompli. Public “feedback” then? It’s theater: Tweak the edges of a negotiated contract, not veto the privatization itself. Youth leagues, Little Leaguers, and families relying on free fields get sidelined while a developer eyes the turf for profit.

Corruption Probe Context: No Trust, No Transparency

This isn’t occurring in a vacuum. The WCDA’s investigation—fueled by complaints from journalists like me (OK, only me!) — targets exactly this: ethics breaches, no-bid favors, and public fund misuse. Melendez’s history includes ignoring 13 of 14 FOIL appeals and using city money for personal lawsuits. The RFP’s rollout? Zero prior engagement, in contrast to the massive opposition at the October 15 hearing. Democrats pushed the RFP while Republican Al Tarantino cried foul. If Young’s the lone bidder, as whispers suggest, the “fairness” shield crumbles—it’s protection for insiders, not the public.

What Now? Demand the Real Thing

New Rochelle deserves better than legalese and lip service. The “outreach” tease is a delay tactic, ensuring input arrives too late to matter. If the committee rejects the bid? FOIL requires immediate release—the POL exemption would be gone. If the MOU drags on? I would have to appeal because the bid award is “no longer imminent.”

Flowers Park isn’t Yadira & Co.’s to auction—it’s the people’s park. Technically legal doesn’t mean ethically right. It is vital to expose the spin before the deal’s done.

Comments open: What’s your take on the “outreach”?

Yadira & Co. Gaslighting on New Rochelle’s Flowers Park (an 8-Part Series)

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