Opinion: FASNY: Cried Foul

After the citizens of White Plains endured FASNY’s mendacity for almost five years the news that “The French-American School of New York fell one vote short of approval on Wednesday to build a new private K-12 campus on the former Ridgeway Country Club” came as a welcome and joyful relief.

FASNY officials wasted no time in pointing fingers of blame at everyone in sight except themselves. Their hasty purchase of the property for $8,000,000 (the original asking price was $20,000,000), was an opportunity so unbelievable that they grabbed it, ignoring adequate due diligence, as subsequently illustrated by the necessity to modify their plans again and again.

Despite their protestations, to the contrary, they failed to comply with all legal requirements. Nevertheless, they cried foul in response to their loss.: “The rejection of a school, a very well respected one at that, is utterly unreasonable and illegal.” It is not the rejection that is unreasonable; it is FASNY’s response to it that is unreasonable.

No one is questioning the quality of the school. This has been acknowledged repeatedly since the start of the project. Their insensitivity to the wishes of the vast majority of residents of White Plains, not a handful as they claim, and the lnability of their project to insure public safety are the core issues. Their arrogance prevents them from accepting this along with the fact that they don’t belong in a peaceful residential part of the City of White Plains. They would do well to cut their loses.

Sanford Zevon, M.D.