St. Paul's Park

03/15/2026

CAP Candidate’s $10,000,000 Election Hoax!

We read Mayor Finneran’s full page ad this past week (GCNews, page 3) explaining that Trustee Muldoon is “somewhat excitable” and prone to misspeak. However, we feel when it comes to the costs of St Paul’s and anonymous “ballpark” figures, that is unacceptable for the largest financial decision this village has ever faced.

We have repeatedly questioned the CAP Candidates $10,000,000 costs for their “Landmark Compromise” (Read: “mothballing”) as intentionally misleading both for the extreme low and unsourced estimate as well as them stating that it ends the debate and future expense till “future generations”

In 2010, the Garden City School District and the Village of Garden City were involved in significant capital projects and environmental reviews, including looking at the St Paul’s School itself. An Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) was required before the Board of Trustees could move forward with plans for the building. (https://gardencityny.net/DocumentCenter/View/144/St-Pauls-DEIS-Executive-Summary-PDF) The cost estimate in 2010 for replacing the roof and windows and repairing masonry to stabilize the building would cost approximately $13.9 million, sixteen years ago.

This did NOT include landscaping or an “ornamental fence that is in the $10,000,000 “Landmark Compromise” we first saw last week. The “Stabilization” work was considered alongside a potential demolition project, which was estimated to cost roughly $5.8 million to $6 million at that time (that at the time included Ellis Hall, which has since been demolished). The report also found that replacing the dilapidated building with a park was far more environmentally friendly than adaptive reuse.

Putting the above costs in 2026 dollars, the estimated cumulative increase in roofing and masonry materials and labor costs since 2010 is 125% to 140%, or well over doubling. If you use the GC 2010 EIS estimate of $13.9Million for replacing the roof and repairing masonry and waterproofing the building, that adjusts the cost of “stabilization” to $31.275 Million in current dollars, or nearly triple the undocumented “ballpark” $10,000,000 the CAP candidates have publicly touted the last two weeks.

This does not account for the additional 16 years of further decay and damage the building has endured, logically resulting in far higher remediation work than even the inflation adjustment factor yields. The CAP candidates pretend that the building will have no maintenance cost going forward, which contradicts candidate Muldoon’s 2004 assertion that we have spent $18,000,000 on the building and gotten “nothing useful”, but won’t have another $18,000,000 or more going forward.

Lastly, as to Trustee Muldoon’s claim that “this solves the problem for generations”, we were glad Candidate Gerald Smith spoke the truth in his Newsday interview this past weekend, whether unwittingly or otherwise. Gerard Smith admits that his “Landmark Compromise” does not resolve the issue, but is actually “leaving the restoration for later” according to Newsday. So CAP candidates, which is it?

Two years ago, three of the four CAP candidates ran on a fake Senior St Paul’s Tax Exemption. Unfortunately for the residents, in their enthusiasm to Save Every Brick, these three are at it again.

Donald MacLeod

Send a message to learn more

03/10/2026

Come hear about the very real benefits of a St Paul's Park this Wednesday at 7PM at the Senior Citizen's Center.

03/04/2026

A Letter from the St. Paul's Group.

Numbers Matter!
The on-going use of grossly lacking, undocumented, unsourced and anonymous costs where the residents deserve clear-cut clarity and attribution needs to stop. The CAP candidates should know better. The residents deserve better.

First, we have Trustee Muldoon’s undocumented “ballpark” numbers used in the BCI survey, followed by the Muldoon-lead Committee that provided us with an $80,000,000 anonymous quote from an anonymous person from an anonymous company, that might or might not exist.

Now, right before an election and showing total disregard for the residents, Trustees Muldoon, Courtney, Tai and Smith give us the “Landmark Compromise“ aka “mothballing” with a $10,000,000 total price tag and a $7,000,000 cost for the roof. Fortunately, the well-respected Walter Beal, Garden City resident and 39-year veteran of construction management, who served as project manager for repair work on the St Paul’s roof was able to contact Westar Construction that did the repair work on the St Paul’s Building in 2019-2020. Westar Construction knows the building better than anyone in this village. Their price for the roof work-$275 per square foot. So, $275 per foot times 46,740 sq. ft. of roof comes to $12,853,500. With the standard 10% soft costs and 15% contingency, that comes to $16,066,875. Not Deputy Mayor Courtney’s $7,000,000 or Trustee Muldoon’s $10,000,000 for the entire project. $16,066,875 for just the roof, NOT $7,000,000.

So, a project that includes the $16,066,875 new roof PLUS “pointing the outside of the building”, “structural masonry repairs outside of the building to make sure the envelope is safe and solid, ”, “miscellaneous window work to make sure everything is secure in the building” taking down an extensive metal fence and putting up an ornamental fence, landscaping, etc, now priced by a professional firm willing to stand by their pricing, not Trustee Muldoon’s usual “anonymous” sources, is already 129% over the CAP budget on just the roof. JUST THE ROOF! Is there any doubt at all the additional work doesn’t put the total cost at the original “mothball” price used for the BCI Opinion Survey: $30-40,000,000 and overwhelmingly rejected by 77% of the residents.

And what do we get………a building with no use, will need yearly maintenance and 642 black painted boarded up windows in the center of our village.

Yes, Trustee Muldoon and CAP candidates, Facts Matter. And so do numbers. Real numbers. Honest numbers. The Save Every Brickers need to stop the decade long misleading of our village with false costs. No more anonymous quotes. No more fake senior tax exemptions. No more meaningless “guarantees” of pricing. The residents deserve better!
St Paul’s Park Group

03/03/2026

ST PAUL'S PRESENTATION TONIGHT!

St. Paul’s Park Group will be holding a Presentation Tonight, March 3rd, 2026 at the Senior Citizen’s Center from 7:00-8:30. We will be discussing the replacement of the building, historical pieces that can be saved both from the interior and exterior, costs and various uses future Boards of Trustees might want to consider. Former Mayor Mary Flanagan, Construction Manager Walter Beal, James Kumpel, Thomas Ryan and Donald MacLeod will be speaking. Followed by open forum for questions.

02/26/2026

St. Paul’s Park Group will be holding a Presentation on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 at the Senior Citizen’s Center from 7:00-8:30. We will be discussing the replacement of the building, historical pieces that can be saved both from the interior and exterior, costs and various uses future Boards of Trustees might want to consider.

02/20/2026

https://www.gcnews.com/articles/parkland-vs-greenspace/

Excellent editorial in the Garden City News regarding the Cathedral greenspace and Garden City residents thinking it is a substitute for a St Paul's Park.

02/19/2026

St. Paul’s Park Group will be holding a Presentation on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 at the Senior Citizen’s Center from 7:00-8:30. We will be discussing the demolition of the building, historical pieces that can be saved both from the interior and exterior, costs and various uses future Boards of Trustees might want to consider. Presented by Walter Beal, Former Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan, James Kumpel, Donald MacLeod, Tom Ryan and Micheal Tiedemann.

02/06/2026

FACTS MATTER!!!!

02/05/2026

The "wonderful" and "fantastic" BOT report recommends a new tax to pay for St Paul's.

01/28/2026

St Paul’s Park
The St Paul’s Park group has made every effort to provide the residents with fair, honest and unbiased costs for demo/abatement and the building of a St Paul’s Park. As it is for a future BOT to decide on the final design of a park, we have attempted to give residents rough, but honest, costs of a park. There are no gimmicks, no fake Senior Tax Exemptions, no “a Conservancy can do it cheaper”, no planning dependent upon large grants, contributions, philanthropy or “naming rights”. As to whether this will be financed over 10, 15 or 30 years, we are not going to claim that the Village will go to Albany and extend the repayment period to 30 years or have an interest only bond for the first 10 years. It is an option, but extending debt to have lower yearly payments to shift the burden to our children and grandchildren is horrible public policy. We have a competent Treasurer in this Village. Irene Woo can decide, based on timing, interest rates, etc., what is the best repayment period, or combination of repayment periods, and recommend that to a future Board of Trustees (BOT)
As we have argued, whatever happens to St Paul’s will be paid for predominately by the taxpayers. St Paul’s has in effect been an unfunded liability for decades. We do not want to pretend there are any free lunches. Obviously, a St Paul’s Park can have a “Conservancy” run by respected residents should the village feel it is warranted; a St Paul’s Park can set up a 501c3 run by skilled finance people selected by the next BOT, if desired; benches and trees can have “Sponsorships” as most of the benches in front of the library have been purchased as memorials to loved ones; brick “naming” can be organized and sponsorships of gazebos and a bandshell can be marketed. Grants and federal programs for parks can be applied for. The village, to support a park, could apply to Albany for the ability to issue extended debt just as easy as “Adaptive Reuse” or bonds with principal deferred. However, these should be viewed as possibilities, but they should not be the main driver of the cost-benefit analysis, nor should they be marketed as gimmicks to make a particular scenario more attractive.
A St Paul’s Park can be implemented over years, both to spread out the expense, as well as to make the building of the Park more manageable for the Village staff. Again, we are not attempting to design a final park, that is for a new BOT. We are attempting to start a conversation around an economically viable solution that will have high resident use, low yearly operations and maintenance (especially compared to Adaptive Reuse), where residents can come together to unite in enjoying the space, rather than the 33 years of division that the building has unfortunately brought to the village. To that end, we list each component, and potential component of a park, and links to the Westerman Report, D & B Engineers and Architect Report, etc., and links to provide more information on the “Additions” and pricing of potential future features that could be part of St Paul’s Park.
PS. We have made every attempt to be unbiased and honest with these costs. We, and professionals from New York City have been denied access to the building, which has hindered our process. (Based on the hundreds of videos Mayor Finneran has allowed to be filmed in the building, and the fact that former Mayor Flanagan allowed then Candidate Muldoon access to the building, we find this unnecessarily obstructionist). Still, if there are any mistakes, numbers or facts that seem incorrect, please bring to our attention. If there is a mistake, we will correct, admit our mistakes with no spin, and continue to strive to give the residents accurate costs to the best of our abilities.
For the full report and additional costs please see link: bit.ly/stpaulsparkcosts

St Paul’s Park Pricing Group
Walter Beal
Thomas Brosnan
Nick Campbell
Stephen Fereance
Steve Gorray
Donald MacLeod
Larry Marciano
John Sullivan
Micheal Tiedemann
Bob Orosz

01/26/2026

Drove by St Paul's Park this morning..........