Yonkers
taps Pataki official for top planning-development post
By
ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: February 3, 2007
 |
Louis
Kirven, the state’s economic development official
focused on Westchester during George E. Pataki’s
tenure as governor, has been appointed acting commissioner
of planning and development for Yonkers.
Kirven
will oversee three city agencies – the Planning
Bureau, Community Development Agency and Real Estate
Office – at a time the city is gearing up
for several mega-projects intended to bring the
city thousands of new jobs and millions in taxes.
The appointment requires approval by the City Council.
He
said he was approached by Mayor Philip A. Amicone,
and accepted the job following years of working
with him on a decade |
of
past Yonkers projects. They include the Austin
Avenue retail complex – which houses the state’s
first Stew Leonard’s Inc. dairy-supermarket –
as well as the $600 million Ridge Hill Village mixed-use
complex and projects on the city’s Hudson River
waterfront and Nepperhan Avenue corridor.
“There’s a very aggressive and ambitious agenda
for redevelopment. That’s what attracted me, as
well as an opportunity to work for this mayor,”
Kirven said. “I like his very objective and positive
approach to economic development and doing what’s
right for the citizens and residents of Yonkers. I saw
it as a great opportunity.”
Amicone is expected to seek re-election this year, and
economic development is among likely issues.
Kirven, 43, served as director of business development
for Westchester with the state Empire State Development
Corp., working from the agency’s Fishkill regional
office as well as an office in White Plains.
In his new position Kirven succeeds Stephen Whetstone,
who died of cancer in December 2005.
Kirven said he was not hired to tap into state coffers
for city projects – a task made harder for Yonkers
officials after Nicholas A. Spano lost his state Senate
seat to Andrea Stewart-Cousins: “I was hired to
lead the planning and development initiatives. I’m
not trying to replace an elected official.”
Kirven served as legislative assistant and policy advisor
to two Republican U.S. senators, John Heinz of Pennsylvania
and John Seymour of California, in the early 1990s. He
also worked as the founder and president of an athletic
apparel company in the Washington, D.C. area. Kirven is
married with three children, and lives in Connecticut.
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