Office of the Mayor

255 Main Street

White Plains, NY 10601
The Honorable Members of the Common Council

City of White Plains

255 Main Street

White Plains, NY 10601
June 28, 2026
Dear Mayor Brasch and Members of the Common Council:
The Rosedale Residential Association (RRA) writes to formally and strongly object to Mayor Brasch’s June 22, 2026 recommendation to appoint Damon Amadio to the City of White Plains Board of Ethics for a term ending December 31, 2027.^1,2
Mr. Amadio served as White Plains Commissioner of Building for over a decade — a position he held during the October 15, 2025 collapse of the Westchester One parking garage at 50 Hale Avenue.¹¹ During his tenure, the Building Department under his leadership failed for years to enforce a state law that has been on the books since 2018 requiring all privately owned parking garages to file triennial structural inspection reports (Parking Garage Assessment Reports, or PGARs) with the municipality. This was not a paperwork technicality. It was a public safety mandate, and it went unenforced.
The consequences became impossible to ignore on October 16, 2025, when a 1,200-square-foot section of the fifth floor of the Westchester One garage buckled and collapsed onto the fourth floor, trapping more than a dozen vehicles.⁴ The garage should have filed inspection reports in 2019, 2022, and 2025. It filed none — and Mr. Amadio’s department never followed up. In the days after the collapse, the city audited its records and found that 40 additional private garages in White Plains had similarly not filed the required reports. Not one. In the seven years since the state law took effect.⁶
Making matters worse, Mr. Amadio’s department had been issuing permits for ongoing structural repair work at the very garage that collapsed.^5,7 His department knew work was happening at that structure. Yet no one noticed — or acted on the fact — that mandatory safety reports were missing. After a single round of follow-up correspondence in 2022, no further action was taken by the Building Department to ensure compliance.⁶
A source in Albany confirmed to CBS News that state legislators expected municipalities to closely monitor compliance with the 2018 law, and that the intent was to create a system where non-compliant owners would face follow-up and consequences. That did not happen in White Plains under Mr. Amadio’s watch.^6,8
We are fortunate that no one was killed. Had the collapse occurred forty minutes earlier during the morning rush, the outcome could have been catastrophic.⁴ White Plains residents should not have to rely on good timing to avoid dying in a parking garage.
Although the Building Department does not oversee inspections of city owned garages (which should have been completed by the Department of Public Works), the financial consequences of this gross negligence under the Roach administration are now falling squarely on White Plains taxpayers. At the very same Special Meeting on June 29, 2026 at which the Common Council is being asked to approve Mr. Amadio’s Ethics Board appointment, the Council is also being asked to authorize tens of millions of dollars in capital expenditures to rehabilitate city parking structures that deteriorated under inadequate oversight.² Capital Project No. C5677, the Library Parking Structure Rehabilitation alone, carries a revised budget of $5,752,000 — a project the city’s own records confirm required emergency expansion after the structural failures came to light.³This is the direct and measurable cost to taxpayers of the gross negligence that occurred on the former Roach administration’s watch. Residents are now being asked to fund the repair of a crisis that proper enforcement could have prevented.
This is precisely the record of gross negligence that disqualifies Damon Amadio from serving on the White Plains Board of Ethics.¹²
The Board of Ethics exists to hold city officials and employees to the highest standards of public trust, transparency, and accountability. Its credibility depends entirely on the integrity of its members. Appointing an official whose negligence in enforcing public safety law contributed directly to a structural collapse — and who deflected responsibility in its aftermath — would fundamentally undermine that credibility.⁶ It would send residents the message that in White Plains, gross negligence in office carries no professional consequence. That is not a message this city can afford to send.
The Rosedale Residential Association calls on Mayor Brasch to withdraw this nomination, and calls on the Common Council to reject it. An individual whose tenure was defined by this level of gross negligence should not be appointed to the Board of Ethics. He should not hold any position with the City of White Plains going forward. The residents of this city — who park in those garages, who walk past them, who are now paying tens of millions of dollars to fix what proper oversight could have prevented, and who trust that their government is watching over their safety — deserve better.
Respectfully submitted,
Anthony Fiorenza

President, Rosedale Residential Association
Shawn Woodford

Vice President, Rosedale Residential Association

RRA Board of Directors

Brendan Trainor, Treasurer

Jeanene D’Ambrosio, Board Member

Laurie Halstead, Board Member

Carolyn Kennedy, Board Member

Michael Sanchez, Board Member

Jolie DeLaCruz, Board Member

Martins Gaujenieks, Board Member

Susan Metichecchia, Board Member

Ariel Jamil, Board Member
ROSEDALE RESIDENTIAL ASSOCIATION

Web: https://wprra.org/

E-Mail: info@wprra.org

PO Box 199, White Plains, New York, 10605
cc:

White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations (WPCNA)

White Plains Neighbors

Rosedale Residents
REFERENCES

1. Mayor’s Recommendation to Appoint Damon Amadio to the Board of Ethics

Office of the Mayor, City of White Plains. Communication from Mayor Justin C. Brasch to the Honorable Members of the Common Council, dated June 22, 2026. Mayor formally recommends appointment of Damon Amadio to the White Plains Board of Ethics for a term ending December 31, 2027.

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/agendacenter#docaccess-2fb8e8bc1de099851876464c7e5d1213

Special Meeting backup packet, Page 5.
2. Special Meeting Agenda — June 29, 2026

City of White Plains Common Council. Common Council Agenda, Special Meeting, June 29, 2026, 6:30 PM. Appointments Item 1: Ethics Board appointments. Discussion Item 32: Library Parking Structure Rehabilitation.

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/agendacenter#docaccess-2fb8e8bc1de099851876464c7e5d1213

Special Meeting backup packet, Pages 1–2.
3. Library Parking Structure Rehabilitation — Capital Project C5677

Capital Projects Board, City of White Plains. Communication from Mayor Justin C. Brasch, Chairman, dated June 16, 2026. Revised budget: $5,752,000 (original $2,200,000; amendment $3,530,000). Scope includes structural repairs, column repairs, and essential garage rehabilitation.

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/agendacenter#docaccess-2fb8e8bc1de099851876464c7e5d1213

Special Meeting backup packet, Page 32.
4. Westchester One Parking Garage Partial Collapse — Initial Report

CBS News New York, October 16, 2025.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/white-plains-garage-collapse/

Partial collapse of fifth floor at 50 Hale Ave. at 9:08 a.m. More than a dozen vehicles damaged. Commissioner Chong quoted: “If it was at 8:30 in the morning, who knows what would’ve happened.”
5. Garage Was Undergoing Extensive Repair Work Prior to Collapse

CBS News New York, October 16, 2025.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/parking-garage-collapse-repair-work-white-plains-ny/

Reports a “comprehensive concrete deck restoration project over the past five years” supervised by Manhattan firm Superstructures Incorporated. Building Department had been issuing permits for this work.
6. White Plains Had No Records of Required Inspections; 40 Additional Garages Non-Compliant

CBS News New York, October 22, 2025.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/white-plains-parking-garage-inspection-reports/

City had no PGARs for Westchester One from 2019, 2022, or 2025. Audit found 40 additional non-compliant private garages. Albany source: “The intent was to create a system where non-compliant owners would face follow-up and consequences.” Commissioner Amadio quoted in prepared statement.
7. Building Department Issued Permits Despite Missing Inspection Reports

CBS News New York, October 31, 2025.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/white-plain-ny-parking-garage-inspections/

Records confirm Building Department issued repair permits for Westchester One even though mandatory PGARs for 2019, 2022, and 2025 were never filed.
8. State Lawmakers Expected Active Municipal Enforcement

CBS News New York, October 21, 2025.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/white-plains-parking-garage-collapse-cars-stuck/

Confirms New York State lawmakers expected municipalities to actively enforce PGAR compliance. White Plains admits no inspection records from 2019, 2022, or 2025.
9. Galleria West Garage Closed After Second Inspection Failure

CBS News New York, October 30, 2025.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/white-plains-galleria-west-parking-garage-closed/

Engineers shut down Galleria West garage as unsafe — a second White Plains closure within two weeks of the Westchester One collapse.
10. White Plains Parking Garage Inspection Program Update

City of White Plains Official Website, May 4, 2026.

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2167

City announces new Private Parking Garage Inspection Program created in response to the October 2025 collapse, confirming no such formal program existed during Mr. Amadio’s tenure.
11. Damon Amadio Confirmed as Commissioner of Building — City Directory

City of White Plains Official Departmental Directory.

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/directory.aspx?EID=13

Official city directory listing Damon A. Amadio, P.E. as Commissioner of Building for the City of White Plains.
12. Damon Amadio Listed as Board of Ethics Member — City Website

City of White Plains Official Website.

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/454/Board-of-Ethics

City Board of Ethics page listing Damon Amadio as a current member alongside David Schiff (Chair), Larry Delgado, Brian Hansbury, and Rev. Gregory Smith.