Developer Carl Paladino is pushing back against refusal to give tax breaks to a housing project he's planning on West Delavan.
With relatively low attendance of ECIDA board members last Wednesday, the board didn't approve $217,000 in tax breaks on a $5 million project.
Frank Mesiah is a board member and long-time president of the local NAACP Chapter who said he was voting against the developer for his claimed racial attitudes and support of Joe Mascia, recorded for making racist comments about three-local Black public officials.
Paladino says he was supporting criticism of the three officials but not for racial reasons.
"Me defending Mr. Mascia's comments that he made which was done in particular to three individuals. It wasn't a general insult to the Black Community," Paladino explained.
"It wasn't certainly intended as that, it was intended as an insult to individuals."
Paladino says he's familiar with racial and ethnic slurs since he was attacked that way growing up for his Italian heritage. The developer says he isn't going to court because that would delay converting the old School 56 to 33 apartments while just getting a re-vote October 21 with more board members present is the way he wants to go.
