Tuckahoe Village Departments

TUCKAHOE TALK
With Mayor John Fitzpatrick

Tuckywood

January, 2009

A little over a year ago our Village Clerk, Susan Ciamarra, approached me and asked if I had considered raising the fees for filming in the Village during the next budget cycle. At that point a crew was applying for a permit to film a TV commercial at the Crestwood Station. The commercial was for a Tuscan dancing milk container. I did a quick check to see how often we had issued film permits and what the fees were for other Westchester municipalities. It turned out we were low, but not the lowest. In addition, almost no permits had been requested since the 2000 Penny Marshall film "Riding in Cars with Boys".

I am going to be candid, so for those not from Tuckahoe try not to take offense. Normally I would jump at raising revenue on the backs of those who don't live in our community, since my only loyalty lies with the Tuckahoe taxpayers. In this case, however, my intuition told me it might prove counter-productive, or be one of those politician driven increases that would mean very little in the scheme of things. Why raise rates if nobody was coming to film anyway?

Since deciding to leave it alone, I must confess we are by no means competing with Vancouver or New York City for the lion's share of the film industry's location work, but we aren't doing too badly either. In fact, the last two years has now yielded segments of several motion pictures filmed right here in our Village. Below you'll find what I feel is a surprising list of productions filmed in Tuckahoe. For those of you who may be as bad with the names of actors and actresses as I am, I have included my own little description.

One recent weekend Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) and Jason Statham (Transporter guy) filmed "13" in the Crestwood train station and our parking lot. In the fall, Bruce Dern (Guy who shot John Wayne when I was kid) and Kevin Pollack (One Usual Suspect) were here shooting at Kawer's Tuckahoe Paint and Glass for a film entitled "Choose". When this film comes to theaters, residents should be on the look out for owner Todd Kawer in the film. He stretches the art of acting by playing a paint salesman. In 2007 we had several commercials and before that Cynthia Nixon, (Red-headed one from "Sex and the City") took over First Stop Café to film the "The Babysitters". A TV pilot titled "Rubicon" will be shooting here at the end of the month and will feature Lily Taylor (Mystic Pizza Waitress). Who knows - -maybe the pilot will be picked up and they will film here regularly.

Our State Legislators were cognizant of the importance of enticing the film industry to use New York State as a backdrop for the many films produced each year. In 2004 they passed the Empire State Film Production Credit, which provides a 10&37; refundable tax credit to film and television productions. New York City adds another 5% and requires no permits for public streets, offers location parking for production vehicles, and free police.

Tuckahoe, on the other hand, is not quite that generous. Our permit cost to film is $500 per day/per camera, and that seems to get them in the door. Additionally, we have rented out Village Hall space, parking spots and police, with the tally usually topping thousands for each shoot. Also, our businesses have made some money renting their stores out, but I have been informed this can prove more trouble than the compensation allotted. Other communities around the County have permit fees that vary from 0 to $5000 per day. The Village of Tuckahoe is perhaps desirable among moviemakers since we are reasonable and cooperative, and not all Westchester municipalities share this course of action. For instance, Tarrytown charged $40,000.00 to the production of the "The Good Shepard" for a five-day shoot. Will they be getting more film productions soon? I couldn't say, but at those numbers, some might say who cares.

Government in panicky financial times may find it difficult to justify lowering or maintaining fees. However, to entice more revenue this may be precisely what is in everyone's best interest. There are certainly times to raise fees and make money, but that isn't always the right course of action. On the other hand, lowering rates isn't always the right course of action either. One instance where this course sometimes proves ill advised is when municipalities give tax breaks to lure developers such as Cappelli or Trump. All too often the services most negatively impacted are left short changed; e.g., schools which may already be overcrowded or fire departments required to re-equip to deal with hi-rise construction.

One reason few have noticed these film productions is perhaps the reason we are so desirable. If onlookers slowed down production they might take their business elsewhere. So my recommendation is for all of us to continue to act oblivious to these film productions and hopefully we will continue to raise revenue in this way. Also, be on the lookout for the films at our theaters in order to proudly see Tuckahoe on the big screen.