The Knickerbacker Park Board sent the city a proposed updated lease in July 2025 and heard nothing back for nearly five months. When they finally hired legal counsel and set a meeting to sort it out, Mantello went public, accusing them of acting in “bad faith,” calling their conduct “reckless,” and claiming they tried to “strong-arm” city officials.
The board’s account: the mayor ignored them for five months, so they got a lawyer, and then she blamed them for it.