July 2009

Sutton Manor Celebrates Life of Beloved Longtime Resident

July 07, 2009 - 15:42

Residents of Sutton Manor came together on July 4th to celebrate the life of long-time resident "Kitty" Lockwood who passed away this past fall at the age of 93. Neighbors came together to place a beautiful wrought-iron bench with a small plaque on a hill overlooking Echo Bay -- waters she sailed and swam for over 50 years. Her friends and neighbors drank a toast in her honor and offered remembrances of Kitty Lockwood as the person who was always among the first to welcome a new resident to Sutton Manor, to extend a warm greeting or offer a helping hand. For some, Kitty was the person who taught them what made the Sutton Manor neighborhood so special.

Early Lunch time for BOE Carpenter?

July 07, 2009 - 15:25

16 comments

Why is Frank Demasi going home today at 11 am IN HIS WORK VEHICLE on company time? Keeping looking around Frank, someones always watching.

New Rochelle BoE Puts "Residency" on Agenda for Annual Reorganization Meeting; Hastie to be Installed

July 07, 2009 - 14:43

The Annual Reorganization Meeting of the Board of Education of the City School District of New Rochelle will be held tonight, Tuesday, July 7, 2009, at 8:00 P.M., in the Board Room of the Administration Building, 515 North Avenue, New Rochelle, New York, preceded by a Committee of the Whole Session, in the Edwina Carew Meeting Room at 7:30 P.M. The public is encouraged at attend both meetings (I am on the agenda tonight!).

Highlights for Tonight:

Jeff Hastie will be formally installed as a member of the school board and incoming School Board President Quay Watkins takes over from outgoing School Board President Cindy Babcock-Deutsch. It should be one big love-fest tonight with Marty Daly serving as orgy-master.

A very interesting item is on the agenda tonight: "Residency Update". Hmmmm. What can that mean? Readers will recall that school board members and Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak reacted angrily to the mere suggestion that there are large numbers of wrongly enrolled students in New Rochelle.

The Armory Series: Are We Crazy Enough to Tear Down Our Most Valuable Asset?

July 07, 2009 - 02:44

7 comments

Civic

Forest City Echo Bay & Armory

The world premiere production of Crazy Enough will not take place at the New Rochelle Center Stage at the Armory so it will not be weaving music and story into a ride through the darkest alleys and brightest vistas faced by the human mind. Instead, the Armory sits idle, awaiting Noam Bramson's wrecking ball.

If we take a look at some stellar examples of the principles I spoke of earlier, we can use some imagination and apply some of their best ideas to the Armory. I often point to the Portland Center Stage Armory for many reasons but primarily for Portland's approach to their project . At one point, the Portland Armory was to be demolished but it was saved at the last moment. In that particular case, salvation came in the form of a theater company looking for a home.

The engineering firm behind the reinvention of the Portland Armory as a theater space:

New Rochelle Mourns Passing of City Clerk Dorothy Allen

July 06, 2009 - 21:26

New Rochelle City Clerk Dorothy Allen passed away on June 3rd, 2009.

Her daughter Diane has a blog and wrote about her mother's passing here:

My mother died in the hospital on Wednesday, June 3. Losing her is the saddest thing I’ve known. We were once the same person. And for all our differences there were so many things we had in common, so many ways in which we were perfectly aligned. Always, we loved each other. She was my mother and now she is gone.

Mayor Noam Bramson published the eulogy he wrote for her memorial service today which closed with the following:

New Rochelle is today a diminished place, having lost one of its best and most admired citizens, but it is also a better place because of all that Dorothy Allen did and all that Dorothy Allen represented.

Reisman: Tom Paine Would Be Rolling in His Grave (if he had one)

July 06, 2009 - 18:06

Phil Reisman has an excellent column up over at the Journal News web site, an article that ran over the weekend, that uses our exclusive report on the decision to relocated the collection at the Thomas Paine Museum in New Rochelle to the New York Historical Society in New York City as a departure point to explore why Thomas Paine has never been accorded his due in the pantheon of Founding Fathers.

Thomas Paine deserves a bigger place in history

If he were alive today, Paine would probably have a blog and a show on MSNBC. No doubt, he would spout convincing arguments as to why the do-nothing state Legislature ought to be abolished.

Part of Paine's problem, from the standpoint of history's view of him, was that he had no superficially attractive qualities. An English transplant at age 37, he wasn't tall and good-looking like Washington and Jefferson.

New Rochelle Biking Initiatives Garner Attention for Queen City as Green City

July 06, 2009 - 17:29

1 comments

In June, Talk of the Sound reported on the
New Bike Rack Requirements passed by the New Rochelle City Council.

Cyclists turned out in force at City Hall on June 16 to testify in favor of a proposed law to mandate bicycle racks on all residential developments containing ten or more dwelling units. In mixed use and non-residential developments with l0 or more parking spaces, a bicycle parking facility must be provided. If it is not possible to provide parking space for bicycle racks, a payment can be made to the City's "Bicycle Rack Fund."

Writing in the Journal News Alexander Roberts, executive director of White Plains-based Community Housing Innovations, which serves Westchester and the Hudson Valley, approvingly noted the New Rochelle bike rack initiative. Roberts notes that suburban communities are embracing cycling as part of a growing national trend that brings the U.S. more in line with other countries around the world:

Negrin: Why Doesn't New Rochelle Utilize "Reverse 911" to Alert Residents to Holiday Changes in Garbage Pickup Schedule?

July 06, 2009 - 16:53

9 comments

Municipal

With July 4th falling on a Saturday the City of New Rochelle shuttered city services on Friday July 3 and that meant an alteration to the garbage collection schedule for the week.

North end garbage and recyclables were to be put out on Wednesday and no garbage collection in the north end on Thursday.

Of course Thursday morning everyone put there trash out for pick up. Hence I pose the question, with the ability to call all households that have signed up for the connect New Rochelle program would it not be useful, for the 5 times a year it happens, to send a robo call out to the residents of the city alerting them to the change in schedule?

For one, there is no extra charge for using this service since it is a flat fee service.

Two, if I did not print my garbage collection schedule off of the city web site I would still be waiting for it. This could serve as a reminder of collection times and also that there is a schedule on line.

Third, we are all creatures of habit and we drag the trash out on the specific day because that is what we do.

I also propose that the city web site offer referendums but until that happens here is as a good a place as any to see if this idea would garner support.

New Roc City's Free Family Film Festival, Now Through End of August

July 06, 2009 - 12:45

Free Family Film Festival at Regal New Roc City 18 & IMAX is Now Showing!

When school’s out, kids around the country visit selected Regal theatres for the Free Family Film Festival. It’s a fun-filled nine weeks of movies for kids and parents. Since 1991, Regal has provided this service to the community, and best of all it’s FREE!

Selected G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. First-come, first-served seating is limited to theatre capacity. The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer.

Tickets for our 2009 Free Family Film Festival are exclusively available at select theatres’ box office on the day of the show.

Tuesday and Wednesday
10:00 am

June 30 & July 1

G-Rated Film: Veggie Tales
PG-Rated Film: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

July 7 & 8

G-Rated Film: Tale of Despereaux
PG-Rated Film: Nim's Island

July 14 & 15

G-Rated Film: Curious George
PG-Rated Film: Kung Fu Panda

New Rochelle Scales Back FIreworks DIsplay

July 05, 2009 - 14:58

3 comments

New Rochelle joined many cities around the country in scaling back its fireworks display for its Independence Day celebration:

Fireworks shows are being canceled or scaled back, mostly in small and midsize cities, as municipalities' tax revenue dries up with the slowing economy and falling home prices. Funding from corporate sponsorships also has fizzled as businesses deal with economic problems of their own.

But fog horns still sounded and the crowd clapped appreciatively for New Rochelle's “Spark the Sound” Independence Day Extravaganza produced by the world's leading pyrotechnics company, Grucci Fireworks.