Quite a cast of characters wouldn't you say ? The superintendant of New Rochelle schools gets control of a sustainability board who coconspires with an organization largely backed by municipal unions , a questionable supposed charitable organization and foundation with an extreme far left agenda ?(read this interesting story from the NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/us/17acorn.html

Then , please read the stories about the connections / corruption / and political influence at the following site :

http://libertychick.com/2009/05/08/rathke-acorn-seiu-the-tides-foundatio...

Are you kidding me ? Does New Rochelle really need to get in bed with this kind of "stuff" ? It's a sad commentary that we can't develop any of this without their "help" . In the old days they were called carpetbaggers .
New Rochelle should and could make themselves stand out from the rest without joining the "club" . It's the failed paradigm and inability to build a cooperative environment within the city that forces Comrade Bramson to seek help from outside sources .

In a few months , we'll be hearing from our old friends at the board of ed as they pass the hat to squeeze us dry . Are you doing any better this year than last ? Does the raise the district gave themselves have any context now ? Did Martian Daly do the right thing for the taxpayers or for his own ? They vote for their own raises behind locked doors and the city council is laying off firemen and cops . Patterson is pulling more money out of the schools . Costs (including the full year kindergarten) have gone up and Quinn can't turn the lights off fast enough to offset the increases . The district want's to hire lawyers to "review" YOUR tax certioaries , yet they won't hire a financial analyst to evaluate the impacts of the economic climate they exist in . Will Organisciak choke on his own lies , will Quinn ever feel remorse for the mistreatment of the public trust , will Martian Daly be exposed for the true damage he does to our city (it's not his city - he could care less) , will Polow return to lucidity , will Jeff Hastie grow a backbone ? It could happen , right? Merry Christmas !

Another contributor previously wrote about campaign contributions. They provided a link to the state campaign lists . It makes for interesting reading . You can see why there wasn't any action on Procopio , the procopio family consistently donates to the campaign of the mayor . I couldn't find Capelli or Apicella but I'm sure there's a link somewhere . Most disturbing is the $5,000 rom Forest Citys Ratner family for the mayorial campaign . A family from Cleveland decides to support a mayorial candidate only to later come before the mayor as a developer . Remember , the city had to pick Forest City from a list of 6 developers who submitted concepts . So , long before the selection process began , the Forest City group was positioning themselves with pre selection discussions with Noam Bramson . Why else would a family from Cleveland find it in their hearts to support New Rochelle ? The whole thing stinks backroom dealings.

Got a better explanation ? Let's hear it.

Follow the money .

If anyone had the chance to hear Mr. Fertel with Bob Marone on Monday, you would have had quite a laugh. It appears he's losing it in the same fashion as his sidekick Noam is. How can anyone really take this guy seriously when he starts jumping up and down and whining about the people raising the issues about the failed policies of the city council? Except for bike paths and bike racks he hasn't done much of any substance to actually help the city overall (unless, of course, your one of his personal friends) As my councilman, he was an embarrassment with his misrepresentation of what's really going on, and at the city level, it was a disservice to the citizens who choose to take part in the direction of the city. Tell me Barry, who was on council when the latest PILOT or abatement was agreed on? Tell me Barry , should we really turn a blind eye to past failed policies and continue the irresponsible ,backroom, self serving , "hope I can get a bigger one than Tim Idoni did" kind of progress that takes 50 years to benefit anyone other than the developers, if at all ? You are WRONG Barry on so many levels (except the “I have to save my own ass” level). Looking back IS CRITICAL to moving forward, if only to do it more efficiently, let alone properly.

If you read Aman's latest attempt at journalism, http://www.lohud.com/article/20090911/NEWS02/909110329/-1/SPORTS/New%20R... ,I wonder if you come away with the same questions I did. Closing a pool because of safety issues "in cooperation with the Westchester County Board of Health" . What does that really mean ? If it's dangerous enough to warrant closing the pool , why was it kept open to allow the summer programs to continue. This is very disturbing to think the school board would put "summer programs" above the safety of the people using the pool. Who would have been responsible if something happened to a swimmer ? Was the district exposing itself (the taxpayers) to more law suits as a result of their negligence? We may never know since it would seem Mr Ali can't seem to form a simple question. So what did he really report ? Was it really that dangerous ? How did the B of Ed hold off the Board of Health ? Was delaying the work cost effective to the taxpayer or did it cause added expense by requiring an alternate location to be secured for the swimmers ? How did the bidding process apply .It can't be considered emergency work if they knew about it since the end of the last school year. Who is performing the work ? Was anybody in danger as they used a pool that is non compliant from a safety standpoint ?

In reading a little dity from the website www.donteatpoop.com , apparently Aramark and the Eastchester Schools have shared an "experience". The food service vendor of choice for the New Rochelle School System seems to have been fined $3,450.00 for "serious and minor violations ". The violations occured between Dec . 18th and May 22nd , 2008 . I guess the nearly half million dollar settlement from New Rochelle BdofEd will help ease the pain . Read the story at www.donteatpoop.com/inspect%20arch/2008/May%202008.html

In case you still haven't had your fill of the deception and mismanagement practices of our BoE , all you need to do is read the latest piece from the always informative NR objectivist called "Your Taxes are Going Way Up" (www.newrochelletalk.com/node/909 ).
Let's not forget , that in the months preceding the school budget , numerous people were questioning the rationale of the board's reluctance to face reality in judging the decline in assessables during this sinking economy . Completely ignoring ALL indicators , including New Rochelle's finance commissioner , the board held the position that declines would be comparable to last years . With complete arrogance they continually lied to the taxpayers knowing full well their manipulated and voodoo economics budget would not play out as they claimed . The cries for relief were summarily dismissed with the "suck it up" comment by the Queen of Twits Emory Schweig . Well , I say they lied because NOBODY could be that IGNORANT of the indicators . So , which is it Mr O and Co? Ignorance or Deceit? In my opinion , they're no better than that sc&mbag Bernie Madoff , lying to serve their own agenda without regard for the devastation left in it's wake .