One evening a month the citizens of New Rochelle can attend a meeting labeled Citizens to be Heard. At this meeting, people are able to speak to the mayor, city council and city manager for a full three minutes. We can voice our concerns, make suggestions or ask why our neighborhood has not received services. Oops, I made a mistake, I mean address city government . This is a one way conversation and often you wonder if they are listening. Are we being heard at all or is the council and mayor just going through the motions? Citizens should be thankful that they have a cast of regulars who attend this meeting and are trying to keep the present administration honest and transparent.

I have attended meetings where people address the group and apologize for being nervous, or it is the first time they have attended this meeting. The mayor smiles, tells them it is ok, but you have three minutes to voice you concern. This same citizen then waits for an answer, but that never comes. What is next is an explanation that the mayor and council cannot respond to the speaker. If a large group attends with the same problem, the mayor instructs the group to just stand at their place and state I agree. What happened to their three minutes?

We have some very important decisions this year (moving the city yard, the Armory and Forest City proposals and the addition to Sound Shore Hospital campus) and we all need more than three minutes to discuss these issues. We need more than three minutes to voice our concerns. We need more than three minutes to submit our suggestions and ideas. We need more than three minutes to be part of the rebuilding of New Rochelle. I am in no hurry and willing to give my time towards planning for a better city. I wonder why the mayor is in such a hurry and thinks three minutes is enough.

Only when we can sit together, mayor, council and all concerned citizens and listen to each other can we move our city into the future.

Mark your calendars your next three minutes will start at 7:30pm on Wednesday, September 12.

New Rochelle 2042
It is with a heavy heart that Noam Bramson has made an announcement that he will not seek re-election. Instead he will become the new head of ICLEI and Agenda 21. Immediately after that announcement the Democratic party nominated his granddaughter as their candidate for Mayor.
Ms. Bramson kicked off her campaign with a party at a local country club and it followed a theme entitled “perception”. All political photos will be taken in front of Beechmont Lake. Ms. Bramson thought the color green would be appropriate since her grandfather adopted GreeNR.
-The North Ave bridge is finally completed.
-Chickens have become the new designer pets and the north end is calling for a chicken park. They have promised to pay for a statue of Barry Fertel to be at the entrance of this new park.
-Shari Rackman’ s granddaughter who is a lawyer will invest in 1228 North Ave. and will turn it into a cabaret. She has promised that is will be the new Limelight of Westchester County.
-Jared Rice is now a part of the Independent party and will start a trade school for unemployed youth.

The train station restrooms have been the concern of many citizens of New Rochelle and because of Talk of the Sound and WVOX we have been able to start a dialogue. Perhaps our station is the only place where people from the north, south, east and west end come together and have a chance to meet. Servicing Metro North and Amtrak, the station has become a gateway to New Rochelle. What would we like visitors to have as their first impression when entering our city? We expect the station to be safe, clean and well maintained. A useable restroom is a necessity not a luxury. Standard Parking is still cleaning the restrooms and Blue Bird Taxi, the food vendor and the shoeshine kiosk are the only ones allowed to use them.