Despite numerous reservations about the wisdom of moving the Department of Public Works City Yard, the New Rochelle City Council voted 6-1 last night to approve borrowing $600,000 to finance the design phase of the proposed City Yard on Beechwood Avenue. The City will issue bonds to raise the money.

The two Republicans on the City Council have argued that spending money towards moving the City Yard to Beechwood Avenue without a viable plan to develop the current City Yard location on East Main Street is premature.

Ivar Hyden has expressed reservations about the Beechmont Avenue location due to traffic and quality of life issues for residents.

For the second time in as many years, representatives of Veteran's groups, Save Our Armory Committee, and concerned citizens are formally requesting to meet with the City Council and the Mayor. A new vision for the Echo Bay area that includes taking advantage of an adaptive re-use of the historical structure will be presented for consideration. With time running out on the extension of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) handed to Forest City/Ratner Developers, proponents of Armory re-use contend that now is the time to rethink the possibilities. At the heart of the new vision is the expectation to return the Armory to its original purpose of serving the public good. To that end, the Armory supporters will be requesting a one year MOU with New Rochelle for the purpose of establishing financing and development services.

At a recent New Rochelle City Council meeting, newly-seated Council Member Ivar Hayden caused New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson to visibly squirm in his seat by mentioning a recent New York Times article during a discussion of Forest City/Ratner's MOU for Echo Bay. For those who missed it, Times reporter Michael Powell documents the many crooked twists and turns by which various Forest City/Ratner projects have been advanced by corrupt politicians and the convictions obtained by the U.S. Attorney. Yonkers is up next.

A Developer Between Legal Clouds

Last week, the lobbyist Richard Lipsky stood in a courtroom to acknowledge bribe-making. His partner in crime, Carl Kruger, the former state senator and a Brooklyn Democrat, had taken his tear-soaked turn two weeks earlier. They face years in prison.

The Save Our Armory Committee has nominated the New Rochelle Armory for consideration of the prestigious Heritage Award Program administered by City Hall. A detailed application has been submitted for review in an effort spotlight the historic significance of this unique New Rochelle treasure.

We wholeheartedly concur with Mayor Bramson's statement of " By raising public awareness about our past, we help ensure that hiostoric charmremains a vital part of our future". In Fact, we couldn't have said it better.

The application does request the owner to be the one submitting. We hold that, by extension, the residents of New Rochelle are the owners. The taxpaying citizenry, who foot the bills for the city, who essentially buy all the product the city uses. If one were to look at the ownership of city hall, or the fire houses or police station, I doubt the mayor's or councilmember's would be on the paperwork. Good or bad, without the residents, there would be no New Rochelle.

In 2010, the City of New Rochelle selected a local company, Artistic F/X, to store and restore the 3 remaining murals from the New Rochelle Armory. The company is owned by Don Geyra, a member of the New Rochelle Municipal Arts Commission.

Talk of the Sound has had an opportunity to view the paintings which are being meticulously restored by Geyra. Some photos were provided by Geyra with others taken by Talk of the Sound contributor Jen Parente.

"The murals were coated in what appears to be spar varnish", said Geyra who has been removing tiny sections with solvents dabbed on q-tips. The largest mural, a tug boat with signal lights, is about 40 square feet and the work so far on just the one painting has taken over 9 months. Spar varnish is intended to use on a ship to protect wood from the effects of sea and weather. It is not typically used on paintings.

Removing the wood frame area around the edge of the Tug Boat mural (above) revealed the vibrant blue color underneath the spar varnish.

QUESTION:WHY DOES MAYOR BRAMSON WANT ONLY DEMOCRATS ON CITY COUNCIL?

ANSWER: SO HE CAN CIRCUMVENT GOVERNOR CUOMO'S NEW TAX CAP AND RAISE YOUR PROPERTY TAXES BEYOND THE 2% CAP!

The Bramson Campaign is actively campaigning to stack the City Council with only Democrats.

Many voters have been contacted by the Bramson Campaign to blindly vote along Party lines this year without thought.

What the Bramson Campaign is NOT TELLING YOU is that Bramson needs you to elect a supermajority of Democrats to City Council so that they can override Governor Cuomo’s Property Tax Cap, which is protecting you, the property owner, from onerous property tax increases.

On June 30, 2011, Governor Cuomo signed into law legislation that caps your property taxes at a 2% increase. This tax cap can be overridden by a super-majority vote of council.  If the Mayor is successful, he and his disciples will override the property tax-cap in New Rochelle and raise your taxes to support his political agenda.