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.

New Rochelle Police officers from the Special Investigations Unit raided the Elk's Club at 137 Lincoln Avenue in New Rochelle last month and made three arrests related to illegal gambling. On January 11th, New Rochelle police officers, acting on a complaint, executed a search warrant, confiscating gambling records and three video gambling machines.

Earl Bacon, 74, of 120 Remington Place in New Rochelle, NY was arrested and charged with two felonies, possession of gambling records in excess of $500 and promoting gambling, and a misdemeanor charge of possession of gambling devices.

Roland Hospie, 66, of 11 Park Avenue in Mount Vernon, NY and William Totten, 76, of 197 Drake Avenue in New Rochelle were both charged with two misdemeanor counts of promoting gambling and possession of gambling devices.

According to New Rochelle police, the Elk's Club was being used to run a "policy play" gambling operation where betters wager on a daily number, typically based on parimutuel betting at local race tracks.

When CVS came before the New Rochelle Zoning Board of Appeals, the company promised to put up surveillance video cameras outside their location at 222 North Avenue. Had they done so they might have been able to help police identify the vandals who spray painted various walls and doors in downtown New Rochelle over the holiday weekend.

There is now graffiti on the CVS, the carpet store, the wall in the Library parking lot and the New Rochelle library.

Despite many efforts in discussing the awful impact the City Yard will have on the West End Community, the Mayor and City Manager will proceed to push for a vote tonight to have city tax payers issue a bond for $600,000 to finance the design and planning costs of the City Yard off Beechwood Avenue in the West End. So, the Mayor never answered my letter. He never held a meeting in the West End. He thumbed his nose at the diverse community that is the West End. It is a done deal! Do you think there is a conspiracy to revive the auction block? Do City Council members believe this to be an issue of environmental racism that they wish to keep silent because of warp political fidelity? Sad development indeed. The season for non-violent civil disobedience is here.

Martin Sanchez

Online survey available February 10-March 10, 2012

The City of New Rochelle is undertaking the preparation of a Five-Year Consolidated Plan (CP) for the years 2013-2017 and Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI). As a recipient of federal funding assistance from HUD, the City is required to prepare these documents every five years. The purpose of the Five-Year Consolidated Plan is to identify the City’s priority housing and community development needs for federal funds such as the Community Development Block Grant and HOME funds which benefit lower income persons. Future funding decisions by the City and the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be based on, and must be consistent with, the priority needs identified in this plan.