Brian, have you signed the petition, it's been 4 days??? Have you read the petition and what is your opinion. If you are truly not politically motivated this should be a no-brainer since it is backed by many Bramson supporters who realize a bad deal when they see it. Look at the names; not your usual cast of characters on both sides and notables on both sides, truly a representation of the entire city both politically and regionally.

If,by chance, you have found anything you consider political or wierd identify it here!

The idea behind tax abatements was to bring follow-on development with positive economic value, and yet the retail space is only 32% occupied. Very disappointing.

Of Westchester's six cities, only Yonkers is larger than New Rochelle, which itself is slightly large larger than Mt Vernon, which is far larger than White Plains, which is larger than the two remaining Westchester cities.

It certainly makes more sense to compare the city of New Rochelle, to the other Westchester cities.

It makes no sense to compare a moderate sized city m such as New Rochelle, to a village or small town.

Rye or Peekskill are small cities. New Rochelle is a moderate-sized city, the seventh largest city in NY State, and has more population that the largest cities in some states.

Although White Plains has a much smaller population than New Rochelle, WP has much more commerce. Whtie Plains' commerical advantages are due to two things:

WP is the County Seat, with City, State and Federal Courts and associated offices and building.

Downtown WP is near the center of most of Westchester's parkways and interstates.

Parkways near White Plains include Bronk River, Taconic, Hutchison River. and Sprain. Interstates near WP include Cross Westchester (I-287) and I-684. I-287 connects White Plains to I-95 near the CT/Westchester Border, the Sprain, I-684, the Hutch, Major Deagan (I-87) and the Tappen Zee Bridge. The Sprain, Taconic and I-684 connect White Plains to northern Westchester. Also, White Plains is easily accessible from New Rochelle's North End via the Heathecote Bypass.

In comparison, the only major highway close to downtown New Rochelle, is I-95, which connects NR to only several Westchester sound shore communities to CT, all on the opposite side of the Tolls, and to the Bronx. What downtown NR is lacking, is a direct connection between I-95 and either the Hutch of Cross Cty Pwky, despite the 1967 NR Development Plan to create such a junction.

As to your criticizing Noam Bramson, are you upset with his policies simply because he is Noam or is a Democrat? Or is it his policies you are critical of, regardless of his name or political party?

If it the policies that bother you, you can make your point clearer and more successfully, by criticizing the policies, not the person or party.

But if it's the person Noam Bramson, or the Democratic Party that's your problem, you will not sufficiently convince enough people of your perspective, because in New Rochelle, the Democratic Party and Noam Bramson have repeatedly proven themselves very popular with the vast majority of voters in our city.

Personally, I think much of what has occurred in City Hall, would happen no matter who is Mayor or which Party is in a majority on the City Council. That's why I think your tying in Noam or the Democrats to NR City policies is misdirected and fruitless.

It makes little difference if a New Rochelle Mayor is liberal, moderate or conservative, because the local government has little to do with such things.

Liberal, moderate or conservative becomes more meaningful when applied to Albany or D.C.

There is also the question of defining liberal, moderate or conservative. American politics, in general, moved far to the right (ie more conservative) in the period of apprx 1976-2008. So modern liberals tend to sound more like the moderates of the 1960's, modern moderates tend to sound more like conservatives of the 1960's, and modern conservatives tend to sound more like conservatives of 1912.

You criticize Noam for 'corporate welfare', and 'privatization' and 'breaking unions'. Corporate welfare, privatization and breaking unions are things conservatives advocate for.

Liberals advocate welfare for people, not for corporations, and never advocate privatization of government services, or of breaking unions.

Socialists advocate for 'nationalization' of corporate services, but that's a rare perspective for liberals in the USA.

Your argument and alleged facts if true, would tend to demonstrate that Noam is moderately conservative and not liberal at all. Despite that, I presume Noam to be liberal.

Westchester voters are quite Democratic and liberal, so Noam has no fear of being called a liberal. That can only assure his election. Noam would have a more difficult election if he were called a conservative. I probably shouldn't be revealing that reality here, our of fear Republicans might act accordingly. However, I am confident, that local conservatives will ignore and mock my analysis, although the election in November 2013, will prove me correct.

Before anything can change, we must!

As I read everyone’s rhetoric and blame games, I realize once again why New Rochelle is in the place and state it is in today. The paths and direction of The City of New Rochelle can’t continue on like this and survive. It has been going on for way too long. We are looking at nothing new and it has been for like this for several years, Mayors, Councils and City Managers. It is time the people to pull together not separate because of minor differences. With strong growth, the status and state of Downtown New Rochelle can and will change. With the correct leadership and support, changes and improvements would and could be made over time. So far The City Council of New Rochelle has been very lax in fighting for what is right rather than political gain.

The minority members of council don’t step up with the right challenges. They need to challenge the process as needed to get back on track, The roles of The Mayor, The City Manager and City Council are defined by the City Charter must be followed but aren’t. Referendums were voted on twice I believe in the 1980’s and in the 1990’s for a weak mayor form of government, yet we continue to be following a strong mayor path regularly.

I think of two old stories or anecdotes that come to mind, they scream out a comparison of what is going on here in The City of New Rochelle and on The City Council. You read them and make your own comparisons and comments. I am sure they will be easy to come by and names can be placed accordingly.

Nero, “fiddled while Rome burned.”

In July of 64 A.D., a great fire ravaged Rome for six days, destroying 70 percent of the city and leaving half its population homeless. According to a well-known expression, Rome’s emperor at the time, the decadent and unpopular Nero, “fiddled while Rome burned.” The expression has a double meaning: Not only did Nero play music while his people suffered, but he was an ineffectual leader in a time of crisis. It’s been pretty easy to cast blame on Nero, who had many enemies and is remembered as one of history’s most sadistic and cruelest leaders—but there are a couple of problems with this story.

The Emperor's new clothes!

A vain Emperor who cares for nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothing themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but continues the procession.

We have to stop all the fairy tales and legends; they have become facts and realities. We need to put the energy into fixing what is and has been broken for far too long. Other cities around us have found ways to grow and prosper with the same set of factors in front of them.

The dollar sales must stop. If we had a vibrant Armory that could bring people to the city to visit and shop, we could build off of that success and bring greater value to the Echo Bay area and have that vibrancy move into downtown. Peekskill, Yonkers and Port Chester have been successful at bringing people back to their downtowns and waterfronts being creative. Using Sports, The Arts, Entertainment and many different types of social events as a draw, then build on that as they have. Not build apartments and hope to fill them. What would all of the city owned property be worth then? For once let’s be the smart investors that reap the benefits of proper planning of our property. Then if developers want to buy land make them pay market rate.

Just at thought for discussion, it may be time to reintroduce another referendum for the next election. While we are at it, we need to consider The City Manager Position become a voted position rather than appointed.

For New Rochelle to remain a vibrant place to raise a family, find a job, and enjoy a rewarding life, we need some leadership with a coherent vision for growing our economy, for cutting government waste and inefficiency, and for making good on our commitment to seniors, children, and working parents. Sound familiar?

“Common Sense for the Common Good”.

My same comment posted twice, so I have removed the redundancy here.

Willyrand wrote he prefers ignorant persons to educated persons. That says it all.

Excuse me, I had too much liberal on mind (Columbia University). It would be the Hispanic Resource Center in Mamaroneck, NY. A 1 hour video on Barack Obama. I'm sure their excuse would be the historic nature or some junk, but it's not fiction. I don't know where they get their funding, but it's wrong. I'm not like Brian, who where's the Democrat hat, so everything D is great. I'll have to repeat myself again: It's not a Hispanic thing. 914-835-1512 is the HRC's number.

What did she major in?

Which we'll be on the hook for if Monroe College leaves or is shut down. Every taxpayer in New Rochelle will get a hefty increase in on their property tax should Monroe go belly up or if they close up their New Rochelle buildings. Nice job IDA on completely defrauding your constituents.

It's not an immigrant problem, it's a philosophical problem. My friend married an girl from Columbia. A few months back, she came home from a Hispanic Community Center, that's supposed to help with the language, etc. It was a one hour video on the greatness of Obama. She's also told on a weekly basis how she can get benefits from various agencies. This is not the American dream. I blame white liberals in power for corrupting unsuspecting people with goodies. I think people do get resentful when they see someone in a poor neighborhood with 5 babies and one on the way, when they can barely afford one. Again, I don't blame that mom, I blame the people who encourage her to have more [votes] kids. If someone complains about this, they're not racist, insecure, or bigoted. I think they have the wrong target. Start undoing the damage the left has done to immigrants, and there will be less resentment. It doesn't help taxpayers, it certainly doesn't help that poor mom, but it helps the wealthy senator from MA who feels really good about himself. This is much deeper than a liberal white mayor in a small town. It's sad he supports those policies, as long as he's surrounded by his own. Visiting the local Mexican restaurant with a fake, moronic smile doesn't count.

Where do I begin? Comparing NR to Mt. Vernon or Yonkers is the typical NR Democratic BS. NR is a small city while Yonkers is a large city with different requirements like multiple libraries in Yonkers. Mt. Vernon, while a small city, is no comparison when you examine the statistics. NR bests Mt. Vernon in every category; education level, median income, family income, poverty rate etc. Just check out the municipality profiles at westchestergov.com from the 2010 census statistics. The only "fair" comparison is with White Plains and NR pales in comparison, basically NR is a White Plains wannabe. The problem is that White Plains achieved commercial development the right way. They had a long-term plan that began with infrastructure improvements to support commercial development. NR played catchup and developed without first improving infrastructure. White Plains NEVER gave anyone a 30-year tax abatement on top of sales tax on construction materials & mortgage recording tax abatements. NR can't even get it's waterfront development right turning a 26 acre development into a postage stamp 6 acre develop including Bramson's hand picked fruit-stand that couldn't get past the basic hurdle of preliminary financing.

Now in reference to Noam Bramson being a "moderate" democrat; Agenda 21, GreeNR, sustainable development, sustainable communities, transit oriented development, backyard chicken coops, bike paths, corporate welfare, privatization, laying off firefighters and trying to break unions as witnessed with the police captains. Oh, and let's not forget the refuse fee or removing the library from mandatory city charter funding. All accomplished by LIBERAL NR democrats. Contrary to his political propaganda, Mr. Sussman can't change history. It is democrats like Mr. Sussman who must now change the stripes on a Liberal's liberal, Noam Bramson, to a moderate in order to have a chance to win in November. If it walks, talks and governs like a liberal it is a liberal!