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Today's:
- Free Concert Postponed for Sunday May 26th Blood Sweat And Tears Performs Live at Glen Island New Rochelle for A Memorial Day Extravaganza Tomorrow
- Bramson, Strome, and Carroll Close Down Access for Talk of the Sound Due to Pique Over Stories on Assistant Police Commissioner and Guys Sleeping in Garbage Truck
- Rye Police Tell Different Story About Arrest of New Rochelle Police Foundation Director
- Map: Where are the Journal News employees in your neighborhood?
- Meet Noam Bramson's Favorite Sportswriter: Jeff Pearlman of Sports Illustrated and ESPN Fame
- New Rochelle Father Convicted Of Killing His Son
New Rochelle is one of the wealthiest cities in the USA. It's almost certainly per capita the wealthiest city of the five in Westchester, and probably of all the cities in NY State.
That's why most of NR's voters agree to increase their BOE taxes every year.
The 1950's Department stores you lament as having not moved to NR, or having gone out of business, did so when New Rochelle and Westchester were run by Republicans. I don't how you can blame Bramson for events that occurred when he was a child, or not yet born.
City Hall has been on automatic pilot for 50 years. City Hall has to throw out 5 decades of misconceptions, as to what will improve New Rochelle downtown commerce. City Hall has been on the wrong track all along, and it has nothing to do with the differences between Democrats and Republicans.
One thing for sure, New Rochelle should not be increasing its population density with more residential building downtown.
What NR has always needed is more and cheaper parking, and a much faster connection between the Hutch/Cross County Pkwys and downtown New Rochelle. All else is folly downtown, until that occurs.
The best person to call is the city mgr.914-654-2140 Chuck will get the city traffic engineer to look at the place in question. He is very good at doing these type things. The city council person is only going to refer it to the city mgr. anyway so you might as well call him instead.Even if they put up signs children in area etc etc something is better than nothing.
I definitely understand the safety issue at Sycamore Park. I think a crosswalk would present an even more dangerous situation because of where it would be located. Also, if I remember right, there are no legal parking spaces across from the park, so I'm not sure if the city would even consider a crosswalk.
I hope you can find a solution. Until then, you may want to cross up the road near the traffic light.
All from great families and great boys. Good to see them making the best of their lives to help people. Shame on Bramson to take away from the fire department and other services to instead make his friends fat. Everyone's been saying it all over town, even many democrat friends I have in the North End, it's time to go back to a republican in charge of local politics. We need some more conservative values in this town to keep things under control, cause things are heading south very quickly.
Still no suggestions. Still lamenting. Do something!
Get constructive ideas past the crooks ensconced in City Hall for the past 30+ years?
Surely you jest.
If you aren't jesting, I feel sorry for you.
Many with more political savvy and patience for fools and crooks than I have tried for the last 30+ years, and failed.
Relax your umbrage at the general attitude towards the poor little demographics of downtown New Rochelle, and see the bigger picture. The demographic is the result, City Hall is the cause. Go after City Hall if you want to castigate someone. Let me know how that works out for you.
"...our new New Rochelle. It is not the Queen of the Sound anymore."
What a sad statement. In that one statement is everything that is wrong with New Rochelle.
I wish you and the new New Rochelle well.
The ambulance services and others who helpd saved lives are appreciated, but this ceremony was strictly a Fire Department ceremony. I would encourage other groups to come forth with their own awards.
Fair point but I still would lay out a cross walk by the light for the same reasons you mentioned before. People do whip around that corner and the blind spot. This way you can condition motorist and pedestrians.
But I am sure New Rochelle wold tell us painting a box near the light would cost $30,000.
I agree Martin. I remember a coach once said to the team, don't complain unless you offer your idea on how to fix it. The complaints and whining stopped pretty quickly after that. New Rochelle needs leaders with some vision or at a minimum leaders who listen to people with a vision. The band-aid approach never works. We need a marketable identity and I still believe it should concentrate around the waterfront and our proximity to Manhattan. The Echo Bay project in its present form is ridiculous. It's a front for Monroe college dorms and nothing more.
There is a red light about 100 feet away from the ball field that is a very safe place to cross. It may be an inconvenience for some people but a crosswalk at the field isn't a great idea because the field is at a blind bend in the road
So, what is your suggestion? What proposals can you come up with? Can you think strategically? You seem to dismiss the demograohics of 2013 America? Immigrants are our reality and that will not change. We need to adapt and provide solutions that cater to our new New Rochelle. It is not the Queen of the Sound anymore. Stop lamenting! Be constructive.
Other lower middle class (yes, sorry, New Rochelle is nothing more than a lower middle class town) towns have mixed ethic fruit and dollar stores and ethnic restaurants and remained vital, e.g., Port Chester and Mount Vernon.
New Rochelle has not, Idoni and Bramson allowed the entire sewer that is New Rochelle to be comPLETEly taken over by ethnic fruit and dollar stores and ethnic restaurants. There is nothing else worthwhile in the sewer that is New Rochelle.
The POINT, however, is that New Rochelle was ONCE the Queen City of the Sound, home to Bloomingdale's and other grand stores in the manner of Eastchester, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, White Plains and even, dare I say it, some snooty cities to the North.
New Rochelle in the 1950s and even the 1960s competed nicely with the likes of Bedford and Chappaqua. A trip 'uptown' to downtown New Rochelle was an event, looked upon with anticipation. Now one takes their life in their hands. Happily, there is nothing to buy on Main Street New Rochelle, so one can safely go to other towns to shop, which by the way is what the well-heeled denizens of the Trump and the Avalon and the North End do. Or did you think the rich of New Rochelle pushed and shoved in the fruit stores for 99 cent mangoes? Hah!
So, after the glory days of downtown New Rochelle came Idoni (and his predecssors) and Bramson and in the interest of kickbacks and corruption, they gladly handed over the heart and soul of downtown New Rochelle and it has been a sewer for over thirty years. OVER THIRTY YEARS.
Remember when Lord and Taylor wanted to come to New Rochelle? I can't remember which crook was in office at the time, but there must have been a good reason Lord and Taylor went to Eastchester. And the rest is history. New Rochelle is a sewer. Always will be a sewer.
New Rochelle is not even on a par with Mount Vernon and Port Chester, how sad is that?
So, Brian, THAT is the point. Spare me your poor little immigrant defense, it doesn't apply here. What does apply is the degradation of New Rochelle, the FORMER QUEEN CITY OF THE SOUND, and the crooks that allowed it.
Now that Bramson will be moving on up, to the deluxe right hand of Idoni in the sky, will the good citizens of New Rochelle obey his orders and vote in his clone, so the further degradation of New Rochelle can continue?
Well, will they??????????
Again, Brian, THAT is the point.
It is really remarkable that some of the comments below are infused with racist and bigoted references to the reality of the consumers who own or patronized the stores in our downtown. By making references such as “low income”, “uneducated”, Mexican” or “Ethnic” speaks volumes of the resentment and insecurity of the writers who provide no real suggestions on how they would envision a different downtown. I am not suggesting that I adhere to the Bramson view of development, I do not, and I note that Bramson is incapable of having a real world notion of what is appropriate downtown either, but please stop the ridiculous knee-jerk, room-temperature IQ commentary of blaming immigrants who I might suggest these anonymous & cowardly writers are descendants of immigrants who confronted similar racism and ethnocentric Gobbledygook. Provide real solutions to our problems and stop the infantile quarterbacking.
Nobody is putting them down, but typically dollar stores and fried chicken spots usually categorize low income and uneducated. You don't see them in Scarsdale or Larchmont. New Rochelle has been hijacked by Bramson and his cohorts. They would rather see filth and waste move in so they can take the money given to those people by the government. It's all a giant scam by the liberals. They could care less about helping their "Supporters".
While this is not to take away from the Firefighters of New Rochelle, people should also give credit to the Ambulance Crews who also responded to those calls. While even though the ambulance service is contracted privately thru transcare ambulance services, I'm sure it would of been nice to also have the paramedics, and EMT's who dedicate just as much time and effort to served the citizens like myself named as well. Either way a huge congratulations to all the members of the department of preserving the lives, and safety of our community
Pros: great location, low gas prices, surveillance cameras & speedy service.
Cons: dishonest sales clerk (gas money disputes), too many panhandlers, not enough space to temporarily park your car, rude/very abrupt customer service & when use your debit/credit card it is always declined.
I am still waiting for manager to review tapes & tally cash to receive $10.00 refund. It appears to me a certain race is targeted.
Overall rating: 2
I will not waste my time revisiting this gas station.
There is nothing wrong, in itself, with New Rochelle having Dollar Stores, as they serve a vital function, and are are among New Rochelle's providers of sales tax and income. Back when New Rochelle was thriving commercially, one of its economic backbones were the various 5&10 Cent Stores.
It's obnoxious and seemingly bigoted to put down local restaurants for being of Mexican or any other ethnicity. Attacking ethnicities for running local businesses is counter-productive to our local economy, and diminishes the quality of your analysis.
Bob McCaffrey, keep up the good work.
Your analysis is accurate, sophisticated and appreciated.
As you realize, it's important to avoid personal attacks, nor to trivialize local issues by making them partisan.
Rather, local issues should be discussed on their own merits, absent any connection to fondness or dislike of any organizations for the sake of falsely-perceived political gains.
What is really at issue, as always, is the future of downtown New Rochelle, not some irrelevant, iconic flag-waving, nor organizations claiming to have a monopoly on patriotism, nor the future of any political parties or candidates for public office.
What's needed is greater citizen awareness and participation. Ultimately, it's better to delay and question construction, rather than to blindly rush in to another expensive, self-destructive, ill-conceived debacle.
The Echo Bay proposal has become an embarrassment to the citizens of New Rochelle. If this is the kind of development that the City promotes, then we have to look more closely at all our elected leaders, especially those that have championed this development.
This is an excellent and thorough analysis.
How about a Community Center? A place that might draw people from all over New Rochelle, the Sound Shore, and maybe even the Bronx.
You could set it up as a kind of "County Center South".
I don't think opera and off-off-Broadway shows are going to be a very big draw, especially if you're looking at actually revitalizing New Rochelle, and that is what New Rochelle needs, right?
How about inviting some national chains to the "Diamond" formed by Main St, Huguenot St, and North Ave.?
Do we really need a half dozen dollar stores, and a half dozen Mexican restaurants in our downtown?
It's time to get some people in City Hall, who realize that there's more New Rochelle left after you pass Kentucky Fried Chicken...
Making sense makes no sense to the leader of the .99cent New Rochelle Economy.
Bramson goal is Higher office. It remains to be seen as he spews smoke at high rates to spin his electionganda..."Pay no attention to the facts just look at my lips."
New Roc City what is that? Bramson idea for advancing the .99cent economy.
LeCount Place Bramson single handed blighting all part of his advancement of the .99cent economy.
Trump Cappelli out of Character box of bricks half empty with no retail all part of the Bramson .99cent economy.
2 avalons adding residential to an already dense area. Parking wars, under reporting of the students on the DEIS and who is footing the bills-John Q Tax Payer and the New Rochelle Schoold District. This is his vision and now he wants to leave to bring that vision to a higher office. " ask not what New Rochelle is just see what I say it is."
Echo Bay is more of the same... County level is just a distraction till they cart out Nita Lowey his goal is to bring all this greatness to Congress.
You can not make this stuff up..
Sorry, Warren, I'm still sad at your post.
After THIRTY PLUS years of Idoni and Noam, there should be NO doubt in the minds of the citizens of New Rochelle that Noam will FORCE his clone down the throats of the naive unsuspecting citizens of New Rochelle and you and I and all the others with brains will be posting here in a year or so, telling those who don't have a brain and who have voted in the clone of Noam who was the clone of Idoni before him:
"WE TOLD YOU SO".
At any rate, if the voters of New Rochelle know what's good for them, they will vote in Bob Cox.
I believe the reason that Astorino was elected in 2009, was because many voters were tired of too many years of Andy Spano, first as County Clerk, and then as County Executive. And by 2009, Spano was too old.
Based on demographics and Astorino's dismal record, it is likely that Noam Bramson will be elected County Executive in 2013. Of course we will find out in November, who the voters prefer.
If Noam Bramson is elected County Exec and resigns as Mayor, there are 7 members of the New Rochelle City Council, and they will determine who is appointed to be Mayor from no-longer-than-the-period-of January 1 thru December 31, 2014. They could end up appointing whoever they choose. We have no reason to assume who that choice will be.
That probably-less-than-one-year appointment would be superceded by a Mayor elected in a Special Election in 2014. That Special Election might occur as late as November 2014, but under NY Election Law, that Special Election would likely be earlier in 2014. Nonetheless, by January 1, 2015, and probably earlier in 2014, we will have an elected Mayor whose term would end December 31, 2015.
On Election Day of November 2015, we will have a regular election for Mayor and the other City Council Members. They will be inaugurated on January 1, 2016.
Therefore, it is possible that between now and January 1, 2016, New Rochelle will have had four different people serving as Mayor.
The pragmatic question for NR's Republicans, is who would they want appointed Mayor in 2013, and who will they run in the two elections that would occur in 2014 and 2015? Certainly their nominated candidates for Mayor, in 2007 and 2011, were poor choices guaranteed to lose the day they were nominated.
If the Republicans want any chance to win any election as Mayor, they must choose someone who avoids Tea Party politics, who disdains the obstructions of Republicans in Congress, who is Pro-Choice, who promises to maintain if not enhance municipal services, and who does not appear hostile to the interests of the lower income voters of the South End nor the higher income voters of the North End.
Although a pragmatic Republican Party could win election as Mayor of New Rochelle, I suspect that the local Tea Party would choose to spite its face by chewing off its nose.
you had it right. It was about Warren.
This piece by Warren is from his Facebook. We saw each other a few days ago and I said I would put it out for him. The reason for the post is he wanted to show his support of Bob Cox’s quest to become a member of The New Rochelle School Board and urge other residents to support Bob Cox. His point was to urge those that may still believe in Noam to support Bob Cox for New Rochelle School Board regardless of their beliefs and friend ships with him.
There is only that passing reference to Noam. The rest of the post refers to Bob Cox and how Bob Cox can think outside of the box and has the necessary base to serve on The New Rochelle School Board. His personal politics are irrelevant. He points out that Bob Cox is not running for council membership, he is not a lawyer or an educator, he is an ex business man and media specialist. His main point, the reason to support Bob Cox is simple; the man fully understands the educational challenges facing our City and has the courage to address these and yes, to do so in a collaborative way with his colleagues.
For the many reasons Warren gives in his Warrenesk way, I also support Bob Cox in his run for The New Rochelle School Board. I have seen him in action on this site and at School Board Meetings. He asks the right questions and has the ability to give solutions and help solve the problems that exist within the school system. We have seen this many times here on Talk of the Sound. Much of his research and follow up have lead to the true problems eventually being brought forward and not hidden under the rug. His knowledge and hard work would be a true blessing and a breath of fresh air for The New Rochelle School Board, our children and taxes would benefit the most.
Sorry I missed last night, Good Luck Bob!