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TOTS Report’s Notebook: March 9, 2015

Written By: Robert Cox

Baloney from Phil Reisman and WVOX

Last August, Talk of the Sound broke a series of stories about President Barack Obama coming to New Rochelle for a fundraiser. Our stories were picked up by media outlets across the United States and beyond. We got a ton of traffic. I was interviewed by various media outlets. Yet somehow this seems to have escaped the notice of Phil Reisman of the Journal News who, inexplicably, credited WVOX for breaking the stories we broke. Reisman wrote “O’Shaughnessy’s radio station should be credited for getting a jump on the details of your visit.” No. They should not. Reisman went on to say “The station discovered that you are likely to spend the night in Westchester, perhaps at the Castle in Tarrytown, and that you will be attending a wedding at Blue Hill at Stone Barns at Pocantico Hills on Saturday.” Utter nonsense (and the bit about the Castle we had but did not run because it was up in the air and never did happen). WVOX did not break ANY of these stories. We did. The idea that WVOX is some sort of news operation is absurd on its face. Just another example of why fewer and fewer people read the Journal News (or listen to WVOX for that matter). I have had a note to write a story about this but I could not bring myself to do it so by my own inertia I am saying that this is a waste of time. I am just posting a blurb here in the notebook to set the record straight and will leave it at that. Just consider the source next time you read what Phil Reisman has to say who appears more interested in kissing posterior of “the ordinarily urbane O’Shaughnessy”.

Four Months Late, New Rochelle Schools Provide Evac-Chair to Barnard Student

Despite a Consent Decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, Talk of the Sound has confirmed the City School District of New Rochelle did not provide an Evac-Chair for a wheelchair bound student at Barnard until December 2014.

Billboard Torn Down at Beechwood Avenue

For many years a number of people, including me, have raised the issue of why the City of New Rochelle tore down a billboard at the Beechwood Avenue property it purchased more than ten years ago. The billboard has been generating revenue and the cost of the billboard was included in the cost to purchased the property. According to Greg Merchant, the property costs $5 million and half that amount was for the billboard. At a recent public meeting at Albert Leonard Middle School Strome told several residents that under New York State law municipalities cannot own billboards. Ironically, the City is now proposing to increase the number of billboards on I-95 from 6 to 9. There will be a discussion on Tuesday March 9th.

Lawsuit Settlements by New Rochelle Board of Education

Two months ago I made a FOIL request for all Lawsuit Settlement amounts, District records of payments made to settle lawsuits from January 1, 2004 until the present day. According to the District there were these five: Elmsford Sheet Metal – Temperature Systems (3/14/08): $97,326, Mazur, Carp & Rubin – Temperature Systems (3/14/08): $177,674, Aramark Corporation (6/19/2009) $90,000, Feinstein & Nisnewitz – Xavier Construction Settlement (3/24/10) $40,000, Mamaroneck Union Free School District (4/25/14) $113,470. This does not make sense to me. There were lawsuits involving parents of children that are not accounted for here.

New Rochelle NAACP Threatens to Embarras Citizens Who Do Not Vote

The New Rochelle Branch of the NAACP has set up a “Nation Builder” web site at newrochellenaacp.nationbuilder.com which includes a link to this NAACP Brochure which contains an explicit threat to voters: “A group of voters were mailed copies of their voting histories, listing the elections in which they participated and those they missed. Included were their neighbors’ voting histories, too, along with a warning: after the polls closed, everyone would get an updated set. The mailer was 10 times better at turning nonvoters into voters than the typical piece of pre-election mail whose effectiveness has ever been measured.”

Crash That Killed 60 Minutes Star Had New Rochelle Connection

The tragic death of 60 Minutes Correspondent Bob Simon had a New Rochelle connection. The driver of the other car involved in the collision that resulted in the death of Simon is Zachary Miller of New Rochelle, NY. The registered owner of the vehicle is Ellen Sontag-Miller of Beechmont Road.