Speaking on his radio show today City Manager Chuck Strome told Bob Marrone that there would be a special election on November 2nd to fill the District 3 Seat recently vacated after the unexpected death of Jim Stowe. On the "In The City" show on WVOX, Strome said he could not speak to the politics but he could speak to the process -- that the City Council could appoint someone to fill the seat from today until November but that the final year of the term would be filled through a special election.

Based on a review of the City Charter, the legal basis for Strome's statement is unclear.

New Rochelle City Charter Section 8. Vacancies

Section 8. Vacancies. [Repealed by Local Law No. 1-1966 (February 9, 1966).]

Section 92.9

The lie that parents, taxpayers and the community at large will be told as students come back to school in the fall is that the State tests are "new", "unfair", "not representative", "purposely designed to confuse", and otherwise dismissed or discounted. Don't believe it. Instead, the NYSED has finally created a test and scored it based on standards that approach national standards as indicated by the National Assessment of National Progress (NAEP), a national test which randomly tests students at all levels on a variety of metrics from every state.

The truth is in the chart above (provided by NYSED).

In an effort to convince the public that students are learning in our public schools, the State Officer of Assessment has worked very hard to make very easy tests. The result, a sharp deviation from the national norm indicated in the chart above; otherwise known as grade inflation.

New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin says she is looking forward to receiving a request made by the three Republican New Rochelle City Council members for a home bill concerning the New Rochelle IDA.

"The request is a little preliminary," said Paulin. "Except for emergency measures, the State Assembly is not resuming session until January but I am always interested in reform."

The home rule request comes in the wake of a scathing audit by the New York State comptroller that found a complete lack of process and accountability at the controversial city agency.

"I think IDA's across the state need reform," said Paulin, a consistent advocate for greater accountability and transparency in government.

Capelli Enterprises has signed an agreement to sell the Residence Inn by Marriott in New Rochelle, NY to Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE: CLDT),for $21,000,000 in an all-cash transaction.

For Capelli, the transaction represents a further unwinding of his stake in the New Roc City complex he developed 10 years ago. As part of a settlement agreement with former investment partner Entertainment Properties Trust (EPT), Capelli resolved outstanding legal disputes with EPT by turning over control of New Roc City to EPT.

Chatham Lodging Trust, the new owner of the New Roc City Marriott property, pending completion of the acquisition agreement, is a self-advised real estate investment trust that was organized to invest in upscale extended-stay hotels and premium-branded select-service hotels. The company currently owns eight hotels with an aggregate of 1,057 rooms/suites, and has a total of four additional hotels under contract to purchase.

Dear IDA Chairperson Sussman,

During and after the July 29th meeting of the New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency you made a series of allegations to the effect that my report on recent staffing changes was false, that I had made no effort to seek comment from City Hall prior to running the story and that in your personal opinion my article was defamatory.

As you will recall, I was the only person in the audience so clearly the entire farce you put on was for my benefit.

Other than the NRIDA board and one City employee, the room was empty. To the best of my knowledge, the NRIDA board does not make audio or video tape recordings of its meetings, there is no stenographer present, and your meetings are not live broadcast on cable access television (yet). I, on the other hand, do make audio and video recordings of IDA meetings, take notes, archive meeting agendas and take still photographs.