At a recent New Rochelle City Council meeting, newly-seated Council Member Ivar Hayden caused New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson to visibly squirm in his seat by mentioning a recent New York Times article during a discussion of Forest City/Ratner's MOU for Echo Bay. For those who missed it, Times reporter Michael Powell documents the many crooked twists and turns by which various Forest City/Ratner projects have been advanced by corrupt politicians and the convictions obtained by the U.S. Attorney. Yonkers is up next.

A Developer Between Legal Clouds

Last week, the lobbyist Richard Lipsky stood in a courtroom to acknowledge bribe-making. His partner in crime, Carl Kruger, the former state senator and a Brooklyn Democrat, had taken his tear-soaked turn two weeks earlier. They face years in prison.

The Save Our Armory Committee has nominated the New Rochelle Armory for consideration of the prestigious Heritage Award Program administered by City Hall. A detailed application has been submitted for review in an effort spotlight the historic significance of this unique New Rochelle treasure.

We wholeheartedly concur with Mayor Bramson's statement of " By raising public awareness about our past, we help ensure that hiostoric charmremains a vital part of our future". In Fact, we couldn't have said it better.

The application does request the owner to be the one submitting. We hold that, by extension, the residents of New Rochelle are the owners. The taxpaying citizenry, who foot the bills for the city, who essentially buy all the product the city uses. If one were to look at the ownership of city hall, or the fire houses or police station, I doubt the mayor's or councilmember's would be on the paperwork. Good or bad, without the residents, there would be no New Rochelle.

To view the application click

In 2010, the City of New Rochelle selected a local company, Artistic F/X, to store and restore the 3 remaining murals from the New Rochelle Armory. The company is owned by Don Geyra, a member of the New Rochelle Municipal Arts Commission.

Talk of the Sound has had an opportunity to view the paintings which are being meticulously restored by Geyra. Some photos were provided by Geyra with others taken by Talk of the Sound contributor Jen Parente.

"The murals were coated in what appears to be spar varnish", said Geyra who has been removing tiny sections with solvents dabbed on q-tips. The largest mural, a tug boat with signal lights, is about 40 square feet and the work so far on just the one painting has taken over 9 months. Spar varnish is intended to use on a ship to protect wood from the effects of sea and weather. It is not typically used on paintings.

Removing the wood frame area around the edge of the Tug Boat mural (above) revealed the vibrant blue color underneath the spar varnish.

QUESTION:WHY DOES MAYOR BRAMSON WANT ONLY DEMOCRATS ON CITY COUNCIL?

ANSWER: SO HE CAN CIRCUMVENT GOVERNOR CUOMO'S NEW TAX CAP AND RAISE YOUR PROPERTY TAXES BEYOND THE 2% CAP!

The Bramson Campaign is actively campaigning to stack the City Council with only Democrats.

Many voters have been contacted by the Bramson Campaign to blindly vote along Party lines this year without thought.

What the Bramson Campaign is NOT TELLING YOU is that Bramson needs you to elect a supermajority of Democrats to City Council so that they can override Governor Cuomo’s Property Tax Cap, which is protecting you, the property owner, from onerous property tax increases.

On June 30, 2011, Governor Cuomo signed into law legislation that caps your property taxes at a 2% increase. This tax cap can be overridden by a super-majority vote of council.  If the Mayor is successful, he and his disciples will override the property tax-cap in New Rochelle and raise your taxes to support his political agenda.

Nearly 3 years since I wrote Even a Bleak Cloud Has a Silver Lining and 2 years since the follow up piece Even a Bleak Cloud has a Silver Lining:One Year Later and I'm still waiting for something to give. I remain stalwart in my belief that the answers to our success reside right here in this fine city. But something has to change, room has to be made to allow opportunities to rise to the surface. The constraints that bind our growth are part and parcel of the natural evolutionary life cycle of the political machine. When any group becomes entrenched for too long, the payback to the constituent begins to give way to a partisan view that favors the special interest of the party in charge.

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a Superseding Indictment in the case involving Forest City projects in Brooklyn including the Atlantic Yards project. Forest City is the developer of the Echo Bay Project in New Rochelle.

An eleven-count Superseding Indictment was filed today charging New York State Senator Carl Kruger, New York State Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr., former MediSys Health Network Chief Executive Officer David Rosen, and five other defendants with bribery, fraud, and other federal corruption crimes. Lobbyist Richard Lipsky, real estate developer Aaron Malinsky, health care consultant Solomon Kalish, former Chief Executive Officer of Parkway Hospital, Robert Aquino, and Michael Turano, a Manhattan-based gynecologist are also named. The defendants were originally charged in a three-count Complaint on March 10, 2011, and Rosen was subsequently indicted on March 31. With today’s Superseding Indictment, all eight defendants are now charged in a single Indictment. The defendants will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on April 11, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. in Manhattan federal court.