31 thoughts on “Exit Polls: Let us know how you voted on the City School District Budget Vote.”

  1. The Will of the People
    Yes, the will of the people reigned : New Rochelle cares about its schools and libraries and rejects the naysayers.

    1. What will? The no vote only
      What will? The no vote only lost by 700, and a total of 3600 people voted. Not to say, most people did not know it was a voting day. I VOTED NO. The school system should learn to cut back.

    2. The Will of 10% of the people
      Yes 6% 0f the registered voters voted for the budget Mr Einstein. According to you, only 6% of the people care about the schools and library. Good news for us, only 6% of the people reject us naysayers. Right from your mouth- This Just In- Anonymous reports 94% of the people accept us naysayers. Thanks for helping us out. You are now one with us!
      CJFNR

    3. Not necessarily true.
      People who voted ‘no’ may in fact care MORE ‘about its schools and libraries’. Approving wasteful spending and not demanding accountability may be akin to shirking one’s civic responsibilities. Why such dichotomized thinking?

  2. Well, well well —
    Well, well well — Malefatano loses by a two to one margin, Hastie and Polow are overwhelmingly elected to the Board and Budget passes easily — spin it any way you like, the people have spoken and rejected the anger, accusations, falsehoods that are the hallmarks of this site. Someone got a “come uppance” bt it was not the Board or school district.

    1. COME ON, lets be honest.
      COME ON, lets be honest. They only people that really knew about the vote, were the PARENTS of SCHOOL age CHILDREN. My Grandparents who are in their last 80’s Knew nothing about the vote. Or did their friends. And the yes vote did not win by that much!! The only voice that was spoken, were the parents. I also really liked how my children came home yesterday to remind me to VOTE. My daughter told me her teacher told them to tell their parents to vote Tuesday.

      1. Very TRUE. Parents were
        Very TRUE. Parents were constantly reminded for weeks at the very least. Residents without children (young and old) never even saw a lawn sign posted. There’s nothing wrong with telling people to get out and vote, just make sure you tell ALL the people not just the captive audience.

      2. You got your ass kicked cox
        You got your ass kicked cox and your blog is done! Nobody gives a sh*t about your blog. Except for the 20 losers who feel they’ve been wronged by New Rochelle just like yourself.

      3. This has nothing to do with
        This has nothing to do with Mr. Cox’s @## or his blog.

    2. Reply to
      Reply to “Well,well,well.
      Actually the results prove everything that has been said on this site. It is truly a sad commentary on the board itself that there was no attempt to get out the vote except in the areas where they knew they had support. Now, you might say” that’s slick campaigning” and it would only prove the self serving mindset that prevails and disinterest in what’s truly important. Where were the signs to bring voters out. The low turnout itself is the sign of people being left out with the thought that their hands are tied. That’s what sad about this. There is no come uppance. Only substantiation. If you think this was about “your side” winning at any cost then you lack the intelligence to understand the difference. In a free open society it is not only the right to speak out about waste and fraud, or anything else for that matter, it is your duty. People like you don’t understand that. If you think everything is perfect you’re either a coward or a liar. Theodore Roosevelt said” Patriotism means to stand by the country, it does not mean to stand by the president” . If you understood that you would have a chance to improve the things around you. I’ll guess you’re just riding someones coat-tails though.

      1. It’s the Board’s job to “get
        It’s the Board’s job to “get out the vote”? Signs in front of every school buildding, mass mailings to all residents, five or six public hearings on the budget, notices in local press all indicate that the Board did what it could do to make sure anyone who was paying attention would know the date of the elections/vote.

        Add to that the radio coverage,newspaper endorsements, articles on candidates withdrawing and coverage of the Board meetings,then add the many articles by several authors on this site urging voters to vote in the election. Then factor in the “get out the vote” campaigns of the PTA (which were pilloried and mischaracterized on this site — the “Remember to Vote” book bag cards were a brainchild of the PTA, not the union, and the only admonition was to remember to vote — it did not urge a “YES” or a “NO” vote or promote any candidate) and ask yourself — what more could be done to increase turnout?

        Say what you will about the results, but to say the Board did not do enough to make know the date of the elections and the budget is simply not supportable by the facts. Many segments of the community — pro and anti budget– worked hard to generate enthusiasm or anger for the vote and the results speak for themselves.

      2. I attended every so-called
        I attended every so-called budget meeting and read all the documents provided by the District so let me correct these false statements.

        1) There were three budget workshop meetings not “five or six public hearings”. After the “final” budget was “completed” there was a fourth public meeting where people spoke for or against the final budget. These meetings were not advertised by the District beyond a very small mention on the District’s lightly read web site. The meetings were aired on Channel 77 on Cablevision (and I suppose on Verizon) but the airings were not advertised. None of the video and none of the budget documents were ever put on the District’s web site and are still not on the District’s web site.

        2) There were no “mass mailings” to residents. There was a single mailing of a newsletter. This one mailing is mandate by New York State law. The document sent contained a $22 million error (they left out the Special Education spending). A reader was gracious enough to obtain for me a copy of the budget materials provided to Scarsdale residents; I will try to remember to bring them to the next board meeting. The documents are chock full of information and analysis and allow the voter to understand far more than New Rochelle residents could ever hope to glean from our mailer. No one on the school board could possible defend the third-rate document we get here.

        3) There were very small notices in “newspapers of record” but they are mandated by state law.

        The criteria is not whether they made people who were “paying attention” aware of the school vote but rather whether they reached people who do not normally pay attention. What we can see from the vote totals is that less than 10% of New Rochelle voters “pay attention” to school and library budget votes.

        By law, the school district administers the vote and they do have an obligation in democracy to do whatever they can reasonably do to make sure everyone votes with a recognition that no matter what they do some people will not bother to vote. Of course, it is not in their interest to do that and so, of course, they don’t.

        It is absolutely false to say “the Board did what it could do”. In fact, the opposite is the case, they did the bare minimum required by law. Their energy was focused on parents of children in the public school.

        The central office for the school district is at City Hall. Please show me the large sign in front of City Hall facing North Avenue announcing that May 19th was the day of the school vote? Give Jim Killoran 25 sheets of plywood, some 2 x4s and paint and there could be large signs positioned at key entrance points to New Rochelle (Exit 15 & 16 on I-95, MetroNorth station, the Hutch exits, Route 1) and at major intersections (North & Quaker Ridge, North & Main, North and Heugenot, North and Shore Road) and at a few key places like near the grocery stores. How about signs in front of private/parochial schools to reach THOSE parents?

        I bet for $200 in wood and paint the District could have increased turnout by 200%.

        So, please spare me this nonsense that the District had a half-dozen budget meetings, did mass mailings (plural) and “everything else” that could be done.

    3. yet you read and blog,
      yet you read and blog, cowardly I might add. Someone alike you haven’t a clue what true freedom and free speech is, sad. This is directed to “well well well”.

  3. There were many things going
    There were many things going on at many of the schools today. I find that very funny.

    1. They really rolled out the
      They really rolled out the red-carpet for parents today, for sure. To bad they’re not this welcoming to parents everyday.

      1. voted no…too much to vote

        voted no…too much to vote for, too many high taxes…anonymous

  4. Survey of Polling Places
    I

    Survey of Polling Places

    I went to almost all of the polling places today. Perhaps the most notable thing today was a dog that was not barking — I did not see a single sign put up by the school district announcing that today was election day. If you were not a parent of a child in the schools or within 200 feet of a school building you would have no way to knowing by just driving around or walking around that there was an election going on

    I went around town early this morning.

    I then went around to many of the polling paces between noon and 4 PM. The turnout at that time was generally light but perhaps above average for a school/library election.

    The turnout was light at Trinity, Columbus, Jefferson, Webster. Barnard was a “steady trickle”. Davis was slow. Ward was the most active that I saw. The high school, where I vote, was 265 votes cast as of 4 PM.

    If past is prologue, most votes will be cast between 6 and 8 PM.

    The District is using all their usual tricks to get out “their” vote. I learned that Trinity had a parent event today, Columbus is holding a concert tonight. Webster has some sort of art show event. Obviously geared towards getting out their votes.

    Organisciak was leaving Trinity as I was approaching the building. He did a double-take when he saw me.

    At Columbus, Cindy Babcock-Deutsch and Liz Saraiva were talking with Yigal Joseph outside the school, arguing over where the 100 foot marker belonged. They were getting a measuring tape when I left.

  5. 4 votes from my house for
    4 votes from my house for Malfetano and “no” on the budget. I am taking a relative to vote after dinner.

  6. We received the following
    We received the following e-mail and wondered if anyone had a similar experience. We thank them for checking in.

    On May 19, 2009, at 10:02 AM

    Hello NRCP,

    I just wanted to let you know that I went to vote about a an hour ago, and decided to go back later because I didn’t want to have any confusion with my vote. My polling place is Holy Name School. There was some sort of glitch with the only machine that I saw there. Apparently, Mr. Hastie’s name was not coming down or something to that effect. Although, my vote was not going to be for him, I don’t want there to be any questions about the validity of the votes cast. As I was leaving, the woman was on the phone with what I believe to be the board of ed. I was leaving and someone said, “she’s on the phone with the board of ed right now.” Still, I chose to leave and come back later. I don’t know how many people were there before me, I only saw 2 ladies and 1 gentleman. One of the ladies said she didn’t mind because her candidates name was there. The other seemed to be more perturbed because I believe she was looking for Hastie’s name. I was there around 9 am, besides being on the phone, there was some talk about paper ballots, but I’m not sure what transpired since I left.

    I just wanted to let you know about my experience.
    Take care.

  7. Budget – no – 2votes
    Vince –

    Budget – no – 2votes
    Vince – yes – 2votes
    Not much but I hope it helps

  8. right as rain. this blog is
    right as rain. this blog is required even more given the failure of the print media to represent the community in an even-handed way. my beef is not on a community centered blog such as talk of the sound; it is with the newspapers who too often shunt aside their core mission to “go with the action.” there still will be a hefty audience in need of the printed word until people become more comfortable with technology as well as their ability to afford it. Keep going Bob as I know you undertood the gist of the message was directed at a print media source that is becoming more and more biased and less and less responsive

  9. Not many people know today
    Not many people know today is a voting day. I happen to run into a couple of older residents, and informed them to go vote. It seems only the school age children know it’s a voting day. Please tell every one you know to vote PLEASE! AND VOTE NO!

  10. If your polling place is at
    If your polling place is at Holy Name School, go to Halligan Hall on the side of the church, not the Gym.

    1. Thanks for letting me know.
      Thanks for letting me know. It usually is in the gym.

  11. i voted against the budget
    i voted against the budget and for vincent malefetano. the placement of the yes/no vote for the budget is difficult to locate. it is squeezed in the upper left hand corner. Jack Wagner is still on the ballot and it would have been no problem simply to remove his name; there was plenty of time and I would advise contesting the results if unfavorable simply on this basis.

    I am filing a complaint against the Journal News who promised something Sunday that they have not delivered Tuesday. All they give us is a lame pro budget editorial by a Linda Davis — the classic “its for the kids” with little or no rationiale and no context. They deserve to be challenged on their lack of journalistic integrity as well as placing all relevant information to the reader on their lohud.com. Sorry but more people than you might think buy newspapers to get the news, not access to a blog.

    get out the vote for vincent and be careful to check off no on the budget. it is hard to find and maybe someone can tell me just why it was so difficult to remove Jack’s name. Maybe jack can write the Board of Elections in protest and say that he’;ll keep the peace if they transfer his count to Vincent which, of course, they will not do as it could be double counting.

    warren gross

    1. “Sorry but more people than
      “Sorry but more people than you might think buy newspapers to get the news, not access to a blog.”

      Of course this is true…for now. We are very new. Still in our first year. Yet, just on the strength of word-of-mouth our readership has been growing by leaps and bounds while their readership has been on the decline for years. Let’s see where things stand 2-3 years from now. Give it time.

      1. Looks like the only people
        Looks like the only people in new rochelle that voted no were people on your blog. LOL looks like another 2 years of wasting gas, shooting deer, eating lunch at 10 am, selling plywood and driving around school vehicles on weekend. I must say your doing a great job Cox, keep up the good work. LOL

    2. Good for you. You are a
      Good for you. You are a smart and wise person.I too will be voting NO tonight.
      I was reminding people to vote all day today especially at the local coffee shop. I was happy to hear most went and voted no. However, someone said they were having problems at the Holy Name Polling place. It seems he was only able to vote for one candidate because the machine was broken or not working well. I don’t know how true this is but I am posting this to let others know. I am not surprised that there would be problems.

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