Click to enlarge
FINAL TALLY (unofficial): The School Budget passed 2,200 to 1,420. With 3,600 votes cast the turnout was slightly larger than the 3,300 votes cast last year. All districts except Columbus, Jefferson and Holy Name supported the budget. The Library Budget passed 2,224 v. 1,231.
School Board
*Deidre Polow = 2,365
*Jeff Hastie = 2,053
Vincent Malfetano = 1,159
Kenneth Chorzewski = 742
*winner
Library Board
*Tom Leghorn = 2,326
*Emery Schweig = 2,167
*winner
NOTES FROM LIVEBLOGGING (earlier)
Heading over to City Hall to observe the vote tallies. More to follow. With only holy name and Webster left to report budget is yes=1919 no=1182. Polow=2064. Hastie=1776. Chorzewski=664. Malfetano=925 Library budget passed with 65,5%. School budget 62% yes 38% no. Polow 2190 Chorzewski 708 Hastie 1918 Malfetano 1021…Still waiting for holy name [from my iPhone]
i hope this election points
i hope this election points up many important things and not the least being the importance of change.The results are conclusive enough but not anything to take as a broad mandate. If I read this correctly less than 10% of registered new roc voters came forth and cast ballots for the budget and for the trustees. That is much more meaningful than any statistic especially given the economic downturn we face today and a spot check of other communities near ours seem to portray a more participatory sense. Actually the number of registered voters seems counterintuitive to the results — such a small percentage of eligible who vote. even comparing the yea/nay totals on the budget to the total trustee cast votes is a little problematic.
now nobody go nuts — it has nothing at all to do in my mind with the validity and honesty of the counts. congratulations to hastie and polow and i hope they both profit from the implicit messages as well as the explicit messages.
One is surely how to we encourage more people to exercise their franchise on a matter that effects two thirds of their tax burden in the city and one that has such a significangt effect on current and future city planning. another is how do we ensure city wide representation — should we employ the growing trend toward mayoral control, have council persons and the mayor appoint the board or leave it as is with the provision that there are sub community observers or even an omsbudsman to represent the distinctive needs of the community.
i want to look a little deeper into the data and look at district rankings, participation, etc… to see the extent of the situation; something I hope Jeff Hastie picks up on.
All this said, congratulations to Deirde and Jeff and I hope that they see this less as a mandate for the status quo, but more as a community-based responsbililty.
As for the library, running unopposed is neither a handshake or a closed fist from the community. It does tell me that the library requires a great deal of board attention given its importance to the district, its placement near a number of our new major residential initiatives as well as a recent record of misconduct and worse. Go get em Em
warren gross
New Rochelle’s population is
New Rochelle’s population is in excess of 72,000, (‘2000 Census). Yet 3600 voted on the School Board and Budget. I rest my case. As my former Elementary School Principal, Dr H. W. Brindle use to say “A word to the wise is sufficient, but a word to a fool is wasted”. Brace your selves.
New Rochelle has roughly 40,000 registered voters
I was at City Hall on election night and had to laugh listening to the congratulatory clap-trap coming from people like Emery Schweig and Cindy Babcock-Deutsch how it was so wonderful that the people of New Rochelle really came out to support their schools. The rest of the apparatchiks were similarly too well-pleased with themselves to note that less than 5% of New Rochelle voters approved the budget. In their mind, they got “60%” and that’s a “landslide”. Yet, ask around town and few people even knew about the school and library vote.
Having constructed a totally rigged game in which likely supporters of the school budget (and their “official” candidates) are the only ones repeatedly and persistently informed about the vote and for which the minimum effort mandated by state law is expended to notify everyone else, they actually believe their budget has widespread support in the community.
These are the same kinds of people who rooted for the Lions over the Christians.
Talk about a rigged game,
Talk about a rigged game, the whole process is rigged if and when a budget is defeated twice and your taxes still go up!
Too bad our district wasn’t one of those in 0.__% increases that I saw passed in many other Westchester communities. No, we had to be over the average Westchester/Putnam increase of 1.92% that the NY Times reported on 5/17. Even better, I think the school board had and missed an opportunity to actually lower taxes this year and didn’t and I’m sure they used all their Stimulus money to plug holes in this years budget rather than use it for say a 1 shot capital improvement. This I’m sure will come back to haunt us down the road at some point and in the form of higher taxes.
I agree. This is why people
I agree. This is why people don’t vote. I know too many people who don’t vote just for this reason. They feel it’s a waste of time. To keep voting. You can win once, with NO votes. Then you will have to vote again.
I keep hearing this and believe it is true for many people
I do not think it is true for everyone but certainly enough that is one the main things to be overcome.
My desire to defeat the budget (twice) has nothing to do with lowering taxes but the effect of defeating the budget will be to “permanently” lower the budget starting the year AFTER. The budget will be lower because they will clear out the hundreds of “wrongly enrolled” students and get rid of all the sweetheart deals and no-bid contracts and non-mandated spending that is used to “bribe” certain voting blocks.
Here is a clue on one way that works — in order to keep the private and parochial families in line, especially in the North End, the district provides free busing for kids who do not qualify for free busing. This little perq is worth thousands of dollars a year to these families; so even though their kids do not attend the public schools they are given sweeteners to keep them just happy enough not to vote against the budget. They know that if the budget fails, the state would come in, look at the non-mandated busing and take it away. With that gone, those families have no reason to support the budget or remain neutral.
I think the budget should be defeated (twice) every 7-10 years to force the state to take over the district’s finances for a year and “clean house”.
None of this would even be necessary if the District was open about what they do but since they operate in a world of secret meetings, back room deals, withheld public records, and routinely lying to the public and “press” such as it is, there is no better way.
Making Some Changes to Commenting
Adding the ability to create headlines via a subject line and collapsing the threads and trying to add a theme-able recent comment block
Maybe the 15 others will be
Maybe the 15 others will be sooo Excited!!
Large numbers are not necessarily required to institute change.
There have been a few comments that keep making reference to an audience of fifteen. That number must have shown up on some talking points memo.
Large numbers are not necessarily required to institute change. Have you ever heard of the Loyal Nine?
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/prerevolution/terms/term_4.html
Great job Bob!
The
Great job Bob!
The information on this blog is great, but I think we need to field a slate of candidates for the next school & library votes. The system can’t possibly change if the incumbants run unopposed. And I feel the same about the City Counsel & Mayoral races. We need people to run that will spark some enthusiasism so the voters have options and maybe more people will vote. I don’t know how many registered voters there are in NR, but a turn out of 3600 is shameful.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think the vast majority of registered voters in NR feel disenfranchised so they don’t bother to vote at all.
That being said, I’m not surprised that the budget did pass. I expected that it would, and yet I still went out and voted no, like I have since I moved here 11 years ago. The point is to keep pressing and moving forward and look towards the next election. Change can be a slow process sometimes.
Thanks again for your efforts and keep on writing, maybe someday I’ll figure out how to register.
To the other out there that like to poke fun at the people contributing to this discussion, stop hiding and post your name, lets see how much of a man or woman you are! If you can’t come out from behind the “Anonymous”, then you are truly a coward!
I sure wish everyone WOULD
I sure wish everyone WOULD register — under their own name or using a pseudonym — because then I would not have to approve all the comments.
I do not think it could be much easier to register, just click here:
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/user/register
I recommend that people who do register also read this page:
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/node/335
OK, I’ll sign up, but 1st I
OK, I’ll sign up, but 1st I have to think of a handle!
Good! You wrote this “
Good! You wrote this ” Change can be a slow process sometimes.”
How about “slow change”?
The beginning of the process starts with taking stock of where we are at the outset. What is clear is that supporters of the status quo have tremendous resources behind them and are adept at putting them to work to advance their interests. They have all sorts of built-in institutional advantages including networks to push out their messages ranging from the PTA email lists to school children to the teachers union membership. Let’s start by recognizing that any successful effort will have to counter all the built-in advantages.
maybe something like this
maybe something like this would be a better approach
A man running for mayor in a town in Croatia promised that if elected,
he would bring rampant corruption and rob the town at every turn. His
campaign slogan was, “All for me, nothing for you.” And he won.Locals
said they were impressed by Josko Risa’s honesty, which they
likened to a breath of fresh air.”Now we know what we are letting ourselves in for,”
said one resident.
http://www.croatiantimes.com/index.php?id=3957
Heh! Stop giving Cindy
Heh! Stop giving Cindy Babcock-Deutsch ideas for her 2010 campaign.
Finished
Yeah.. All 15 people who read this garbage might be enough to win chairman of the rock at payne lake! You’ve lost everything cox. New rochelle was extremely victorious last night! Your existence actually made people vote for the winners!!!
You sound so dum!!! The only
You sound so dum!!! The only people that should win, are the children of New Rochelle. Or are you someone who works for the school system? And want a big raise?
Check your numbers and your spelling.
At the present writing of this comment there have been 52,141 visitors to this site; far more than 15 (just check the number at the bottom of the page). Although you were celebrating the districts victory, I would guess you are not from this city. How do I know? Someone TRULY familiar with this fine city would know how to spell the name ‘Paine’.
You say Payne, I say Paine,
Tomatoe, Tomathoh.
Please anon, do not criticize our little troll. “Payne” is how you spell “Paine” over in Yonkers.
I thought so, too.
Seems like you have become a real ‘payne’ for our troll.
I really do get it and it
I really do get it and it has nothing to do with sour grapes. I will simply suck it up. Let me tell you the reason for my request and it is one that many communities in the nation follow. It has to do with the simple question of regional representation. Like it or not, we have distinctions within the city and this is not necessarily an indictment on any individual. In fact, a major issue in Civil Rights was to ensure community representation (defined as the different segments in the City). What you have today largely throughout the nation is the fruits of that labor. It does not mean that any current board member is discriminatory; what it means is that there are areas in our city that are not represented and frankly, no amount of visits from Vincent Malefetano to these areas likely would have substantially changed that result.
Most cities even those where there are appointed boards have this proportionality. New York City ensures that each Borough President, for example, appoints a board member. Ask yourself why do we have City Councilpersons representing unique districts or communities within the city? Shouldn’t we simply elect 7 or so people regardless of where they live to represent the entire city? Look, like it or not, believe it or not, the quesions behind access, transparency and disenfranchisement will not go away. You will also see a significant change in how boards are convened or appointed once President Obama’s Education Chief Arne Duncan moves to convince mayors to take over the district boards.
My data request is not unfair, unusual or even negative. If we can determine the percentage of the overall community that voted for or against the budget, we can see what can be done or how we can bring this entire city together by arranging for some way for all city districts to have a voice, elected or otherwise. And, there is no use in saying that each current member can or will fairly represent the entire community. Why would this sort of thing trouble you or anyone else?
Also, you should be more aware and sympathetic to the realities of the electoral process itself. The north area of town will have a greater per capita percentage of voters; the others less so for reasons ranging from apathy to ineligibility. The sitting board is likely all from one or two areas of the City. You must also understand that many of the issues raised in this blog and elsewhere are legitimate. There are real concerns over a lack of capital planning, the relationship of the union to the district, the unwillingness of the board to both produce useful information and to invite community representation and the deteriorating student performance results as well as the unprecedented number of consecutive years of tax increases.
I don’t know where you live, but I respect your opinion and I wish the board well despite my opposition to much of what I have experienced and observed in the district. I simply think we need to acknowledge a growing concern with district performance and oversight. One or two of our communities in New Rochelle has all of the power and I hope and pray that enlighted people from those communities be sensitive to the realities of what is going on in New Rochelle overall and support active and involved full community representation. I don’t want some now librarian trustee telling me to “suck it up” after 70 odd years of life, service to our great country, a solid record of both employment and volunteer service and an absolute conviction that we can and should do more and better for the community overall.
I wish you sir or madam all of the best and call upon you named or unnamed to step up for all residents and perhaps support a small step such as having each council person appoint a non-voting liaison to the board to offer community-based input regardless of income level or other demographic
warren gross
To misterg – much gratitude
To misterg – much gratitude to you for sharing your wisdom; but more importantly much gratitude to you for your “service to our great country”.
The problem warren is this,
The problem warren is this, you and cox represent evil. You should know by watching batman, evil never wins. they gain ground and then are destroyed. Your credibility is finished therefore your blog is pretty much DONE!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I would like to think this
I would like to think this post is sarcasm, but I don’t think it is. So, to this poster, I would like to say, posts like yours are wrong and unhelpful. I don’t agree much with Cox and I dislike a lot of what I see on this blog, but that does not make him evil. I bet you voted for Obama. Is this how Obama treats people whose views are different from his? Everyone is entitled to a voice and not to be villified for expressing an opinion about issues of civic importance.
I think you were remarking
I think you were remarking on my comments, about how I think this blog is good for New Rochelle, and that I think Bob Cox is not evil. My comment is two above. Just to inform you I DID NOT VOTE FOR OBAMA. And never will.
No, I was not remarking on TBONR comment
I was remarking on the comment prior to that, by an anonymous poster, who said that Cox is evil.
TBONR, I would not have guessed that you voted for Obama, I assure you.
credibility, who said I had
credibility, who said I had any. relax, have a beer or lithium anything — maybe bob cox is buying who knows. see you on this blog in 6 months. warren
Ha, Ha, thanks for a laugh.
Ha, Ha, thanks for a laugh. I don’t know warren or cox. But I think they are doing a great service for New Rochelle. Never before have I have so much information on what is going on. New Rochelle needs people like them. New Rochelle has always been one sided. I too think evil never wins, so watch out!
Serious commentary
Pay attention folks.This is some very deep commentary from a person taking his life lessons from a batman cartoon. Be very afraid.
If all of your posts and
If all of your posts and more of the posts on this blog were as calmly reasoned as this one, you and this blog would be much more influential.
AND now with all the raises
AND now with all the raises the school system will get. IT TIME to give TEACHERS a gift for the end of the year. WHAT A JOKE. They get enough of our taxes.
I am still shocked. I
I am still shocked. I thought this time for sure it would be defeated. Since January I have heard fellow parents complaining about job losses and not having enough money but they still voted yes to pay more.It is unbelievable that even the north enders who pay so much more than the south end in property taxes still vote yes to an increase no matter how much it is. They must all have their jobs still and paid off their mortgages.
Get out then! Which house
Get out then! Which house is it so I can buy it for 20 cents on the dollar. Good always prevails over evil!
Oh yeah like your property
Oh yeah like your property is worth so much more now!
Sounds like you are the one
Sounds like you are the one who is being evil. Why would you wish misfortune on a neighbor or fellow resident? This is not a sellers market, it sounds like you are a buyer with money to spare. I wouldn’t go out looking for bargains just yet, you may need that disposable income to pay for the new tax increases. Let’s just hope that all those that voted ‘yes’ will remain employed.
What evil are you talking
What evil are you talking about. These are just concered tax payers. I am a parent with children in the school system. I feel there is a lot of waste. I will be going to all the PTA meeting I can. I’v been to some these PTA meetings and the PTA memebers are people who need some power in their own life.
I’t also means that your
I’t also means that your house will go down in value too,
Even with this budget the
Even with this budget the New Rochelle Schools system will always be mired in Mediocrity. I have 2 in the system and I have 2 in the Private schools system. The unions, the waste and the shear size gives this system no ability to change. The NYC schools system was forced to break up their High Schools into little boutique schools to counter the same problems. Dregs like Randy Weingartner have contributed to the mess that Albert Shanker started.. Bloomberg took it out of those fat lazy summer off UFT’ers and figured out how to beat them at their own game. In New Rochelle the Tax payer is going to pay the freight for this out of control mess. Sooner or later they are going to have to address this single High School School System. You can’t have the numbers attending and have much room for expansion no matter how manny buidings you link to the site. I see a North End High School coming that won’t win manny football games but will have 98% going on to quality Higher Education. I voted no because I believe that in this economy a message must reach the fat cats. I guess the message that was received was the Tax payers were told to suck it up and indeed they did.Now let Polow deal with the cards because either way its a mess.
Hastie and Polow destroyed
Hastie and Polow destroyed your candidates!!! The budget passed by flying colors. Why don’t you go do whatever it is you and cox do! You are nothing and you’ll never be anything. This site allows you to have a very small voice that nobody hears!!!
Since this site and those on
Since this site and those on it have a very small voice that nobody hears you have absolutely nothing to fear from this site. You can safely ignore it. Funny, however, that you don’t ignore it. Or that members of the school board read the site obsessively.
If they did read it, it’s a
If they did read it, it’s a safe bet they’ll probably stop. Nobody cares about you, they never really did, you were only a blip in time in the long calendar of New Rochelle…your 15 minutes of New Rochelle fame are OVER! Other blogs are being created and yours will die off slowly most probably. Your readership was somewhere around 200 a day. That will probably die down to about 20 a day. Your stories are getting more and more far fetched and untrue…You have attempted to bite at the lives of good people of our community. You bit at the wrong people and now it’s your turn to get bitten. The people of new rochelle in all areas have spoken and you are OUT!! And yeah, when I’m bored and have nothing else to do, i’ll probably check out your site, until the other one is built.
The headline on this post
The headline on this post reads, “New Rochelle School & Library Budget Pass, Hastie & Polow Elected to School Board”. Why does that make you so angry at Mr. Cox? It sounds like a perfectly reasonable headline that I might read in any local paper, hear on any local radio station or see on any local cable news channel. Again, did I miss something? Were we voting for Mr. Cox to be IN or OUT? If anything, I think the stories are getting ‘more and more’ accurate and closer to uncovering the truth. Although, I do not know Mr. Cox personally, I would venture to guess that the appearance of any additional local New Rochelle web blog would be a welcome ‘site’. 🙂
Not a ‘safe bet’ at all. I
Not a ‘safe bet’ at all. I BET readership will only continue to increase now that people need to keep a closer eye on the money in this budget and the ‘business as usual’ practices of the incumbent and her apprentice.
Do you realize you are contradicting yourself? First you question if there are readers, than you say there are 200 a day. Which is it? Writing a comment is impossible to do if you’re not reading the posts. There seem to be a lot of comments; good, bad or indifferent. How do they do that without reading this blog? To use your words: ‘The people of new rochelle in all areas’ ARE reading this blog. I hope I haven’t bored you, but then again you ‘have nothing else to do’. You’re probably checking out this site right now. Welcome.
They are not nothing. They
They are not nothing. They are fellow citizens of your city who happen to disagree with you on certain issues. This is not the way to behave toward your neighbors.
Is that your goal? To
Is that your goal? To destroy? I would hope that whoever the candidates are they would never seek to destroy anything or anyone. We all live in this city and the candidates represent us all, regardless of who voted for them or not.
When Ronald Reagan was about to undergo emergency surgery to remove the bullet from where he was shot, he jokingly asked if the doctor was a republican. The doctor replied something like, ‘Today, Mr. President, we are all republicans.’ Today and every day, we are all residents of New Rochelle.
Why are you so mad. I just
Why are you so mad. I just don’t understand it. You won, be happy. I voted no and I’m ok with it.
So there yu have it.
So there yu have it. Approximately 3,600 people in this city know what is going on or just plain care. 11,000 kids in the school district so there should be at the minimum 9,000 parents to vote and we pull a little more than a third.
It is discouraging but the appathy is not exclusive to New Ro. This goes to show that your vote is important and also shows that a candidate has to broaden his or her base. It is imperative that a south, east or west end candidate come up to the north end and try to steal votes.
As per “Outrageous I am done…” If the North Eneders are the only ones getting out there to vote then it will be only their vote that wins. Instead of fighting the “evil” north enders its time for you or any one out there to cross Eastchester road and start campaining North. Instead of yelling that they do not come south take the fight to them. There are reasonable people up there even though you do not believe it but if Hastie and Polow were the only ones talking to them what would you expect. Give them a reason to look elesewhere otherwise they will vote for their neighbors by default.
What amazes me is how many votes were cast for the library board that was unapposed. I wish they counted those who chose not to vote for either.
This blog is finished!! BA
This blog is finished!! BA BYE!
Sorry to disappoint but this
Sorry to disappoint but this site is not going anywhere.
The data speaks for itself: http://tinyurl.com/ryn9gc
We are doubling our direct traffic every three months and are on track to reach 100,000 unique visits and over 250,000 page views in our first year of operation.
We had a couple of national stories that spiked traffic in December and February but when you take those out you see is steady and sustainable growth in readership which suggests that Talk of the Sound will soon be the #1 “New Rochelle” web site in the world. We have already achieved a Google Page Rank of 4 which is higher than almost every “New Rochelle” web site save the government and college sites. Some of our stories already getting more reads than those at the Journal News and that trend looks likely to continue. We have had days with traffic higher than WVOX has listeners.
So, I suppose our trolls had been better get used to us being around for a while.
For those who support the school board or any other point of view, you continue to be welcome to register like everyone else and publish blog posts and comments without moderation.
Why is it finished. I’m
Why is it finished. I’m reading it and YOUR still reading it. HA HA.
Why would the results of a
Why would the results of a school board election and budget vote be the deciding factor in the termination of a community blog? To say ‘this blog is finished’ doesn’t make any sense. What one chooses as a source of information was not up for a vote, either was where one choses to have political debates. Disenfranchised voters/taxpayers will always find a way to make their voices heard, whether Mr. Cox provides that avenue or not. This blog has more to do with this country’s founding principles then it has to do with Mr. Cox. I wonder if critics of this blog would also have condemned that ‘commoner’ in 1776 for distributing his ‘sensible’ pamphlets?
because your a crazy maniac
because your a crazy maniac who is filled with lies and innuendos and nothing you say is true. You told many lies the last few days and it is now revealed you really dont have anyone that believes in what you say. You and warren gross are it, and if i were bruce negrin and peggy godfrey, I’m probably thinking I’m going to take my blog off here cause I don’t want to be associated with the name bob cox.
I have no intention of
I have no intention of taking my blog off. I read Bob Cox’s articles with great interest. We have no newspaper that really covers what is going on in the city as he does. Thank you Mr. Cox.
I never met bob cox, peggy
I never met bob cox, peggy godfrey or bruce negrin. but, i will guarantee you that none of these public spirited citiznes will surrender their site because you are upset at cox and gross. Negrin and Godfrey both may know that I have admired and commented on their intelligence, openness and commitment. they are open, civil, intelligent and i don’t think they are going to commit hari kari if anyone see things other than they do on issues. they are exactly the kinds of people we need to celebrate and value. God Bless both Peggy and Bruce (yeah, why not Bob Cox) as well. New Rochelle could use dozens more like them.God bless you as well my manic friend.
you probably have a louder bark than bite, but relax and have a sandwich. It will do you a world of good.
warren gross
You sound like a child. I
You sound like a child. I wish you would print your name.
Cox, Every day you sound
Cox, Every day you sound like a child! The crazy thing is you post your name, not cause you think that people actually care about what you have to say, but because you wish to scare people. You’re a fool, as I’ve said before, people have come around just like you and they’ve been community jokes just like yourself. You’re a joke cox, a complete New Rochelle joke. It’s funny too, cause New Rochelle could use a little drama. Everyone gets their 15 mins of fame at some point in their life. Yours is now, congrats. I guess some people like their fame to be remembered for something glorious and for something positive they did in the community. You want your fame to be destruction and abuse. It tells people exactly the kind of person you are and what your motives are. You’re a very evil and disturbed man. I’m sure your family is very proud of you.
Funny you should choose the
Funny you should choose the word ‘disturbed’.
Unfortunately, you’ve gotten fame confused with fairness. I would guess people commenting on this blog are NOT looking for their ’15 mins of fame’ just their 15 minutes of fairness. The 3 minute public comment session at board meetings was recently expanded to: all the time you can possibly want writing in the comment box of this blog.
It’s also ‘disturbing’ that you think ‘New Rochelle could use a little drama’. Why would anyone CHOOSE to have drama?
who cares!!
FINISHED!!!!!!
Turn of your computer.
If you don’t care and are finished with this conversation, just turn off your computer. It’s just like changing the channel on your television, turning the dial on your radio or hanging-up your telephone. It’s also very obvious WHO cares.
This is right.
To those
This is right.
To those posters on this blog who are so unhappy with the board and the budget:
There is no point being outraged at the board. It is democratically elected and it is following the will of the people who elected it. Your disagreement is not really with them but with your fellow citizens of New Rochelle who have different views than you do about the way the school system is run. Their opinion is not less legitimate than yours, it’s just different.
Politics is the art of persuading other people. Your problem is not lack of turnout, it is that too few people feel as outraged as you do about the school taxes and the board. If they did, they’d vote. You can say they didn’t know about the election, but really that is just another indication of the fact that they are not all that unhappy with the status quo. Everyone gets a property tax bill and everyone knows that the schools are the biggest portion of it.
The north end is by and large happy with the schools and the board (and the city council, for that matter). That is their right. They are not bad people because they have a different view than you do. You are not bad people because of your views, either. The bottom line though is that right now your view is the minority, and theirs is the majority – and by a wide margin.
If you want change you have to persuade, not villify.
they do but the north end
they do but the north end machine is too powerful. the fight is not over.
bob cox, by copy of this blog, i am asking if you are able to get a school by school report of voting results so we can gauge various facts that support a change in system — we can still work with Mr Malefetano on these points and maybe work as a community to demand community representation via an omsbudsman (malefetano) or some approach
if you are able to I would suggest — for both budget and board members
1. elementary school by school with final totals.
2. middle — young and leonard separately
3. high school — as is.
warren gross
You just don’t get it Warren
You just don’t get it Warren — the community has elected thier representative. The fact that you don’t like their choice is fine, but to suggest that there be a created position to “represent the community” is ludicrous — that is the function of the Board. We get the government we deserve — the community elected rational, honest, articulate,involved candidates to the Board yesterday. Deal with it.
It’s heard to deal with.
It’s heard to deal with. When you know if you vote NO. And the No vote wins. We have to vote again and again. Then the school system gets out there and tells parents that programs will be taken away. Everyone I talk to feels its a no win situation. They say “Why VOTE”. There should be one time to vote and thats it. Then I bet things will change!
“You learn the most from
“You learn the most from your unhappiest customers.”
This can be a wonderful opportunity for Ms. Polow to REALLY show the community that she does represent the WHOLE city. If she will keep in mind that there were people who did not vote for her and try to embrace them as well. Bill Gates was once quoted as saying, “You learn the most from your unhappiest customers.” Maybe that’s a start.
Warren,
If you click on the
Warren,
If you click on the image at the top of this post it will expand it to a much larger image which will show you votes by precinct. There is no measure of “vote by school” only by precinct. What it shows is that the North End overwhelmingly supported the budget, Hastie and Polow, the south end went slightly for the budget and the Hastie-Polow ticket. The east and west end voted against the budget and supported Malfetano.
There are many ways to bring about change — only one of which is at the ballot box. There are the courts, the press, protest, etc. This recent election is just one of many ways and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
In this case, it is hard to say that 2,200 people voting in favor of the school budget is some sort of vindication when we have about 40,000 voters in New Rochelle. The same can be said for the school board. It really more of a triumph of the school district’s ability to operate in secret and in public at the same time. It is also a commentary on residents sense of civic responsibility.
More fundamentally, the entire nature of the referendum on the budget places all the inertia on the side of supporting the budget.
If you went to a school, read the mailer that was sent home, read the Journal News or listened to WVOX you knew about the election. The majority of voters in New Rochelle have no reason to be at a public school building, the readership of the Journal News has dropped over the past decade and WVOX has a very small listenership. Even for those who did know there was an election it would have been very easy for yesterday to have passed without any reminder that they needed to go vote THAT day.
I drove all over New Rochelle yesterday and went to almost every polling place and from one end to the other and other than a small white sign on school building there was not a single sign that an election was taking place. To that extent, the District is behaving in a perfectly rationale manner. They want to bring only those people who support what the District is recommending in the budget to come vote. They also set up the polling places, count the votes and otherwise administer the election. They have over 2,000 union employees, many of whom live in New Rochelle not only prepared to vote but prepared to use children to get our “their” voters under the guise of supporting the idea of everyone coming out to vote.
Money talks and I would bet that the District spent no more that required by law to inform the public at large about the vote. Some commenters here want to give credit to the District for stories in the Journal News or the Budget News newsletter that is sent out or the League of Women Voters event but these things have nothing to the District or are mandated by law. There were many, many things the District could have done if they wanted a large turn out. Obviously, they do not.
The District basically acts as judge, jury and executioner so looking to them to create a level playing field that might result in an outcome disadvantageous to them is a waste of time. It would be like our saying that Monsanto lawyers are going to arbitrate all asbestos litigation or having the mafia run RICO trials. No matter what they promise, who believes they are going to be fair. On top of that the State government controls what goes on through NYSED, a part of State government that obviously supports the existing public school system and the bureaucracy which runs it. Then there are the union laws and the education laws which stack the decks so far in favor of the school district it is a wonder there is every ANY successful opposition.
It is precisely for this reason that I opted to create an entirely new venue to take on the District, a web site they do not control, through which questions could be raised and where answers can be made public whether they like it or not. We have been at it less than a year and have already had a major impact on the way the District conducts itself. It may never be possible to dislodge the people in control of the school district but we have already demonstrated that it is possible to shine a bright light on they are up to and just maybe go a little ways towards keeping them honest (at least occasionally).
This was my first time really looking closely at how this whole process works. I made a lot of notes and have some ideas on how the playing field might be leveled in the future. Those discussions have already begun and I think you will see some changes start to show themselves over the next year or two.
Meanwhile, folks should recall we still have some newsworthy events to watch — what now happens with the union contract, what happens with the size of Full-Day K enrollment, what happens with the decline in the assessed value of property, what happens with property taxes. We have staked out some positions here on that; let’s see what actually happens.
I will go out on a limb here and say that there will be one national news story about major problems with the administration of the New Rochelle School District and one district employee, at least, will be arrested and charge with some form of corruption by Christmas.
I’d also be willing to bet
I’d also be willing to bet that your blog has nobody reading it. I’d also like to bet you any amount of money nothing ever happens again from your blog. You are a joke and so is your bullsh*t. Every time you talk the 15 people who read this see the Bullsh*t fly out of your mouth. It’s hysterical! Keep talking out of the back of your head. I love it, and i love telling you how stupid you are you stupid idiot.
You are the winner
You have won the “most incoherent mindless rambling”award. Or, your under the age of 8. I can’t decide. Lets look at your silly comment.
-If nobody’s reading it, who’s posting the comments?
-Nothings happening? It’s worth it just to see your jealousy of Bob
-Your hysterical (not in the humorous way)
-Talking out of the back of a head? Wow
-Stupid? I know you are, but what am I? (that’s what you sound like. you inbred fool)
-Take all your money out of the bank and buy a clue
thanks bob for the update
thanks bob for the update and information. more important, you have started a movement that will lead to some degree of positive change. you should feel proud
warren gross
As a north ender who voted
As a north ender who voted for the budget, I would have NO PROBLEM at all with the idea of specific parts of the community appointing an ombudsman to represent their interests. I think it is a good idea, actually. I would only urge that you find someone who is thoughtful and well-versed in the facts, rather than someone who will just be a fountain of anger and incoherence.
I do not think that Malfetano is your best choice.
I just don’t understand why
I just don’t understand why people don’t get out and vote!
Because they are not
Because they are not actually that unhappy with the status quo. Simple as that.
Outrageous! I am done, I
Outrageous! I am done, I give up. In this bad economy the budget passed. I for one am putting a for sale sign up in front of my house and let someone else live in this stupid town run by the north enders.
What do you think is going
What do you think is going to be the reaction to this? That someone will beg you to stay?
I suggest in choosing your new community that you look carefully at what its educational system looks like and ensure that it is agreeable to you before you move in.
More than likely, the buyer of your house will be someone who will vote yes on the next school budget.
Stick with it is what I say
Stick with it is what I say and you don’t want to sell in this market anyway! We need people like you around, and remember change doesn’t happen overnight. Since the contingency budget was only slightly less the 1 voted on yesterday, this budget would have passed no matter what. Just don’t get discouraged.
I too have thought long and hard about always voting for the losing side in these things, but hey thats my right and at least its free so I keep voting and you should too.