Imagine the surprise in hearing WVOX report the Chamber of Commerce’s decision to cancel the Thanksgiving Day Parade . According to the report, The decision was made Tuesday night to forgo the traditional parade , a staple of community gathering for the past 47 years, due to lack of support. This is a shock and, might I say, an embarrassment as a New Rochelle resident . The president of WVOX, commented on the news with a sad tone to his editorial as he spoke about the lack of “mom and pop” businesses along the route who typically enjoyed the bounty of people congregating along the way. You don’t usually hear a sad tone when Bill O’Shaughnessy speaks.
You can’t help but wonder how a decision like this takes shape and what it actually says about the condition of this fine city. There are, in fact, about 50 kids in the Webster School Twirler Squad who have been working after school for weeks in hopes of marching, wide eyed and smiling ear to ear, thankful for the opportunity to show off a little, as they stake their claim as part of our community. It was sad to watch their eyes well up when they found out they wouldn’t get their 15 minutes of fame after working so hard. How do you explain to them it’s because nobody cared enough ? What’s the lesson to be learned here?
Curious about the series of events, calls went out to the Chamber of Commerce in hopes of dispelling the bad news. We were told that Friday, Oct 30, was the first discussions about the parade cancellation in light of the lack of support (money?) needed to sponsor the parade. Attempting to salvage the time honored tradition, calls were made to local businesses asking if there was interest in saving the Holiday. Costco, Stop and Shop, New Rochelle Harley Davidson all welcomed the chance to support the community. Each one was asked “would you be interested in saving a 47 year old New Rochelle tradition?” the answer was the same in each case – “What can I do to help?”. Fantastic. Community support at it’s best and THANK YOU to all. However, things are rarely as simple as they appear. When one of the potential sponsors contacted the chamber’s president, Rita Mabli directly, they were told “it’s a done deal” nothing more can be done. Wow, just like that it’s over?. The head of the parade committee Rosemary Mcloughlin, later explained the lack of support in more detail. A couple of weeks ago , the NR high School band “backed out, also, the Trinity School band just as suddenly backed out. It wasn’t quite clear who was left, but I know there were twirlers, scout troops, local businesses, and others who were just as shocked upon hearing the ill fated news when they realized they wouldn’t be marching.
After trying to digest all of this, I come home to read “Twirlers Were The Last To Know”. A little story about how the parade and the pancake breakfast were cancelled last month. I don’t know if Jefferson had twirlers, but I know about the Webster group just finding out on Wednesday. I believe Davis had a marching group also(can anyone confirm this?).This is where I get confused. Did the school board know about the cancellation before the Chamber or did the Chamber know last month and just didn’t tell anyone. I ask these questions only to prevent this from happening again. I’ve seen tremendous offers from within our city limits willing to make this happen, so it wouldn’t cost the city anything. If that’s the case why wouldn’t the parade go on as planned. I’m sure we could have had a pancake dinner coincide with the new parade time.
Call the Chamber of Commerce @632-5700 and ask them yourself. (Interestingly enough, the Chamber of Commerce websitehighlights sponsored events such as the Haunted House and the Thanksgiving Day parade specifically.)
I believe in this city, it’s neighborhoods and it’s people. This is an event that’s all about bringing the city together to celebrate what we have right here. Are we losing sight of that, is that what’s it’s coming to? We are a citywide community of local neighborhoods, let’s hold on to that and be thankful for it.
If you’re bothered by this turn of events, let your councilperson know, let the mayor know, most of all, let your kids know that just because we’re the grownups don’t be surprised if we act like children.
Happy Holidays
Noam Bramson, Mayor Phone: (914) 654-2150 Fax: (914) 654-2357 E-mail: NBramson@ci.new-rochelle.ny.us
Louis Trangucci, Council Member, District #1 Home Phone: (914) 235-0499 E-mail:Louistrangucci@aol.com
Albert Tarantino, Council Member, District #2 Contact Number:914 633-1985 E-mail: ataranti@newrochelleny.com
James Count Stowe, Council Member, District #3 Phone/Fax: 914 633-1049 E-mail: JAMESCOUNT@AOL.COM
Councilman Richard St. Paul, District #4 Phone: (914) 420-6887 E-mail: rstpaul@newrochelleny.com
Barry R. Fertel, Council Member, District #5 Phone: (914)-740-4346 E-mail:bfertel@newrochelleny.com
Marianne L. Sussman, Council Member, District #6 Phone: (914-740-7385 E-mail: mariannesussman@optonline.net
New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce 459 Main Street — (914) 632-5700 Chamber@NewRochelleChamber.org
Lies…Lies…Lies
Once again City Officials are lying to all New Rochelle residents. The vote to cancel the Thanksgiving Parade was made long before Nov.30th. It was officially cancelled 2 weeks prior residents being notified. And the real reason to cancel doesn’t have anything to do with the chamber of commerce; it’s that the City doesn’t have money, so they say. But wait, if the City doesn’t have money, then why are City Officials spending money like there is no tomorrow? You see, there is money when it comes to paying for things that City Officials want, like vehicle expenses, so called “official” travel, dining out, etc…
What do we need to do to have an official audit by an outside firm or someone from the State or Federal level to audit expenditures of all New Rochelle City Officials and New Rochelle Board of Education Officials and Members? I’m sure there will be many expenses that are unjustified especially during times of financial crises.