Party Chairman Douglas Colety convened a meeting of the New Rochelle Republicans last night at the City Hall Annex. New Rochelle’s three Republican Councilmen, Louis Trangucci, Albert Tarantino and Richard St. Paul and James Maisano, Minority Leader of the Westchester County Legislature address party members.
A discussion of term limits for local elected officials, led by Councilman Tarantino, showed widespread agreement that the term limit issue would be pressed by Republicans over the coming year at City Council meetings. The GOP would like to limit City Council seats to two 4 year terms with one exception for a Council member who is elected as Mayor after two terms on Council at which point the councilperson-turned-Mayor would be allowed to serve another four year term.
Richard St. Paul began a discussion on the downtown parking issue which Republican members of the City Council have supported. Both St. Paul and Tarantino said the motive for extending 2-hour metered parking in the downtown area was not about “revenue generation” but an attempt to maintain a “flow” of cars coming in and out of the area to shop and dine. Rob Biagi, who has previously run against George Latimer for New York State Assembly, pointed out that neighboring communities like Larchmont allow free but limited parking in their downtown area. Enforcement officers use chalk to mark the tires of cars parked in down and ticket those cars that are still parked in the same spot at the end of the allotted time period. Biagi’s view was seconded by several other speakers.
The Republicans have not agreed upon a candidate to run for the city judgeship soon to be vacated by City Judge Preston Scher. The Democrats have reportedly considered several candidates including current Zoning Board Chariperson Susan Kettner and current Library Board of Trustees Vice President Greg Varian.
Kolte offered local party members a brief snapshot of the status of statewide races for Governor and U.S. Senate.
