President Obama will soon give his State of the Union Address. Andrew Cuomo just gave his State of the State Address. Supervisor Valerie O’Keefe of the Town of Mamaroneck just gave her annual State of the Town address. These reports on the state of the country, the state and other municipalities happen at the beginning of the year, every January. So why does New Rochelle hold its State of the City address in March? By March the year is almost one-quarter over. The City just gathered people for a New Year’s Day Inauguration event. Why not combine the two? The Council just approved the 2011 budget? Doesn’t it make sense to then have the Mayor or City Manager give some sort of report on the previous year and projections for the coming year? Who even makes this decision? The Chamber of Commerce of New Rochelle hosts the event. They have to coordinate with the Mayor. Richard St. Paul has already proposed creating a Commission to review the City Charter. Perhaps it is time to require that the State of the City address be given at a specific time.
A couple from New Rochelle, Debbie and Michael Rosenberg, were the winners of the A/X Swiss Teams at the Edgar Kaplan Winter Regional in New York City along with Alison Wilson and Aaron Silverstein of New York. In a report in The New York Times “the winners needed to blitz (score 20-0 in victory points) in the last round to take the title, and they would not have done it without the diagramed deal.” OK. I have no idea what that means but if you are into Bridge I guess you will know. In any case, congratulations to the Rosenbergs. If this is your idea of fun, check out the Winter Regional at the Rye Town Hilton next week.
State Senator Jeff Klein of the Bronx and a little bit of New Rochelle will no longer caucus with the Democrats in Albany. Klein was joined by Diane Savino of Staten Island and Brooklyn, David Valesky of Oneida County and David Carlucci of Rockland County. Klein resigned his position as deputy minority leader, telling the New York Daily News “I can’t stand by them any longer. We need to move forward.”
Like The New York Times discovering Brooklyn, the Journal News appears to have rediscovered New Rochelle this weekend with three — count ’em — three stories on the Queen City of the Sound: As LeCount Square falters, block business owners ask what’s next , Echo Bay back on New Rochelle council agenda, New Rochelle: ‘Dying breed’ of worker back in the hunt.
Change is long overdue
I agree with the State of the City being delivered in January. The following is from the NR City Charter, subsection Mayor/Duties; “He or she shall preside over the Council, represent the City in intergovernmental relationships, present an annual State of the City message and perform other duties specified by the Council as allowed by the Charter.” While the charter defines the State of the City Address as a mayoral duty, it doesn’t specify a date. I would bet the response is that New Rochelle doesn’t have final figures for the previous year until the end of January or February from our finance commissioner. Speaking of finance, it is rumored that the finance commissioner is not a Certified Public Accountant and to be fare that is not a current job requirement under the charter so if true I would recommend multiple charter changes.