Like the song says, “It’s just forty-five minutes from Broadway” but make sure you go to the bathroom before you leave by train for the city, cause you won’t find one at the Station. That’s the sad new reality for the 7th largest city in the state. Not enough in the kitty to keep a toilet at the Metro-North station up and running, “But hey, take a gander at this terrific skyline we have over here, you can see it from the Throgs Neck bridge! and by god that’s an authentic “Trump” tower, did ya’ know that? And how ‘bout those cool plans for the Post Office block and the waterfront behind the Armory? Whadda’ ya’ mean what’s an Armory? It’s an armory.” Of course my view of New Rochelle is from across the border here in Larchmont, but my mom and dad’s families are from Broadview, and Faneuil Place, Iona Prep, Holy Family, and The Ursuline School. I bought my Converse high-tops at Allen’s when it was on Huguenot and my clothes from Arnold Constable and Paul Scott’s. Proctor’s (up the stairs to the balcony) on Saturday nights. My grandmother took me to Schraft’s for lunch for a good report card and I skated on Twin Lakes in front of the High school long before the big fire in ’68. When your previous mayor, on his way up to his dream job as Westchester County Clerk, tried to sidle up an Ikea larger than the one in Elizabeth N.J, right on our back door in your “blighted area” on Fifth Avenue, we went to the mattresses to stop it. We know you weren’t happy about that, but fat chance you were going to ruin our quality of life to lighten your tax burden and undo the poor commercial real estate decisions of three decades. Now you’ve got another chance to alter the direction of your city this year. Is there such a thing as a politician who’s not looking for his next leg up? Who doesn’t care to be re-elected? Who just wants to fix something that’s not working for the sake of fixing it? Have you heard enough of “All I’ve ever wanted to do is to serve my fellow citizens? I’ve just wanted to give back to the community? (Please, hand me the sick bag now cause I’m not gonna’ make it.) Is there a Chris Christie for New Rochelle? Is someone going to step up and not care what’s going to look best for his next elective resume? Is it too late? Or has Nita just been warming up the seat for Noam all this time, and it’s just a matter of who’s up next? We’re watching for hope and change here on the other side of the fence.
Mike Scully