Surprise Visit to New Rochelle School District Yard at 47 Cliff Street Raises Numerous Questions

A late night visit to a property leased by the City School District of New Rochelle for use by the Buildings & Grounds department raised numerous questions about how the location is being managed by the district. Talk of the Sound made an unannounced visit to 47 Cliff Street, a parcel leased by the district from Nancy Lore of Pelham, between 2:00 AM and 3:00 AM on Friday, February 4th.

There was no activity at the school district yard but the main gates had been left wide open. There appeared to be no security measures beyond several flood lights which illuminated the yard.

In the yard were two trucks from Pro Fuel, a local oil company. A Pro Fuel representative reached by telephone stated that the company had a lease from Nancy Lore, the property owner. Lore confirmed that Pro Fuel was a tenant with the use of 2 truck parking spaces in the yard.

Near the oil trucks was a boat on a trailer, parked in the corner of the property behind the oil trucks. The “Little Brother” has a registration valid until 2013. The property owner stated she had no knowledge of the boat being on the property adding that storing a boat was not part of the lease with the oil company. A representative of the oil company likewise stated having no knowledge of the boat. Winter storage of a boat that size can cost up to $2,000.

The windows on the side of the building were open so someone standing outside could look directly into the building. Unauthorized entry into the building through the windows would appear to be quite simple.

Inside a window near the front door of the building was a political sign reading “Pat Bonanno/County Legislator”. Pat Bonanno is a lawyer in Putnam County, a relative of Jimmy Bonanno, a school district employee. Jimmy Bonanno is regularly features in Journal News stories about school district employees who received large amounts of overtime. He is related to members of the Bonanno crime family, one of the “five families” that for many years ran organized crime nationally out of New York.

On Cliff Street itself, there is a fenced in area with a gate. The infamous $180,000 “Fevang garbage truck” was parked inside the fenced area but the gate was left open. It is not clear how the district was able to obtain permission to fence off a public street for their exclusive use.

In December 2009, Assistant Superintendent John Quinn informed the school board of the emergency purchase of the garbage truck because the other truck stopped running. Since the original Fevang incident in 2001, when Richard Fevang was caught filing phony invoices for parts for then-Superintendent Linda Kelly’s car, the school district stopped sending vehicles to be worked on by the City DPW with the exception of garbage trucks. Talk of the Sound has since reported that the old garbage truck was sent to the New Rochelle DPW for work. According to sources familiar with the DA investigation, Fevang sent the truck out to be worked by a private vendor. The district was charged about $18,000 but no work was done on the truck. When the truck stopped running, Quinn asked Fevang to provide specifications for a new truck. At the Board of Education meeting, Quinn was asked why there was only one bidder on the garbage truck RFP. Quinn stated that there was only one vendor in the area that met the specifications provided by Fevang. That vendor is currently under investigation by the District Attorney.

Asked about the results of this investigation by Talk of the Sound, school official declined to comment stating that information would only be provided under FOIL.

DISCLAIMER: By previous written policy directive, Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak has ordered administrators and building principals in the City School District of New Rochelle not to respond to requests for information from Robert Cox and/or Talk of the Sound. Further that Robert Cox is banned from school property except for purposes of attending a public meeting or event or for matters related to a child enrolled in a particular school and that the school district refuses to comply with FOIL requests made by Robert Cox — both of which are violations of New York State law. Talk of the Sound makes a reasonable effort to get official, on-the-record comment from school officials but this is made all but impossible due to district policy.