New Rochelle Schools Buildings & Grounds Supervisor James Bonanno last month ordered three school district employees to report to work at a house owned by his girlfriend in upstate New York over a period of several days as part of an ongoing renovation of the property, sources say. The house, owned by Bonanno’s girlfriend, Heidi Reyes, is located at in Cornwall, NY near West Point, in Orange County.
New Rochelle Schools spokesperson Paul Costigliano declined to comment on the matter.
According to Orange County property records for 30 Hampton Place in Cornwall, NY, the house was built in 1997. It was purchased from the original owner, Reiger Homes, Inc. in 2004 by Ricardo Reyes who then sold the land and house to Heidi Reyes for $1.00. The estimated market value of the property in 2010 was $426,900.
Each day, workers from New Rochelle would make the hour plus drive up to Orange County while clocked in as working in New Rochelle. Talk of the Sound has obtained the names of the three district employees. Under a newly developed policy, Talk of the Sound will aim not publish the names of school district employees or municipal employees in cases where they ordered to engage in illegal or unethical behavior by their boss to keep the focus on the supervisors who are engaged in illegal or unethical conduct.
Sources tell Talk of the Sound that Bonanno is in the process of getting a divorce and renovating the house to prepare it as his new primary residence.
A review of Orange County records and a site visit to the property in Cornwall, NY on a recent Sunday indicates that work is going on at the location, that New Rochelle residents are working on the property and that there are no open building permits on file. The two men pictured below were working on a Sunday and neither works for the school district.
James “Jimmy” Bonanno is well-known to Talk of the Sound Readers:
Surprise Visit to New Rochelle School District Yard at 47 Cliff Street Raises Numerous Questions
New Rochelle School District Failed to Register Red Garbage Truck For Five Years
New Rochelle Schools Overtime King Driving Brand New Dodge Hemi, Courtesy of New Rochelle Taxpayers
enough is enough
i have been described by a correspondent of TOTS as the only Bramson supporter on the site and, as such, do not love the City. Bob has recently published some impressive numbers citing readership and there are likely more who are not registered and get their news from this site.
If it helps I will concede the possibilit that Noam is responsible for Eve offering the apple to Adam, the recent spate of crazy weather, and whatever else pleases you. But, I would like to make a suggestion concerning the upcoming election of a Mayor and 6 council people and it is relatively simple as it involves getting all candidates views on 3 basic issues that involve taxes and related matters directly concerning same. I am hoping that Bob, Peggy Godfrey, Hezi Asis, or any other member of the print and internet media can come up with a way to get answers to three questions that have produced little or nothing on the part of incombents in City Hall or in the City Council. the League of Womans voters are likely to sponsor an election panel, the press such as the Westchester Guardian may be interested or some neighborhool association step up and sponsor the following and, as I said, they are all directly related to our tax base.
1. school district. No one has written more and I think, knows more about the functioning of the school district than bob cox. If I am not mistaken, school taxes represent approximately two-thirds of our tax burden. Further, I cannot recall one comment made by any elected official about district performance or city oversight. This seems illogical and plain wrong since the quality of a school district directly impacts new commercial and residental growth. You have to ask why there is such a lack of political courage to come up with some method of taking a role in this critical area. So question number one would be
1. If you are elected or re-elected what do you plan to do to directly impact the cost and quality of our school district in 2012.
My view is to disqualify any candidate who gives the stock answer of the district being a separate elective entity given its enormous impact on our tax base.
my secnd area of interest is downtown deveopment. I have seen very little produced by our current office holder in terms of attracting taxable new businesses, examining specific issues around zoning, presence of so many non profits, and ideas that are more meaningful to the tax base than fixing frontage, planting trees, and facade restoration. so.
1. What are your ideas to promote the growth of new profit making small businesses as well as critically examining our zoning, vacancy rates, impediments and red tape causing loss of existing tenants. In addition, what is your opinion about opening up a mini-police precinct or presence as well as moving some city offices from 515 North Avenue to provide service, security and visible city interest to downtown residents, businesses, and visitors.
I have never seen an agenda item on the council meeting lists, heard much in the way (outside of BID) of direct council member opinion, nor received an answer why it is not to of interest to the city to move a police facility as well as some city offices to spacss downtown already owned by the city.
finally, the question of abatements continues to crop up and it is, in my judgment always in the wrong context or misused. So, my question would be
1. what are your views on offering abatements for new development and what are the criteria you would examine to decide whether or not to grant an abatement?
Abatemets are standard incentives to bring in business. problems to me are (1) City has shown little or no skill in setting the terms of the deal.
Developers will always ask, they will always insist they have many other offers, etc. but the truth is that even in our rotten economy, the granter of the abatement has advantages he needs to use. People would not want to build here unless it had a sense of the advantages explicit in being in New Rochelle. So, we need more skill, much more business skills in what Trump calls the art of the deal. Any candidate who would never grant an abatement should not be elected as he doesn;t know business development. but, any city that does not capitalize on making the deal or the renewal of a MOU more strongly relative to City interest is deficient and have little sense of the economics of the time.
Thats it, an imperfect list perhaps but I think it is time to put people on the record prior to election so we can not only know what they think but how they think.