Hate to say we told you so but…
Talk of the Sound observed two weeks ago that since the perpetrator had not been caught and no steps were being taken to protect the machines or monitor them with video cameras it was a mistake to simply put the machines back into service:
The technique used is simple, quick and totally destroys the inner workings of the machines. No one has been caught vandalizing a machine. All of the vandalism has occurred since the City went to 24/7 parking enforcement in the downtown area. Together, this suggests that simply fixing the damaged machines will only be a prelude to further vandalism, more losses and increased expenses.
So, it is no surprise that Talk of the Sound is now reporting that all three pay station machines at the library lot have were once again rendered inoperable in an attack last night that was identical to the previous attacks in February and May.
As we said in September, “whoever selected these machines needs to appear before the City Council prepared to get tough questions and give honest, detailed answers.” Now I would add that we need to know who thought it was wise to put these machines back into service without adequate protection and deterrents in place and whether there is any thought being given to repeating the same mistake yet again.
It’s a Friday afternoon so I do not expect an immediate response but I sent a few questions to City Hall and will update this story when they get back to me.
UPDATE: City spokesperson Kathy Gilwit tells Talk of the Sound that the cameras are funded through a grant and that grant has not been processed yet. The Police will be continuing a targeted investigation of the area.
watchman
get fevang to watch the machines or jeff coleman.
this will seem stupid
this will seem stupid but who ever is doing this is parking for free
1-Close the lot until the meter/meters is fixed
2- hire someone in a booth so you can buy a ticket of time plenty of people out of work that would love that job
At the rate the lot is losing per day it would pay to hire some one at 8 bucks an hour.
3- norms way, put up a sign so no one can see it or understand it, that “you our park illegally if the meters machine don’t work” and have a ticket guy ticket every one every few hours.
Great picture!! How about a
Great picture!! How about a pin the tail on the donkey featuring these two clowns?
hehe thanks.
Pin the tail on the donkey.. I’ll keep that in the memory banks for future usage.
This Monopoly pic is so laden with metaphor.
Truthfully, Noam plays politics like a game to be won and the only people who suffer are his constituents.
I see these Bramson signs posted around the city and can’t help but think about how politically disaffected these people must be to actually support him.
A Bramson lawn sign on your home signals one of two things:
1. You’re his pal and somehow the gross mismanagement of New Rochelle results in some form of kickback flowing your way.
2. You are so politically ignorant in New Rochelle that you can think supporting Bramson is a reasonable political position that will benefit the city.
Chuck sort of Looks very Uber Like in Das Duzzi
It’s amazing how incompetant it all seems.
We have a some system going on where for 16 years the Mayor can not get anything right. Yet he hides behind the advertisement it really is like a game show. Lets make a deal, meets Hogans Hero’s.
I tuly Love the shot of Chuck in the Duzzi can you get his hand up higher to Heil Bramson.
Great Picture
Is that Chuck’s new city car i hope is a hybrid.
I love the way the Bramson
I love the way the Bramson signs also have Jared Rice on them. Does this tell you something? Maybe Bramson thinks he is running for the presidency and Rice is his VP choice.
Bramson Signs
You must have missed the:
Bramson/Fertel
Bramson/Rackman
and others
All paid for by the Bramson’s Wife for a Corrupt NR Oligarchy Campaign
Caimpaign signs
You know, it simply amazes me that regardless of Democratic or Republican the politicians seem to be able to budget and run cost effective campaigns. But don’t seem to be abl to do the same thing in office. The dual candidate signs must have save them some money. This is not just a local issue.Since they all love taxes, maybe there should be a campaign contribution tax rather than a tax write off. :):)
car
was there a police report when strome crashed a city car. or did he call jeff coleman? cover up
Business as Usual
Just returned from Vermont and I notice this story. Appears as if the cartoonist has identified the so called “Bramson” administration guilty of being horses asses and threw in Rice in the mix. I suppose the GOP councilmen, even the other democrats did not vote for the appropriate installation and safeguards for the system. Frankly, there is critique and, unreasonable critique, and the issue of protecting the equipment, especially when suggestions were given in the past to do just that, are fair, the support comments, the cartoon, are simply malevolent and will drive supporters away.
Maybe you noticed the bigger issues in passing. The City is becoming more unsafe, nothing from either side of the aisle is proposed to address the larger issues of downtown development and protection. Cox points out the Sara Davidson situation which is abominable; not only for the lack of an enforced non-compete clause but in misleading the public when in office about her intentions. This comes back to oversight of the school district outside of a feeble board and, when you look at it in summary, it would be nice if people began to focus on what the real problems are to build or reinforce this City, and not the snide stuff that has been going on for years and gets you nowhere.
Bramson is a lock in November. There are meaningful races for conservatives to focus on. Do you really expect change once the election results are in if you characterize Rice, for example, the way you do. Do you know the man? I do, and his community record is positive and he has ideas.
Like I said, I went to Vermont and sat in on a town hall meeting. This state was beat down by Irene and the part I was in was even more conservative than you folks. They worked together not as a divisive force.
I hope someday to read something or another about the important issues that continue to push us toward being more Mt Vernon than Larchmont. You know, those that cost us money, that make our kids less prepared for the future, your parents or yourselves unsafe. Pictures of Bramson holding up a sign — yeah that’s going to do it. I will only admit it is a great capturing of Strome who could do with a new look.
So did Louis, Al, and Big Papa vote for the meters and have they stepped up to the plate on this one? Fertel would need a map and Sussman is thinking of retirement.
Business as usual for Noam
Warren, you state the city is becoming unsafe; whose responsibility is that? Your chosen savior, Noam Bramson, has been on council for 16 years and mayor for 6 of those years. The disgraceful lack of safety that you cite falls at his feet. You criticize the GOP members of council while neglecting the obvious fact that there is not one piece of legislation that they can pass without bipartisan support so in reality they are powerless. The only power they have is to block bonding, which requires a super majority (5-2) vote by charter. The democrats vote down a forensic audit after a city employee, Richard Fevang, pleaded guilty to a felony and is facing 7 years in prison for falsifying documents. Fevang rigged the bidding process to guarantee his favored vendors received lucrative city contracts. The hapless library board immediately ordered an audit when they discovered a $300,000 discrepancy.
Clearly Noam blocked the audit with his council majority for political reasons in an election year.
Bramson is a lock in November thanks to your $300 donation he used to hire a PI to attack his opponents personal life. It is the very people, democrats, that stoop to this level after defending Bill, I never met a woman I didn’t lust after, Clinton who had an intern service him in the White House when president.
Noam is in high gear and after getting a 5-2 or 6-1 council he will give Echo Bay away, bond to move the city yard to Beechwood Ave. and tear down the armory. Downtown “transit oriented” development will continue just one block from 311 North Ave. where people get murdered, stabbed and police get shot at. That’s Noam’s master plan.
I question how well you know councilman Rice because one look at his Facebook page will reveal much. He believes in stomping anyone to get where he wants to go. Rice has bested Bramson in that he stole the democratic line from Noam’s hand picked candidate at the convention of the special election. Have you made it your business to reach out and meet John Earvin? I doubt it because if you did you would realize he is a real life veteran and a businessman with common sense looking to make New Rochelle a better place to live.
C’mon Old Timer
But “NROldTimer” don’t you get it yet?
Without the Echo Bay Development green light, without hiring private investigators to smear his rival, like he did last week, and gain a hands down re-election, Warren won’t even get a chance to elect Noam to Nita Lowey’s Congressional seat, when she finally presses the “I’ve-fallen-and-I-can’t-get-up” button she wears around her neck.
You think Congressman Bramsons gonna’ stick around here when it’s all said and done?
Would anyone in his right mind work for her all these years without an exit strategy?
New Rochelle is the off ramp to the Russell Office building on Capitol Hill.
But you knew that.
But I bet Noam has more than 1 hissy fit !
We can’t get rid of Bramson by promoting him. It didn’t work w/Idoni and it won’t work w/Bramson. Idoni could’ve been mayor another 20 years. Not that he did anything good, he just happened to be the Mayor in area dominated by Democrats, how could he lose? Maybe term limits are the solution?
It’ll be interesting to see what Noam does with the budget in 4 weeks. He doesn’t have enough votes to override the tax cap so he’s going to be forced to balance the budget through cuts. He won’t release any info now, even though he knows what the bad news is, but for the 1st time in his career he’s going to have to work with the other side. Time will tell if it works but I bet he has more than 1 hissy fit.
If Noam didn’t want to cut services, he’d release the budget now to put the pressure on the Republicans to override the tax cap. As it stands now, Strome will release the budget a couple of days after the election and the Republicans will sit tight and vote against anything that’s over 2%. I hope they don’t allow Bramson to use what’s left of New Rochelle’s reserves. That would be a disgrace!
Broken meters, broken trust, broken New Rochelle.
HOW RIDICULOUS, that the meters are broken AGAIN ! What is really interesting to me is this-the NR Library itself has video cameras hidden in each and every corner of its interior, yet, the parking lot, which is inhabited by many drunk, high, and mentally deranged street urchins has NOT a single video camera protecting the pay meters nor its legal, law abiding, tax paying citizens ! The meter FIASCO perfectly symbolizes the social, cultural, and physical collapse of New Rochelle from elegant suburban city into blighted disaster it is today. Broken meters, broken trust, broken New Rochelle.
Someone must be accountable
It is evident that the administration is so hard up for revenue that they put these machines in service with total disregard for mandated surveillance. I believe the losses are in the neighborhood of $12,000 per month plus tickets. Losses are approaching $100,000 in a year where the budget options will be break the tax cap or layoff police, fire and sanitation employees. These machines were a disgrace from the start in that they don’t give change and to extend your time you need a BA in computer science. The City Manager needs to have his feet held to the fire as the buck stops there.
$35k and counting
The losses were $35,000 before this third time so every week is $1,200 and about $5,000 to fix them. So we are in for $41.2 K so far.
Then there is the cost of cameras whenever they get installed.
How will they pay
The city is broke so how are they going to pay to fix them? I know let’s raise the rates by 100 % Welcome to New Rochelle home of the Let’S Chase everyone the Hell outta here city.
FIX EM AGAIN
Maybe the city manager should ask the advice of some elementary school kids on whether should i fix the machines again or should i install cameras in the parking lot??? if he does i bet we see cameras installed in the library lot those 1st graders are very smart kids…..