It’s time to signal the beginning of the end of the Bramson, Inc. brand of dirty machine politics in New Rochelle.
As the current election cycle draws to a close on Tuesday, New Rochelle’s registered voters will have learned a great deal about the real Noam Bramson. They have seen the facade of rectitude fall to reveal the face of a warped, frustrated man — a person not content to defeat an opponent but to drag his opponent and their children into the gutter, then hide behind the anonymity of hacks in the media, callers to radio shows and unseemly campaign mailers designed to hide the reality that they had been approved and paid for by Noam Bramson, Inc.
By all accounts, the Mayor is going to be re-elected. The fact is his opponent has run a pitiful race.
Given this perception, many folks may figure “What’s the use of bothering to vote?”
Let me suggest why you need to show up to vote.
You may not be able to defeat Noam in 2011 but you may help block the spread of Bramsonism in the coming years. You may not realize that Noam Bramson does not judge his electoral performance simply on winning. In a City where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1, it is all about the margin of victory. He wants to be able to claim within the wider Democratic Party that large margins in New Rochelle make him the logical successor to Congresswoman Nita Lowey.
Showing up, even against the odds, and casting a “no” vote against the Mayor sends a message that needs to be sent. It also helps to deny Noam that margin of victory he so desperately craves.
Whether you vote for Noam or not, what is clear is that in 2011 New Rochelle voters have seen the “real” Noam Bramson. We all now know he is not the man he says he is.
He is not a nice guy.
He is a bully.
The only way to deal with a bully is a good, hard smack upside the head. That “smack” is your vote on Election Day. Make it count.
For many years, Noam Bramson has claimed that he does not get involved in issues involving the school district. This site was founded, in part, based on a 2008 Journal News article on the “North-South Divide” in New Rochelle schools. The Mayor responded to that article by writing an Op-Ed in which he attacked the Journal News, claiming they were “playing with fire” by writing about a “North-South” divide. He denied the existence of any such division, and as proof, the Mayor dragged his own children into the debate. He claimed that since they would be attending the public schools in New Rochelle, just as he did, this proved that there was no difference between North End and South End schools. Except he forgot to mention that he went to North End schools and that his kids would be going to North End schools. This is a typical Bramsonesque lie.
Bramson has developed the habit of dealing with people with whom he disagrees in a most disagreeable manor. He curses like a sailor, screaming at anyone who disagrees with him in a hostile, angry and bitter tone. For example, during the debate over redistricting, Bramson stood in the City Council chambers and accused an official of the NAACP of “pissing on his leg”. A former school board member, the only Hispanic to serve on the board in many years, recounted on this site how Noam called him at his home to scream at him for not being sufficiently “pro” New Rochelle by which Noam means pro-Noam. He has lost his temper many times during City Council meetings, live on TV, provoking Al Tarantino, the most mild-mannered member of council, to chastise the Mayor for “crossing the line”.
It is well known in New Rochelle that if you disagree with Noam he is likely to toss a hissy fit until he gets his way. Is that the sort of leader New Rochelle wants?
During the budget debate involving cuts to private and parochial school busing, the Mayor told various delegations from the effected community that he did not get involved in school district issues. Yet during the subsequent election for school board, the Mayor played an active role in attempting to push out one of the three “anointed” candidates in an effort to focus the vote in order to defeat me. He put the full force of the Democratic party machine behind his effort to defeat me: he orchestrated a series of unfounded whisper campaigns, it was his supporters who were caught ripping down my lawn signs, it was his attack dogs circulating all manner of false and misleading emails accusing me of being “on record” wanting to “destroy” the New Rochelle school system, claiming that I was embezzling from my own campaign, or being anti-Semitic despite my track record of supporting the Jewish community in New Rochelle and being a friend to Israel.
Well, Noam got what he wanted and now we find that the entire school board may be subject to misdemeanor charges and fines for hiring unqualified administrators at two schools during the same time period another administrator was repeatedly raping a 14-year old child at another school, despite numerous warnings and red flags.
Recently, it has come to light that the Democrats have spent about a quarter-million dollars on a single political consultant. While that is startling in and of itself, especially when compared to what opponents have spent, I would encourage readers to consider a more fundamental question: “Where did they get that much money?”
As has been documented on Talk of the Sound, a great deal of that money has come through companies doing business with New Rochelle including the so-called “independent auditor”, various consultants hired at the direction of the Mayor, developers on projects like Echo Bay and 35 Maple. Did you know that Joseph Apicella, one of the top executives at Capelli Enterprises (New Roc City, Trump, LeCount Square), is also the Vice Chairman of the Westchester County Democratic Party, the same group which has also poured money into New Rochelle while Apicella sought and received all sorts of special favors from Noam Bramson?
Talk of the Sound recently reported on an elected Democratic judge making an illegal campaign contribution to a City Council member. Now we have the Mayor being cited for Unfair Campaign Practices in sending out a political hit piece without indicating the source.
New Rochelle is for sale and Noam Bramson is the auctioneer.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the same firm is employed as the independent auditor for the city, the library and the school district and that this auditor contributes to Noam Bramson’s campaign.
During a recent debate, the Mayor cited a variant on the old chestnut “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” That hasn’t stopped the Mayor from positing a ludicrous claim that his policies have created a “net benefit” of $7.5 million a year for New Rochelle.
There is no such term as “net benefit”.
Readers will recall how Noam made up the term “second seat investigation” to justify his decision not to support a forensic audit following the arrest of the DPW Fleet Manager and the termination of the DPW Assistant Commissioner last June. Just as there is no such thing as a “second seat investigation”, there is no such thing as “net benefit”.
Not only is “net benefit” a made up term but the basis for the calculations used by Noam to arrive at his $7.5 million figure are made up too. He randomly groups privately funded projects with publicly supported projects; he understates some costs while ignoring others. For example, he claims that the per-pupil cost in the schools is $19,500 or even $14,000. Based on the school budget, the per-pupil cost is $20,500
The $14,000 figure is classic Noam. He is making up a marginal cost figure. He does not explain it he just asserts it. For what its worth, I have a degree in Economics from the University of Chicago and worked in the financial services industry for many years. What Noam is saying is true if you are talking about adding a single student. As you start to add more students you reach a tipping point at which you need to factor in the cost of additional infrastructure. There are already well over 100 students in Avalon 1 & 2 and more in Trump and the Lofts at New Roc City.
The Mayor has a plan calling for 2,500 new households in the downtown area, which is the equivalent of 6 more Avalon buildings that, in turn, means another 330 students for a total of about 450 students. That will entail a new elementary school building and a new wing at Isaac. E. Young Middle School costing tens of millions of dollars. The marginal cost for these students would have to included these tens of millions for new school infrastructure that will cause the marginal cost of adding these students on a per-pupil cost to skyrocket.
The Mayor also fails to count service calls by first responders, which are well in excess of $1 million a year. Inexplicably, he also counts County taxes of $1.5 million year, funds that has no direct bearing on New Rochelle’s municipal or school budget.
If you take out the County taxes, add in the first responder costs, correctly calculate the education costs the number is about half what he claims, take out the projects not supported by public funds and Noam’s fantasy figure evaporates entirely. Poof.
However, for the moment, let’s just pretend that the Mayor’s calculations are entirely accurate, that they include all costs and that there really is something called “net benefit” What he is arguing is that the abatements given to developers were worth it because they are generating $7.5 million a year. This figure has been cited as $2 million in 2009 and $4.5 million during the debates and now it is $7.5 million, which is, of course, the major advantage of using a made up term and made up number, it can be whatever you want it to be at any given moment. But again, let’s pretend the Mayor’s $7.5 million number is a real number.
This would mean that the Mayor was right to give away the tax breaks to the developers in order to generate all this income, right? Well, that would depend on what Noam gave away in order to generate his “net benefit”.
A review of the New Rochelle IDA 2010 Annual Report shows the following:
Avalon I (1999-2029)
Annual Abatement = $3,272,325 Total Granted = $98,169,750
Avalon II (2004 – 2034)
Annual Abatement = $6,851,120 Total Granted = $205,533,600
Pearlgreen Corp (2009-2020)
Annual Abatement = $121,038 Total Granted = $1,331,418
MacLeay Apartments (2007-2024)
Annual Abatement = $568,805 Total Granted = $9,669,685
Montagu Properties (2003-2013)
Annual Abatement = $4,416 Total Granted = $44,160
Trump Plaza (2006-2016)
Annual Abatement = $177,853 Total Granted = $1,778,530
New Roc City (1998-2017)
Annual Abatement = $771,336 Total Granted = $14,655,384
United Hebrew Soundview Apartments (2005-2035)
Annual Abatement = $156,855 Total Granted = $4,705,650
West End Phase I Senior Building (2006-2036)
Annual Abatement = $42,763 Total Granted = $1,282,890
If you add all that up you get $337,171,067 worth of IDA Tax Abatements.
That is a lot of money.
Then consider the recent deal where Hartz Mountain bought Avalon I for $100 million for which the City of New Rochelle received nothing. Finance Commissioner Howard Ratner estimated that 35% of the value of the deal was the tax abatements. So, in addition to normal profit on the real estate development, Avalon took in an extra $35 million and the City got zero — and Noam allowed the abatement to transfer to Hartz Mountain so we just keep paying out and paying out until the year 2029.
Another way to think of it is that Bramson, Inc. spent $337 million of your money to earn, he claims, $7.5mm in “net benefit” or a Return on Investment of about 2.25%.
Does anyone thing that 2.25% return on $337 million is a good deal.
Of course, when you use a real figure that excludes County Taxes, adds in first responder costs and the actual education costs Noam spent over $300 million and got back close to zero.
And that folks is why Noam does not want you to know what is really going on in New Rochelle. While Noam has spent 16 years signing away the City to these developers in money-losing deals, he has raked in over $1 million in campaign contributions, much of it from these same developers and their friends and family.
For 16 years, this has been an administration which has gone to great lengths to cover up fraud, abuse of power, riots, misappropriation and outright theft by municipal employees. We have cops raping young girls, 66-count fraud indictments against department heads, District Attorney investigations of shakedowns by building inspectors, embezzlement, no-show jobs, putting innocent people in jail, etc. We have a City where a member of the Mayor’s own ticket (Jared Rice) campaigns on the issue of “mass incarceration” of young black men in New Rochelle while his mother is one of the judges doing the locking up and the men ordering the arrests serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.
Oh, and there is still that $300,000 unaccounted for at the library.
The school district has been worse. The Mayor and his cronies are directly involved there too.
All crimes must be covered up in Noam’s mind because crimes by police, city and school officials make New Rochelle look bad and, at the end of the day, this is a Mayor who is all about image.
Asked during the recent LWV Forum to describe his greatest accomplishments, our Mayor cited passing a policy document (GreeNR), forming various committees and clearing trees in the woods to create a path. Seriously, he listed “cleared a path in the woods” as one of the accomplishments of which he is most proud.
What is he, Daniel Boone?
The fact is that Noam has no significant accomplishments that he can site after 16 years on Council but he wants 4 more. For what? Is there any reason to believe that the next four years will be any different than the first 16?
So, for the benefit of Noam Bramson, our little Noam once again asks New Rochelle voters to give him “the keys to the car”. As any parent knows, at some point, no matter how much your kid promises to “do better next time”, there are just so many times you let them drive the family car into a tree before you have to say “no”. That time has come.
It has become clear that the Mayor will once again benefit from a flawed candidate as his opponent. The Mayor, engaging in the politics of personal destruction, has made sure to tear down his opponent rather than make a serious case for why he should be given four more years on top of the 16 years he has already had. Do you really want another 4 years of Noam making robo-calls, posing heroically as our savior during the next winter storm?
Whatever happens in the 2011 City Council races, one thing is for sure; the facade behind which Noam Bramson has been hiding for many years has been torn down. No longer will he be seen as a boyish, kindly young man. 2011 will be known as the year that New Rochelle voters got to see the real Noam Bramson on display, the ugly Noam Bramson, an unpleasant, harsh, despicable, win-at-any-costs, bitter young man, now past 40 and on his way to becoming an unpleasant, harsh, despicable, win-at-any-costs, bitter old man.
On Election Day, I would encourage my readers and supporters to consider what happened last May when I ran for the New Rochelle Board of Education. In a very short period of time, without any sort of political machine, we took on the whole North End Democratic Clique — the PTAs, the vicious, petty leadership of the Special Education PTA, the school district administration, the teachers union, the Democratic machine and the Mayor himself. The entire Bramson machine actively campaigned against me. With about 8,000 votes cast we came up 172 votes short. That was pretty darn close in a race that, on paper, should not have been close at all. In fact, I believe if we had one more week, we would have won.
I believe what my campaign showed is that if the three-fourths of New Rochelle not part of the North End Democratic clique that dominates New Rochelle for their own benefit will arise, Bramson, Inc. can be defeated. That is what I want you to consider as you wake up Tuesday and decide whether or not to go to the polls.
Go.
Go, no matter what you think the outcome will be.
Go, even if it does not make sense to go.
Go, because you want to send a message to Noam.
Whatever your reason. Just go.
For all my readers and supporters, make sure you not only get yourself to the polls and vote on Election Day but you call your friends and exhort them to go, drive them if you must, cart them over in a wheelbarrow if you have to, but get them there.
If Bramson, Inc. is going to lose it will be by a handful of votes. I do not really care what line you vote on or who you vote for on Tuesday but show up, cast a ballot and make sure to cast a big fat vote against Bramson, Inc.
Every single vote counts so be there on Election Day and send Noam Bramson a message he won’t soon forget — that we are sick of his brand of gutter politics.
To borrow a phrase from Thomas Jefferson, cast a vote to tell Noam that we are sick and tired of living in a community where the people have to be afraid of their government.
It’s time for the government to start being afraid of its people.
That starts Tuesday.
New Ro Republican party let us down
The clownish New Ro Republican party contributes as much as anyone to the continued dominance of the incumbents. You have to put forward credible candidates to get voters to give you due consideration. Republican party officials ought to be held accountable for the mayoral debacle. Recruit some serious people to do the hard work of defeating the incumbents. People can vote across party lines in local elections. But how can you get registered Democrats to cross the party line to vote for someone like the Republican mayoral candidate.
Year after year, the Democrats put forward the same tired set of candidates, but the Republicans outdo them by putting forward utterly unqualified clowns. The Republican party is doing a great disservice to this city by failing in its duty to provide voters with real choices on the ballot.
New Ro Republican party let us down
The clownish New Ro Republican party contributes as much as anyone to the continued dominance of the incumbents. You have to put forward credible candidates to get voters to give you due consideration. Republican party officials ought to be held accountable for the mayoral debacle. Recruit some serious people to do the hard work of defeating the incumbents. People can vote across party lines in local elections. But how can you get registered Democrats to cross the party line to vote for someone like the Republican mayoral candidate.
Year after year, the Democrats put forward the same tired set of candidates, but the Republicans outdo them by putting forward utterly unqualified clowns. The Republican party is doing a great disservice to this city by failing in its duty to provide voters with real choices on the ballot.
Here is is plain and
Here it is plain and simple.
Most but not all Democrats vote for Democrats no matter what. Got it. They would vote for Hilter if he was on the Democratic Ticket.
Democrats outnumber republicans by large numbers lets face it Republicans are going to do away with Unions, Social Security, Throw out Illegals and Throw old people into the streets. Especially in local elections. You can not completely blame the local Republican Party they are living with the above. Clearly Colty could have done a better job picking a Mayoral Candidate but St. Paul had steam and it seemed the right choice. He should be smarter and do the work.God himself would have lost on the republican ticket.
Now we deal with a Mayor with a Super Majority its back to the Michael Boyle days on Council except we get Barry Fertels smuggness for 4 more years.
The Cuomo Tax Cap will be overriden by Noam. We will see the Bonding of the New City Yard at a huge cost to tax payers while giving away the land on the old yard to Forest City without Forest City kicking in anything. The Armory will become a Plaque or a “here lies” the site of the old Armory Landmark. The IDA will be business as usual. Cappelli is loading up his truck to off load tax incentives into his bank accounts.
Now we do have the ability to dig in and learn what is going on. Complain and write letters over and over to Albany and eventually we get in our cars and get in front of people. Sooner or later the little pecker will slip up and we can hold his feet to the fire.
Bramson must have a plan to circumvent the tax cap
Property owners really lost out & the renters have won. 1 thing is for sure, the sun will come up tomorrow just like it came up today. We should also get garbage collection.
As for Colety, he should be run out of town for putting St. Paul at the top of the ticket. Don’t forget he’s the guy also responsible for last year’s disaster candidate Jim Russell who ran against Nita Lowey. He had some hidden secret/baggage too that ended that race before it even started, much like this mayoral race.
All Colety had to do was ask a few simple questions and this might not have been as bad as it was. Support stems from the top of the ticket down & not the other way around. Colety also has done a terrible job bringing together New Rochelle Republicans. Would it cost that much to run a website & create a propaganda machine with email blasts like the Dems have? Or perhaps throw a party to get people up, out & involved? Lou, Al or Jim should be running & guiding the local show not Colety.
As for the tax cap, lets hope the 3 sitting Republicans unite & stick together on next years budget which Noam will release in a week or 2. Anyway, next years budget is subject to the new tax cap law and currently Noam doesn’t have a super-majority to override it. (as a side note: I still don’t understand why the budget can’t come out before the election as to after but that’s like asking the school board to use the previous years assessment roll vs. using an unknown assessment roll to be determined after the tax appeals have been decided)
Bramson must have a plan to circumvent the tax cap though, but all can think of is deferring the final budget vote until the next council is seated or he’s going to propose draconian cuts to programs that 1 of the 3 Republicans might not want & try to break the Republicans down from that angle.
I really do hope they stand united and force the cuts whatever they are and however unpleasant they may be and let the chips fall where they fall.
tailored suits
Not sure if he’s really not a nice guy. Just the other day, he walked by me in Larchmont while I was at Starbucks. He had a smile on his face. I think he was quite happy picking up his suit from Mancino Custom Tailors on Palmer Ave in LARCHMONT. A true man of the people. I just hope all the poor and minority voters in New Rochelle understand one thing: while walking to that very expensive tailor in LARCHMONT, he was thinking about their best interests.
save your family,home and neighborhood
No one, I repeat no one will be as strong an advocate for the things you hold dear. It is your voice that needs to be heard at the voting booth. At the end of the day, if voter turnout is low, the apathetic message sent will be ” I give up I don’t care what happens in my neighborhood ” . I know you care. Don’t expect someone else to step up and save you. Just because the odds are against change that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. It can and will depending on what YOU do TODAY. There will be .o room for remorse, no second chance to go out and make a difference. The time is now and there is no excuse that can be made to keep your voice from being heard. Do it, get to the polls and turn the tide to protect what is right, what is yours, what makes sense. Vote
Those who refuse to participate will de doomed to the sideline and forced to accept the result however distasteful it may be.
Vote
It’s a beautiful day to vote Republican!
It’s a beautiful day to vote Republican!
Row B is all you need to know.
Vote! Your home and family are counting on you!
Here we are coming to a close of another political season. It has been a very ugly and nasty season. The deer in the woods stand a better chance of survival on opening day of hunting season than we do of avoiding the robo calls and the ugly political tricks. It’s been no treat here.
Most things seem out of our control. Be it natural or un-natural, Planned or un-planned. It is how we work together and plan before and after to deal with the issues that determine our success or failure. We have to be able to adapt and overcome. No matter how or why things happen. You can’t sit back and say, I didn’t create this problem. Someone else did and there is nothing you can do. There is, VOTE Today. The thing is to get together post-election and come up with a proper plan to work towards a resolution to the problems and move forward.
It still amazes me how all the politicians local and national can raise thousands if not millions of dollars for their re-election campaigns but can’t come up with solutions to find money to correct short falls and un-expected expenditures no matter whose fault it is. I know it is not as easy as that. But let’s start working together and stop all the political posturing and go back to work. It’s my money and I want it now.
Get Out and Vote. If you do nothing more at least you can say you voted.
The message to Bramson should
The message to Bramson should be even a dead beat dad gets votes. That he has not fooled everyone and even though he is a shoe in he should know we are watching every move he makes. A home run would be Trangucci,Tarantino, Spertus and Mayo which would render Boss Tweed part of the team not the team.
RE: People of New Rochelle UNITE ! GO VOTE !
This is a call to all the sane, honest, hard working, tax payers of New Rochelle to UNITE !:
PEOPLE OF NEW ROCHELLE UNITE ! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR ANGST ( current mayor) !
Take back your streets, your neighborhoods, and your city hall. YOU are the boss ! YOU at the ones capable of changing YOUR fate! YOU are the VOICE of reason ! Let YOUR voice be heard ! END the Nightmare ! GO VOTE !! GO VOTE ! GO VOTE !.
When you go out to cast your votes today, remember this..
When you go out to cast your votes today, remember this;
Government can only provide its people with a canvas…it is up to us to paint the masterpiece!
So, go out and support your candidates, because no matter who they are, we are blessed to live in a Constitutional Republic with a voting system that allows us to make “change” at the booths – not by violent fighting in the streets!!
-Kurt Colucci
Game, Set, and Match!
Clear and concise, this tome flushes out all the cobwebs and skeletons in the closet that is the headquaters of this evil empire. For too long, New Rochelle has found itself shackled in its ability to question the boyish appeal of Noam Bramson. Well, now they know the dark underbelly. Whatever the outcome tomorow, we know, today, the true nature of the inbred, manipulative, Boss Tweed machine that has driven the city into “crisis” (using his own words). Those who would defend him must also be ready to stand up and take responsibility for the condition that plagues this fine city. This, is what your blind obedience has led to. Defend him if you think you can, but as for the record, or lack of one, res ipsa loquitor.
“I’ve labored long and hard for bread, for honor and for riches, but on my corns too long you’ve tread you fine haired sons of bitches”
Go out and make a difference – VOTE!