As Mayor Noam Bramson puts the finishing touches on the 2012 edition of his State of the City Address next Thursday, perhaps he can give residents an update on his predictions from his first State of the City Address in 2006:
In his State-of-the-City address on March 16, 2006, Mayor Noam Bramson predicted dramatic changes in New Rochelle in the next few years. Much of the change will take place Downtown. Mayor Bramson stated:
“Here’s what’s coming:
• 50,000 square feet of urban parkland
• 276,000 square feet of hotel and office space
• 418,000 square feet of new retail
• 1,700 luxury apartments
• 6 new towers, rising from 230 to 400 feet each
• Nearly $30 million in tax revenue for City, County and Schools
• A total of 2.9 million square feet of new construction worth more than a billion dollars overall.New Rochelle is about to surge forward in the most swift and dramatic transformation of our lives. Let there be no doubt: by the end of this decade, we will be a new city.”
We are two years past the “end of this decade” and if by increased crime, an increasing problem with the homeless and deranged walking our streets, ever more aggressive panhandlers, empty storefronts, depressed sales tax revenue and creeping urban blight you mean that New Rochelle is a “new city” then the Mayor has a lot to look back on with pride.
For those not wearing Noam’s particular brand of rose-colored glasses, let there be doubt in taking the Mayor at his word because his word has proven, time and time again, to be the worthless promises of a failed career politician.
This is just one of numerous claims made by Noam Bramson over the years, none of which has ever panned out as promised. And yet some Bramson apologists continue to cast Bramson doubters as irrational?
Really?
There is a definition of insanity (not Linsanity, just regular old insanity!) that it amounts to trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Now the Mayor wants to tell us how the Albanese project will usher in a new era of development in New Rochelle, how moving the City Yard will cost less than half of previously estimated costs, how the Echo Bay project will soon be moving forward with a new plan and how you can eat all the ice cream you want and never get fat.
And his critics are irrational?
I think my favorite line is the “$30 million in tax revenue”.
In fact, the school district has lost millions under Bramson’s schemes to pack the downtown area with “luxury” rental apartments which are now filled with Section 8 recipients, college students, hookers, illegal high-stakes poker games and young couple with children who are not clogging up classrooms in our schools.
There are two growth industries in the downtown: colleges and store-front churches. Neither college students nor congregants of these churches are known for having a high level of disposable income.
The Mayor’s own cuckoo “net-benefit” calculations have only claimed $2.5 million to $7 million (the number kept increasing as election day 2011 approached).
Why anyone would take Noam Bramson’s delirious pronouncements at face value anymore is a mystery but if you like stand-up comedy be sure to stop by the Davenport Club on Thursday, March 1st for a few good laughs.
RELATED:
Bramson’s Unsubstantiated Claims of New Rochelle Development Debunked (Part II)
New Rochelle Mayor Bramson’s Voodoo Development Claims (Part III)
State of the City promises
Bravo. Well said.
Too bad his democratic cohorts that sit with him on the council can’t see it. As a community we are doomed in the long run with him in the drivers seat. Just think about the student impact to the schools with all the apartments he is selling.
Very sad how he is permitted to get away with it.
Reality check
Whos going to move in the new buildings? Students
or our expanded housing for our lockwood residents. Dont send your kids to Harvard!
Imagine a City Without Noam.
Imagine he has built an entire political career on absolute unadulterated horse crap.
Do they teach this in Harvard. So many greats came out of that University, Giants of Industry, Medical Genius, Brilliant Legal minds. We get a little nerd who got beat up often in the school yard who developed a propensity to create nothing but bluster all about it. Clearly Mayor Bramson is delusional.
Talk about the Emperor has no clothes. He has single handedly run New Rochelle into the ground due to never having left the block.
What a sham this Mayor is.
How much for that stuff he is
How much for that stuff he is smoking? Where is he going tt get the money to accomplish this? Bonding it? The City couldn’t afford crossing guards this past December now it has the funds for a new city yard. Get ready for some hefty tax increases.
100 Years
Up until the mid/late 1800’s Harlem was a very desirable area. In the late 1800’s a large number of new residences were built (in anticipation of a new subway line being built to make it feasible to commute to the then “city”). With an abundance of housing and not enough demand, prices plummeted and ultimately lead to “urban decay.”
Unfortunately, it took 100 years for Harlem to become an up and coming place to live.
Hopefully history does not repeat itself in New Rochelle.
Exactly my point!
Look at a place like Harlem and how it has turned around. It has History, the arts, entertainment, sports and yes even shopping malls. It is vibrant and places where people are drawn to visit, shop, eat, live. Oh yes I forgot, pay taxes and produce tax revenues from all of that. Now they are having a growth in the residential market as well. Harlem, Peekskill, Port Chester, Pelham, Pelham Manor and Mount Vernon are all in the process of change while we still look towards residential development. Mayor Davis of Mount Vernon even put a stop to the Memorial Field renovation because it didn’t seem like the right thing to do at this time. We haven’t put a shovel in the ground yet and we still have a push for a new City Yard and Echo Bay. We have a few good shops downtown where people are frustrated over the parking so it chases them away. Mainly everyone needs to go to those cities to shop. Why? They have destination shops and destination locations. The Albanese Development is now even getting another look. Why can’t we do that with The City Yard and Echo Bay before it is too late?
Pretty Ironic!
Today there are three posts that pull together what I have been saying all along. The perfect storm.
Mayor Noam Bramson predicted dramatic changes in New Rochelle in the next few years. Much of the change will take place Downtown. That didn’t happen. Why because there are no reasons to travel there. No destination points of interest.No historic theaters downtown and such.
Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino announces New Travel and Tourism Publication: Westchester Destination Guide 2012 “The destination guide is one of the many tools used to promote the wide variety of businesses that benefit from travel, tourism and visitor spending in our county.” Get it, Destination Guide. A vibrant Armory with a wide array of event would look great in the Guide for 2012.
Save Our Armory Committee, and concerned citizens are formally requesting to meet with the City Council and the Mayor. My exact point earlier was to make the Armory a destination place of interest. My post about the Armory earlier said,” Housing won’t make New Rochelle a destination for visitors or shoppers. A proper reconstruction of the Armory just might. I don’t know why people don’t take advantage of the fact that The Armory is history.” Everyone on all sides of the table needs to open their eyes, ears and minds, before it is too late and we all drown.
The City of New Rochelle depends on it!
Maybe he can borrow
Maybe he can borrow some of Capelli’s extensions. Afterall he got over a dozen of them,more than enough to go around. What’s wrong with a little sharing between friends.