After reading Timer’s chicken post, Tim’s comment and then reading Warren’s post on the city charter I decided to follow-up and discovered that all 3 are directly related. Timer wrote about a nonsensical chicken proposal, endorsed by Mayor Bramson, to appease north end constituents. Tim took it a step further in discovering that mommy & daddy are Bramson campaign donors. I’ll will tie in Warren’s charter dilemma in a minute.
New Rochelle has a city manager form of government as Warren points out. The manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of New Rochelle and a ceremonial mayor cuts ribbons, kisses babies and represents the city in governmental affairs. The city council is the legislative branch controlling everything from terminating firefighters, raising taxes, imposing fees and yes considering the proposed fowl-odor chicken legislation.
New Rochelle was changed forever when the NAACP filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city and won; thus the current council district system. The normal pecking order, if you’ll excuse the pun, is for citizens to present all concerns and requests to their elected council district representative who intern assesses and precedes accordingly. So why then did the request to raise chickens circumvent the council representative? I followed up Tim’s NYS campaign contribution research and not only did mommy & daddy contribute to Bramson’s campaign, they didn’t contribute to their council representative. Here is where I tie Warren’s quandary in. As Warren identifies, Bramson has made himself a wannabe strong mayor to the point of anointing a super-majority of council with his war-chest and political machine. Those who have signed on to that machine, mommy & daddy, now want a return on their investment. Sorta like Quid-Pro-Quo. It may not be $30,000 in exchange for switching your vote but one must crawl before they walk, if you get my drift.
Notice I didn’t address the initial chicken request because it is from someone who is planning to reside in New Rochelle for only five months and someone who described herself as one crazy young lady when testifying at the public hearing on chickens.
This could have been a serious consideration if council crossed their i’s and dotted their t’s as opposed to ramrodding this through. If this were presented for serious consideration there would have been stipulations in the legislation like: the property must be a minimum of ½ acre, the applicant must have letters of approval from all neighbors within 100 feet of the property in question, the applicant must present a plan of waste management so our DPW workers would not be exposed to chicken feces, mandated containers for proper feed storage to deter mice, rats, snakes and MINIMUM SETBACKS from side and rear property lines. These common sense stipulations were not considered because if they were, the applicants in question would be denied. Both properties in question are less than ⅓ acre. This is clearly Bramson and his cronies attempting to suck-up to north end campaign donors. The only hope for these north-end residents was to leave a special permit allowance in the hands of the Mayor Appointed Planning Board.
Bramson and Idoni before him, as Warren points out, have turned the New Rochelle City Charter on its ear. Idoni with Bramson’s aid extorted the citizens into accepting a new Library TAX by removing library funding from the New Rochelle City Charter and they devised fees like the garbage fee when they couldn’t balance their budget on existing revenues plus an extra 1% sales tax. Idoni doubled then Bramson tripled the Ceremonial Mayor’s salary while doubling Council salaries. Let’s not forget that every council person who serves five-years is entitled to lifetime benefits. If we don’t see New Rochelle for what it’s become we can’t right the ship. Let’s return New Rochelle to the city that earned Queen City status. Install people who rule from common sense, who honor the charter and who are focused on quality of life and constituent service instead of the politically rich and powerful politicians whose primary concern is advancement to higher office.
NRinfo puts it togethr
You got it Ninfo and Tim is up there with you. If we are not a community of laws, we will suffer the fate of presidents who short circuit the Constitution or Governors who bend with the wind and overreach.
We are a nation of laws and a society with a history of sacrifice for the country and greater good.
Power and politics continue to corrupt and the worst are the so-called “do-gooders” who want to ensorce their values and infintesimal skill set on folks. Social Engineering is a disease that kills for generations. Let’s convince our council members to act on the behalf of what is best and not what is easy.
Oh, what is this bull about “in our DNA?” Was that Ratner? If so, it means Do Nothing Authentic.
Thanks gentlement. Lets start by ending…. the first is Forest City/Ratner.
Next week perhaps we can discuss the “enablers” of the power system and bring them to the light of day.
Ring Leader Bramson to head the circus
Thanks for tying everything together. It is evident that the past and current administrations have been operating outside the city charter and that they abuse it at will. Let’s sit back and watch the circus on Tuesday to see Bramson the ring leader assemble his followers to appease a political donor. They have no shame and no consideration for those outside their circle. Keep blogging.