OPEN THREAD: 200 Turn Out as Mayor Noam Bramson Takes Questions at East End Civic Meeting

Written By: Robert Cox

If you were there last night, please share your observations about last night’s East End Civic Meeting.

What did you think of the presentation by Forest City and Mayor Bramson? Did you learn something? What was the best question you heard? Did the Mayor answer your questions? Did you find the dialog at the meeting productive? Share….

7 thoughts on “OPEN THREAD: 200 Turn Out as Mayor Noam Bramson Takes Questions at East End Civic Meeting”

  1. I don’t know why anyone even
    I don’t know why anyone even bothers with these meetings. No matter how much you disagree with the project, it is still going to go forward. Bramson has already made up his mind and he has convinced his he hand picked council to approve it. Nothing can be done. Bramson has also decided that the armory must go, and he gets what he wants. The public’s opinion is irrelevant.

  2. Much was said but no real answers given!
    In black and white there was information given by Forest City and backed up by Mayor Bramson. Every response has a counter so as far as I am concerned the meeting did not convince me that The City of New Rochelle should go forward with the Forest City proposal. The mayor had to be there to show he was a good sport, give him credit for that. He took a lot of heat. If he didn’t show the outcome could have been worse. At least he was able to control the message and responses. Once again, a response not answers. Like so many topics of development and legislation in New Rochelle, A Big Disconnect from the people. So many have suggested reviewing the proposal, stopping now before it’s too late. I agree.

    Here is the opening description of Echo Bay from The City of New Rochelle web site:

    Echo Bay is a sheltered inlet located on the Long Island Sound. The entire Echo Bay project area consists of over 10 acres of City-owned land primarily consisting of the City Yard and City Armory properties. Now 6 to 10 acres rather than the original 20 plus?

    Sheltered Inlet, Water Front, Mud Flats, folks the inlet at Echo Bay is not water front, it is an estuary. Read the following definition; the last paragraph says it all.

    An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea.[1]

    Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments and are subject to both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of both sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients in both the water column and sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world.[2]

    Most existing estuaries were formed during the Holocene epoch by the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea level began to rise about 10,000-12,000 years ago.[3] Estuaries are typically classified by their geomorphological features or by water circulation patterns and can be referred to by many different names, such as bays, harbors, lagoons, inlets, or sounds, although some of these water bodies do not strictly meet the above definition of an estuary and may be fully saline.

    The banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the world’s population living along estuaries and the coast. As a result, many estuaries are suffering degradation by many factors, including sedimentation from soil erosion from deforestation, overgrazing, and other poor farming practices; overfishing; drainage and filling of wetlands; eutrophication due to excessive nutrients from sewage and animal wastes; pollutants including heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, radionuclides and hydrocarbons from sewage inputs; and diking or damming for flood control or water diversion.[3]

    The City’s vision for the redevelopment of Echo Bay is clear: to enhance views and vistas of the Long Island Sound from Main Street, create public access to the water for local residents and visitors, and to provide residential living on the waterfront at a density that is in scale with development elsewhere in the community.

    What other developments do they mean and how successful was that development? Whatever it was hasn’t helped our Downtown, our schools or our taxes one bit. Some vision! It is time to review the vision because it is obviously not clear since the original Echo Bay Project was once larger and of a much grander scale. This is only the vision of the same developer for a smaller piece of property.

    New Rochelle understands the value of a revitalized waterfront and eagerly wants to achieve it. If you ask the average New Rochelle resident rather than the same group of enablers you will find that they are willing to take the time necessary to review the process and make the correct decisions for a greater New Rochelle. What ever happened to EnvisioNR and all the dots on the wall? None of the dots said Echo Bay or Forest City on them just was for an improved waterfront. In the spring 2013 there was supposed to be more public meetings, a presentation of draft to City Council and more.

    We have seen what the wrong choices can do to The City of New Rochelle. Isn’t the future of New Rochelle worth a little more time and a second look? Every person today reviews the visions and goals for themselves and their families, Why not do the same for the future of The City of New Rochelle?

    Before I spend 20K plus on that new car I am going to look around at other models and dealers not just the same one I had used before because so much has changed since I bought that old clunker the mayor used as a comparison for the City Yard. If I plan on a 1000 Square foot addition for my home and the plans change several times and the size and scope of the project change, I will look at other options, developers, contractors and architects to get new quotes and estimates now that that project is 100 square feet rather than 1000. But that’s just me, who am I to know?

    “Common sense for the Common Good”

  3. Not the Best Use
    Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And to truly test this theory, the New Rochelle city government is again looking at rental apartments on one of the last remaining large properties available in city for development – even though this strategy has not been successful in our downtown.

    In my short debate with the mayor, I believe most people in the room agreed with me that rental apartments and a park on a mud flat overlooking a sewage treatment plant are not the best uses of this 26 acre property. This is not the best deal for taxpayers. Any development at this site must be centered upon retail, restaurants and commercial space – not residential – New Rochelle is already too densely packed with people. The Mayor and Forest City failed to make the case that this project is the best use of the site for the existing taxpayers, especially those in the southern half of city.

    1. This seems to obvious to
      This seems to obvious to everyone but the Mayor. One can only wonder why he is so eager to push through a project nobody wants. Moreover, I question his desire to stick NR residents with this disaster while he is looking to jump ship at the end of the year. When IKEA was proposed, a project that was not abated and that would have generated sales tax, he did a flip on it because he claimed the people didn’t want it. Now, he apparently has cotton in his ears. Is this what we can expect if he is elected CE?

  4. Ive Been Telling You For Years Follow the Money
    THe campaign money issue is nothing new. 4 years ago i put it out there for folks to see. THe mayor was asked if he received money from “Forest City” prior to 2007. He answered the same way a lawyer instructs a client to answer and the answer was “no”. If you’re being cross examined and a lawyer asks “do you know what time it is?” you don’t answer with the actual time – you say yes or no. So, he did not take money from Forest City prior to 2007. He took monet from the chief principals (all Ratners) in 2007. I tried to clear that up last night. Here’s the original story from 2009

    New Rochelle’s Political Contributors, Development, Favoring Extensions – Does it Make You Wonder?

  5. From Citizens for a Better New Rochelle
    At a meeting of New Rochelle residents last night about Echo Bay – someone asked our Mayor if he has taken any campaign donations from Forest City since 2007. He replied he has not…but suggested we can check the public records. Well…we did. See the picture included. The FACT is Mr. Bramson took $5000 from the Ratner family (principles of Forest City) approximately 6 months prior to the city announcing the development deal with Forest City. Demand more from our city leadership!! Can we trust other “facts” about Echo Bay from our city leaders if they can’t be transparent about who’s funding their campaigns?
    https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/p480x480/922805_614812725196483_977549119_n.png

  6. Bramson was his usual confident self, audience not convinced
    As a general reaction I found Bramson did not address the complaints or criticisms of the plan for Echo Bay. His defensive responses continued to be: a majority of New Rochelle residents wanted this development but he offered no basis for his opinion. When audience members made factual statements he avoided addressing the facts, such as the use of the Rutgers Model to decide how many children would live in a projected apartment complex.

    It was a sad day for democracy in New Rochelle.

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