Save Our Armory Committee packs American Legion hall with special guest Jeffrey Hastie from CBNR & Echo Bay Facts.
Photo Credit: By Jen Parente
The Night began with anticipation, the crowd was buzzing with conversation as they gathered into their seats. The News 12 van outside and a camera crew had to have been a contributing factor. Citizens of New Rochelle had much to discuss with each other in this very pivotal time in our city’s history. On the agenda for the evening were several issues of great importance to the future prosperity of the once illustrious queen city of the sound. The crowd was large and diverse; a testament to the growing tide of awareness and action that has characterized the spring and summer of 2013. It represented the fabric that makes our community with every color, creed, background, and age group uniting under common purpose. That purpose goes as far back as the founding of this constitutional republic; it is the idea that a just government derives its powers from the governed. A long train of abuses by Mayor Noam Bramson has culminated in the alienation of many New Rochelle residents including many of his supporters. The straw that will break the camel’s back is the Forest city Echo Bay development.
First objective of the night was to bring people up to speed with the Echo Bay Facts Lawn signs initiative and why these signs are so important. Mayor Bramson told all of New Rochelle residents at the closing of the Forest City Echo Bay FEIS hearing that “Counting heads” does not matter. No matter how many logical and irrefutable facts that the majority of resident have found consensus to be true, the only perception that counted was his and that’s what mattered. The Echo Bay Facts lawn signs are a direct response to show the mayor and the rest of the city council just how many “heads” there actually are against this project. To represent Citizens for a Better New Rochelle the group that financed the lawn signs project was Jeffrey Hastie. Jeffrey brought signs for people but more importantly he brought facts, facts that no one on city council has yet been able to credibly refute. In this information age knowledge of the facts is power. CBNR is comprised mostly of Democrats, from the north end that were supporters of Noam Bramson, according to Jeffrey many have even donated to his past campaign but cannot in good conscience support such a disastrous plan for New Rochelle’s last large remaining piece of undeveloped land. Period.
Mr. Hastie stressed the fact that this has nothing to do with politics. To the members of CBNR and the vast majority of New Rochelle residents there is just not enough benefit to the city and her residents to justify continuing with this proposed plan. Its disastrous effects would surely be felt for generations to come. Mr. Hastie who also serves on the school board answered questions from how the plan would negatively impact our school district to informing the public of the recent exposé of Forest City by a nonprofit government accountability group called “Cause of Action” This 2 year investigative report exposes all the tactics forest city is using against the city of New Rochelle right now because they have done so successfully everywhere they have been. The tactics are always the same, contribute to and back local politicians and other government officials and use the art of pull to get them to change zoning laws and grant taxpayers subsidies which make a considerable portion of FC’s profits. Mayor Bramson is Forest City’s ticket to development in the rest of Westchester County; they both have a mutual interest in seeing the project pushed through. In order to reach higher office Mayor Bramson is apparently willing to sacrifice our city’s financial solvency, safety and resources. Of course he will say that this is not how he perceives it, but math doesn’t lie .
The truth is the residents of New Rochelle will have to pay for this out of their own pocket, deplete their already strained services and resources like Police and Fire, and if that was not enough pile on the largest debt obligations in our city’s history which will be a weight dragging economic growth for over a generation. Truth is all our taxes will already have to go up even without echo bay to pay for these same failed policies of past years, with the Echo Bay project it will be unsustainable. I invite anyone who thinks otherwise to look at our assessables on paper and then drive through downtown and take note of what you see. Empty store fronts, an entire block between Huguenot and Lecount Place devoid of any real economic activity with an abandoned apartment building. How can we attract businesses to downtown when as it has become depressed all while Mayor Bramson cheer-leads for Forest City who just sold the failed boxing gym building down the street? Bet many of you didn’t know they owned that! Makes sense since Forest City’s President and CEO David J. LaRue said their strategy is to exit non-core markets, which is why they sold Liberty center in Pittsburgh. They sold it at a loss for the taxpayers and at a profit for Forest City. In a note to investors in regards to Liberty Center LaRue said “This transaction continues our strategic effort to exit non-core products and markets, and to use proceeds from dispositions to improve our balance sheet, and invest in our mature portfolio and entitled development opportunities”. If anyone believes their claim that they are going to be in New Rochelle for the long haul of that they give a damn about the future of New Rochelle, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn!
The meeting moved on to a discussion of perhaps the greatest importance for the future of our city. That is Amending the city charter to allow the citizens to challenge irresponsible and reckless projects like Echo Bay by referendum; ensuring that future city politicians will not be able to act in spite of the best interests and will of the people. Currently citizens do not have any real power over how their fruits of their labor are spent by the city government. Sure in theory their councilmen and women and mayor would be looking out for their constituents interests, but this is evidentially not the case with Echo Bay in Which Mayor Bramson is strong arming his Democratic colleagues and the people into going forward with a plan that will only serve his interests and that of Forest City. This is why the amendment to the charter is the single most important decision New Rochelle citizens will make collectively in 20 years since the last charter amendment. Amending our city’s covenant between its government and the citizens from which its authority derives; is no small matter. In order to do this the amendments must be meticulously crafted as the Mayor will resist any check on his usurped power and the required number of signatures of registered voters must be collected before it can be allowed on a ballot for the entire city to vote on. There is already a legal team of New Rochelle lawyers that are working on the language of the amendments. This very worthwhile and necessary endeavor will take the involvement of every man and women that believes in the idea of “government of the people, by the People and for the people”.
The Night closed with an account of how the Save our Armory Committee was eliminated from the Waterfront Gateway Design Competition started by the city and a little known publication called Arch Paper headed by Professor William Menking from Pratt Institute. We now know that Shop Architects was notified by phone a day after they submitted the proposal that they were not one of the 12 chosen. No reason was given. Still to this day neither the city nor professor Menking has disclosed the winning designs or the identities of the entrants. Out of the 28 applications that were submitted how likely is it that some could have come from Professor Menking’s art students? There are still so many unanswered questions surrounding the Armory re-design competition, especially in light of the fact that someone who has administrative control of the Archpaper Armory competition website has just edited the information on the site in an effort to cover up for the complete lack of any objective standard of transparency, after City Officials including mayor Bramson were publicly put on notice on this site, on Facebook and on WVOX over the way the competition has been conducted. This is just the latest in a long history of slights and disrespect Mayor Bramson has shown the Veteran community in New Rochelle and the Armory Building itself. A History that has been well documented on this website.
If there was a feeling that those in the audience left with, it would be resolve. The resolve to make sure that New Rochelle is not added to the list of Forest City’s victims. The resolve to save our Armory and to do so openly and transparently with full input from the public and our Veteran Community that deserves to “Contribute fully to this country in peace time as well as war” those were Mayor Bramson’s own words to purple heart vets in Peekskill on August 11th as he campaigns for County Executive while doing all he can to ensure that New Rochelle Veterans will not have that opportunity at home . The resolve that our elected representatives must be reminded from time to time that they represent us, that we pay their salaries to represent our interest. Who is better qualified to know the people’s interest than the people themselves? It is Bramson’s elitist attitude towards the citizen that is leaving this city in a very precarious situation with a very uncertain future. Despite all the colorful imagery of people kayaking on mud flats and doing yoga while breathing in the air from a sewage and waste treatment plant.