NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The word going around town has been that New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson is preparing to run for re-election in 2015.
Right on cue, Bramson sent out an email to supporters promoting a fundraiser to be held Sunday, December 7th at noon and asking them to join the Host Committee for the event.
Bramson says that while the timing coincides with his 45th birthday, the “real purpose” is “to bring together the widest range of people with a shared vision for our future and to prepare for the big challenges of the coming year”.
In the email, Bramson lists five accomplishments over his near decade in office as Mayor.
• Responsible fiscal stewardship that has enabled us to weather the storm of the Great Recession, with the lowest city tax rate of Westchester’s urban centers and a lean, efficient workforce.
• An award-winning Sustainability Plan that is already helping to reduce energy consumption, conserve natural resources, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and make New Rochelle more pedestrian and bike-friendly.
• Significant new development in our downtown based on smart growth principles, together with imaginative, forward-looking planning to foster the next wave of investment.
• Major, grant-funded improvements in infrastructure and assets, from our new playing fields at City Park, to streetscape and traffic upgrades on North and Lincoln Avenues, to façade renovations downtown.
• A collaborative spirit that has brought together citizen volunteers and City officials to confront and overcome thorny issues, such as college-community relations, long-term budgeting, and the reuse of Davids Island.
Bramson admits to his “own share of mistakes” and describes a “sense of urgency” because the pace of progress in New Rochelle has “simply been too slow” noting that the “City’s achievements, though real, have not yet produced the critical mass of positive change that many of us eagerly desire.”
Bramson says “next year’s local elections for mayor and city council will be unusually important. It is not just individuals or political parties on the ballot – it is the character and direction of our entire community.”
Bramson portrays the 2015 election as a choice between “bold, effective action to uphold our values and shape our own future” and a “retreat from hard choices in the face of fear, wishful thinking, or negativity”.
The fundraiser is critical for Bramson — and will likely play a large role in his decision to run for re-election — because his campaign coffers are empty.
“We put everything into the last campaign, leaving nothing in reserve, and the political calendar simply makes it impossible to wait any longer.”
Thanks for kind words!
Martin & John – it was nice of you to mention me, but I’m very happy serving our community as county legislator and it’s been a great experience to serve as Vice Chair of BOL this term.
Jim Maisano
Jim Maisano
For Mayor
I always love a good laugh
Where is the substainatial development and fiscal stewardship? He cuts services, adds fees AND raises taxes. Gee thanks. A few more dorms is what we been asking for too, forget retail. We haven’t seen decent shopping in this city since Macy’s left. Award winning GreeNR has not made a measurable mark in greenhouse gas emissions. So he can stop patting himself on the back. The man is useless.
Advice to Douglas A. Colety
Advice to Douglas A. Colety and the powers within New Rochelle’s GOP spend some time vetting your next candidate in a more professional manner.
That being said with the margins of democratic to republican voters and with many North Ender’s voting in the affinity method you will have a challenge defeating
Bramson regardless of how little he has done and how ineffective he is in all respects. It would take someone like Maisano to get even close. Clearly he won’t win with the margins of his last election but he will coast in for sure based upon the disparity.
Holy Crap, You’ll Need a Shoehorn to Fit any More Buzzwords
Seriously, I’m going to hit the ground running*, with the end game* being, to seed (like a Zygote) a paradigm shift* among the influencers* that would create a pivot* towards thinking outside the box* as they innovate* game changing* strategies to tease out the true growth hackers* among us. Visionary* thinkers poised to deliver a tangible but ambiguous “net benefit” to all who drink the kool aid. Always cognizant of the potential of becoming intoxicated by the exuberance own verbosity, I will take pause to return to the point of this post.
Take a look at the 5 “accomplishments” over the 10 year period.
-The city is basically broke. Balancing the little money the city has is more a testament to the city manager and his staff. The crowning glory of the mayors hand is the ability to lay off tax burden into “fees” that still drain the property owners without inflating the tax rate. Library fee, garbage fee, business registration fee associated with fines, water hydrant fees.
– Sustainability by making the city more pedestrian and bike friendly, wow!
– “Significant” new development? Really? Have you been downtown and noticed anything new besides the Monroe (lets give more money to the mayors campaign) College sprawl and its resultant headaches?
– Infrastructure and assets. Like City Park, the field of dreams, because you must be dreaming if you think the local youth are allowed to use it. Streetscaped cameras at the intersections to provide a new revenue stream from tickets? Completely moot as evidence suggests there is no net benefit from these programs
– Collaborative spirit? That’s rich. The biggest thing the community has come together on was the overthrow of the mayors pet Echo Bay project. If the goal was to bring people together, he hit the jackpot on this one. Traditional objectionists banded with his own supporters to create a pushback so great in its magnitude that even the city council members who were aligned with him ran like rats off of a sinking ship to protect themselves from the political fallout. He didn’t overcome anything, the voters overcame the dictator like approach to satisfying the hand that helped fund his campaign coffers. Overcoming the “thorny issue” of Davids Island is another straw grasping reach. Obamacare will be repealed before he gets anything settled on Xanadu, I mean Davids Island, no wait, the wind farm park, no, I got it now, the heavy metal contaminated environmentally dead ( wrong again, that’s Echo Bay), well, you get the picture.
So, after 10 years as mayor along with years of service as councilman it’s hard to see the progress touted by these 5 talking points. Then again, the fog, along with some other organic substances, gets pretty thick down here in the East End. Maybe thats why we don’t see the tenants in the Trump Tower, or the mayor for that matter.
The voters have vehemently rejected him twice on very big issues. Echo Bay , the largest project in the City’s history, and County Executive in a County with an overwhelmingly Democrat voter advantage. If that’s the kind of track record you’re looking for then have at it. Utilizing the new common core math would indicate the next 4 years would give us a “net benefit” of 2 accomplishments. I’m just not sure if that’s pre-revenue* or value added*
*Buzzword suggestions for creative campaigning
According to Bramson math
To get a net benefit of 2 accomplishments, you have to eliminating 3 previous accomplishments and call them fees.
For Mayor……
We need an honorable, inclusive and authentic person as Mayor- how about Jim Maisano?