NEW ROCHELLE, NY — After keeping silent for three days about jumping the line ahead of health care workers, first responders and teachers — refusing to ask questions posed to him by Talk of the Sound on Friday afternoon before we broke the story — New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson now admits he jumped the line but claims he did it to set an example for others.
Puh-leeze.
Bramson ignored our questions earlier this week:
But he did speak to the New York Post in a story to be published in the paper on Sunday.
Bramson issued the following statement on Saturday.
I personally had intended to wait for a future phase but in order to overcome vaccine hesitancy that was becoming evident within the city workforce, and demonstrate confidence in the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, I received a vaccine mid-afternoon on Thursday.
Absolute bull-oney
Vaccine hesitancy?
There is massively high demand for the vaccine but Montefiore, slammed by Governor Andrew Cuomo for its slow pace just days earlier, was slow to deliver doses.
Teachers were told nothing about vaccine availability until 12:04 pm on Thursday after Bramson got his shot.
Talk about “clean up on aisle three”.
If the purpose was to “demonstrate” confidence in the vaccine then who did he tell he received the vaccine? Where are the photos? The tweets? The blog posts? The press releases? The emails to City staff? And just who is that was afraid to get the vaccine who said “I wasn’t going to get the vaccine but now that Noam did it I will go ahead.”
If he was so concerned with setting an example why did he keep it a secret and ignore our email sent at 4:47 pm asking him about this very subject?
Everyone in town knows that Noam responds quickly to emails but even now, two days later, we still have no response to our questions.
It gets worse.
According to The New York Post, 128 of 675 municipal employees (including 45 of the 200+ members of the New Rochelle Police Department) received the vaccine before the state shut down the illegal program at 5:00 pm Thursday — and several elected officials remained until as late as 6:30 pm to get the vaccine even after Montefiore was ordered to cease and desist by the New York State Department of Health.
UPDATE 1/10/21 11:03
The City of New Rochelle had today provided the data we requested on Friday, given to the New York Post on Saturday.
According to numbers provided by Montefiore, when the program was suspended on Thursday, a total of 128 City employees had been vaccinated, of whom 45 work in PD. Aside from the PD, we do not have breakdowns by department or category of employee. Our workforce comprises about 675 employees in total.
So, about 5% of the people who got vaccinated were City Council Members including Mayor Bramson.
Bramson skipped ahead of more than 550 City employees — including more than 155 members of the NRPD — and 1,800 teachers, staff and school principals and only now publicly acknowledges he got the vaccine which he says he took to show everyone what he did.
Bramson went on to say:
Montefiore misinterpreted the state guidelines and should not have been administering the vaccines. Knowing now that Montefiore New Rochelle’s program did not have proper state authorization, I regret my participation.
UPDATE 1/10/21 11:04
The City of New Rochelle had today provided a statement addressing the questions we asked on Friday, given to the New York Post on Saturday.
Montefiore’s invitation encompassed all municipal employees, including elected officials. I personally had intended to wait for a future phase but in order to overcome vaccine hesitancy that was becoming evident within the City workforce, and demonstrate confidence in the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, I received a vaccine mid-afternoon on Thursday. Knowing now that Montefiore New Rochelle’s program did not have proper State authorization, I regret my participation.
What exactly does he “regret”?
He regrets he was outed by Talk of the Sound.
He regrets the folks at the New York Post read Talk of the Sound.
He regrets having been caught cooking up a scheme with Montefiore New Rochelle Chief Anthony Alfano that resulted in the Mayor cutting the line not only in front of New Rochelle first responders and teachers and the elderly and high-risk patients but millions of doctors, nurses, cops, firefighters, teachers, transportation workers, and older and sick people all across the state.
It is truly shameful.
When was the Mayor actually eligible?
Tier 1A is health-care workers.
Noam Bramson is not a health care worker.
Tier 1B is first responders, teachers/school staff, and child-care providers; public health workers; other essential frontline workers that regularly interact with public (pharmacists, grocery store workers, transit employees, etc.), those 75+ and others.
Noam Bramson is not a cop, not a firefighter, not a teacher, not a pharmacist, not a grocery clerk and so on.
Tier 2 is those 65+, those at high-risk.
Noam Bramson is 51 not 65.
Tier 3 is all remaining essential workers.
Noam Bramson is classified as an essential worker so he is Tier 3 but jumped to Tier 1A.
Tier 4 is healthy adults and children.
Mayor Bramson is behind many, many millions of New Yorkers, people far more at risk than him.
Governor Cuomo said Friday that completing everyone in Tier 1B will take until April 16th. Tier 2 will take more months, meaning the Mayor skipped the line by more than 10,000,000 people and got the shot 5-6 months earlier than he should have.
Does he regret that he cut in line to take a dose of vaccine from someone who needed it far more than he does?
No. He regrets he got caught and now looks bad.
UPDATED 1/10/21 12:01 PM
Blogger Noam Bramson published a blog post this morning saying he is “embarrassed” and feels “shame” that he “cut the line” to get the COVID vaccine on Thursday.
In his post the Blogger Mayor goes to great lengths to make himself out to be the victim of City workers who had “vaccine hesitancy”, the City Manager who co-opted him into getting a shot, to Montefiore misinterpreting the state guidelines, to the Governor and his administration for conflicting statements. He did not willingly, proactively seek to “cut” the line (City Hall has objected to our use of “jump” the line but “cut” is apparently acceptable).
His main point is that to him it was “plausible” that the New York State Department of Health had approved Montefiore New Rochelle, and them alone, to vaccinate Tier 4 people while Governor Cuomo was in a raging battle with New York City Mayor Noam Bramson about Cuomo’s order not to vaccinate Tier 1B New York City Police
He even adds an unconfirmed and self-serving anecdote on how gallant he was at Montefiore.
“While I was waiting for my vaccine at Montefiore, a friendly nurse literally invited me to cut the line, I declined,” wrote Bramson.
In other words the Mayor, who is Tier 4, was unwilling to cut in front of several people in the waiting room while he was cutting in front of many millions of people outside the waiting room who are stuck on Tier 1A, Tier 1B, Tier 2, and Tier 3 – teachers, cops, firefighters, the elderly, grocery store workers, transportation workers and those over 65 or with high-risk medical conditions.
That seemed plausible?
Bramson now says the City had “the goal of completing the City workforce over the next 48 hours or so” starting Wednesday. The school district was set to begin on Friday. So, Noam not only jumped the line himself but mad sure all city workers, including non-Tier 1B workers, jumped ahead of teachers, staff and administrators at the City School District of New Rochelle who are all Tier 1B.
Left out of his tale is that he was asked by Talk of the Sound at 4:47 pm Friday afternoon whether he got a vaccine shot and has still never answered. We even asked about emails sent by the City Manager to City workers and somehow no one thought to send it.
If his account is true (and we do not buy it for a second) why not answer whether he got a vaccine shot by saying what he is saying now?
Noam Bramson chose to put himself at the nexus of the vaccine distribution operation: he spoke to Anthony Alfano at Montefiore New Rochelle, he called the City Manager, he called school board members, city council members and the Schools Superintendent.
Is that his role in New Rochelle? No. He wanted the applause for making the vaccine program happen and he pulled an Alexander Haig (for the youngsters at home, look it up).
Blogger Bramson wraps up by saying:
I suppose this blog post is my attempt to fully disclose what happened, learn from the experience, and move on.
That may sound good to him — and there is no doubt he would like to move on — but the reality is he has not fully disclosed what happen (Who called him from Montefiore? What exactly was the supposed confusion? If he did not check why did not else check with County and State officials? Why was he call school officials?) and what has he learned beyond don’t get caught jumping the line.
Read the whole self-pitying mess on Noam’s blog.
UPDATE 1/11/21 6:43 AM
Email sent at 4:47 pm Friday with questions for New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson. As of this moment he has yet to reply:
UPDATE 1/10/21:
The Jerusalem Post picked up my reporting, by way of New York Post story…
COVID-19: New Rochelle hospital gives illegal vaccines, mayor jumped line
New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson jumped the line in a bid to get the coronavirus vaccine as early as possible, despite the push to inoculate municipal employees and elected officials being illegal, the New York Post reported Saturday.
RELATED:
New Rochelle School & City Workers Begin COVID-19 Vaccinations at Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital
What Went Wrong with Moderna Vaccine Distribution for New Rochelle Teachers, Staff?
New Rochelle School Medical Director Not Consulted on Board of Ed’s Illegal Vaccine Plan
BALONEY: Bramson Now “Regrets” Jumping the Line to Get COVID Vaccine, Says He Was Setting an Example
New Rochelle Schools Superintendent Instructed City Hall Staff to Lie to Get Illicit COVID-19 Vax
New Rochelle City and School District Employees Will Get Second COVID-19 Vax
White Privilege, really stop the BS.
Well said, just a rabble rouser, plan and simple.
What do you mean by responsible for a city?
Mr.Cox – take a breath, everyone knows the vaccine rollout is a s***show, w/ guidelines in flux & confusing. I’m not a big Noam fan, but the explanation for this unfortunate mistake (misinformation from hospital) is credible and verifiable. He should have checked with NYS, but when you’re responsible for a city, and someone says you can start saving lives now, haste to do so is understandable. You’ve never carried such responsibility, certainly not as a self-appointed “journalist” with no editorial oversight or accountability. I actually appreciate some good info that occasionally comes across the “transom” here. Just try to be less of a high-minded jerk as you go about your biz, and people might appreciate it more.
In New Rochelle, the City is run by a City Manager and the City government is separate from the School District.
So, for starters, you are not describing how the New Rochelle public sector actually works.
The “Mayor” is a legislator not an executive, an at-large member of City Council whose primary function as chairperson at City Council meetings.
So, you are not describing the job of Mayor.
Your idea is what, that unless a person “carried such responsibility” they cannot criticize someone who does? Setting aside that Noam does NOT have that responsibility, since when are elected officials above reproach?
Regardless of your being so misinformed, the main issue with your comment is you are defending Noam Bramson’s from an allegation not made: that he should not have acted to do what he could to get public sector employees the vaccine. That is not the issue. The issue is that he jumped the line to get the vaccine for himself.
I have added a copy of the email (story above) I sent to Noam Bramson on Friday afternoon. I was emailing, texting, on the phone with local, county and state officials all day including Noam when I sent the email to Noam at 4:47 pm.
As you will see, I was following up on previous emails with Noam by asking a set of questions based on new information.
“I am also told the elected officials were among the first to get vaccinated, both school board members and city council members and that of those you were the first, that you went to Montefiore and got a dose on Thursday morning.
Can you address that?
Police, Fire and Teachers are 1B. Elected officials are not to my knowledge even part of a current NYS DOH plan.
Does it concern you that you jumped the line over everyone in Tier 1B?”
I waited for hours for a response, well past my deadline, gave up waiting and reported that Noam (and other elected officials) jumped the line.
Even after the story ran, Noam did not respond to that email. Not Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday.
What Noam did do was tell the NYPost the answer to my question, yes, he regretted jumping the line.
On Sunday, he wrote a blog post that he felt “shame”, was “embarrassed” and had “regret” for cutting the line.
So by Sunday, even Noam was not defending his actions. It is odd then that when he is not you and others are.
You say that Noam’s explanation is “credible and verifiable”?
While credible is in the eye of the beholder, and you are free to trust who you like, in my experience Noam is someone who tells lies, big ones, then blames other people for doing so. You can watch it on video yourself. Pull up the video of the presser on 6/6/20 when Noam laid out an entirely false narrative of what led up to the police-involved shooting death of Kamal Flowers. When I later documented (with police records) that everything he said was untrue he blamed the NRPD. He refused to correct the record. At the presser after the Grand Jury refused to indict Alec McKenna I asked Noam to his face, in front of a dozen reporters, if he cared to retract his statements on 6/6. He demurred.
So, I know Noam to be untruthful on MAJOR issues and I never give him the benefit of the doubt and for good reason.
As for “verifiable”, the only way to even attempt to verify Noam’s account of how he got involved (a phone call from Anthony Alfano at Montefiore) is to get Alfano’s account.
Once the City Spokesperson confirmed on Sunday that Alfano called Noam I texted Alfano with a series of questions:
“Mr. Alfano this is Robert Cox of Talk of the Sound . I am a reporter working on a story.
Noam Bramson confirmed this morning that you were the person he spoke with on Wednesday about vaccinating City and School workers.
As a result, I now have a few questions.
Who called who between you and the Mayor?
If you initiated contact, why did you call the Mayor and not the head of agency, City Manager Charles B. Storm? Noam says HE then contacted the City School District of New Rochelle. Why did YOU not contact the head of agency, Dr. Marrero?
Montefiore told the City between Wednesday evening and 5 pm Thursday a total of 128 City employees were vaccinated. How many CSDNR employees?
Did you make the same offer to private school teachers like Iona, Ursuline, Salesian or grammar schools or pre-schools or childcare workers?
Did you make the same offer to Iona College or Monroe College?
WCDOH took 330 doses from Montefiore on Friday. If you gave vaccine to 128 city employees and a few more CSDNR employees and there was a plan to bus teachers from two schools on Friday and all week the following week did you have the supply needed to give 2,500 doses over that period. It seems not so why make that offer?
I have statements from Noam, the City, CSDNR and Montefiore press office all saying versions of there was a misunderstanding between Montefiore and NYSDOH but everyone acted in good faith. But no one will say precisely what it was that was misunderstood and by who? Can you explain what any misunderstanding was about specifically? Some directive, a policy, a statement by Governor Cuomo, the NYSDOH letter saying to return unused vaccine if a hospital maxed out on its own workers? Something else?
Thanks
Robert Cox
914-325-4616
TALK OF THE SOUND
Publisher and Managing Editor
talkofthesound.com”
Montefiore PR responded for Alfano that he/they would not answer any of my questions. Perhaps because that phone call is the subject of a criminal investigation.
Unless there is a recording of the call made available, Noam’s account is NOT verifiable.
Other than that you make a good point.
He only cares about himself not the people he was elected to represent
Mayor Bramson is one of the “Prissy Entitled privileged” people who we speak about. He thinks his Whiteness entitles him to whatever HE feels, and can jump the line because he feels privileged, irregardless of those who are in need, such as the medical staff who work directly with the COVID-19 patients, first responders, front line workers, elderly, etc. Is this how he governs as the Mayor? Tsk, tsk. to your constituents.
Do you think the Mayor jumping the line is an example of “White privilege”?
So you do not believe he was being noble, setting a positive example?