NEW ROCHELLE, NY (June 9, 2025) — Fifteen years ago New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson misled state representatives, including George Latimer, Amy Paulin, Jeff Klein, and Suzi Oppenheimer, into believing veterans supported what amounted to a sneak attack intended to use Home Rule to tear down the New Rochelle Armory
SEE: TORA! TORA! TORA!: Mayor Launches Pearl Harbor Style Sneak Attack on New Rochelle Armory with Midnight Legislation in Albany (6/27/2010)
Bramson’s successor, New Rochelle Mayor Yadira Ramos is launching another sneak attack using last-minute legislation to sneak through a Home Rule Bill.
Just moments ago, a meeting notice was made public by City Clerk Kim Jones that the New Rochelle City Council will hold a special meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 3:30 p.m. to consider legislation regarding the New York State Naval Armory at Pratt Landing. The COW meeting agenda is already 169 pages long. There is a lot the Mayor does not want the public to see on Tuesday.
SEE: New Rochelle City Council COW: June 10, 2025
The special meeting, called by Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert under Article III, Section 7 of the City Charter, will take place in the Council Conference Room at City Hall, 515 North Avenue. The council will discuss a resolution authorizing city officers to sign a Home Rule Request supporting Senate Bill No. S7989-A (sponsored by Shelley Mayer) and Assembly Bill No. A8559-A sponsored by Steve Otis).
The proposed state legislation amends a 2021 law allowing New Rochelle to sell or convey the Armory Building, including its annex, for economic development purposes. The bills add a reverter clause, stating that if the Armory and annex are not preserved or if the owner fails to obtain a certificate of occupancy, ownership will revert to New York State. Additionally, if dedicated spaces for veterans’ organizations are not provided at no or minimal cost, as approved by the city council, those spaces will also revert to the state.
What the legislation does not say is where any dedicated spaces for veterans’ organizations would be located. Twinings, the developer of Pratt Landing, could preserve the Armory and annex but stick the veterans in the basement of a laundromat elsewhere on the property.
The reverter clause will be eliminated if the owner of the property — whether Twinings or another owner —obtains a certificate of occupancy. Once a C of O is obtained, the owner could do anything with the building including tearing it down and putting up apartments. This is the exact scenario that has worried New Rochelle veterans for decades.
“Such deed or other document of conveyance shall provide that in the event of a breach of the conditions in this paragraph, title to the Armory Building and the annex and the underlying land of such structures shall revert to the state of New York,” the bills state.
The legislation also allows the state to enforce these conditions through legal or equitable means, including injunctive relief or specific performance.
Mayor Ramos-Herbert emphasized the meeting’s purpose in a letter to Jones, stating, “By my order, pursuant to Article III, Section 7 of the New Rochelle City Charter, please allow this to serve as notice of a Special Meeting for the purpose of introducing a resolution authorizing the appropriate officers of the City of New Rochelle to sign a Home Rule request for the Enactment of Senate Bill No. 7989-A and State Assembly Bill No. 8559-A.”
The meeting will occur prior to the Committee of the Whole session, and the notice has been sent to council members, City Manager Wilfredo Melendez, and local news media, in compliance with Public Officers Law Section 104.
Contact Information for state reps
Senator Shelley Mayer
District Office
235 Mamaroneck Avenue, Suite 400
White Plains, NY 10605
Phone: 914-934-5250
Fax: 914-948-2469
Assemblymember Steve Otis
District Office
222 Grace Church Street
Port Chester, NY 10573
914-939-7028
Fax: 914-939-7167
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin
District Office
700 White Plains Road Suite 355
Scarsdale, New York 10583
Tel.: (914) 723-1115
Fax: (914) 723-2665
This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.