Reporting and Commentary by Robert Cox

New Rochelle Withholds Draft Audit Document After City’s Outside Auditor Cites It in Public Meeting

DUBLIN, IRELAND (July 15, 2026) — New Rochelle has improperly denied my Freedom of Information Law request seeking a draft financial statement that the City's own outside auditor consulted, paged through, and relied upon to answer a direct question from a member of City Council at a meeting of

New Rochelle School District Refuses to Answer Questions About Inducting a Convicted Felon into the NRHS Hall of Fame

DUBLIN, IRELAND (July 15, 2026) — I do not understand why I am not getting a response. On June 27 I emailed the district with straightforward questions about the New Rochelle High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. Four people had just been inducted after a five-year hiatus. One of

My Revolutionary Ancestors: Coxe-McNatt, Nathanael Greene, the Swamp Fox, and a Final 4th of July Barbecue

DUBLIN, IRELAND (July 4, 2026) — My female family members were proud members of the DAR — Daughters of the American Revolution. They put considerable effort into documenting the family genealogy. When my grandfather Robert Nelson Cox died, his wife — my grandmother Dorothy Cox — bequeathed a trove of genealogy records to me

Sunday Briefing: Appeals Court Smacks 2 DA’s, CCRB Doomed, McVey Staying Locked Up

This briefing draws from reporting at Talk of the Sound, analysis and commentary published in Words in Edgewise, and selected regional coverage for the week ending: 28 June, 2026 A Note from the Publisher The 2nd Court of Appeals handed down a highly significant opinion in a case that no

Designed to Fail: New Rochelle CCRB

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (June 24, 2026) — Whether intentionally or through incompetence, the New Rochelle Citizens Complaint Review Board is an elaborate Rube Goldberg contraption designed for a single outcome — failure. The CCRB will never function because it is constrained in a way that makes it impossible for it to function.

Sunday Briefing: Micro-Transit RFP, Rubicco CTOEC, Flip-Flop by DA on NRPD

This briefing draws from reporting at Talk of the Sound, analysis and commentary published in Words in Edgewise, and selected regional coverage for the week ending June 21, 2026. A Note from the Publisher I spent most of the past week with my wife in Belgium, then Friday night we

Sunday Briefing: Housing Myths, Council Theater, and the DA’s Brady Problem

This briefing draws from reporting at Talk of the Sound, analysis and commentary published in Words in Edgewise, and selected regional coverage for the week ending June 14, 2026 A Note from the Publisher A New Rochelle developer whose projects pre-date the 2015 DOZ, wrote an op-ed for

New Rochelle Built a Police Oversight Board That Can’t Review Serious Cases Until Long After They Happen

The exemptions built into the CCRB ordinance guarantee the board is excluded from every serious police misconduct case during the period when the community most needs answers — and state law ensures that will be true for every future officer-involved death as well NEW ROCHELLE, NY (June 14, 2026) — New

OP-ED: New York's Housing Crisis Won't Be Solved With Slogans

by Anthony Hammel NEW ROCHELLE, NY (June 12, 2026) — Governor Kathy Hochul's "Let Them Build" agenda makes for a compelling headline. Who wouldn't support cutting red tape, building more housing, and lowering costs? At first glance, the proposal suggests that bureaucracy is the primary

The Performative Intellectualism of New Rochelle Council Member David Peters

The Documentary Avalanche: When Sources Want a Reporter, Not Reporting

FORMAL COMPLAINT TO THE NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER

Division of Investigations investigations@osc.ny.gov Re: City of New Rochelle — Formal Complaint Requesting Investigation Pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the New York State Constitution and Article III of the General Municipal Law Complainant: Robert Cox Publisher, Talk of the Sound / Words in Edgewise robertcox@talkofthesound.com