From financial optimism and ambitious development projections to housing, neighborhood investments and government accomplishments, a comparison of the mayor’s 2024, 2025 and 2026 speeches reveals recurring priorities, changing figures and significant omissions. DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 28, 2026) — When New Rochelle Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert delivered her first State of
An examination of Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert’s prepared remarks finds an emphasis on development, housing, public improvements and recognition of city employees, with little substantive discussion of municipal finances. DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 28, 2026) — New Rochelle Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert’s 2026 State of the City address offered an
Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert celebrated development, housing and public improvements in her unusually late annual address, but left unanswered questions about the city’s finances, housing claims and unfinished projects. DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 28, 2026) — For as long as I can remember, I have received an embargoed copy of New
New Rochelle transformed its downtown and attracted billions of dollars in development. But claims that a few thousand apartments produced a housing affordability miracle became a national narrative — and eventually part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s argument for changing housing policy across New York. DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 27, 2026) — Imagine
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 27, 2026) — Within 48 hours of The Wall Street Journal publishing an article celebrating New Rochelle as a rare American city that had managed to bring rents down by building thousands of apartments, the story was being repeated by other news organizations, promoted on national television and
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 26, 2026) — Remember those rental statistics that supposedly proved New Rochelle had discovered the secret sauce to bringing down housing costs? The numbers promoted by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Wall Street Journal that helped turn New Rochelle into a celebrated national model for solving America’
An examination of nearly a decade of Apartment List data challenges the statistics used to portray New Rochelle as a national model for lowering rents. DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 26, 2026) — For more than a year, New Rochelle has been celebrated as a rare American success story: a city that welcomed
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 26, 2026) — After years of investigating New Rochelle’s efforts to establish civilian oversight of its Police Department, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the people running City Hall — the mayor, the city manager, the corporation counsel and the leadership of the New Rochelle Police
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 25, 2026) — More than a century ago, a New Rochelle woman undertook the painstaking task of deciphering, transcribing and translating the town’s oldest surviving municipal records, preserving documents that tell the story of the community’s earliest years. Her name was Jeanne Claudet Forbes, and in
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 25, 2026) — In August, I received an email from James C. “Jim” Forbes Jr. of Atlanta, Georgia, telling me that eight members of his family had gathered in New Rochelle in July for a reunion. He included a photograph of the family members and a brief account
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 25, 2026) — The New Rochelle Board of Education has released a new flyer promoting community participation in Vision 2030, its initiative to rethink how the City School District of New Rochelle organizes its schools and delivers educational services. The flyer promises transparency, emphasizes that no decisions have
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 24, 2026) — The New Rochelle Board of Education says it wants community participation in Vision 2030, an initiative that could reshape the City School District of New Rochelle. But when I submitted 14 groups of questions about the Board’s promises, its selection of proposals and the