Reporting and Commentary by Robert Cox

Crowdsourcing the History of Trinity School Traffic in New Rochelle

For decades, traffic around Trinity Elementary School has been a source of complaints in New Rochelle, particularly for residents of Davenport Neck who use Church Street to reach Pelham Road and the rest of the city. Exactly how long the problem has existed — and why a school with hundreds of

Davenport Neck Opposition Forces a Procedural Retreat at New Rochelle City Hall

The Ramos-Herbert administration did not withdraw its Davenport Neck rezoning proposal Tuesday night. It did something politically more interesting. It retreated. Not formally. Not permanently. And certainly not using that word. But one week after residents and neighborhood organizations again lined up against the proposed rezoning, Development Commissioner Adam

New Rochelle Taxpayers Billed $57,547.59 for Officials’ Defamation Lawsuit Against Journalist

The documented total covers only one law firm, excludes other attorneys involved in the matter and comes before any ruling on the merits OVER THE NORTH ATLANTIC, WEST OF IRELAND (August 28, 2026) — New Rochelle taxpayers have been billed at least $57,547.59 to finance a federal defamation lawsuit

I Spent a Week Building an Article 78. Then I Filed a Better Complaint Instead.

The Public's Right to Know: New Rochelle's FOIL Stonewall Part IV

Why Did the New Rochelle Board of Ethics Suddenly Decide It Had No Jurisdiction?

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (August 19, 2026) — This is not another article about Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert’s failure to deliver a State of the City address. She still has four months left in 2026. Until the year is over, that particular complaint is not ripe for a court to

The Public's Right to Know: New Rochelle's FOIL Stonewall Part III

DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 18, 2026) — This is Part III in a multi-part series. In Part II, I described what happened after I sought records involving Generations Church and the City of New Rochelle. The City said its search had identified more than 10,000 records, later nearly 11,000

The Public’s Right to Know: New Rochelle’s FOIL Stonewall — Part II

DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 17, 2026) — This is Part II in a multi-part series. In Part I, I explained how increasingly targeted FOIL requests, the City's resistance to them, my reporting in The New Rochelle Thimblerig and, ultimately, litigation became intertwined. I also said that the next step

The Public's Right to Know: New Rochelle's FOIL Stonewall — Part I

DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 16, 2026) — This is Part I in a multi-part series. Shining the Light "If you get a full copy, your recourse, in my opinion, involves shining the light and pointing out where there might not have been full compliance." — Robert J. Freeman, New York

OPEN LETTER TO NEW ROCHELLE CITY MANAGER ON IMPROPER WITHHOLDING OF EXTERNAL AUDIT REPORT

CityManager@newrochelleny.gov City Manager Wilfredo Melendez Dear City Manager Melendez, I want the court to weigh in on a matter that has become recurring — almost monthly — during your tenure: the City of New Rochelle’s routine violations of the Open Meetings Law. Many of these violations involve simple matters,

Google Tells Talk of the Sound It Delisted One or More Articles in Europe—But Won’t Say Which Ones

DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 11, 2026) — Google has notified Talk of the Sound today that one or more pages associated with the publication have been removed from certain Google search results in Europe following a request made under European data protection law. The notice did not identify the requester. It did

New Rochelle Used Taxpayer Funds to Finance a Private Lawsuit. Now I’m Seeking the Records

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (August 12, 2026) — Today I filed a request under the New York Freedom of Information Law seeking records concerning how the City of New Rochelle came to authorize the use of taxpayer funds in connection with the defamation lawsuit brought against me by Corporation Counsel Dawn Warren