New Rochelle's 2027 Budget: Questions Taxpayers Should Ask City Hall
BINGHAMTON, NY (November 9, 2026) — Given the short window from budget estimate release to council discussion (less than the required 24 hours), I did my best to review the 518 page budget here. It is difficult not to interpret the proposed budget as a pointed response to Mayor Yadira Ramos-
Long Before Memorial Highway, a Railroad Cut Through What Is Now The LINC
NEW ROCHELLE, NY (November 1, 2026) — For more than 8 years, the City of New Rochelle has promoted the LINC, a plan to transform portions of Memorial Highway into public open space, pedestrian connections and recreational areas linking the Lincoln Avenue neighborhood with downtown New Rochelle. The project has attracted
The Vision 2030 Survey New Rochelle’s School Board Doesn’t Want the Rest of New Rochelle to Know About
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 31, 2026) — The New Rochelle Board of Education has finally begun asking the community what it thinks about Vision 2030, its ambitious plan to reorganize the city’s public schools. There’s just one problem: The Board appears far more interested in hearing from people already connected
NYC Enrollment Report Exposes What’s Missing From New Rochelle’s Vision 2030
DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 30, 2026) — Since the New Rochelle Board of Education re-launched its Vision 2030 initiative in September, I have repeatedly raised a question that I believe needs to be answered before the district begins considering major changes to school configurations, educational programs or facilities: What problem is
Yadira Weeps as New Rochelle’s LINC Faces Six Major Traffic Problems City Engineers Could Not Resolve
NEW ROCHELLE, NY (October 29, 2026) — Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert became emotional while discussing the LINC during her October 27 State of the City address. She described shedding tears over the project. What caught my attention was not so much her reported tears as her reference to approximately 5,500
3 SOTCs, 3 Years of Promises: What Changed Under New Rochelle Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert?
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
What Did New Rochelle’s Mayor Prioritize in Her 2026 State of the City Address? An Analysis of the Speech
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
New Rochelle Mayor Delivers State of the City 17 Months After Last Address, Plenty of Optimism Little About City Finances
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
The Great Wall Street Journal Hoax of New Rochelle — Part IV: How New York’s Governor Embraced the Economic Absurdity Behind a Supposed Housing Miracle
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
The Great Wall Street Journal Hoax of New Rochelle — Part III: How a Housing Miracle Became National Conventional Wisdom
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
The Great Wall Street Journal Hoax of New Rochelle — Part II: The Rent Data is Not for Downtown
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’