The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part I

DUBLIN, IRELAND (October 28, 2024) — The City of New Rochelle government has fundamentally changed since March 25, 2024, the day Yadira Ramos-Herbert called Kathleen Gill into her office and told her to resign immediately or be fired, and to clear out her office by noon that day. New Rochelle has become a Thimblerig, an old-fashioned word for a shell game, a confidence trick, a scam.

I have already detailed how that happened and why — and have called for a criminal investigation into the conspiracy which led up to that day. I am not going to rehash that in this series, so if you are not up to speed on that part of the story, please refer to the links below for a primer.

The change at City Hall, according to numerous municipal employees who have spoken to me on the condition of anonymity, is best described as Commissioners and staff operating in abject fear of who Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert might oust next. It was stunning to them that Ramos-Herbert would be willing to create the spectacle of firing a City Manager in the final eight months of a three-year contract, one that Yadira had voted to approve on November 29, 2022. Every employee is walking on eggshells for fear they will be next. The result has been a government run amuck with no de facto leader, but with constant kowtowing to the whims of Yadira and anyone claiming to be acting in her name.

By all accounts, the two people most notably impacted by Gill’s abrupt departure have been Development Commissioner Adam Salgado and Corporation Counsel Dawn Warren, followed closely by DPW Commissioner Will Melendez, who has served as Acting City Manager since April. Salgado has had two brief stints as Acting City Manager, most recently when Melendez was out for two weeks for a scheduled medical procedure.