The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part X
DUBLIN, IRELAND (December 15, 2024) — On October 4, the City of New Rochelle put on the Taste of Leroy, an event ostensibly to promote local restaurants in the area. On October 19, I made a FOIL request for all public records pertaining to Taste of Leroy event. On October 22, City Clerk Michelle Oliveros replied with a formal acknowledgment that she received my FOIL request.
On November 8, Oliveros replied to my FOIL request with a 23-page PDF attachment. The documents in the PDF included 5 pages for the Inner Roots band, 2 pages for Aztec t-shirts, 8 pages for Nic’s NaCCCs for balloons, 4 pages for Empire AV for audio, 2 pages for Minuteman Press for printing, 2 pages for Dave Fuego Productions for a DJ.
Since last Spring, word around City Hall was that Corporation Counsel Dawn Warren was bragging about her “slow walking” my FOIL requests to curry favor with Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert. Since September, I began to hear that Warren was directing staff, in particular, Deputy Finance Commissioner Adam Ross, to withhold records he had pulled pursuant to my FOILs.
It was obvious to me that there had to be far more than 23 pages of records as would prove to be the case — on a massive scale.
