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May 27, 2011
New Rochelle Dems Pick Slate for Upcoming CIty Council and Mayoral Race
Talk of the Sound
by Robert Cox
Haven't heard this anywhere else, but here's what one New Rochelle blogger is reporting about Forest City's Echo Bay project.
If they achieve a super-majority, it is expected that the Democrats would use this power to finance tens of millions of dollars to move the DPW City Yard to a new, smaller location on Beechwood Avenue in order to give away the current City Yard to Forest City Ratner, a Cleveland-based developer. Council Member Lou Trangucci of District 1, site of the proposed City Yard on Beechwood, has objected to the plans on the grounds that paying off the bond will require significant tax increases.
Forest City has several large projects going in the area most of which are the subject of Federal indictments related to bribing public officials to support local projects. A Forest City official is an unindicted co-conspirator in each of the various Department of Justice cases. A senior official at Forest City Ratner admitted recently to one Talk of the Sound contributor that the Echo Bay Project is "dead" and that "nothing is going to happen there". Some political observers in New Rochelle believe that the entire project is a political favor to Mayor Noam Bramson based on an expectation that when Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) retires, Bramson will run and win her seat in Congress. The Ratner family have been big donors to Mayor Bramson over the years.
Posted by eric at May 27, 2011 12:55 PM