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March 8, 2012
Sunshine Week: How to Make a Public Records Request in New Rochelle
Talk of the Sound
by Robert Cox
The level of ignorance of public officials in New Rochelle with regard to requirements of our Open Meeting Law is staggering which has led to the wanton abuse of "executive session" to hide from public view discussions among a quorum of elected officials conducting the public's business.
For example, the New Rochelle City Council has routinely been called into executive session by Mayor Noam Bramson to discuss "matters of real estate" when the discussion concerned projects such as Echo Bay, LeCount Square and, more recently, the Main Street Core Project. There is an exception in the OML under which a body may go into executive session to discuss a matter of real estate but the exception is granted for the public benefit -- that information about a desire by the body to buy or sell property might not become known by land speculators thus driving the price up or down at the expense of taxpayers. In New Rochelle, Mayor Bramson has frequently invoked executive session to hide from the public a free and open debate on projects from favored developers like Forest City Ratner, Capelli Enterprises and Albanese not for the benefit of citizens but for his own personal, political benefit and for the benefit of the developers.
Posted by eric at March 8, 2012 10:36 AM