by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Community, Metro NY, Politics
Or, why New Rochelle Republicans have much to learn from Oscar Wilde What is going on in New Rochelle? The formerly great, and grand Ur American suburb has settled into an advanced middle-aged funk; a smug, self-satisfied state of institutionalized mediocrity....
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Community, Government, Metro NY
A breeze blew in from Long Island Sound, scattering the squabble of seagulls that had just colonized the swath of pavement providing fishing and sunbathing roosts along Hudson Park’s southeast boundary. The popular public park, home of Summer Sounds musical...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Community, Metro NY, Politics
Is “pothole repair” the most important contribution to the “general welfare” that local government can make? Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” He may not have...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Community, Government, Metro NY, Politics
or “Mulch Ado About Nothing” The New Rochelle City Council’s 2015 spending plan sets a new standard for budgetary buncombe and political perfidiousness. Overall spending, at nearly $157 million, is bad enough; but that’s not the...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Community, Government, Metro NY, Politics
What is the purpose of local citizen politics? Not the deep philosophical question concerning the individual’s relationship to the human race, to its culture and to the free-membership organization commonly known as the “body politic.” To what end...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Community, Government, Metro NY
But Don’t Get Out the Hats and Hooters Yet. By now, you may have read of the astounding result in the recent vote on a $50 million bond for New Rochelle schools. In case you haven’t, the thing failed! And that is good...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Government, Politics
(or; how “liberals†can stop cruelly maligning it, learn to love liberty and join the club!) Last spring, I had occasion to visit a classic car exhibition at Lime Rock racecourse in Connecticut, accompanied by our...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Government, Law, Metro NY, Politics
It is a small thing. Just a sentence-long paragraph of 27 words, but following the most hallowed first one, the Second Amendment to our the United States Constitution is front and center, of compelling gravity and importance: A well regulated Militia, being necessary...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 21, 2019 | Community, Metro NY, Our Children
Ah… the Hollywood Axis of Evil. We have become accustomed to its denizens poking their stimulant-addled noses into matters of public policy, and making profound asses of themselves; from actor Sean Penn’s ludicrous foray into international...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 17, 2019 | Government, Metro NY, Politics
Was it a struggle over: substance or merely style, firm belief or acceptance of reality, earnest pursuit of truth or simple biding of time until the silly electoral season ends? For most of the participants in New Rochelle’s Great Debate, nothing...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 17, 2019 | Community, Our Children
Are you sitting down? I hope you are because I am about to tell you something shocking. Substance abuse has not ended. The trend towards recreational drug consumption among our youth, including the “millenials†that you have...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 17, 2019 | Government
Ever been queried by the FBI? I can tell you, it’s not a pleasant experience; not for me, not for anyone I know. Talking to a couple of G-men can be awfully disagreeable. And being lectured by even one can be positively...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 17, 2019 | Community, Politics
The recent failure of the $50 million school bond proposal in New Rochelle by the slimmest of margins provides an opportunity to consider the state of local educational finance. Among the largest industrial powers in the world, the United States is unique for the...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 17, 2019 | Politics
“(C)hutzpa: Gall, brazen nerve, effrontery,.. presumption-plus-arrogance such as no other word, and no other language, can do justice to … a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 17, 2019 | Community
City Services Not Improved Yet? Call “Yer†Political Machine! (and good luck) By the time many of you have read this, the election season may already have ended. For you, it is too late, so clip and save till next year. For...
by Steve Mayo | Jul 17, 2019 | Politics
Way back in 2009, while the American political economy was reeling from the “Great Recession†and the radical remedies prescribed by the presidents and legislatures based in the nation’s capital, the so-called...
