Residents cautious about abundance of redevelopment plans in New Rochelle
There’s a lot of new development going on in New Rochelle, but many say that it’s happening too quickly.
Mayor Noam Bramson says there are a lot of successes in New Rochelle. He says the city is redeveloping its downtown corridor and making strides to bring in more small businesses.
Bramson delivered the annual State of the City address to a crowd at City Hall Wednesday night, touting the city’s ambitious downtown development plan. This includes 21 projects now approved, five more with applications pending, and 11 under construction. He also spoke about trying to make the city an affordable place to live.
The state of our city is not just strong, the state of our city is the strongest it has ever been," says Mayor Bramson.
Some say they are concerned that the development is happening too fast, and that unions are being kept out of the equation.
News 12 spoke with members of the Westchester Putnam Building Trade Council who say they think the mayor is selling city-owned land and providing big tax breaks to companies - and those companies are bringing in workers from out-of-state-instead of hiring local skilled workers.
"There's a lot of contractors coming from out of state into New Rochelle to work. We have residents here that are going out down to Manhattan to work and to Connecticut to work,” says Gus Marciante, of New Rochelle.
"There's a lot of contractors coming from out of state into New Rochelle to work. We have residents here that are going out down to Manhattan to work and to Connecticut to work,” says Gus Marciante, of New Rochelle.
Union leaders say they want the city to come to the table and include them in plans to redevelop new Rochelle.