Sunday Briefing: Missing Records, Broken Promises and a Blueprint for Better Government

Robert Cox

02 Jun 2026 — 3 min read

A Modest Proposal

This briefing draws from reporting at Talk of the Sound, analysis and commentary published in Words in Edgewise, and selected regional coverage for the week ending May 31, 2026 (delayed sending until June 2).

A Note from the Publisher

Between Memorial Day Weekend in the USA (last week) and the June Bank Holiday Weekend in Ireland (this week) there was enough quiet to do a few deep stories — so quantity of stories was lower but the word count per story much higher.

I proposed an idea that I suspect will fly over the head of most readers (no offense!) and will be of absolutely no interest to the current regime at New Rochelle City Hall. It the idea of treating municipal knowledge as infrastructure and building a system to store and access civic memory.

A few bizarre stories this week: “Mayor Yadira” who posts on social media at every turn has not delivered (or even announced) a charter-required State of the City address. She did find time to deliver remarks in Yonkers, Albany, New York City and North Carolina — even a podcast about her favorite restaurants — and managed to put a convicted felon on the Veterans Advisory Committee.

I did a super-deep dive into the murky world of New Rochelle’s Boards, Committees and Advisory. It started checking on one supposed committee that did not exist but opened up a massive can of worms. The story identifies numerous problems but ends with a series of recommendations. The story is adjacent to my ideas on civic memory.

I was looking at meetings and boards and committees and stumbled across the New Rochelle Democrats website which proudly declares “Our committee meetings are open and publicized, fostering an environment of transparency and collaboration… This approach sets us apart as a political organization that truly embodies the democratic spirit.” I asked the party chairs about that, they acknowledged their meetings, which take place at City Hall, are not publicized. Some Dems complained but to meet it’s simple — either publicize the meetings or remove the false claim. Some asked about the GOP. Seriously? When you control every seat in Congress, the State Legislature, the County Executive, the County Board of Legislators, the Mayoralty, and have a 6-1 advantage on City Council, the Republicans are totally irrelevant. NRDC is the only game in town.

I took a quick look at the Downpayment Assistance Program (DPAP) and was shocked to see how few closings the City has had - 9 in the first 4 years (the 5-year goal is 250). That program is giving away money (19% of s home purchase) so how can the success rate be at 7% of goal.

Below is this week’s structured briefing.