Politics & Government
New Rochelle Named Finalist In Bloomberg Mayors Challenge
The finalist cities will spend six months honing their ideas
NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The City of New Rochelle has been named one of 35 finalists in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ 2018 Mayors Challenge. There were more than 320 applications for the competition, which encourages city leaders to uncover “bold, inventive ideas that confront the toughest problems cities face,” according to a spokesperson.
The 35 Champion Cities, including New Rochelle, will begin a six-month testing phase where they will conduct public prototypes of their ideas with grant funding up to $100,000 per city.
New Rochelle will use the grant for development-related pursuits.
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“We are thrilled that New Rochelle has been named a Champion City,” said Mayor Noam Bramson, “and are looking forward now to working with the Bloomberg team to refine an innovative tool that holds the promise of better urban design and more robust public participation in the growth and development of our community.”
New Rochelle will deploy virtual-reality technology to allow city planners and citizens to visualize the development plans for buildings and public spaces, with the goal of promoting more informed stakeholder engagement.
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The idea came about during a major downtown revitalization when the city realized that municipalities and their public stakeholders lack the tools to help them envision and evaluate options for new development.
During the “Test, Learn and Adapt” phase of the competition, New Rochelle and the other cities will refine their ideas and begin building support for their innovations. A new application will be submitted in August 2018.
In October, four cities will each receive $1 million and one city will receive a grand prize of $5 million to further bring their ideas to fruition.
Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and former New York City mayor, said they received bold and creative ideas from cities around the country.
“These 35 really stood out for their potential to improve people’s lives,” he said. “The next six months are a great opportunity for the cities to test their ideas and make them even more innovative and effective.”
Photo credit: Michael Woyton/Patch Staff.
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