New Rochelle rolls out quality-of-life program: app launch, lighting upgrades, pet-waste pilot and more

City Manager Steve Madrigs gave a progress report July 8 on a multi-pronged Quality of Life initiative meant to coordinate public-safety, cleanliness, business vitality and civic engagement efforts across New Rochelle.

"We embarked on this quality of life campaign at the end of last year," Madrigs said, describing the program as an organizational umbrella for many projects already on the 2025 work plan.

Madrigs said the city has replaced 120 LED ornamental streetlight modules so far and is repainting poles in two priority corridors: North Avenue (between East Chester Road and Mayflower Avenue) and the downtown area bounded roughly by LaCount Place, Main Street and adjacent blocks. The Department of Public Works and traffic operations are doing the work in-house with budgeted fixtures the city purchased this year.

On pet waste, staff installed four pet-waste receptacle stations downtown as a pilot after mapping complaint locations and dog license data. "In the areas where there were more registered pet owners, there was a lot more compliance," Madrigs said. The city is partnering with the business improvement district (BID) on maintenance and is offering a small leash-mounted bag container to residents who register their pets.

A new mobile reporting tool, the GoGoV app (branded as a New Rochelle mobile app in the presentation), will launch the day after the meeting. The app lets residents submit issue reports with photos, choose from multiple report categories, track status updates and access municipal information in English and Spanish. Madrigs said reports go straight to the city manager’s office and from there into the complaint-tracking system; staff confirmed submitters who provide contact…