When a cluster of COVID-19 cases appeared in New Rochelle, NY in early March, the city of 80,000 in Westchester County just north of New York City became ground zero for the coronavirus on the east coast of the United States. ​“It was a surreal experience for us to be in the eye of the national media,” said New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson. ​“To suddenly find our city hall front lawn dotted with 20 camera crews was new for us.”

The state implemented a one-mile-wide ​“containment zone” in New Rochelle where the virus first proliferated, closing businesses and banning mass gatherings in the area. At that point, said Bramson, people were looking at the city as some sort of ​“plague ship.” Yet as cases across the state have soared, the virus is now spreading less rapidly in New Rochelle. The city appears to be flattening its curve, and now people are looking at New Rochelle for answers.

On Thursday, Mayor Bramson sat down with our President Tom Wright, our Chairman Scott Rechler, and Fred P. Gabriel, Publisher and Executive Editor of Crain’s New York Business, for a conversation on preliminary lessons learned and next steps. ​“New Rochelle proved that if you were strict, things began to subside,” said Rechler, who is also the CEO of RXR Realty, the master developer for New Rochelle which has been building transit-oriented real estate developments downtown and is now partnering with the city on recovery initiatives.

One initiative called NourishAll finds the city is providing more than 1,000 struggling residents with gift cards they can use at 20 local restaurants, paid for largely by developers including RXR. ​“The small businesses and the non-profits, that’s where the community begins,” said Rechler. ​“Both have been hit so hard, so other companies are going to need to step up.”

Both Rechler and Mayor Bramson described ​“a network of community building” that has sprung up in the city as a response to the crisis. ​“The people that wanted to help found a way to help and found a new sense of responsibility to New Rochelle and to the region as a whole,” said Rechler.

The city is facing other challenges that private partnerships cannot directly help solve – primarily its budget. ​“Our revenue is in free fall,” said Bramson. ​“Mortgage tax revenues have disappeared. Parking fees are plummeting. And what do we spend our budget on? Firefighters, police officers, the school district.”

All the panelists solemnly agreed that the lack of resources at the municipal level would be one of the greatest roadblocks to recovery. Yet collaboration is possible here, too, Bramson suggested. Municipalities have been sharing resources, particularly medical supplies, with the state acting as a facilitator. It mirrors the collaboration between the public and private sectors, he said, and it’s part of a widespread feeling of collaboration throughout the region and, indeed, the nation.

“The federal government is the one glaring exception to that collaboration,” said Bramson. ​“It’s shocking to me that this has not been the priority up until now in Washington, that it’s fine for states and municipalities to go bankrupt.”

The federal government will need to step up to the plate in multiple areas in order for cities and suburban communities to recover, the panelists agreed, especially in the transportation sector. ​“Transit is the lifeblood of our region,” said Tom Wright. ​“Our frontline workers rely on the MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] to get to work, and its budget is in free fall, too. We just sent a letter to our congressional delegation which had groups that don’t always sign on – criminal justice groups, environmental advocates, the real estate board, and other business groups – all saying with one voice ​‘we’re going to need this revenue.’”

Transit is key for a city like New Rochelle, according to Bramson, before COVID-19 and especially after it. ​“It is my belief that the fundamental assets which have been helpful to New Rochelle up until now – excellent transit and access, cultural vibrancy, a blend of old and new among the built environment – those are the qualities that will enable us to attract investment, to build more units of affordable housing, and to make progress.”

There is no shortage of lessons from this crisis. The key according to the panelists – easier said than done – will be actually learning from and acting on them. ​“If we learn the lessons that are playing out right now,” said Bramson, ​“we can use that to create a more just society.”