Council Member Sussman represents District #6 on the New Rochelle City Council. She was first elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 and 2007 by substantial margins.

As a Council Member, Marianne has applied her legal and planning experience to support responsible economic development in the downtown and throughout the City. She has been actively involved in the development of the New Rochelle Transit Center, Palmer Square, Trump Plaza, the Church-Division Project, and the Echo Bay waterfront development, as well as proposed projects in her district. She has fostered studies and plans to improve the downtown, the North Avenue corridor, and to create improved public parking and a managed traffic system. She has worked for public benefits such as open space, public art and park and waterfront access. Marianne is the Chair of the Industrial Development Agency, which is authorized to grant State-sponsored incentives to attract developments that will bring economic benefits and increased employment to New Rochelle.

Marianne has been a leader in working to improve the quality of life throughout New Rochelle, spearheading the preservation of Ward Acres and Flandreau parks, sponsoring new initiatives such as the telecommunications and traffic advisory committees, and initiating legislation restricting drive-thus adjacent to residential areas. Marianne has applied her knowledge of New Rochelle as a whole and her strong background in land use to the enactment and improvement of the revised Zoning Ordinance and to preserving and enhancing neighborhood character. This includes the recent citywide rezoning of single-family residential districts, regulation of town homes and mullti-family residences, and increased recreation and open space designation of undeveloped areas.

Marianne was instrumental in establishing the first ever North End Senior Center which has attracted more than a hundred seniors and operates twice each week. She has been effective in securing increased ambulance service, which benefits her district as well as serving the rest of the City, and has led efforts to clean up and improve ponds and streams, initiated traffic safety improvements for schools and neighborhoods, and worked to implement neighborhood improvements. She frequently sponsors resident meetings with City staff on neighborhood issues and meets regularly with the Presidents of the neighborhood associations in District 6.

Before her election to City Council, Marianne was active in the New Rochelle community for many years, having served as President of the United Way of New Rochelle, on the City of New Rochelle Planning Board, and as a member of the Comprehensive Plan and FutureVisions Advisory Committees. She has served as Counsel to Beth El Synagogue and continues to serve as a Trustee. She was a co-founder of City Soundings, a free e-mail newsletter and now a website, about the people, events and achievements of New Rochelle, and she continues to serve as advisor to its Editorial Board.

A resident of New Rochelle since 1970, Marianne is married to Dr. Robert Sussman and has two children, Caroline and Jonathan, who attended New Rochelle public schools, and five grandchildren. An attorney in government service and private practice for more than twenty-five years, Marianne began her professional career working as legislative counsel to then-Westchester County Executive Alfred DelBello. She is a partner in the White Plains law firm of Marcus, Gould & Sussman, LLP.

Marianne graduated Barnard College with a B. A. degree and received her J.D. degree from New York University School of Law. She is a past president of the Westchester Women’s Bar Association and has chaired the Judiciary and Long-Range Planning Committees of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York. She was awarded the Marilyn Menge Award in 1996 for service to that Association.