by Eric W. Schoen
No friends, relax! We are not talking about the President of the United States. That’s next year. Today we are talking about the re-election of Mike Spano to the Office of Mayor of the City of Yonkers on Election Day.
Pretty much knowing the results in advance, I was able to write this column on the day prior to Mike’s 3 to 1 win. His Republican opponent didn’t mount much of a campaign, Many thought he was just put in as a placeholder.
Some say there are no Republican nor Democratic parties in Yonkers, just one big happy family working together doling out the political goodies like jobs and road re-paving to one and all. There was even rumors that the son of the Yonkers Republican Party Chairman who is a popular County Legislator who ran unopposed this election cycle will be changing his political party to Democrat. We will see where that goes over the next several weeks.
Readers of this column know that I was opposed to the changing of term limits by the Yonkers City Council and Mayor earlier this year. This was not done for anything other to extend the terms of incumbents Mayor Spano and Mike Breen and we thought Michael Sabatino. Breen and Sabatino needed 2 more years to qualify for a pension and lifetime city paid health benefits. The Mayor and Council changed the Charter without public referendum claiming they had to continue the ‘good work’ they had done over the previous 8 years.
I called the Mayor out on the extension of terms from 2-four year terms, and the sneaky way that they did it. This After Mike Spano assured me he would not run for a 3rd four year term. It hurt me to use the word ‘liar’ in the description of what took place, but it was the only way to describe it!
I will be ever vigilant in my commentary this year and watch over the ‘goings on ‘ in the ‘ City of Gracious Living.’ I need your help! Email me at thistooisyonkers@aol.com . As they say, if you see something say something! With your help we can make the City of Yonkers just like its’ streets cleaner for one and all.
Just a passing note. Shocked to see no election night coverage in the print copy of the Journal News! No winners listed, no campaign shots of winners being squirted by supporters with champagne. The paper you are reading has one Editor in Chief who also writes the articles you read and will bring you more post election coverage this week than is provided by the weekly paper of record for Yonkers, the Journal News.
For years the Journal News would bring readers the winners and the losers of elections the day after Election Day sending their staff all over the vast region they cover. Now they seem to have an 8 pm curfew, and with the polls closing at 9 pm we get no local coverage of political races in our region. If the New York Times, Daily News, New York Post as well as News 12 can bring you election results the night of or day after Election Day, so should the newspaper that is close to home, the Journal News.
Now some thoughts for the mayor as he prepares for his 3rd term. The most exciting press release to come out of City Hall in a long time was about streetscape improvements in Getty Square. Let’s face it. You live on the waterfront and invite your friends to visit. Or to go to one of the restaurants on the water or on Main Street. Look at what you have to go through traveling in the area bounded by School Street on the north, Nepperhan Avenue on the east, and Buena Vista Avenue on the south. The city has got to clean up this area which is also filled with people hanging in the streets.
Mayor Spano must go to court and sue New York City for dumping over a hundred homeless families in our city. How dare Mayor deBlasio and his employees do that. How can any progressive liberal like deBlasio do that to his fellow man. It makes me sick!
On the Business front, too many new businesses are telling me how lengthy the period is to get their licenses and permits and inspections so they can open shop. There must be a way to fast track the process.
Yonkers needs garbage receptacles on its street. The Mayor told me that the unions would not go along with these popular solar machines for getting rid of waste you see all over Manhattan and in Bronxville and other cities, villages and towns in Westchester. The unions and the Mayor must sit down and settle this problem. All I hear is a demand to bring the garbage cans back. Merchants don’t like the plastic bag holders that the city has tried out.
In terms of Education, we are spending too much money and having kids spend too much time on buses. The numbers are like 70% of the students live on the West side of town with only 30% of the schools being on that side of Yonkers. Travel around with someone who knows Yonkers and they can point out to you the school buildings on the West side of town that were closed, made into Senior Housing or used for other purposes when the school population shifted east. What is it, 35-40 years since the desegregation of schools took place?
Back then the district was 50% white and 50 % black and Hispanic. And the kids like me who lived on the West side of town did not get the same advantages and newer facilities like our counterparts in East Yonkers. With the Mayor’s promise of opening more schools on the West side of town the conversation about neighborhood schools must begin. Don’t you want to see the money we pay for busing go to hire more teachers and bring more resources for the classroom?
Why do I see, everyday kids getting off school buses and entering cars or minivans going someplace. This leads me to believe we have many students attending our schools and not living in yonkers. The Board of Education must do residency checks on all its students. Just like Mount Vernon and other districts have done. Yonkers funds should pay for Yonkers students. It’s right and it’s the law!
Every year we have the Yonkers Budget Tango. This goes back to the 40+ years ago when I attended our schools. Never knowing what the budget is until the last minute. With Senate and Assembly leadership in Albany representing Yonkers, the proper state funding for our schools must be #1 priority. The game has gone on far too long. It’s humiliating to have to go through it every year!
Jobs at City Hall must be open to everyone. The word on the street is that city jobs are only open to the Mayor and City Council’s friends and family. Don’t get me wrong. If the friend or family is qualified for the job and passes the requisite tests their familial relationships should not preclude them from getting the job. However, you can’t have a background selling robotics and be appointed in charge of Constituent Services.
There will be other articles to follow on suggestions for the Mayor. Mike, the people of Yonkers are watching you. Don’t let us down!
THE DEATH OF RALPH MARTINELLI
Yonkers and Westchester County lost a media giant for our region with the death of Ralph Martinelli, son of former Yonkers Mayor Angelo Martinelli and his wife Carol. Despite his strong Republican family he published Westchester Magazine and other regional publications with no political interference covering individuals of all political faiths. We look forward to getting the magazine monthly. The gala events he planned and promoted for charitable causes are legendary bringing fun and excitement to normally boring occasions. Condolences to the Martinelli family.
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
