Refuses City Funded Vehicle
Councilman Antony Merante, a CPA, parked at City Hall showing off his personal plates, has refused a city car and gas
Since first elected, Councilman Anthony Merante is the only Councilmember to refuse a taxpayer funded city car. He believes that hard-working Yonkers taxpayers should not be paying for his car and gas. Merante stated, “I see no reason why any city employee should have a city car. The only exception would be critical workers who are on call 24/7. Everyone else should make use of a carpool if they need a vehicle or use their own cars and submit for reimbursement of mileage for official city business. The abuse and gluttony of these costly city cars are out of control and are an unnecessary burden on taxpayers. As mayor, I will revamp this policy.”
The mayor who was first elected 12 years or 3 terms ago, is not the same man he is today. His incumbency and long time in office have caused him to corrupt his values. I wholeheartedly agreed with the then newly elected Mayor Spano who promised at his first inaugural address, “We will start by treating every dollar as if it belongs to the people, because it does. And before we spend every dollar, we will ask … is this a dollar well spent? We are going to start with all those dollars spent on cars and gas for high level city workers. It’s just wrong when the working people are barely getting by, for so many workers to drive home in city cars and fill up their tanks at a city gas pump”. Spano also stated, “Starting immediately, we are going to eliminate every vehicle we possibly can and sell them at auction”.
(video link: https://youtu.be/HBONoEpEScY)
Sadly, The Mayor broke his promise. In addition, he’s become heady with power and now has an exaggerated opinion of his own importance. No previous mayor in Yonkers history was driven around in a black SUV like a “Hollywood Celebrity” with a costly, plain clothes police security detail. Merante said, “As mayor, I will drive myself. Afterall, most mayoral public events consist of ribbon cuttings, flag raisings and community celebrations. Those police officers could be put to better use on the street protecting the public.”
