Four More Years to Finish the Job
Yonkers Rising endorses Mike Spano for mayor of Yonkers. Spano is running for a third term in early voting already underway, and on Election Day, Nov. 5. Spano has earned our endorsement, and the vote of the people of Yonkers, based on his record of achievement and the successes in Yonkers over the past eight years.
The difficulties in running the fourth largest city in New York State are great, but Spano has been able to preside over what can be a divisive city with diverse interests and has the ability to listen to all sides of the political discourse.
The successes and improvements to life in Yonkers, from new development projects to continued improvements in education, to the push to rebuild Yonkers Public Schools, to controlling property taxes, have all been accomplished under Spano.
Spano’s supporters are happy to vote for and elect him to a third term. But we believe Spano has already run for a third term, on two occasions. The first was when the Yonkers City Council voted to extend term limits, which allowed Spano to run for a third term, last October.
While there was some outcry over changing term limits, the City Council’s vote was an early indication, in our view, that the people of Yonkers welcomed a third term for Spano, and the City Council voted the will of the majority.
The second vote for a Spano third term came in June, during the democratic primary for mayor. Spano was challenged by Karen Beltran. We found Beltran to be a well-spoken, intelligent candidate. But her campaign never got off the ground, receiving little support, financial and otherwise, to run a campaign for mayor.
Beltran also was never able to articulate an alternative vision for what Yonkers would look like if she were mayor. Nobody, in fact, has been able to give the voters a viable option to Spano. Beltran never did that, and now the republican candidate for mayor, Mario De Giorgio, is faced with the same challenge.
Let us first say that we applaud De Giorgio for running for mayor and for giving republicans a candidate for mayor of Westchester’s largest city. It is important for the Republican Party in Yonkers to remain, and to give the voters an option when they cast their vote, and nobody should ever be elected mayor without an opponent.
We featured De Giorgio in our Oct. 11 issue. In that story, De Giorgio broadly outlined where he saw differences between himself and Spano. But the broad visions that De Giorgio gave were not filled in with specific plans for governing the city.
De Giorgio, like every elected official in Yonkers, wants to keep tax increases low but also wants more money for the Yonkers Public Schools. De Giorgio emphasized the need to rebuild the YPS, based on his daily routine of taking his grandchildren to their local elementary school. His insight into the physical condition of many Yonkers schools is a good observation, which we agree on.
But Spano has been pushing through a “Rebuild Yonkers Schools” plan that now awaits funding, and a larger state reimbursement for capital improvements, in order to move forward.
The biggest mystery in the 2019 campaign for mayor was who was posting on Facebook outrageous claims and “fake news” about Spano and the city. The Facebook page “Mario De Giorgio for City of Yonkers Mayor” posted a story predicting that Spano will be moving out of the city. The only problem with the story is that, while not true, Spano could not serve as mayor if he moved out of Yonkers.
That story was removed and De Giorgio called to apologize. But who is operating the page is still a mystery. Dorothy O’Brien is the campaign manager, according to the page, but nobody knows who she is.
Some of the material on the website is hard hitting and legitimate. But De Giorgio’s views, in our opinion, do not represent the majority of Yonkers. The vast majority of residents support Spano’s agenda and the way he has presided over the city.
Many republicans quietly support Spano, and his appeal extends beyond party lines. Spano has won over a cross-section of Yonkers voters, from independents to progressive-indivisible democrats, to seniors and homeowners. All groups in Yonkers seem to feel that at least that their concerns are being heard, which is not an easy task.
When you compare the City of Yonkers to other big cities in New York State, or even some local Westchester cities, the outcomes have been positive. For some time, the drama is over in Yonkers, and good work is getting done.
Now after Spano’s successes, his supporters are looking ahead to see what might be next for Spano, and to see if he can bring what he accomplished in Yonkers to a larger audience.
We endorse Mayor Mike Spano for re-election Nov. 5.
