This too is Yonkers-By Eric Schoen
Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives folks from every political persuasion in Yonkers had their disagreements over the years with former Yonkers Mayor Angelo Martinelli. It was often hard to keep scorecard who was his friend or foe.
But no one did the ceremonial job associated with being Mayor better than he did. Mayor Martinelli died on Saturday at the age of 91. I call him ‘Mayor Martinelli’ versus Angelo because that’s what those who know him for as long as I do, some 40 years still called him even though it is 30 years since he left the Yonkers Mayoralty. He left that kind of impression on you!
Mayor Martinelli would show up at events around town and you got the sense he really wanted to be there. He was passionate in his love for Yonkers. You saw that at every ribbon he cut or during every public speech he made. His only competition over the years was our beloved Senator Flynn.
I remember being at an event right after he was proclaimed one of the Best Dressed Elected Officials in the country by some nationwide organization and looking at his sox which didn’t exactly match his suit. One of the speakers made mention of it. But he was always in a suit and tie and took the job of Mayor very seriously.
My first interaction with Mayor Martinelli came about in the mid 70’s when I was a student at the then New Yonkers High School, opened in the Spring of 1974. Back then (as is the case now) the city was always in financial crisis. We didn’t get our fair share of state aid. Now doesn’t that sound familiar!
Whether it was the Teachers Union or the Civil Service Employees union, it seemed like every year one of the school unions was on strike. So one day I led the students on a walkout from school and we marched to Yonkers City Hall, fed up with the current strike taking place where we lost classroom time. We demanded to meet with the Mayor. He refused to meet with us and instead assigned his aide to meet with us. We were furious that we were denied a meeting with the Mayor. In later years he and I would laugh thinking about those days.
Mayor Martinelli demanded loyalty from those around him. His assistant both at City Hall and in his printing business was Virginia Eyler. ‘Ginny’ as she was affectionately known was the gatekeeper and either allowed you or didn’t allow you to meet with the Mayor. She made things happen, whether it was government related or printing business related. Ginny and the Mayor were often at City Hall but those in the know would reach her at the printing business on School Street, particularly after hours or on Saturdays.
She would disguise her voice when she answered the phone at Gazette Press In the off hours and on weekends but we knew it was her as the two of them were the only ones in the building. I think the Mayor’s office was on the 3rd floor at Gazette on School Street, and remember climbing the steep steps to reach him.
His head political person was chain smoking John Zakian. John was Karl Rove to Mayor Martinelli. John was Fiercely loyal to the Mayor. At times John would do things the Mayor did not like but he always stood by John. The ‘community’ guy in the Martinelli administration was Phil Pepe, out there working with community groups assisted by Reverend Alfonso DeGraffe, an African American minister who always wore a big, beautiful cross around his neck.
Mayor Martinelli had asked me to serve as chairman of Democrats for Martinelli when he was running against Yonkers school teacher Peter Diaferia. I did it and every Democrat in Yonkers received a letter from me encouraging them to vote for the Mayor. When I refused to do the same 2 years later because I was for some reason or another unhappy with the Mayor, the Mayor even visited my mom in the hospital to encourage me to support him.
Ultimately I didn’t and right after Election Day when the Mayor had won I was terminated from my position with the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency. First and only time I was ever terminated from a job, purely politics but as they say ‘to the victor belongs the spoils.’ The Mayor demanded loyalty!
Mayor Martinelli in his earlier terms as Mayor was much more conservative than he was when he came back from 1982 to 1987. In the 70’s he appointed hard line conservatives to Boards like the Board of Education which came back to haunt him during the housing and education segregation trials.
Like all of us he had certain expressions he used when he spoke. One prominent politician called him ‘very very’ as he often used that term to emphasize what he was saying. Another of his favorite terms was ‘I have to say to you’ a sort of folksy term indicating what he was saying was right.
Crime was up one year and the Mayor proposed a ‘curfew’ on Yonkers youth. We would have to be home by a certain time during the week. We invited him to the Jewish Community Center then on South Broadway to explain and defend it. The proposal went nowhere.
One of the things the Mayor never accomplished was his desire to be strong mayor running the city as we have today. He appointed Charter Revision Commissions and Despite several attempts to pass it never did. His years as Mayor were always run in the City Manager form of government where the Mayor was strictly ceremonial.
Most folks know of the Mayor because they saw him in the movie ‘Show Me a Hero’ or read Lisa Belkin’s fine book. He worked very hard to put an end to the housing desegregation case. One proposal he put forth would have only required 100 units at the site of the Yonkers Gateway Motel (or Yonkers Motor Inn for you old timers out there), a blight on Yonkers everyone agreed had to go. There was such opposition to any settlement that this site never went anywhere.
Election night 1987 we were all very surprised when Nick Wasicsko was elected Mayor. People wanted change. Nick did not have the resources Mayor Martinelli had or a printing press to print flyers mailed out to encourage you to vote for him.
After being sworn into office January 1, 1988 I joined Nick and his then girlfriend, later wife Nay in the Mayor’s office then on the fourth floor of City Hall. Together with a note wishing hthe Mayor had left Nick a bottle of Martinelli’s cider.
Mayor Angelo Martinelli. Yonkers biggest Cheerleader. He, Too Is Yonkers!
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 or download the SIMPLE RADIO app for free from the APP STORE.
