Anybody But Thomas For Mayor
By Dan Murphy
Four years ago, when then-Councilman Richard Thomas scored an upset victory over then-Mayor Ernie Davis, our newspaper – and many residents of Mt. Vernon – had great hopes for the city and their young mayor. Four years later we have seen enough, and Thomas needs to be replaced by any of the three other candidates running against him in the democratic primary June 25.
There are three reasons for our support of departure for Thomas:
Memorial Field; this legendary ballpark and track has now been closed for 10 years, depriving the people of Mt. Vernon a greenspace, track and open space. The problem with Memorial Field existed before Thomas, but he has been unable to clean up the field and open the track in four years.
Garbage piles up. When the news broke two weeks ago that garbage collection in Mt. Vernon had stopped for two days, some believed that perhaps it was because of a strike, or a walkout by Department of Public Works employees or garbage haulers. But, sadly, the reason was because of a dispute between the mayor and Comptroller Deborah Reynolds regarding paying the garbage bill. The mayor blamed the comptroller, and vice versa, and the garbage stopped getting collected. This outrage should not be allowed by the voters and taxpayers of the city. The everyday services of the city – snow removal and garbage collection – should be demanded as an easy thing to do in Mt. Vernon, or any Westchester city, based on the property taxes we all pay to live here.
And style versus substance seems to be the priority for Thomas, who enjoys to bring in big-name celebrities from Hollywood or from the Music industry. This includes a visit to the Los Angeles home of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs to discuss the future of Memorial Field. The mayor said that Combs wanted to be a part of a plan to build a stadium at Memorial Field for concerts, professional sports and more. That was last year, and the field is still closed and no word from Combs.
Another visit came from rapper Fatboy SEE, who joined Thomas on an unannounced visit to Mt. Vernon High School earlier this year. The visit resulted in chaos and criticism from the superintendent and the school district because of damage done to the high school and fights between students during the visit.
Last week, a visit from Dennis Rodman was the last straw for our newspaper. We now believe that Thomas is more interested in presenting the voters with “shiny objects” like movie stars and former athletes and musicians than in getting things done for the people he was elected to represent.
Rodman’s visit – on prom night, in which about 1,000 Mt. Vernon H.S. students went to City Hall to get a picture with the celeb – included an endorsement of Thomas. “Mayor Thomas is doing some great things; there was false hope before he got here,” said Rodman. “You need a great leader to believe in. He’s doing a great job. Improvement is happening now, come visit Mt. Vernon. I will, again.”
Rodman’s other political friendship is with North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un, who Rodman calls his “friend for life” and a “great guy.”
Also, throw the indictment of Thomas for election law violations of illegally using campaign funds for, among other things, a $2,000 purse for his wife, and the city losing its bond rating from Moody’s Investment Services, (a first in the 25 years this reporter has covered government in Westchester), and respectfully, we have had enough of Mayor Richard Thomas.
Many have speculated that the powers that be in Mt. Vernon, either the Democratic party establishment or others, have conspired to make sure Thomas does not succeed. Perhaps that may be true, but we don’t know, and the people of Mt. Vernon need positive results. They need a leader who can work with others, and they need change. In sports, the manager of the team gets fired when the team plays badly. Mt. Vernon needs to fire Thomas.
There are three other democrats on the ballot for Mt. Vernon mayor: City Council President Andre Wallace, former Police Commissioner Clyde Isley, and Yonkers YMCA CEO Shawyn Patterson Howard. Councilwoman xxx xxx is running as a write-in candidate after her signatures were deemed invalid.
Wallace has been in office during the turmoil between Thomas and Comptroller Reynolds. While he is not to blame for the financial troubles and City Hall incompetence, his inability to rectify the situation does concern us.
Former Mayor Ernie Davis, who was thrown off the ballot for invalid signatures, has endorsed Wallace for mayor. Black Westchester Magazine, which has been at the forefront of covering Mt. Vernon politics for some time, and which has been at odds with Thomas and has faced his retribution, wrote about Davis’ endorsement of Wallace:
“We have made tremendous mistakes choosing our leaders. Some of our leaders did not take lessons from their forebears… This city is in a very precarious situation with its integrity – and how we relate to each other – destroyed. We will all continue to pay for it if we do not redirect our path. The young man isn’t talking to the old man.
“The office of the mayor has been criminalized, and the taxpayers robbed – through the Water Department and the Urban Renewal Agency… How many good mayors have there been in this city? Not many. The people’s money spent for personal use; so many lies.
“Many people have mastered the art of the spoken word with nothing to back it up. Many of the people running for mayor have been a part of creating this drastic situation we find ourselves in. Many of them have openly courted the people who perpetrated injustice on the people of this city.
“Nobody is perfect, but André Wallace is our best hope to right this ship – and it won’t be easy. As Frederick Douglass said, ‘It’s easier to build strong children than repair broken men…’ André is the best person to lead us into the 21st Century. Please join me in this fight to restore order, integrity, and trust to the leadership of this city by supporting André Wallace for mayor in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, June 25.” (End of Davis endorsement.)
We are also intrigued by Shawyn Patterson-Howard’s race for mayor. We believe she could be the one, truly independent candidate who could change Mt. Vernon for the better. She is the real outsider in the race.
But we also wonder: If the powers that be or, as Mayor Davis put it, “the forces that be,” don’t want Patterson-Howard to succeed like they did Thomas, will the city continue to falter?
Clyde Isley is the endorsed candidate of the City Democratic Committee. He is the safe choice and will restore City Hall to the way it was before Thomas.
So, who will be the next mayor of Mt. Vernon? Let the people of Mt. Vernon decide.
