This too is Yonkers
By Eric Schoen
I haven’t talked about everyone in Yonkers’ favorite topic in a while, good ‘Ol Red Light Cameras. I frankly know of only one person who supports them other than our elected officials who use them as a yearly source of revenue to balance the City budget.
The supporter is a dear friend who has moved out of our fair city. I was told by an elected official who represents the Central Park Avenue area from the Greenburgh border south that the Red Light Cameras had stopped drag racing that has gone on in the area for years. That same elected official was standing at a press conference with the Mayor months later signing into law legislation separate from the REd Light Cameras to stop drag racing on Central Park Avenue!
So much for Red Light Cameras serving as the solution to stopping drag racing!
You may remember that I asked City Council Candidates Anthony Merante and John Rubbo and Council President Mike Khader as well as their opponents before Election Day in November if they would, as soon as they got elected to office support legislation to post signage at the approach to intersections where Red Light Cameras are located notifying motorists to their existence. They said Yes they would.
I’ve been holding off in my push for the signage to let the elected officials get their feet wet as they entered the world of Yonkers city government. After visiting Philadelphia over the weekend and seeing the many signs at the approach to intersections with Red Light Cameras alerting motorists to their existence, I thought that before the summer break the Council should enact the legislation and the city should get the signs up.
Let me remind you. Studies have shown that the signs are just as effective as the Red Light Cameras themselves in stopping motorists from running Red Lights. Of course with the signs the city will not get the revenue it does from the tickets for red light camera running (and the sneaky surcharge the Spano administration snuck into last year’s budget for so called ‘administrative functions’ that some Councilmen who will remain nameless did not every know they voted to approve.).
With 3 votes to post the signs, the legislation only requires 1 more vote. The Councilperson for the 1st District owes her job to the Mayor so I doubt I can rely on her vote for the signage. This, even though the residents in her district can least afford the fees associated with Red Light Cameras. But I have hope!
I doubt the Councilperson for the 3rd District will vote for the legislation. His husband, a distinguished interior decorator And designer (according to the New York Times wedding announcement for the couple) was appointed to a job in the Spano administration earlier this year. This after getting a job with the State Legislature right after the Councilperson got elected to office. So it kind of seems the mayor pulls the strings when it comes to votes by this elected official. But again, I have hope!
That leaves my Councilperson, Corazon Pineda Issac and 5th District Councilman Mike Breen. I will speak with them as I would encourage you to do. We are not asking them to do anything but put up a couple of signs as municipalities throughout the country have done at the approach to intersections with Red Lights alerting motorists to their existence. Kind of simple stuff if you truly want to stop red light running and are concerned with that versus revenue!
So politically, what is going on in this country. Let’s start in New York State. Barely 3 hours after the New Yorker Magazine released a story on his naughty boy behavior, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigns his office. My that was awfully fast! And the strange thing is that you don’t expect this kind of story to come from the New Yorker Magazine. They usually print stuff a lot more intellectually stimulating than this pathetic tragedy.
As a friend at Starbucks said to me, remember: Karma is a bitch. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Most importantly, If you are a strong proponent of women’s rights, make sure you are squeaky clean!
Within hours after Schneiderman’s resignation, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced an investigation into Schneiderman’s antics. Payback for Governor Cuomo appointing Schneiderman to investigate Vance’s actions in the Harvey Weinstein case.
Within minutes of Schneiderman’s resignation we have Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas calling for an investigation into Schneiderman’s sexual escapades. You might remember Schneiderman recently charged Thomas with stealing $12,000 from his Political Action Committee among other things. Richard, it is truly beneath you to issue the press release that you did.
What happened to the big Democratic mantra, ‘When they go low, we go high?’ Is it now ‘When we go low, we go even lower when those who accused us of wrongdoing themselves are in the same boat?’
Look at the quality of the candidates running for office. Coal Baron Don Blakenship in West Virginia who spent a year in jail for actions that led to the deaths of 20 coal miners had the audacity to run in a primary for a United States Senate Seat. Michael Grimm, convicted felon and politician who represented New York in the United States Congress from 2011 to 2015 is running to regain his seat in Congress.
You can’t make this stuff up! Is it crazy or what? And I am not even going into the mixed messages, oops lies coming out of the White House.
Back to little ‘Ol Yonkers. We have politicians who committed themselves before they got elected to the posting of signs at the approach to intersections with Red Light Cameras alerting motorists to their existence. Let’s wrap this up before the summer break and show the honesty of Yonkers politicians.
And while we are at it, how about lifting the $15 ‘Spano surprise administrative surcharge’ on Red Light tickets good Yonkers Councilpersons and City Council President in the 2018-2019 budget. Do these things and you will win many friends in Yonkers!
Briefs: So Nice to pay $2.99 for Premium Gas while in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. How come the same gas costs $3.50 a gallon around here?
So happy to hear that the empty Pathmark behind Burlington Coat Factory (and the old Alexander’s) on Central Avenue may become a Marshall’s and Homesense story. Please Yonkers, don’t screw this one up.
Heartbreaking when I took classes at Westchester Community College and saw the Westhab apartments sitting vacant. Congratulations County Executive George Latimer for putting into place a deal that will provide necessary housing at the site. And kudos to Journal News Tax Watch Guru David Wilson for keeping this issue in the pubic eye!
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.
