“I wanted to find the best way to represent the entire city; some want the Mayor to stay, others want him out. My suggestion is let’s give the Mayor another try but next year, let’s have a referendum to bring it back down to three terms,”
City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy
Mayor Spano and Some Councilmembers Permitted to Run Again Next Year
By Dan Murphy
On Nov. 22, the Yonkers City Council voted 4-3 to change the law governing term limits for the office of Mayor and City Councilmembers from 3 terms (12) years, to 4 terms (16 years). Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy, Majority Leader Tasha Diaz, Minority Leader Mike Breen and Councilman John Rubbo voted yes, and Councilmembers Corazon Pineda-Isaac, Shanae Williams and Anthony Merante voted no.
Tension filled the council meeting, as residents screamed out in support of the change or in opposition, and included more than one hour of public comment and at the end of the meeting police had to remove several persons from the audience.
Each Councilmember explained their vote:
Council President Lakisha Collins Bellamy: “This is the toughest vote that I have taken. I have prayed on it and researched it. If the Mayor (Spano) gets a chance at a 4th term, you have the chance to vote him out. I wanted to find the best way to represent the entire city; some want the Mayor to stay, others want him out. My suggestion is let’s give the Mayor another try but next year, let’s have a referendum to bring it back down to three terms, because some people shouldn’t benefit if they vote the other way. I wholeheartedly support Mayor Spano and I support another referendum next year -now you know where I stand.”
Majority Leader Tasha Diaz: “This is about making sure you deliver for your district. I have listened to the phoniness from some and they are playing you now, saying one thing behind closed doors and something else out here. I have always been real. I became Majority Leader to change the narrative of being fake and phony. The Council President and I was attacked for this vote. I have always been a black woman and some black organizations turned their back on me. For some, when things don’t go their way there is a problem. The show is over and we stick together.”
Minority Leader Mike Breen: “There has been a lot of talk about the democratic process, but the election (next year) still exists. Our members of Congress and our state legislators all run without term limits. You still have to get elected. I think the Mayor has done a wonderful job. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I will be supporting this legislation.”
Councilman John Rubbo: “I am comfortable that my vote will represent the vast majority of my constituents. Reasonable people can agree that the way Mayor Spano has led us through tough times was real leadership. And we wouldn’t have had that leadership if we didn’t have a chance to reelect him. If he runs he has to be reelected. I’m voting in favor of giving the people in my district a choice. It’s now up to them.”
Councilwoman Corazon Pineda-Issac: “From the introduction of the legislation until today, if has been 10 days, not nearly enough time to make a decision of this magnitude. It’s not about one person, it’s about how we are doing it. I believe in four years this will come before us again. We should have started this conversation in January. The amount of time we have given this is disrespectul, and for that reason I will be voting no.”
Councilwoman Shanae Williams: “I don’t see the logic in passing this. Mayor Spano is doing a great job but this about the principle of we did this once before and to be fair it makes sense to vote by referendum. Why didn’t we do that? (referendum). I will not be voting for it this time around.”
Councilman Anthony Merante: “Tonight, I will not be supporting this item. Mike Spano is not on this resolution. It’s about extending term limits. When we voted for this in 2018 I said yes because it was a one shot deal. We had plenty of time to put this on as a referendum? I can guarantee you that next year there will be a referendum to bring it back to three terms.”
After the vote Mayor Mike Spano issued the following statement:”The Yonkers City Council’s decision gives voters more choices. Now that running for a fourth term is an option for Yonkers elected officials, it certainly gives me something to think about for myself. I love being mayor, but ultimately it will be up to the voters on Election Day as to who will lead our city for the next four years”.
Much more on this story in the days to come:
