“If the Governor declared an emergency, then let’s act like it’s an emergency and do something about it,”
Constance Rogers, Yonkers
“Handing out money for summer jobs in a State of Emergency is like bringing a cup of water to a house on fire. More is needed!”
Jim Marshall, Yonkers
“The rise in gun violence has been a concern of ours for over a year. Yonkers is on the front lines and looks for immediate resources to tackle the problem.”
Christina Gilmartin, Mayor Spano’s Director of Communications
By Dan Murphy
On July 6, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a Statewide Disaster Emergency due to gun violence. And included that gun violence is up in New York City and all the Big 5 Cities, with more than half of the shootings involving people associated with gangs or more loosely affiliated “street groups.”
The Governor’s first initiative as part of the rollout of his State of Emergency was to send Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul across the state to announce funding to pay for summer jobs for youth. While the youth-job program is one way to keep young adults engaged and off the streets, many believed that for Cities like Yonkers, the problem of gun violence was a much larger problem.
Included in that belief was Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, who tweeted on July 21 before Hochul’s visit, that Lt. Gov Hochul “comes to Yonkers with little to offer.” This brutally honest comment from the Mayor was applauded by many in Yonkers. Two of the letters emailed to us are:
“Mr. Murphy, I would like to thank Mayor Spano for telling it like it is when he criticized the idea that summer jobs for youth will solve our problem of young people with guns and gangs on the streets of Yonkers. I live in the 3rd police precinct—and the violence that we see and hear at night makes us all wonder, what is being done? If the Governor declared an emergency, then let’s act like it’s an emergency and do something about it,” said Yonkers resident Constance Rogers.
Jim Marshall from Yonkers also wrote to us, “I understand why the Mayor deleted his tweet about the Lt. Governor coming with funds for summer jobs. But he got the message out to a lot of us who, like him, are frustrated with the guns and the gangs and the violence in Yonkers every summer. Handing out money for summer jobs in a State of Emergency is like bringing a cup of water to a house of fire. More is needed!”
Mayor Spano later deleted the tweet, but the message was clear: The people of Yonkers are looking for help to deal with the ever-escalating problem of gun violence.
The next day Lt. Governor Hochul visited the Riverfront Library on July 22 for a roundtable discussion about gun violence that included over 30 stakeholders, including Councilmembers Tasha Diaz and John Rubbo, Assemblyman Nader Sayegh and Mt. Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard. Mayor Spano also did attend but his Tweet the day before made the interaction between Spano and Hochul uncomfortable.
“What we need to do, and the governor mentioned that, is treat this like our response to the pandemic with intensity, with strong sense of purpose. We believe if we have a targeted approach to let them know there are jobs available or healthy summer recreation sporting activities to give them an alternative to the streets and give them an alternative to violence,” says Hochul.
Yonkers will receive $1.1 Million to provide summer jobs for young adults in zip codes 10701, 10703, 10704, 10705 and 10710.
Yonkers Councilwoman Tasha Diaz, echoing some of Mayor Spano’s concerns said, “The lieutenant governor has assured us that we will come back and meet here at another roundtable to make sure the initiative that we are putting into place is going to be effective.”
Mayor Spano’s Communications Director Christina Gilmartin also effectively made the case. “The rise in gun violence has been a concern of ours for over a year. Yonkers is on the front lines and looks for immediate resources to tackle the problem. The City has been reassured by the State that it will work collaboratively with us to combat the violence that is plaguing urban centers throughout New York.”
Yes, summer jobs are helpful, and people like Dr. Jim Bostic can use that funding to help make a difference in the lives of some young adults. But the message that Mayor Spano sent the Lt. Gov. and the Governor, even if they didn’t want to hear it, was we need real help and what you are bringing to the table won’t help enough.
Other issues like the recently passed criminal justice reforms, including bail reform that releases those charged with many offenses back on the streets, is an underlying concern for many Mayors in New York State facing a summer of guns and violence.
