Stand Up! Yonkers rally behind Peter Spano for City Council President
New York, NY – The people has spoke, and the State of New York has no choice but to listen! Yonkers, the sixth borough of the Big Apple and neighboring townships find themselves in the middle of one of the most important elections in recent history; the appointment of City Council President. With the country healing from the aftermath of the heated Presidential election of 2020, the residents of Yonkers only hope for the kind of change that will return the city nested on the Hudson as the “City of Seven Hills.” The election for City Council President will be held on November 2, 2021; however, few candidates were wiling to place their names on the ballot to challenge the current City Council President Mike Kahder who was eyeing a landslide with no opponent by default.
With seconds to spare, in stepped Peter Spano with the announcement he will run for City Council President in 2021. Peter Spano, a life long resident of Yonkers and advocate for education, youth, and improving the quality of life for the community, is no stranger to fighting the odds. In early January, it was projected that Mike Kahder would secure the post with 90% of the vote in hopes to building a platform for a future Mayoral run. With all indicators of the pulse of the city, the community is tired and frustrated with the stagnated growth and decline of resources in the middle of a pandemic. “Results, Results”, is what the people demand, and Peter Spano has a plan to instill trust and integrity into the process and hope for a great future that the people of Yonkers deserve. In nearly three years, Mr. Kahder marque accomplishment is his regulation on the city water rates; however, the people need more. Peter Spano has a relationship with the residents of Yonkers that is proven through his activism in the community and his relentless pursuit of whats right. In a negative charged society, we need a positive charge to balance the idea that our fore fathers imagined when the constitution was constructed in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, and provide common Defense.
Mr. Spano has a long road ahead and a short time to get there. With three council seats and a City Council Presidency appointment up for grabs, all nominating conventions must collect the required signatures before spring. We need your help! We are asking the community of Yonkers to rally and stand behind Peter Spano as he take the steps to move the city as a leader of prosperity. The primaries are now on June 23.
About Peter Spano
Peter Spano is a lifelong resident of the City of Yonkers. He has dedicated his life and career to making all of Yonkers a better place by improving the quality of life for every resident in his community. For nearly two decades, Peter has been involved with the Yonkers and Westchester Democratic committee and has served as a district leader.Peter coaches youth sports at Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers. He is in charge of junior varsity team and an assistant varsity basketball coach. Volunteering is a passion for him in numerous nonprofit organizations including Feeding Westchester, Knights of Columbus, Rotary, Kiwanis, Yonkers Community Action Program, Volunteers of America, Yonkers Family YMCA, Police Athletic League of Yonkers, Yonkers C.E.R.T. and the Office of Emergency Management in Yonkers.Peter is truly committed to improving Yonkers, always looking for new programs to assist and enrich everyone that he can. One of his most recent projects is the rebuilding of basketball courts and playgrounds throughout the city. Other initiatives include creating positive mental health and anti-bullying environments. In addition, he offers free programs to under-served residents and their families. New projects include designs for after-school programs for kids and senior citizens, both online and in person when available. Pete sees that a greener and cleaner Yonkers is right around the corner with renewable energy on the horizon for us all.
The Issues
Public Safety
Keeping everyone safe is our #1 priority. Crime was at an all time high during the peak of the pandemic. We need to create and expand a new plan of action with similar initiatives of existing programs like the office of emergency management, community emergency response team. Everyone can play their part to better prepared for any crisis and disaster.Wear a mask and maintain a safe physical distance of at least 6 feet.Focus on your surroundings, not your phone or electronics. Improve lighting on the street so the community can feel safe at all time. Help reduce or eliminate opportunities that may target a resident. Increase awareness in places where crimes mostly happens. Create a better community where the citizens know one another. Populated pathways can have officers near by to help residents stay safe.
Education
Efforts for education reform and restructuring are important to lend a helping hand to everyone, especially children within in the community as we all build and develop better futures. Through such initiatives, we can begin to close the gap between education inequality and disparities within the community.Through these initiatives we hope to:Improve the quality of recent online learning platforms, such as zoom, google, etc.Create after-school resources such as online after-school programs, tutoring services, and education chat groups to help alleviate the strain on parents’ and families.Modernize classroom studies that help to engage students through observation, experiments, and model building.Implement interactive content consisting of audio, visuals, and printable or non-print education resources.
Affordable Housing
Housing affordability is an epidemic within itself. 1 in 4 tenants have housing costs that are in arrears. Relief measures need to be implemented to mitigate hardships. Families are struggling to afford housing costs due to loss of jobs and other pandemic related issues. In addition, elevated food prices, lack of benefits, and children missing out on free school meals because they are home, increases vulnerability in conjunction to these existing hardships.Through our Affordable Housing Initiative, we hope to:Educate families on balancing the budget through financial literacy classes.Provide access to affordable housing resources through an outreach campaign.Produce literature on starting a business, investing, retirement planning, and other working from home opportunities.Keep families together within the community through homeless prevention programs and services, childcare assistance, and information on additional state benefits.
New Energy
Renewable energy resources are needed to continue reducing the carbon footprint and gas emissions from fossil fuels. This will help to prevent air pollution and reduce our dependence on imported fuels. Elements as such, increase coastal flooding’s, droughts, severe storms, and increased spread of infectious diseases such as covid19. Through these initiatives, we can reduce impacts on climate change, and promote sustainable energy for the future as well as reduce particulate matter and reduce environmental substances that are harmful to respiratory health.
Through our ‘New Energy’ Initiative, we hope to:
Increase the use of electric hybrid buses, and solar panels throughout the community.
Provide access to these sources to low-income families.
Create systems within the Affordable Housing initiative to implement new energy plans and resources.
Extend reach to all aspects of new energy such as wind flow through turbines, hydroelectric channels, geothermal heat, hydrogen for electricity, and bio-energy through organic matter. (Just an idea, maybe you might want to expand instead of just keeping it limited to solar panels on buses).
