Politics on the Hudson

The city has launched a new user-friendly website.Mayor Clinton Young said the site will make government more accessible to residents and visitors.  The website allows visitors to access and download city departmental information and there are plans in the works to allow the site to accept online payments and registrations for programs.  Check the site for yourself at   www.cmvny.com  

Assemblyman Gary Pretlow announced today $300,000 in state funds for the Mount Vernon School District.The funds, in combination with $870,000 in reductions, will reduce the 2008-09 budget tax rate increase by 2.3 percent. The district also received $1.14 million once the state budget was approved. At a press conference today Pretlow, joined by State Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson and school district officials, said they were committed to providing funding to the district. Voters now face a budget with a 9.7 tax rate increase as opposed to 12 percent.  ”Young people are 100 percent of our future and we have to give them the best possible education,” Pretlow said. Read more about the district’s budget here.

Mount Vernon Mayor Clinton Young will welcome a Chinese delegation tomorrow morning at City Hall, the second international visit the mayor has hosted since taking office.Vice Mayor Zhoalin Liu of Yangquan, a sister city of Mount Vernon, will be at City Hall at 11 a.m., with a Chinese delegation. Young has welcomed an Italian mayor and the ambassador of Brazil to Mount Vernon, all groups highly represented in the city.

Five Mount Vernon candidates running for school board trustees are planning on holding a series of flash mobs on Saturday to collect signatures. A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief period of time, then quickly disperse. The candidates, Maria Aniero, Derrick Claye, Sean Fenton, Charles Stern and Michelle Walker, have formed a coalition called Better Schools Now. Stern and Claye are incumbents.  The candidates won’t be doing anything that unusual, they are collecting petitions, but they are using a grassroots form of campaigning not previously used before for a school board race.   They will be collecting signatures at the following locations from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Dunkin Donuts on Sandford Boulevard; the A&P on Grand Street; the Stop & Shop on Sandford Boulevard; the Pathmark at Third Street and the McDonald’s on Gramatan Avenue.   

 Mayor Clinton Young is holding the first of community meetings tonight in a move to make City Hall more user friendly for residents. At “Different Neighborhoods…ONE Mount Vernon,”  Young, city commissioners and department heads will listen to resident’s concerns and suggestions. The meeting is open to all city residents.The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and be held in the Memorial Room, at City Hall, One Roosevelt Square. ”The purpose of this event will be to introduce myself and my administration, and to let the citizens of our city know that we will always be available for them to reach out to,” Young said in a statement.  ”We need to hear from our citizens so that we can provide the best services possible.  In addition, I believe it is my responsibility to foster a growing community network, and therefore, hope that everyone will get to know some of the other organizations in working for the interests of the people Mount Vernon.” 

Mayor Clinton Young welcomed the Brazilian Ambassador to City Hall this afternoon in a nod to the ever growing Brazilian population in the city.
José Alfredo Graça Lima said the city has opened its arms to Brazilians.
Brazilians were the single largest group of foreign-born Latin Americans in Mount Vernon in 2000, at 1,297, according to the U.S. Census. But many officals believe the number of Brazilians in the city is four times that number.

“Their businesses are growing and we respect and appreciate their many positives contributions,” Young said.

Young was joined by State Sen. Ruth Hassell Thompson and Police Commissioner David Chong, who urged Brazilian-Americans to become police officers.

Mount Vernon is unique in that the Brazilians have been totally embraced by the community, said Lima.

“I have been a public servant for many years and I have never experienced so much human contact,” Lima said.

Mayor Clinton Young will outline his first 100 days during an extravagant black-tie inaugural ball tomorrow evening.
More than 900 people are expected to attend including county Democratic Committee Chairman Reginald LaFayette, County Executive Andy Spano and other officials. Entertainment will be provided by flutist Bobbie Humphrey, the Lonnie Young Blood Band and a surprise guest artist.
The ball will be held at the Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle at 7 p.m.
Part of the inaugural festivities includes a free concert at Mount Vernon High School Sunday afternoon.
Comedian and WRKS/KISS-FM morning show on-air personality Talent will host the concert, which will feature the R&B group Force MD’s; rapper Doug E. Fresh; singer Jeff Redd, and local groups. The concert begins at 3 p.m.

U.S. District Court in White Plains was a flurry of cameras, lights and reporters today for the sentencing of disgraced Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones.

But the court was also hearing another well-publicized local case. Supporters of former Mount Vernon Mayor Ernest Davis gathered in court for the first time since filing a lawsuit alleging voters in the November election were disenfranchised by the fallout from an October FBI raid on city hall.

It was a good day in court for Davis supporters, they said. A judge ruled he wanted to review documents that led to the search warrant, the basis of their claim.

As the happy supporters exited the court building they looked thrilled to be greeted by a ring of cameras and reporters. Curt Stewart, the coordinator for the group, approached the stand that bugled with microphones and announced attorney Stephen Jackson was ready to speak.

Jackson did not come forward, however, after realizing the assembled media was there for Jones, and the group of Davis supporters quickly moved on.

Read the story “here”:a href=”http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NEWS02/801110438”.

Mayor-elect Clinton Young called his time with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this afternoon very worthwhile.

Young was one of the 13 mayor-elects from the tri-state area, including Mary Foster of Peekskill, who had lunch with Bloomberg and discussed successful policies and strategies for running a city.

“Although it was a short period of time I walked away with so much information,” Young said this afternoon.
Read more about this story in tomorrow’s Journal News.

Curt Stewart, coordinator for the supporters of Mayor Ernest Davis, has issued an open letter to the black clergy of Mount Vernon to push for the $600 million lawsuit calling for a new election to be brought to trial.

In the letter Stewart ask for the clergy to do “what it has historically done in times of community crises.”

The lawsuit, which alleges a federal raid at City Hall disenfranchised voters, is in front of Judge Charles L. Brieant and Stewart is urging the clergy to send a letter to the judge asking him to take the case to trial.

An initial conference hearing is scheduled for Jan. 11 in U.S. District Court in White Plains.

Read the entire letter after the jump.