Mayor Mike Spano delivered his “State of the City” (SOTC) address on Thursday, March 29th. The auditorium of the Riverfront Library in Yonkers was filled with city employees, elected officials, board members, the mayor’s expansive family, and constituents. The hour-long speech asked the audience to “Reimagine” Yonkers. And it covered common topics like policing, education, housing, and quality of life issues in New York’s third largest city. But, will the iterated successes of a 12-year tenure be enough to keep Mike Spano in that office for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term?
A lifelong politician
Mike Spano was first elected as Mayor of Yonkers in 2011. Earlier, he served in the New York State Assembly for over 15 combined years. Then, he return home to Yonkers from Albany to run for the Mayor’s office vacated by the term-limited Phil Amicone.
In 2018, approaching the end of his second and final term as mayor, Mike Spano reversed his opinion on term limits. The City Council voted to amend the Charter to allow for a third term, citing Mike Bloomberg the decade before in NYC. The council, and subsequently Spano, noted a financial crisis as justification for this rejection of the public will that was enacted by voter referendum in both 1994 and 2001. But in 2022, Spano accomplished the same legislative feat of overturning his own term limits again. However this time, the charter was amended only narrowly by a single vote after raucous displays of disapproval by the public.
Spano’s stated accomplishments
The theme of this year’s SOTC was “Reimagine.” As the mayor transitioned from topic to topic of his speech, he would be accompanied by visual cards supporting this theme. These cards were headlined with “Reimagine Housing,” “Reimagine Policing,” and so on. Most of these were the topics that everyday Yonkersites told us they cared about in our 2023 Civic Poll.
Public Safety
Public safety is a top issue state-wide. Some political campaigns can run even solely on that topic alone. And in Yonkers, the issue of crime has generated mixed messages from the Spano administration. In the SOTC, Mayor Spano touted a decrease in criminal complaints, arrests, and overall crime statistics in recent years. Statistics like these has led Yonkers to be named by one outlet as, the sixth safest city in America. However, recent press conferences by the Mayor on astronomic spikes in shoplifting and catalytic converter theft mar the picture painted by the claims put for in this speech.
But the story of policing in Yonkers is not solely on the crime statistics alone. The YPD’s “Be the Change” program has made an earnest and marked impact in the composition of the police force. The SOTC highlighted that during the mayor’s 12 years in office, the YPD has seen a rise in diversity by 34%.
Education
A longtime critique of Yonkers has been its subpar schools. Being neighbored by nationally recognized school systems like in Bronxville and Scarsdale has consistently had Yonkers searching for solutions to catch-up. In the SOTC address, Spano conveyed a vast effort to improve education.
Bolstered by state and federal dollars, there has been a massive investment in funding for schools. This increase in funding will produce three new schools. One of these will be a community school on Ashburton Avenue that was first announced during the speech itself. The mayor hopes that these schools produce the same 90% graduation rate that has been recently reported throughout the city.
But the issue of education does not begin and end within schools themselves. During the SOTC, the mayor revealed a long overdue update to the public library system in Yonkers. The YPL update begins with a rebranding a new website launching next month. Also, libraries will update some existing spaces and programs to serve its educational mission. And, most notably, Spano has proposed a new fourth branch of the library system to be added to the Southeast side of the city.
Housing
Perhaps Mike Spano’s most notable legacy to-date will be the vast amount of housing that has been built in Yonkers under his tenure. Spano stated that since assuming office in 2012, Yonkers has built 12,500 new housing units. He further noted that these developments were almost exclusively on empty land and abandoned factories. He indicated that this strategy ensured that existing Yonkers residents were not displaced by this growth. Furthermore, he classified these new units as consisting of 25% affordable housing.
And on affordable housing, Spano applauded the city’s current affordable housing ordinance as possibly one of the best in the nation. But, that this ordinance is presently being revised by the city council to be even more supportive to those in need. Though, not all affordable housing advocates are as congratulatory of what the city has done to-date or is planning next.
Parks, Infrastructure, and Environment
The population growth in the past decade that saw Yonkers surpass Rochester to become the third largest city in New York will continue. And to accommodate all of our new neighbors, Yonkers must ensure the quality of life for all residents of the city.
To this end, Yonkers is building many new public parks and green spaces. One massive investment–in conjunction with Westchester county–is a new waterfront park in the Ludlow neighborhood. And coming even sooner is a new tiered level park named after one of the city’s most influential real-estate developers, Martin Ginsburg. Lastly, to celebrate the city’s progression into becoming the “Hollywood on the Hudson,” Mayor Spano even quipped at a “star walk” along the riverfront to drive tourism and pride akin to Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
In addition to green spaces, Yonkers is also investing in green buildings. A comprehensive “Climate Action Plan” is in the works per the SOTC address. This plan will presumably outline new initiatives like heat-resistant roofs and all-electric buildings. These programs come on the heels of similar initiatives like the recent procurement of electric garbage trucks. All of these efforts are building to a goal the mayor has set of making Yonkers a zero-emissions city by the year 2050.
Is the future of Yonkers tied to Mike Spano?
This year, Mike Spano is running for Mayor for the fourth time. However, his challengers are more galvanized than ever before. While all different, they all call for the same thing they believe Yonkers wants: change. Despite this perception, Spano may still win his Democratic primary due to a fractured opposition. And in November’s general election, highly partisan politics gives any Democratic a clear advantage. But, there is a lot of time between now and elections. And Mike Spano may be using that time on some re-branding.
On that re-branding, Spano’s lengthy stay in office undercuts the State of the City address’s theme of “Reimagine.” Throughout the speech Spano used facts and figures dating back to 2012–his first year in office. So, are residents, particularly voters, meant to support Spano because of the work he’s done for over a decade? Or, should they “Reimagine” something new? Having served as Mayor during the tenure of three different US Presidents, the voters of Yonkers know what they are getting with Spano. If they are pleased with the direction of the city and their own lives, then they will choose to stay the course. If not, they may choose instead to reimagine a new mayor this year.
The full speech can be watched on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbqz1P4dnqw
And the full transcript is available here: https://www.yonkersny.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/36402
