Yonkers Tribune

Ed Koch Commentary Are We Now a Paper Tiger Both in Fact and The Way the World Views Us? By Edward I. Koch

Has our country reached the point when we, like so many great nations before us, are no longer the leading state of our time?
 
The evidence of our decline is everywhere, but nowhere is it more apparent than in the way we are being treated by other countries.  Some of our allies, including Canada, Holland and Spain, have left or are leaving us in the lurch in Afghanistan, withdrawing their troops.  Many states, including our allies, have sought to embarrass us diplomatically.  The trip that President Obama took recently to the Pacific Rim was an example of that.  He was rebuffed by countries large and small.  Most media observers called his journey a fiasco of sorts. 

Anthony Mangone, Defendant in Yonkers Public Corruption Case, Pleads Guilty in White Plains Federal Court

White Plains, NY -- Preet Bharara (pictured left), the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Anthony Mangone pled guilty today in White Plains federal court to conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and tax evasion charges.

In January 2010, a Grand Jury returned an Indictment against Sandy Annabi, the former Democratic Majority Leader of the Yonkers City Council, Zehy Jereis, the former head of the Yonkers Republican Party, and Mangone, a Westchester County attorney. The Indictment charges Annabi, Jereis, and Mangone with conspiracy, bribery, and extortion in connection with two real estate development projects within the City of Yonkers that were pending before Annabi when she was on the City Council. The Indictment also charges Annabi with false statement and tax-related crimes.

Exclusive: Westchester County Board Legislator Bernice Spreckman: A Scion for the Times By Hezi Aris

White Plains, NY -- Registered Conservative District Leader Harry Spreckman, husband to Westchester County Board Legislator Bernice Spreckman (R), is being pressured to vote the 13 1/2 weighted votes he controls during the reorganization meeting of the Westchester County Conservative Committee by the good offices of Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino’s Chief of Staff George Oros, from his past support of the Conservative Party Chairwoman Gail Burns to her opposition, led by Hugh Fox, Jr. To ease the verbal arm twisting, Mr Oros has offered Harry and Bernice’s son a higher paying position than the one he presently enjoys in the employ of Westchester County government. Proving once again that family and money matters when the agenda is nothing more than patronage.

On the Level with Narog and Aris

New Rochelle, NY --  Richard Narog and Hezi Aris will speak about the City of Yonkers and its short and long term prospects this Tuesday, November 30th, from 10 am through 11 am, on WVOX-1460 AM on your radio dial and worldwide on www.WVOX.com. Narog and Aris will tackle these same concerns the following Tuesday, December 6th as well.

Current Commentary: New York’s Not-So-Indispensable Man BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®

The late French Gen. Charles de Gaulle is credited with one of my favorite sayings: “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”

New York City has functioned, sometimes better and sometimes worse, for around 400 years. In addition to a handful of Dutch directors, the city has had 108 mayors, many of whom are now in the ground. Yet the current mayor has become convinced that he is indispensable.

Bad Things Happen When Good People Remain Silent By Nancy King

White Plains, NY -- The misdemeanor domestic abuse trial of White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley seems as if it may be headed to the Guiness Book of World Records for the longest misdemeanor trial in the history of the free world.  But it is also a trial that rivals the best of any d-listed gossip rags that we all love to peek at while on line at the grocery store.   Yeah, we all know that the Mayor is alleged to have smashed his soon to be ex-wife’s hand in a door, or that he threw hot tea on her, or my personal favorite; he threatened her with a Madagascar cockroach . Yep, we’ve heard from neighbors who testified that those things may have happened but what if this isn’t the whole story? According to some friends and neighbors, these things simply didn’t go down like that.

The Hezitorial: Amicone and Pierorazio to Step Down to Protect Their Pensions By Hezi Aris

The Hezitorial dated September 12, 2010, spoke to “The Catalyst Behind the Charter Revision Commission’s Referendum May Be an Impending Indictment of Mayor Amicone [By Hezi Aris]  was scoffed at by many readers. That is the way it is in Yonkers; demean, ridicule, do whatever it takes to deflect attention from the issue(s) at hand. At the writing of The Hezitorial, the incredulity of the excessive use of power wielded by  the Executive Branch of power, that is, Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone, through his minions, that is Yonkers Corporation Counsel staff,  to allegedly prod  the Charter Revision Commission to sidestep protocol to benefit Mayor Amicone’s succession plans to have Yonkers Deputy Mayor William “Bill” Regan be his future appointed designee became evident despite Yonkers Inspector General Dan Schorr’s inability to find, much less be given the opportunity to discern the missing email that would have proven the issue. Yes, the email requested by various individuals of Corporation Counsel asking mayoral staff to make notice of a meeting the day after it taking place never surfaced. Even the Freedom of Information Law (F.O.I.L.) requests have been eviscerated and morphed beyond their intention by the maniacal hubris of an allegedly untouchable City Hall run amuck. 

FBI Crime Stats Show Yonkers Was America's 2nd Safest Big City In 2009

Crime down even further in 2010; Mayor Praises Yonkers Police Department

Yonkers, N.Y. --  Of the 125 most populous cities in the United States Yonkers had the second lowest crime rate in 2009, according to FBI crime statistics released this week by the Yonkers Police Department. 

Councilwoman Joan Gronowski On the Level with Narog and Aris

New Rochelle, NY --  Yonkers City Councilwoman and possible Yonkers Mayoral candidate Joan Gronowski, pressently representing the 3rd District is Richard Narog’s and Hezi Aris’ guest  Tuesday, November 23rd, from 10 am through 11 am, on WVOX-1460 AM on your radio dial and worldwide on www.WVOX.com. Narog and Aris will tackle issues revolving about Yonkers politics on November 30th.

The NAACP Yonkers Branch Names “Making a Difference Award” Recipients

Yonkers, NY -- Reverend James Hassell, Pastor Sandra Comerie-Smith, Reverend Henry Rivera, and Father John Hamilton have been named  recipients of the “Making a Difference Award” and will be honored for their commitment to civil and human rights at the NAACP Freedom Fund Brunch on December 4, 2010 at the Riverview, One Warburton Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Ed Koch Commentary: When Will We Really Leave Afghanistan, and Why Not Tomorrow? By Edward I. Koch

President Obama met with his NATO counterparts in Lisbon last week.  According to the November 21 New York Times, they agreed “to the goal of a phased transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan government by the end of 2014, but NATO officials acknowledged that allied forces would remain in Afghanistan at least in a support role well beyond that date.”

Exclusive: Yonkers Police Department Suffer $2.35 Million Judgment By Hezi Aris

White Plains, NY -- The case had come before the jury before Noontime on Thursday, November 19, 2010. The eight jurors departed for home at 5:00 pm returning the next morning by 10:00 am. The White Plains Federal Courthouse was the venue over which Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith presided when at 11:00 am the deputy clerk spoke the words every plaintiff’s attorney hungers to hear, “The jury wants to know if they can have a calculator."

Current Commentary: The Economic Fujiwara By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®

The dollar is up against the euro. No, the dollar is down against the euro. Now it’s up again. Until it goes down.

Meteorologists have a term, the “Fujiwara effect,” to describe the interaction of two storms in close proximity. In the Northern hemisphere, wind blows counterclockwise around centers of low pressure. When two lows “dance the Fujiwara,” as some scientists put it, the winds of each storm influence the other, causing the lows to rotate counterclockwise around a central point. The storms keep their separate identities for a time, yet they become increasingly connected until, sometimes, they merge.

Yonkers Police Department Blotter - November 16-22, 2010 BY Detective Sergeant Patrick McCormack

Yonkers, NY, November 22, 2010 -- On 11/16/10 at 2:42 a.m., numerous units responded to 390 Riverdale Avenue (Getty Gas Station) on a report of a stabbing.  Units located a 24 year old male city resident with a stab wound to his right arm.  The victim related that he was walking with his girlfriend to the gas station when both were approached by a group (2 Hispanic males and 1 Hispanic female) who yelled “Vatos Locos” at the victims direction.  A bottle was thrown at the victim and his girlfriend, and both ran towards the gas station.  Inside of the gas station, the group of suspects began to swing bottles and a knife at the two victims.  The male victim was then stabbed in his right arm and the suspects fled the scene.  3rd Precinct units canvassed the area and observed the suspects running in several directions in the area of Livingston Avenue and Radford Street.  One of the suspects (later identified as Jesus Vivanco) was pursued on foot by officers.  The suspect took a fighting stance towards the officers with a knife in his hand.  An officer deployed an “ASP” baton and swung it at the suspect’s arm, causing the suspect to drop the knife to the ground.  The suspect then began to throw punches at the officers, striking one officer above the eye which caused a laceration and swelling.  The suspect continued to violently resist attempts to be taken into custody, and with the assistance of responding officers he was eventually handcuffed.  The remaining suspects were not located.  A knife was recovered at the scene.  Four officers were treated at a local hospital due to this arrest.  Three of the officers were placed off duty for injuries including back pain, a laceration to the face, and a knee injury.  

Cursing the Darkness By Hezi Aris

In the almost eleven years I have been on the scene, I have learned to love the City of Yonkers; its people are its greatest treasure. I am appreciative in getting to know many of you. The decade long process has revealed the beauty in almost every person I met. There are few who to this day do not believe in a better Yonkers. It seems Yonkers is continuously at the edge of things about to change, but it seems we fall short of our hopes nonetheless. At issue in the past and at present is why. If any Yonkersite believes people are at fault, they would be way off base. A chuckle to the intentional baseball pun would be appreciated just about now!. It is not We the People, it is rather the strong mayor form of government (executive branch) governed by an autocrat, appeased and abated by the Yonkers City Council (legislative branch), and further enabled by the Yonkers Inspector General (judicial branch) that have been the catalysts of the city’s decay.