Westchester Herald

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Public Notice for Charter Revision Commission Hearings BY Dan Schorr and Hezitorial BY Hezi Aris

Report published byYonkers  Inspector General Dan Schorr.

The Hezitorial  follows Inspector General Schorr’s summation.

This report is issued in response to a letter received September 23,2010 from a majority of the City Council that directed the Inspector General to "investigate and render a decision" regarding "whether the CRC [Charter Revision Commission] followed correct process for noticing some of their meetings and hearings and if not, whether the commission's charter amendment proposal is in fact valid and should appear on the upcoming ballot."

The Hezitorial: Anger and Dismay Continue to Consume Us BY Hezi Aris

The anger is palpable. The simmering pot of discontent has been incessant for decades. The political pitch is now boiling over. Dismay has wrought anger. Is anger the elixir for the issues confronting our society? 

It took us long enough to move beyond dismay. The political strategists’ maneuvers coaxed, cajoled , and threatened to keep their masters and us in line by the gift of eloquent, and might I add even loquacious abandon. The game was afoot. Few got it. Even today, many are in disbelief. With each revelation we have become angrier. Our disgust ratcheted higher elevating our diminishing capacity to lucidly reach resolution to the ills that plague us. There are many concerns. Few have been dealt with reasonably, fairly, equitably, or competently.

The Hezitorial: The Price of Seduction BY Hezi Aris

 Yonkers, NY -- The assertions and subsequent confirmation by Yonkers City Hall of not billing Yonkers City Council Majority Leader Patricia McDow for parking /  storing her BMW sedan within the Buena Vista Parking structure managed by the Yonkers Parking Authority (YPA) demands further introspection. The first telling of the acid-tongued bloggers’ assertions were revealed in a June 28, 2010, Hezitorial entitled “Yonkers City Hall Deceives City Agencies to Cover Up Mayor’s $800,000 Blunder BY Hezi Aris”. In that writing, the ability by the YPA to manage the financial largesse of the quasi- government agency prudently was questioned. The discovery of Ms McDow not paying and the YPA not billing for services rendered runs contrary to the tenets delineated  within the YPA‘s Code of Ethics which states in part, “(4) use or attempt to use his or her official position to secure unwarranted privileges or exemptions for himself, herself or others;... 

The Hezitorial: The Catalyst Behind the Charter Revision Commission’s Referendum May Be an Impending Indictment of Mayor Amicone By Hezi Aris

The rumor mill has been rife for over a month’s time. The “chatter” is insistent and has become louder and louder. It is also being kept under wraps. Calls and inquiry of Yonkers City Hall continue to go unanswered. Awaiting a response is tantamount to the absurdity described in Samuel Beckett’s “En attendant Godot", that is, “Waiting for Godot”. City Hall’s silent dismissal of inquiry demands a symbiotic rather than a respectful response. City Hall, and specifically Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone, cannot be permitted refuge when action taken at his behest bears onerously on those still awaiting his serving the public good.

The Hezitorial: In Search of King Solomon BY Hezi Aris

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino earlier this year proposed cutting $5.8 million in social services, including $1.5 million in day-care spending, by attempting to head off an anticipated $166 million deficit in 2011,  With little advance notice, the Astorino Administration action drastically cut two programs and raised contributions on a third toward that end. The Westchester County Board of Legislators’ (WCBoL) majority response challenged Mr Astorino’s action for ending the WCBoL created Westchester County Child Care Scholarship program, freezing  the federally funded Title XX child care subsidies, and increasing parent contributions for those families who get low-income child-care subsidies from 15% to 20%. 

Charter Revision Commission: Ignorance or Plot BY Hezi Aris

Yonkers, NY, August 26, 2010 -- A meeting of the Charter Revision Commission seemingly came to order tonight under the aegis of  Chairman Julius Walls, Jr. Even though a “draft” of today’s Final Report stipulates the commission met on July 13, 22, 29, August 2, and 26, 2010, and further stipulates at every meeting, except the July 22, 2010, at which a quorum was not reached, all meetings were conducted at City Hall, but were not open to the public, even though the Final Report draft states they were.

The Hezitorial: Campaign Effort Permeated with Fraud BY Hezi Aris

Yonkers Tribune has seen the petitions presented to theWestchester County Board of Elections presented by the Mike Ramondelli campaign in their effort to garner a sufficient number of signatures in his attempt to place his name under a new party line, the Cut My Taxes designation.

The Hezitorial: Government Must Traverse the Media Landscape with Agenda-less Impartiality BY Hezi Aris

Managing Editor Robert Cox of New Rochelle's Talk of the Sound yesterday wrote an Open Letter to Chuck Strome, New Rochelle’s City Manager, advising his right to be fairly treated as a member of media, commensurate to equal footing with the Journal News,WVOX-1460 AM radio, Cable News 12 Westchester, among others. Since the onset of the Internet, government, taking a page from a threatened media establishment, quickly recognized the impact of the Internet and the many hyperlocal reporters who would challenge the status quo. It did not take too long for the term “blog” to become the latest four-letter epithet. Challenging the stale and stagnant media landscape by infusing a “new voice” into the media landscape bloggers charged forward undeterred and unafraid. Media had won the first round in casting aspersions about bloggers. As in every frontier, the first explorers’ attempt to define the Internet was cursory. Time permitted greater exploration and introspection. Today we continue to explore the parameters of the Internet and its role and impact vis-a-vis the mainstream media base line.

The Hezitorial: Yonkers Police Department Assert Errors in The Hezitorial Dated August 17, 2010 BY Hezi Aris

Yonkers, NY, August 18, 2010 --  Yonkers  Police Department spokesperson Det. Sgt. Patrick McCormack calledYonkers Tribune's editor Hezi Aris late this afternoon to advise of inaccuracies gleaned after his reading The Hezitorial: Using the Police for Political Purpose BY Hezi Aris published on August 17, 2010. The most egregious issue was Det. Sgt. McCormack’s contention that  Captain John Mueller did not head the investigation of an incident of the alleged theft of a clipboard of petitions from the person of Joseph Dalli, a campaign worker for New York State Assembly candidate Mike Ramondelli allegedly by Julio Sofia, a campaign worker for New York State Assemblyman Mike Spano, as well as a friend of his nephew.  Det. Sgt McCormack advised that two general assignment detectives who routinely handle felonies were assigned the task of investigating the allegations, not Capt. Mueller. Det. Sgt. McCormack’s assertion regarding the detectives assigned to the case is contrary to the investigative work corroborated by the editor’s effort. Even so, the Yonkers Tribune appreciates the pertinence of giving the YPD equal access and time to refute the veracity of The Hezitorial.

The Hezitorial: Using the Police for Political Purpose BY Hezi Aris

Three days after an allegation was made that the friend of Assemblyman  Mike Spano’s nephew, who was campaigning on behalf of Assemblyman Spano, stole a clipboard of petition signatures collected by Mike Ramondelli campaign worker Joseph Dalli, an arrest is made. In spite of the killings, thefts, and other concerns that lay before the Yonkers Police Department’s feet in light of their eviscerated manpower, inferences of political insinuation by the mayor using  police resources is becoming evident.

The Hezitorial: Quid Pro Quo Steals America’s Hopes and Dreams BY Hezi Aris

There has always been more than one facet to every issue and to every concern. There is right, and there is wrong; there is benevolence; and there is vindictiveness; there is freedom, and there is imprisonment. Those were the principals upon which I was weaned. Without ever a waver I could detect in her as her child, my mother’s ability to stoically define and uphold  her understanding of the world. Her vision was pristine and clear, permitting no mingling among the divergent issues or concerns, withstanding acquiescence by adhering to principal. Believing himself more cosmopolitan than she, my father’s cerebral comprehension gave him an understanding supposedly more esoteric. He perceived the gray tones that have robbed us the birthright bequeathed in The  Declaration of Independence which reads... “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are  Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness... ” The Declaration of Independence was and still remains a political statement; one which has given rise to a great nation. Referencing the historical wonder and enormity of our nation’s history is worthy a short reiteration. Focusing Yonkersites’ attention  to our present and not too distant past may be far  simpler to dissect in order to deduce whether Mom or Dad got it right.

The Hezitorial: Mayor Amicone Extinguishes Barbato's and Murtagh's Political Options BY Hezi Aris

 The many officially unnoticed meetings conducted by the Charter Revision Commission at the behest of Yonkers  Mayor Amicone under the aegis of Chairman Julius Walls to formulate protocol for accession to Mayor of Yonkers were concluded on August 2, 2010. The catalyst that brought about Mayor Amicone’s request for a “revision” to accession to the mayoralty outside the standard Election Day voting process was Mayor Amicone’s one-time interest in challenging incumbent New York State Senator  Andrea Stewart-Cousins for her  seat. Mayor Amicone’s negative polling numbers dashed his political desires. Mayor Amicone reluctantly sidelined his political aspirations but not his demand of the Charter Revision Commission. The rationale for changing the charter for a paradigm other than the one in place seemed a superfluous indulgence until acid-tongued bloggers could make sense of it. Strap yourselves in folks, this is a wild ride.

The Hezitorial: Yonkers Version of Catch Me If You Can BY Hezi Aris

In times of trouble it seems prudent, perhaps urgent that health insurance costs be borne minimally by an employee. A 15 percent contribution won praise for being fair. The rationale made headway among some but not others. In Yonkers, the Yonkers Police Department had been doing it for years; so too the Yonkers Fire Department. Accusatory finger pointer Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone demanded it of everyone but has forgotten to logically demand it from the non union represented personnel that reside within City Hall. They will not contribute to lighten the financial woes that consume all of Yonkers. The paradox of the City of Yonkers are the accepted  parallel universes that define the City. Mayor Amicone lords over everything Yonkers feigning little or no influence over the Yonkers Board of Education (YBoE). Mayor Amicone prefers to have Yonkers Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio “independently” replicate scenarios of deflection, disparity, and disdain within his alleged realm. The gig is up for both.We see you!

The Hezitorial: The Gig is Up for Yonkers Mayor Amicone BY HEZI ARIS

The seemingly complex staging choreographed within Yonkers by  Mayor Phil Amicone in his ivory tower is crumbling. The theatrics are tried and true and sadly still viable. Yonkersites have collectively been silent as they absorbed with astute clarity the games they were made to suffer. The exhilaration of working for City Hall or the Yonkers  Board of Education meant life-long security and a meal ticket. It was always so in Yonkers. A seismic shift has taken place, Yonkers has changed. Like Humpty Dumpty, Yonkers has fallen. It’s shell has been broken; there is no attempt to but it back together again. Mayor amicone is not pained to leave Yonkers in shambles; he will be departing in 15 months time unless he can mount a successful overturn of term limits in an effort a la new York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. For those not in the know, Mayor Phil Amicone is a far cry from Mayor Mike Bloomberg.