The past couple of weeks have brought us progress in pursuing our cause, glimmers of hope, interesting revelations, and the sad reality that even as our arguments get stronger and our evidence mounts, the City Council and the City government do not respond. Our petition now has more than 600 signers. We’ve appeared at community group events, where support is strong, and we’ve garnered the endorsement of neighborhood associations and citywide coalitions. And members of a mayoral advisory committee have written in opposition to the ordinance.
We have not heard a word from most of the Council or the Mayor.
Council Member Corazon Pineda, a independent force on the Council, has had the courage to announce that she will change her vote. We only need one more. But there’s little reason at this point to think that any of the others will be honest enough to admit that they made a mistake. For example, John Rubbo voted for the ordinance in 2023 and was on the committee that gave the ordinance highly flawed, distorted and cursory consideration. He seems to be doubling down in his defense, although we appreciate his willingness to engage.
Behind the scenes, we’re making some headway. We have gathered a substantial amount of evidence that the Council Member who proposed the ordinance did so to reward a campaign contributor. The authorities have examined our evidence, and while no criminal prosecution seems imminent, investigative departments with other disciplinary recourse are looking at the case. I prefer to not name names or give more details, but there’s a chance that justice will be done here.
At the same time, the city seems to be very good at stonewalling. New York state law requires city agencies to respond to Freedom of Information Law requests in a timely manner. Yonkers tends not to comply. They are routinely late in responding. And when they’re late, they’re good at coming up with explanations and excuses for why.. It’s been two months since we alerted the city to the outrageous errors in the 2023 ordinance and how it was codified. We haven’t heard back. It doesn’t seem to matter.
Legislative competence and democratic accountability don’t seem to be a priority.
