YONKERS, NY — March 21, 2014 — Former Yonkers City Councilman Fernando Fuentes (D- 2nd District) has called upon Mayor Mike Spano to make public the recent Yonkers Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Reports.
“The City of Yonkers used to publish a yearly Equal Employment Opportunity Report that gave an accurate picture of the City of Yonkers’ employees and now City Hall won’t even make it available,” advised the Honorable Fuentes.
“We have requested this information in the spirit of transparency, however City Hall has turned a deaf ear to these request,” added Fuentes.
“We beseech Yonkers City Hall to accept this press release in lieu of filing a “Freedom of Information Law” request with the City of Yonkers,” continued Fuentes.
“We deserve to know the racial, ethnic and gender breakdown of City Hall Employees along with their salary,” concluded former Councilman Fernando Fuentes.
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Who said all political roads in Westchester eventually lead to Yonkers? Maybe I said it.
But here is an addendum: All roads in Yonkers lead to Nick Spano, the jovial, back-slapping lobbyist and former Republican state senator who is the older brother of the mayor, Mike Spano.
Last summer Nick was released from federal prison after serving 10 months for income tax fraud — and ever since he’s been working hard to resurrect his business, Empire Strategic Planning, a lobbying concern with many clients in Yonkers.
Anonymous grumblers love to say that Nick is really running the city. That may be an exaggeration, but questions about the extent of his involvement in day to day decision making are always out there. For when it comes to Yonkers, it’s all in the family for Nick.
Things big and small don’t just happen by accident in Yonkers. The city works on connections, relationships, the granting of favors and the dispensing of jobs — many of which go to members of the vast Spano family and their cronies.
Putting together a comprehensive Spano flow chart would be a daunting task.
It would obviously include City Clerk Vincent Spano, Nick and Mike’s kid brother, who last week married Jaime McGill, the executive director of the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency. McGill was given the $85,000-a-year job after serving in 2013 as the campaign manager for City Council President Liam McLaughlin.
Then there’s Kelly Olson Chiarella, the sister of Yonkers PBA president Keith Olson. In January, Chiarella was named assistant to the mayor, constituent services, for the Office of the Aging. The $90,000 job amounted to a promotion and a boost in pay for Chiarella who worked for Gail Burns, the former head of the Westchester Conservative Party and a longtime aide to Nick.
Chiarella’s promotion followed the city’s contract negotiations with the police, which resulted in a 23.5 percent pay raise spread over 10 years retroactive to 2009. Was this merely a coincidence?
Back to Gail Burns for a second. After she was ousted from her party chairmanship in a 2011 coup, the Westchester County Board of Legislators under then-chairman Ken Jenkins gave her a three-month job of dubious importance for $15,000. In January of this year, the Spano machine made Jenkins president of the IDA, a part-time gig that pays $60,000 in addition to his other part-time job as a $49,200-a-year Yonkers legislator.
Connecting the political dots in Yonkers is a fun pastime. Somebody should turn it into a Milton Bradley board game — one that includes a get-out-of-jail card.
Speaking of jail, two months after he was freed from federal bondage, Nick received judicial permission to socialize with Paul Adler, the former chairman of the Rockland Democratic Party. The two men worked together at a real estate company after Nick left the state Senate. That’s not all they had in common. In 2002, Adler pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion and served 17 months in prison.
Since his release in 2004, Adler has done much to rehabilitate his public image. He has performed numerous acts of charity and became vice president of Rand Commercial Services, a large and distinguished real estate firm.
Last year, Yonkers put the 87-year-old former city jail on the riverfront on the market for $2.5 million with the idea that it would be re-purposed for commercial use. The dilapidated building was sold for $1 million to Daniel Wolf, an art and photography dealer who enlisted his wife, the renowned artist and architect Maya Lin, to design the space.
Rand Commercial Services brokered the sale, which was approved by the Yonkers City Council in December.
Neither Nick nor Adler were directly involved in the property negotiations. They didn’t show up for the photo-ops when the deal was done. Call the whole thing a coincidence if you like — or not. Just remember where all the roads go in Yonkers.
But the blogosphere has linked them in another important way. Both have reportedly emailed invitations to “friends” to next week’s election fundraiser for Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Tarrytown. Tickets to the event start at $1,000, but go as high as $25,000.
This is rich sauce indeed for a man who was sipping prison gruel less than a year ago. It looked like Nick was on a road to perdition.
Ah, but see what happened? Nick took a fork in the road, which led back to where the favors are doled out and the chits called in.
You just copied reisman’s sunday column.
yes just wanted to update all that do not get the journal ….
The shakedown artist is back. Crawl back into your hole!
Picture is a bit misleading, would you agree?
FERNANDO for MAYOR ? Why not anything is better well almost except the redheaded donkey potato head time will tell this election will bring out the most spano haters of all history they will be at every poll and I wish I could lead them all but I will be at my poll in southwest side of town with my crew that’s for sure they thought I was a little drug attic skell lowlife that’s what all are classified by CoY if your in southwest side of town see all election day its on.
Go away, Fernando. You surface one a year like a groundhog that lets us know if winter will continue but at least IT performs a service. Send in a FOIL request like everyone else does. What’s the matter? Is it too much effort for you to expend?
Dear L&T&M, OM
You are the one who should go away. The man has a legitimate point and public credentials beyond many in this city – serving his constituency.
I’d guess that you are one of the nincompoops who elected Mike Spano
Dear Ace…I think you should be rather classified as a joker…
Yeah and maybe you should go back to the land of Oz. Take all of the Spanos with you. Surely they can corrupt it along with the moronic support which they enjoy in Yonkers.
You are a fool. Just what makes you assume that my one comment about Fuentes indicates my preference for ANYone in the city government? If you are an example of the voters in this city, we are truly in trouble.
Moreover, Fuentes first issued this press release in January 2012, more than two years ago. Do you think he had the good sense to actually FOIL for this information? No. Just issue another press release 26 months later, almost verbatim. And you consider HIM to be better? Now I KNOW you are a fool.
VIVA MEXICO and new main and south Broadway and soon your next door neighbors .Would like to say thanks to the LAZY white race for giving it ALL
To us TAX FREE VIVA MEXICO
LA RAZA isn’t welcome in city hall but tacos and cheap labor on all private owened property are welcome.