Mamaroneck Village Halts Honorary Street Naming Until Policy Can Be Drafted

Mamaroneck’s board of trustees will hammer out a policy for honoring notable residents after acrimoniously failing this week to celebrate three of them.

As friends and family of the prospective honorees looked on, a resolution saluting Vincent Panniccia, Joseph Spadaro and Wainwright (Wain) Carrington went down to partisan defeat at Monday’s village hall meeting.

When Mayor Norman S. Rosenblum formally proposed honoring the nominees, the board’s Democratic majority balked, citing a lack of any clear village policy on selecting nominees. Rosenblum—an independent elected on the Republican line— called the action “very petty” and said his office had been asked to recognize the men, in two cases with honorary street-name changes.

“The only limitation [on potential nominees] is the number of streets, as far as I’m concerned,” Rosenblum said.

Trustee Toni Pergola Ryan—the Democrat contesting Rosenblum’s re-election in November—halted voting on the resolution, asking, “What’s the policy for doing this?” She questioned the cost of the street signs and how long they would remain in place. Democratic Trustees John Hofstetter and Sid Albert joined Ryan in voting against the resolution.

For Albert, voting against Carrington’s recognition was especially poignant, he said. The first black man to win elected office in the village, Albert said, “one of the main reasons,” he ran was respect for Carrington, the village’s first black man to do so.

Unlike the others in the omnibus resolution, Carrington was to be honored July 23, not with a street name but with a plaque at the Columbus Park basketball court that is named after him.

“This is a great tribute to him,” Albert said in voting against the original resolution, “but I think a policy should be in place . . . to put it into action.”

To preserve the July 23 commemoration’s date, the board later approved a verbal resolution honoring Carrington alone.

Deputy Mayor Lou Santoro—Rosenblum’s lone GOP ally on the five-member board—joined him on the losing end of the 3-2 vote. He apologized to the friends and family who had turned out for the expected ceremonial approval. If the honorees’ supporters were offended by the board’s rejection, however, they kept it to themselves.

Kathleen Spadaro, daughter of Joseph, agreed with the board’s decision not to proceed until a policy was in place.

“I think it’s a very nice thing to honor a resident who’s been here a long time,” she said in reference to her father, who is an 84-year resident of Mamaroneck.

Nancy Wasserman, a founding member of the Washingtonville Housing Alliance who appeared at the meeting described Carrington as,  “A very close friend and mentor of mine—almost like a father.” She spoke in favor of the village’s decision to honor Carrington with a plaque as, “a long time coming and deserving.”  The Wainwright Carrington Basketball Court located in Columbus Park was given the name in 1968 after the influential Carrington, who, among other things, served as President of the Westchester chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

If all goes as planned, the dedication ceremony will take place at the basketball court at 1 p.m., before the Legends Basketball game event.

Later, the trustees learned that if giving something away was tough, receiving something could be even tougher. Take the Shore Acres Homeowners Association and a gift of nine trees for planting along The Parkway. After Stuart Tiekert, a onetime member of the village Tree Committee, plaintively asked, “Why can’t we have a standardized way of doing things in the village?” a resolution accepting the gift was tabled, for lack of a village policy on accepting tree donations.