Mayor Richard Thomas Weekly Report for August 26, 2017

Breaking Ground at Brush Park

This
week, Mayor Richard Thomas and the City of Mount Vernon broke ground on
a new playground at Brush Park. The new park was successfully installed
and ready for families to play, just in time for back to school! Mayor
Thomas, Recreation Commissioner Darren Morton and Water Commissioner Ben
Marable unveiled
the brand new water fountains that are now installed in Brush Park.
These water fountains have been installed in parks across the city and
are part of Mayor Thomas’ commitment to investing in greenspaces,
city-wide. Click here
to watch the entire press conference. Click here to watch the May 2017
Board of Estimate and Contract meeting where Mayor Thomas and
Commissioner Morton advocate for the park and inform Comptroller Maureen
Walker and the City Council why these parks are so important.
Mount Vernon Police Youth Academy Graduation Ceremony

The City of Mount Vernon Police Youth Academy had a fun filled and action packed year. From trips to Good Morning America, selfies with Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan,
a trip to the studios of Eyewitness News a full day at entertainment
company, Roc Nation Studios, the young adults saw a lot of interesting
things, met many inspiring professionals and mixed in with the programs
learning modules, even had some fun. This past Monday, at the graduation
ceremony, Detective Dave Clarke, the director of the Academy,
congratulated every student and thanked the parents, friends and
supporters for their commitment to the program and the students. You can
watch the whole ceremony here.
Mayor Richard Thomas Busts Contractors Illegally Dumping Concrete into Our Sewer

Last week, Mayor Richard Thomas spotted
a private contracting crew dumping concrete into our city sewers. The
mayor stopped his vehicle and approached, ordering them to stop dumping
immediately. The mayor then called in DPW to assess the situation and
begin flushing out the sewer to reduce the damage to the city’s crippled
sewer system. The contractor IS facing some serious fines, but more
importantly, Mayor Thomas has sent a clear message — in our city pay the
price for your illegal actions.
Past
administrations turned a blind eye to dumping, even on our own
beleaguered Memorial Field but we cannot allow people to disrespect
Mount Vernon. We deserve clean waterways, revitalized parks, smooth
streets. We are our committed to providing quality-of-life initiatives
for the people of Mount Vernon.
Weekly Crime Statistics
Overall
crime rates in the City of Mount Vernon continue to decline. Compared
to the same weekly period in 2016, overall crime is down 20 percent.
Crime
is down significantly in several key categories such as robbery (~20
percent decrease) and rape (~50% decline). A detailed synopsis of the
weekly crime statistics is below (along with historical comparables
dating back to 2010)
These
stats show how hard our dedicated policemen and women are working
despite being underfunded and understaffed as the department is
continuing to do more with less amid budget cuts authorized by the City
Council and Comptroller Maureen Walker in 2016.
The Thomas Administration will continue its commitment to transparency by releasing these weekly crime statistics as they become available.
Update on Slide the City
Due
to a combination of factors beyond our control, we regret to inform you
that the City of Mount Vernon must postpone Slide the City, originally
scheduled for Saturday August 26, 2017. While large-scale outdoor events
are great for the community, they can often be affected by logistics,
weather, and shipping challenges.
Mayor
Richard Thomas remains committed to bringing this this fun, safe family
event to our city. We will continue to work with the Slide the City
team to reschedule the event in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes open
for follow-up information from the city. In the meantime, we look
forward to seeing you at all our upcoming events.
The
weekend is not all lost — there will be fun activities in Hartley Park;
a “Rapacon” on 1st Street & 2nd Avenue, and a long list of
back-to-school giveaways.
Check out the calendar of upcoming events below:
August 26 — Hartley Park — Fire Safety Trailer, Music, Water Blaster Fights and more!
September 16 — MVCSD Mind, Body, and Soul Event — http://bit.ly/2g5x9ME
September 16 — Mount Vernon City Fest — http://bit.ly/2wyHvvt
We
look forward to continuing our new tradition of quality family fun with
you and yours so we can create new memories and celebrate each season.
Safe Haven Summer Program Culminating Event

On
Friday, August 18, 2017, the Safe Haven Summer Program, held at
Columbus School, successfully came to a close with a culminating event
for parents and guardians. The Safe Haven young people showcased the
projects and activities they worked on during the six week program. The
audiences was entertained with performances by singers, musicians,
dancers and budding actors and actresses. The Mixed Martial Arts
exhibitions amazed and the art project which focused on abuse awareness
enlighted all. In addition, fitness instructor Tarsha Gibbons led
parents in an activity that emulated some of the routines their children
learned while in the program.
Mount Vernon Fresh Market Returns for Third Week
On
Friday, the Mount Vernon Fresh Market came back for another week after a
very successful launch several weeks ago. Volunteers from City Hall,
the Food Bank of Westchester, and across the community distributed over
15,000 pounds of fresh food and produce to Mount Vernon residents and
more. The Fresh Market visits Mount Vernon every other Friday under the
Park Avenue Bridge in municipal lot 11 offering healthy food
solutions — no one is even turned away. Join us for our next Fresh
Market event on Friday, September 8th at 4pm.
If Friday doesn’t work, feel free to check out the Farmers Market at City Hall Plaza, every Thursday from 10–3.
Listen to us live:

Every week, Mayor Thomas speaks to Yonkers Tribune
radio with host Hezi Aris: Catch this week’s interview here for an
unvarnished look at what’s happening in Mount Vernon: Mayor Thomas also
hosts Mount Vernon Moving Forward every Friday on WVOX, from 5pm to 6pm.
You can listen to last week’s show here for an in-depth discussion
about the what’s going on in Mount Vernon. On the Internet, tune in to
Future 98.9 every Wednesday at 8:30am to listen to Mayor Thomas and
Minister P. Tyson. You can find last week’s interview here. On Tuesdays
at 8am, you can hear Mayor Thomas on 101.5 Linkage Radio. Catch last
week’s discussion here.