YONKERS: Now, as the pandemic appears to be waning in the city of hills, many of them received yet another unpleasant surprise: a substantial increase in their unemployment premiums.

This came despite Yonkers’ Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins passing legislation aimed to keep COVID-related closures from impacting a business owner’s rating, which factors into their premium amounts.

The unexpected increases prompted New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA) President Melissa Fleischut to send a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader #AndreaStewartCousins, D-Yonkers, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D- #Bronx, on Monday to say the organization was “taken aback” by the increases even after Senate Bill 1197 and Assembly Bill 2001-A became law.

While the legislation in question did keep COVID-19-related unemployment from factoring into the equation, it did not, however, keep the state from raising rates to keep the fund from running out of money. The state borrowed more than $10 billion to help make unemployment payments last year.

In a press statement the #NewYork State Department of Labor (DOL) said it understands businesses need support at this time. It said the state has taken other measures to help restaurants and other businesses.

Among the programs for restaurants are a $25 million grant program created to help dining establishments that serve distressed and underrepresented areas and a $35 million return-to-work tax credit program.

Small businesses across the board, including for-profit arts and cultural institutions, can seek grants from an $800 million recovery program.

Businesses in #NewYorkState have access to an estimated $57 billion in federal support through the Paycheck Protection Program, the FY 2022 Budget is providing $1 billion in support for businesses, and the state worked with the private sector to provide a $100 million loan fund for small businesses,” the DOL said in the statement.

Some Yonkers Business owners are calling on the DOL to crack down on #fraudulent claims that countless #NewYorkers have had their identities compromised and used to file bogus claims.

With wide-scale #fraud happening, they say, the state shouldn’t put an undue burden on businesses trying to recover from the past year.

There are actually small businesses in Yonkers who did not lay off any employees in the past year and have been shocked to receive unemployment insurance tax bills that have more than doubled.

A Coldwell Banker Realty listing calls Yonkers restaurateur Peter Kelly’s property a “fabulous development opportunity.” The 5.3 acre property has the restaurant and a two-family home.

The Blauvelt resident, also owns X2O Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers, which is rumored to be behind in payments to the City of Yonkers.

https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/ny/congers/117-n-route-303/pid_37706681/

In 2019, Peter X. Kelly, owner of the Xaviar’s Restaurant Group, filed for bankruptcy,

Three Chapter 11 filings were filed with in a month seek financial reorganization for the restaurants and himself.

At the time his biggest creditors are the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

https://www.lohud.com/story/life/food/restaurants/2019/09/26/chef-peter-x-kelly-bankruptcy-filing/2444369001/

YONKERS:: Mayor Mike Spano released his Fiscal Year 2022 Executive Budget proposal, which contains a zero percent increase in the property tax levy, contains no reductions in City services and, once again, provides its largest contribution to Yonkers Public Schools.

Mayor Spano stated, “Like many cities across the country, Yonkers experienced a yearlong lockdown due to a global pandemic that crippled local businesses and employment. Fortunately, Yonkers weathered the storm better than expected, allowing us to prevent an increase in the tax levy that would have placed additional burdens on our taxpayers. Today, the city is emerging from the lockdown and is getting back to business, putting our residents back to work.”

“The City’s ability to remain intact during this turbulent year is due in part to the Administration’s ongoing fiscal responsibility and frugal spending,” added Mayor Spano.

Executive Budget Overview:

The Executive Budget for the Fiscal Year 2022 for the combined City and Board of Education (BOE) General Funds is $1.15 billion, a decrease of $600,000 ($6.8 million decrease for City and $6.2million increase for the BOE), or 0.05%.

Yonkers Board of Education

The Executive Budget includes a record $651.9 million appropriation for the Board of Education, the largest ever budgeted by an Administration.

Mayor Spano added, “Thank you to our New York State Yonkers delegation for committing to deliver the long overdue phase-in of foundation aid over the next three years, with Yonkers Public Schools receiving $21.9 million this year, as well as restoring $12 million in state education bullet aid. While this serves our District now, we need to remain vigilant in addressing the systematic funding inequities that effect Yonkers students each year.”

For FY22, the combined Maintenance of Effort and Debt Service contribution transfer to education will go up by $7.2 million. The Administration’s contribution to the Maintenance of Effort has increased 21% annually and 109% cumulatively.

Municipal Operating Budget

Included in the Executive Budget is a municipal General Fund operating budget of $536 million. General Fund Departmental Expenditures are budgeted at $291 million.

The Executive Budget recognizes the economic hardships of local property taxpayers because of the pandemic. As a result, FY22 Budget proposes a flat property tax levy – marking the first time in over 20 years taxes would remain flat.

The Administration also proposes absorbing nearly half of the projected 10% increase by the New York City water per capita rate with a local increase of 4.5%. The water fund revenue will be assumed on a volume based tiered structure that is currently being discussed by the City Council.

The 2022 Executive Budget does not propose cuts to municipal services or city workforce and includes essential health and safety capital projects for the city.

Citing the flat funding in Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) from New York State, Mayor Spano remarked, “The state-funded AIM funding is down over $27 million from 2009 levels. This continued lack of funding makes it difficult to fund our fringe benefit and union contract costs, which account for 75% of the City’s budget.”

Mayor Spano added, “My hope is that the 2022 Executive Budget is a basis for discussions and decisions. I ask our City Council members to continue to build upon the spirit of cooperation that has passed eight consecutive bipartisan budgets during my time in office.”

Budget Snapshot:

• $1.15 billion total budget

• Proposes ZERO percent increase in the property tax levy

• Maintains city services and municipal positions

• $651.9 million appropriation for the Board of Education, the largest ever budgeted by an Administration.

“As a result of the tragic incident in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, I’ve instructed Yonkers Police Commissioner Mueller to review our officers’ current training policies and procedures and to make recommendations for additional training to better safeguard them and the people they have sworn to protect.

Currently, we support the YPD with various training exercises, including yearly taser re-certification, de-escalation training to mitigate potential confrontations, critical incident training for crises, and procedural justice training to better interact with the public.

I have confidence in the Yonkers Police Department and reaffirm my commitment to providing them the resources and tools needed to best serve and protect Yonkers.”

YONKERS: DMX was raised in Yonkers and experienced a turbulent upbringing.

He claimed his dad was absent and that his mom was abusive, which resulted in him shuffling in and out of group homes.

As a homeless teenager, he would roam the streets, where he’d befriend stray dogs.

DMX said that he found unconditional love in them and eventually grew to like dogs more than people.

“If people were like dogs, the world would be a much better place,” DMX later said.

“Dogs only want to eat. They don’t want their food and their territory invaded. Other than that, they leave you alone. That’s life. Eat, sleep, do what you’ve got to do.”

DMX continued, “Your dog will die for you. You can beat your dog and your dog will see you in a predicament where you’re about to lose your life and your dog will be right there for you. That’s how dogs get down, unconditional love. Humans are not really capable of unconditional love.”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-05-ca-40513-story.html

Yonkers rap legend Earl Simmons best known as DMX, became an international superstar, but he never forgot where he was from, even though the city of hills failed him so many times.

DMX son of 19-year-old Arnett Simmons and 18-year-old Joe Barker.

Barker moved to Philadelphia and was largely absent from his life.

DMX went through a disjointed childhood that included being beaten by his mother and her various boyfriends so badly that he lost teeth and sustained numerous bruises and cuts on his face. Due to poverty, he slept on the floor with roaches and mice crawling over him in the night.

When he was 7, an aunt got him drunk on vodka. The same year, the hungry boy was jailed for stealing cakes from a market.

DMX was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness but became disillusioned with the faith after his mother rejected a $10,000 settlement after he was hit by a drunk driver while crossing the street because Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught to be self-sufficient and do not accept charity.

One summer, his mother locked him in his bedroom, allowing him to only exit for trips to the bathroom.^[

At the end of the fifth grade, at age 10, Simmons was kicked out of school and sent to the Julia Dyckman Andrus Children’s Home for 18 months.

 In what he described as a defining moment of betrayal, his mother tricked him by telling him they were just visiting the home, then she enrolled him there..

When he was 14, Simmons began living on the streets of Yonkers to escape his mother’s abuse, sleeping in Salvation Army clothing bins, and eventually found comfort in befriending stray dogs that walked the streets at night.

DMX met Ready Ron, a local rapper, who was impressed with his beatboxing skills and asked him to become his partner. Simmons chose the name “DMX”, which came from an instrument he had used at the boys’ home, the Oberheim DMX drum machine.

It later was also interpreted as “Dark Man X”

As teen he turned to robbery as a way to survive on the streets of Yonkers.

DMX became addicted to crack cocaine when he was 14 years old, after Ready Ron tricked him into smoking a marijuana cigarette laced with the drug.[40][99]

He also said that he had developed a bipolar disorder from his troubled childhood and drug use.

And some people wonder why the Yonkers memories caused him to self medicate himself throughout his life.

DMX was a Christian and said that he read the Bible every day.

DMX later became transitional deacon in the Christian Church and aspired to become ordained as a pastor.

MTV News‘ Abbie Kearse spoke to LL, Red, Meth, and X together.

DMX asserts that he is not a new artist, but a new act on the label. Still, as the least familiar face to MTV News in 1997,

X delivers the freestyle for the camera. He asks if he can curse, and then spits an incredibly raw and very trademark Dark Man X type of rhyme. It is the perfect moment to show new viewers just what the would-be superstar is about.

A clip from a February 2021 interview in which DMX said, “If I was to drop dead right now, my last thought would be: I’ve lived a good life.”

YONKERS CARES: Mayor Mike Spano says X’s hometown wants to ease the burden on his family, and the door is wide open for them to use the grounds of the horse racing facility, if they want to do so.

YONKERS STRONG: Yonkers wants to make sure DMX’s memory lives on in the city, so the next generation can be inspired.

YONKERS WILL REMEMBER: Mayor Mike Spano says that there will also be other remembrances that might mean a statue like another famous Yonkers native, Ella Fitzgerald, or a street naming, or a street mural – the no bid public art exhibit call probably has already been placed to Ray Wilcox.

Yonkers Raceway has a seating capacity of 7,500, but under the state’s COVID guidelines they’d be limited to 20 percent of that number – Or 1,500 mourners.

Mayor Mike Spano says it would be fitting for the people of the city of hills to say goodbye to an icon like X, who struggled and overcame a violent and tragic childhood, to returned to the community to give back to the less fortunate.

The Yonkers Police Department will mark 150 years of service to its community on Saturday, April 10.

The official roster on April 10, 1871 of the Yonkers Police Force consisted of Captain Mangin; Sergeant James M. King; Sergeant Charles W. Austin; Roundsmen George W. Osborne and James McLaughlin; Patrolmen John Oagans, James P. Embree, Martin Geary, John Hennessy, Edward Lucas, Richard Laurie, C. McGregor, James H. Mealing, Michael Muldoon, Patrick Muldoon, James J. Norton, Henry J. Quinn, John Redding, Sherman H. Smith, Louis Sprenger, John H. Woodruff, Fred H. Woodruff, and Samuel L. Whaley; Hostler (Stable Keeper) James McDevit; and Doorman (Janitor) Michael Foley.

The actual patrolling of the town was accomplished by foot patrol, mounted patrol, and horse and wagon.

Mounted patrol was used primarily for outlying areas. In those early years.

“For fifteen decades members of this agency, from the original constables and roundsmen to today’s modern police officers equipped with 21st century technologies, have served and continue to serve the communities of Yonkers with professionalism and a commitment to excellence,” said a police department press release.

“It’s no secret we have the best Police Department in the world, and over the past 150 years, the YPD has evolved while continuing to demonstrate nothing short of professionalism and respect with all they encounter,” said Mayor Mike Spano.

“When you see a police officer in your neighborhood, I encourage you to stop and say thank you – due to their efforts, Yonkers is a safer city.”

Police Commissioner John J. Mueller stated: “I want to congratulate all the Yonkers Police Officers and Supervisors, past and present, for bringing us to this milestone and building one of the finest police agencies in the country. Throughout the years thousands of men and women have served the people of Yonkers as members of this proud Department with professionalism and honor; that shared service creates a familial bond for generations. I applaud all our members now and then and thank them for everything they do and have done to help make Yonkers one of the greatest cities in America.”

Saturday, April 10th Food Pantries:

Bethesda Baptist Food Pantry- 8:30 -10:30 am, 71 Lincoln Ave, New Rochelle, – Contact Karen Soltau 914-299- 4290

Sunday, April 11th To Go Meals:

Shiloh Baptist @HOPE driveway Grab & Go breakfast and lunch 7:15 am-runs out 50 Washington Avenue, New Rochelle – Contact Sylvia Hamer at 914-636-7440

St. Catherine AME Church Takeout Meal 1-3 pm 19 Lincoln Avenue, New Rochelle – Contact Reverend Noble 334-207-3588

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

12:30 PM 2:30 PM Salvation Army Tarrytown 115 Wildey St. Tarrytown

3:30 PM 5:30 PM St. Joseph’s Medical Center Yonkers Vark Street Yonkers

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

4:00 PM 6:00 PM Park Early (Ossining School District) 22 Edward Street Ossining

3:30 PM 5:30 PM Parker School 461 South 6th Avenue Mount Vernon

Thursday, April 15, 2021

3:30 PM 5:30 PM El Centro Hispano Post Road School White Plains

3:30 PM 5:30 PM Isaac Young Middle School 270 Centre Avenue New Rochelle

12:30 PM 2:30 PM Macedonia 141 South 9th Avenue Mount Vernon

Friday, April 16, 2021

5:00 PM 7:00 PM Mt. Vernon Fresh Market Doles Center 250 South 6th Avenue Mount Vernon

12:30 PM 2:30 PM San Andres Church 22 Post Road Yonkers

9:30 AM 11:30 AM Y-CAP 164 Ashburton Avenue Yonkers

Saturday, April 17, 2021

12:30 PM 2:30 PM Key Food Supermarket Parking Lot 130 Midland Avenue Port Chester

9:30 AM 11:30 AM Reach Church 294 Old Mamaroneck Road White Plains

PRESS RELEASE: Community Oportunities are offered as part of an on-going campaign by Legislator Jose Alvarado to highlight ways neighbors are helping neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic

Grassy Sprain Pharmacy is now offering: Rapid COVID-19 Testing.Location: 640 Tuckahoe In Yonkers….

DMX’s dedication to his spirituality runs much deeper. While in jail in 2009, he tried to project positivity in an interview.

“I came here to meet somebody —don’t know who it was, but I’ll know when I see him. And I came here to give him a message. And that message is Jesus loves them,” he said.

During an interview he did in prison in 2012, he spoke of the “call” he felt to be a pastor and use his body as a spiritual vessel.

“I will not be a priest. I will be a pastor,” he said. “I’m already a deacon. I will be a pastor.”
He said in his prison interview that he wanted to give his first sermon in the church after he was released.

“That’s gonna be incredible for me and I hope it’ll be incredible for the congregation of that church,” he said.

“I hope I’m able to reach somebody you know and touch somebody and bring them closer to the Lord.”

JOURNAL NEWS: Soccer is back in Yonkers, and seven soccer teams are set to take the field after a long wait.

They are scheduled to play six regular-season games, then a city tournament….

This Friday MPACnow hopes you all can support a good event in honor of some great individuals. – #allthewayup

Founded by John Khader and a group of community leaders. MPAC is a coalition of Westchester County citizens who represent a diverse community from all socio-economic backgrounds. 

JACOBSON PHARMACY: COVID-19 testing centerAppointment not required (Please bring insurance card, which will allow New York residents to be tested, every 14 days at no cost )Referral not required

Testing for all patients

Get tested and get back to doing what you enjoy.

Enjoy more peace-of-mind….

Robert Jacobson Pharmacy And Surgical Supplies

Address: 231 Ashburton Ave, Yonkers, NY 10701

Phone: (914) 965-3049

(Please bring insurance card when requesting a test)

ALBANY – The City of Yonkers is among the six municipalities in the state that Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has classified as having significant fiscal stress. The review covers fiscal year 2020.

The City of Yonkers fell within the significant stress list based on data as of February 27, 2021 from annual financial reports submitted to the comptroller.

The Fiscal Stress Monitoring System and resulting fiscal stress designations rely on data from annual financial reports submitted by local governments to the comptroller’s office.

The list included non-calendar fiscal year-end municipalities that did not file their annual fiscal reports.

They include the following villages:

Bloomingburg, Sullivan County
Buchanan, Westchester County
Catskill, Greene County
Chatham, Columbia County
Ellenville, Ulster County
Elmsford, Westchester County
Fishkill, Dutchess
Hunter, Greene
Larchmont, Westchester
Monticello, Sullivan County
Mount Kisco, Westchester County
Piermont, Rockland County
Pomona, Rockland County
Saugerties, Ulster County
Sleepy Hollow, Westchester
Spring Valley, Rockland County
Washingtonville, Orange County

Charter schools are tuition-free public schools.

The Charter School of Educational Excellence lives up to it name in every way:

• CSEE outperforms its local district by factors of two or three.
• CSEE outperforms the Westchester County and NYS average in every academic category.
• In 2018-19, 97% of CSEE 8th graders scored proficient on the ELA assessment and 100% of 8th grade students took the high school level math and science exams and 92.4% passed Algebra I Regents and 90% passed the Living Environment Regents, earning credits towards high school graduation.
• CSEE has been designated as a Reward School for the last five years, meaning it’s made extraordinary progress in closing the achievement gap.
• Students learn outside the classroom as well, with nationally recognized athletics and partnerships with the National Football League and the American Dairy Association for sports and healthy eating.

The next Yonkers Rotary Club virtual meeting will be on April 7th and the guest speaker will be #SaraBrody from the Yonkers Downtown/Waterfront BID

The mission of the Yonkers- East Yonkers Rotary,is to serve and inspire #Yonkers residents and international partners to be of service by creating volunteer opportunities.

If you would like to join the volunteers at the YonkersRotary that are making a difference in the city of hills, then please contact #YonkersRotary President Steven Simpson, Tim Hodges, George John Kalloor, Jeffrey Landsman or Aura Latif

YONKERS: John Rubbo was elected to his first term as Yonkers City Councilmember and was sworn in January 1, 2018 to represent the 4th Council District.

John is a small business owner who operates Yonkers Brewing Co. located on the Yonkers Waterfront. Bringing the perspective of a business owner to the Yonkers City Council will prove invaluable to businesses of all sizes.

John continues to support many local organizations in Yonkers and across the region. He has previously served on the Board of Directors’ of the Yonkers Police Athletics League as well as the Downtown Waterfront Business Improvement District. John believes that through civic engagement we can make Yonkers a better place.

John and his wife Dawn, also a Yonkers native, live off of McLean Avenue with their two children, Dominic and John.

YONKERS: The Yonkers Police Community Affairs Division will be handing out free books to community members this Thursday, April 1st, 2021 in Getty Square (9:30 AM – 11:30 AM) and Lincoln Park (1 PM – 3 PM) rain or shine.