MOUNT VERNON – We have A PROBLEM -Our Schools 2 of 3

ree In Part 1 of this series, we talked about how Mount Vernon is a corporation and, if we expect to see our investment in that corporation to grow, we had better demand things like transparent leadership, fiscal discipline, and competent management from those who are running the place. Without it, we just going to continue to watch our investment (that is, our home values) continue to dwindle to nothing.

In Part 2, we’re going to talk about schools. Before we do that, though, I am aware that the remarks I made in Part 1 have ruffled some feathers over at the School District, so let’s clear up a few things. My primary point is that our school system is failing our children. I called it a “catastrophic” failure, in fact. One of the accepted definitions of that word is “unsuccessful.” I still think that is the case.

It’s getting better, but it’s got a long way to go. We’ll go into that more later. To the extent I implied that the schools were asking for more money every year, I apologize for that. I like and respect Dr. Hamilton, and I know that he’s doing the best he can with a difficult hand. Importantly, he’s doing it with the qualities I mentioned above. For that, he should be commended.

My comments are not made in a vacuum. One of my businesses involves educating young adults to get good-paying jobs in the construction industry. They learn skills they will need to provide for themselves and their families. I’ve placed over a thousand students into construction jobs, many of them with union benefits. Their hard work coupled with the skills they learn give them a solid foundation for a career. When they come to me, they are coming fresh out of our school system. Unfortunately, they are completely unprepared. Things like basic math, basic measurement, and critical thinking elude them. Forget the more complicated algebra and trigonometry they’re going to need to work successfully in the construction business at a higher level. They often don’t know what a ruler is or how to read it. In the construction business (and in life), that’s a huge problem.

When I say our schools are failing our children, it comes from that experience. It’s not just the School District’s fault. As a community, we need to take some responsibility, too. We are also failing the kids. Our community expectations are so low, these kids don’t know what success is supposed to look like. We make excuses for bad behavior, bad results, and bad outcomes. Let’s stop doing that. The only ones NOT to blame are the kids themselves. I know all kids can learn and can learn almost anything. What they often cannot do is overcome the indifference of the community as to whether they succeed academically.

My last article talked about the “investment” we all make in our City and how that investment is undermined by certain factors like incompetent governance, reduction in services, and sky-high taxes. Well, it turns out, the performance of schools is a huge factor, too. One of the primary drivers of house value and interest in home purchases is the success – or lack thereof – of the schools. Even for people who do not have kids in school, a good school system increases the value of their homes. The opposite, of course, is also true.

In that sense, the school’s leadership must understand and appreciate that time is not on their side to make the improvements needed to this school system. If people lose all value in their homes, there’ll be no tax base on which to make future improvements. For potential home buyers in Mount Vernon, quick internet searches do not help, either. According to GreatSchools.org, to take just one popular example, Mount Vernon ranks just 1-out-of-10 for college readiness and 2-out-of-10 for test scoring. That’s what people see when they look to buy a home in Mount Vernon. That’s not going to be good for anyone.

I’ve been looking at a lot of school numbers recently. The New York State Department of Education publishes a ton of information. You are free to check out the data yourselves for Mount Vernon (from there, you can look at any other school in the state) at https://data.nysed.gov/profile.php?instid=800000035289. Our school’s system does not get a glowing recommendation there, either. With a graduation rate below the state average, 2-out-of-4 with regard to college, career, and civic readiness, and state assessment results that are way below average, we’ve still got a long way to go.

Some people say that it’s a problem of money. But, the numbers don’t support that theory, either. Did you know that Mount Vernon, on a per school, per student basis, spends more money than Scarsdale, a community with excellent schools? The class sizes are generally smaller in Mount Vernon and the attendance rate is very comparable. The results, of course, are radically different. If you want to check out the report card for Scarsdale’s schools, look here: https://data.nysed.gov/profile.php?instid=800000034921. Just looking at the success they have in AP courses alone tells you they are preparing students for college-level work (80-100% passage rate). Mount Vernon doesn’t even publish those numbers.

There are other issues that tell the story, too. These are things the School District cannot fix. Things like income levels, home environments, student motivation, parenting, and discrimination and racism. That’s why, as a community, we must deal with realities, not hopes and dreams. The School District will tell you that things are getting better. The reality will tell you that “better” is still a good way from “decent” or even “acceptable” and a long way from “excellent.”

Our reality must guide our policy. We need to stop listening to empty promises from our leaders, those who talk a lot and deliver very little. As I said before, Dr. Hamilton is doing his best in the face of a city government and a community that is failing its school system. Our teachers need to do better. That’s a reality. Our parents need to do better. That’s also a reality. Our community needs to demand more. That’s a fact.

We’re all in this together. No one is above fault. But, if we deny reality, we do so at the expense of generations of kids who will enter this world completely unprepared to succeed, survive, or subsist – forget about compete. When the entire City of Mount Vernon is living in no-tax affordable housing projects like the South Bronx, where do you think our schools will be then?

That’s where we’re headed. What are we prepared to do about it?

Lauren P. Raysor, Esq

Lauren P. Raysor, Esq. 11 West Prospect Avenue, Mount Vernon, NY 10550 Tele: 914/733-8080

LAUREN RAYSOR STATEMENT REGARDING MEGA BEVERAGE

September 15, 2021

I have practiced law for more than 25 years, a good part of it in Mount Vernon.In addition to serving as Corporation Counsel for the City of Mount Vernon,I have also been the Deputy Assistant Chief and the Senior Trial Attorney for the Law Department of the City of New York and have taken over 35 cases to verdict.

The outcome of the Mega Beverage case exhibits ineptness, arrogance, inexperience, and just plain incompetence. This case should never have gone to trial because the City of Mount Vernon had no defense for the wrongful actions of its officials. I negotiated a settlement of this case that would have saved the City over $3 million. I was overruled by the City Council, none of whom are lawyers.

The same attorney who mishandled the matter in the beginning was rehired by this administration after I fired him.

Unfortunately, rather than rely on competent professionals to protect the City’s interest, this administration has opted for “who you know” favoritism when it comes to legal representation, which approach explains why the taxpayers will foot a $3+ million judgment by a jury.

I am saddened for the citizens of Mount Vernon, hard-working people who deserve better from their government.

NOTHING BUT INCOMPETENCE

ree On Wednesday September 15, 2021, a Westchester County jury awarded millions of dollars to a Mount Vernon small business owner who was wrongfully shut down by City officials in 2016. Five years ago, when this happened, there was an entirely different cast of characters involved – Richard Thomas, Lawrence Porcari, Joe Spiezio, etc. – they bear their fair share of blame, for sure, but this case was lost by the current administration and its inability to recognize basic legal realities. Why does it matter? Because this is not the only case of its kind, and this type of incompetence, if allowed to continue, will sink our City.

In this series, we’ll examine how terrible lawyering has cost this City millions over the last five years, how bad management continues to place this City in jeopardy to lose millions more, and the inevitable consequence of this is bankruptcy. I’ve been telling everyone for three years this was coming. Comptroller Reynolds has said the same thing. If we cannot elect people who know what they’re doing, this City is doomed.

Yesterday’s case wasn’t an aberration, and there are many more cases just like this on the horizon, with many more millions of dollars at stake. Based on what I know from my time as Mayor and as a City Council member, the City should be prepared to lose a lot more. Not for any reason except rank incompetence on the part of this administration, the City’s Law Department, and a City Council that consistently fails to listen to qualified legal counsel opinions. More disturbing, this administration has engaged in petty personal politics to avoid doing what is needed to protect this City from these kind of budget-killing verdicts. This is how incompetence costs the City millions. It’s a luxury we cannot afford.

When I was Mayor, just for full disclosure, my Corporation Counsel Lauren Raysor negotiated a settlement in 2019 of the case that lost millions yesterday. It was rejected by the City Council outright. She attempted to hire competent trial counsel to protect the City, and the City Council flat-out rejected that proposal also. We could have saved over $3 million by settling, but, instead, be prepared for a tax increase that we will have to pay for to make up for the loss. You don’t have to believe me. Read for yourself the letter from the City Council in 2019 here, as a bunch of non-lawyers decided to gamble our tax dollars on a losing case – because they didn’t want me to succeed. That’s what incompetence looks like. If you want to know what Ms. Raysor had to say about this case, you can review her own statement here.

I wish that were the only example, but it’s not. Remember the Key Foods judgment against the City for over $4.5 million? We could have settled that case for $600,000. Instead, our former Corporation Counsel, Lawrence Porcari, probably committed legal malpractice in that case on top of the other criminal activities he was already engaged in. The Kela Tennis case, which is still ongoing, could still cost the City tens of millions of dollars and could have been settled for far less when I was Mayor if I had any support from the City Council to make it happen. There are many others, too.

When I was Mayor, I brought in qualified lawyers who were laser-focused on stopping the never-ending train of lawsuits, to send a message to the rest of the world that Mount Vernon was going to fight – and win – these big cases, and that we were not going to be a huge target for every ridiculous case that comes down the pipe. But, they didn’t get the chance to see that through. The current administration fired them and re-hired the same idiots I replaced and, worse, appointed a Corporation Counsel who doesn’t know what he’s doing. Then, they wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on new lawyers whose sole qualifications appear to be that they are friends, neighbors, and associates of current City employees. We’ll address more of that later in the series.

I’m not a lawyer. But, I am a business owner, and I’ve been involved in my fair share of legal disputes. I’m fortunate to say that I’ve been far more successful in those cases than others have. Why? Because I surround myself with competent lawyers and people who know what they’re doing. I immerse myself in the details of these cases and know the difference between winning a battle and losing a war. I have learned that there are things I don’t know and don’t profess to know. It is the mark of idiocy – and really expensive – to pretend otherwise.

When I was in office, I convinced my personal legal team to drop everything in their practice and come help the people of this City. I literally told them, “There are one hundred thousand people in this City depending on you. Don’t f*** it up.” They came to help and relished the challenge to represent this City against overwhelming odds. And, despite their successes, they were dismissed and derided by the same incompetent City “leaders” who lost the case yesterday, the same idiots who thought they knew more. Those lawyers are still owed a bunch of money because the current administration wants to punish me by punishing them. But, they saved this City way more money than they cost. That’s how you measure success. Want to know why Mount Vernon keeps losing millions in lawsuits? Chasing away talented people like these guys is the primary reason. Hiding incompetence under the veil of “experience” is another. Pretending your position in City government gives you the benefit of wisdom you don’t have is another.

I’ll dive deeper into all of this over the next two articles. I’ll name names. And, I’ll tell you how all of this will end. It’s not going to be a pretty picture that gets painted. I promised you that, in these articles, I would always tell you the truth about what was going on in your government. Sometimes, that truth is uncomfortable. Sometimes, it means we need to call out the incompetence and demand a better level of service for the People of this City. Maybe it’s painful, but the alternative is far worse.

If you have thoughts or comments about this issue or any other, reach out to me at Andre@andrewallace.com.

CITY COUNCIL

COURT CASE

At a Part of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, held in and for the County of Westchester, at the Supreme Courthouse thereof, at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, White Plains, New York, on the day of , 202I. PRESENT: HON. J.S.C. —————-x In the Matter of the Application of CATHLIN B. GLEASON,EDWARD POTEAT, and DANIELLE BROWNE,

-against-

Petitioners, Index No. /2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

REGINALD A LAFAYETTE

and

DOUGLAS A. COLETY, as Commissioners of the Westchester County Board of Elections, and DELIA M. FARQUHARSON, ANDRE D. WALLACE, LAURENS. CARTER,NICOLE LUCIO, and JANICE DUARTE,

Respondents, For an Order, pursuant to Sections 16-}02,16-106, 16-112 and 16-113 of the Election Law, directing the preservation of ·att ballots cast in the Democratic Party Primary Election held on June 22, 2021 for the Democratic Party nomination for the Members of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, and . requesting the court to rule on the validity of the casting or canvassing, or refusal to cast or canvass, any ballot as set forth in Election Law Section 16-106 (I); preserving Petitioner’s rights under Article 9 of the Election Law and Section 16-113 of the Election Law, and related sections of law; and pursuant to Section 16-102of the Election Law, declaring Petitioner the lawfully nominated candidate in this election;or, ordering a new primary election. ——-x

Upon the reading and filing of the annexed Verified Petition of Cathlin B. Gleason, Edward Poteat and Danielle Brown, duly verified on June 25, 2021; upon all the ballots cast for the public office of Members of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, in the primary election held on the 22nd day of June, 2021, upon the original files relating thereto of The Westchester County Board of Elections (hereinafter “the Board”), and upon all of the papers and proceedings herein, it is hereby: ORDERED, that respondents show cause before this Court at Part _ to be held at the Courthouse located at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, White Plains, New York, Room on the—,-. day of July, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. or as soon thereafter as counsel can be heard,why an Order should not be made and entered herein pursuant to Sections 16-102, 16-106, 16-112 and 16-113 of the New York State Election Law: A. Detennining the validity of all protest ballots cast and canvassed by the Board,or ballots ruled invalid and not canvassed by said Board, under protest by the candidates, for the public office of Members of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, Westchester County,in the Democratic Party Primary election held on the 22nd day of June, 2021; and/or B. Determining the accurate tally upon the recanvass of the votes cast on the voting machines, special ballot marking devices, and/or ballot scanners for the public office of Members of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, by the voters of the City of Mount Vernon in The Primary Election held on the 22nd day of June, 2021; and/or C. Ordering the testing and inspection of any voting machines that have malfunctioned or been tampered with, and making appropriate findings of fact, and djustments to the canvass and/or re-canvass as may be just and proper including,but not limited to, the preservation of evidence; and/or D. Ordering that all paper ballots cast in the Primary Election for the public office of Members of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, be completely recanvassed by hand, with counsel and representatives of all parties having the right to be present and interpose challenges; and/or E. Declaring Petitioners the duly nominated candidates of the Democratic Party for the public office of Member of the City Council of.the City of Mount Vernon by virtue of having received the greatest number of valid votes cast in the Democratic Party Primary Election held on the 22nd day of June, 2021 and directing the Board to certify Petitioner as such nominee; and/or F. Directing the holding of a new primary election upon a finding that there has been such fraud and irregularity as to render impossible a determination as to who was rightfully nominated as thee Democratic Party nominee for the public office of Member of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, Westchester County at the June 22, 2021 primary election; and G. Granting Petitioners such further relief as this Court deems just and proper. Andit is further ORDERED, that Respondent Board of Elections is here by ordered to produce,as may be further directed by the court prior to any hearing or trial in this proceeding, any ballots, official tally sheets and returns of canvass sheets, any reports pertaining to voting machine breakdowns or malfunctions, any inspectors notes, reports and or memos, any voter registration records, any other records which are the subject of issues to be tried in this proceeding, and any determinations of Respondent Board upon any protests and challenges to voters and/or ballot sand/or applications therefore, and any other papers or worksheets relating thereto; as may be necessary and proper to the trial of any issue in this proceeding; and it is further ORDERED, pursuant to Section 16-112 of the Election Law, that Respondent Board hold inviolate until further Order of the Court or the conclusion of this proceeding: (1) all voting machines utilized in the Primary Election held on the 22nd day of June, 2021, for the public office of Member of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, Westchester County; (2)all absentee ballot applications for said election; (3) and all absentee, military, special and Affidavit ballots and ballot envelopes, cast in said election to be secured in the double-locked room in the Office of the Board. ORDERED, that any attorney representing a party in this proceeding or his/her employees, agents or designees be admitted to the place of canvas or recanvass, and be allowed full participation in the administrative proceedings of the Board held in relation thereto, without the need for production and filing of a poll watcher’s certificate, and shall have an opportunity to review the ballots, applications and other papers and records pertinent to each ballot reviewed before it is canvassed by Respondent Board of Elections, and shall be permitted to protest the canvassing, or refusal to canvas, any such ballot and or the validation, or refusal to validate,any ballot envelope; and it is further ORDERED, that, if in the canvassing of absentee, military,special, or affidavit ballots, a unanimous vote of the Board of Elections bi-partisan canvassers shall overrule a protest to the ballot’ svalidity, the board of Electionsis herby directed to make a copy of any such ballots and to reseal the copy in the ballot envelope (while canvassing the ballot) in order to preserve the ballot for review by the court, all as set forth in King v. Smith, 308 A.D.2d 556 (2d Dept. 2003); 0 ‘Keefe v. Gentile,1 Misc.3d 151 (S. Ct., Kings Co. 2003);and it is further ORDERED, that, ifin the canvassing of absentee, military,special, federal special or affidavit ballots, a split vote of the Board of Elections bi-partisan canvassers shall overrule a protest to the ballot’s validity, the ballot shall be preserved unopened for court review after the three days set forth in Election Law Section 9-209 (4) (d); provided however, that should the Board desire,such ballots may be canvassed according to the procedure set forth in King v. Smith, supra and O’Keefe v. Gentile, supra. ORDERED, that sufficient reason appearing therefore,leave is hereby granted to the parties herein to submit on the date set for the hearing or the trial of this matter specific allegations of irregularities and/or fraud as may be discovered upon an examination of the poll books and further investigations into the conduct of the election, witnesses, exhibits,proofs and other evidence as may be necessary; and it is further ORDERED, that in the event the canvass and/or recanvass of ballots continues beyond the return date specified herein above, counsel for the parties hereto may adjourn same by stipulation, and counsel shall inform the court by telephone of same upon agreeing thereon,so that the canvass and/or recanvass and/or audit may proceed with all due speed, and SUFFICIENT CAUSE APPEARING THEREFOR,it is further ORDERED that service of a copy of this order together with the papers upon which it is granted be made upon Respondent Westchester County Board of Elections by leaving them at the office of the Board, located at 25 Quarropas Street, White Plains,New York on or before the 2nd day of July, 2021; and that service of a copy of this order together with the papers upon which it is granted be made on the other Respondents either (1) by personal delivery of the same to a Respondent-Candidate on or before the 2nd day of July 2021; QI, (2) by enclosing the same in a securely sealed and duly postpaid wrapper, addressed to a Respondent-Candidate at the address set forth in his or her designating petition and by depositing (with a Certificate of ailing) same in a Post Office branch or Post Office box, regularly maintained by the United States Postal Service, on or before the of July 2021; QL (3) by personal delivery of the same to a person of suitable age and discretion at the residence of such Respondent-Candidate set forth in his/her designating petition, and by enclosing the same in a securely sealed and duly postpaid wrapper, addressed to such Respondent-Candidate at the address set forth in his or her designating petition and by depositing same in a Post Office branch or Post Office box, regularly maintained by the United States Postal Service, on or before the day of July 2021; or, (4) by affixing the same to the outer door of the residence of such Respondent-Candidate set forth in his or her designating petition, and by enclosing the same in a securely sealed and duly postpaid wrapper,addressed to such Respondent Candidate at the address set forth in his or her designating petition,and by depositing same in a Post Office branch of Post Office box, regularly maintained by the United States Postal Service, on or before the day of July, 2021; or (5) by enclosing the same in a securely sealed and duly postpaid wrapper, addressed to a Respondent-Candidate at the address as set forth in his or her designating petition and by sending same by overnight, guaranteed next-day delivery by the United States Postal Service on or before the 1st day of July, 2021; or (6) by delivering the same to Fedex or UPS and paying for next day delivery to the a Respondent-Candidate at the address set forth in his or her designating petition filed with the Westchester County Board of Elections by theI st day of July, 2021, and that any such method of service shall be deemed good and sufficient service thereof.

Voter Suppression Didn’t Work for Trump and It Won’t Work in Mount Vernon

Democrats across the country were rightfully outraged when President Trump took to the media and filed multiple lawsuits to declare that the results of the 2020 election were “rigged” and “crooked.” He suggested there was widespread fraud and he was wrong, of course. His primary goal was to disenfranchise urban and marginalized voters – most of whom vote Democratic. Why do we care what Trump did 8 months ago? Because the Mount Vernon Forward candidates have taken a whole bunch of pages from Trump’s playbook and ran to court to invalidate the results of the 2021 City Council primary. They don’t want all of YOUR VOTES counted, and they even want some of YOUR VOTES thrown out.

What are they afraid of? Whatever it is, it’s enough to trample over the rights of Mount Vernon’s voters. Remember these candidates ran on a platform to “end all the in fighting and lawsuits”? Well, They’re not even elected to office yet and we’ve already got the first lawsuit. That’s the textbook definition of hypocrisy. If they make it to the Council, I guess we can expect more of the same, trampling over the will of the people.

The ACLU describes voter suppression this way: “The goal is to manipulate political outcomes, and the result is a severely compromised democracy that doesn’t reflect the will of the people. Our democracy works best when all eligible voters can participate and have their voices heard.” That’s exactly what’s happening here. One of the many things they are asking for is to have the court rule that the Mount Vernon Forward candidates – Caithlin Gleason, Edward Poteat, and Danielle Browne – be named the winners EVEN BEFORE ALL OF THE VOTES ARE COUNTED. If you voted by mail, they want your vote thrown in the garbage and not counted. If you are a military service member, they want your absentee ballot thrown in the garbage and not counted. This is the same lawyer Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard used against Richard Thomas when he tried to sue for election fraud. The Mayor claims there were no voter fraud then, however, the very same people seem to believe there is now. I wonder what has changed? Counting every vote is what Democrats have been fighting Republicans over for DECADES. Blocking the counting of the votes of Mount Vernon’s citizens is not moving Mount Vernon “FORWARD” – it’s moving us “BACKWARD”.

Tell these candidates that Trump’s dirty tricks don’t work in Mount Vernon and this kind of behavior only adds high to, as one of those candidates has stated, the “Fiscal cliff of a declining city”. They don’t care about the PEOPLE of this City.All they care about is giving the administration three rubber-stamps on the City Council.Even if they win, Mount Vernon LOSES.For information on lawsuit

LOBBYIST AND ELECTED OFFICIALS A DISASTER IN THE MAKING

What do you get when lobbyists and developers fund elected officials and candidates for office? “A city that doesn’t work.” This is nothing new in Mount Vernon, and the game plan will never change until we decide as a community to change it.

Greg LeRoy, Executive Director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, DC-based resource on accountable development, said it best, “The big picture is it’s a very corporate-dominated process in which the people that have the power, who really control the way this process has evolved…want as little information as possible out there. They don’t want people questioning what they’re doing, they don’t want people to have a lot of information ahead of time.”

I recently watched a Planning Board meeting where developers were submitting a proposal to build a 13-story, 315-unit affordable housing complex on MacQuesten Parkway and requesting a sweetheart PILOT deal. PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) are weapon of choice that has become a cancer that is eating away at the financial stability of Mount Vernon and the safety of our citizens. By robbing our city of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, these PILOTs negatively impact property taxes, crime, sewers, and schools. Wealthy developers walk away with huge gains, while we eat the cost of their misguided developments – for decades! The disturbing part about this project is the very same lobbyist and developers for this project funded the campaign for our Mayor and are now funding candidates for City Council.

My mother always said no one gives you something without expecting something in return. When you want your projects to pass, you fund people who will bend to your beck and call. Pay-to-play is nothing new with Mount Vernon’s tribal group of friends and families, which must be stopped by derailing the gravy train and getting OUR City on the right track to success. If these greedy lobbyists and developer get their way, the “City of Homes” will be the “City of Projects” within ten years. It will look no different than the South Bronx. The current administration accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money from low-income housing developers funneled through its unregistered lobbyists masquerading as campaign staff. It’s time to pay those donations back with deals that will further cement Mount Vernon’s “dumping ground” status.

Back in April 2019, when I was a Councilman, I wrote a 3-part series about “Responsible Development” which you can read on this website. I published it because many residents requested an explanation about how we got here, and how irresponsible development has set our city back decades. Well, there is a new administration but it’s just more of the same. These housing projects are generally not designed for current Mount Vernon residents and have the effect of “importing” new residents who consume city services, especially education services. For years, county social programs have been steering at-risk and high-challenge residents from surrounding areas of Westchester County and New York City to Mount Vernon, leaving our city on the brink of collapse. Former County Executives enacted policies that place the overwhelming number of social programs, particularly residential programs, in our city.

Affluent municipalities have refused to share the burden equally, and Mount Vernon has been used as a dumping ground. This is why Mount Vernon has the highest number of homeless, foreclosures, murders, burglary, and the highest property taxes per dollar of property value in New York State. Further, Mount Vernon also has the highest number of sex offenders per capita; we house more sex offenders than Chicago and Los Angeles – yet we have no established sex offender or homeless task forces. There’s no other way to put it. Our recent elected officials have been complicit in helping other communities avoid their obligations with our taxpayer dollars, neglecting the needs of our people in the process. It’s just shameless.

As Mayor I took on New York City and others about their SOTA (Special One-Time Assistance) program and shipping their homeless to Mount Vernon. We’ll revisit that conversation more in the future. Click or copy and paste post article. https://nypost.com/2019/11/02/mount-vernon-mayor-fumes-over-nyc-exporting-its-homeless-there/

Responsible Development means setting real priorities with our development dollars. We need to ask more questions about who is pulling the strings with this administration. We need to end the gravy train that these residential developers are on and re-embrace the original intent of the IDA – which is to encourage “industrial” (that is, commercial) development. Commercial development unlike residential development doesn’t consume nearly as many city resources (for example, a commercial store isn’t using the city’s schools but a high-rise apartment building certainly is), provides ongoing jobs beyond the construction itself and generates sales tax revenues for the city. So, even if there is some property tax reduction to encourage a retail store, that reduction is offset by other tax revenue – making a properly constructed “PILOT” actually beneficial to the city. Right now, the PILOTs that have been approved are fleecing Mount Vernon under the noses our taxpayers.

Mount Vernon needs a comprehensive plan before proceeding with any more projects similar to this. When I served on the City Council, I pushed hard to approve the Thomas Administration’s request for $75,000 to complete the comprehensive plan but could not get the funds passed through the City Council. Since then, money was set aside and hundreds of thousands of dollars added to the Planning Department budget by the new administration for new employees who were supposed to complete the plan and, yet, here we are still with nothing. It’s because this is chaos by design! As long as there is no plan, greedy lobbyists and developers can continue to push their projects and get rich off the backs of the taxpayers. They can do what they want because there are no rules to guide development. All they have to do is continue to fund elected officials who are willing to sell out their community and pass projects for donations to their campaigns.

Mount Vernon, Let’s demand better! It’s time to stop these greedy lobbyists and developers from selling us the same old story about improving our skyline, while they destroy our bottom line.

If you have thoughts or comments about this issue or would like to discuss other topics regarding Mount Vernon, reach out to me at andre@andrewallace.com.

Letter to Cuomo

A N D R É W A L L A C E 28 East 1st Street Mount Vernon,NY 10550 July 27, 2020 Hon. Andrew M. Cuomo

Governor of New York State

NY State Capitol Building

Albany, NY 12224 Re: Reimagining Healthcare in Mount Vernon Around Community Care Dear Governor Cuomo: I write on behalf of the residents of Mount Vernon and its surrounding area to respectfully seek your assistance and support for a proposal to transform and revitalize the healthcare and wellness of this under-served urban community. We have been inspired by your calls to “reimagine” what New York and its institutions must look like in a world following the COVID-19 pandemic. Simply put, communities like ours were hit harder by this virus because our access to emergency care, routine care, and preventative care were basically non-existent prior to the pandemic. The virus found a population riddled with undiagnosed or poorly managed underlying health conditions, and it laid waste to our community. With a second wave coming, we cannot delay the process of reimagining healthcare in Mount Vernon and under served urban areas any longer. The other “movement’ defining 2020 is the growing recognition that it is time to stop making Black and Brown communities like Mount Vernon the State’s and the County’s last priority. In one of the wealthiest counties in the country, it is abominable to see the state of healthcare in Mount Vernon. Because it needs the most help is the reason to make it a top priority. Research by Columbia University demonstrates that the impacts of COVID-19 have not been felt equally across racial lines. Black people are getting the disease at a rate twice their respective percentage of the population would otherwise suggest (27.5% of positive cases, 13.4% of the population). Hispanic people are also over represented when it comes to positive cases. Making matters worse minorities are more than twice as likely to suffer from chronic health conditions and comorbidities that make COVID-19 more lethal. Can that system be “reimagined” really? Or, does it need to be fundamentally transformed with resources being prioritized to communities that need them the most, not the least? Profit-before-patient hospital “systems” have failed Mount Vernon for decades. Sound Shore promised a lot then went bankrupt. Despite claims to return Mount Vernon Hospital to a full-service facility, Montefiore has instead run it into the ground. Given the patient and demographic mix, these hospitals are disincentivized to invest in urban hospitals for fear that more patients simply mean more losses,with Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements alone simply not covering the cost of care. Profitable clinics, treatments, and procedures are farmed out to their other hospitals, forcing our residents, many of them chronically ill and elderly, to traverse the county in order to receive basic medical treatment. That must change. What we have learned in 2020 is that a lot must change. The Background People in this city adore this city. Being “born in Mount Vernon” is deemed a badge of honor, one worn with pride.There are some families here with five generations who can lay claim to that honor. But, that cannot happen anymore because Mount Vernon Hospital does not deliver babies, the Pediatrics and OB/GYN center having been long shut down by Montefiore. Gone, too, is the nursing school that gave our young people a path to a medical career. The medical residency program, the chronic wound care and hyperbaric center, committed psychiatric care, and HIV/AIDS treatment center, like the others, gone. In their place remains only a skeleton crew of physicians, a handful of prisoner patients,and waiting ambulances ready to ship anyone who does come in the door to another Montefiore hospital in another city. At last count, Mount Vernon Hospital had a 24-bed capacity – to care for a city of 100,000 residents. Any way you look at it, that’s shameful. So, when Montefiore announced it was going to shut Mount Vernon Hospital down last fall, the outrage was immediate, understandable, and community wide. The city these people revere so much was sold another bill of goods and left with nothing.Again. To add insult to injury, Montefiore was set to receive$41 million in grants from the State of New York to close the hospital and to build an urgent care center to, once again, ship our residents to other cities for treatment. No beds. No baby deliveries. Just come in and get shipped to Yonkers or The Bronx or Nyack or White Plains.That grant would reward incompetence, plain and simple,and must immediately be repurposed to restore adequate medical care to Mount Vernon. At the time, I began to formulate a plan to do things differently at the hospital in Mount Vernon. While I didn’t win the mayoral election that November, I did not give up on the people of this city, our plan, or the goal of having a full-service, full-capacity hospital in Mount Vernon.

The Idea The process of “reimagining” begins first with throwing out bad ideas. Profit-driven medical care in Mount Vernon by regional providers is one of those bad ideas. Forcing elderly patients to travel miles for dialysis and diabetes management is a bad idea. Eliminating profitable procedures that could be performed on patients with commercial insurance (i.e., not Medicaid/Medicare) is a bad idea. Ignoring the needs of the community and failing to recognize the cultural setting in which you operate, those are both bad ideas. When you run a terrible hospital, you lose the trust of the community. They don’t seek out care they need because they don’t trust you to provide it. That’s a bad result,borne of bad ideas. From this came the idea of focusing on “Community Care.” Community Care starts with bringing you into this world in a healthy environment, providing a continuum of care as you grow, and giving you the tools to keep you healthy as an adult. Community Care is focused on addressing wellness as a way of life, not a pipe dream. It demands input from the community, and it requires transparency to the community. Community Care goes beyond the hospital’s balance sheet to consider the community’s balance sheet. Every penny of revenue needs to go back into the hospital, to provide for the changing needs of the community and to prepare for things that no one expected, like COVID-19. Community members need real input into how the hospital is run and how it is supported by donations, grants, and contributions to a charitable foundation that will be set up in conjunction with the not-for-profit hospital. The idea is simple enough. Can it be done? It can be done if you have the vision to imagine it and if you have an experienced team that can execute on that vision. The Team My advisors and I began a search for just such a team in September 2019. What we found was a group of committed professionals at Monument Health Care Partners (“Monument”) with decades of experience in medicine, hospital administration, finance, healthcare reimbursement, and physician recruitment who not only wanted to accept the challenge that Mount Vernon Hospital offers, but also want to become invested in this community by letting the turnaround of the hospital lead a resurgence of the city itself. Even more important, the team that Monument has put together has done this before, turning around a failing 354-bedhospital (United Medical Center) in Ward 8 of Washington, D.C., one of the poorest and most under served communities on the East Coast, transforming it from a loss-generating eyesore into a leading-edge provider of healthcare that rivaled medical facilities in other parts of the District. They established a pediatric emergency department (ED) and revamped the adult ED to the point that, within six years, they were treating 80,000 ED patients annually, allowing parents to once again bring children to their local hospital instead of transporting them across the District, three hours each way. What that did was change the way the community thought about healthcare and, importantly, the hospital that provided it. They led from the front in developing innovative hyperbaric and wound treatment methods, renovated the aging facility, and implemented some of the most efficient reimbursement systems in the District. And, maybe most importantly, they were able to do all of this and turn a profit in an urban hospital, something that’s not supposed to be possible. The Monument team includes:

Frank DeLisi – Frank has been running urban hospitals for over 30 years as an administrator and chief executive. He has a passion for making a difference in the lives of the communities he serves and brings energy and enthusiasm to help build teams within the hospital and among the residents of the community.

Dr. Cyril Allen – Dr. Allen is a renowned medical practitioner in Washington, D.C. who served as Chief Medical Officer for United Medical Center during its turnaround. Growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina and following his pediatrician father around to help deliver babies in homes because his father’s patients were not allowed in area hospitals, Dr. Allen understands the importance of first-class medical care, especially for people who have been deprived of it for too long.

George Lowe – George has extensive experience in financial processes, fundraising, political and municipal outreach, and hospital operations. He has served as an advisor to a number of Mayors of Washington, D.C., including Marion Barry and Adrian Fenty. He has deep political connections in the District, including extensive experience in navigating grant- and Federal funding sources. Mark Monroe – Mark has been a labor relations specialist for nearly three decades who regularly interfaces with healthcare providers and union representatives to ensure that both sides are pulling in the same direction, with a common goal. He has an array of contacts in national labor organizations and a proven track record of bringing them to the table to help solve problems in a healthcare setting.

Aarti Subramanian – Aarti is a multi-talented, hands-on executive with a proven track record of successful financial management, costs restructuring, receivables management, and recruiting, having served in numerous capacities including CFO, Compliance Officer, Interim CEO, and Head of Government Affairs. All-in-all, we feel that the Monument team is well-suited to taking on this challenge and, more importantly, in succeeding. The Plan To be blunt, Montefiore can no longer be trusted to run Mount Vernon Hospital.It has lost the faith of the community it purports to serve and has cost this community dearly, maybe for years to come. New management needs to be put in place while the hospital is transitioned to a non-profit entity with new ownership. In order to do that, an in-depth assessment needs to be conducted by the Monument team and the results reported to both the community and the Department of Health. Montefiore, for their part, will need to assist (or be compelled to assist) in the process and give support to the Monument team as it makes its assessment. From infrastructure to reimbursement to purchasing to personnel, if this step is not done thoroughly, this project will not succeed. It cannot be done in a rush, and it will likely take 4-6 weeks of dedicated time to accomplish, assuming Montefiore is cooperative in the process. While this occurs, the Monument team will also engage negotiations with Montefiore to transition ownership of the hospital to a new non-profit entity. There are and will continue to be opportunities for Montefiore and other regional hospital chains to partner with the new Mount Vernon Hospital. The goal is to provide a better level of care to Mount Vernon, and all avenues to doing that will be explored. Once the assessment process is completed, the Monument team will undertake the management of the hospital and begin implementing the plan to bring it up to the standards that are expected of a 21st century health care facility.

Funding will be critical, even to begin the assessment process. The Monument team has engaged already with the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department about capital grants to assist in infrastructure renovation and several other available funding sources have been identified, as well. We would respectfully suggest that the $41 million earmarked for Montefiore would be better served in helping to support this venture. A trust can be set up to ensure the money is spent wisely and accountably, in accordance with its purposes, and directed toward priority medical needs in the community, including increasing capacity for potential second-wave COVID-19 impacts this fall and winter.

The Monument team will also liaise directly with the NYS Department of Health as well as the County Department of Health to ensure that the operations are being tailored to meet the needs of the community and in line with the recommendations of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century to create smarter,more agile and technologically forward health care facilities. They would be happy to engage with the task forces established in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic chaired by Eric Schmidt and Michael Dowling of Northwell Health, as well.

The Result

If successful, we believe that the Community Care model can be extended to other urban medical facilities and form a foundation of wellness for communities that need it the most. Dr. Allen said it best when he said, “Doing this is going to come at a cost. But, that cost will be nothing compared to what it will cost if we don’t do it.”

My team and I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this proposal and stand ready to answer your questions, make available the Monument team to discuss any aspect of the proposal in more detail,and to consider any and all thoughts you may have on the proposal.

Respectfully Yours,

ree

André Wallace,

Former Mayor of Mount Vernon

Cc:

Ms. Melissa DeRosa (via electronic mail)

U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (via electronic mail)

County Executive George Latimer (via electronic mail)

State Senator Jamaal T. Bailey (via electronic mail)

State Senator Alessandra Biaggi (via electronic mail)

Assembly Member Gary Pretlow (via electronic mail)

County Legislator Lyndon Williams (via electronic mail)

County Legislator David Tubiolo (via electronic mail)

Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard (via electronic mail)

City Council of the City of Mount Vernon (via electronic mail)

500 Days that Crippled Mount Vernon

Why There Won’t Be a Hospital in Our City

ree I apologize in advance for the tone of this article, but I’m tired of watching the so-called “leaders” of this City continue to fail its citizens. It’s been over 500 DAYS (almost a year and a half) since Montefiore announced its plans to close Mount Vernon Hospital and the first rally occurred. Since then, nothing has changed except the rallies are attracting less and less people, most of them not from Mount Vernon.

Two COVID-19 pandemics took a disproportionate toll on our community, killing twice as many people as other communities. And, in the middle of it all, Montefiore has quietly proceeded with its plans to close Mount Vernon Hospital.

In October 2019, I wrote this in the Mayor’s newsletter:

“There are a number of reasons hospitals fail. One of them, unfortunately, is that they were never allowed to succeed. Mount Vernon’s hospital is one of those stories. We cannot sit idle and watch this hospital close down. Mayor Wallace has a plan to keep it open, expand its services, and attract the critical investment it needs to succeed.

Mayor Wallace has already reached out to experts who specialize in turning hospitals like Mount Vernon’s around, who have done it successfully. Financing is available through state and federal resources. Combined with private partnerships, Mount Vernon’s residents could see an expanded level of care, including OB-GYN, long-term adult care, mental health, dialysis, and treatment of chronic illness. Mayor Wallace can make it happen.”

Even though I didn’t win the election for Mayor, I didn’t give up on the hospital. I’ve been working for the last 18 months on trying to save this hospital. I’ve assembled a team – the right team – to turn it around. I’ve secured the money needed to make sure their efforts succeed. And, I’ve approached every politician and person I know in this State who can help get this project off the ground. There’s no money in this for me. It takes me away from other projects, but I’m just tired of watching our City erode into irrelevance. I’m tired of watching our elected leaders hold rallies but come up with NO PLAN WHATSOEVER to save this hospital.

Saving our hospital has always been especially important to me because I was raised by parents who worked their entire lives in the healthcare industry. My mother, Beryl Wallace, worked for North Central Hospital as head nurse of 2D until the day she passed. And, my father, Wally Wallace, worked at Montefiore and Einstein Hospital as a biomedical engineer for over 40 years. I grew up listening to conversations about healthcare, the importance of unions, and the unjust disparity in healthcare between communities.

Hospitals don’t fix themselves. Money from the Federal government will not magically fix the structural and systemic problems that have created the healthcare crisis in Mount Vernon. You need an EXPERIENCED TEAM of people who know how to run a hospital, provide the right care to the community, navigate reimbursement schemes, unwind legal nightmares and liabilities, negotiate fairly with the unions who work in the hospital, and experts who can reach out to the community to build trust again. Most of all, we need committed funding to upgrade facilities, attract doctors and nurses, train staff, build out new practice areas and specialties that fit the community, not vice versa.

All of that was in place 500 days ago. I’m not sure I can continue to say the same thing anymore. Specialist teams like this move on to other hospitals that need their help. Money moves on to other places that are motivated and ready to solve problems. After 18 months of cajoling, promising, convincing, and begging to keep this team, the money, and this plan in place, I recently received a call with some distressing news, “If we can’t put something together in the next two weeks, we will need to move on.”

And, just like that, the best chance to save this hospital just dumped Mount Vernon. Not because they don’t want to help. Not because they can’t help. Simply because our politicians can’t get out of their own way to accept help, and other communities who need their help are ready to move forward. We need to stop pretending that the world is turning its back on us, especially when we keep slamming the door in its face.

Politics in Mount Vernon is a zero-sum game. We saw this play out with Memorial Field, and the same thing is happening again with the hospital. If someone succeeds, the theory goes, then someone else thinks they have to fail. So, they don’t support a plan because someone else might get credit. It’s shameful and petty. It’s why we don’t have a lot of things in this City.

With the exception of Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, who has been helpful in working on this issue with us, every other politician completely ignored our plan. I sent letters to the Governor, copying everyone on them, including the Mayor and the City Council. (Click here to read letter) I’ve called Montefiore over a dozen times to make a deal. No one could be bothered to even hold a meeting with the investors and the team. Not one phone call. It’s not about healthcare or money – this is all purely political.

If you want to know why you won’t have a hospital in Mount Vernon this time next year, blame petty, juvenile politics as you trek across the county for your next medical procedure. People will die in our community because they do not have access to adequate healthcare. And, every politician who sat on their hands and did nothing for the last 500 days will have to live with those deaths on their conscience.

I never gave up on this City and neither should any of you. If you want to save Mount Vernon Hospital, call your elected officials and start asking questions. Ask them what’s their plan to save the hospital besides rallying. If they tell you they have one, ask them to present it. If they can’t do that, ask them why they haven’t supported the only plan that has been put forward. No matter what they say, TELL them it’s time to stop playing politics with people’s lives.

Don’t allow our hospital to be shut down because, once it closes, it will not reopen. We need this hospital to save lives in our community, and everyone needs to get involved. The life this hospital saves one day may be your own!

Running on a Record of Success

While it is tempting to use this column to address the many fabrications my opponents spread like a cancer across social media, I have always viewed this column as a means of promoting and sharing my ideas to allow the community the benefit of having them as we consider the best path forward for our City. I’ll address my opponents in the debates during the campaign.

What I do want to focus on in this column is real solutions for moving our City forward; starting with the initiatives I began in 2019 during my (brief) time as Mayor. Simply put, I inherited a situation filled with confusion and problems stemming from the previous administration, including MILLIONS of dollars in unpaid legal bills from outside lawyers hired by the City to defend lawsuits caused by that administration. There existed a culture of corruption that permeated throughout the Department of Public Works (DPW), the Police Department, and the Industrial Development Agency (IDA). Together with the money they were outright stealing from the Water Department, our City’s taxpayers were on the hook for as much as $25 million dollars. That’s money the previous administration is not going to have to pay, but, as taxpayers, we are.

My first steps were to cleaned house. I started by terminating those employees who were treating IDA funds like personal piggybanks and who were costing the City unwarranted and unnecessary expenses. I got rid of the Water Commissioner who was writing blank checks to the former Mayor’s criminal defense lawyers and hundreds of thousands of dollars in sweetheart deals to his cronies for work having nothing to do with the Water Department. I also stopped the police inappropriate overtime scam that was costing taxpayers in the millions.

I didn’t do it alone, I needed the help of people who knew what to look, who could be trusted and had no connection to the city or the past administration. Therefore, new people were brought in to look at the books and attorneys to take over the many court cases. These same lawyers ultimately saved our City over half a MILLION dollars in fines from the DEC related to Memorial Field.

We settle several cases that would have cost the City millions down the line. There were also several cases the City Council refused to approve; many of which are still pending. Working closely with the Comptroller, responsible decisions were made to pay priority bills to keep the City running. My next steps were to go after the people who stole money from the Water Department, returning hundreds of thousands of dollars in repayments to the taxpayers of this City. That decision was abandoned once I left office.

Some of my opponents’ are saying I did nothing while in office but spend money on lawsuits. Well, let’s check the record. I cleaned up Memorial Field and close the deal with the county; renovated municipal parking lots; returned City Hall’s parking lot to the People; purchased four brand new fire trucks at no cost to the taxpayer for the first time in over 20 years; changed the insane alternate side parking rules; implemented disaster planning training for City workers; remove several corrupt police officers, dropped the crime rate 33%, generated business investment in Mount Vernon (including a Starbucks); set up a master plan for cleaning up the sewers with an actual engineer; closed the books in the Water Department and put in procedures to avoid what happened in the past. Successfully negotiated settlements to end expensive litigation; delivered a finished budget in October “on-time” and left “$6 millions dollars” in grant money for the incoming administration.

Unfortunately, the same problems with the Comptroller are back. The IDA is back to considering destructive PILOTs, which will cost the taxpayers additional MILLIONS in costs for services and school district expenses.

In the four months a lot was accomplish. I considered coming back because there is a lot more I wish to offer our city. I ask my opposition, rather than create false narratives, please tell me:

Do you have a plan to save Mount Vernon Hospital? I do.

Do you have a plan for closing the books on the City’s finance? I do.

Do you have a budget that isn’t science fiction? I do.

Do you have people who can competently advise the city on the legal problems this City faces? I do.

Do you have a record of financial success outside of cashing paychecks from this City? I do.

That’s why I’m running again. That’s why the People of this City have asked me to run again. That’s why the Democratic Party has nominated me to run again.

Competence is necessary. Incompetence is lethal. Those who scream the loudest are usually the ones contributing the least.

If you have thoughts or comments about this issue or any other, reach out to me at andre@andrewallace.com.