I wanted to give you some great news about the renovation of Memorial Field and the City Council’s lawsuit against Mayor Thomas. The project is now moving forward and dirt is going to start flying! A lot of time and effort has gone into working with the Court to keep this project on track, and it’s about to pay off.

The City Council’s lawyers met with the judge today and there were some key developments I want to share with you:

1) The temporary restraining order (TRO) remains in place. The TRO alone has saved the City of Mount Vernon over $500,000 by avoiding potential fines from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) due to the Mayor’s inability to complete the remediation work at the Memorial Field site.

2) The agreement with the County to complete the construction of the NEW Memorial Field has been approved by the Court and will be approved by the County Board of Electors on Monday.

3) The environmental remediation plan will be finalized by the end of this month and the contractor that demolished the grandstands has been ordered back to work to finish the job, which should take no more than a week. Once that is done, the rest of the work will be turned over to the County.

4) Because of our suit, the State has contributed $5 million towards construction costs, saving the taxpayers from having to bear that expense. While I know there has been some frustration with the fact that this had to be accomplished through legal action, I want to assure you that it has been a complete success and has saved the Mount Vernon taxpayers far more than it cost them. We have a viable, real, and actionable path forward on Memorial Field – for the first time in decades! I want to thank our lawyers, Wilson & Chan, LLP, for all of their efforts in negotiating with the Court and the County.

I would also like to offer a special thanks to Councilman Marcus Griffith for his valuable contribution and support throughout this process. On behalf of the whole City Council, we would also like to thank you, Mount Vernon, for your patience and support all along the way.

A renovated Memorial Field we can all be proud of is not a pipe dream anymore.

It’s about to become a reality!