Matt Rizzetta: For Mount Vernon, it all starts with leadership

The recent arrest of Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas on corruption charges stings. In a city that can”™t get out of its own way with corrupt leadership for decades now, this one seems to sting more than the ones before. In fairness, Mayor Thomas deserves the presumption of innocence and a fair judicial process before conclusions are drawn about his future.

This is not about the mayor”™s guilt or innocence. This is about the story of a city so rich with potential, yet so poor with leadership.

When Mayor Thomas was elected, it represented a glimmer of hope for change in a city that was in dire need of leadership transformation and an injection of newfound energy. The mayor and I were the same age and he stood for everything that the people of Mount Vernon so desperately needed (and deserved). I was rooting hard for him, and I was rooting even harder for the people.

Even though I lived in a more well-to-do neighborhood a few miles from Mount Vernon, I could identify with the city. I practically grew up there. Both sets of my grandparents lived there. My parents grew up there along with so many of my cousins, aunts and uncles. One of my grandfathers worked in the city”™s Parks Department. My mother was a city employee for nearly 40 years.

Every time I think of Mount Vernon, it conjures up great memories of my childhood. Shopping with my grandparents on Fourth Avenue, visiting my grandmother”™s food stand at the Italian feast at Our Lady of Victory, surprise visits to my mother”™s classroom on Gramatan Avenue, spending countless weekends and nights at my grandparents”™ house on North 6th Avenue.

I have the city to thank for helping me get my start in business. My mother was a young second-grade teacher in the 1970s on the city”™s poorer, predominantly African-American south side. One of her earliest students was a girl named Dawn Short. My mother quickly became a role model to the young girl, mentoring her and taking her under her wing during her formative years. The girl stayed in touch with my mother as she got older and never forgot the impact she had on her life.

As the years passed, my mother would start a family and Dawn would become a highly successful executive for Sony. Decades later, when I graduated from college and was looking for the first break in my career Dawn gave me a job at Sony. The rest is history.

Knowing the people in Mount Vernon, I”™m sure there are thousands of similar stories to mine. Mount Vernon has always been a city where people pay
it forward.

Years later when I started our business, I named it North 6th Agency as a tribute to my grandparents. My grandparents were loving, hard-working immigrants. They barely spoke English, they didn”™t have money, but they carried their Mount Vernon residence card like a badge of honor. It was a source of great pride for them. It represented hope and aspirations and served as a constant reminder of what the next step would look like for our family.

Everyone who visits our office always asks the same question: “Your business is named after the street in Williamsburg (Brooklyn), right?”

I don”™t take it personally. I”™m so used to it by now. In fact, I like it more this way. It plays perfectly into the narrative of what Mount Vernon stands for. Everyone overlooks the city. Everyone ignores it. It”™s as if they don”™t even know it exists.

The city has always lurked in the shadows, straddling the Bronx border to the south, with its northern hands in the grasp of Westchester affluence and estates. Both have always been close enough to see, but distant enough to feel out of reach. A fitting microcosm of the city.

The truth is, our company name just as easily could have been a tribute to all of the people of Mount Vernon, not just my grandparents. Hard-working, honest, blue-collar people who aspire to great things and don”™t have the luxury of taking shortcuts to get there. Mount Vernon is a true city of underdogs in the shadows of a county and the big city that have become the furthest thing from underdog enclaves.

Mount Vernon has produced incredible success stories. Denzel Washington, Sean Combs, Art Carney, Heavy D and countless others that have made incredible contributions to society but haven”™t captured the same headlines as the city”™s star-studded alums. It”™s a city of self-made success stories.

However, it has always been viewed as a stepping stone city. One where you go to and then aspire to leave once you”™ve made it. The truth is, it doesn”™t have to be that way. Mount Vernon has more potential than arguably any other area in the metro region. The city is just an 18-minute train ride into Times Square, it”™s served by two train lines, it”™s blessed with rich culture, architecture, cuisine, and ethnic diversity unlike any other neighborhood in its backdrop.

There”™s only one missing piece to the puzzle. Leadership. And it”™s been missing for decades now. Leadership.

The reality of what Mount Vernon has become should serve as a cautionary tale for all aspirational neighborhoods. You can be blessed with all of the riches that Mother Nature gives you, but you will never be able to break through without proper leadership. Whether it”™s Mayor Thomas or the next mayor, let”™s just hope that the city finally gets the leader its people deserve.

Once that happens, the day will come when people think of Mount Vernon first, and Williamsburg as an afterthought.

Matt Rizzetta is the CEO of North 6th Agency (N6A), brand communications and social media agency based in New York City, Boulder and Toronto. Under his leadership, N6A has been ranked as the No. 1 fastest-growing agency in the United States in its revenue category by O”™Dwyers, as well one of the 50 most powerful agencies in the U.S. by the Observer. Matt serves on the alumni board of directors at his alma mater Iona College, and resides in Westchester County with his wife and three daughters. He can be reached at mrizzetta@n6a.com.