Spano sworn in for fourth term as mayor

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano took the oath of office in a ceremony Jan. 1 at the Yonkers Riverfront Library for his fourth term as the 42nd mayor of Yonkers. Term limits had been lifted to allow Spano to run again. Also sworn in during the ceremony were Yonkers Chief Judge Arthur J. Doran III, Yonkers City Court Judge Karen T. Beltran and Yonkers City Councilmembers Deana Renee Robinson, Tasha Diaz and Michael B. Breen.

In his inaugural address, Spano described changes that have taken place in Yonkers during the 12 years since he first took office and referred to his father having passed away shortly before the beginning of his third term and the death of his mother having taken place shortly before the beginning of his current term.

“Many asked me why I really wanted to continue to stay in service,” Spano said. “I consider this probably the greatest honor that any person could achieve, which is to be able to lead this city, the greatest city in all America. It’s a privilege.”

Spano noted that he was born in Yonkers and as far back as his time at St. Peter’s Grammar School on Hawthorne Avenue he had told a parish priest that he “wanted to be mayor and drive a black car.”

Spano said that a major challenge when he assumed office was to tell the Yonkers story that good things were happening in the city.

“We’ve done so much in terms of economic development,” Spano said. “When we came here there were no deep-pocket developers who wanted to come to Yonkers. It’s not like that anymore. We’ve changed the way we think of our Yonkers and we’ve changed the way people think of our city. This is our time. The sky is the limit. It’s all about our quality of life.”

Spano said that while Yonkers still has a lot of work to do it compares well with other cities in New York state. He said that Yonkers is the top city in education, policing, attracting new business and quality of life.

“Let’s fulfill our destiny and let’s do it together,” Spano said.