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| MOUNT VERNON CITY COUNCILMAN YUHANNA EDWARDS |
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| MOUNT VERNON CITY COUNCILMAN STEVEN HORTON |
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| CORRUPT DPW COMMISSIONER TERRENCE HORTON |
Conflicts of Interests are nothing new in government in the City of Mount Vernon. It is because of conflicts of interests and self serving politicians that citizens no longer trust their governments. For far too long, politicians have treated the citizenry as if they worked for them when in actuality, the politicians work for the people. Citizens and taxpayers are no longer sitting back while their pockets continue to get picked by greedy and corrupt politicians. Revolts against tyranny are happening all around the world with the most active revolt going on right now in Egypt. It is only a matter of time before the revolution hits the City of Mount Vernon. Citizens in Mount Vernon pay the highest taxes in Westchester County and all they have to show for is a broken government and broken schools.
One may ask how did Mount Vernon get to this point? Elders often talk about the glory days of Mount Vernon when South 4th Avenue was the epicenter of shopping for the region. Nowadays, people only say they go to South 4th Avenue to buy hair products and get their nails done. When Mount Vernon was in its “glory days” the Republicans were in control. When the Democrats took over in the early 70’s things took a turn for the worse. The Democratic Party is directly responsible for the quality of life today in Mount Vernon. Every elected official currently serving in Mount Vernon is a Democrat.
Coincidence right? Not at all. In fact, Democrats and poverty go together like peanut butter and jelly. High taxes, blame it on the Democrats. Excessive spending, blame it on the Democrats. Statistics show that the poorest cities in America are controlled by Democrats. Again this is no coincidence.
- Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1961;
- Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn’t elected one since 1954;
- Cincinnati, OH (3rd)…since 1984;
- Cleveland, OH (4th)…since 1989;
- Miami, FL (5th) has never had a Republican mayor;
- St. Louis, MO (6th)….since 1949;
- El Paso, TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor;
- Milwaukee, WI (8th)…since 1908;
- Philadelphia, PA (9th)…since 1952;
- Newark, NJ (10th)…since 1907.
Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It is the disadvantaged who habitually elect Democrats, yet are still disadvantaged. So why is this relevant to the City of Mount Vernon one may ask? Mount Vernon hasn’t elected a Non-Democrat as Mayor in almost 30 years.
On Monday, January 31, 2011 the City Council held their monthly radio show on WVOX. Mike Skylar, a Mount Vernon resident phoned in with a concern about a potential conflict of interest on the Mount Vernon City Council. Mr. Skylar asked the Council members if it was a conflict of interest that Councilman Steven Horton and Councilman Yuhanna Edwards were Chair and Co-Chairs of the Public Works and Legislation committees. Councilwoman Roberta Apuzzo quickly answered NO and attempted to change the subject. Mr. Skylar was quickly dismissed and the call was ended.
Mount Vernon Exposed™® however does feel there is a conflict interest for the following reasons,
- DPW Commissioner Terrence Horton is the brother of Councilman Steve Horton
- Councilman Yuhanna Edwards was a former business partner with Joan Horton, the mother of Terrence and Steve Horton
Mount Vernon Exposed™® has been seeking answers about who appoints individuals to these committees. We have not been successful in our search for the truth. It appears these days that the Mount Vernon City Council is impeding the citizen’s right to free speech and their right to transparency.
Many things have changed this year. Citizens are no longer given a speaker list during council meetings. Mount Vernon Exposed™® was told that this was being done to protect the public from “unscrupulous bloggers.” However the bright person that came up with this idea forgot that this information can be sought with a simple Freedom of Information Request, the citizen’s subpoena. Councilman Yuhanna Edwards during the last City Council meeting responded to Community Activist Samuel L. Rivers stating it is because of the topics Rivers’ chooses to speak about is why the new ban is in effect. Other council members did not respond when questioned about their new rule restricting free speech of the public. In the past Rivers’ chose to speak about such topics as “Political Prostitution, Tom Foolery, and Corruption on the City Council”.
The City Council did not stop there. Thomas Courtney, who is a Yonkers resident who frequently comes to City Council meetings, also had his civil rights violated. Courtney has been banned from attending City Council meetings simply because City Council members did not agree with his style of free speech. Courtney chose a style of singing his message to the City Council. Once again taxpayers will be holding the bag for reckless actions on the part of elected officials in the City of Mount Vernon. It appears that tyranny is alive and well in the City of Mount Vernon.
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