Yonkers mayoral race: Mike Spano, Anthony Merante weigh in on crime, housing, jobs

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano paints a picture of a revived and thriving city as he asks voters to return him to office for a fourth term and make him the city's longest-serving mayor.

It's a compelling campaign pitch: Luxury apartments on the once-derelict waterfront. A 40% crime drop since 2011. Hollywood-style movie studios. A soaring high school graduation rate.

Anthony Merante, the Republican councilman looking to unseat him, presents a less rosy image, particularly on public safety. He hopes to topple a 12-year incumbent by tapping into jitters about crime and resentment over two term-limit extensions that enabled Spano to continue running, first in 2019 and again this year.

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The two are vying on Nov. 7 for a four-year term as mayor of New York's third largest city. Spano, 59, has held the job since 2012, elected three times after a 20-year career in the state Assembly. He trounced two Democratic rivals in a primary in June.

Merante, 62, is an accountant and co-owner of two small businesses and has represented the 6th District since 2018. He has put more than $100,000 of his own money into the race to compete with Spano, who has raked in at least $765,000 in campaign cash since mid-January.

The enrollment tilt favors Spano. Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in the city of 212,000 by 3 to 1.

Here's what the candidates had to say on a few key issues:

Crime

Merante argues the reduced crime counts mask the sense of insecurity that keeps residents from venturing downtown. He described tenants of the new waterfront apartments as "prisoners in their own homes" in a recent debate.

He also contends recent figures are misleading because stores stopped reporting thefts and police stopped making arrests for minor offenses, deterred by state bail reforms that kept suspects from going to jail.

"I would tell them to make the arrests," he said of the police in an interview.

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Spano defended downtown safety and called Merante's depiction a "false narrative" that's based on a couple isolated incidents. "I have to totally reject that," he said of his opponent's "prisoners" remark.

Yes, some stores stopped reporting thefts worth less than $1,000 after shoplifting increased, Spano said. But they have resumed doing so after police launched a crackdown and urged merchants to report all thefts.

Spano points to one sign those efforts are working: Target is opening a new store this month in Yonkers, despite closing stores elsewhere due to what it said was increased theft.

Housing

Housing has boomed during Spano's tenure, with 12,780 units approved since 2012, according to an inventory provided by the city's Planning Bureau. More than 22% of those homes — some of which haven't been built — are designated as affordable, to be priced below market rents.

Spano said he's working with the council to raise the city's 10% mandatory set-aside for affordable units in new projects to around 13% and to set stricter reporting requirements to ensure those units remain affordable.

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Spano also said he'll soon announce the use of 10 vacant, city-owned lots to build one- and two-family homes that will be sold to low-income families.

Merante conceded the waterfront apartments have been good for Yonkers — "to some extent." But he argues that crime concerns have undercut progress by causing some tenants to leave Yonkers. And he wants to prod developers to build more co-ops and condos instead of apartments, so the buyers have a vested interest in the city.

On affordable housing, Merante said he supports raising the set-aside to 11% or 12% but only after seeing data on how the current standard is working. He voted against a 20% set-aside proposal that the council approved and Spano vetoed in 2021.

Lionsgate

Merante casts doubt on another point of pride for Spano by questioning how many of the roughly 2,000 direct and indirect jobs expected to come from the Lionsgate movie studio project will actually go to Yonkers residents who need them.

"It's a great talking point: 'Hollywood on the Hudson' sounds great," Merante said, quoting a Spano boast that he dismissed as "a lot of fluff." "I'd like to see what the long term plan is, and how it's going to benefit the City of Yonkers."

Spano said three of the 22 planned Lionsgate studios are operating so far, with no clear count yet on how many city residents have found work. He said the company has promised 70% of its employees will be hired locally.

He touted a related project: a magnet school for grades 6-12 that will train Yonkers students for the film-and-TV industry and steer them to middle-class jobs at Lionsgate and other studios. Syracuse University and New York University are helping develop courses for the school, which is set to open next fall in a newly renovated building.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano seeks fourth term with Merante as challenger