Councilman Shepherd is serving his second term as an elected official in the city of Yonkers, but this is not the beginning of his work to help improve our city. He moved to the city in 1984 and since 1996 has been active in the Hyatt Association, a 1500 member neighborhood association, on the Southeast side of Yonkers. In 2001 he became President of the association and worked tirelessly on community issues till the start of his campaign in 2009.
While working with the Hyatt Association he was able to help facilitate many issues such as renovating the Mclean Avenue commercial strip, upgrading Stillwell Park and removing graffiti, and lobbying to tear down the old parking lot at Empire City and improve local security. As a part of the McMansion Taskforce, a committee designated for sensible housing development, Shepherd fought for tougher zoning laws.
Some of Shepherd’s other accomplishments include working with Senator Jeff Klein to secure additional funding for flooding issues in Southeast Yonkers, working with Congressman Eliot Engel’s office to prevent spending $1.6 billion on unnecessary cover for the Hillview Reservoir and raising thousands of dollars in private funds to provide cooling vests for U.S. troops serving in Iraq.
He is prepared now with his increased influence on city matters as a Councilman to continue his work for the citizens of our city. Quality of life issues are a top priority for him. He is aware, as a citizen and homeowner in Yonkers, of the concerns of our neighborhoods. Creating jobs, concerns of elderly and education of our youth, local safety, smart business development, and tax burden are just some of the issues he will continue working on.
Councilman Shepherd was born in the Bronx and attended St. Rita’s parochial school and Mater Christi (now St. John’s Prep) High School. He graduated from St. John’s University with a B.S. in Marketing in 1974.
He began his career at IBM in 1971 while in college and was hired full time after graduation. He went on to a successful career with IBM and was in the top 1% in the US with $30million in sales. He received several prestigious awards while there, including the 100% Club for 5 years and the 1996 Golden Circle. During his career he was responsible for managing $90millon budgets while working as a Financial Analyst with select Wall Street corporations.
He has been married for 14 years to his lovely wife, Roberta Morreale Shepherd, a lifelong Yonkers resident and graduate of Maria Regina High School.
During his first term in office, Dennis advocated on behalf of his constituents to address many quality of concerns. He continues to work closely with the community and home owner associations in the 4th District, having been able to establish the now annual McLean Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Fall Festival. One of the Councilmember’s proudest accomplishments was being able to work with the mayor and MAMA to erect the 9-11 Memorial at Conor Park, honoring Yonkers’ fallen heroes.
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