Yonkers RiverFest is Tomorrow!

The 20nth annual Yonkers RiverFest is tomorrow, and features the first opening of the Daylighting project of the Saw Mill River

YoLoGo Contest Entries due Sept 4

Design a logo that will Accompany the Yonkers City Seal (right) and be used on social media sites and in other printed materials.

There's no money or compensation in it, you'll give up your artistic rigthts to your work and allow the City of Yonkers to own it forever, but there's a small amount of glory.  [AMENDED NOTE: after reading the terms in the waiver, I've decided not to apply.  Too onerous for too little.]

Here's what the deal is:

The Mayor (Mike Spano)  is calling on the people of Yonkers for the development of a new City Logo to Accompany the City Seal; a logo that is reflective of the City's rich history, culture and natural beauty. 

• The Yonkers Logo Contest will draw from the artistic roots of Yonkers residents ages 12 and up. 
• All logo designs should be electronically submitted to YoLoGo@yonkersny.gov
• The contest deadline is Tuesday, September 4th at 5 pm. 
• On September 5th, all of the submissions will be available for public viewing on the City of Yonkers Facebook page. 
• The public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite design. 
• The top 3 highest vote getters will be selected as finalists and will be presented to the City Council at the October 23rd City Council Meeting during which a winner will be determined. 
• The winning logo will be proudly and prominently displayed on the City's Website and on our social media outlets.

As you can imagine, vulgarity, jokes and already used or copyrighted material are not allowed.

Three dimensional, relief, holographic, motion, or other complex multimedia art is also not acceptable as an entry.

Empire City Casino Concerts

Empire City Casino kicks off its Summer Concert Series on Sunday, July 1^st with Cornell Gunter’s Coasters, The Platters and Sounds of the Drifters.  (Already passed)

Other acclaimed acts of the concert series include Pat Benatar, Eddie Money, The Spin Doctors, and The Marshall Tucker Band.  Concerts will be performed outdoors trackside every Sunday through the end of August.  Ticket prices start at $22.50 and can be purchased by visiting www.empirecitycasino.com or on-site at Empire City Casino at the second floor redemption window. 

Empire City Casino’s Summer Concert  lineup includes: 

July 8                     Eddie Money
July 15                   The Spin Doctors
July 22                   The Marshall Tucker Band
July 29                   Frankie Avalon
August 5                Village People
August 12              Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
August 19              Otis Day & the Knights
August 26              Sara Evans

Magic Day at the Hudson River Museum June 10

The Hudson River Museum has some great stuff going on today in celebration of their fantastic exhibit: Gilded Age Magic .  The exhibit runs through the summer through September 9, 2012.

One of the starting points of the exhibit is former Yonkers magician Harry Kellar (1849-1922), who was an international stage magician durning the turn of the century but lived in Yonkers in between touring.

Contemporaries and friends of Kellar included Harry Houdini (1874-1926)and Howard Thurston (1869-1936). Previous to Kellar, magicians often posed as Chinese conjurers, even when they were Caucasian.  Kellar was one of the first to come up with his own persona, and blazed a trail for the traditional top hatted magician that we see today. The exhibition will feature vintage theatrical posters, costumes and magic ephemera from little seen private collections.
The exhibition was inspired by the research of current Yonkers magician Benjamin Levy on Harry Kellar’s connection to Yonkers. The objects on view are drawn from The Rory Feldman Collection and The Bjorn Hanson Collection.

Lorraine Lopez, Former Aide to Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone, Charged with Grand Larceny, Tampering with Public Records

Lorraine Lopez, a former Yonkers City Councilwoman and aide to former Mayor Phil Amicone, was charged today with swindling thousands of dollars from a city-run Thanksgiving charity she helped run.

Prosecutors unsealed a three-count indictment today against Lopez, charging her with third-degree felony grand larceny, first-degree felony tampering with public records and misdemeanor official misconduct.

Lopez, 45, could not account for nearly $7,000 in money donated to buy more than 100 turkeys and other items for the 2011 Thanksgiving Turkey Drive. Lopez, who retired last year as Amicone’s special assistant, also said in a statement to officials in January that she kept about $1,500 of the money for herself.

“The allegations in this indictment are stark,” Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement today. “This defendant pocketed thousands of dollars in donations made expressly for a charity holiday food drive, putting herself and her wants and desires before those of hundreds of needy families in the city of Yonkers.”

Lopez declined to comment Thursday through her lawyer, Todd Lamond. She appeared gaunt in court and had previously told officials that she suffered from AIDS and had been hospitalized around the time of the turkey drive.

At the time of her alleged larceny, Lopez had just retired from her $129,708-a-year job as a special assistant for minority affairs to Amicone.

But the former mayor said Thursday he had no knowledge of her alleged misconduct and defended his former employee.

“All I can say is she did a wonderful job for all the years that she worked for me,” Amicone said. “She maintained her innocence when this initially came up in the press. I hope it turns out that she is innocent, because she did a lot of good work.”

Prosecutors said that between Nov. 7, 2011, and Jan. 17, Lopez received about $6,900 in donations for the Thanksgiving dinners and cashed the checks through the Yonkers Parking Authority.

Lopez’s alleged theft came to light when Yonkers Contracting Corporation Inc., the major contributor to the 2011 drive, contacted City Hall after Jan. 1 to ask about the success of the program, prosecutors said.

When no record of any purchases or disbursements could be found, the Yonkers Inspector General’s office launched an investigation, eventually interviewing Lopez Jan. 24, when she admitted to keeping some of the money.

Lopez “stated that she was afraid to go to jail and that she was willing to repay the money,” Lopez told investigators then. “When asked to describe where she purchased the additional items for the turkey drive she replied, ‘I don’t want to lie. I just don’t remember.’”

Lopez also said she took $1,500 for herself and an additional $600 for volunteers, while claiming to have fed around 250 families with the remaining money — though she did not have receipts for the expenditures or remember where she spent the money, according to the Inspector General interview.

Lopez also claimed to have spent extra money on food for the families, “because she wanted to go out with a bang,” investigators said. “Defendant also acknowledged shredding all the paperwork associated with the 2011 Turkey Drive because she did not want Anthony Piacente to have it.”

Piacente and Lopez had been accused by the city’s inspector general in 2009 of mismanaging a charity, the Yonkers Alliance for Latino and Immigrant Services, or YALIS, as well as deliberately filing inaccurate and misleading documents.

The inspector general referred that case to the Yonkers ethics board, which concluded in 2010 that there was a separate conflict arising from the YALIS board being comprised solely of city officials, but it did not recommend any sanctions.

Though Lopez told investigators in Thursday’s case that she still had her “work BlackBerry and number,” she also said that she was in poor financial straits and that her house was in foreclosure.

Lopez turned herself into city police this morning and was released on $2,500 bail. She is due back in court May 8.

If convicted, she could face a maximum of seven years in state prison.

Thursday’s indictment comes two months after the sentencing of two Yonkers men who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the fatal beating of Lopez’s brother, Robert Lopez, outside a Yonkers bar last year. The ex-girlfriend of one of the men also pleaded guilty in February to witness tampering and hindering prosecution in that case.

The charges against Lopez mean that all three officials who held the 2nd District seat on the Yonkers City Council between 1999 and 2009 have now faced criminal charges.

Lopez, a Democrat, was elected to the seat in November 1999 and resigned in May of 2001 to take a $135,000-a-year post as a Hispanic community liaison and advisor for then-Mayor John Spencer, a Republican.

Wilson Soto was appointed to complete Lopez’ term. Soto lost a bid for the seat that year to Sandy Annabi, who served eight years on the council as the 2nd District representative. Annabi was convicted last month of federal corruption charges that she sold her vote on the council by taking bribes to approve two large Yonkers development projects — a housing development at the former Longfellow School and the $842 million Ridge Hill development. Annabi was convicted along with former city Republican Chairman Zehy Jereis.

Then in March 2011, Soto pleaded guilty to filing a false affidavit, a misdemeanor, for falsifying a ballot during the Sept., 2009 primary.

“It is this kind of conduct that erodes the public’s trust and confidence in our government,” DiFiore said Thursday.

Former Yonkers fire union treasurer gets probation in $97,000 theft

A former treasurer for a Yonkers fire union will serve no jail time for stealing $97,000 from its general fund, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Former fire Lt. Kai Irwin was sentenced to five years’ probation in Westchester County Court in White Plains, after the judge acknowledged his betrayal of his fellow firefighters.

“These officers trusted you to work and operate in their best interest,” acting state Supreme Court Justice Richard Molea said before sentencing. “You violated that trust and you violated that bond of loyalty that all firefighters must have.”

Molea also acknowledged Irwin’s attempt to make amends since his arrest a year ago. Irwin has repaid the full amount, plus investigatory fees and pledged to pay any other fees, such as tax penalties, connected to his theft, according to his lawyer, Anthony Piscionere. He’s also resigned his position as a firefighter.

“You have expressed remorse and acknowledged the gravity of your betrayal by resigning. I find that significant,” Molea said.

Irwin, a Yonkers resident, pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny in August. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison.

Irwin was secretary-treasurer of Yonkers' Uniformed Fire Officers Association from Aug. 1, 2007, to Sept. 30, 2008. His theft was uncovered when the union began auditing its books in December 2010 to account for $100,000 that appeared to be missing.

Irwin had signatory authority for the fund and stole the money through counter withdrawals, debit-card withdrawals and ATM withdrawals without the permission of the union or its membership, authorities said.

Irwin had to step down as treasurer in the summer of 2010 during the city's budget crisis, when several firefighters were demoted. The treasurer who succeeded him could not ascertain the location of the funds, and the union hired a forensic accountant to unravel what the union's president at the time called “sloppy bookkeeping.”

Prosecutors had recommended a state prison sentence for Irwin, who declined an opportunity by the judge to make a statement at sentencing.

Investigative Report: The Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving 2011 is Alleged to Be Lorraine Lopez

YONKERS, NY – February 6, 2012 -- Lorraine Lopez worked as the food drive coordinator at the Yonkers Office of Constituent Services. It was claimed that under her aegis and effort over 3,000 Thanksgiving meals were provided in 2010.  The financial stress felt throughout the country also revealed itself in Yonkers. Donations were down, hunger continued to grip those who could not easily fend off the higher costs for food. The Thanksgiving table promised a beautiful table bedecked with trimming laid out about a roasted turkey placed in the middle of a table with family and friends about it, enjoying the meal and the company. 2011 would conjure images that would sate the stomach and quiet its growl of hunger pangs. And yet, despite the charitable donations and the empathy of many, the needy would not be served in 2011. They would be collectively dismissed by the now former Phil Amicone Administration; it seems Lorraine Lopez, in her presumed effort to comply with her yearly task, did not. The fact is that she solicited and received a donation of $8,000.00 from one donor. But rather than using it to serve those in need, Ms Lopez is said to have cashed the check, as permitted by a protocol set up by former Mayor Phil Amicone, through the Yonkers Parking Violations Bureau.

YONKERS CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS

Recent Works by Luis Perelman at the Upstream Oct 13-Nov 6

Luis Perelman, who is one of the main movers and shakers behind the Blue Door Art Gallery, is having an exhibition of recent work at the Upstream Gallery in Dobbs Ferry.

Thursday, Oct 13 to Sunday, Nov 6.
Opening reception – Sunday, October 16, from 2 to 5pm.

at the Upstream Gallery
26B Main Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY
914 674 8548
www.upstreamgallery.com 

2011 ELECTIONS: News12 Yonkers Mayoral Debate

Investor Community / Activist Robert Flower Vs. City Council President Chuck Lesnick Vs. Asseblyman Mike Spano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-loQyfO0po