NEW ROCHELLE, NY (March 20, 2023) — The Carrington Arms Tenant Council held a “meet and greet” event at 33 Lincoln Avenue. Decidedly not billed as a candidate forum because there are no candidates until petition signatures have been validated, the event had an undercard of the 4 candidates for the Democratic Party nomination for District 3 and a main event of the 2 candidates for the Democratic Party nomination.
Leslie Gaskin acted as host and discussion moderator.
The District 3 undercard included all 4 candidates who took petitions from the Westchester County Board of Elections: Kwamaine Dixon, David Peters, Lianne Merchant and Margaret Chadwick.
The Mayoral Main Event featured 2 of the 3 candidates who took petitions from the Westchester County Board of Elections: Yadira Ramos-Herbert and Damon Maher.
The candidates were each given time to introduce themselves before taking questions.
The Q&A portions were dominated by Myriam Decime and Sharon Footes who made several lengthy statements with a few questions weaved into their commentary. Most of their questions were directed at Lianne Merchant and Yadira Ramos-Herbert.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I was 45 minutes late to the event because I was covering the crime spree story and once at the event I was updating my article, so this article is not comprehensive. I was not recording video so I do not have exact quotations. As so much was directed at Yadira she was doing most of the talking. If I can recall anything beyond my notes I will add more.
District 3 Panel
Kwamaine Dixon: missed his introduction
David Peters: I fight every day. I am on the steps. I walk around
Lianne Merchant: I am my own person. I am not defined by my husband.
Margaret Chadwick: I believe in the arts. I grew the tennis club in the historic neighborhood.
Mayoral Panel
Yadira Ramos-Herbert: When I moved to New Rochelle I wanted to live in a black neighborhood so my children would not have to deal with what they would deal with…
Yadira Ramos-Herbert: There are no parks in the South End. Why do I have to go to the North End for my kids to play in a park?
Yadira Ramos-Herbert: I wrote a 4-5 page paper on COVID (she said much of what the City ended up doing during COVID was in her paper.
Yadira Ramos-Herbert: Enforcement of the local hire code comes from the IDA, Kathleen Gill is the head of the IDA so work with her to address enforcement.
Yadira Ramos-Herbert: My vote in favor of the Starbucks with a Drive-Thru took place in the context of a shooting at Bracey apartments, that after the shooting she met with Bracey residents who wanted a “strong corporate partner” for residents, not a liquor store or a 7-11.
Damon Maher: Opposed the Starbucks with a Drive-Thru.
UPDATE: Kwamaine provided video of his introduction and his answer to a question. I uploaded it to Vimeo and embedded it here. This is helpful. If any other candidates have video like this send it along and I will post it as well. Going forward, I need to either video record these events or get video from those who do.
