Amicone promises Yonkers will survive fiscal crisis

Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone delivered his annual State of the City Address Thursday night, detailing the city?s dire economic situation and prescribing fixes for it.
Amicone said the city is on track to hit a $100 million budget shortfall by the summer. In a speech that was shorter than usual, the mayor talked about the hard times and shared sacrifices that Yonkers will have to make so that the city survives the economic crisis.
?Collectively, we will not allow Yonkers to fail. I promise you that,? Amicone told the audience.
Amicone said tough choices will have to be made in the year ahead in order to keep the city going. Specifically, he warned the state against changing economic development laws that could hurt the city. He asked the Yonkers City Council to work with him to move forward on the River Park Center development project.
Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick also recognized the challenges ahead in his Democratic response.
"We will demand that every expense is justified and that sufficient oversight is in place before asking the taxpayers of Yonkers for more money,? Lesnick said. ?Tax revenue is a precious resource that we cannot waste. When we collect revenue, the city must spend it wisely."
Read the speechRead the Democratic response