2 | NEW RO DINING APRIL 4, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 14
31 | FACES AND PLACES westfaironline.com
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Mount Vernon mayor has big vision, ready to fight for it BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com
R
ichard Thomas thinks he can overcome blight, crumbling infrastructure, inefficient government and high taxes in Mount Vernon, and create a place where developers will want to invest. But there are a couple of hitches in the new mayor’s economic development strategy: money and politics. “Money kind of goes into our budget and disappears,” he said in a recent interview. As he sees it, other city officials are obstructing him. So, when they come up for re-election, “my business will be to get them un-elected.” Thomas became mayor in January, at age 33, after serving on city council for four
years. He is still trying to figure out the city’s finances, but he said years of government neglect are obvious in the streets. “Roads have not been resurfaced since I was born,” he said. “It shows in the potholes. It shows in the sewers that are backing up into people’s basements. It shows with the street lights that are out.” The mayor overflows with ideas. Thomas has identified public works projects that would cost $615 million. He wants the Metropolitan Transit Authority to invest $350 million to cover portions of the rail cut on the New Haven Line, fix bridges, beautify three train stations and connect two stations to Bronx River Park. He wants to put $96.9 million into roads, bridges and buildings; $66.6 million into sewer and water line repairs; $41.7 million » THOMAS, page 6
Mayor Richard Thomas remains confident in his ability to navigate politics.
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Sustainable Westchester reaches �irst-of-its-kind ener�y contract BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH rdeffenbaugh@westfairinc.com
A GROUP OF 20 WESTCHESTER municipalities have signed a power-buying agreement that is the first of its kind in New York state. Sustainable Westchester Inc., a nonprofit representing 40 communities in Westchester, reached a deal with ConEdison Solutions, a subsidiary of
Consolidated Edison Inc., to supply 90,000 homes and small businesses with electricity at a fixed rate over a two-year period. The group reached a parallel deal with Constellation Energy Group, a division of Exelon Corp., for 20,000 homes in towns and villages in the northern part of the county, which receive electricity from New York State Electric and
Gas Corp. The $150 million contract is the first in the so-called community choice aggregation program, part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Reforming Energy Vision strategy. The program gives municipalities the ability to form a consortium and negotiate directly with energy suppliers on a bulk discount rate.
That vision includes the ability to choose power from renewable sources. The 20 municipalities in the program, known as Westchester Power, can choose between a 100 percent renewable energy supply or a slightly lower-priced energy supply that includes a mix of traditional and renewable energy sources. Multiple energy suppliers bid
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on the contract, according to Leo Wiegman, executive director for Sustainable Westchester. The contract will save customers 3 to 5 percent per month on energy costs compared with rates from the year before, he said. The level of savings depends on whether customers elect to use the basic supply or the 100 percent renew» POWER GRAB, page 6
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