Members Present:
Alix, Sundra, Bina, Greg, Matts, Fr. Philippe, Ali, Jeffrey, Richard, Shahid, Pete, Lou.
Speaker:
Mayor Mike Spano.
Guests:
Franz Frechen, Norman Hauptman, Miriam L. Digneo (Principal School 32), Timothy B. Stewart, Shawnee Jenkins, Lolita Browne (former member RC Wall Street), Rafael Salas.
Prospective Members:
Ayesha Khan, Zara Iqbal (Prospective Members – 2nd meeting),
Meeting Highlights:
Alix opened the meeting at 6:20 pm with the Pledge, a Prayer for Rotary, the community and for Peggy’s speedy recovery, and the recitation of the Four-Way Test. The Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.
Due to a lack of quorum, the minutes of the meeting of 13 September were not approved. The minutes of the 20 September meeting are delayed.
Early-Act/Hostos School : Alix discussed the planned initiation of the Early-Act program at Hostos School. This would be an after-School program, and the Club would assist the school in running it. Alix and Barbara Hanna met with two of the educators at the School. Early-Act is the young Rotarian program from pre-K to 8th grade. There is Interact at the High School level, Rotaract at the College level for the 18-30 age-group. Barbara will chair the Early-Act Committee.
The School has a Community Service After-School Program (all-school days) which will be renamed as the Early-Act Program. This will be the first Early-Act Program in the District. There will be two Programs - Pre-K to 6th grade and 7th- 8th grade. Guest Timothy Stewart suggested that he could offer a service for the program from his Team in providing a Board Game for young people to build leadership qualities. Help is needed in running the programs. This could count as a service project.
Mayor Spano: The Mayor outlined the programs the City has undertaken over the last 6 years. The perception of Yonkers – the 4th largest City in NY State - has changed because good stories have been repeated over and over again in the media – because normally media tends not to cover good news. According to FBI, Yonkers has been in the top 10 safest cities in all of America for the last 20 years. Crime is down 30% in Yonkers overall. People need to be told about this.
The Mayor is trying to tell the story. Yonkers is building on this success. Yonkers Schools are doing well and the School District is being built up one step at a time. Out of the big 5 cities in NY, Yonkers has the highest graduation rate. Yonkers has 1700 units of affordable housing which are being rebuilt over the next 5 years. Yonkers is focusing on the issues that matter most. The Administration is diverse. Diversity is our strength, the Mayor proclaimed.. Yonkers has the first Latino School Superintendent. Yonkers Basics Program is re-enforcing the notion that third graders need to be reading at their grade level.
70% of the 3rd graders in Yonkers are at or below poverty level. Mayor Spano said we have the ability to give every child a Free Lunch, and we should, so that there is no stigma attached for those on the Free Lunch program. We should provide the expectation to every student that they will go to college and have a decent job afterwards. The Mayor has reached out to businesses to test out projects in Yonkers before trying them out in NYC.
Yonkers bond rating is A. Three things in the budget are growing in costs – Union Contracts, Pension costs, Healthcare costs. The healthcare costs grew by $12m last year and will continue to grow by over double digits next 3 years. . So these have to be paid for before hiring more teachers, cops or firemen. The top teacher salary is $165K. Yonkers will still have challenges – like every other city but it has made remarkable progress. Approval has been received to build 3 new schools these will be on the football field of Gorton High School, Ashburton Avenue, and Ravine Avenue. Unfortunately, Albany is not approving money to rebuild existing old schools.
We need to push economic development, ensure safer streets, and rebuild our schools one step at a time. The new schools will make office space available for doctors, dentists, so students can get the checkups they need. School security is being enhanced by having drills and providing police radios to school security personnel. Deputy Mayor Steve Lee took pictures.
District Conference: Alix announced that the On to Bermuda and District Conference has been postponed, due to the hurricanes. The District Conference will be rescheduled to Spring in New York. Members will be notified.
Membership Survey: Alix has received 5 surveys returned. Members prefer to have alternative meeting locations or projects instead of regular meetings.
Rotaract: Father Philippe offered to help set up Rotaract at Mercy College.
Committees: Alix asked members to volunteer for committees. More members are needed for the Committees. Bina is working with Alix to prepare the list of Main Committees and their respective sub-committees.
There were no Happy Bucks collected and no 50/50 drawing.
