Contentious Mayoral Vote Tuesday: Port Chester At "Crossroads"

PORT CHESTER, NY — The three candidates vying to be the next mayor of Port Chester don’t agree on much, but one thing each of the mayoral hopefuls do agree on is that Tuesday’s election will be one of the most consequential contests in recent memory. The next mayor will begin his term in a time of an unprecedented budget crisis, a business community still reeling from being singled out as a coronavirus hotspot by the state, along with infrastructure and regulatory issues which have risen to the level of public safety concerns.

The new executive will oversee the hiring of a new city manager and potentially take steps to gain recognition of city status for the Village of Port Chester. The candidates seem to concur, however, that dealing with the village’s financial crisis will be job one no matter who wins Tuesday’s election.

“We know Port Chester is broke - broker than broke and it’s not getting any better,” candidate and local business owner Rocco Latela told voters in an online debate hosted by the League of Women Voters on March 2. “It’s not going to get any better anytime soon. All I can say is that we’re going to have to support some smart development. We are going to have to energize downtown businesses.”

Mayoral hopeful and executive business consultant David Matthews used the forum to paint a picture of a Port Chester “at crossroads.” He cautioned that what has worked in the past is worth preserving, but might not be the same solutions needed in the coming months and years.

“We started as an industrial village,” Matthews told the local electorate. “My grandmother came here in 1952 because that’s where the jobs were. As a village, we need to move forward from that concept, but there’s a lot of great buildings [downtown] that we could utilize, that have historic value.”

Luis Marino, with an established tenure as Port Chester Deputy is the closest thing to an incumbent in the race. Perhaps not surprisingly, he offered a more optimistic take on the village's woes, but Marino conceded that there are urgent issues to be addressed.

“As we know, we got hit with the COVID this year in the budget,” Marino explained to moderator Scarsdale League of Women Voters President Leah Dembitzer. “We are going to have a new village manager. We’re going to work hard to renew downtown.”

The polls open in just a few short hours, but Port Chester voters still hoping to learn more about the candidates can find a recording of the original broadcast of the informative and sometimes tense hour-long threeway debate on the League of Women Voters of Rye, Rye Brook and Port Chester website. Local polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16.