Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster, members of  the State Conference of Mayors as well as other local officials,called on State lawmakers  today to put an end to unfunded state mandates that they say are tying the hands of

With just two days to go before election day, New York's Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates held rallies in Westchester on Sunday.

Democratic members of the Yonkers City Council today endorsed State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-WF) in the 35th State Senate District race.

Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick said "Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins has long served the best interests of Yonkers residents and businessowners as a tireless leader and legislator," adding, "She has been a powerful advocate in our community providing funding for jobs, education and law enforcement. Her compassion for  our city's elderly,youth and crime victims is well known."

City Council Majority Leader Patricia McDow echoed the sentiment saying, "It has been a privilege to work with Andrea to better our entire city and touch the lives of so many people."

Stewart-Cousins is facing a challenge by Republican Liam McLaughlin.

Rye Brook Mayor Joan Feinstein today announced passage of legislation that will allow the Village of Rye Brook to alleviate the property tax burden on businesses and families through a new revenue source--an occupancy charge on Rye Brook hotel rooms.

Earlier this year, the Village made a home rule request to be granted authority to impose a hotel occupancy tax. The measure passed up in Albany.

By a vote of 6-1, the Yonkers City Council Wednesday night approved Mayor Phillip Amicone's $894 million spending plan, but stopped short of restoring a number of services that had been cut in recent weeks, including twice-weekly garbage collection.
City Council President Chuck Lesnick said, "We had hoped that we would be able to actually restore services, but there were some snags in the labor negotiations. We felt we needed to approve the budget so that the Mayor could at least be able to send out tax bills and allow him to continue to negotiate with the city's labor unions."
Yonkers was up against a July 15 deadline to get the budget approved. The spending plan must still be certified before the Comptroller before the city can finally send out its tax bills, something officials say will bring in much needed revenue. Had Yonkers not approved a new budget, the city would literally have run out of money on July 23.
Mayor Phillip Amicone is expected to begin meeting with some of the city's labor unions as early as Thursday.

Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone has delivered his annual State of the City Address to members of the City Council and other officials. Amicone described a city filled with "Hardship," adding "Many people have lost their jobs and businesses are closing or just getting by." He warned that there are huge budget deficits in store for the State and City governments, caused in part by incredible declines in revenues due to the economy. Amicone says there are two major factors threatening Yonkers' financial solvency, the economic recession and the lack of funding for the City.