60°
During her campaign, Mone has been an ardent supporter of a grassroots campaign that would target the children of Mount Vernon, providing a wider variety of outreach programs to help them succeed in life.
The city council hopeful said the city currently lacks services to actively engage young adults. She believes that once the needs of that demographic are taken care of, it will help lower crime and improve the image of Mount Vernon.
“We need to provide our teenagers and young adults with vocational skills, entertainment and recreational services,” she said. “Not everyone wants to be an athlete or artist and not everyone wants to go to college. We must address the needs of these individuals, otherwise we are waiting for our children to go to jail.”
Mone has political experience, having worked as the director of constituent services for New York State Sen. Jose Peralta. She presently works for a non-profit in the Bronx.
If elected, she has vowed to cooperate with the MTA to clean the train tracks and re-open the 10th Avenue Bridge.
“[I would] make sure that when Con Edison tears up the street for repairs that they properly repave the streets and maintain their property at a higher standard,” Mone said. “I would help improve the services of the DPW and help fix their infrastructure so they can do a better job of making repairs throughout the city.
With voters making their final decision on which of the seven city council candidate they will support, Mone has garnered a lot of local backing from residents.
“Damaris certainly has my vote, we need a change in leadership and she’s the right person to lead us,” Carol Cruz said near City Hall. “She has a plan to bring our city back.”
Although some in the community have lost faith in its local government, Mone said that faith can be restored over time. If she earns a city council seat, she vowed that Mount Vernon can once again be a thriving city.
“We need to be open, fair, transparent and must actively engage in ending corruption to put the community’s needs first,” she said. “An improved reputation will attract new businesses and new homeowners.”
Click here to follow Daily Voice Mount Vernon and receive free news updates.
