It’s a race for mayor between incumbent Vivian McKenzie and Councilman Ramon Fernandez.

A candidates forum was held at the Peekskill Fire House on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. by the League of Women Voters of Northwest Westchester to help residents understand where the candidates stand on key issues. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4, but early voting started Saturday, Oct. 25. The forum was moderated by Kathy Meany of Ossining.

Members of the public submitted questions for candidates that touched on housing, environment, waste management, vacant storefronts, immigration enforcement, pedestrian safety, lawsuits against the city, and quality of life.

Before the candidates fielded questions, each had two minutes to deliver opening statements, starting with Councilman Fernandez, a taxi operator running as an independent. [There is no Republican candidate for Peekskill mayor in the 2025 election.]

“This election for me is focused [on] the basic thing,” Fernandez said. “It’s about the service. It’s about the sidewalk. It’s about the trash. It’s about the road conditions. And it’s about the safety.”

McKenzie, a business owner and landlord running for re-election as a Democrat, highlighted her accomplishments since becoming the first Black woman to lead the city in 2022.

“From the moment I stepped onto the Common Council in 2012, I committed to rolling up my sleeves and doing the work,” McKenzie said. “And I did — not because the job was owed to me but because I believe in Peekskill.”

Candidates field questions from the public

Asked about the most significant challenges facing Peekskill, Fernandez said improving city services such as trash in the downtown and traffic safety lights while McKenzie highlighted housing affordability and public safety.

Candidates were also asked how they would tackle the empty storefronts in Peekskill and build a vibrant and resilient economic system. McKenzie said one of her plans would be to start charging landlords so it’s uneconomical for them to have an empty storefront.

“If we can put a fine on those storefronts that make it less worthwhile to have that building open, then we will have people in those storefronts,” McKenzie said. “Even if we can get the building owners, we have artists, amazing artists. Why not let an artist decorate your storefront or be in your storefront so that it looks like there’s business there?”

Fernandez said the city needed to focus on how they can retain the current small businesses the city has and have an inventory about how many storefronts are empty to have a better direction for economic development.

“As mayor, if I’m elected, I would be having communication with every single business,” Fernandez said. “Sometimes many of the business, they’re not participating in some of the organizations, like at the BID or the Chamber of Commerce… We need to talk with them. We need to listen.”

[Editor’s Note: The Village of Briarcliff Manor has a vacant building registry and ability to fine the owner of a vacant building nonrefundable annual fees. If any fee is not paid by Jan. 31 of the year due, the owner shall be subject to a penalty of $200 per month for each of the first five months the fee remains unpaid. After six months, if the fee still remains unpaid, the penalty will increase by $200 per month for each month the fee remains unpaid until the penalty reaches the amount of $4,000.]

Amid immigration enforcement raids, candidates were asked about the New York for All Act and if they believed Peekskill should or should not codify its own policies about cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

McKenzie said that the city and police department do not assist in federal immigration enforcement unless there is a criminal warrant that is signed by a judge.

“We are not here to frighten our community,” McKenzie said. “We are here to work with our community to make sure that our children can go to school and not be worried, that our parents can go to the grocery store, that they can work and they can live a human life no matter what is happening in Washington. That is not what is here in Peekskill.”

Fernandez said that as someone who was born in New York City and grew up in the Dominican Republic, he has a sense of what it meant to be an immigrant. He was the first president of the Peekskill Hispanic Community Corp. during the first Trump administration.

“I think we can do it much better,” Fernandez said. “Peekskill is never going to be working with the state. We are the second municipality who endorsed the Green Light Bill… and now everybody [regardless of documentation status] can have a driver’s license if you pass this test.”

While city leaders have said it is the city’s policy that police will not assist in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids outside of criminal warrants, there is nothing in the city’s code stating so. The Village of Ossining, Village of Irvington, and Town of Pound Ridge all have policies on the books in regard to law enforcement or employees not enforcing federal immigration laws.

Closing statements

In closing statements, McKenzie, who read from prepared remarks, highlighted building more than 300 new homes for people at 645 Main Street, in addition to investing $10 million in sewer upgrades, $8 million in water infrastructure, and $5.5 million to transform Fleischmann Pier into a “waterfront we can all be proud of.”

“Tonight you’ve heard a clear choice,” McKenzie said. “I’m the leader who has done the work, who understands this community and who will keep people moving forward, not with promises, but with progress you can see and feel. This is not the time for change for the sake of change. It’s the time for steady, proven leadership, the kind that keeps our city strong through challenges and change. And I’m that leader.”

Fernandez, who spoke without a prepared statement, echoed his top priorities and said the mayoral race was an example of what democracy looks like since McKenzie now has a challenger, unlike two years ago.

“When you have somebody who runs a government, who leads a government, and they don’t feel accountability, and because nobody is going to run against the person, that’s not democracy,” Fernandez said. “So now we have the opportunity, and the City of Peekskill, the voters have the opportunity to keep the status quo or to change the real situation that we [have been] facing for years.”

To view the hour-long candidates forum, click here. For detailed profiles of all seven mayoral and council candidates, plus two county legislature candidates, read the Peekskill Herald’s voter guide. Here are polling places in Peekskill on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 4, open 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Here is the schedule of early voting places in Westchester County.