On Election Day Tuesday, Port Chester Voters Should Help Put The Past Behind Them, And Re-elect A Mayor Who Knows How To Look ForwardThe race for mayor in Port Chester, one of Westchester's most closely watched villages, should be no contest at all — Mayor Dennis Pilla has done that outstanding a job the last four years, and as a trustee earlier. That it is, indeed, a race may say more about the resiliency of bigotry, mainly of the thinly concealed variety, than about his stewardship. Village voters should make a plain statement Tuesday that they support smart, fiscally responsible and progressive leadership, and vote to return Pilla for a third term. The alternative, Trustee Bart Didden, really is no option at all.
Democrat Pilla, who has worked in information management for major corporations, has spent the last years improving the financial picture for Port Chester, in the annual budget, reserves and capital plan; those efforts have been recognized by the ratings agency Moody's Investors Service with three upgrades — no small achievement amid economic recession. Even while serving in the political minority, Pilla has succeeded in pushing through an agenda that has promoted smarter development and planning; improved quality of life through vastly stepped-up code enforcement, a major issue in neighborhoods struggling with density and illegal apartments; and helped bolster professionalism in a village administration tainted by corruption.
Port Chester's commercial district — a vibrant mesh of big-box stores, ethnic restaurants and much more — continues to take root as a destination for those looking to try different cuisine and culture. Revitalization efforts advanced on Pilla's watch hold promise for improving the downtown core, Fox Island, and neighborhoods. All the credit certainly isn't his. Credit Pilla, however, for bringing smart ideas to the table and, time and again, reaching across neighborhoods and interests to include everyone in the discussion. Those are imperatives in Port Chester, easily one of the most diverse communities in the Lower Hudson Valley, by race, ethnicity, culture, economics and business diversification.
Even where there have been sharp differences in approach or opinion, Pilla has demonstrated an ability to lower the volume, while at once entertaining divergent views, and dispensing his own, usually smart, advice. That is progressive leadership — leadership not always in evidence on the current board, and the kind that Port Chester so richly deserves and needs. Republican challenger Didden, a village trustee since summer, is likely to disappoint on that score. He has the dismal track record — memorialized in sworn testimony — to prove it.
The owner of a village business, Didden played a leading role in the Justice Department's Voting Rights Act lawsuit against Port Chester, wherein a federal judge concluded in 2008 that the village's system for electing trustees unlawfully disenfranchised Hispanics. When the lawsuit was filed in 2007, Hispanics had never been elected to anything, despite making up about half the population. One of the proofs in such an action is whether past elections had been marred by blatant racial appeals. It was Didden who helped supply that proof — in the form of an anonymous flier sent to village residents prior to the March 2007 mayoral vote.
It complained that "The Hispanics are running the show already"; that then-mayoral candidate "Pilla will sell us out"; and said that "what (Blanca Lopez, Pilla's campaign manager and future school board trustee) cares about is only Hispanic." It implored recipients to "elect people who care about our history, heritage and what our kids will be told about us in the future." Didden, who in the court action admitted his role in disseminating the flier, has apologized. But that is hardly enough. The court case has already cost taxpayers more than $1.2 million and so much lost energy in recriminations. And the tab is growing: Didden and the board's conservative majority recently approved spending another $225,000 to appeal the mess he helped make.
Ironically, the revised election system suggested by Port Chester and OK'd by the court — so-called cumulative voting — ended up producing the most diverse village board Port Chester has ever had.
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