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Republican Frank Catalina is running for mayor of Peekskill. He has been involved in local politics since 1982 and is a practicing attorney.
Why are you running for office? I am running for mayor of Peekskill because I cannot sit back and watch the deficit spending of the current administration, year after year after year ($14.7 million over the past 5 years!) while nothing seems to ever change.
The riverfront looks virtually the same as it did when i graduated high school in 1975 but for homestyle desserts and the Peekskill brewery both of which were in planning or completed before the current administration came into office. Every two years they roll out plans for this or that yet those plans never seem to come to pass. This year, they even mailed out an artist rendering of their 'view' as to whats coming....rather than an actual picture of what is.
How long have you lived in Peekskill? I have lived in Peekskill or virtually my entire life. While I lived in Orange County for some years, I worked and came to peekskill every day of my professional life. My doctors are here; my dentist is here; my volunteer work is here and my charity begins here....and it always has.
What do you love about Peekskill? I love the river; the diversity; the heritage; the people; the geography and the location of Peekskill. What's not to love.... we have it all!!
Do you have favorite restaurants or favorite places to shop? My favorite restaurant hands down is Zephy's. I also love Rubens, 12 grapes and have tried all of the little ethnic restaurants scattered about town. We have everything!
What does Peekskill mean to you? Peekskill is my life! I can walk across the street from my law office and see the block I grew up on (Lincoln Terrace); to the left; my grade school (Assumption) on my right where i received all my sacraments and was an altar boy; my high school peeks through the bank roofline; the building next to my office is the telephone company where my mother worked and we would tap the window as we walked by on our way to and from school; and the Paramount, where, if we had good report cards, we would be treated to a movie! I say, I haven't really gone far in life but why would I? I have everything I'll ever need in these short blocks and my hometown.
What do you love about Peekskill that makes you want to represent it in government? I love everything about this city and could not sit by watching this administration ruin it all. I cannot watch us becoming Detroit with the deficit spending; and bonding our children's future away; our firehouses crumble from neglect; our riverfront under neglect; our taxes rise; our tax base shrink; our leaders caring more about self promotion through TV shows and a slick PR machine while our public housing children are literally nickeled and dimed for revenue; our senior citizens stripped of their picnic; our citizens treated disrespectfully and shut down from discourse at public meetings; our city hall staff stripped and abused (being subjected to lie detector tests in at least one instance; police dispatched to a planning Board members house in another).
Everything that should be up, is down.... and everything that should be down, is up. I can change this direction and that's why I run! I'm sick and tired of reading about Beacon, Tarrytown or Newburgh as great towns and cities along the Hudson. We can be that destination city and if I'm elected, the unstoppable seeds of that destination will be forever sown.
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