Peekskill Attorney Sets Sights on Mayor Seat
Frank Catalina doesn’t like the direction the City of Peekskill is heading and believes he has a plan to change its course.
The former corporation counsel under Mayor John Kelly and general practice attorney in the city said he is prepared to lead the Republican ticket in November for mayor if that’s what it takes to cure the many ills plaguing Peekskill.
“I’m not doing it for the fame and the glory. I think I have a message. It’s not necessarily a message that I have to deliver, but I can’t take it any more. I’m pulling my hair out,” Catalina said. “The people on the council are nice people and they have good intentions, but it’s just not working and we’ve had five years of it. It’s time for a change.”
Catalina, 55, served as deputy corporation counsel for Peekskill from 1982 to 1990, while also serving on the Peekskill Board of Education from 1983 to 1986. He was counsel to the Peekskill Housing Authority from 1992 to 1999 and corporation counsel from 2000 to 2001. He is currently vice president of the Peekskill Rotary Club and a member of the Business Improvement District (BID).
A lifelong Peekskill resident, Catalina said he would approach the job as mayor like a doctor treating a patient in the emergency room: restore the breathing, stop the bleeding and treat the person for shock.
He explained his first steps would be “bringing in a qualified city manager and topnotch comptroller” and cut out spending on unnecessary items, such as public relations and lawsuits. He also would revise zoning to stimulate economic growth.
“I like Mary (Mayor Mary Foster). I think she’s a nice woman, but something is wrong here,” Catalina said. “It’s a cancer that grows from within. There’s a remedy for that.”
Catalina said the city has recently suffered several setbacks with the temporary closing of the Paramount Theater, the elimination of the Peekskill Celebration and the Archdiocese of New York’s decision to shut the doors in June on Assumption School.
“I was shocked,” he remarked about the Peekskill Celebration. “It’s not something that they can snap their fingers and start over again. There was a demand for $41,000 from the city and they said no. End of discussion. It’s a crying shame.”
On another hot button issue, Catalina feels the Central Firehouse has been “mishandled,” tying up the city in litigation.
“People I’ve spoken to like the community firehouses,” he said. “You can’t come up with a proposal until you have the property wrapped up. I think we have enough city owned property on Brown Street where we could have put it. I wouldn’t take an inch of private property off the tax rolls at this time in our fiscal history.”
Peekskill Republican Committee Chairman Vincent Vesce said besides Catalina, who he feels is more than qualified, at least one other individual has expressed interest in running for mayor and many others, newcomers to politics, have stepped forward looking to change the all-Democratic council.
“I have a great deal of confidence that we will have a very interesting, strong and compelling ticket come this November,” said Vesce, a former city mayor. “I think the things that have gone on are what we warned people about in the last two elections and have now come to reality.”
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
