Fellow Yonkers Voters,

We are a group of Yonkers citizens asking that you sign and support the petition to reinstate reasonable term limits for all elected Yonkers officials. With your help we can strengthen the democratic process in our great city, and ensure that our elected representatives understand that serving the people is a privilege and not a right.

In 1994 and then again in 2001, Yonkers residents overwhelmingly voted to limit the Mayor and Members of the City Council to serving two, four-year terms for a total of eight consecutive years in office. However, without going back to the voters for approval, in 2018 the City Council voted to allow themselves and the Mayor to serve for three terms for a total of 12 years in office.

But even that was not enough. At the end of 2022, they did it again, and granted themselves the right to serve four terms, or 16 consecutive years in office. It is clear that despite the will of the voters, there is no meaningful term limit law in Yonkers. Nothing prevents the Council and the Mayor from unilaterally extending their terms again and again. This has to stop!

Our petition is the first step in restoring the power to set term limits to Yonkers voters. We believe that only the people should decide the structure of our government, and not the politicians who are currently in office. We seek to roll back the undemocratic and self-serving term limits extension enacted last year, and we ask for your support.

Join us in our effort to place another term limits referendum on the ballot this November. Sign the petition and vote to reinstate reasonable term limits. Together, we can show our elected officials that they work for us and not just to further their own political ambitions.

Sincerely,

Yonkers Voters for Term Limits

Philip Zisman                                  John Murtagh

Caroline Stern                                Susan McAnanama

Eileen O’Connor