Familiar Names and a Newcomer Make Up Yorktown Town Board Field
Two incumbent councilmen, a former longtime town clerk and a political newcomer round out the field in the race for two seats on the Yorktown Town Board this year.
Republican Gregory Bernard and Democrat Vishnu Patel are seeking four-year terms running on opposite tickets. Alice Roker, who retired after 25 years as town clerk two years ago, is looking to return to town government as Patel’s running mate, while Robert Puff, a 2004 Walter Panas High School graduate and a partner with New York Life Insurance, Co. in Manhattan, is a first-time candidate going to bat with Bernard.
Bernard
Gregory Bernard, who works in construction, won a special election in 2015 to finish the unexpired term of Terrence Murphy after Murphy was elected to the State Senate. He previously served as councilman from 1993-2001 and was a member of the town’s Planning Board. In 2013, he unsuccessfully ran for highway superintendent.
Bernard, who is Supervisor Michael Grace’s deputy supervisor, failed to respond to a list of questions that were sent to all candidates, but when the GOP slate was announced in the spring he issued a quote about the Republican-controlled Town Board’s record the last few years.
“We have accomplished more for our town in the past few years than in the past few decades,” he stated. “I am committed to Yorktown, to moving us in a positive direction forward and working with all the residents we serve.”
Patel
Vishnu Patel, a 44-year resident of Yorktown and a retired, award-winning IBM scientist, has referred to himself as the “Conscience of the Town Board” and an independent voice as the lone Democrat.
Vying for a third term, Patel has prided himself on protecting taxpayers and enhancing the quality of life for residents, especially youth and senior citizens.
“I vote to spend our tax dollars wisely on needed projects and priorities,” he said. “I bring my technical knowledge to the Town Board, successfully advocating for implementation of cost saving technologies. I’m a continuing voice for open, honest government—something that’s become more important since the Town Board majority makes decisions behind closed doors, shows contempt for those who disagree and avoids public discussion of many of the most important issues.”
Patel has vehemently opposed relocating the town’s highway garage to make room for a project dubbed Depot Square that Grace has touted as being the lynchpin to rejuvenate downtown Yorktown. He also opposed elimination of the open space fund, and the weakening of laws that protected trees and wetlands. In addition, he maintained much needed infrastructure repairs have been neglected.
“We should be spending available resources to fix our roads and bridges before a new highway garage,” he said. “The Town Board majority talks about preserving the environment, but their actions show just the opposite.”
Besides his board work, Patel is an active volunteer in the community: recruiting youth and scout groups to cleanup and beautify neighborhoods, teaching children in schools about science and recognizing the accomplishments of scouts, students and others.
“I don’t need a job. The reason I do it is it makes me happy,” he said. “I don’t expect anything in return.”
Puff
Robert Puff said he doesn’t consider himself the underdog in the race since he has been exposed to politics having helped run national, state and local campaigns.
“I’ve seen what has worked well, and where candidates have failed to make the necessary connection. I do think, however, this brings a clear advantage because I have no political ties to party insiders or special interest groups,” he said. “I have always worked on behalf of the voter. The responses we’ve gotten in speaking with thousands of (residents) over the last eight months is that our community is looking for a fresh perspective with a new vision, and I hope I’ll be able to deliver that if elected on November 7.”
Puff said he decided to toss his hat into the political ring this year because of the “clear need for the next generation to have a seat at the table given the future of the town.”
“The decision came down to one major component: Can I win, and more importantly, can I be an effective leader for the town with the skillset and the dynamic that faces the town, both present and future,” he said. “First and foremost, I believe we need someone that wants to listen to all sides of an argument before making any decision. Unlike my opponents that have years in service, I am not set in my ways—I will bring a fresh perspective to the town.”
Puff believes Yorktown is headed in the right direction with development and economic growth, claiming in the last two months more than 20 new businesses have set up shop in town. He also said the board needs to develop an “effective outreach” to its harshest critics to try to reach some “common ground.”
“There is a small faction group that continuously feels the need to criticize everything the board does, regardless of whether it is favored by the rest of the public,” said Puff, who doesn’t favor televising work sessions or restoring a second courtesy of the floor segment at board meetings.
Roker
Alice Roker, a former New York City elementary school teacher, has described herself as a leader, not a politician. Besides her long run as town clerk, which required countless hours sitting with various town boards at meetings for a quarter of a century, Roker actually was an interim supervisor for three months in 2007.
“After I was appointed interim supervisor, the biggest challenge that I faced was coming up with a budget,” she recalled. “The job began on October 1, although my proposed budget had been sent to the Supervisor’s Office in September, nothing had been done, and the comptroller took her vacation that week.”
Roker said she had no intentions of running for office this year, but entered the fray late in the process after being approached by some Democratic leaders.
“So, I watched several Town Board meetings and didn’t recognize the government that I had worked for,” she said. “Public meetings in Yorktown could become contentious but no board that I sat with treated residents of this town which I love with so little respect. No one had ever been told to sit down even when the board may have totally disagreed with what was being said. There were times that you may have been frustrated or disagreed with the speaker, but as I see it, that is part of the job description.”
In 2016, Roker was president of the Yorktown Rotary Club. In the past, she was instrumental in creating the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce. She said she disagreed with the board’s decision to eliminate the affordable housing law and weaken environmental protection policies.
“What I see as a pressing problem is having residents feel that their comments or suggestions are being heard and that quality of life issues are being worked on, as they come in and not only in election years,” she said. “It is time to let everyone have a seat at the table; the business community, residents, sports clubs, volunteers that are chosen for what they can provide, not because of their political affiliation. The greatest thing I can provide is the ability to listen.”
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/