All information on this page was written and submitted by Peekskill Democratic City Committee. River Journal North, as a matter of policy, does not endorse candidates.
For Council, Nominees are Rob Scott, Incumbents Ramon Fernandez and Dwight Douglas
Vivan McKenzie
Nominee for Mayor (Incumbent Deputy Mayor)
Peekskill Democratic City Committee has made history by endorsing Deputy Mayor Vivian McKenzie for Mayor on the Democratic line, making her the first African American woman to ever be nominated for Mayor of the City of Peekskill.
Her election would make her only the second black woman Mayor in all of Westchester County. McKenzie, who owns Kathleen’s Tea Room, one of Peekskill’s most successful downtown restaurants, has served on the Council since 2013 and was appointed Deputy Mayor by her colleagues in January 2020. Appointed to the Common Council in 2013, and twice re-elected, Deputy Mayor McKenzie has helped to fundamentally transform the way the City conducts business: reforming hiring practices to diversify the city’s work force to better reflect the community and to focus on hiring locally, streamlining the way the city’s economic development office operates to attract private investment in the community, led efforts to diversify the Peekskill City Court and the Peekskill Police Department, and advanced the most significant investment in affordable housing in almost 40 years.
Ramon Fernandez
Incumbent Nominee for Common Council
Fernandez was elected to the Common Council in 2017. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that the City is inclusive and fair to all its residents. He has worked to address climate change and reduce the City’s carbon footprint, to diversify the City’s workforce, increasing its number of Spanish speakers, to diversify the composition of the Human Relations Commission, and to work with our downtown businesses.
As one of the City’s most avid cheerleaders, Fernandez often provides tours of our downtown and riverfront to people who are considering living or investing in Peekskill. Ramon has a strategic perspective on a number of projects, and has worked with the County on issues of public transportation. Working with Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, he was able to obtain grant monies that enhance the City’s recreational assets – assets our families need and use now more than ever.
Dwight Douglas
Incumbent Nominee for Common Council
Douglas spent his career as a professional City planner and Village Administrator and has served on the Common Council since 2020. During his successful career in public service, Douglas went beyond theorizing and actually developed and implemented various government programs to address affordable housing, downtown revitalization, neighborhood preservation and job development. He was part of a team that created Peekskill’s restaurant row and the downtown artist district.
Douglas helped to save the Paramount as a performing arts center, developed the last generation of affordable housing in Peekskill, and developed the Charles Point Industrial Park which provided the city with job opportunities and added significantly to the city’s tax base.
During his time on the council, and despite the pandemic, he helped move forward new housing developments that are coming to completion and moving through the planning process. He also helped secure significant grants that have been obtained for park and infrastructure improvements and economic development projects.
Rob Scott
Nominee for Common Council
Scott has been a resident of Peekskill for more than 20 years and is the owner of PK Blendz Juice Bar. He works in the community to promote the importance of health, lectures on nutrition in the Peekskill city school district and has recently started a not-for-profit to subsidize the cost of nutritious juices for kids. At his business, he also engages the community in discussions of various social and civic issues, and has held open houses for community members to meet Democratic candidates running for council and for Congress.
Scott has been recognized by the City of Peekskill for Black History Month, the NAACP for his works in the community and was awarded a “service appreciation certificate” from the director of immigrant initiatives from Hudson River Healthcare.
Scott will push for equitable wealth development, affordable housing, for new youth programs to work with and complement the Peekskill City School district to close the achievement gap, and to provide more cultural opportunities and experiences for our youth.
Rob is married to his high school sweetheart and has two children, with the eldest currently in Peekskill Middle School.
