Propelled by Tuckahoe’s handling of a cleanup and development project on Marbledale Road, a bipartisan all-female slate is running for village board hoping to take over majority control through a newly formed party line, the Review has learned.
Melba Caliano, Sarah DeRise and Jessica Cioffoletti will run for mayor and trustees, respectively, on the Tuckahoe Independent line, a party created for the purpose of the upcoming village election.
All three candidates said they were running on the same key concerns, emphasizing responsible and transparent government. “We want to lead Tuckahoe from the front and not from behind,” DeRise, a registered Democrat, told the Review, adding that she and her running mates would look to make proactive decisions geared to address the concerns of residents.
Cioffoletti, a Tuckahoe native and registered Democrat, said she felt the village’s trust in its elected officials had been broken, and that she would work to restore that trust by listening to and responding to constituents’ concerns.
The slate is also advocating for term limits of village elected officials and volunteer-appointed board and commission members. “If we’re not going to have opposition, maybe term limits is an approach to new ideas and fresh voices,” Caliano, a registered Republican, said, pointing to Mayor Steve Ecklond, a Republican, who has not been opposed in his previous three election campaigns. Members of the village board are elected to serve two-year terms.
Caliano, who has served on the village Planning Board since 2005, said that land use boards could also benefit from fresh ideas and new membership that could come as a result of term limits. Caliano, 63, also ran for village board in 2014 as a Republican, but lost that race.
The Independent candidates also highlighted issues of fiscal management and sensible development, saying that while they were not against development in Tuckahoe, they hope to ensure that developments are thoroughly considered in relation to the benefits of the village.
DeRise, 35, is a postpartum doula and lactation specialist who has worked as an event planner in Manhattan and London. She is also a member of several organizations, including the Waverly School PTA, in which she is the co-president. DeRise said her experience has required her to manage large budgets, negotiate expenses, and integrate new technology and social media platforms into the operations of organizations.
Cioffoletti, 40, has also been responsible for managing budgets nearing $1 million in her nine years serving as an associate director of arts education at ArtsWestchester, a nonprofit in White Plains. “I have always worked in the nonprofit sector,” she said. “I really understand how to work for a cause and to work for other people.” Her nonprofit experience includes a 10-year stint on the College of New Rochelle’s Castle Gallery board of trustees.
Caliano also has a broad range of experience in public service. A Brooklyn native, she served as an assistant attorney general in the state of Washington, an urban planner in New York City, and has worked as an administrative law judge for the New York state Department of Education for nearly 15 years. She said that she plans to use that experience to ensure that meetings are held to proper procedure, but also to engage the public and invite an exchange of ideas.
“It’s pretty clear that the citizens’ concerns and needs have been put on the back burner,” she told the Review.
The party formed on the heels of months of growing widespread concern that the village and land use boards did not take appropriate steps in vetting the remediation of a toxic site on Marbledale Road proposed by a developer planning to convert that property into a Marriott hotel. That plan is now the subject of a lawsuit, of which Caliano, who is on the Planning Board, is a named party. The Independents said that while the handling of the hotel project is an example of their dissatisfaction with the village board, it is not their only reason for running.
Even if all three Independent candidates were elected and grabbed majority control of the five-member board, they would not have jurisdiction to change the Planning Poard’s decision to approve that project.
All three candidates agree that the bipartisan nature of their party is a benefit to their platform and to the community. They said they don’t want to align themselves with any party so that they are not constrained by any one political perspective.
“The structure of a party from which we can only chose certain ideas doesn’t benefit Tuckahoe,” Caliano said. “There are some limits to party structure, and if you can reach beyond those limits you can do a better job for your community.”
There are three seats on the village board, including the mayor’s, up for re-election this year. All three Republican incumbents—trustees Greg Luisi and Tom Giordano, and Mayor Ecklond—have received the village Republican Party’s nomination to run again. Three Democrats will also run this year: lifetime Tuckahoe resident Anthony Fiore for mayor and political newcomers Nicholas Naber and Kathryn Thompson for trustees.
Before being officially recognized as candidates of their newly created party that will appear on the March 21 election ballot, the Tuckahoe Independent Party must submit 82 signatures from registered Tuckahoe voters to the village by Feb. 14.
