After eight years serving on the Poughkeepsie City Council, Yvonne Flowers is seeking the mayor’s seat. She'll face off against Republican Anthony LaRocca in the general election on Nov. 7.
Flowers defeated two opponents for the Democratic primary in June. She said she wanted to run because she saw how much she could get done for her 5th Ward, and wants to do more for the entire city.
“I want to take that now, citywide," she said. "I want to be able to be in a position that I can make the decision of how to improve our city.”
Republican Anthony LaRocca works as a teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Poughkeepsie. He said he sought to run so the race wouldn’t go unopposed.
“I tell my students, 'hey, you got to have opposition in America, and there can't be one-party rule,'" he said. "I had to jump in for that reason.”
What You Need To Know
- The Poughkeepsie mayoral election will pit Democrat Yvonne Flowers against Republican Anthony LaRocca
- Flowers says her platform focuses developing the city's waterfront, assisting the homeless and fighting gun violence and drug addiction
- LaRocca says his platform focuses on hiring more police officers, lowering property taxes and "smart" economic development
Flowers would be the city's first Black mayor if elected. She wants to ensure Poughkeepsie’s waterfront development boosts the city’s economic development and tourism. In addition, she wants the county’s help to bring more programs to the city to reduce gun violence, fight drug addiction and assist the city’s homeless.
“To their behavioral health department, maybe expanding on that and not just having the services in their offices there, but actually bringing it down on the street and having sites where individuals can go to get additional help," Flowers said.
LaRocca’s platform includes increasing the budget for the city’s police department and lowering property taxes. He’s also intent on building up the waterfront area and other neighborhoods with what he calls "smart development."
“It's going to be talked about, proposed," he said about potential development. "I want to get city residents involved in the in the process where they can voice their opinions. So that's what my goal is to do. Development not only in the waterfront, but in the entire city of Poughkeepsie.”
Whomever wins the seat will replace interim mayor Marc Nelson, who served the remainder of former Mayor Rob Rolison’s term, after Rolison’s successful bid to serve in the state Senate.