Mount Vernon — Former Mayor Clinton Young officially announces he is entering the already crowded race for Mayor of Mount Vernon, Saturday morning at Memorial Field.
Memorial Field, the topic of discussion for the last few years among Mt. Vernon residents has become one of the main talking points in the upcoming election. When Young was Mayor, he secured 12 million dollars for a full renovation of the iconic park. When Davis played comeback kid and regained the seat he had previously held since 1996, he halted the project. Davis, an architect by trade, felt Young’s plan wouldn’t work and put his own plan in play. That meant everything had to start over including renegotiating with the county who had already approved the previous plan.
Saturday morning the gates were left unlocked and Young and his supporters were able to enter the actually park. Instead of holding his press conference in front of Memorial Field as intended, he was able to do it inside the park. Young took full advantage of the situation and used as a backdrop an up close and person look of the park which is still closed and remains in a continual deteriorating state.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rykf0aLzMXY&w=853&h=480]
While some felt Young had a slim chance of regaining the mayoral seat, being able to have the press conference inside the park isnt a good look for Davis. The press and his supporters took countless pictures and got to see first hand how bad the park actually looks. This may come back to haunt Davis who beat Young to secure the Democratic nomination.
Now seven candidates have officially announced their intentions to run. While there will be a thinning of legit candidates during the petition and collection of signatures phases, the next few weeks/months will be very eventful with everyone vying to put themselves in the best position to win. The Mayoral race in Mount Vernon should prove to be the most covered race in the county
