Mount Vernon Arts Council Fights For Building For The Music School

The Mount Vernon Arts Council, Community Leaders, Parents and Youth will hold a press conference to appeal to Mayor Thomas and the Board of Estimate and Contract to remove the property at 135 North High Street from the foreclosure Auction List that was approved for them to purchase.

Mount Vernon — The Mount Vernon Arts Council is a 501c3 that is promoting the arts in the City of Mount Vernon. Two of its most successful programs is the Arts On Third Festival and the Mt Vernon School of Music. Currently, the music program has 144 registered students. They are housed at the Doles Center, where they have limited space to teach.

The Mt. Vernon City Council enacted legislation to allow them to purchase a property from the foreclose list (135 North High Street) The legislation giving approval to purchase was vetoed by the Mayor and his veto was overridden with a unanimous vote by the City Council. However for unclear reasons it was voted down at the Board and Estimate and Contract. The property was placed on an auction list starting at the same $65,000 that was approved for purchase for the Arts Council.

The Arts Council will appeal to the Board of Estimate and Contract on Saturday to remove the property from the foreclose auction until this matter is resolved. Parents , students, teachers and community will make open appeal to stop the property at 135 North High from being auctioned and allow the arts to purchase it.

The president of the Mount Vernon Arts Council, Maureen Wilson said ,” we would have purchased another property if it had been offered to us. We have reached out to the Mayor, but to no avail.”

The appeal will take place in front of the City Council Chambers at 7 o’clock p.m. Wednesday, April 13th, during the City Council Meeting

Blacks In Law Enforcement, New York Representative Damon K. Jones spoke about the importance of the music school during a passionate appeal to the community during the Music School’s Spring Concert at the Mount Vernon Public Library, Saturday afternoon. They also passed around a petition for residents to sign in support of the Music School.