Luis Marino Top Vote-Getter in Port Chester Election

Neil Pagano may be mayor-elect of Port Chester, but the biggest winner in the 2013 village election was Port Chester trustee Luis Marino.

The incumbent Democrat, a native of Peru who has long been active in Port Chester as a volunteer firefighter, received the most votes for any single candidate in the election, coming out on top of 10 candidates running for six village Board of Trustees seats with 2,937 votes.

The next closest candidate was fellow Democrat Daniel Brakewood, who was re-elected with 2,504 votes.

"They way I look at it, we ran a nice clean campaign," said Marino. "I think the people came out to support me ... so I can do better now with the time I've put in and the experience I have. I want to work for the people. That's my mentality. I'm not here to work for Louie Marino." 

Marino said he spent a lot of time in the weeks leading up to the March 19 election talking to members of the community and hearing their concerns about Port Chester and its future.

"I didn't win the election, the village of Port Chester won the election," Marino said.

Although the election saw the defeat of Democratic Mayor Dennis Pilla, Port Chester Democrats believe they can forge a clear majority on the board with Marino, Brakewood, newly-elected Democratic trustee Greg Adams and newly-elected trustee Gene Ceccarelli, who ran as an independent. Marino said he believes he will be able to work with his fellow members of the new village board - including the new mayor - to help resolve key issues looming in the village.

While Marino agreed a top issue in the 2013 election in Port Chester was the fate of the former United Hospital site off Boston Post Road, he said two other major issues that need immediate attention are the condition of Port Chester's aging police station and court building and the lingering problems with the failed bulkhead along the Byram River at Port Chester's downtown waterfront area.

Marino believes the village needs to develop a plan to replace the police/court building, which was criticized in 2012 by a state review of the aging structure and its outdated and cramped facilities. The village has recently made a series of repairs to the building and in the process found that bricks from the building's facade were separating from the structure.

An on-going issue for the Port Chester village government has been the condition of the failed bulkhead for the downtown waterfront. Over the past year the village has been looking at its options for repairing the bulkhead so that residents could have the access to the watefront that was originally envisioned for that area.

Marino, however, said he wants to make sure that Port Chester taxpayers don't bear the burden of paying for the repairs.