Mike Spano is a lifelong Yonkers resident, husband and father of three who has dedicated his life to standing up as a voice for Yonkers families and communities.
Mike was first elected to the State Assembly in 1992 as its youngest member. Due to the state’s reapportionment plan, his seat was eliminated later that same year. However, he ran again in 1994 and proudly served his constituents for nearly a decade until deciding to put his family first and not run for re-election, allowing him to spend more time with his wife and three young children.
In his time in the private sector, Mike worked at one of New York’s top governmental relations firms and served on the Board of Directors for the Leake and Watts Children’s Services. After his children became school-aged, he decided to return to public service and ran successfully once again for the State Assembly where he currently serves representing the people of Yonkers in the 93rd Assembly District.
Mike is also currently a member of numerous community organizations such as the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce, Access Westchester, Exchange Club of Yonkers, Sons of Italy, and an Honorary Member (non-veteran) of the Armando Rauso AMVETS Post. He is also is a former Board Member of the Westchester School for Special Children.
Through his active involvement in Yonkers and leadership in the State Assembly, Mike not only understands the issues facing Yonkers, but has a proven record of taking action and getting results:
Supporting our schools
Providing new revenue to support our schools, Mike had previously introduced legislation which became law in 2006 enabling Yonkers to receive a direct portion of revenue from video lottery terminals at the Yonkers Raceway. It was an enormous victory for Yonkers and our schools, producing $20 million in direct aid annually for our children’s education. Over the last 10 years, Mike has helped provide for an increase of 64% in state aid for Yonkers.
Mike has led the fight to protect our communities from violent criminals. He was a lead advocate for the passage of some of the toughest state laws in the nation against dangerous sex offenders, including New York’s Megan’s Law. Furthermore, as vice-chair of the Assembly’s Steering Committee and Chair of the S.A.V.E. Task Force, he traveled throughout the state advocating for civil confinement of sexually violent predators and the Sexual Assault Reform Act.
Recently Mike has been working to create new penalties to keep some of our state’s most dangerous criminals off our streets, including legislation establishing a felony offense for the crime of home invasion robbery
Moving our economy forward
Mike has taken a leading role in putting in place programs and incentives that open up the doors for business to grow and create jobs. Taking action to help address the credit crisis that has stalled small business growth, Mike passed legislation this year (A.8452) that will provide small businesses greater access to capital, encourage growth of New York's emerging technologies industry and help strengthen our economy. To attract and ensure the success of new businesses in our city, Mike helped facilitate the creation of the recently opened Y-Enterprise Business Center that will be an integral part of future economic opportunity in downtown Yonkers.