Labor Day in Yonkers: A Holiday That Means Something Different When You're Living It
Labor Day has always meant something to me. Growing up, I watched the people around me go to work not because it was glamorous, not because it paid well enough, but because that's what you do when you have a family to feed and a community you believe in.
The men and women I grew up with drove buses. Painted houses. They worked construction and drove trucks and installed cabinets and took care of the elderly. They showed up — every day — for our community.
This Labor Day I want to take a moment to honor them. And then I want to be honest with them about what I've been seeing since Late February— because after knocking on over 7,000 doors in District 16, I have a very clear picture of what Labor Day actually looks like in Yonkers in 2026. And it is not a holiday. For a lot of families, it is a day of reckoning.
What I've Been Hearing at the Doors
When you knock on enough doors in enough neighborhoods, patterns emerge. And the pattern I have seen over and over and over again in District 16 is this: people who work hard are falling behind. Not because they're doing anything wrong. Because the systems that are supposed to support working families are failing them — and in some cases, actively working against them.
A woman on Warburton Avenue told me she has worked the same hospital job for nineteen years. She loves her work. She is proud of it. But her property tax bill went up again this year — in the county with the highest property taxes in the entire United States — and she is sitting down at her kitchen table doing the math on whether she can afford to stay in Yonkers.
A man on Ashburton told me he drives a bus. Has for twelve years. He watches his route every day the same families, the same stops, the same neighborhoods. He cannot buy a house in the city he has served for over a decade. The average home in Yonkers now costs $635,000. His down payment, at twenty percent, would be $127,000. He does not have $127,000. Most people do not.
A retired teacher told me she is worried about her pension. About her property taxes. About what happens if things keep going the way they're going. She spent thirty years educating the children of this community. She should be able to retire with dignity in the home she has owned for decades. Instead, she feels like the ground is shifting under her feet.
These are not isolated stories. I have heard versions of this conversation at hundreds of doors. And what strikes me every time is not the frustration — it's the resignation. These are people who did everything right. And they are wondering why everything right doesn't seem to be enough anymore.
The Economic Squeeze Is Not an Accident
I made a video earlier in this campaign about what I call the domino effect — the chain reaction that connects high property taxes, rising rents, luxury development, and the departure of working families from this county. I want to encourage you to watch it if you haven't, because it explains in three minutes something that took me years of living here to fully understand.
The short version: Westchester County has the highest median property taxes in the entire United States. That tax burden forces working families out. As working families leave, the tax base shrinks. As the tax base shrinks, the county raises taxes to compensate. As taxes rise, more working families leave. Meanwhile, luxury developers — many of whom receive generous tax abatements from the very county agencies that are raising your taxes — build high-end rental towers that drive up rents across every neighborhood, not just downtown.
This is not bad luck. This is not an inevitable consequence of living in a desirable county. It is a set of policy choices. Choices made by the County Board of Legislators. Choices that can be made differently.
You can read more about how that chain reaction plays out specifically in District 16 here: The Domino Effect That's Destroying Westchester's Middle Class
What Labor Day Actually Means
Labor Day was created to honor the American worker. It was born out of a movement — the labor movement — that believed working people deserved dignity, fair pay, safe conditions, and a seat at the table where decisions about their lives were made.
That fight is not over. In Westchester County in 2026, it looks like this:
It looks like the Westchester County Police — the officers who protect this county — working without a settled contract for over three years while the County Board finds reasons to delay. It looks like five sergeant positions sitting vacant because the county won't move to fill them. It looks like officers considering leaving for neighboring departments where they'll be treated fairly. You can read more about the fight for a fair police contract here: The Westchester County PBA Has Been Working Without a Contract — Dan D'Amico Stands With Them
It looks like county workers who showed up every day through a pandemic, through floods, through budget crises — watching 180 of their colleagues lose their jobs in the 2026 budget while the county raised taxes on the very residents those workers served. You can read more about what happened in the 2026 county budget here: Westchester County's $17 Million Budget Hole — And They Sent You the Bill
It looks like seniors on fixed incomes opening property tax bills that go up every year while Albany celebrates a new senior exemption that saves the average person $300 on a $9,000 tax bill.
And it looks like working families who want to own a home — not rent, own — being told by the market and by county policy that homeownership is not for them. That the new buildings going up on the waterfront are not for them. That the county's industrial development agency will give tax breaks to luxury developers but not create a meaningful down payment assistance program for the families who have been here for twenty years. You can read more about the housing crisis here: Build Smart: Why Westchester Needs Condos and Co-ops, Not Just Luxury Rentals
My Commitment to Working Families This Labor Day
On this Labor Day, I want to make something clear about why I am running and who I am running for.
I am running for the nurse who loves her job but cannot afford to buy a house in the county where she works. I am running for the bus driver who has served this community for twelve years and deserves to call it home. I am running for the retired teacher who paid her taxes and raised her family here and should be able to grow old here in peace.
I am running for every working person in District 16 who did everything right and still feels like the county government is not on their side.
And I want to be honest about something. I have not accepted a single dollar from any developer. Not one. No special interest money. No PAC money. No checks from the people who benefit from the status quo.
That is not a boast. It is a choice — a deliberate choice — because I believe a County Legislator who takes developer money cannot fully fight for working families. The conflict is real. The influence is real. And the people of District 16 deserve a legislator who answers only to them.
Westchester County's working families built this community. They deserve a county government that works for them with the same dedication they bring to their jobs every single day.
I am Dan D'Amico. I am asking for your vote on November 3rd. And I will spend every day between now and then — and every day after — fighting for the working people of District 16.
Happy Labor Day, Yonkers. You deserve better than you've been getting. Let's change that together.
Dan D'Amico is a candidate for Westchester County Legislator, District 16, Yonkers. Election Day is November 3rd. To learn more, donate, or volunteer, visit electdandamico.com.
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Tags: Labor Day · Yonkers · Working Families · Westchester County · District 16 · Property Taxes · Housing · Public Safety · Election 2026
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