A social media gaffe is drawing the ire of an NAACP official in Schenectady.
Mayor Gary McCarthy's new executive secretary got off on the wrong foot with residents when she posted disparaging remarks about immigrants on a private Facebook group on July 4th.
Quote: "...we are making a lot of positive changes. I admit there has been neglect to a lot of neighborhoods, but we have more absentee landlords than we can deal with and yes, we have too many migrants and panhandling. We are
addressing it and we are working on a solution."
The post attracted the attention of Schenectady NAACP president Reverend Nicolle Harris, who blasted the remarks during a public comment period Monday night's city council meeting.
"Residents are concerned that there is someone working in the mayor's office who views migrants as a problem," Harris said. "All residents, including migrants, immigrants, should have the right to feel comfortable to call the mayor's office. But how is that supposed to happen when there's a person answering the phone, who already has a president prejudiced position towards them. So don't expect any of you to be able to change anybody you that is certainly beyond your power, to be able to change a person's views and positions and character. But you do have the power to vet people that work in your office, to hire them, to terminate them, and things like that. I am personally offended by this comment. My husband is an immigrant to this country. He has lived here almost a year now he has proven to be a productive resident of Schenectady, a hardworking man, a man of faith. And what does that mean that migrants are a problem and a solution that needs to be solved"
McCarthy says he told city hall staff member Donna Musella that her posting was improper and that he expects it won’t ever happen again.
“Subsequent to that we, collectively, the management of the city, have been waiting for the city council to put in place some training on racism and bias," said McCarthy. "We've proposed a series of options, none of which seem to work in a schedule with the council, and had deferred to the city council to actually set that up. That hasn't happened. So I've directed administrative Commissioner Ferrari, the finance commissioner to set that up. So we're going to have all the management employees attend the training sensitivity awareness sometime in the near future. I don't have a date set for that yet.”
City Council President Marion Porterfield says she met Musella briefly in the past and hopes that future social media posts appearing on behalf of the city or originating from the mayor's office will be vetted.
"That post presenting itself as though it were coming from the city is troubling, because people do not need to feel that they are not welcomed," said Porterfield. "In any way that should not be coming from the mayor's office. In the way the post was written. It appears as though she was she was definitely speaking from her position as the mayor's executive secretary. And that should have not happened."
Musella could not be reached for comment. She told the Daily Gazette, which first reported on the situation, she regretted the post and apologized. Porterfield, who just lost to McCarthy in the Democratic mayoral primary, says it’s up to the mayor to deal with the situation and the fallout. Harris says the NAACP will be sending a letter to city government officials.
