After a snoozefest of an election season, the latest incarnation of the Mayor Felix Roque-backed “Children First” team could not keep incumbent Matthew Cheng from getting voted back into office.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
In a fairly uneventful race that saw seven candidates (one dropped out) vie for three, three-year terms on the board, Jonathan Castaneda, Lorena Portillo, who was also seeking re-election, and Cheng made the final cut at the polls today.
Portillo was appointed to the board 13 months ago, beating out four other candidates, when a vacant seat needed to be filled.
Castaneda, a graduate of Memorial High School, joins the nine-person West New York BOE for the first time.
Lorena E. Portillo 759 22.44%
Matthew F. Cheng 622 18.39%
Wendell Oms 266 7.87%
Almer J. Martins Casadiego 456 13.48%
Jonathan Castaneda 519 15.35%
Boris J. Gresely 306 9.05%
Ronald C. Scheurle 417 12.33%
Personal Choice 37 1.09%
Matthew for Mayor!
The voters have spoken , Matthew Cheng will continue to make sure the WNY board maintains its independence from politics . Roque and Pablo lost on this election but WNY won
Congrats to Mr. Cheng. Now that your seat is secured can you please let us all know why Commissioner Sue cancelled the dare program for our children and reassigned the instructor with no notification to the parents. THIS IS DISGRACEFUL. The rumor was there was a personal issue between the two and this was punishment to the officer but the only ones being punished are our kids. PLEASE HELP! This question was asked at the commission meeting and the mayor and commissioners resembled the cat who ate the canary. Calls to the Board office are worthless as no one has an answer and Clara is too busy to return calls. PLEASE HELP US MR. CHENG as you are the only one on the board who IS NOT ethically challenged.