Fernando Mateo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 or 1958 (age 66)[1] |
| Occupations | Entrepreneur, community activist |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Stella Mateo |
| Children | 3 |
Fernando Mateo (born 1957 or 1958) is aDominican-American businessman, activist, and politician who ran unsuccessfully formayor ofNew York City in the2021 mayoral election.[1][2]
Mateo was born in 1957 or 1958 in theDominican Republic, the youngest in a family of ten children, and grew up on theLower East Side ofManhattan.[3][4] His father, Kristobal, worked as a taxi driver and later opened abodega, while his mother, Carmen, was a stay-at-home mom.[5] He attendedSeward Park High School, but dropped out at the age of 15.[3] Three years later, in 1976, he started a carpeting business which eventually grew into a multi-million dollar contracting firm.[3][4]
In 1989, Mateo founded the Mateo Institute of Training, which worked to train non-violent, first-time offenders atRikers Island in vocational trades such asplumbing andcarpetlaying.[3] For these efforts, he received aPoints of Light award from PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush in 1991.[6][7]
In 1993, amid a wave ofgun violence sweeping New York City, Mateo started Toys for Guns, a program by which residents could voluntarily turn in guns to theNYPD in return for gift certificates to localtoy stores.[3] By the time the program was shut down in 1995, it had removed an estimated 3,000 firearms from the city's streets.[5]
In September 1998, after a spate of murders perpetrated againsttaxicab drivers inBrooklyn andThe Bronx, Mateo was appointed president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers. As president, he successfully lobbied theNew York City Council to installbulletproof partitions in the city's cabs.[5] He continues to hold the positionas of 2021, frequently acting as a spokesman for the city's taxi drivers as well as for the employees ofridesharing companies such asUber.[8][9][10]
Mateo is a spokesman for United Bodegas of America, an organization which advocates for the owners ofbodegas (small, owner-operated convenience stores which are especially common in New York).[11] In 2010, Mateo helped run a campaign to encourage New York's bodega owners to buy handguns as a deterrent to robbery.[12]
In the mid-2000s, Mateo emerged as a leadingRepublican activist and fundraiser. In 2002, he raised $400,000 forNew York GovernorGeorge Pataki's re-election campaign. In 2003, he was a major fundraiser for PresidentGeorge W. Bush, who named him to theWhite House Commission on Presidential Scholars.[13] In 2004, he spoke at theRepublican National Convention.[14] In 2005, Mateo served as Hispanic Director for the re-election campaign of then-New York City MayorMichael Bloomberg.[15]
In 2012, Mateo supportedTexasGovernorRick Perry'spresidential campaign, organizing a fundraiser for Perry in Manhattan'sInwood neighborhood.[16]
In June 2025, Mateo supportedPresident Donald Trump'sImmigration and Customs Enforcementraids and deportations, saying "He's going after the right people" and "President Trump came in, and all the criminals are out. I applaud that." He said that United Bodegas of America gives bodega workers "the comfort of knowing that the president isn't going after them."[17]
In June 2016, theNew York Post claimed Mateo had admitted to illegally donating $18,800 to MayorBill de Blasio's re-election campaign.[18] The incident was part of a larger controversy around de Blasio's campaign fundraising activities; the same year, Mateo was questioned by theFBI about his role in introducing de Blasio associates Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg toWestchester County ExecutiveRob Astorino,[19] all of whom subsequently became embroiled in a corruption scandal.[20] While Mateo's stated motivation for donating to de Blasio was to help an acquaintance find a city job,[18] thePost would speculate that Mateo expected "a lot of access and influence with the [Mayor's] office" in exchange for the donations.[21] Mateo was not charged with a crime for these activities, and blames de Blasio for the scheme.[22]
In 2007, Mateo was part of a group that bid on aNew York City Parks Department concession license to renovate and operate a marina and restaurant on parkland near Dyckman street in Upper Manhattan. The group proposed the name "La Marina" in their proposal.[23] After losing the bid, Mateo later bought a controlling interest in the winning operator in 2011, which was in the process of building a restaurant to be called "Costera".[24]
The restaurant was duly renamed La Marina and opened in 2012. The actual marina never opened as promised—its grounds were instead converted to a massive outdoor event space for concerts attended by thousands of people every summer weekend. As the concession license and agency approvals forbid concerts, amplified music past 10 pm and a capacity above 500 patrons the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods began to complain about the impacts and questioned why Mateo and his associates routinely violated the terms of the contract, including seizing multiple blocks of city land for unapproved "rogue" valet-parking services that drew enormous traffic and gridlocked the area.[25] Geoffrey Croft of the advocacy group NYC Park Advocates accused Mateo of using his political connections to prevent the contract from being enforced.[26]
The dock was built years behind schedule using a federal grant, but violated the terms of that grant by not offering the promised services and access to boaters, according to a report by theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service.[27] The grant terms were later modified for a marina of smaller size but even so never had a single paying overnight customer or seasonal mooring according to a New York City comptroller audit[28] The concession license had to eventually be cancelled and the marina taken over by NYC Parks to operate directly.[29]
In July 2018, responding to community complaints, the NYPD led a multi-agency raid on Mateo's restaurant and found a large number of sanitary violations.[21]In November of that year, an employee was arrested for selling illegal drugs on La Marina's premises, and the following month, the restaurant's liquor license was suspended. In February 2019, La Marina filed forbankruptcy,[26] and was bought out later that year by restaurateur Jimmy Goldman.[30]
Mateo himself later claimed that he had been "set up" and "assaulted by every city agency" and that most of the violations found in the 2018 raid had been based on false pretenses,[31] characterizing the raid as "retaliation against me personally" from "certain people at the NYPD".[21]
On February 3, 2021, Mateo announced that he would be running forMayor of New York City in the2021 mayoral election.[32] Describing himself as an "urban Republican" who has "done most of [his] work for theDemocratic community", he cited public safety, job creation, and affordable housing as his top priorities.[33]
Mateo's opponent in the Republican primary was talk radio host andGuardian Angels founderCurtis Sliwa.[34] Sara Tirschwell withdrew from the Republican primary case in April 2021 after Mateo allies challenged her petitions; Tirschwell subsequently endorsed Sliwa.[35] Once friends, the primary race turned Sliwa and Mateo into bitter rivals.[36] The Manhattan, Queens and Bronx Republican parties endorsed Mateo, while the Staten Island and Brooklyn Republican parties endorsed Sliwa.[36][37] Sliwa criticized Mateo for donating to the 2017 re-election campaign of MayorBill de Blasio, a Democrat, and Sliwa also accused Mateo of breaking the law; Mateo replied that Sliwa's accusations were bogus and shameful.[36][38]
During his campaign, Mateo and Sliwa clashed over loyalty to former presidentDonald Trump.[39][40] Mateo espoused thebelief that Trump won the 2020 presidential election;[40] by contrast, Sliwa did not support Trump in either 2016 or 2020,[39][41] and does not support Trump's election claims.[40]
During the campaign, Mateo was criticized for the fact that he did not register to vote in New York City until October 2020, and that he mostly lives in suburbanWestchester County. In response, he said, "I own an apartment in New York City. I live in that apartment in New York City whenever I want to."[38]
On the evening of June 22, theAssociated Press announced that Mateo had lost the Republican nomination to Sliwa.[42]
Mateo lives inIrvington, New York,[19] with his wife, Stella, and has three children. He also owns an apartment in Manhattan.[38][43] His two daughters work as a doctor and a writer, respectively. His son, Fernando Mateo Jr., works at the New York City Sanitation Department, and is also an actor.[44]
Mateo is involved in several different businesses. He is Vice President of San Mateo Construction and a partner at Penserra Securities. He also owns and operates Zona de Cuba, aCuban restaurant in The Bronx.[43]