YONKERS – Groundwork Hudson Valley, a non-profit based in Southwest Yonkers, in collaboration with the City of Yonkers and the EPA, is in the planning stages of building a bike trail along the old, abandoned railroad track that runs between Eastern and Western Avenue. The bike and pedestrian trail, named the ‘Rail-Trail’ will serve as a connector between Yonkers and the Van Cortlandt Park area, improving access to public transportation both into the Bronx and Manhattan.

The project, which was endorsed by Mayor Spano at a community meeting at the Yonkers Public Library on the 20th of October, has a dual purpose – to provide easy and environmentally friendly transport to the people of Southwest Yonkers, and to create more viable communities across the area.

Alta Designs, an environmental design and engineering company that specializes in greenways, has been brought on board to design the Rail-Trail. Lindsay Zefting, an engineer with Alta Designs working on the project explains “The proposed Lowerre - Yonkers Rail Trail will serve as a catalyst for the Lawrence Street neighborhood. The trail is expected to encourage new development, both residential and retail for trail users. The goal of the project is to provide a unique community amenity that will revitalize and bring quality of life to the neighborhood”

Many shop-owners and residents of the streets off Broadway have been an active part of the planning process. Groundwork and Alta Design representatives have interviewed residents regarding their preferences for zoning laws, and other public services they would like to see for their community. A resident who wished to remain anonymous, echoing the sentiments of many others from the area said,  “They would like to see 2-4 storied and mixed use buildings. And more efficient transportation.”

As Curt Collier, the deputy director of Groundwork explains, “The thing about that neighborhood is that it was the first transit-oriented neighborhood in the US. In 1944, when the railway was closed, however, the area lost its lifeline in a way. There was no easy access to New York City anymore and so people weren’t able to get to their jobs. Ever since, we have seen a slow decline in the area. What’s exciting about the rail trail is that lends a new blood-flow to the area, and in an environmentally sustainable way. That’s what makes the project so interesting.”

A steering committee comprising of Lauren Williams and Sandra Riviera from the non-profit Living Transformation International; Renee Milligan representing the city of Yonkers; Yvette Hartsfield from the Yonkers Commission for Parks, Recreation and Conservation; Rob Baron, Rick Magder, Curt Collier and Vernon Brinkley from Groundwork Hudson Valley; Paula Crawford with the Municipal Housing Department; Joe Hamley with the Yonkers Police Department; Lindsay Zefting with Alta Designs; Christopher St. Lawrence with the Yonkers Downtown Waterfront Development; and Jeff Cherubini from Manhattan College has been formed to shape the project and present it to the EPA.

The four main topics of discussion at the steering committee meetings have been 1) Changing the zoning of the Broadway area to allow for more flexible use of space, 2) Understanding how best to connect the bike trail to transport lines, 3) Creating a community center by the Rail-Trail and 4) Ensuring safety along the trail. The steering committee members agreed that it would necessary to have “eyes on the trail” to ensure that people using it are safe, and that the Rail-Trail does not become dilapidated from misuse. One of the ways they proposed to make this happen was to change zoning laws to allow people to build small businesses in their backyards, overlooking the trail. This will also help generate additional income for the families living in the area. Another suggestion made regarding zoning laws was to only allow a limited number of land-parcels to be sold to any one entity, thus ensuring that large stores cannot come in and takeover any small businesses. There have also been plans made to build mixed-income housing in order create a more cosmopolitan environment and revitalize the community.

One of the purposes of the trail is to increase environmentally sustainable transport between Yonkers and the Bronx/ NYC. In addition, several businesses that already exist around the rail-trail don’t seem to get much traffic because they are not the most easily accessible unless one is driving to them. The community stakeholders at the meeting, taking into account the information gathered on shop-owners and residents’ comments and needs, planned out the various access points along the rail trail.  There were a few places where they wanted to create strategic entrances that would not only allow people to get on and get off, but would give them access to bus lines, subway lines and the small businesses.  

Creating a community center either on the trail itself or using one of the vacant lots close to the trail path was a much-liked idea among all the members of the steering committee as well as among participants at the public meeting at the library. The community center will tentatively serve as an educational avenue for children, a vocational training site, as well as a recreational space for older folk if all goes as planned.

The one issue of contention that has arisen is that residents of the wealthy Riverdale neighborhood in the Bronx seem to be lobbying against having the rail-trail culminate along their side of Van Cortlandt park. Forcing the trail, instead, to end by the wooded, less frequented part of Van Cortlandt Park.

Nine charrettes or community meetings have taken place since October 2014, and based on all the information gathered, final designs will be presented to the Environment Protection Agency in Febuary of 2015 to get funding to start building the project.
 

October 30, 2014

By: Brady Wheeler

A couple of patrons and the owner of the African Variety Market in Getty Square are concerned over the impending Mischief night, the night dedicated to generally wreaking havoc and causing horror to the residents around the city of Yonkers, but not exactly in the way you might think.

Leg shaking and peering out onto nearby North Broadway, the owner of the market, Auntie Nana, explains, “I’ll have to figure out a way to pay for it this year.” The National Retail Federation has historically spoken contrarily to Nana’s worries. The NRF estimates that compared to the $6.9 billion contribute to retail sales last year, this year’s sales are projected to climb closer to $7.4 billion following the holiday’s close.

These nationally promising statistics might as well speak to another country’s successes when approached from Nana, her business and businesses like hers’ perspectives. Every year, Nana has had to dip into a pocket that has increasingly gotten drier and drier, while every passing year has delivered more ghosts and mad scientists than years past. “Last year I had to spend fifty dollars alone on the kids’ candy”, she recalls, “They kept coming and coming and I ran out. I had to get two cases of quarters from my purse and when I passed those out, I had to close my doors early at nine and head home.” All the while, her business, of which she described merely as doing “roughly”, can barely sustain itself at this point.

She crosses her legs and fixes her tired eyes on one of the patrons across the store, a lady who lives down the street and sees the store more as a community center than a variety market. “You can’t get hung up on how money runs your life though”, Nana smiles, “Seeing all the kids in their colorful costumes is always gonna be a fun time at the very least.”

Nov. 3, 2014

By Chris Hoffman

On October 31st, the Yonkers Gospel Mission closed its doors to Yonkers’s homeless population after fifty years of serving the community. The center’s mission was to offer a clean and warm shelter for homeless men to worship God, eat, and sleep.  In addition to shelter, the Mission provided food, clothing, and spiritual courses. The Mission also offered Nouthetic counseling, a unique form of Christian reflection and rehabilitation through confrontation, concern, and change.

As the fourth largest city in New York State, Yonkers has a history of inequality. Due to institutionalized racism and good old fashion Yonkers politics, the city’s schools and housing were racially segregated until 1985. The largest homeless population in Yonkers resides in Southwest Yonkers. Though no accurate statistics are available, some professionals have estimated that the number is over one hundred. With the closing of the Gospel Mission, that number will only increase.

The Yonkers Gospel Mission did not only serve as a center for homeless outreach. “That was their home,” said LaMont Brown, CASAC Case Manager of Yonkers Police Department Homeless Outreach Team. “This is going to have harsh side effects.”

The closing of the Yonkers Gospel Mission was a closing of homes. “Some of those residents lived there for a while. How do you relocate someone after they’ve made it their home?” asked Bob Walters, Director of Yonkers’s Science Barge, and Yonkers homeless advocate.

According to Jeff C. Hage, the Yonkers Gospel Mission Executive Director, the Mission closed due to “financial reasons,” though there are rumors that the property was sold to developers. With the increasing influence of developers in Southwest Yonkers, this may not be so far fetched.

The Sharing Community, one of the major sources of Yonkers homeless outreach, has also had to limit its programs due to cuts to its funding. With winter weather already here and homeless resources shrinking, the homeless in Yonkers may be left out in the cold. 

October 27th 2014

By Kirsten Craig

“Yonkers is our hometown. It is made up of family, friends and people we have known our entire lives,”says John Rubbo, Co-Founder and BrewEO of the privately-held Yonkers Brewing Company, the first native brewery in the city.

Founded in March 2012, the Yonkers Brewing Co. is finally growing its own literal local roots in its move this fall into the old Trolley Barn at 92 Main Street in downtown. Listed on the National  Register of Historic Places, the Yonkers Trolley Barn is the last remaining trolley barn in Westchester County. Sitting adjacent to the waterfront, the building stands at a regal height of stacked red brick with high, vaulted ceilings inside.

The brewery began in an existing Connecticut brewery, where the company was able to get on its feet and develop its own unique recipes. Breweries are incredibly expensive to start with the high costs of equipment, licensing and regulation procedures, and grain and water purification prices, which is surprising given the rise of craft beers that has occurred over the last decade.

The company does not take the move into Yonkers lightly, with their long search for the “perfect”  place in the city finally commencing after several years of building their market in the NYC area. The company heavily researched the impact that breweries can have on local communities prior to their Yonkers move, citing case studies for breweries in cities such as Cleveland.

“Downtown Yonkers has always been a place of innovation,” says Jacqualine Rubbo, Chief Marketing Officer of Yonkers Brewing Co. “This is a city that laid the groundwork for skyscrapers and we want to be a part of bringing it back to its glory.”

The brewery is a partner in the Westchester County Association’s Blueprint Accelerator Network, a private development initiative which gives its members access to office space, debt and seed financing, professional services, and mentorship with the understanding that companies remain in the area after their “graduation” from the Accelerator program.

Amidst the contested development occurring in the downtown area, the brewery has the potential to revitalize the waterfront district with local people, local pride, and most importantly, local beer. Yonkers Brewing Co. hosts a core roster that includes a lager, an IPA, the Vanilla Stout, the Belgian Pale Ale, the Irish Red Style Ale, and the Honey Blonde. Their current seasonal options include Pear Wit, Harvest Spice, and Wet Hop Ale.

October 27th 2014

By Gussie Gribetz

A 3-D poster of a beach scene hangs on the wall next to a bookcase that holds Puerto Rican history novels, outdated Cosmopolitan magazines, and kitschy turtle sculptures. An old man on a couch next to a cart filled to the brim with mysterious objects snores jokingly loud, while the lyrics of some corny love song ring in the background. This is Casa de Café, where the woman behind the counter makes up a special kind of green tea to help the common cold, where an open mic takes place every first and third Saturday of the month, and where people from local residents to Mayor Spano congregate.  Now it’s at risk of closing.

Lindsey, a young woman who works at the café, rests on the couch next to what is considered the office space- a closed area that has been styled as a house meant to look like it is situated in Puerto Rico. She takes the McDonald’s order of Michelle, another employee, who makes a regular customer’s bagel. “ Mike,” Michelle yells, “ you just want butter, or jelly too?”  

Mike replies, “ Just butter, and get me some napkins, too.”  Mike, an elderly man, sits in the same chair almost every day. Dressed in an all blue tracksuit, Mike spends most of his day in and out of sleep- waking up for a sip of coffee or bite of a bagel. In response to the question of what his favorite thing about the café, he replies, “they let me stay here all day, and sometimes turn on the TV, only when the guy comes with the key. I just have to buy something.”

The café has only been up and running since 2013. It took over twelve years for Mr. Julio Soto and his family to open the café. Originally, in 2000, Mr. Soto, bought a three story building on the coveted Main St and planned to quickly open a community café “where love is the pulse.”  However, shortly after he purchased the building, Mr. Soto developed severe dementia and stopped paying the bills and taxes. It was not until 2008, when his four children realized their father’s situation and the insurmountable debt he accumulated on the building. But his children, Rhonda, Desiree, Julio, and Nova, refused to give up on their father’s wish and decided to pool all their resources, including Nova’s son’s college fund, to open Casa de Café. After five years of struggling to get off the ground—dealing with the complicated regulations of Yonkers and collecting more debt—the family was finally able to open the café. But as Michelle puts it: “The café started in bad shape, so you can imagine where it’s at now.”

Although it has only been open for a year and half, Casa de Café has established itself as a real community center. Apart from the regular customers, the café hosts numerous events from baby showers, weddings, and confirmations, to open mics, comedy shows, and 80s nights. “Every Tuesday Brother Milic plays his organ in the front to draw customers in,” Michelle explains.  While these events create a real sense of community that Mr. Soto originally dreamed of, they also act as an attempt to bring in more money to help the deep financial trouble the family currently faces.  

The family owes over $200,000 in bills, taxes, and debt. They are currently facing foreclosure on the building and Con-Ed is threatening to remove all their electrical appliances.

In an effort to try to save both the business and building, the family has started a GoFundMe account, asking for donations that amount to $253,000.  As of now, they have raised $ 2,490, nearly 10% of their total goal. Michelle says, “It’s down to the wire.”   She goes on to say, “all I can say right now is that there are bills beyond comprehension. Really it’s more like $300,000 because they owe all the electricians and plumbers that initially helped them when they first opened.”

Due to its remarkable reputation, Michelle says that even the city has tried to help save the café. But as Michelle reasonably points out, “no way is the city going to give that kind of money,” especially in a time where severe budget cuts have affected multiple levels of the public service field.

Although Casa de Café seems to have a strong community, Michelle thinks otherwise. “Everyone’s all great and taking advantage of the free internet and nice environment. But once it’s time to save the café and there’s no credit card machines or Internet, people stopped showing up.”  In order to reduce expenses, the café decided to get rid of their credit card machine. However, because very few people carry cash on them, the café has lost its street business.

In addition, the café also decided to eliminate its free Internet, which resulted in loss of clientele.

“It’s impossible to win. You could say it’s a double-edged sword situation.”

To learn more about Casa de Café visit http://www.gofundme.com/5bfu6s or https://www.facebook.com/CasaDeCafeYonkers

October 27th 2014

By Brady Wheeler

For close to a decade on any given weekday morning at around five or six o’clock, if you were to step inside the New Waterfront Deli, it’d be impossible to overlook the construction hats, police uniforms and MTA jackets of its primary clientele. Now, upon the recent closing of the working class’s go-to spot for breakfast and small talk, the usually vibrant and hurried coffee conversations have been relocated elsewhere.

Looking for an alternative eatery, you turn from the now defunct deli onto Market Street, and another locally popular corner store, Maggie’s Seafood Spot, once known for its rich perfumes of oysters, shrimp and haddock frying at any given point throughout the day, has also cleaned its business from the premises. In place of the freshly vacant restaurants’ sounds and smells is that of a new tributary to the Mighty Hudson coming to life and taking Yonkers by storm: the Sawmill River.

Just as the waters and surrounding ecosystems of the river have come to light since its recent “daylighting” finished up last summer as the first part of the City’s master plan to develop the Yonkers waterfront, so to have increased concerns over where long-time residents and their businesses belong in the grand moneymaking scheme. Across the Sawmill Park along Dock Street, Singa’s Pizza, priding itself on maintaining the history that’s allowed itself to expand to Yonkers and several other nearby locations from its original store in Elmhurst, Queens. Singa’s, relatively speaking, has defied the prevailing current of quickly failing businesses in the immediate Sawmill surroundings.

Owner Jae Kang, who’s operated at the location for nine and a half years after routinely frequenting the pioneering spot in Elmhurst, believes the successful elements to his business formula to be fairly simple, albeit a bit brash: “Pardon my French, but if the food sucks you’re not gonna get customers.” Sporting a slickly gelled-back hairstyle and speaking with a quick, terse yet comforting tone, it’s clear Kang prides himself on his ability to reach and connect to the customers who see Singa’s as an integral part of the Downtown Yonkers community. A finished order ready for pickup, Kang shouts across the store for patiently waiting family sitting close to the window looking out onto the park.

The older of the family’s two sons, Michael Cabrera, a Yonkers native for the entirety of his eighteen years of life, used to be one of Kang’s returning and more regular patrons. Throughout grade school, Cabrera saw Singa’s as the hottest and tastiest spot to grab a slice after school with his friends. He reflects, however, that there was something more contributing to this desire to keep returning. “It’s a clean, well-organized people-person’s place,” Cabrera expands, “The workers are nice, respectable and every time I’d come in, it was clear how hard-working they all were.” Over time, however, especially marked by when the Park’s construction began to finish, Carbrera found Singa’s to drift further and further from his psyche. “Not sure exactly why, but I used to come in a lot more then than I do now. It’s been at least a couple years since the last time I ate here.” Speaking to a major turning point every small business owner, Kang included, fears, Cabrera and consumers like him are products of the dynamic landscapes that are ever-shifting and influencing local businesses.

“My hand shook when I signed my name onto the lease,” Kang recalls. To hopefully facilitate a successful business story in the heart of a community that Kang remembers ten years ago as “underserved,” where the “urban blight was clear,” and where “the residents around the area were mostly poor and economically depressed,” some might say the risk he took couldn’t have been bolder, if not a little naïve.

But given that the state offered significant tax abatement under the Empire Zones legislation, which provided economic relief in Kang’s ability to cheaply break ground, start kneading the dough and hopefully spread the sweetly seasoned sauce and cheese, he signed his name onto the sheet of paper anyways. And for a while, Kang’s risky decision began to pay a good deal of dividends, increasing his confidence in the area. At a steady flow of about $16,000 made per week, Singa’s began to establish itself as a restaurant that warranted considerable consumer attention from the community.

Then, something troublesome and unwelcome began to cog Kang’s otherwise smoothly and deliciously operating gears. A darker, more solemn tone consuming him, his gaze becomes fixed out of the front windows over to the park, “Two years of that construction literally destroyed me.”

Almost immediately, the money that used to be so valuably consistent to his business and himself began to dry up. “We started only pulling in about 8,000 a week. Even after the construction was finished I’m still pulling in less than what I used to at around 13,000 per week.” The City and its partners, according to Kang, in their construction of the Sawmill River Park didn’t have enough of a comprehensive foresight in what they were doing to businesses like Singa’s. “If you rip out 130 parking spots in one day and don’t create remedial or alternative measures, then you’re gonna have a problem.” Countering the repeated ethos that the project would attract more and wealthier consumers to support these smaller businesses, Kang continues, “When [the park] was developed, sales didn’t go up all of a sudden just cause this thing went up. Sales went up when the meters went up and the sales really went up when the 300 car-parking garage went up. My customers have remained the same over the years, the difference has been their ability to find a decent parking spot.” Not to mention that, according to Kang, when you perform such a large-scale construction that limits access to these restaurants for over two years, “you begin to become out-of-sight and out-of-mind” to even some of the most reliable customers from around the area. Such a dangerous effect to the construction is what, in large part according to Kang, contributed to the eventual demise of independent and less financially stable businesses around the area, like Maggies Seafood Spot or the Waterfront Deli.

The issues to owning and operating a business within the newly daylighted river extend far beyond those problems that are caused by the river itself, however. In a globalized society, a Yonkers-based Singa’s Pizzeria still has to face the sometimes-harsh after-effects of national and world events constantly transpiring. “Our cheese comes from Wisconsin, our sauce and tomatoes from California or Florida, our whole wheat flour from the heartland of America, and no matter how big or small a pizzeria like this might be, we have to face the effects of events around the world”. In essence, then, although it might be easier for one to connect A with B and attribute economic blame to the Sawmill Daylighting project, the fact of the matter is that in today’s globalized context, the business climate is a lot more complicated and murkier than we might want or believe it to be.

“Everything and everybody is connected.” Kang concludes, as he hands a plastic fork to a hungry young girl excited to tear into her fresh pepperoni slice, “At the end of the day, when you’re experiencing big problems with your business, you’ll always need to rely on your friends, your family and the local community to help you get by. Otherwise, there’s no doubt you’ll go under.” For Kang and Singa’s Pizza so far to date, a focus on this philosophy is what’s kept them afloat on the contentious banks of the Sawmill River.