Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano’s Budget Stays Within State-Mandated Tax Cap; Maintains City Services and Positions & Provides Largest Contribution to Yonkers Public Schools
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano released his Fiscal Year 2021 Executive Budget proposal, which stays within the property tax cap, contains no reductions in City services and, once again, provides its largest contribution to Yonkers Public Schools.
“This year’s Executive Budget is honest and lean given the uncertainties we are facing with the global pandemic, COVID-19,” said Mayor Spano.
“Although we face a new reality in regards to our economy, this budget preserves our city services and positions and continues to fully support our Yonkers schools.”
The Executive Budget for the Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) for the combined City and Board of Education (BOE) General Funds is $1.24 billion, an increase of $17.8 million ($7 million for the City and $10.8 million for the BOE), or 1.46%.
Yonkers Board of Education
The Executive Budget includes a record $267.6 million appropriation to the Board of Education, the largest contribution provided by an Administration.
“I want to extend my thanks to our New York State delegation for restoring the $12 million in state education bullet aid,” commented Mayor Spano. “Despite this increased funding to our schools, there is still a significant shortfall of approximately $30 million in the Board of Education budget.”
Including FY21, the Administration’s combined contribution to the Board of Education has increased by $177.1 million cumulatively since Fiscal Year 2012, which excludes the absorption of approximately $10 million of BOE administrative services into the municipal budget.
For FY21, the transfer to education will go up by $2 million. Each year, the City funds the debt service and the District keeps the building, textbook, software and library aid reimbursements.
Municipal Operating Budget
Included in the Executive Budget is a municipal General Fund operating budget of $542.9million.
The Executive Budget stays within the state mandated tax cap with a proposed 2.08% increase in the property tax levy. Under the proposal, a typical one-to-three family home at the median assessed value of $11,000 would see their annual property tax bill increase by $268, or approximately $22 per month.
The 2021 Executive Budget does not propose cuts to municipal services or city workforce; does not add positions or fill vacancies; and includes essential health and safety capital projects for the city.
“This budget reflects our best estimates based upon the falloff in economically sensitive revenues that we have seen in the past month,” commented Mayor Spano. “The coming months may bring a heightening of that trend. In addition, the State has indicated its payments to localities may be adjusted downward during the fiscal year, which is a situation we have not previously encountered.”
Mayor Spano added, “My hope is that the 2021 Executive Budget is a basis for discussions and decisions. I am calling on our partners including our state delegation, the City Council and our union leaders to continue to build upon the spirit of cooperation that has passed eight consecutive bipartisan budgets during my time in office.”
Budget Snapshot:
• $1.24 billion total budget
• Maintains city services and municipal positions
• Proposes 2.08% increase in property tax levy City of Yonkers, staying within state mandated tax cap
• $267.6 million appropriation to the Board of Education, the largest contribution provided by an Administration
The complete Fiscal Year 2021 Executive Budget can be downloaded at www.yonkersny.gov.
Response managed from virtual “war room” – more than 240 laptops distributed, help given to families in need “The school is wonderful,” says single mom of two CSEE students who works in local hospital “Our children are experiencing pretty much a full day of class,” school leader says
YONKERS, NY – Parents are giving top marks to educators and administrators at the Charter School of Educational Excellence (CSEE) for ensuring that valuable and rigorous learning continues despite the COVID-19 shutdown. And school leaders are taking the work beyond learning, helping families in need navigate government processes for unemployment benefits and other social service supports.
“I feel like they (CSEE) were right on top of it, getting the lessons together and having the kids start right on the 17th and not have much time without instruction. The school is wonderful. They have made daily check-ins. The teachers are very available. If you have a problem, you contact them and they reply within seconds. They are in touch with the kids on the comments sections,” said Shauna Smalls, a single mom with a daughter, Elisha, in 2nd grade and a son, James, in 5th grade at CSEE.
“Teachers have sent parents daily and weekly calendars to let them know what students should be working on and completing. In addition to this, parents and students are provided ongoing support and virtual tips and strategies to help students succeed. Teachers use a detailed process to monitor work completed and submitted on-line, they take daily attendance, and they call students who aren’t completing or handing in work to address issues and provide help. I am extremely proud of our students, their dedication and commitment to their education. We currently have on average 94% daily attendance. This speaks volumes,” CSEE Superintendent Cindy Lopez said.
“Teachers are on all day,” Ms. Smalls said. “They put in their lesson plans, even the night before. The kids are getting on between 8:30 and 9:30 and they’re getting started.” A Yonkers resident, Ms. Smalls works full-time as a mammography technologist in the radiology department of St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers, where she’s part of the front-line battle against COVID-19.
Like all schools, CSEE has had to adapt its program to protect students and staff, and their families, from the potentially deadly effects of COVID-19. But due to advance planning, a “war room” mentality, and an academic program that already emphasizes high use of technology, the transition to distance learning was less difficult for CSEE teachers, students and parents, school leaders said.
“Since we are a high-tech school and have been providing ongoing professional development in this area for a long time, teachers are familiar and have been using on-line platforms as part of their daily routine,” CSEE Superintendent Lopez said.
“Our students have been completing work online for the last 8-9 years as part of their daily schedule. They’ve been working online consistently so they’re very fluent at distance learning.”
Parent and PTO President Lisbel Rosario said her 7th grade son, Alexis Toledo, is in regular contact with his teachers and noted his English Language Arts teacher, created a YouTube channel for live reading and real-time question-and-answer time with students.
“Teachers are doing a fantastic job keeping communication. They’re maintaining great communication with the kids throughout the day, keeping them on track, letting them know who hasn’t turned in assignments, telling them when the deadlines are,” Ms. Rosario said.
So-called “special” classes are also continuing. For example, physical education classes are being held virtually through a program with the nation’s top orthopedics and sports medicine hospital, the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.
“The school and the hospital gave us Phys Ed lesson plans for home use,” Ms. Smalls said, adding that 5th grader James also continues to receive instruction in Spanish, music and art.
“They learn technique, how to do exercises, the right way to do them, and then a quiz on how they did, how they feel, the names of the muscles. It’s teaching them as they’re actually exercising.”
The school’s unique Physical Education program was developed with the Hospital for Special Surgery’s Sports Safety Program – a relationship that started when hospital officials attended a coaching clinic held at CSEE three years ago by the New York Knicks, CSEE Athletic Director Michael De Simone said.
Since then, HSS has worked with CSEE coaches and teachers on injury prevention, proper stretching techniques and other state-of-the-art methods to keep students healthy.
Virtually, each CSEE student logs on daily for a 20-minute PE class. Attendance and completion are monitored through the log-in process. This ensures students are held accountable for completing each lesson. “We’re probably one of the only schools in the state hitting the state-mandated Phys Ed requirement each week,” DeSimone said. “And all the student needs is WiFi and a phone or computer.”
When it was clear the virus would cause major disruption in the regular school day, CSEE leaders created a “war room” in the Warburton Avenue school building to anticipate and address problems and issues. They now continue that regular work virtually.
Parents with needs know to reach out to the school. As of late March, CSEE has setup internet for various families and distributed 240 laptops to families who need them, with a goal of ensuring all students have online access. As of now, 100 percent of CSEE students have access to technology.
“We are meeting weekly with our elementary and middle school principals, our superintendent, parent coordinators and operations people,” said CSEE Trustee and co-founder Sobeida Cruz. “We’re sharing information, and down the chain every single person in our school is working.”
Ms. Cruz added; “We want to make sure that our children are learning at the age that they’re at, including our special needs children and English language learners.”
Along with assuring learning, CSEE also is helping families’ access public benefits for people who have lost their jobs or need assistance during the COVID-19 crisis. One CSEE dad lost his bus driving job as his wife went into labor.
“He was so desperate he didn’t know what to do with the child at home and his wife in the hospital. We helped find someone to stay with his child so he could go to the hospital, we helped get them formula and then navigated with the State Labor Department to get him benefits,” said Carmen Goldberg, CSEE’s parent relations director.
“It’s been very overwhelming for parents.”
CSEE educates approximately 850 students in grades K-9 and will grow to K-12 in the next three years. Upon completion of the high school campus, CSEE will be serving approximately 1,150 students. Parent demand is very high, with some 500 students on CSEE’s waiting list. Like all charter public schools, CSEE is tuition free.
CSEE is one of the highest-performing charter public schools in New York State, outperforming the Westchester County and statewide averages in every academic category.
Last year, 97% of CSEE 8th graders scored proficient on the ELA assessment and 100% of 8th grade students took the high school level math and science exams. More than 92% passed the Algebra I Regents and 90% passed the Living Environment Regents, earning credits towards high school graduation.
In addition, CSEE has been designated as a Reward School for the last five years by the New York State Education Department for making extraordinary progress in closing the achievement gap.
It’s unclear when New York lawmakers, after approving a budget with 11 Billion in borrowing, will return to Albany.
Legislative leaders have vowed to keep working laws until now and the end of the legislative session in June, possibly working remotely to do the people’s business.
Some worry that New York lawmakers are not ready to properly protect and provide for the well-being of residents needs.
Last week legislative leaders established a system for remote voting, but it appears to be mainly for voting on the governor’s initiatives.
Currently, four members of the Assembly and one senator have tested positive for COVID-19.
Governor Andrew Cuomo doubts that the Democratic-led legislature will get things done with remote voting.
Yonkers’ Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says the session is not over, but the governor thinks that it’s effectively over.
Governor Andrew Cuomo had several policy wins in the budget as the legislature rubber stamped his desires during the pandemic.
Voting advocates say in light of the ongoing pandemic the legislature and governor should expand absentee voting.
Many voters think that now that the budget is finalized its time for lawmakers to address urgent policy issues and COVID-19 related legislation like expanding absentee voting.
Following a planned post-budget two week break, lawmakers only have 19 session days remaining on the calendar.
There is no word on if legislative leaders intend to work past the scheduled conclusion of the session on June 2nd.
Last week, Stewart-Cousins made clear, for the moment at least, she intends to continue working.
“We’ll be meeting again, and we’ll be accomplishing so much more.”
The coming days may be bad as many projections show an escalation in the number of confirmed cases of the novel virus in the city of hills, the Bronx and Westchester County
Yonkers residents are already reeling from County Executive George Latimer reporting Saturday that there are 1,160 confirmed coronavirus cases in the city, especial since it was up from 969 cases the day before.
UPDATE: As of Sunday, COVID-19 has infected 1,273 Yonkers residents
However, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has been suggesting that data suggests the number of confirmed cases will flatten out in a week to ten days.
On Sunday Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York state has seen its first drop in daily coronavirus deaths.
Andrew Cuomo also said New York also experienced a slight drop in intensive care admissions and the number of patients who need breathing tubes inserted.
However, no one is sure if this slight drop in the number of deaths indicates that the New York State, Westchester County or Yonkers is at an apex of coronavirus fatalities.
This could simply be a brief plateau before the cases rise again.
Yonkers City Hall Insiders are still predicting that we’re going to continue to see an escalation and they say that social distancing measures, are even more necessary to decreasing the number of new cases in the city of hills.
It is going to be very disturbing to some, that’s what’s going to happen till rate of new cases flattens out.
Yonkersites need to continue to do the physical separation, because we got to get through this coming week.
Hospital workers tell the Yonkers Newswire that the Westchester County death toll from COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, was almost certainly higher than reported, due to a lack of testing as well as some reporting errors.
The good news is that the number of beds at Yonkers Hospitals doesn’t really seem to matter anymore, there are currently more than enough beds in place and patients are not being stacked up in the hallways.
But, Yonkers patients could potentially be taken from a hospitals that reaches capacity to a hospital that still has room, but that hospital may not be in their community,
Hopefully it would not be at Westchester’s temporary hospital at the county center
But the remaining troubling issue is still the ventilators and then there is the worry the staff on the front lines.
What is hard for some members of Yonkers society to grasp is that many people may have the virus but not experience any symptoms, while still being able to infect others.
Some Yonkers residents have argued in favor of implementing a city lock down.
Social service agencies in Yonkers are urging residents not to gather with family members who they do not live with as the holidays of Easter and Passover come upon us.
One thing President Donald Trump has backed is federal guidelines that call for social distancing through April 30th.
The federal government has protected 100,000 to 240,000 will die in the U.S. even with stringent social distancing measures.
However, they say that number would likely be much higher – from 1 million to 2.2 million – if the policies were not implemented.
City of Yonkers Offers Free Online Career Courses During Coronavirus Outbreak
Starting immediately, residents can upgrade their skills set as many residents are in need of jobs as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
“As COVID-19 precautionary measures include encouraging residents stay at home as much as possible, Metrix provides residents with an invaluable opportunity to make productive use of their time by learning skills that employers value,” said Mayor Spano.
“I encourage those who are looking to sharpen their skills and jump back into the workforce once the pandemic subsides to take these courses.”
Residents can complete online classes, explore career pathways and prepare for industry-recognized certifications to upgrade existing skills or learn new skills, whether an individual is looking for a first job, a new job, or to advance in their chosen field.
“Skill Up Yonkers” also provides Westchester County residents free access to the nationally recognized SkillSoft courses. The access will be valid for six months or 180 days and residents can complete as many courses as they would like.
The Metrix E-learning system has a catalog of over 5,500 courses that include topics such as: business, information technology, manufacturing, customer service, retail, finance, and much more.
The “Prove It” feature in Metrix offers assessments which can be used by job seekers to evaluate and document knowledge and skills in a given area.
The Metrix System is accessible around the clock to anyone with internet access. People can work at their own pace through a variety of courses that teach both technical and soft skills; and users receive a personalized training plan.
Residents who previously signed up for a free account have earned certificates and digital badges in areas such as Project Management, Microsoft Word & Excel, HIPAA, Human Resources, Accounting, Food Industry Standards, Leadership and Team Building.
Certificates were also earned in computer and IT fields such as Networking, CompTIA, Windows, Adobe and Information Security.
Assemblyman Nader Sayegh Encourages City of Yonkers to Issue a Moratorium Suspending On-Street Meter Parking Enforcement for Duration of COVID-19 Outbreak, and Retroactively Dismiss Parking Violations
Yonkers Assemblyman Nader J. Sayegh is encouraging the City of Yonkers and the Yonkers Parking Authority to suspend on-street meter parking enforcement for the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The City of Yonkers already makes accommodations for residents who have to park their vehicles overnight under the presumption that they’re home,” said Assemblyman Sayegh.
“Now more than ever, Yonkers residents are staying home to help flatten the curve. Suspending parking enforcement for the duration of this outbreak is an extension of longstanding courtesy that has always been made to our residents. More importantly, it’s the right thing to do.”
Assemblyman Sayegh noted that many other major cities in New York State have also suspended on-street meter parking enforcement including Syracuse, Rochester, and Albany.
Other cities in Westchester that have also suspended their enforcement include New Rochelle and Mount Vernon.
“We’re hearing from constituents who are trying to be responsible citizens and do the right thing but unfortunately being penalized for it,” said Assemblyman Sayegh.
“One essential worker reached out to my office after they parked in the vicinity of St.Joseph’s Medical Center to get tested for COVID-19, only to return to a parking violation on their windshield. Some things are more important than revenue, this is one of them.”
Assemblyman Sayegh also urged the City of Yonkers to retroactively dismiss tickets which were issued from the beginning of Governor Cuomo’s PAUSE Executive Order on March 20th, 2020.
“During this unprecedented crisis, we should be coming together to do everything in our power to make the lives of all residents easier.
In a time of sudden economic insecurity, social isolation, and great anxiety, this is one less concern our residents should have to think about.”
Frank P. LaFranco, Jr. passed away after a long illness on March 31, 2020 at the age of 87.
Frank P. LaFranco, Jr. was born In Yonkers, NY on March 17, 1933 to Frank and Lena (nee Lupinacci) LaFranco.
He graduated from Commerce HS in Yonkers in 1951.
He served his country in the Navy during the Korean War from 1952-1954 receiving the National Defense Service Medal for his dedicated service.
He married Joan Timm on April 18, 1954 in Mt. Carmel Church in Yonkers and has three children, Deborah (John) Milone, Louann (Geoff) Hutchby and Frank P. LaFranco III (Sandra).
He is survived by his loving wife off 36 years, Christina Bjurstrom; four grandchildren Kelly (Jeremy) Cotliar, Stephanie Curtin, Nicholas LaFranco and Tyler LaFranco and two great grandchildren, Noah and Benjamin Cotliar.
He is also survived by his sister Rosemarie (Guido) DelBene, sister-in-law Mary (nee D’Angelo) LaFranco and many loving nieces, nephews and friends.
He was predeceased by his brother Robert.
He is also survived by his first wife Joan (John) Calandro, sister-in-law, Helen (George) Kallos and brother-in-law Bob (Laurenelle) Timm.
He worked as a HVAC mechanical engineer for Carrier. In 1976 was hired by Grove Skanska to work in Saudi Arabia.
He later was employed in Saudi by Raytheon.
Upon returning the US he worked as Director of Engineering for Einstein Hospital, and until his illness, Dir. of Engineering for St. Patrick’s Nursing Home in the Bronx.
Frank had many passions and lived life to the fullest.
Early in life he was a motorcycle enthusiast.
The kids in the neighborhood always got treated with a ride around the block.
He was a marksman and enjoyed hunting.
He loved traveling and visited many countries including a “Round The World Trip”.
He especially loved his annual Thanksgiving trip to Riviera Maya.
His greatest passion was golf and was a member of Dunwoodie Golf Club in Yonkers where he got not one but two holes in one!
He had a heart bigger than life and a personality to match.
He never fooled anyone with his tough guy outer shell.
He had a heart of gold and will be deeply missed but the family is grateful he is at peace and no longer in pain.
Yonkers Police Commissioner John Mueller has urged members of his force to stay home if they feel sick. He doesn’t want anyone sick in the workplace working sick. He just wants them to get better and be cleared to return to work.
A City Hall source says that more than 15 percent of the Yonkers Police Department are are out sick amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the city of hills.
The city hall insider working from home says approximately 90 Yonkers PD officers and other department workers are unable to come to work
Last week Yonkers Tribune publisher Hezi Aris wrote that 30 YPD officers have now tested positive for the potentially deadly virus.
During a Q&A session streamed live from police headquarters on Facebook Yonkers Police Commissioner John Mueller said he has ended two man patrol cars.
Yonkers’ top cop also noted that Mayor Mike Spano’s Health Advisory Board Chairman Dr. Ammir Rabadi had provided each precinct with thermometers for daily officer readings in an effort to combat the spread of coronavirus.
As reported last week in the Yonkers Free Press, the short staffed YPD is able to perform with less officers, because crime is down now that more and more people are off the street.
The Police Commissioner also disclosed that calls to Yonkers Police Department dispatchers are down.
The Yonkers PD has not been tough on officers calling out sick amid the coronavirus crisis.
Keith Olson the President of the Yonkers Police Benevolent Association said in a YouTube video that one officer will be cleared to return to work in a couple of days.
During the Facebook Q&A session, Yonkers Police Commissioner John Mueller said YPD officers were practicing social distancing protocols in the precincts and if possible asking civilian complaintants to meet officers outside of buildings.
Just south of Yonkers Five NYPD officers have already died as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Meanwhile, the Yonkers Office of Emergency management is asking for donations of masks, gloves and packets of hand sanitizer for the police department and other first responders in the city of hills.
New York legislators and Gov. Andrew Cuomo continue to be at odds over the language of a mobile sports betting amendment, shelving the measure for the upcoming fiscal year.
Yonkers Assemblyman and Gambling Committee Chairman J Gary Pretlow hopes for a “hail mary” that would include sports betting in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s final budget but understands that it may be 2021 or beyond before the topic comes up again for negotiation.
Before the two parties failed to reach an agreement, Gov. Cuomo and the New York Legislature were urged to find a path to mobile betting by a local city council on the behalf of two casinos.
MGM’s Empire City in Yonkers and Resorts World in Queens are two downstate casinos that could potentially benefit from a sports betting bill. The Yonkers City Council passed a resolution in the days leading up to Gov. Cuomo’s decision hoping to influence the two sides to find a middle ground.
The council’s resolution stated that legalizing mobile betting could create an annual tax revenue base of roughly $90 million and create thousands of jobs for the surrounding areas near the casinos.
Yonkers City Council Minority Leader Mike Breen expressed a commonly heard frustration around the New York legislature about the money leaving the state for neighboring New Jersey and their flourishing betting market.
“We’re asking that people can come to the MGM Casino and place a bet on sports rather than driving over the bridge and spending that money in New Jersey,” Councilman Mike Breen said
All casinos in New York are currently closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
With the state facing a $6 billion dollar budget deficit plus the additional financial strain of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, New York lawmakers were hoping that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration would lessen their objections over sports betting.
New York online sports betting suffered, in part, due to an accelerated legislative schedule. Normally, both the Assembly and Senate in the state would have a proposal ready for the middle of March, but due to the coronavirus outbreak, both legislative bodies were forced to narrow their budget requests.
Instead of proposals, the two chambers began negotiations directly with the governor’s office but with continued opposition in the Assembly and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reservations, the hopes for mobile sports betting fell short.
With the coronavirus hitting New York City particularly hard, the legislature’s attention is understandably on building and supporting response teams until the cases peak and first responders and the healthcare system begin to recover.
Mayor Mike Spano is not predicting a domesday scenario for key Yonkers development projects.
Yonkers Class A developers are not painting Domesday scenarios, because of the open-ended statewide construction halt ordered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and are optimistic that the crisis will not last enough to destroy their projects and investments in the city of hills.
The shutdown to protect thousands of construction workers from contracting the coronavirus puts into limbo thousands of well apartments in Yonkers that are in different stages of construction.
Yes Yonkers developers are sweating out liquidity issues, but the projects in the city of hills are well financed giving owners enough capital for the short-term future of their downtown and waterfront projects..
No construction project is based on a perfect time frame.
Cushions are built into these Yonkers developments that have received assistance from the Yonkers industrial Development agency (YIDA), which is chaired by Mayor Mike Spano.
Last year Mayor Mike Soano and the YIDA brought in atleast a dozen projects representing a total private investment of $851 million. Among them:
• Extell Development’s Point Street Landing, a mixed-use project with 1,395 apartments and 48,280 square feet of retail space valued at $502 million.
• Rose Associates’ 57 Alexander Street, which will have 440 apartments.
• The $56.9 million Parkledge Apartments, which will have 311 units.
Some stymied projects are nearly finished like sawyer place, to others that are only approved like the new 400 unit Altman Lighting Apartment building.
Projects approved, underway or recently completed in the city are bringing 9,100 new residential units and 2.3 million square feet of commercial space.
they are creating an estimated 6,800 construction jobs and expected to create about 2,800 permanent jobs.
However, there are fears the pandemic could upend the Lionsgate project that is currently in the approvals process.
Elected officials are hoping the $100 million movie studio keeps moving forward.
Empire City Casino And Yonkers Racetrack are currently shut down, but the City Of Yonkers is confident that racino development will stay on track, as MGM moves towards a 2023 Full gaming and sports book licensees.
full gaming license leading to a sports betting license for Empire City could produce enormous financial benefits for the city.
Real Estate professionals seem to think that once the construction stoppage is lifted, Yonkers projects will quickly get back on track.
The financing is in place and this stoppage doesn’t destroy those contracts.
Currently any visible, ongoing work is to secure buildings to protect the public during the shutdown.
However, Westhab can continue with its Dayspring development now underway in the Nodine Hill section of the city, which will create 63 affordable apartments, because its 100-percent affordable — one of several exemptions to the stop-work rule.
The city’s Municipal Housing Authority’s $300 million three-year program to renovate more than 1,700 units of public housing can continue inspite of Cuomo’s construction ban.
Others exemptions are for “essential” work on schools, health care facilities and homeless shelters.
New York state also gave the Yonkers IDA authority to float bonds to help finance the building of schools.
More than $600 million is needed to build new schools.
In 2016, the city released a conceptual plan to rebuild its schools with a price tag of about $2 billion, but with the governor’s 15 Billion dollar budget crises it is doubtful that Yonkers will get the help that Buffalo got from New York State.
Buffalo rebuilt every school for $2 billion, and 90% of the funds came from Albany.
But there’s some confusion over whether the affordable-housing construction exemption applies to projects with a mix of market-rate and affordable units, especially in Yonkers where new buildings are required to be 10% affordable.
Yonkers developers are looking for guidance from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office on this.
Small affordable housing rehabs in the city of hills are permitted by groups like Jim killoran’s Fuller Center
Some say Yonkers developers could face foreclosure efforts by lenders in the event of a prolonged pandemic, but most industry insiders think banks are not interested in taking over a half-built Hudson River residential project in middle of a pandemic.
The last fear is that Mayor Spano’s vision of Yonkers development projects moving inland as the waterfront area continues to be built up might be upended in an economic downturn caused by the Pandemic.
Chicken Island was purchased, by AMS Acquisitions LLC, with a plan of building four massive mixed use towers that would revitalize the Getty square area.
Some wonder if this is now possible get financing for a multi-tower project in the current environment.
But most agree that there’s is still a lot of potential in Yonkers and it can’t be stopped by the coronavirus epidemic.
Mike Spano, a Democrat, has been serving as mayor in Yonkers since 2012. He had been elected to the New York State Assembly in 1992.
