How to Save Yonkers
By DEBRA COHEN
onkers — Throughout Westchester, efforts to designate
certain buildings and neighborhoods as historic landmarks are
pitting neighbor against neighbor and the interests of
longtime residents against government officials and
developers. This is particularly true in Getty Square in
downtown Yonkers, where the restoration of architectural gems
could transform the area and bring a much needed boost to the
city's morale and public image, as well as increase its
revenue.
But for that to happen, tensions between many longtime
Getty Square property owners and local officials must be
overcome.
Under the best of circumstances, many landlords are leery
of landmark status, because it restricts what alterations they
can make to their buildings. In Getty Square, owners are
particularly reluctant to abdicate any decision-making
authority to local officials who see them as obstacles to
their vision of downtown Yonkers.
These landlords are right to be wary. There is increasing
concern that the city's vision for Getty Square is too narrow
and fails to consider that the aggressive "urban
renewal" approach that transformed downtown Yonkers's
waterfront over the last decade had created an area that still
lacks the energy, character and social cohesiveness of a true
community. Despite $100 million in construction, the
waterfront has failed to attract new visitors and residents.
And many new businesses are struggling.
In contrast, Getty Square has managed to survive as one of
Yonkers's most active business areas. Historically, it is
where the city's diverse communities have come together to
shop, be entertained, talk politics and worship. For the last
two decades, Getty Square's economic vitality has depended on
businesses that serve the many low- and fixed-income Yonkers
residents in the neighborhood.
But during the past several years, local economic
development officials have become convinced that they need to
replace Getty Square's businesses, residents and consumers
with a more affluent demographic. What is less clear is
whether the many Getty Square buildings of architectural and
historic significance are seen as equally disposable.
A few years ago the city's planning bureau compiled a list
of downtown Yonkers's "50 most important buildings,"
several of them in and around Getty Square. The planning
bureau also compiled a list identifying historic properties
that includes many downtown buildings that are eligible for
inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
Inexplicably, only a handful of these buildings have been
nominated by the city for landmark status, a designation that
makes them eligible for restoration dollars and special
protections against demolition. Most of these buildings are
owned by a few favored developers.
If the city is serious about revitalizing Getty Square, it
should contact the owners of every building that the planning
bureau has identified as eligible for landmark designation and
make sure they realize that their property has historic or
architectural significance. The city should provide help,
without favoritism, to all property owners willing to seek
landmark designation and help them obtain financial assistance
for renovations from state, federal and private sources.
Officials also have to stop characterizing building owners
as slumlords and obstructionists and instead work harder to
provide them with information and access to resources to help
them fix up their buildings. For their part, eligible Getty
Square property owners must be willing to respond to sincere
efforts by the city to assist them with the landmark
designation and restoration process.
Because historic preservation efforts are often hindered by
the need to convince absentee property owners of the benefits
of landmark designation, the initial focus should be put on
those building owners who also operate businesses from their
Getty Square properties. They clearly have an interest in
seeing the Getty Square community thrive. When other property
owners see the benefits their neighbors are deriving from
historic preservation - including higher property values and
the ability to fill vacant storefronts and residential units -
it will become easier to convince them to join in the effort.
What the city should not do is block efforts by owners to
seek landmark designation as it has in the case of the C. H.
Martin department store in Getty Square. Mayor Phil Amicone
has tried to block the designation of the store by hiring a
consultant to dispute the findings of the city's own landmark
preservation board because he wants to replace it with a minor
league ballpark. If the mayor succeeds, it would set a
terrible and demoralizing precedent.
Restoring a city requires community renewal. And community
renewal starts with the polishing of a familiar building that
people have walked by or shopped in for years without
realizing its architectural beauty. It spreads to an old
apartment building with the potential to be a unique, but also
affordable, home for a recent college graduate looking for an
alternative to Manhattan's high rents. The empty storefront
next door then becomes a coffee bar or bookstore where new and
old residents get to know each other.
Getty Square could be the place where Yonkers's spirit
begins its renewal. The preservation of its buildings, through
a sincere partnership of local officials and community
members, would be a good place to start.
Debra Cohen, an adjunct professor of civil rights law
at Pace Law School, is a lawyer in Westchester who represents
several Getty Square business and property owners.
