WAG magazine - December 2021

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Mayor Mike Spano: Charting a new course in Yonkers

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CONTENTS DECEMBER 2021

10 14 16 18 22 26 30 34 40 48 50 54 56

At the helm of a revitalized Yonkers A city council president for all Minority (leader) rules A rising entertainment capital Celebrated Yonkers Mr. Yonkers Where jobs are job one From Otis to Kawasaki, a legacy of industry in Yonkers Powering up a Yonkers waterfront project How sweet it is Making new retail memories Outdoor – and indoor – fun at Ridge Hill The grocer as showman

60 64 68 76 78 82 86 88 94 96

Keeping the faith – and spreading it Classic + modern = X20 Xaviars on the Hudson 'The city of gracious living' A place where art and commerce meet Ensuring the future of Yonkers’ students A college’s window onto civic partnerships Extending the community college experience Culture blooms in the Carpet Mills Arts District Extending its reach – and care When every delivery is special

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EDITOR’S LETTER

BY GEORGET TE GOUVEIA

In 2012, we dedicated October WAG to New York City. As we conclude 2021, we have dedicated our December issue to New York state’s newly minted third largest city — behind the Big Apple and Buffalo — Yonkers. (As Peter, our man in Yonkers, notes in his profile of Mayor Mike Spano, the city beat out Rochester for the honor in the 2020 U.S. Census with a population of 211,569 and growing.)

“According to the census, we are the fastest-growing big city in New York state,” Mayor Mike adds in our cover piece. “We edged out New York City for that crown with an 8% increase. Yonkers is the recipient of $4 billion worth of new development….”

That new development includes Lionsgate studio, opening in Yonkers on the Hudson River next month, and a movie studio to be named later (Phil’s story). Part of the reason for this is Spano’s business-accommodating attitude, along with that of the Yonkers City Council. (See Phil’s article on incoming council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy and Jeremy’s on Minority Leader Mike Breen.)

But much of this has to do with geography — Yonkers’ enviable perch just north of one of the world’s greatest cosmopolises on one of the world’s great rivers — and history. From its Native American and Dutch roots, Yonkers has been an enterprising polyglot where initially at least 18 languages were spoken.

(That tradition of multiculturalism continues today in, among other places, a public school system in which 27,000 students represent roughly 100 cultures.)

Such diversity is attractive to business. After many permutations, Domino Sugar is still going strong as Domino Foods. The carpetmaker Alexander Smith & Sons Co. has given way to the Alexander Smith Carpet Mills Historic District, which includes the Carpet Mills Arts District, a home for artists and artisans (Laura’s story.) And Otis Elevator Co., which helped make the skyscraper possible — and thus cities like New York — has given way not only to Lionsgate but to Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. and other companies (Bridget’s story).

Yonkers remains a city of fascinating contrasts. It is at once deceptively tony (Jena’s

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A rendering of the Hudson River Museum’s west wing expansion, now in progress. It’s one more way that Yonkers is on the move. Courtesy Hudson River Museum.

story) with one of the most expensive institutions of higher learning in the country — Sarah Lawrence College, a school that is passionately engaged with the community — and plenty of boldface names who’ve called the city home or muse. On the other hand, those boldface names have overcome many of the challenges the city is heir to — challenges that the Greyston Foundation Inc. and Greyston Bakery have been trying to mitigate with their Open Hiring policy and PathMaking programs.

As Greyston demonstrates, Yonkers is indeed commercial but it is also cultural with fun retail at Cross County Center and Ridge Hill, great food in superstores like Stew Leonard’s and from chefs like Peter X. Kelly at his X20 Xaviars on the Hudson and galleries and gardens galore with public art everywhere you look — all backlit by LED streetlamps.

(See Peter again on Yonkers’ sustainability.)

It's a city whose people believe in it. “I’m very bullish about Yonkers,” says Joe Houlihan, who grew up in Yonkers’ popular Crestwood hamlet and whose boutique real estate agency, Houlihan & O’Malley, serves neighboring Bronxville and the surrounding

communities. “I think that this very planned progress is happening, and people are feeling better about it.”

Yonkers in turn has rewarded that faith.

Now it’s ready for yet another closeup — in our pages. As Humphrey Bogart says in “Casablanca,” “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

A 2020 YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester Visionary Award winner and a 2018 Folio Women in Media Award Winner, Georgette Gouveia is the author of “Burying the Dead,” “Daimon: A Novel of Alexander the Great” and "Seamless Sky" (JMS Books), as well as “The Penalty for Holding,” a 2018 Lambda Literary Award finalist (JMS Books), and “Water Music” (Greenleaf Book Group). They’re part of her series of novels, “The Games Men Play,” also the name of the sports/culture blog she writes.

Her short story “The Glass Door” was recently published by JMS and part of “Together apART: Creating During COVID” at ArtsWestchester in White Plains. Her new story, “After Hopper,” is now available from JMS Books. For more, visit thegamesmenplay.com.

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At the helm of a revitalized Yonkers

BY PETER KATZ

Visit at length with Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano as WAG did recently and you’ll no doubt be impressed by his political savvy, charmed by his personal warmth and disarmed by the feelings he expresses for the city where he was born and raised.

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Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano has been credited with turning Yonkers into a financial powerhouse. Photographs by John Rizzo.

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“Think about this city: You’re 20 minutes out of midtown; you’re 20 minutes out of White Plains,” he says, marveling. “You have less than 40 minutes to every major airport.

You have access to trains on the east side or west side of this city. You have a major highway that runs up through the middle. We are in the center of 20 million people here. So, there’s a lot of potential. If I did anything as mayor of Yonkers, I like to think I showed the city’s true potential and then everything else took its own course.”

At age 57, Spano is in his third four-year term as the city’s mayor. He was born in Yonkers on April 22, 1964, to Josephine and Leonard N. Spano, the ninth of their 16 children. With the Spano family name so enmeshed in New York government and politics — his father was a Westchester County Legislator and Clerk; his oldest sibling Nicholas was a member of both houses of the state legislature — there was no surprise when Mike Spano was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1992 as its youngest member.

Spano and his wife, WCBS-TV news anchor Mary Calvi, have three children. In a November 2014 profile of the couple in WAG, Calvi said, “Mike and I both truly enjoy our careers and our work. We have a deep respect for both endeavors and understand that with great opportunity comes great responsibility. We take that very seriously.”

Spano says that when first taking office as mayor in 2012, the nature of the serious work that needed to be done in the city was quickly apparent: “I needed to change the perception of our city. I needed to change the perception of our city not just from the outside looking in but from the inside looking out. People in our city didn’t feel good about the place that they lived in. And you know some of it was fair. Some of it was warranted. A lot of it was not.”

Spano says that in order to change the way Yonkers was perceived, it needed to be telling a different story. It needed to get the word out that Yonkers Middle High School and Saunders Trades and Technical High School were highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report; that Yonkers was always in the top-20 safest cities for a city of its size in America; that there was so much promise in terms of economic development, especially on the waterfront.

Spano also saw a need to upgrade the housing stock throughout the city, especially the properties owned and managed by the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers (MHACY), which is the second larg-

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est housing authority in the state behind New York City’s Housing Authority. Programs got underway to renovate or replace apartments at MHACY properties. An affordable housing ordinance was created calling for 10% affordable units in new developments.

During this time, environmental concerns were being heard.

“We knew that we had to be a green city. We knew that we could do better. We know we’re not going to solve global warming all by ourselves, but we know that we can do our part here in Yonkers in helping solve global warming,” Spano says.

A major green initiative involved changing all of the approximately 12,000 streetlights in the city to energy-efficient and low-maintenance LEDs (light emitting diodes) resulting in projected savings of at least $18 million in the first 10 years alone (Page 44). There is also an on-going push for using solar panels in the city as well as encouraging residents to sign up for electricity from renewable sources.

Spano realized that another priority was changing the way Yonkers did business with developers.

“We looked like a city that did not want to negotiate, did not want to do the things that you needed to do to bring in these deep-pocket developers,” he adds. “We weren’t able to bring the parties to the table. Yonkers always had a tough time with that. None of them would get caught dead in this town, because they didn’t like what they needed to do to move a development. They didn’t like what they had to do in terms of the red tape at city hall, in terms of trying to get labor to move in their direction. The environment wasn’t there for them to want to come here. We had a lot of work to do, but it had to start with changing the way people feel about the city, starting with the inside and working our way out. “ Over time, developers were attracted to the city as were new residents. In the 2020 U.S. Census, Yonkers became the third-largest city in New York state, edging out Rochester to move up in line behind New York and Buffalo.

The Yonkers population had reached 211,569.

“According to the census, we are the fastestgrowing big city in New York state. We edged out New York City for that crown with an 8% increase.

Yonkers is the recipient of $4 billion worth of new development. They’re all here. Extell is already starting to build their development. AvalonBay (Communities) has built. RXR (Realty) has built.

Mill Creek has built and they sold it to Apex, and so we were able to see a transformation by changing the way people think of our city.”

A major achievement under Spano has been in turning Yonkers into what is beginning more and more to look like Burbank East as a center of film and TV production.

Burbank is, of course, the city just 12 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles that is known for being home to Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Studios, Nickelodeon Animation, the Columbia Pictures Ranch and, formerly, NBC, where Johnny Carson originated “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

The new Lionsgate movie studio at iPark near the Metro-North train station and the Hudson River has been receiving its finishing touches, with an expansion already in the works (Page 18). Also, a second, still unannounced major movie studio on a large parcel of land in the southern section of the city was moving closer to becoming reality around the time WAG met with Spano.

When Spano came into office, film and TV companies were reluctant to work in Yonkers because of the tax structure and city requirements for licensing and hiring personnel such as firemen and policemen.

“In 2011, we had two days when they filmed in this town. Now we’re getting on average over 200 days a year,” Spano says. “We got rid of that tax. We changed the way the city did business and frankly it didn’t come without some pain, because we had some of our municipal unions going to the places they were filming and saying, ‘You need to hire two of our people.’ It was lunacy and I put in place an office just for filming with one person in charge of it and said, ‘If you need to hire two firefighters, then you better be doing pyrotechnics. If not, then we don’t need firefighters. Do we need cops? We’ll hire cops if we need them. We’ll hire public works crews if we need them, but we’re not going to go there and almost to the point where it looked like we’re going to hold you up for these employees.”

Spano — who is in his last term as mayor and is rumored to be eyeing a run for governor — said that the stage is set for people to see similarities in the relationship between Burbank and Los Angeles and the relationship between Yonkers and New York City.

“We’re talking not hundreds of employees.

We’re talking thousands of employees. We’re talking other film studios that are following.

We’re also talking about some other things that kind of travel along with film studios that are going to have a real positive effect on the people of this community.”

A city council president for all

BY PHIL HALL

There is a new face on the Westchester County political scene with Lakisha Collins-Bailey, who was elected in November to become the next Yonkers City Council President.

Collins-Bailey is a native of Yonkers who graduated from New York Law School in 2015 and opened her own practice the following year, focusing on real estate and family law.

The Democrat’s first foray into elected politics, a run for the city council in 2017, was not successful, but she found a place in Yonkers’ government in 2020 when she was appointed to the Board of Education Trustees.

In this WAG interview, Collins-Bailey discusses her goals for the first term of her presidency.

This is your first time in elected office. How does it feel to win the popular vote?

“I don't think it's hit me yet. Maybe it will at the inauguration. It's awesome to be done with the campaigning because it gives me breathing time.

"I never had a doubt that I would win. From the time that I put my hat in the ring, it just was divine intervention. From the moment I said, ‘This is what I'm going to do,’ God put it in my path and everything lined up. And every time I asked for a sign — saying, ‘This is getting crazy.

Is this really what you want me to do?’ — I just continued to get signs, so I knew that this was the path and that I was going to be victorious.

“It is gratifying, and the best part of it is for my 15-year-old son to see it all play out.”

For the benefit of those who are not up to speed on the Yonkers political system, what is involved in the job of the city council president?

“The city council president is the head of the city council, which is made up of seven individuals. There are six council members that represent their elective districts and the city council president is elected citywide.

“It is sort of an ombudswoman — the legislation says “man,” but we'll have to change that — who advocates on behalf of the entire city to pass legislation, to approve or reject the mayor's budget and to vote on zoning changes throughout the city of Yonkers. “

Do you consider Yonkers to be a well-run city?

“Absolutely. I was born and raised here in Yonkers and we've come a long way from how we were in the past. There are things that we still would like to accomplish, like ensuring that we're providing the most quality education to students here.

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Lakisha Collins-Bellamy, the newly elected Yonkers City Council president. Courtesy Lakisha Collins-Bellamy.

“Taxes are fairly high and we have to ensure that we are spending the taxpayer dollars wisely here. And affordable housing has long been an issue.”

Let’s focus on affordable housing. As city council president, what positive changes do you hope to accomplish?

“We have been developing a lot of housing on our waterfront, on the west side of Yonkers.

What the city council had been advocating for prior to my election was to increase the number of required units in those buildings.

“Any building that is built in Yonkers with more than 100 units currently has a 10% affordability requirement. That's not low-income housing, but affordable housing that has your rent based on your income. But you have to have a certain income requirement in order to afford the unit.

“The city council was advocating to double that number from 10% to 20% and was unsuccessful in getting it done. So come January, we will absolutely be back at the drawing board and coming up with legislation that works, and not only for affordable rental property. I would love to see some pathway to ownership programs and affordable housing and low-income housing for seniors. It's a diverse need and I feel like one form of legislation does not address it all.”

Your campaign website stressed the need to “promote diversity in hiring, ensuring that the municipal workforce reflects the diversity of the city.”

How do you hope to achieve more diversity in municipal hiring?

“The mayor is responsible for hiring, but we have advocated for diversity with the police and the fire departments. There was a Yonkers police exam that was held a few months ago and organizations like the Guardians, which is made up of the African American police officers, sponsored individuals to take the exam because the cost of the exam is $100 and it's not affordable. Then there was an exam prep, to ensure that individuals did well.

“These are things that we are working on to ensure there's more diverse representation in the workforce. Presently, the overwhelming majority of the workforce here in Yonkers is older, white men, and that is not representative of what the population of Yonkers is.”

What do you see as Yonkers strengths in terms of its economy? And what do you see as the areas where improvement could be brought in?

“We have some of the most valuable real estate in the state of New York along the Hudson River, and I think that is one of our valuable assets that sets us apart from other places. Our proximity to New York City (also) makes us different from other municipalities.

“Where we could use improvement, I go back to education. We've had excellent graduation rates, but we need to ensure that we are adequately preparing our students for graduation and in college. The pandemic exposed our equality gaps when it came to access to the internet and devices to log on to school. We have multiple children not having an adequate number of devices in (a) city that was able to afford to give every single student a device. So, bridging that gap is an area that could use improvement.”

In your work as the city council president, are you going to be dealing directly with the governor's office and the legislature in Albany, as well as with our elected officials in Washington?

“Absolutely. We work very closely with our state and federal delegates. I have the personal cell phone number of Congressman Jamaal Bowman. We speak and interact on a regular basis. It's that type of relationship building that will ensure that Yonkers gets all that it deserves.”

What advice would you give to young people in Yonkers who see your positive example and would love to follow in your footsteps in politics?

“When I think about what I would have wanted someone to tell young Lakisha, it would have been to take school and your education very seriously. Because how well you do in high school will determine the college that you attend, and the college that you attend can determine the rest of your life.

“You can do anything that you want to without regard of where you were born and raised.”

For more, visit yonkersny.gov.

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Minority (leader) rules

BY JEREMY WAYNE

Straight-talking and fast-talking, assured and with a no-nonsense attitude, Mike Breen was first elected to the Yonkers City Council in 2011. He was reelected in 2015 and in 2018 was honored to be elected among his peers to the position of Minority Leader. WAG caught up with the Republican recently between a press conference and a wake.

Minority Leader Breen, how did it all came about?

“I was going to run in 2003 and I was told to get out. It wasn’t my turn. No, I’m not meant to say “turn” so I won’t say it. It wasn’t my time.

But anyway, I got out in ’03, and I came back in 2011 and was elected. We had a three-way primary and a three-way election, so I earned my stripes and I’ve been on the council since then.”

And you had your own career, obviously, away from politics, so how did you find time to combine the two.

“For 35 years I ran a limo service, a car service. We took people to the airport. We went out of business in 2015. I blame Uber. I mean, I think everybody can blame Uber… But for 35 years we were a very good business, we were of our time and people liked the service. Then I got elected to the city council in 2012, so that curve was going in one direction while my business was going in another. We closed the shop in 2015 and I made this a full-time job.”

Talk me through a typical day.

“Before the elevator broke or after the elevator broke?”

Good one. Let’s start with “before.”

“The elevator in City Hall doesn’t work.

They’re going to fix it in another month. So, I spend less time in City Hall. I work in the field and then I call the office, getting constituent things fixed, whether it’s getting city trees trimmed, or problems with the Building Department, or potholes to be filled. And then, at City Hall, we have committee meetings. The city council meets every Tuesday. One Tuesday is our rules meeting, to see what we’re going to discuss the following Tuesday at our council meeting, so that’s where I am on Tuesdays. But otherwise I’m out in the field, attending flag-raisings, civic events, wakes — in fact I’m going to a wake right after this interview.”

Which is why I promise not to keep you longer than we agreed.

“Thanks. So, today I was at the Yonkers’ Empire City Casino, because there was a big press conference. We were asking (New York) Gov. Hochul to let Yonkers have a gaming casino,

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Yonkers City Council Minority Leader Mike Breen. Photograph

by George Hudak, DigiWorks Media Group.

not just an electronic video casino. So that was a big thing today and I was happy to be there.”

And how are relations with the new Governor?

“I’ve never met her. But they’re going to be better I think than they were between officials down here and the previous governor. They’re all asking her to give Yonkers the gaming license that he (former Gov. Andrew Cuomo) refused to let go of. Things are going to change and that’ll be a positive change. Post-Covid, we need the casino to switch to being a full-time casino — the employment, the tax money, the opportunities. So that was a classic day today, and a classic event to go to.”

As you say, you’re out on the job, you’re wellknown locally and people must recognize you. Do you get buttonholed? Do you stop people to talk or do people stop you?

“Funny you say that. When I ran for office I went and knocked on doors, because that’s how you get elected. But when I ran for reelection, I didn’t have a strong opponent, and knocking on doors was like a half-hour event (every time). You didn’t cover much ground knocking on doors. So, now I don’t knock on doors like I used to. I do train stations instead, because people can’t stand around in train stations, they have trains to catch. They have to keep walking. That’s why I like train stations. I don’t mind talking to people but going door to door really doesn’t work.”

You’ve known Yonkers for a very long time — 34 years I think you said. Tell me how Yonkers has

changed over that time. Three questions in one — the Yonkers you knew, how it is now and where it’s going.

“The Yonkers I knew growing up has cleaned up a little. The politics is also a little bit better than it used to be. People will tell you there’s less fighting in City Hall than there used to be. Where we were an industrial city at one time, we’re not any more. We’re cleaning up the waterfront for residential (use), so we can look like Brooklyn. Annapolis has a beautiful waterfront. We don’t quite have that yet, but we’d like to get there. And we used not to have major hotels, but now we have five, because we’re near Manhattan and you can spend a lot less staying in a major hotel here than (when) you go to a hotel in the city. We have a Hyatt, a Marriott, a Hampton — that’s something that’s really changed over the years. We’re moving forward.”

And you mentioned the mayor.

“Mayor Spano has been doing a great job the last 10 years. We were one of the few cities to have new streetlights that are really energy-efficient — the whole city was wired with new streetlights.”

And, of course, there’s been a huge amount of investment in the city in recent years, which looks like it's continuing.

“If the rents start climbing again in Manhattan and Brooklyn, then Yonkers is a big alternative. We have the train stations that get you into Manhattan. It’s less than half an hour to get there.”

What are your real challenges now, things you would really like to get done, perhaps issues that you struggle with and find difficult to bring into effect.

“We’re trying to straighten out the Building Department. I don’t know if that subject’s come up before, but we have a Building Department that should be computerized but hasn’t been.

If we could get it sorted out in the next two years, I could put my feet up and then light up a cigar and say that we really got the job done.

But with the Fire Department, the Police Department, everything’s up to snuff.”

And your relationship with the Majority Leader? Is it a good relationship?

“Yep. Corazón (Pineda-Isaac, Yonkers Majority Leader) and I get along. The Republicans voted for her for Majority Leader. When we had the choice to make, we went with her. If you took 10 political items, of the big scope, we probably wouldn’t agree on any of them, but locally we agree on how to get things done in Yonkers.”

For the complete interview, visit wagmag. com and for more, visit yonkersny.gov.

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STRONG

Yonkers’ Empire City Casino was acquired in August from MGM Growth Properties by the real estate investment trust VICI Properties.

Courtesy Empire City Casino.

2021 WAGMAG.COM 18 DECEMBER

A rising entertainment capital

BY PHIL HALL

While Yonkers is New York state’s third most populous city, it seemed for too many years lost in the shadow of its southern neighbor, which just happened to be both the most populous city in both the state and the nation.

Today, however, Yonkers is emerging as a vibrant metropolis in its own right. The simultaneous arrival of a major Hollywood entertainment studio’s production facilities coupled with a new chapter for a popular gaming destination is resulting in Yonkers being reinvented as the region’s new crossroads of commerce and culture.

IN THE LIONSGATE DEN

This month marks the completion of Lionsgate studio at 51 Wells Ave. near the Metro-North Railroad station in Yonkers. The complex, which opens in January, will be one of the largest modern film and TV production campuses in the Northeast.

Lionsgate (“The Hunger Games,” “Mad Men”) is one of the entertainment industry’s most admired production and distribution entities. Having this Hollywood powerhouse in Westchester is an extraordinary development that was unthinkable until Mayor Mike Spano arrived at City Hall one decade ago, Melissa Goldberg said.

“When the mayor first came into office in 2012, there was little to no filming going on here because of all the red tape that was in place with the city,” says Goldberg, director of the mayor's Film & Photography Office. “When the mayor came on board, it was obvious to him that this was an industry that was right for our city. So he set up a department that didn't exist before and created an office where production location managers, directors and

producers can come not only to obtain a permit but to get assistance with any city services, vocations or just pretty much anything that they needed.”

Goldberg credits the city’s “many diverse landscapes” for attracting both budget-conscious independent filmmakers and big-budget Hollywood power players. The latter included Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated “The Irishman” and Denzel Washington’s upcoming “A Journal for Jordan.” But rather than focus on Yonkers’ neighborhoods and vistas for background location flavor, the city sought to attract a steadier flow of film and TV work that would be concentrated within a studio setting.

“It makes sense, because we are in the vicinity of New York City,” Goldberg adds. “We have been busy welcoming filming here from all different spectrums.”

Robert Halmi, co-founder of the media-focused investment fund Great Point Capital Management and son of the late North Salem-based TV producer Robert Halmi Sr., also recognized what he considered to be an “incredible shortage of film and television infrastructure in the Northeast” and theorized that a major studio would be eager for a Westchester-based home for its New York-based productions.”

Great Point Capital Management teamed with National Resources, a Greenwich-based real estate development firm, in pitching the former Otis Elevator property in Yonkers to

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Lionsgate, which signed a letter of intent in September 2019 for the construction of three 20,000-square feet and two 10,000-square feet stages, a fully operational back lot. The Covid-19 pandemic delayed progress on the project, which was originally planned for an August 2020 completion, but the setback was temporary and Halmi reports that “Lionsgate will be there in January. That’s when they’ll start production of their first show.”

Halmi notes that the first phase of the project “will create about 700 to 750 full-time jobs, more than 500 construction jobs, and the revenue to Yonkers should be approximately $125 million to $150 million a year.” Halmi’s Great Point Studios LLC will manage the Yonkers production campus, which carries the Lionsgate Studios name.

Goldberg reports that Lionsgate is not the only Hollywood power player with its eyes on Yonkers.

“At this point, we're really not at liberty to say too much about it,” she says, hinting that the arrival of a second cinematic tenant would be “a game changer. To add this other studio would literally make Yonkers the Burbank of New York.”

EMPIRE CITY 2.0

Meanwhile, on the other side of Yonkers, a longer-established fixture of the city’s entertainment world is undergoing another journey under new ownership: Empire City Casino was acquired in August from MGM Growth Properties by the real estate investment trust VICI Properties as part of a multiproperty transaction for $17.2 billion.

According to Empire City Casino President and Chief Operating Officer Ed Domingo, the venue has emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic ready, eager and willing to move to the next plane of entertainment.

“It's been a challenging time for any business, but we've been incredibly thankful at how quickly and how strongly we've been able to come back and how quickly our customers have told us that they value us as one of their key entertainment options here in Westchester,” Domingo says. “And we are even more heartened by our employees and the passion that they've had to come back. There's been a lot of stories going on across the country really about all kinds of industries struggling to get their workers back, and I'm really pleased to say that Empire has had the opposite of that problem. We've had over 95% of our employees that we've asked to come back return to us immediately.”

Domingo self-identified Empire City Casino as Yonkers’ largest private taxpayer, with a workforce of about 1,000 and more than 75% union members.

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Ed Domingo, president and COO of Empire City Casino. Courtesy Empire City Casino.

“We've made a lot of investments in this property since MGM acquired it back in early 2019,” he continues, noting the company’s first investment was an employee dining room “because what we found here didn't really meet the standards of what we thought our employees needed to be able to rest, relax and have a pretty good meal.”

Looking ahead for 2022, Domingo is forecasting a potential commercial casino license from the state “which would allow us to go from the operation that we have today, which is all electronic games, to having live table games and being able to hire more employees.” Domingo predicts that a commercial license would enable the venue to replace its electronic games with “a live table game that actually creates six to seven jobs per table game, and we'd be looking at putting a couple 100 table games in here.”

Of course, Westchester denizens of a certain age recall Empire City’s pre-casino halcyon days as the harness racing mecca Yonkers Raceway. Domingo insisted the harness racing aspect of the venue remains an important attraction that has received the attention it deserves.

“We've made significant investments in that side of the business as well, which I think surprised some folks, because MGM was not traditionally thought of as a horse-racing company,” he says. “This year, we’ve completed a resurfacing and we spent over a half-million dollars doing that. Before that, we've replaced all of the lights here, which were old halogen bulbs, with LED lighting, which provides a better-quality picture for those watching on simulcast. There were a few million dollars in investment into the track in the first three years that we're here, which I hope speaks to our commitment to the sport of harness racing and to the historic importance of Yonkers Raceway.”

And while most people outside of the region might not consider Yonkers as a gaming capital, Domingo points out that Empire City’s casino floor is the sixth-largest in the country.

“We welcome more than 9 million visitors annually here, which is more than the Statue of Liberty actually,” he adds. “I think that surprises people that the number of people that come and enjoy Empire as a primary entertainment option. It's really just a pleasure to be at the center of this kind of activity every day.”

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Celebrated Yonkers

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

In “What’s in the Box,” a 1964 “Twilight Zone” episode that’s all about self-fulfilling prophecies and our love-hate relationship with TV, unfaithful cab driver Joe Britt (William Demarest) excuses his lateness in returning home by telling his suspicious wife that he had to drive one of his fares to Yonkers.

From such quirky mentions (the city is the title character’s hometown in the 1925 pop song “If You Knew Susie”) to more thoughtful explorations (the 2015 miniseries “Show Me a Hero,” about Yonkers housing desegregation crisis), the city has been a wellspring for some of our most resonant works as well as some of our finest artists, civic leaders, athletes and inventors.

Here are just a few of the cultural figures who have called Yonkers muse and/ or home on a path to success that was often fraught with challenges: Edwin Howard Armstrong — The electrical engineer/inventor who gave us FM radio and helped develop the superheterodyne receiver system grew up sickly and isolated in his family’s Queen Anne-style home at 1032 Warburton Ave. in Yonkers, overlooking the Hudson River. It was there, however, that he conducted many of the experiments that would lead to later breakthroughs, as recounted in Ken Burns’ 1992 documentary “Empire of the Air.” His years of litigation against onetime financial backer RCA led to his death by suicide in 1954 at age 63.

James Blake — The Yonkers native and later Fairfield resident, subject of a December 2017 WAG profile, overcame scoliosis and a broken neck to triumph on the tennis court, turning in a key performance in the United States’ victory over Russia for the Davis Cup in 2007. Blake was the Comeback Player of the Year in 2005 and three years later was named the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year. Racially profiled during the 2015 US Open in an incident that garnered national attention, Blake wrote “Ways of Grace: Stories of Activism, Adversity, and How Sports Can Bring Us Together,” which describes what happened and his subsequent decision to become an advocate for social justice.

Mary J. Blige — The Grammy Award-winning, multiplatinum-selling singer, songwriter and actress grew up in the Scholbohm Housing Projects in Yonkers, where she was part of the band Pride with drummer Eddie D’Aprile. (It was her impromptu 1988 recording of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up in the Rapture” at the Galleria in White Plains that proved the springboard for her career.) She would go on to become the first person nominated for an Oscar in both acting and songwriting for the 2017 film “Mudbound”, which featured the song “Mighty River.” The documentary “Mary J. Blige My Life” was released on Amazon Prime Video this year.

Mary Calvi — As our own Jeremy Wayne discovered when he profiled her for the cover of our November 2019 issue, Calvi has been a triple threat as a 12-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, co-anchor of “CBS2 This Morning” and “CBS2 At Noon” at WCBS-TV in Manhattan; first lady of Yonkers (as the wife of Mayor Mike Spano); and author of the well-received novel “Dear George, Dear Mary,” about the star-crossed love of George Washington and the Tory heiress Mary

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1. Edwin Howard Armstrong, the father of FM radio, conducted many of his electrical experiments at his family’s home in Yonkers.

2. James Blake at the 2018 US Open. Photograph by Darren Carroll/USTA. 3. Mary J. Blige at the 23rd annual Critics’ Choice Awards, held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, on Jan. 11, 2018.

4. Mary Calvi — a triple threat as a WCBS-TV anchor, Yonkers’ first lady and author of the novel “Dear George, Dear Mary.” Courtesy CBS. 5. DMX performing at Giavclub in Moscow on Sept. 18, 2014.

6. Singer Ella Fitzgerald in 1946. Photograph by William P. Gottlieb.

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Philipse, whose family once owned all the land from Spuyten Duyvil to the Croton River and across to the Bronx River. It was at her husband’s 2012 inauguration at Philipse Manor Hall that Calvi was inspired by the other Mary’s portrait to tell her story, which but for politics might’ve had a fairy-tale ending. The subject of a Smithsonian Channel documentary, “Dear George, Dear Mary” has whetted Calvi’s appetite for more fiction writing.

DMX — The rapper and actor began life as Earl Simmons, growing up troubled in the School Street Projects in Yonkers, where his fast times on the track and field varsity team at Yonkers Middle High School offered a bright spot. He was known for such best-selling albums as “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot” and “And Then There Was X,” which helped make him the first recording artist to debut an album at No. 1 five times in a row on the Billboard 200 charts. DMX also appeared in such films as “Romeo Must Die” and “Cradle 2 the Grave,” starred in the reality TV series “DMX: Soul of a Man” and penned the memoir “E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX” before dying at White Plains Hospital on April 9 from the effects of a heart attack.

Ella Fitzgerald — Known as “the Queen of Song” or “the Queen of Jazz” — she turned scat singing into a kind of coloratura — Fitzgerald lived on School Street in downtown Yonkers in the 1920s before running off to follow her dream of becoming a dancer, one that quickly morphed into a singing career. On what would’ve been her 104th birthday last April 25, the Yonkers Downtown/Waterfront Business Improvement District, with support from the city of Yonkers and Mayor Mike Spano, held a celebratory live-streamed concert of her music that featured the refurbished, life-size sculpture of the singer by Vinnie Bagwell at Metro-North Railroad Station Plaza, 5 Buena Vista Ave. Floyd Patterson — The two-time world heavyweight champion (1956-62) — known for being quick of mind and body — was the youngest boxer to claim the title and the first to reclaim it after losing it (to Ingemar Johansson). He was also the first Olympic gold medalist to win a professional heavyweight title, although he won gold in Helsinki in 1952 as a middleweight. Patterson bought his Yonkers home, at Kings Cross and Wyndcliffe Road in the Beach Hill section, in 1961 and sold it three years later.

Barbara Segal — The Yonkers-based sculptor first impressed us in the 1980s and ’90s with her ability to suggest the softness, textures and colors of clothing and accessories using such hard materials as marble. It’s something she continues to do with her sculpted Birkin bags, which blend such influences as the Byzantine period, the Renaissance and hip-hop. In 1995, Segal founded Art on Main Street (AOMSY), a nonprofit organization to bring culture to downtown Yonkers to spur community and economic development. Among the lasting contributions of this was the “Sculpture Meadow on the Hudson” (2003). A year later, her “Muhheakantuck,” — two 70- foot cast-aluminum sculptures titled for the Lenape name for the Hudson River — were installed on Metro North’s Yonkers station viaduct as a Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Arts for Transit commission. Today, Segal’s career has taken her in an international direction, with two years of commissions, though she continues to teach at the New York Academy of Art and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Neil Simon — A child of Depression-era New York City, Simon cut his comedy writing teeth on “Your Show of Shows,” a TV series starring Yonkers native Sid Caesar written by such future comedy legends as Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. Simon himself would become a king of Broadway with such hits as “The Odd Couple,” which also became a successful movie and TV series; “Barefoot in the

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Park”; “The Sunshine Boys”; “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound.” But he was a victim of his own success with critics, who sometimes found his work too facile. That is, until “Lost in Yonkers,” his 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winning about semi-orphaned teenage brothers navigating wartime Yonkers with a stern grandmother, developmentally disabled aunt and shady uncle. As Aunt Bella on the stage and screen, The College of New Rochelle graduate Mercedes Ruehl won Tony and Academy awards.

Thornton Wilder — The three-time Pulitzer Prize winner (for the plays “Our Town” and “The Skin of Our Teeth” and the novel “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”) was born in Madison, Wisconsin; raised in Ojay, California, and China; taught in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and Chicago; saw action in World War II in Africa and Italy; and lived in Hamden, Connecticut, until his death there in 1975 at age 78. But one of his most inspirational works was set in Yonkers. It began as a failure. “The Merchant of Yonkers” (1938), a romantic comedy about the title character’s search for a wife, ran for only 39 performances on Broadway. In 1954, English director Tyrone Guthrie persuaded Wilder to rework it. With a new title character, Dolly Levi, “The Matchmaker” was a hit that spawned a 1958 film and then a phenomenon — the musical “Hello, Dolly!” — featuring a series of legends in the title role, everyone from originator Carol Channing to Pearl Bailey, Ginger Rogers, Bernadette Peters and, more recently, Bette Midler, all on stage; and a 1969 film with Barbra Streisand.

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7. Two-time heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in New York City on Jan. 23, 1962. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration.

8. Yonkers sculptor Barbara Segal’s sculpted Birkin bags mix Byzantine, Renaissance and contemporary influences. Courtesy Barbara Segal.

9. Playwright Neil “Doc” Simon, seen here at the Chicago Film Festival in 1980, was a hitmaker who achieved his greatest critical success, including the Pulitzer Prize, with “Lost in Yonkers” (1991).

10. Thornon Wilder, seen here in 1948, was perhaps bestknown for the seminal works “Our Town” and “The Bridge of San Luis Rey.” But his Yonkers-set play “The Matchmaker” would spawn the blockbuster “Hello, Dolly!”. Courtesy Bridgeport Telegram.

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Mr. Yonkers

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

In 1642, a pregnant, young woman ran away from her service at Rensselaerswyck — an estate founded by diamond merchant Kiliaen van Rensselaer outside what is now Albany — to New Amsterdam on the tip of Manhattan Island. Although he lived in Amsterdam, Van Rensselaer, a founding member of the Dutch West India Co., micromanaged his land and workers from across the Atlantic. Indeed, he had hired a young, up-and-coming lawyer to help with this very purpose.

Part sheriff as well, the lawyer set out for New Amsterdam, where he found the woman and brought her to court at Fort Amsterdam.

As Russell Shorto wrote in “The Island at the Center of the World” (Doubleday, 2004), his absorbing history of Dutch Manhattan, the lawyer “demanded” that the woman honor her service contract. But he also allowed her to stay in Manhattan until she gave birth and the baby was old enough to travel.

This did not sit well with Van Rensselaer, who bellowed by letter across the ocean: “It is your duty to seek my advantage and protect me against loss.”

What man had the courage and compassion to stand up to such a boss in an age that

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we think of as so much less enlightened than our own?

The man was Adriaen Cornilessen van der Donck, and he just may be the most important American you never heard of. Explorer, writer and all-around drumbeater for North America, Van der Donck would also give his name to the city of Yonkers. “…He was, as his writings make plain, one of the first genuine Americans,” Shorto wrote in his book. “He was so not because of where he came to live, but because of the expanse of opportunity that opened inside his breast once he arrived — opportunity he imagined not for himself alone but for others.”

Traditionally, the early Dutch were known

for their relative open-mindedness. They espoused a policy of religious toleration and a concept of half-slavery in which a slave could eventually buy his freedom, though not necessarily that of his wife and children. Van der Donck would embrace the best of the Dutch traditions. Born in Breda in the southern Netherlands, he came from a well-to-do family that had fought back Spanish dominance, earning a doctorate in civil and canon law at the University of Leiden, an intellectual center.

Van Rensselaer thought he was just the man to serve as schout, prosecutor/sheriff, on his New World holdings. But Van der Donck, arriving on The Oak Tree in 1641, soon proved to be more interested in the roughand-tumble land and its people. Selecting one of Van Rensselaer’s finer farms and horses for himself, he plumbed a terrain teeming with forests and wildlife and engaged with a populace that was already a polyglot of Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Jews, Quakers and Native Americans, speaking 18 languages. Van der Donck plunged into the culture of the Mahicans and Mohawks, eating their

This “Portrait of a Man” (16181655) is often thought to be of Adriaen van der Donck, though the provenance is sketchy.

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. DECEMBER 2021

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A restored section of the Saw Mill River at Van der Donck Park in Yonkers.

The Jansson-Visscher map of the Northeast first published by Adriaen van der Donck.

Courtesy the Library of Congress’ Geography & Map Division.

food and learning their languages. (Van der Donck was still a man of his time, advocating for Christian schools for the indigenous peoples — a practice that we now know has proved ruinous for them.)

Van Rensselaer was not interested in Van der Donck’s anthropological wanderings and attempts to set himself up as a landowner, and did not renew his contract in 1644. This freed Van der Donck to immerse himself in the political unrest of New Amsterdam, where the Dutch West India Co.-appointed director-general Willem Kieft had colonists

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outraged with his ham-fisted approach to trade, taxation and relations with the native peoples. Van der Donck was able to smooth negotiations with the Native Americans, for which a grateful Kieft gave him 24,000 acres north of Manhattan that now includes Yonkers. There he built mills along the Saeck Kill — later the Nepperhan River and now the Saw Mill River. So expansive was this Colen Donck property that Van der Donck — who by this time, 1646, had married the Englishwoman Mary Doughty — became known as the jonkheer, or “young lord.” From that hon-

orific comes the name “Yonkers.”

Still, colonial mismanagement reigned, and Van der Donck, as a member of the colony’s Dutch-style citizens’ board of Nine Men, became its leading advocate for a more representative, Dutch-style government, clashing with Kieft and his successor, the martinet Peter Stuyvesant. Always an adroit spokesman, Van der Donck was able to plead his case for more liberal governance successfully in Amsterdam, with his pamphlet “Remonstrance of New Netherland.” But the Anglo-Dutch War of 1652 and the Dutch West India Co.’s maneuverings dashed his dream and kept him from returning to New Amsterdam immediately. Still, he continued to market the colony with the wildly popular “Description of New Netherland” (1655), which Charles T. Gehring, director of the New Netherland Institute, has hailed as “the fullest account of the province, its geography, the Indians who inhabited it and its prospects … It has been said that had it not been written in Dutch, it would have gone down as one of the great works of American colonial literature.”

The price the company exacted in 1653 for allowing Van der Donck to return to his beloved New Netherland and his family was the silencing of his voice. Stripped of his board membership and law license, he died at home some three years later.

“At worst, he has been branded arrogant and selfish, thinking only of his own ambitions,” J. van den Hoot wrote in “Adriaen van der Donck: A Dutch Rebel in Seventeenth Century America.” “At best, he has been labeled a hero, a visionary and a spokesman for the people.”

About the Daylighting of the Saw Mill River at Larkin Plaza The Saw Mill River was buried beneath the City of Yonkers at the beginning of the 20th Century. “Daylighting” the river is returning the river to a more natural, open-air condition, providing many community and ecological benefits – a focus of Yonkers’ plan for social and economic progress.

PS&S created an award-winning design that included daylighting of the river within a beautiful new urban park.

It features two dynamic pools and three strategically placed waterfalls, a diverse habitat filled with aquatic life transformed from an old parking lot. The design also preserved the existing underground flume. Peak flows will be diverted to the flume, to avoid potentially hazardous flooding in the urban park and make economical re-use of the existing, viable asset.

Our expertise and commitment to excellence have helped us evolve into a leading architecture and engineering firm in the region. We have designed phases two and three of the Saw Mill Daylighting project – Mill Street Courtyard, which rendered both vehicular and pedestrian bridges over the river, as well as River Park – all of which provide our neighborhoods with family and community-focused landmarks in the heart of Yonkers.

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Joseph D. “Joe” Kenner, CEO of Greyston Foundation Inc. The foundation and the bakery it owns are all about “jobs, jobs, jobs” for the underserved.

Photographs courtesy Greyston Bakery.

30 DECEMBER 2021 WAGMAG.COM

Where jobs are job one

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

At first glance, Adriaen van der Donck, Bernard “Bernie” Glassman and Joseph D. “Joe” Kenner wouldn’t seem to have much in common other than terrific smarts and success in their individual business fields.

Van der Donck (circa 1618-55) was a 17th-century Dutch lawyer, a doctor of canon as well as civil law; Glassman (1939-2018), an aeronautical engineer and Ph.D. in applied mathematics who worked for McDonnell-Douglas; and Kenner, an MBA who spent 14 years in corporate America with Chubb Insurance, Lehman Brothers and PepsiCo, along with serving as a Port Chester trustee and deputy mayor.

But the three have shared a passion for bettering the lives of workingmen and women in Yonkers and beyond. Van der Donck would take the case for New Netherland (Dutch New York) colonists having a greater say in their governance by the Dutch West India Co. all the way to Amsterdam (Page 26). Glassman, who turned to Zen Buddhism in the 1960s, founded Greyston Bakery in 1982 to combat joblessness and homelessness and, 10 years later, Greyston Foundation to expand the bakery’s mission. (The enterprise was named for its original home, Greyston, an 1863 mansion in the Riverdale section of the Bronx created

by James Renwick Jr., architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.) And Kenner — who served as deputy commissioner in Westchester County’s Depart-

ment of Social Services before coming to Greyston in 2018 as vice president of programs and partnerships and becoming CEO last year -- is moving its mission forward.

Last year, Greyston announced its “2030 Vision,” a 10-year plan to create at least 40,000 jobs — and an economic effect of $3 billion, working with less than 1% of those facing barriers to employment.

“A lot of people don’t get the opportunities that others have,” Kenner says. “Homelessness, food insecurity, single parenthood: There are so many barriers that people can’t get over.”

From its beginnings, Greyston — the nonprofit foundation, which has a “small but mighty” staff of about 25 and an approximately $4 million budget and the for-profit bakery it owns — have been all about overcoming barriers. Its Open Hiring program for entry-level apprenticeships at the bakery at 104 Alexander St. in Yonkers employs anyone who wants to work, no questions asked. As the website notes: “We don’t hire people to bake brownies.

We bake brownies to hire people.” All you have to do is fill out an application online. Greyston calls in 10 people at a time. The wait is about one to three months.

Not only does the bakery train you but it

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GOOD NEWS FOR YONKERS EMPLOYERS, EMPLOYEES AND RESIDENTS Since 2012, Yonkers has added more than $3.8 billion in private investment.

The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has attracted nearly $1 billion in private investment in the past two years alone.

The city has created more than 3,500 new jobs.

As a result: The poverty rate has dropped from 17.5% in 2012 to 14.9% in 2019.

The median household income has risen from $55,298 in 2012 to $63,849 in 2019. — Supplied by the city of Yonkers

provides the support services needed to keep people employed to make the brownies in chocolate fudge, vegan fudge and (seasonally) pumpkin spice and blondies in brown sugar, snickerdoodle, cinnamon roll and birthday cake that customers can buy on the website or at Whole Foods or Cava. (Some 110 employees turn out nearly 50,000 pounds of brownies and blondies in a workweek and around 12 million annually.) Since 1987, the bakery has partnered with Ben & Jerry’s, providing brownie inclusions for several of its ice creams. The first Benefit Corporation, or B Corp, in New York state, Greyson Bakery received a 2021 “Best for the World” award for excelling in the three Ps — People (treatment of employees), Planet (environmental and recycling practices) and Profit (continuously increasing revenues).

Greyston’s Open Hiring policy has become a model, Kenner says, for The Body Shop, which has hired 1,200 people in adapting the program; CleanCraft, a cleaning company owned by Greyston board member Ty Hookway; and Rhino Foods, for which the bakery supplies cookie dough. Bringing New York’s Dutch heritage full circle, Greyston has also partnered with The Netherlands’ Start Foundation, which has more than 20 similar programs in various industries.

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Greyston Bakery, owned by Greyston Foundation Inc., doesn’t hire people to make brownies. It makes brownies to hire people. Here, Belkin Alfaro.

But Open Hiring is just one way the Greyston Foundation seeks to end unemployment.

The other is its PathMaking training courses that provide a host of certifications in security, buildings and construction, health care, technology and the culinary arts.

In its work, Kenner says, Greyston has had “an amazing long-term relationship with the city of Yonkers. Mayor Mike Spano and the City Council have given us tremendous support.” Greyston has also received $2 million over the last 10 years in federal Community Development Block Grants.

As it heads into the bakery’s 40th year, Greyston has relegated many of the aspects of its former mission — HIV/AIDS, homelessness, a community garden — to other organizations to focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

“We want to unlock the power of human potential by empowering one person at a time,” Kenner says. “That encapsulates the work of the bakery and the foundation — giving people the opportunity to transform their lives.”

For more, visit greyston.org.

Center for the Urban River at Beczak

Our story is a Yonkers story

Dr. Yeong Ran Kim, Digital Media Fellow, created video works for Yonkers Arts

Dr. Kishauna Soljour leads a cultural project at the Yonkers Public Library

Soccer clinic with the Gryphons at Fleming Field

Rooted in Yonkers, Sarah Lawrence College is a proud partner to the city and its people.

Following our mission to graduate world citizens with humanistic values and concern for community, we remain dedicated to the social, economic, and cultural wellbeing of this region.

Learn more about all Sarah Lawrence has to offer at slc.edu Yonkers bike rack designed by SLC students Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service at the YWCA of Yonkers

CONNECTING PASSIONS. CREATING FUTURES.

From Otis to Kawasaki, a legacy of industry in Yonkers

BY BRIDGET MCCUSKER

“All safe, gentlemen. All safe.”

That was what Elisha Otis said, showing off his new safety elevator at the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in 1853 in Manhattan.

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He had shocked crowds by getting up on a lift platform, which had often been used at the time by manufacturers in factories and warehouses, and ordering it raised to full height. When the rope holding the lift was cut with an axe, the crowd saw the lift locked in place, and that Otis remained unharmed.

It was a key moment not only for the Otis Elevator Co. — which had only seen a few orders come in after opening in Yonkers in 1853 — but also for the development, economies and people of cities everywhere.

Elevators had existed before, as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, but they were not always safe for passengers.

“One problem continued to trouble the elevator as it had since ancient times,” says Ed Jacovino, a spokesperson for Otis, now headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia. “There was no effective way to prevent the hoist from plummeting to earth if the lifting cable parted. This ever-present danger made elevators a risky proposition until 1852 with Otis’ invention of the safety elevator.”

The exposition took place at the current site of Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, which is now, of course, a landscape surrounded by New York City’s signature feature, the skyscraper. An architectural development that changed cities the world over, the skyscraper wouldn’t have been possible without Otis and his invention or other technologies like the steel skeleton frame, courtesy of Chicago architect William Jenney. They enabled the skylines of New York and other cities around the world to soar beyond six stories.

(It’s a lesson driven home recently on PBS’ “Impossible Builds’” profile of “the Skinny Skyscraper,” as Manhattan’s Steinway Tower is known. Rising 84 stories, or 1,480 feet, above the preserved, historic, 16-story Steinway Building, the residential tower, the skinniest skyscraper in the world, would not have been possible without the ingeniously stacked Otis passenger-freight elevators.)

After Otis’ demonstration of the safety elevator at the New York Crystal Palace, the company’s sales began to

The Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. plant in Yonkers is located on part of the former Otis Elevator Co. site.

Photograph by S. Connick.

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climb. In March of 1857, Otis’ first commercial passenger elevator was installed on Broadway and Broome Street in Manhattan at the E.V. Haughwout and Co. department store, which paid $300 for the device.

“By the 1870s, there were 2,000 Otis elevators in service as elevator safety and efficiency improved, and high floors became desirable real estate,” Jacovino said. “Other big breakthroughs include Otis’ introduction of the hydraulic and electric elevators as well as the gearless traction elevator, which made skyscrapers possible, (and) Otis’ creation of the first elevator system to use flat belt technology in place of steel cables.”

Otis elevators are now in eight of the 10 tallest buildings in the world and such other New York landmarks as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the United Nations. You can find them at the White House, the Eiffel Tower and the Vatican as well.

Along with its global influence, however, Otis Elevator Co. was also a major player in Yonkers and its development through the years. Originally, Otis had settled in the city to work for the Bedstead Manufacturing Co., Jacovino said, the Bergen County, New Jersey-based company that had first asked him to design a freight elevator for its new Yonkers factory. After financial problems led the company to close its doors, Otis opened his own shop in part of the old Bedstead plant.

The Otis plant in Getty Square was one of the largest manufacturing plants in the city and a key to the area’s industrialization, at its peak employing more than 1,300 people, according to a 1982 New York Times report. In 1976, Otis was acquired by United Technologies and became its subsidiary.

Business percolated for a time, but in 1983, United decided to close the plant and lay off its 375 workers. United cited a decrease in demand as a reason for pulling out of Yonkers operations, along with changes in technology that the Yonkers plant was not well-suited to meet. The equipment that had been manufactured there would continue being made in Otis’ plants in Bloomington, Indiana, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

The factory that had been so critical to Yonkers and its modernization of Getty Square left behind broken hearts — and angry politicians as the area was heavily funded by the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

Otis spun off on its own to become an independent company once again in 2020,

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A copy of an engraving depicting Elisha Otis demonstrating his new safety elevator in 1853 at the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations at the New York Crystal Palace in Manhattan.

An interior view of Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. in Yonkers.

Courtesy kawasakirailcar.com.

as United also spun off its other subsidiary, Carrier, and then merged with Raytheon.

But the elevator company never returned to Yonkers.

Today, however, the former Otis complex is home to the nine-story, quarter-mile-long iPark Hudson, purchased in 1999 and developed throughout the years by National Resources, a Greenwich-based real estate company with a penchant for rehabilitating old manufacturing facilities.

Modernization has been bringing new powerhouse companies to the property and as a result, to Yonkers’ economic landscape, offering updated facilities in a setting more affordable than companies might find in

New York City. National Resources has even added residential apartment options to the space.

Lionsgate is a major commercial occupant — (Page 18) — adding more than a touch of Hollywood glamour to the site.

Other occupants include the State Department of Motor Vehicles, Mindspark, which transforms learning through community and industry partnerships, and ContraFect, which develops biologic therapies to treat life-threatening, drug-resistant infectious diseases.

And while most of the new developments at the plant look toward the future of industry, a major iPark tenant, Kawasaki Rail Car Inc., calls to mind the history of the space.

Kawasaki purchased its 239,000-squarefoot factory at iPark from National Resources for $25 million in 2012 and continues to build the railcars that are used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Metro-North Railroad, the New York City subway system and the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH).

So while Otis is gone, its former space still hosts major commercial development in Yonkers that is helping to position the city for a brighter future.

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AS A FIRM: We give practical advice and draw on the depth of our expertise to develop commercial, cost-effective solutions for clients. The firm and its members have a history of serving not only our clients, but also the communities in which we work through pro bono services and charitable contributions. Our attorneys participate in numerous charitable, bar association, educational and cultural endeavors. Members of our firm proudly serve on many boards, including St Joseph’s Medical Center, Yonkers Partners in Education, Yonkers Chamber of Commerce and the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater New York City.

We celebrate the resilience and strength of Yonkers and all the communities which make it great. We thank Mayor Mike Spano, his staff and the Yonkers City Council for their leadership. We remain a proud partner to the City, committed to its continued growth and renaissance, and firm in our belief that the best is yet to come!

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Manhattan-based Plant Powerhouse LLC has proposed turning the former Glenwood Power Plant (above) into a multipurpose facility. (See Page 42.)

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Powering up a Yonkers waterfront project

BY PETER KATZ

The former Glenwood Power Plant is a familiar landmark for the tens of thousands of Metro-North and Amtrak passengers who ride the rails along the Hudson River every day.

The plant’s twin smokestacks make it a beacon easily spotted by boaters on the river or landlubbers across the river to the west. The plant is even more familiar to Yonkers residents who live nearby and have seen the deterioration that has taken place.

Now a long-stalled rehabilitation, modernization and repurposing plan for the power plant is again under active review by the city.

The project, which would convert the plant into an office building and banquet and catering facility, was reenergized at the Oct. 13 and Nov. 10 meetings of the Yonkers Planning Board, with the board exercising its function as lead agency for the environmental review of the project. It’s uncertain at this point when the city’s review would be completed and plans might be approved for the project’s applicant, Manhattan-based Plant Powerhouse LLC. The power plant at 45 Water Grant Road was completed in 1906 and provided electricity for the New York Central Railroad, which ran the plant for 30 years when it became clear to the railroad that it would be cheaper to buy electricity than to produce it. The railroad sold the power plant to the Yonkers Electric Light and Power Co., which itself was taken over by Con Edison. The plant at first burned coal to create the heat used in the generation process, then was converted to burn oil.

Con Ed kept the plant in service until 1963, after which much of the generating equipment was sold for scrap. The utility unsuccessfully tried for several years to sell the power plant

property along with an accessory substation that still was in use converting electricity from Con Ed’s alternating current network to direct current at the proper voltage to run the trains.

In the late 1970s, contractor Ken Capolino bought the site for use as a storage facility for his construction company.

In 2007, RMEI Cos. proposed a $250 million development for the site that would have included 350 apartments in a 25-story tower. The plan was dropped.

According to documents on file at the Westchester County Clerk’s Office, Glenwood POH LLC bought the site from Capolino and Glenwood Equities on Dec. 20, 2012 for a consideration of $3.1 million. By March 2015, Glenwood POH LLC was no longer showing a Yonkers address but had the same West 11th Street address in Manhattan as The Plant Powerhouse LLC and The Goren Group headed by Lela Goren, the person leading the current proposal for the power plant.

On March 13, 2015, the power plant property was transferred from Glenwood POH LLC to The Plant Powerhouse LLC. Documents indicate that the consideration was zero dollars.

Using the entity Plant Manor LLC in 2014, Goren bought Alder Manor, a mansion on

North Broadway in Yonkers that had been built in 1912 by financier and researcher William Boyce Thompson. She has been leading a restoration project for that property.

The restoration project proposed for the power plant site has two phases. The first would include converting the three buildings that make up the power plant into a mixeduse facility and building a new parking garage in the southern portion of the city’s Trevor Park, a new walkway to connect the garage to the power plant and a pedestrian bridge over the Metro-North Railroad tracks. The finished mixed-use office and banquet and catering facility would encompass 157,047 square feet.

The Rotary Building would have 36,633 square feet of office space plus 3,022 square feet of space for mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment. Turbine Hall would have 28,021 square feet of banquet and catering space and 8,858 square feet of offices. The Smokestack Building and Coal Tower would have 4,292 square feet of catering and banquet space, 61,255 square feet of office space and 14,966 square feet for mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment.

The proposed parking garage would have three levels and a total of 506 spaces.

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Renderings of the proposed multiuse facility.

“The proposed renovation would transform this historic building into a center for resiliency with co-working space, business incubators, maker spaces and a grand convening space for events, workshops, public art and gatherings that engage entrepreneurs, innovators, scientists, artists, youth and government engaged with climate solutions,” the project’s Environmental Assessment Form submission said.

The developer said that a second phase of the project could include an expanded marina, a waterfront walkway and additional improvements to the city’s JFK Marina and Park. It did not promise that there actually would be a second phase.

“Phase 2 is not mandated by Phase 1 nor is Phase 1 reliant on Phase 2," the developer added. "Phase 2 would be covered by a separate review if and when it occurs,.”

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The developer said that it plans to be working “with the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service to achieve Federal and State Historic Tax Credits to help subsidize the redevelopment costs.” The developer already has received at least two state grants from Empire State Development totaling $2 million and is requesting support from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

The site is in the state’s brownfield cleanup program. New water and sewer lines would be needed to upgrade existing capacity.

The plant is near Metro-North’s Glenwood station so people could ride the train to get there, although currently not all trains on the Hudson Line stop at Glenwood. Motorists could reach the power plant by driving down John F. Kennedy Memorial Drive to a new connection that would be built leading to a drop-off area.

They then could drive up to the new garage, park and use a new walkway and the planned pedestrian bridge over the train tracks to get back to the power plant.

In addition to completing the environmental review, the developer is asking Yonkers for site plan approval for Phase 1 of the proposal, street mapping to provide legal access to the plant from JFK Marina and Park, zoning variances and discontinuance (alienation) of part of Trevor Park as parkland so that the parking garage can be constructed.

There previously had been community opposition to building a garage in Trevor Park.

The developer then proposed building it in JFK Park, which also received a lot of pushback.

The developer now points out, “The portion of Trevor Park where the parking garage is proposed to be located is currently unused by the public and is fenced off from the active portion of Trevor Park.”

A financial analysis prepared for the developer by Tina Lund, principal of the firm Urbanomics Inc., noted that the investment in the project would be $159.4 million.

The report said that if the first year of operation of the facility was 2023, over the next 20 years it would produce $15.6 million in tax revenues for the city and the Yonkers schools and $2.4 million for the county. The analysis quoted figures from the Lela Goren Group’s pro forma calculations that the first-year revenues would be $5,268,785 and the project would attract 530 office jobs.

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The hotel sits on the site of another Greek-American success story. It was Tom Carvel’s corporate office and training center. One day, when Tom’s ice cream truck got a flat tire, he started selling his ice cream from a nearby parking lot. He made a deal with a local business owner to use his electricity, quickly realizing he could be more successful in a fixed location, and Carvel was born. Over the course of his career, Tom was credited with innovations such as developing the machinery for soft serve ice cream, the concept of franchising, and reinventing modern marketing.

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Sustainable Yonkers

BY PETER KATZ

While many municipalities across the United States are running for the solar energy train, Yonkers has been on board long before the train left the station. Back in May 2017, the city was recognized by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as a Designated Clean Energy Community and cited for providing training to employees on energy code enforcement, developing a standard solar permit application, investing in alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure for its fleet and converting streetlights to energy-efficient LEDs. While the city has encouraged developers of large-scale projects to make every effort to incorporate solar panels and other environmentally-friendly elements into their designs, it also has moved to make it easier for homeowners to add solar electric generation capability to their properties. The city has adopted the state’s Unified Solar Permit system, designed to cut through a lot of the red tape and expedite issuance of a combination building and electrical permit for small-scale photovoltaic installations capable of generating 12,000 watts of electricity or less. The permitting system promises that after submitting a complete application that meets standards, a homeowner can get the go-ahead for solar installations within 14 days.

This past April 28, Mayor Mike Spano announced that five Community Solar projects were coming to Yonkers. The city worked with nonprofits Sustainable Westchester and Groundwork Hudson Valley, solar developer G&S Solar and the Robert Martin Co. to bring solar power installations to buildings in Robert Martin’s South Westchester Executive Park.

The Community Solar program allows

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participating local area residents who don’t have their own solar systems to receive 10% discounts on their electric bills attributable to electricity generated by the Community Solar installations that’s fed into the utility grid.

“Renewable energy sources like solar continue to be on the rise in Yonkers and this Community Solar project leverages the city’s commitment to further greening our energy supply,” Spano said. “Thank you to Sustainable Westchester and our partners Robert Martin Co. and G&S Solar for supporting our efforts to build a more sustainable city while providing savings to Yonkers residents.”

The Community Solar launch followed the Yonkers City Council’s approved March 9 legislation that allowed the city to join Sustainable Westchester’s renewable electricity supply program, Westchester Power.

Under Westchester Power, instead of buying electricity directly from a utility company, residential and small-business customers who wish to become part of a municipal buying group are able to purchase renewable-sourced electricity at a competitive fixed-rate. The program was established in

At a solar installation in Port Chester. Left front: John Faltings, president of G&S Solar; Abe Naparstek, COO, G&S Solar; Greg Berger, president of RMC. Left back: David Katz, senior director, renewable energy, G&S Solar; Jeremy Frank; Damian Finley, vice president of construction and development, RMC and Laurence Gottlieb, managing director, RMC Bio1. The team is aiding sustainability in Yonkers.

YONKERS’ FIVE-POINT ENVIRONMENTAL REVITALIZATION 2016 and has grown to include more than two-dozen municipalities in Westchester County.

Back in 2009, Yonkers adopted the Climate Smart Communities Pledge designed to show that it had a commitment not only to reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also to recognizing that the climate was changing and preparations for the future were needed now.

In 2013, Yonkers began a massive program to replace all of the approximately 12,000 city-owned streetlights with high-efficiency LED (light emitting diode) lamps. fixtures and bulbs. It had cost the city $2.8 million to keep the old-fashioned streetlights lit during 2012, not including the cost of on-going repairs and maintenance performed by the Department of Public Works.

While the switch to LEDs has reduced the city’s carbon footprint, it was also projected to produce savings in energy costs of $18 million over the first 10 years.

At a ceremony held to mark the beginning of the solar installations at South Westchester Executive Park, Greg Berger, president of Robert Martin Co., referred to comments attributed to inventor Thomas Alva Edison in 1931.

“I put my money on the sun and solar energy,” Berger quoted Edison telling automobile magnate Henry Ford and tire manufacturer Harvey Firestone. “What a great source of power,” Berger quoted Edison as saying.

Berger noted that 90 years later, the collective partnership in Yonkers is realizing Edison’s dream to harness the sun’s limitless, clean power.

“Robert Martin is excited and proud to be part of this venture and we look forward to help light the way towards Yonkers’ continuing economic revitalization with more critical solar installations in Yonkers and all over Westchester County,” Berger said.

“This is a bold, win-win solution for the city of Yonkers,” said Brigitte Griswold, executive director of Groundwork Hudson Valley. “Not only will it bring renewable energy to the city, but residents will also see a modest cost savings on electricity bills.

We are especially proud to employ Yonkers youth(s) to lead our outreach and education efforts. (They) are already gaining valuable skills in the renewable energy field while earning a wage at a time when youth unemployment is at an all-time high.”

“Without this affordable green energy, our tenants would be at a loss,” said Wilson Kimball, president and CEO of the Munici-

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1. Waterfront access • A river esplanade now runs from Domino Foods to Yonkers Paddling & Rowing Club and will eventually extend north to JFK Marina and Park in front of new developments north of the Beczak Environmental Education Center Inc. 2. New greenway rail trail • In collaboration with Groundwork Hudson Valley, the city is building a twomile greenway along the old Putnam Rail Spur that formerly ran from Van Cortlandt Park to Getty Square.

3. Leading the way on recycling • The city launched polystyrene foam recycling in 2014.

• An organic yard waste collection site opened in 2012.

4. Carbon footprint reduction • Yonkers is the first city in New York state to convert its city lights completely to LED bulbs.

• It’s the first city in New York to launch a zero-emission shared electric scooter program.

• It’s the first city in the country to power a park solely on wind and solar energy.

5. Environmental restoration • Under Mayor Mike Spano, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has issued certificates of completion for the remediation of 75 acres of contaminated brownfields in Yonkers. – Supplied by the city of Yonkers

ABOUT WILSON KIMBALL

Much of the planning expertise that helped guide Yonkers through its economic and development renaissance came from Wilson Kimball. Now president and CEO of the Municipal Housing Authority of the City of Yonkers (MHACY), she served as the city’s commissioner of planning and development from 2013 to 2020. She helped attract approximately $4 billion in new development and was instrumental in ensuring that each proposal was thoroughly reviewed.

Under her planning leadership, Yonkers received 26 grants that added up to more than $207 million to be used for crucial capital projects.

In April 2020, her appointment as president and CEO of MHACY was announced.

Under her stewardship, the agency has been renovating and expanding its housing stock, so that every MHACY resident can enjoy a pristine, safe and modern place to live.

Prior to joining the city, Kimball was senior vice president of operations for the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority in New York City, a community created where deteriorating piers once stood on the Lower West Side of Manhattan in the Hudson River. A partnership between the authority and private developers resulted in creation of a planned community that many cite as a prime example of successful urban development.

Kimball also served as chief of staff for Libby Pataki, wife of Gov. George Pataki, when she was first lady of New York state. Kimball worked with Mrs. Pataki in writing the children's books ''Artfully Taught'' and ''NYC ABC,'' and edited ''Letters to New York: Children Speak Out.'' Kimball earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Skidmore College and a master’s from Pace University Lubin School of Business. She received her law degree from Fordham University’s School of Law, where she was named Stein Scholar and editor of the International Law Journal.

For more, visit mhacy.org.

pal Housing Authority of the City of Yonkers (MHACY). “Having a green sustainable energy alternative is incredibly valuable to families and seniors who are literally concerned about the next dollar and the next five dollars that they spend.”

Kimball points out that about 200 of MHACY's tenants who pay their own electric bills will see solar savings, while those tenants whose electricity costs are included

in their rent will benefit indirectly.

Kimball (see sidebar) was one of those honored by Groundwork Hudson Valley at its “Here Comes the Sun” annual gala this past Oct. 14, celebrating the proliferation of solar electricity projects in Yonkers. With MHACY being is the second-largest housing authority in New York state, its interest in solar adds power to the cause of promoting the use of renewable energy.

YONKERS IDA

A Driver of the Workforce of Tomorrow.

The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (YIDA) provides financial

Yonkers Industrial Development Agency 470 Nepperhan Avenue Suite 200 Yonkers, NY 10701

incentives that have created economic development and job growth in the City of Yonkers. The incentives provided by the IDA have resulted in the creation of thousands of well-paying jobs in the construction trades for today’s new workforce.

To learn more about the Yonkers IDA, visit yonkersida.com or call (914) 509-8651

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How sweet it is

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, what a story David Putnam Brinley’s “Hudson River View (Sugar Factory at Yonkers)” (circa 1915, oil, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers) tells. Its canvas teems with Paul Cezanne-style blocks of color, capturing buildings and boxcars, Palisade cliffs and plumes of smoke in a tribute to the Industrial Sublime school of American Modern art.

Domino Foods has been making Yonkers sweet for more than 100 years.

Courtesy City of Yonkers.

Sugar has long sweetened the economy of Yonkers and its environs, beginning with London refiner William Havermeyer, who with his brother Frederick brought W. & F.C. Havermeyer Co. to Manhattan in 1807.

Fifty-two years later, they changed their name to Havemeyer, Townsend and Co. Refinery and moved their business, which processed slave-grown sugar cane, to Williamsburg. A refinery fire and antitrust action against the Sugar Trust in the late 19th century didn’t stop the business, which evolved into the American Sugar Refining Co., one of the original 12 companies to make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The company added five more refineries, including one in Yonkers, and changed its name in 1900 to Domino Sugar. More than 100 years later it became Domino Foods. That same year, 2001, Tate & Lyle, a British company that had bought Domino in 1988, sold it to Florida Crystals Corp. and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida. Domino thus became part of American Sugar Refining Inc., not to be confused with the old American Sugar Refining Co. (In the sugar business, ownership can get a bit, uh, sticky.)

While the Williamsburg plant is gone, Domino in Yonkers is still going strong, employing more than 300 people at the refinery, according to its Facebook page, and producing four million-plus pounds of sugar a day for its distinctive blue-banded white and yellow packages.

And the Yonkers plant has continued to inspire culture, sponsoring the Hudson River Museum’s 2017 exhibit “I Want Candy: The Sweet Stuff in American Art.” Now that’s sweet.

For more, visit dominosugar.com.

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Making new retail memories

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

Not a day goes by that Liz Pollack — senior manager, marketing, Cross County Center in Yonkers — doesn’t hear about what the center has meant to tristate area residents: “I was born in Cross County Hospital.”

“My mom worked in Wanamaker’s.”

“I had my first job at Sam Goody’s.”

“I learned to drive in the parking lot.”

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Since the shopping center opened on April 28, 1954, it has been many things to many different people. And despite the advent of online retail and Covid, it continues to supply shoppers with new experiences and memories, attracting more than 11 million people annually to its 1.165 million-square-foot complex at the intersection of Cross County Parkway and I-87.

To borrow from Mark Twain, reports of the death of in-person retail have been greatly exaggerated.

“Absolutely,” Pollack says. “There’s life in brick-and-mortar (stores).”

Sustaining that life means keeping the center, owned by Marx Realty and Benenson Capital Partners, up to date with a new logo of concentric Cs and name — shortened from Cross County Shopping Center — along with new and refreshed stores and restaurants, plus entertainment and outdoor experiences. On March 4, the center broke ground on a 132,000-square-foot Target, the first in Yonkers. It is scheduled to open mid-2022 on the first and second levels of the former Sears footprint, with the third level occupied by other stores yet to be announced.

H&M — a Swedish multinational clothing, home goods and kids’ store that’s had a presence at the center since 2009 — recently signed a 10-year renewal to occupy 28,000 square feet. The space reopened in May with a $5 million makeover in keeping with the leisurely, lounge-like vibe of its SoHo store.

A/X Armani Exchange — a casual subbrand of Armani for men and women — has also undergone a facelift and is slated to reopen in the first quarter of next year. Express, too, with its fashion forward looks for young people, has been remodeled inside and out, just in time for the holiday season.

All this shopping — Cross County has more than 80 stores, including Macy’s, Pandora jewelry and the first Zara in Westchester County — works up an appetite, which is no problem at a place that is home to the first Shake Shack in the county as well.

Five Guys — which focuses on fast food like burghers, hot dogs and fries in a casual setting — will open next to Chipotle Mexican Grill early in the new year. And for dessert, there’s the Cookies n Cream kiosk, opening early December.

Fashions by Guess at Cross County Center.

Photographs courtesy Cross County Center.

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GROWTH IN RETAIL Sales taxes grew more than 3% annually between 2012 and ’19.

The Cross County Shopping Center has expanded to 1.165 million square feet.

Stew Leonard’s Yonkers store is its most successful store, with more than one million shoppers a year.

— Supplied by the city of Yonkers

“The focus on food is important,” Pollack says, “as it encourages people to stay and shop.”

But shopping and eating — passions though they be — are just part of the Triple C experience, which has included outdoor screenings of such classics as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” (Movie lovers can also take advantage of Showcase Cinema de Lux Cross County.

The multiplex, revamped in 2019, features reserved, reclining seating and a cocktail bar.)

Perhaps nowhere is Cross County’s outdoor experience more vibrant than at holiday time, with the center joining with Chabad of Yonkers near Macy’s for a Menorah Lighting to celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights — an event offering music, dancing and treats.

Shoppers can also enjoy the Pop-Up Holiday Ice Skating Rink; and the Holiday Food Truck Market with Abeetz Pizza, Crazy Taco Mex, Leila’s Crepes, Leila’s Empanadas, Mac’s Meatballs, Sloppie Joes and Waffle Box as well as new food carts with popcorn, cotton candy and hot chocolate near The Green in the mall’s center.

Sit a spell and enjoy your eats in style in the new pop-up igloos, available for one-hour sessions near Zara.

Of course, the big guy himself is on the scene. Santa’s Workshop follows Covid protocols, offering a special sensory photo op at 10 a.m. Dec. 5 and pet photos on Mondays.

“Our goal is to create a New York City winter village complete with a (more than) 40-foot-tall Christmas tree,” Pollack says.

Sounds like someone’s going to be making new memories.

Photos with Santa are available through Dec. 24. The rest of the holiday fun runs through Jan. 2. For more, visit crosscountycenter.com.

Liz Pollack, senior manager, marketing, Cross County Center.

A rendering of The Green, the activities centerpiece of Cross County Center.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano (center) leads the groundbreaking last March 4 for the new Target at Cross County Center.

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Sights and sounds of the season at Ridge Hill.

Courtesy Ridge Hill.

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Outdoor — and indoor — fun at Ridge Hill

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

In a sense, the challenge of Covid has been an opportunity for Ridge Hill, the 1.2-million-square-foot retail, entertainment and office complex in Yonkers between Interstate 87 and the Sprain Brook Parkway.

“Like most retail places, we saw some stores close during the pandemic,” says Meghann Hongach, general manager of Ridge Hill, which is owned by Australian-based QIC (Queensland Investment Corp.) and run by CBRE (Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis). But as Ridge Hill has many outdoor activities, it was able to pivot to underscore this aspect of the setting. Besides outdoor movies and ping-pong, there’s the Market on Market Farmers Market, a partnership with Morning Glory Market that just closed for the season; and the Art on Market, produced by Outside the Lines Consulting and featuring works in diverse media by local artists (1 to 6 p.m. Fridays through Dec. 19).

Restaurants took advantage of the situation to spread outside. “I think that the pandemic opened our eyes to utilizing our outdoor space more,” Hongach says.

Not that there isn’t plenty to do indoors, with 55 food and retail offerings, including LEGOLAND Discovery Center, a 12-screen Showcase Cinema de Lux, Rockin' Jump Indoor Trampoline Park, iFLY Indoor Skydiving, Whole Foods Market and such eateries as The Cheesecake Factory, Yard House, Texas de Brazil, Public Pizza and Lefteris Gyro.

Six more are in store. Beginning this

month, The Cup, featuring Topgolf Swing Suite technology, will enable golfers to try out their sweetest swings while soccer lovers take to the pitch, hockey enthusiasts practice their slapshots, baseball fans unfurl their fastballs and everyone else plays dodgeball with zombies. Early next year, Ridge Hill will inaugurate the new indoor climbing venue, Hapik.

Research has shown that people are looking for diverse experiences at malls and within stores, Hongach says. So Dick’s Sporting Goods not only sells equipment and apparel but also has a batting cage.

Charming Charlie, the trendy accessories emporium, is opening a new store, with Ridge Hill looking to offer more shopping and dining experiences.

Meanwhile, there’s the holiday season, tailor-made for outdoor fun. In addition to the Nov. 28 Hanukkah Menorah lighting with Chabad of Yonkers, Ridge Hill has welcomed Santa Claus back to town for his yuletide photo op (through Dec. 24) amid a setting that includes the mall’s 40-foot-tall Christmas tree.

Making the season a little bit brighter — free parking through the end of the year.

For more, visit ridgehill.com.

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Stew Leonard Jr. at the Yonkers store.

Photographs courtesy Stew Leonard’s.

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The grocer as showman

BY JEREMY WAYNE

Stew Leonard Jr., president and CEO of the Stew Leonard’s group of grocery stores, is waiting for me at the entrance to his Yonkers store, at the end of the drive that also bears his name.

Flanked by Yonkers store vice-president Christian Cruz and Leonard’s nephew, Andrew Hollis, he’s chatting with two guys I assume to be friends or colleagues, but as it turns out are a couple of customers Leonard has only just met. As I am about to discover, talking with random customers is something Leonard clearly loves to do.

“We’re actually from Brooklyn,” one of these two keen shoppers tells him. “The East Meadow (Long Island) store is probably closer, but we just love your Yonkers store.” We are standing by the candy apples and Stew thrusts a couple into the Brooklyn guys’ hands. Then he turns to Cruz. “By the way, what did we do in these last week?” “Candy apples?” Cruz muses. “Around $17,000.”

Leonard, who took over the business from his father, Stew Leonard Sr., in 1991, is a well-preserved 62 years, with a full head of grey/black hair and an engagingly sweet smile. As we start our circuit of the store, he tells me his typical day starts around 10 a.m.

“The older I get,” he says, “the later I want to come in. No more of those 7 a.m. starts.”

‘LIKE A HONEYCRISP ON STEROIDS’

His working day usually begins with what he calls STC — “Stew’s traffic control.” “Today,” he says, “we talked about the aftermath of Halloween, the holidays, turkey and all the rest.” The meeting usually lasts about 90 minutes, after which Leonard calls his father. “I check in with him every day, or he calls me.”

No sooner have the guys from Brooklyn left us, when a lady comes up and says the taste of her favorite sausage has changed.

“We’ll look into that right away,” says Cruz, almost clicking to attention and making a note on his phone. Then, an older gentleman in a checked shirt and sandals stops Leonard to say hello. “Have you just come in from Hawaii or something?” Leonard teases him, looking down at the guy’s sockless feet, spontaneously friendly and natural. He’s a model of great public relations and shoppers love him as much as he loves them.

The day before we meet, he was in Newington, Connecticut, and Nanuet in Rockland County. Another day he’ll do the Long Island stores. There are now seven Stew Leonard’s stores in total — three in Connecticut, three in New York and one in New Jersey, along with their adjoining wine stores.

In the hours I spend with Leonard, there is no interval longer than two minutes when someone doesn’t approach him, or call out to him across an aisle. If there is such a thing as a celebrity grocer, Stew Leonard Jr. is that man. And as we progress through the store — stopping, talking, tasting — the man never lets up. “See this apple, it’s an EverCrisp — like a Honeycrisp on steroids.” “The Mozzarella, try some — is it too salty?” “The pink pineapple? Did you ever taste anything like this?”

(For the record, I didn’t.)

We pass a chestnut stand and Stew mentions he would like to start roasting chestnuts in-store. “The smell of New York City,” he enthuses, musing on whether he would be able to roast in store from a safety standpoint. “For us, it’s all about the smell inside.

We love smells.”

He loves sell-by dates, too, noting that most of their prepared foods are made fresh daily.

“A friend of mine told me about a sign he saw in CVS, which said, “Please notify us immediately if you see any products which are out of

date.” He throws up his hands while roaring with laughter. “I mean, where was the management?”

‘10 MILES OF JARS LAID SIDE BY SIDE’

With so much of Stew Leonard’s business predicated on prepared foods, Leonard admits that their recipes are not always original, but says the company adapts what others are already doing. Stew Leonard’s improves on it, he says, and sells it at the most competitive price. I mention that the expression I was taught for this practice was “borrowing with pride.” “I probably shouldn’t even say this,” says Leonard, “but our R and D department stands for ‘retrieve and duplicate.’”

As we round a gentle curve toward the dairy produce, another stranger stops him to say how excited she is to see him “for real.”

“You taught me to eat breakfast,” she gushes, referring to a TV segment in which Leonard extolled the virtues of a good first meal of the day. No sooner does she move on then a young couple approach and ask for a selfie with him.

Selfie sorted, we run into store chef Chris Papp, who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. “What have you got coming up for us?” asks Leonard. “Our two best sellers right now, both for Thanksgiving and Christmas, are the dinner-foreight filet mignon, and one that knocks the door down — our dinner-for-four surf and turf,” rhapsodizes Papp. “Cold-water Maine lobster tails, filet mignon — you can’t beat it,” affirms Leonard.

But he is momentarily distracted as a bearded, robed and crucifix-wearing — likely Eastern Orthodox — clergyman brushes past the shrimp counter. “Hi, I’m Stew Leonard,” announces Leonard, extending a hand. “Oh, I’ve been to many of your stores,” the man of the cloth says with a smile, clearly delighted.

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“You know, my wife is Serbian Orthodox,” Leonard puts in quickly, instantly making another new friend.

We progress a few steps and advance to the Italian section. Leonard relates how his father had called him up one morning to say he wasn’t crazy about the store’s chicken Marsala. Leonard knew a little Italian restaurant where everyone went just for the chicken Marsala. “So, we went and got some and had all the chefs taste it. Then we tweaked our recipe a little bit. And now we have the greatest chicken Marsala. And you know how we know it’s the greatest? My father likes it.”

Meanwhile, Hollis, a third-generation Leonard on his mother’s side — informs his uncle that the projected number of jars of Italian sauce they will sell in the two-week run-up to Christmas will exceed 30,000.

“That’s 10 miles of jars laid side by side — all the way from Yonkers to Yankee Stadium,” Hollis says, beaming.

A RUN ON TURKEY IN AUGUST

Leonard is known to attribute the success of the company to its emphasis on customer service and care of its employees, which is borne out by the fact that a large number of staff have been at the store since it opened, in 1999. “When I’m here, I like to spend time not just with the customers but the people that work here,” he tells me, as we head through a service door into the back-of-house bakery and meet Michele Herrera, who has been at the store for 14 years.

Herrera is now head of the bakery department. I admire her challa bread and the glossy, all-butter brioche buns made to complement the stores’ famous hamburgers, while Leonard greets her like an old friend before introducing us. “You know why Michele’s happy today? Because she just got her new ovens,” he says, pointing out a hard-tomiss row of gleaming, double-width, 8-foot tall, American-made Baxter ovens.

Leaving the bakery, he spies an employee he hasn’t seen before. “Are you new?” he asks. “Yes — two weeks,” says the new recruit, whose badge announces she is Marcie. “And I’m excited to be here.” “Well, we’re happy to have you, Marcie. We always need great people,” Leonard adds.

Back on the floor with his small entourage, there is something of the prophet about him.

A big man, he is nevertheless quiet and unassuming, but with an aura which is almost palpable. Staff and customers alike just seem to sense or know “Stew” is in the area. This is the closest thing you get to grocer royalty.

“What I’m looking for is to see that ev-

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Stew Leonard’s Yonkers.

erything is nice and well-lit, that everything looks fresh and appealing and how full the shelves are,” continues Leonard, as we walk past a banana cart and he tweaks the plastic banana that bursts into the famous Chiquita Banana routine. “I can never resist doing that,” he says, chuckling. (With some of its staff dressed in costume and a roll-call of animatronic characters, Stew Leonard’s isn’t shy about adding a pronounced element of kitsch to the shopping experience.)

In the meat department, we meet manager Rocco Riccardi (who happens to be a cousin of Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano.) “I always bust his chops when I come through here,” says Leonard, casually picking up a packet of lamb ribs, so that I’m uncertain whether or not this is meant to be a double-entendre. With the holidays approaching, he quizzes Riccardi on sales and hears that turkey sales are “insane,” with an element of panic-buying possibly brought about by the pandemic. “For the first time in our history,” Leonard informs me, “we sold a trailer-load of turkeys in August.”

And in the fish department, manager Fred Papp, who is chef Papp’s father and has been with the company 30 years, fills Leonard in on the piscine state of play. “Lobster tails are off the charts, but the king crab is getting very scarce,” he reports. I comment on how inviting the yards-long fish counter looks, with its shiny, polished chrome and sparkling-fresh fish. “What the customer doesn’t realize,” says Papp, “is that it takes us three to four hours each day to set up, and two to three to break down.” He likes his fish counter staff to look well-presented, too — and they

do, in spotless white jackets and aprons.

The afternoon is drawing on. At 4 p.m., Fox News’ Inside Edition, where Leonard is a regular guest, is coming in to do a segment on holiday food. He will be talking a great deal of turkey.

Through a final door and we find ourselves in the wine store, which, as Leonard remarks and not in jest, “is the one department I have to take a sample from before I leave.” After chatting with the store’s wine specialist, Paige Donahoo, he selects a modest Pinot Noir, which he says he and wife Kim will drink that evening with the lamb chops he picked up earlier for dinner at their home in Westport. (Married for 38 years, he tells me he and his wife “love to just sit at home and talk.”) I ask if he cooks. “Oh yes, I love to cook,” he says. “And I love anything chargrilled. When the smoke alarm goes off, that’s how I know it’s done.”

A senior mother and her lookalike daughter smile excitedly as they pass and recognize him. “Hey, I love to see two sisters shopping together,” Leonard greets them. I grimace at the corny quip. “Never fails,” he says, as the “sisters” go off, cooing, “Ooh, we just love your store.”

Tomorrow, Leonard will be up at 5 a.m. to fly to California for a family baptism, but he will be back before the end of the week and the whole process will begin again. Business is what drives him, which is perhaps appropriate for a man who, after all, has his own name on the drive.

Stew Leonard’s is at 1 Stew Leonard Drive. For more, visit stewleonards.com.

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Keeping the faith — and spreading it

BY JEREMY WAYNE

Yonkers-born chef and restaurateur Peter X. Kelly is the 10th of 12 children. He started in the food industry by washing dishes at a small German restaurant, where everything was made in-house. In 1983, at age 23 and without any formal training — although he had studied business administration at Marist College in Poughkeepsie -- he opened his first restaurant, Xaviars, a lucent, pastel space at the Highland Country Club in Garrison. The New York Times called it a “find,” while our editor remembers rose-strewn Mother’s Day buffet brunches there, topped by a molten white chocolate mousse that continues to melt in memory.

After Xaviars — named for the “X” in Peter X. Kelly — he went on to open several more places, including X20 Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers, where our editor, again, enjoyed a six-hour, Champagne-filled birthday dinner in which her stepmother and aunt flirted with guys on jet skis on the river. Among many industry achievements and honors, Kelly has appeared on “Iron Chef,” won a James Beard award for Best Chef: Northeast, was inducted into Nation’s Restaurant News’ Fine Dining Hall of Fame and has given the commencement address at the Culinary Institute of America.

As gracious to patrons and journalists as he is to those in need, Kelly recently answered some questions for us: At the tender age of 23 and famously selftaught, you opened your first restaurant.

How on earth did you get started?

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“I traveled to France to sit in some of the 3-Michelin star restaurants to see what "world class " meant. I got out the books and poured myself into learning the classics. I sold my car and took every penny I had saved and opened the restaurant, Xaviars, at Garrison in 1983 as the chef and never looked back.”

That’s an amazing story. What happened after you opened?

“We attracted a lot of media attention. The New York Times caught on to us early. There was a section, the Living section, which is where restaurants were then, and it came out on a Wednesday. We got a cover picture of our outdoor terrace, and it was a “find” for The Times. We went from doing five covers to 105 the next day. It put us on the map. Then Zagat came out and we were off. Well, that was a long time ago and we have since opened several restaurants.”

And what was your second act, so to speak?

Our restaurant in Piermont, (Xaviar’s at Piermont), which we opened in 1987. It was the first restaurant outside Manhattan to receive an extraordinary, four-star review. That was a big deal. And at the same time we got Zagat’s 29 rating — the highest they ever gave (out of 30). Having the critics’ stamp of approval by The New York Times and the people’s stamp of approval from Zagat was very compelling for us. We felt we had arrived.”

But it didn’t stop there, right?

“We opened a restaurant in Congers and then later got approached to look in Yonkers. I mean, we didn’t need another restaurant. But having the opportunity to see if a restaurant could have a significant impact on a community was a compelling reason to open there.

And, in some way, I hedged my bet by putting it on the water.”

Oh yes, tell me more about that. Because it’s well-known in the industry that great views and great food don’t usually go together.

“Precisely. The closer you get to the water, the worse the food gets. But I figured people would come eventually. What I didn’t know was that, in those days, people didn’t even know there was a waterfront in Yonkers.”

Chef Peter X. Kelly.

Photographs courtesy Peter X. Kelly.

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But you went ahead regardless?

“I wanted to change that dynamic. So, we built this restaurant, tried to make it the best we could — but it was risky. We started in 2001, but it took six years to open the restaurant. We didn’t get going till 2007. And, at that time, a lot of people were starting to look at Yonkers, with a lot of smaller developers coming in.

But when the economy went south in 2007, all those developers pulled out. And it’s taken till now, really, to come back, with much deeper-pocketed national developers, people like RXR, AvalonBay, who are developing the area now.

“I have to give great credit to the current administration, Mike Spano and his team.

They’ve done a very good job, and also Wilson Kimball, who was the economic developer at that time. She recognized the potential. You know, Yonkers is a very special place. You don’t go anywhere in this country — in the world — where someone hasn’t heard of Yonkers”.

Chef Peter X. Kelly.

I agree — it’s quite extraordinary.

“It’s amazing. It was really the first suburb of Manhattan.”

Restaurant X as our country restaurant. Of course, they have similarities, but the feel is different in each one.”

big restaurants, each with 250-seats. So, it’s enough. I do get asked quite often to consult on projects, so I’ve been doing more of that.”

And a very wealthy suburb, which you can tell by the architecture around the city.

“And a very wealthy suburb, right. One trip to Untermeyer Gardens (Conservancy) and you can see what was there.”

And I know you’re also very involved with the community. Can you tell me about your civic work?

“I try to participate wherever I can. whether it’s actually cooking in the location where the organization is, or whatever. (We’ve worked with) many hunger relief programs— Feeding Westchester, Coalition for the Hungry and the Homeless, before the groups were combined — all very important. And we do a lot of work with the churches and Little Sisters of the Poor. I come from a very Catholic background, with two uncles that were priests and two aunts that were nuns, so I’m drawn to that.”

And your thoughts on the pandemic — in the restaurant sense. Are there protocols that will remain in restaurants once Covid — with any luck — recedes or disappears?

“The mask thing will fall away at some point but the sanitizing, the disinfecting, that’s all here to stay. And I think that’s a good thing.

People understand better now how important those things are.”

And was there also the sense that, being one of 12, there was competitiveness and you really wanted to do well on your home turf?

“Of course, there was some of that. But really, it was having the opportunity to open in Yonkers and just to see what would happen. I remember bringing my brother Ned (the floral designer) down. He’s the closest to me in age. I said, ‘I want to show you something I’m thinking about.’ And we were on this sort of recreational pier that was completely dilapidated, and we stood on it and he went, ‘Yeah?’ and I said, ‘I want to build a restaurant here.’

And I’m looking south to the George Washington Bridge and north to the Tappan Zee and out to the Palisades and he says to me, “Peter, the family worked so hard to get us out of here.

What do you want to do, drag us all back?”

That’s very funny, and even a little poignant. But back to the present day, I know that you’ve recently been through a transition — and let’s face it, who hasn’t during Covid? But fill me in on what restaurants you have now.

“Right now, we have two — Restaurant X and Bully Boy Bar in Congers and X2O in Yonkers. We also have a catering company. I look on Yonkers as a sort of urban restaurant and

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You’ve got good credentials there, that’s for sure.

“Well, I don’t know if they will help — and, of course, I need all the help I can get. But seriously, one of the things I’m very proud of, near Presbyterian Hospital up in Cortlandt, we built the Peter X. Kelly Teaching Kitchen, which works with the community, the high schools and grammar schools. We bring kids in and teach them how to cook a healthier snack. And we work with hospital staff in creating diets for whatever the issue may be — whether it’s cardiac or diabetes, or teaching seniors how to cook at home, in a more appropriate way than they may be used to.”

Do you see any new restaurants on the horizon, perhaps new cuisines you want to explore?

“No plans to open any new restaurants.

The two restaurants we currently have are

And the staff shortages we keep hearing about?

“When the pandemic hit, so many looked and said they could be doing something else, have weekends off, spend time with their family. They won’t be coming back. The industry has to be in your blood. You have to enjoy coddling guests. (But just as) there’ll always be people that want to experience great food and wine and great spirits, we’ll always find good people who like to make them happy, whether waiting on them or cooking for them.”

You clearly still enjoy cooking.

“You know, there’s nothing like cooking for somebody. It’s a very sensual and special relationship you have with a guest. When I walk into the dining room and meet a guest and they say, “That was so wonderful,” — well, not even doctors get that. Doctors might have to wait months and months to find out if they’ve done a good job, if they find out at all. But for me, well for me, it’s immediate gratification.”

For reservations and more, visit xaviars. com.

FRESH Holidays start at One Stew Leonard’s Drive, Yonkers, NY StewLeonards.com

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Cowboy Robeye at X20 Xaviers on the Hudson.

Photographs courtesy X20 Xaviers on the Hudson.

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Classic + modern = X20 Xaviars on the Hudson

BY JEREMY WAYNE

If anyone is going to be writing the obituary notice of “fine dining,” it is not going to be Peter Kelly (Page 60). Thoroughly genial, exceptionally hard-working, altruistic and ever thoughtful, the self-taught, Yonkers-born, chef is a stickler for the art of gracious living and doing things the right way.

In cooking terms, that means taking his inspiration from French cuisine and France, and more broadly Europe, where he journeyed in his early 20s to educate his palate — dining at 3-Michelin star temples of gastronomy and observing great chefs, who were pretty much household names in France, at work. But though he has long championed classic French cookery, he has never been shy about embracing new techniques and influences.

Those techniques are not only alive and well, they are very much in evidence at X20 Xaviars on the Hudson, the striking, waterfront restaurant Kelly launched in Yonkers in 2017, and where I was recently treated to an extraordinary sampling of the restaurant’s tasting menu, thanks to its chef/patron’s kindness and generosity. This was a kaleidoscopic, 10-act performance of dazzling gastronomic virtuosity, set against the backdrop of the wood and glass-frame restaurant, which sits dramatically on the only turn-of-the-20th century pier still in use on the Hudson River, with views all the way to the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge and down to Manhattan.

These days, of course, most restaurant critics worth their trendy pink Himalayan salt despise the term “fine dining,” the skill, sophistication,

perceived profligacy with “food miles” — and even the occasionally culinary legerdemain — that fine dining implies offending against the new sanctity of spontaneity and sustainability.

And yet, fine and gracious dining needn’t fight with authenticity: There’s plenty of space in the field or kitchen garden for them to coexist peaceably.

At X20, our tasting menu got underway with a stunning amuse-bouche, small bites of sushi, sashimi and nigiri, including hamachi with chilled ponzu, king salmon with mango and wondrously crunchy shrimp tempura, all lined up in almost military formation on a long white rectangular dish. This was a revelation of tang and freshness, pinging of the sea. (Chef Kelly joked the sushi came from the Hudson, which sadly we knew not to be true.) After these little jewels, a shot of butternut squash bisque, supercharged with Slovenian pumpkin seed oil, cleared and then primed the palate for roasted, golden beets with soft goat cheese curd.

If Chef Kelly is unashamedly at home with luxury ingredients — lobster, truffles, caviar, prime beef, say — then he is equally at ease with humbler root vegetables and greens. And he has a fascination with Asian produce and ingredients, too. Later in our dinner, Hakurei turnips

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with black miso and togarashi (a subtly hot Japanese spice mix) lifted a dish of gloriously pink, Hudson Valley duck breast to the heights, while a light-as-a-feather shellfish crêpe was loaned an umami lick with its star-anise glaze.

In a dish of grilled Portuguese octopus, and cutting the smokiness of the char-grilling, both green and ripe papaya (yes, both; God, after all, is in the detail,) along with cucumber, red onion and cilantro, added a touch of Mexican, or possibly Thai, headiness. In another chef’s hands, this could have ended up a farrago, but at X20, imaginatively paired with a citrusy Hoegaarden Belgian wheat-beer served in an ice-cold glass, the multilayered mélange was absolutely spot-on.

And in the dish that followed, a beautiful tranche of glossy Asian halibut came to the table in thin sheets of zucchini, the baby squash acting like an almost translucent shroud.

With so many dishes to place and remove, approaches by staff members could have become overwhelming, but they never did. Service was smooth without ever being starchy and plates were placed and removed almost silently, while the many wines we were lucky enough to sample were poured with great elegance by the restaurant manager.

Ah, those wines. This is a cellar to be reckoned with. Beginning modestly, though not too modestly, with a yeasty Café de Paris brut Rosé from Bordeaux, we moved through a grapefruity Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand with the shellfish crêpe to an oaky, Bedford Chardonnay from Russian River, California, brim-

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X20 Xaviars on the Hudson interiors.

ming over with pear and citrus, with the meaty halibut. A Riesling came next, from the Whitecliff Vineyard in Gardiner, New York — you’d expect nothing less with your steamed Asian dumplings — before a Californian Josh Phelps Cab and then a spectacular 2017 Stag Leap “Artemis”, enjoyed with the duck and a roast loin of lamb respectively, eclipsed all that had gone before them.

Of course, you don’t need to eat and drink at this exalted level, and X20’s assorted lunch, brunch dinner and bar menus allow for enjoyment on any plane.

But coming down to earth from the euphoric delights of the “Artemis,” I caught myself reveling in other elements of fine dining — tables dressed with good linen, beautiful stemware, a decorative bowl of red roses on the table, finding them all oddly reassuring. It was like seeing old friends who had been too long absent from my life.

Cascading light fixtures, meanwhile, seemingly suspended in space like Alexander Calder mobiles, helped break up and soften the large dining room, so that at night it took on an intimate air, with Ella Fitzgerald, a favorite daughter of Yonkers, exhorting us to “Begin the Beguine” and Leon Bridges smooching “Beyond,” adding to the atmosphere.

So, three cheers for fine dining and X20, which by the way is a no-brainer if you’re looking for somewhere special to celebrate a birthday, say, or an anniversary. Then again, one of the best reasons to come to this magical spot on the Hudson is for no reason at all. Because, these days, just being able to throw on some glad-rags and head out somewhere wonderful for lunch or dinner is the only excuse you need for doing so.

For reservations and more, visit xaviars. com.

MAKE YOUR NEXT GETAWAY… A HUDSON HIGHLANDS EXPERIENCE. Just one hour from Grand Central Terminal and thirty minutes from White Plains, The Abbey Inn emerges, wholly renovated and re-imagined, as the premier new boutique hotel and spa of the Hudson Valley.

Developed by renowned builder Martin Ginsburg of GDC, The Abbey Inn is a special place perched high overlooking the Hudson River and features 42 luxurious guest rooms and suites, a full-service spa, numerous exquisite indoor and outdoor private event spaces… including a private wine cellar, and Apropos… a farm to table restaurant and bar.

This lovingly restored historic property atop Fort Hill in Peekskill is the ideal destination for a day trip to our restaurant and spa, a weekend retreat, or family gathering to celebrate one of life’s milestone moments. We are passionate about providing you and yours with the highest level of service.

Quite simply, nothing compares.

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'The city of gracious living' STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JENA A. BUTTERFIELD

There are pockets of Yonkers so tony and quaint, they are considered hidden gems. Not only are they situated on the doorstep of New York City, but they have well-crafted houses on sun-dappled streets with ample, manicured yards and neighbors who know your name.

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As the third largest city in New York state, Yonkers is many things. It is both urban and suburban. There’s a solid middle class but there’s also poverty. There’s a nascent but burgeoning population of Manhattan-transplants and a waterfront (as transformed in areas as it is derelict in others) to match. Yonkers is an amalgam of ideas, styles and people, but a generally blue-collar ethos prevails.

Then there are the neighborhoods that have earned Yonkers the name "the city of gracious living." And the lifestyle these communities offer is highly sought after, an added boon to Yonkers’ increasingly enticing housing market.

Take Crestwood, a hidden enclave between Central Park Avenue and the Bronx River Parkway where tree-lined streets, wide lawns and English-style roundabouts harken back to a smalltown America hard to fathom in the metro area.

People are proud to be from here. Car magnets boast the neighborhood’s exit number. Zillow has recognized it as one of the nation’s most popular and sought-after communities. There are block parties and an active women’s guild that sponsors things like backyard “pub-crawls.”

A popular Facebook group keeps everyone in the loop, holding neighbors accountable if they act out of line. (Dog poop is a hot topic). There’s also a well-utilized park with tennis courts and a clubhouse. Halloween is a Disneyesque extravaganza. Even New Rochelle painter Norman Rockwell, the master of nostalgic idealism him-

self, immortalized Crestwood’s train station.

Like in similar enclaves along the Bronx River Parkway, when people move in, they tend to stay. Generations of the same family buy up houses on adjacent blocks.

“Families come back,” says Joe Houlihan of Houlihan & O’Malley, a boutique real estate agency that services Bronxville and surrounding communities.

And he should know. Houlihan himself grew up in Crestwood — on Chittenden Avenue near the picturesque little library — with nine siblings.

His family lived in the same house for 50 years and his brother now lives a few blocks away.

According to Houlihan & O’Malley, the median price of single-family homes here has risen steadily over the years. In 2011, the price was $580,000. In 2020, it was $663,000 and year to date its $740,000. “That’s an astronomical increase,” says Houlihan. (The highest sale price year to date was $1.2 million.)

In Yonkers in general, according to Zillow — the online real estate marketplace — the home value index has increased 38.3% from $439,000 in January 2012 to $607,000 in July 2021.

But other nearby neighborhoods are even more affluent. In the coveted adjacent Bronxville zip code (10708), the highest sale price year to date was $7 million, according to Houlihan & O’Malley. In 2020, the median price in the 10708 was $775,000. Year to date it’s $832,000. That’s a 7.5% increase.

Crestwood’s golden landscapes in late autumn symbolize its popularity on Zillow.

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The picturesque Tudor-style Crestwood Branch Library.

YONKERS INVESTS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING AS WELL Zoning requires affordable housing at new developments to ensure equity.

All of Yonkers’ public housing units have been renovated over the last three years, a $500 million investment in more than 1,800 units.

The $74-million Point and Ravine project will feature 146 income-restricted apartments. The project is designed to transform a blighted, vacant block in the Warburton Ravine Urban Renewal Area into a sustainable, intergenerational community, with financial incentives from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

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The Bronxville post office area includes Lawrence Park West — not to be confused with Lawrence Park itself, a national historic district of stately, turn-of-the-20th-century homes for artists and writers developed in Bronxville by real estate mogul William Van Duzer Lawrence, founder of neighboring Sarah Lawrence College (Page 82). Lawrence Park West is near the college, NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital and downtown Bronxville, although it has its own bustling little retail area.

There are also micro-neighborhoods like Armour Villa and Longvale, all of which resemble the affluent Bronxville (even sharing that zip code). And it’s the same in Cedar Knolls, which lies next door. In all of these areas, unlike Bronxville village, properties sell for a fraction of the cost and taxes are much lower. There was no property tax increase in the past Yonkers budget.

Farther up the Bronx River Parkway toward Scarsdale there’s Colonial Heights and Beech Hill. The lots in these two neighborhoods are large and the houses spread out.

This eastern swath of Yonkers, near major highways and Tudor-style Metro-North train stations, is dotted with piquant hamlets that provide a walking quality people want, especially if they come from New York City.

On the southwest side of Yonkers, there’s Park Hill, developed as a getaway for the wealthy in the late 19th century and located on one of Yonkers many hills with views of the Hudson River. Here you’ll find perfect-specimen period houses like turreted mansions and Vic-

torian homes with incredible detail and views.

Unlike in the east, Park Hill stands out for its jarring juxtaposition to the neighborhoods that lie at its base, illustrating Yonkers very real wealth gap (though poverty rates have declined from 17.5% in 2012 to 14.9% in 2019). The grandeur and detail of the homes here provide a particularly stark contrast with perhaps the poorest of Yonkers neighborhoods.

But in all of these places, there is a lifestyle to be had that belies the perception of Yonkers as “not quite there yet.” And it doesn’t end there.

Throughout the rest of Yonkers, 9,100 new luxury multifamily units are either planned, completed, under construction or approved for development. And major national housing brands, like AvalonBay Communities and RXR Realty, are building here.

“I’m very bullish about Yonkers,” says Houlihan. “I think that this very planned progress is happening and people are feeling better about it.”

He’s certainly seeing this in the neighborhoods north of Cross County Parkway in the east.

“We’re experiencing very low inventory, especially under $1 million,” Houlihan adds. “If you’re looking for a single-family (home) under $800,000, you can’t find much. If I had a house under $1 million, I could sell it quickly.”

The solid influx of homebuyers and increase in bidding wars tells a story that’s much different than the playwright Neil Simon would have us believe. It seems people aren’t just getting “lost in Yonkers” anymore. They’re seeking it out to stay and thrive.

GINSBURG DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES is proud to be a part of the economic revitalization of the City of Yonkers under the leadership of

Mayor Mike Spano and the Yonkers City Council.

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The Royal (Regency) treatment

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

In January 2016 WAG, we profiled the Royal Regency Hotel, whose purple palette evoked its regal name — and treatment of guests — while its Greek-key motif, a pattern of reverse and upside-down Ls running through the décor, signaled its Greek-American present and past.

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IN 1992, the hotel’s owners, Konstantinos and Phyllis Paxos, bought the property from the family of Tom Carvelas — Tom Carvel — the soft-serve ice cream pioneer whose dessert company, Carvel Corp., had owned the building since the 1960s. The Carvel story — which included soft-serve vanilla and chocolate cakes like Fudgie the Whale and Cookie Puss, featured in Tom Carvel’s own folksy commercials — took off on Memorial Day weekend 1934 when his 5-year-old ice cream truck developed a flat on Central Avenue in Hartsdale, forcing Carvel to sell his melting custard ice cream on the spot.

Carvel’s two-day success led to his soft-serve custard product and first franchise. (Today there are more than 400 worldwide while the cakes are sold in 8,500 supermarkets.)

The building that now houses the Royal Regency was a home base for the Carvel brand and operated as an ice cream store, office, an inn that hosted many political victory parties and other events as well as a training facility for franchisees.

Recently, Maria Pampafikos, the hotel’s executive vice president and the Paxoses’ daughter, took some time to answer a few questions from WAG:

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Maria, a lot has changed in the world since we spoke in 2016. What has changed at the hotel?

“We remodeled another ballroom in 2019, our Diamond Ballroom. This year we refreshed the carpeting and wallpaper in our guest hallways and lobby areas. We installed brand new hardware for an updated high- speed Wi-Fi system.”

What protocols have you implemented in these challenging times?

“Plexiglas screens at the desk; hand sanitizer available in all public areas; providing PPE to our employees, including masks and gloves; and increased disinfectant usage and sanitizing protocols in our housekeeping department.”

How have you and occupancy fared since the pandemic?

“Everyone in our industry has suffered tre-

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mendously and the Royal Regency is no exception. On average, it seems reasonable to say that our occupancy suffered less than other hotels in our area due to the fact that the majority of our clientele is a transient traveler and so we did not take the same type of hit that the corporate hotels took when corporate travel was cut off. Our banquets and catering facility were effectively shut down for a year, so that was difficult as well. We have since reopened our event spaces and look forward to having many events hosted and memories made in our facility once again.”

What enhancements are you looking forward to featuring in the future?

“As we move into 2022, we will be reexamining the timelines for aesthetic updates and refreshes to our guest rooms and common areas.”

For more, visit royalregencyhotelny.com.

The Royal Regency Hotel in Yonkers occupies the footprint of the former headquarters of Tom Carvel’s softserve ice cream. Courtesy the Royal Regency Hotel.

R

idge Hill is the top destination in Yonkers for shopping, food, and fun! The family-friendly outdoor center features an inviting Town Square and green space, beautiful tree-lined streets, and a play area for children. In addition to an enticing mix of popular fashion, sports and technology retailers like Apple, Uniqlo, Sephora, and L.L. Bean, the center is home to LEGOLAND® Discovery Center, a 12-screen Showcase Cinema de Lux, Rockin' Jump Indoor Trampoline Park, iFLY Indoor Skydiving, and Whole Foods Market. Dining options are plentiful with delicious restaurants including The Cheesecake Factory, Yard House, Texas de Brazil, Public Pizza, and Lefteris Gyro.

Ridge Hill hosts a year-round calendar of events including outdoor movies on the lawn, live musical performances, holiday programs, and much more. The

property also features a growing art collection including seven murals (and counting!) perfect for taking a selfie or simply enjoying the view.

Whether celebrating a special event, enjoying some leisure time, savoring a meal, or running an errand, Ridge Hill is the place to be — there’s always something happening on the hill!

Located in Yonkers, at Exit 6A off the New York State Thruway and at the Tuckahoe Road West Exit from the Sprain Brook Parkway, Ridge Hill is easily accessible to all Westchester, Putnam, and NYC Metropolitan-area residents and visitors. Learn more at www.ridgehill.com and follow @shopridgehill on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

A place where art and commerce meet

BY KATIE BANSER-WHITTLE

“My dad said we’re going to Yonkers.” “Big deal. What are Yonkers, anyway?”

This puerile exchange has been circulating for years. It’s time to give a bad joke a good answer.

Yonkers — named for Adriaen van der Donck, the progressive 17th-century Dutch lawyer and jonkheer, or squire, who owned the Colen Donck land on which the municipality now sits (Page 26) — is the third largest city in New York state. It has a rich, interesting history, from its 17th century beginnings as an agricultural, frontier settlement of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, later known as New York, to its 21st century renaissance as a diverse and gentrifying near-in suburb of Manhattan (once New Amsterdam).

Think of trade and commerce in the preindustrial era and what comes to mind is salt water — ocean exploration followed by the establishment of deep-water ports, few grander than New York Harbor. But inland waterways like the tidal Hudson River — the American colonies’ North or First River, the Lenape people’s Muhheakantuck, or “River That Flows Both Ways” — played a major role in this country’s economic and political development.

During the Hudson’s heyday as New York’s superhighway from the 1600s to the late 1800s, thousands of crafts stopped at Yonkers and its sister cities. Vessels carrying agricultural products and furs plied the Hudson River between New York City and Montreal. Sailboats, steamboats and ferries of all descriptions carried freight, business passengers and pleasure seekers. Yonkers was a major transportation hub.

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Waterpower of another kind was important to Yonkers’ economic growth. Sawmills and grist mills were powered by waterfalls along the Hudson and Nepperhan (now Saw Mill) rivers. Other industries that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries were metalworking (the Otis Elevator Co. was founded in Yonkers, Page 34), carpet manufacturing (the Alexander Smith and Sons Co, Page 88) and even a sugar refinery (now Domino Foods, Page 48).

Yonkers, incorporated as a city in 1872, wasn’t all about business, however. Conveniently close to fast-growing New York City, it was a gateway to the Hudson River Valley. The area was increasingly a desirable retreat for urban wealth in search of fresh air and sublime scenery. Remaining examples of this aspect of Yonkers’ past are Philipse Manor Hall (circa 1682), the seat of the Philipses, a family of rich Tory landowners; the Trevor Mansion, part of the Hudson River Museum; and Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, a vestige of the Greystone estate of crusading lawyer Samuel J. Untermyer.

One of America’s most productive and admired artistic movements also flourished in the area in the decades that bracketed the Civil War. The landscape painters of the Hudson River School — beginning with Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand and Frederic E. Church and winding through Hast-

Jasper F. Cropsey’s “Autumn on the Hudson” (oil on board). Private collection, New York state. Sold for $320,000 at Skinner Inc. Courtesy Skinner Inc.

ings-on-Hudson’s Jasper F. Cropsey and John Frederic Kensett to the Luminists Sanford Robinson Gifford, George Inness and Thomas Moran — did much to portray the United States as the new Eden. But they were more than the painters of America. They were the painters of the Americas.

Many of the school’s later paintings included depictions of graceful watercraft, such as the distinctive tall-rigged Hudson River sloops. From the 1840s to the 1880s, the Hudson River School painters found their inspiration in both the broad expanse and dramatic gorged, cleft and valleyed New York wilderness that remained somewhat untouched yet easily accessible mainly from Yonkers and the other river settlements until the advent of the railroad, sometimes seen snaking through these Edenic landscapes.

It’s appropriate that the Hudson River Museum has in its permanent collection paintings by many of the most prominent artists in the school, including Durand, Cropsey, Kensett and Coleman. Works by these and other members of the group show up frequently in Skinner auctions, often at prices that make these romantic, luminous depictions of unspoiled nature very affordable.

So, what are Yonkers?

Rich history, striking natural beauty, diverse industry — a place where art and commerce happily meet.

For more, contact Katie at kwhittle@skinnerinc.com or call 212-787-1114.

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Ensuring the future of Yonkers' students

BY SAMUEL WALLIS

With so much economic, political and social uncertainty, how do we guide our students?

A college signing at Yonkers Partners in Education.

Photographs courtesy Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE).

One of our jobs as educators is to equip students for the world that doesn’t yet exist. Young people must learn skills that will serve them in jobs that haven’t been created, jobs that are changing at a rapid pace. Charting a path to this uncertain future is a challenge for the American educational system.

Yet even as the pandemic has accelerated conversations about alternative career paths, data make clear that college remains a key tool for economic mobility, especially for young people like those in Yonkers.

Getting to college takes a community. Working alongside the committed educators in the Yonkers public high schools, Yonkers Partners in Education’s (YPIE) team of teachers, college advisers and more than 270 volunteers have been partnering with students for nearly 15 years to ensure they are ready for, enroll in and persist in college.

Yonkers is reflective of many cities across the country.

Students in our city’s schools are overwhelmingly low-income students of color and likely to be the first in their families to go to college. All of the economic, political and

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Samuel Wallis, executive director of Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE).

YONKERS’ EDUCATION AT A GLANCE The $2 billion “Rebuild Yonkers Schools” plan includes a new public school on the site of the former St. Denis School to open in the fall of 2023.

Graduation rates have increased 18%, with Yonkers’ graduation rate of 91% beating the state average of 85% and the Westchester County rate of 90%.

The percentage of adults 25 and older with a Bachelor of Arts degree rose from 17.5% in 2012 to 19.4% in 2019.

— Supplied by the city of Yonkers

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social trends affecting young people across the country are felt acutely right here.

Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce recently released a report that reinforces what YPIE has learned on the ground about maximizing the chances that a student from a city like Yonkers will achieve economic success.

• College still matters: Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that postsecondary education not only increases earnings, but also serves as a safety net during economic downturns. We’ve seen the unemployment rate remain relatively low during the pandemic for those with higher educational attainment. YPIE has seen hundreds of students leverage their education to find well-paying jobs that can support them and their families.

• Students need direction: At YPIE, advisers know that not all colleges are created equal. Some are better at supporting students like those from Yonkers. At those schools, students will have a better chance of attaining a degree. College counseling for first-generation students is about way more than navigating confusing paperwork.

• The playing field isn’t level: It’s up to all of us to ensure that we are building

a robust educational landscape to give every student a shot, including academic preparation for the rigors of college; mentors and role models with a listening ear; individualized college and career guidance; community and mental health resources; and constant reminders that students and families are not alone.

Investing in our young people isn’t only about providing individual students with opportunity. It’s critical for innovation and longterm economic growth for the whole community.

It lifts up all of Westchester.

As a society, we don’t have the luxury of missing out on the genius of our young people. We’ll need them to create a less uncertain future.

For more, visit ypie.org.

Samuel Wallis has been the executive director of Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE) since July 2019. Wallis began his work in education through Teach for America as a teacher in the Mississippi Delta before returning to New York to join the leadership team at a Democracy Prep high school.

Wallis graduated from Tufts University and earned his master's degree from Columbia University Teachers College.

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A college’s window onto civic partnerships

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

When Sarah Lawrence College successfully applied for a $1.2 million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant two years ago — recalls Cristle Collins Judd, the college’s president — “the foundation asked us, If Sarah Lawrence went away today, what would your neighbors say?”

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Not, What gossip might they reveal? But rather, Would it matter to Yonkers (the college’s hometown), Bronxville (its postal address) and neighboring Mount Vernon that the 95-yearold college — founded by real estate mogul William Van Duzer Lawrence and famed for its intimate classes; faculty-student conferences; and arts, human genetics and early childhood programs — passed this way at all?

For the college and for Judd — who became president in 2017 after serving as the Mellon Foundation’s senior program officer for higher education and scholarship in the humanities — the answer can only be “yes” as civic connection, engagement and reciprocity are key.

There’s a reason, she says, that the floor-toceiling windows of the lucent Barbara Walters Campus Center (named for the legendary host of “Today” and “The View,” a Sarah Lawrence alumna) face Kimball Avenue, which connects downtown Bronxville with Yonkers’ Cross County Center. Those windows crystallize the

college’s longstanding commitment to reaching out to its larger community and letting it in.

Using the five-year Mellon grant — the largest programmatic one in the college’s history — Sarah Lawrence has created positions for three public humanities fellows and one digital media fellow, who teach at the college and join the students in partnering with local organizations. So public humanities fellow Kishauna Soljour, Ph.D. — who leads the African American Oral History Project with Yonkers Public Library — taught a class on Yonkers history to SLC students, who in turn did podcasts on aspects of that history, including one on the library’s bookmobiles. This year, Soljour has curated “Rooted: A Community Archive,” at the college’s Esther Raushenbush Library through Dec. 17. A multimedia show featuring the works of four artists, three of whom are from Yonkers, “Rooted” is the story of identity, history and community in Yonkers and New York state. The digital media fellow, Yeong Ran

Cristle Collins Judd, president of Sarah Lawrence College, remains passionate about the school’s engagement with the community, including the city of Yonkers, the college’s home.

Photograph by Don Hamerman.

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The team of students who recently identified a new species of fish in the Hudson River includes (left to right) Yonkers Middle High School seniors Michael Castro and Sukaina Rashid, with Jason Muller, outreach coordinator of Sarah Lawrence College’s Center for the Urban River at Beczak (CURB). Not pictured – SLC sophomore Gabriella Marchesani. Courtesy Sarah Lawrence College.

Kim, Ph.D., teaches a class at Sarah Lawrence in how to teach digital media. Its students in turn pass on their knowledge in a workshop for 12 and 13 year olds from Yonkers, Bronxville and Mount Vernon, says Mara Gross, director of the college’s Anita L. Stafford Office of Community Partnerships and Service Learning.

Another public humanities fellow, still to be determined, will be working with the multidisciplinary Hudson River Museum in Yonkers (Page 88), while public humanities fellow Emily Bloom engages with Wartburg, the senior living complex in Mount Vernon distinguished by its artistic offerings for residents and the surrounding community.

But the Mellon Foundation grant is just one way in which Sarah Lawrence connects with Yonkers. The college’s Community Leadership Intern Program (CLIP) puts students to work in Yonkers agencies across disciplines — the arts, environment, social services — for more than 10 weeks in summer. Each student puts

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in 30 hours a week, earning minimum wage (which will be $15 an hour, beginning Jan. 1) in what may be an entrée to a career. One student working with Soljour at Yonkers Public Library, says Gross, is going on to apply for an advanced degree in library science.

Sarah Lawrence also operates the Center for the Urban River at Beczak (CURB) in Yonkers, which provides thousands of kindergartners through 12th graders with environmental education, serves as a research hub and monitors issues related to the Hudson River like waste refuse. Recently, Jason Muller, CURB’s outreach coordinator, SLC sophomore Gabriella Marchesani and Yonkers Middle High School seniors Michael Castro and Sukaina Rashid discovered a 33-millimeter lyle goby (Evorthodus lyricus), which is indeed a fish out of water for this region. It is now officially the 236th species to inhabit the Hudson.

Such moments of discovery aren’t only for the young. The college offers lifelong learning

programs for professionals and other adults, Judd says, including those in The Writing Institute, Child Development Institute and Filmmakers Collective. She adds that Sarah Lawrence partners with Westchester Community College (Page 86) — enabling WCC students who have graduated with an Associate of Science (A.S.) degree in childhood education or an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in early childhood to matriculate as juniors at SLC and earn their Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in liberal arts and sciences in two years or their bachelor’s and Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees in the art of teaching in three years.

With the nonprofit Hearts and Homes for Refugees, Gross says, Sarah Lawrence helps refugees settle into Yonkers and beyond in part by doing what it does best, teaching.

Such engagement ensures that the college’s windows shine on an increasingly wider world.

For more, visit sarahlawrence.edu.

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Extending the community college experience

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

Nestled between Michael Kors and Foot Locker at Cross County Center in Yonkers is a 12,000-square-foot space that offers not clothing and accessories but knowledge and opportunity.

It’s the Yonkers extension of Valhalla-based Westchester Community College, which opened in 2001 in a Cross County space now occupied by the Hyatt Place New York/Yonkers.

“What I like to say is we’re celebrating 20 years, but we’re looking to the future,” says Joseph Cooke, director of the Yonkers Extension Center.

What began with technology and general education classes has grown into a curriculum of liberal arts and business courses, along with a full complement of student support, from financial aid to tutoring to a social activities club.

“We try to offer as many student services as we can,” Cooke says.

Classes are held anywhere from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays — with some classes running until 10 p.m. That’s because the extension’s student body, ranging from 1,400 to 1,800 students, isn’t just comprised of the traditional 18 to 20 year olds in search of an associate’s degree but older adults looking to return to school, jumpstart a career or switch gears. And while enrollment at community colleges, which mainly serve working-class students and those of color, has declined precipitously during the pandemic — a situation not likely to be remedied by the Biden Administration’s decision to forgo a plan offering two years free' tuition to community college attendees — more older adults are enrolling at the extension, raising the median age of the student body. (The Biden Administration is instead looking to maximize federal Pell Grant awards — given to students in financial need who have not yet earned a degree or who are seeking postbaccalaureate teacher certification — a plan that is more appealing to conservatives and moderates.)

Many of the extension’s students come

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Joseph Cooke, director of Westchester Community College’s Yonkers Extension Center, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Photograph courtesy Westchester Community College.

from Yonkers, Mount Vernon and the Bronx.

And many are enrolled in what Cooke calls the extension’s “very strong” ESL (English as a Second Language) program. WCC has the largest English as a Second Language program in Westchester County. The program’s students range from those who can hardly speak English to those looking to polish their skills in the language.

“We’re here for everyone,” Cooke says and that includes students who will matriculate to other institutes of higher learning such as Yonkers neighbor Sarah Lawrence College. The two colleges have an agreement enabling WCC students who have graduated with an Associate of Science (A.S.) degree in childhood education or an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in early childhood to matriculate as juniors at SLC and earn their Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in liberal arts and sciences in two years or their bachelor’s and Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees in the art of teaching in three years.

“Sarah Lawrence is a neighbor and a partner,” Cooke says, who has sat on many Yonkers committees and boards.

“Sarah Lawrence always has a seat at the table,” he adds.

The same could be said for WCC and its Yonkers Extension Center.

For more, visit wcc.edu/yonkers.

WCC: A SPRINGBOARD TO HIGHER LEARNING For many students at Westchester Community College, the school is not an end but a beginning.

Recently, the college welcomed a new cohort of 18 students into its Honors College for the fall 2021 semester – the fifth such group since the Honors College was founded in 2017. The students are pursuing State University of New York (SUNY)- and New York State Department of Education (NYSDE)-approved honors-designated degrees in one of two curricula – liberal arts and sciences: social science; and liberal arts and sciences: humanities.

Accepted students receive guaranteed tuition coverage and substantial textbook stipends from the WCC Foundation, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.

They will have to fulfill at least 40% of their program requirements at the honors level and maintain a 3.5 GPA (grade point average) to graduate with an honors-designated associate degree. These student scholars – who include Maria Lozada Irenes, a graduate of Yonkers Middle High School – also have access to specialized co-curricular programming, including the study abroad program offered in partnership with England’s Cambridge University, the Philosophia Honors Society, student conferences and symposia, student publications and internships.

“Westchester Community College is an institution where those with a passion to improve and achieve can find the resources and instruction needed to reach their goals,” WCC President Belinda Miles, PhD, said in a statement. “Students from all walks of life, with a diverse array of needs and interests, seek their opportunity on our campus. Our most recent Honors College students are not just an elite cohort; they exemplify the spirit of all our students.

From the student whose life goal is to help teens in need of mental assistance, because she was told that adolescents like her shouldn’t have any mental issues, to the immigrant student who plans to become a lawyer and advocate for human rights, WCC will be preparing a new generation of change-makers whose vision and devotion will help make our region – and our nation – a better place.

“We are proud of the opportunities we offer our high-achieving students, such as those in our Honors College. WCC offers these students a tremendous foundation for pursuing their academic goals at such four-year institutions as Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Williams, NYU, Sarah Lawrence, as well as SUNY campuses and local colleges.”

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Culture blooms in the Carpet Mills Arts District

BY LAURA JOSEPH MOGIL

From the Hudson River Museum to the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy to galleries and public murals and sculptures, art is key to attracting people to live and work in as well as visit Yonkers. (See sidebar.) Many of the artists working in Yonkers have studios in the Carpet Mills Arts District, which was officially created in 2016 by a new city zoning law.

The arts district is in the Alexander Smith Carpet Mills Historic District and occupies the former carpet mills’ factory buildings. Smith, a onetime Congressman as well as businessman, established the Alexander Smith & Sons Co. in Yonkers during the Civil War. Eventually, it consisted of more than 80 buildings on 38 acres where thousands of workers used specially designed looms to weave some 50,000 yards of carpet daily. The facilities and housing for the workers stretched from Lake Avenue on the north to Ashburton Avenue on the south and Nepperhan Avenue on the west to Saw Mill River Road on the east.

In the mid-1950s, the Yonkers plant shut down entirely, leaving the massive complex vacant. Most of the complex stood empty for nearly 20 years until developers and smaller manufacturers began securing pieces for various industrial uses.

Louis Albano, Yonkers’ commissioner of planning and development, says the concept of turning the area into an arts district occurred over time. “As the industrial users started to relocate and close, some of the new owners came in and wanted to take the loft spaces and lease them to various tenants, such as furniture restorers, painters, sculptors, costume designers and textile firms,” says Albano.

Two of the buildings at 540-578 Nepperhan Ave. were offering studios to artists. The group occupying the studios there was called the YoHo (for "Yonkers above Houston") Artists. More and more artists moved there in the 1990s and into the new millen-

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Ray Wilcox’s studio at the Yonkers Arts Project Space in the Carpet Mills Arts District.

WHILE YOU’RE IN THE CARPET MILLS ARTS DISTRICT… Why not enjoy some of these area cultural attractions?

Blue Door Art Center — The nonprofit gives voice to the underserved through exhibits, workshops, readings and performances. On Dec. 18, join Blue Door virtually and in person for “Art Speak from Page to Performance,” a 1:30 p.m. writing workshop on activism and empowerment followed by a 4 p.m. reading. $15. Bluedoorartcenter.org.

Hudson River Museum — This art, science and history museum — home to a planetarium and the Gilded Age Trevor Mansion — often presents shows related to the river that gives it its name. The museum is in the midst of a long-awaited west wing capital improvement project to create special exhibit galleries with spectacular views, a sculpture court, a 100 tiered-seat auditorium, art storage space and a climate control system. On view through Jan. 16 — “African American Art in the 20th Century.” hrm.org Riverfront Art Gallery/Yonkers Public Library — The Riverfront Art Gallery exhibits contemporary art. Through Dec. 20, “UBUNTU: I Am Because We Are,” exploring works in a variety of media whose roots are in Africa. Also on display in the Riverfront Library lobby — five of the six life-size bronze figures of Africans enslaved at Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers who were the first to be freed by U.S. law in 1799, 64 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. Sculptor Vinnie Bagwell, who did Yonkers’ statue of Ella Fitzgerald, has imagined these slaves and their stories. In early spring 2022, construction will begin on the Enslaved Africans’ Rain Garden, which will ultimately house Bagwell’s sculptures. Ypl.org/artgallery/ Untermyer Gardens Conservancy — Once part of Greystone, the Yonkers estate of crusading, orchid-wearing lawyer Samuel J. Untermyer, the restored Greco-Persian-style Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, featured in May WAG, consists of 43 acres, including a garden walled on three sides that leads to neoclassical elements — arcades, temples and a small, open-air amphitheater guarded by two sets of twin Ionic columns topped with sphinxes; and watery ones — pools, canals and fountains — all overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades. Oh, yes and thousands of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals as well as tropical and aquatic plants. Beginning Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m., the Walled Garden is electric, literally, with 100,000 lights. Enjoy seasonal music, free hot chocolate and free admission 4:30 to 8 p.m. through Jan. 2. Untermyergardens.org.

Urban Studio Unbound (US+U)/Warburton Galerie — Emerging and mid-career artists join forces in this 4,000-square-foot space, home to exhibits and workshops. Urbanstudiounbound.org.

— Georgette Gouveia

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A rendering of the Hudson River Museum’s proposed River Terrace. Courtesy Hudson River Museum.

nium, and the group began offering annual open studio weekends to bring in visitors to see their work.

Over the upcoming years, additional arts-related businesses opened shop in the industrial area and the building owners wanted changes in the zoning.

According to Albano, “What we were trying to do was to create zoning for the arts district that would allow for retail use and public space but wouldn’t disturb any of the existing industrial businesses that were there,” he adds.

In 2015, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano joined owners of the historic Alexander Smith Carpet Mills property and local artists to announce the proposal of the Carpet Mills Arts District. For the first time, owners representing more than 1.5 million square feet of Carpet Mills partnered with Yonkers to create the arts district. Yonkers received a $500,000 capital grant from Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency, to help fund exterior improvements to the buildings, street-side banners, signage and lighting to help brand the Carpet Mills Arts District.

Albano says he testified at the 2016 city council hearing designating the arts district.

“I explained how it would work and how we wouldn’t be displacing any other businesses but would allow the expansion of the artists’ presence within the city of Yonkers,” he says.

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Once the rezoning was approved, it allowed for 20% of the space in the buildings to be used for retail purposes. The proposed zoning change also allowed for retail shops to operate at street level, with the intention of servicing the arts community and those attending the community's regularly scheduled events.

“It not only allowed for the artists to show and sell their work; it allowed for simple things like restaurants and coffee shops to open,” says Albano. “A typical building might have a sculptor on one floor and a piano restorer right below them, with a furniture repair shop right next door,” he adds. Other uses the city was open to were retail home furnishings, sports, amusements, art galleries, crafts and import-export businesses.

The Carpet Mills Arts District has become an incredible success story for the Yonkers arts scene, with more than 80 artists in the YoHo Artist Studios, plus many other artists in studios located in surrounding buildings. Another of the tenants of the arts district is Yonkers Arts, which now occupies a 4,000-square-foot space at 216 Lake Ave. with a full functioning gallery and performing arts center. The nonprofit’s executive director Ray Wilcox has been instrumental in coordinating many of the public art projects enhancing Yonkers and was the driving force behind the “Black Lives Matter” mural that was placed be-

hind Yonkers City Hall last year.

Just last October, Yonkers, in partnership with Yonkers Downtown/Waterfront BID, sponsored the seventh annual Yonkers Arts Weekend. Thousands of visitors came to the Carpet Mills Arts District to visit the YoHo Artists Open Studios and the Yonkers Arts Project Space, where there was a local artists showcase, poetry readings and dance and music performances. They were able to take a trolley to other Yonkers arts sites like the Hudson River Museum and Untermyer Gardens Conservancy as well as pop-up and existing galleries and outdoor art installations.

“As an offshoot of creating that arts district, we now have been able to increase our funding to the downtown art galleries and we’ve been able to reach out to local artists to create murals that you see around downtown right now and the sculptures that are in the parks and along the waterfront,” Albano says.

“We’ve also helped open up small galleries in the libraries to feature local artists, and all are free to the public. “We’ve really created a vibrant art scene in Yonkers.”

For more, visit yonkersny.gov/play/ art-museums.

Laura Joseph Mogil is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to the WAG. She is resident of Briarcliff Manor, NY.

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Extending its reach – and care

Saint Joseph’s Medical Center President and CEO Michael Spicer with a group of board-certified physicians at the hospital’s Family Health Center in Yonkers.

What began over a century ago as a small community hospital on the corner of Vark Street and South Broadway in downtown Yonkers has emerged as a robust and growing health-care system ,serving patients with programs and services in cities, towns and villages from Port Chester to Yonkers, from the Bronx to Staten Island.

As Yonkers grew, so did Saint Joseph’s mission to assist all in need, especially the underserved. By the 1930s, the hospital outgrew the original building, so a new, modern wing was built. Growing pains led to another wing in the 1970s.

Over the years, Saint Joseph’s has expanded with new or renovated facilities, keeping pace with modern advances and the needs of the times. New specialties were initiated based on what the community needed, all while maintaining its core services in the traditional hospital.

Firsts include the Family Health Center, Family Medicine Residency Program, dental clinics and cardiology with the opening in 2020 of Yonkers’ only cardiac rehabilitation center.

Saint Joseph’s Medical Center prides itself on providing high-quality, compassionate care in all of its inpatient and outpatient settings. It takes pride in its board-certified physicians and their dedication to the mission and standards of care at Saint Joseph’s.

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The hospital has consistently received the prestigious annual American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, which recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive timely and evidence-based stroke care.

As society continues to battle the opioid crisis, Saint Joseph’s has established a pain stewardship committee that has been on the cutting edge of pain management, emphasizing prescribing nonnarcotic therapies and implementing key safety practices.

The hospital is also committed to graduate medical education with a Family Medicine Residency Program and a Podiatry Residency Program. The Family Medicine Residency Program has been in existence for 46 years, graduating approximately 500 residents to date.

Saint Joseph’s tagline, “Here for You,” has been no more evident than during the Covid-19 pandemic when the hospital’s health-care heroes rose to the challenge,

saving countless lives.

The hospital’s high-quality, specialized programs include orthopedics, cardiology, family medicine, wound care with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging, ambulatory surgery and behavioral health. It has a network of primary-care offices in Yonkers, the Bronx and Manhattan.

Besides its extensive inpatient and outpatient medical surgical services, Saint Joseph’s has been a leader in behavioral health services for more than 45 years. The hospital greatly expanded its psychiatric services with the acquisition in 2010 of St. Vincent's Hospital Westchester in Harrison.

With that acquisition, the hospital expanded it inpatient behavioral beds by 139 and added a full spectrum of behavioral health services, including supportive housing.

It's just one more way that “St. Joe’s” is “here for you.”

For more, visit saintjosephs.org.

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When every delivery is special

BY SHAHMAN RAZMAN, M.D.

As a physician, I’m always accorded a certain level of respect, certainly among my peers, but most notably among the thousands of patients who have bestowed upon me the privilege of seeing them through their pregnancy, and the delivery of their child and, in many cases, several children. I’m always humbled by the trust they have placed in me. I’m fortunate enough to hear from many women — and their partners — who express their gratitude and appreciation days, weeks, months and sometimes even years after the birth of their child. It warms my heart, and I am so pleased that they continue to hold me in such esteem after so much time has gone by.

I recently came to the realization that, as an obstetrician and gynecologist based at Westmed Medical Group/St. John’s Riverside Hospital and Sun River Health in Yonkers, I have delivered more than 12,000 babies in my career. It’s an astounding number by any measure. You might think that after attending the births of thousands and thousands of babies it merely becomes routine.

You might logically conclude that it’s just a procedure: A pregnant woman has carried her child through the natural gestation period, and she is now ready to give birth. The doctor — in these cases me — is contacted, I arrive at the hospital, I prep for the birth, and I work my magic. Actually, it is the birth itself that is magical. I am merely there to welcome the child into the world, to make sure that mother and child are healthy and to send them both to the maternity suite where they will await the requisite awesome adulation that accompanies this most blessed event.

Since childhood, I’ve been amazed by the miracle of life. After completing my residency in obstetrics and gynecology at New York

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Shahman Razman, M.D. Courtesy the doctor.

Medical College in Valhalla in 1987, I opened my practice in Yonkers. Now, 34 years later, and after a decade as director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. John’s Riverside Hospital and site medical director for women’s health at Sun River Health, I am proud to be a part of providing prenatal and obstetric care to many of the most vulnerable and underserved people in the community. It inspires me to want to do more.

Yes, I am a clinician, and caring for a woman who is or wants to become pregnant is nothing new to me. Still — after all these years and after all these mothers and babies — the entire process is mesmerizing. Every mother is unique and, consequently, every birth and every baby are unique as well. You might think I’d be inured to the emotions inherent in the entire process, but that would be an erroneous assumption. Indeed, with every baby who enters the world in my care, every moment of the process, I am awestruck. And I can’t help but wonder, with these children, what roads they will take, what their lives will be like and how I played a role, albeit seemingly insignificant, in getting these little human beings off to a healthy start.

Today, with the world turned seemingly upside down by the pandemic, I want to reach out to mothers-to-be and stress to them how vital it is for them to take good care of themselves.

This means maintaining a healthy diet, fol-

lowing their doctors’ advice, listening to their bodies, and, yes, taking precautions against contracting Covid-19. From wearing a mask in public to getting vaccinated, it’s crucial that women who want to become pregnant or who are carrying a child take advantage of these amazing vaccines. There’s nothing more important than the mother’s health and, by extension, the health of her baby. Vaccines work, and protecting against the virus is something tangible you can do to ensure your safety and that of your unborn child.

At this point in my medical career, there is so much to reflect on and so much to share.

But I’ll finish this by expressing my gratitude — to the thousands of women who have trusted me with their care during pregnancy and with the birth of their children. It’s an experience that never gets old, trite or laborious. It’s a gift, a beautiful gift. I’m the one who is most grateful for all the wonderful memories.

My heart is full.

Shahman Razman, M.D., is director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. John’s Riverside Hospital, affiliated with Westmed Medical Group, and serves as site medical director for Women’s Health at Sun River Health — all in Yonkers. He is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology. For more, visit westmedgroup.com and sunhealth.org.

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