A friend came to visit me last week. As a way to pick up a few extra bucks, he does Uber Eats, the food delivery service so popular in our area. He was driving in Yonkers doing his deliveries and we got together for coffee. ‘Eric, do they ever pave the streets in Yonkers? I live in Middletown, New York, and I have never seen streets in such bad shape as in Yonkers. Your streets are killing the bottom of my car!’
I could not disagree. With cold patch in the winter and hot patch when the weather gets warm, our Public Works crews ‘patch’ the streets of our fair city during a good part of the year. But yes, I said to my friend the bottom of my car like the bottom of many of your cars takes a beating in Yonkers. And let’s not forget the flat tires caused by potholes that dot the Yonkers landscape.
As I was listening and reading about all the wonderful accomplishments of Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano’s administration in his State of the City address presented in the recently (long overdue) renovated Lincoln High School auditorium, all I could think about was the many streets in Yonkers that are in desperate need of repaving. Repaving Yonkers streets has always been a political thing, with Councilpersons and Mayors trading off street repaving for Budget and Capital Improvement Program votes. This caused many streets in bad shape being ‘missed’ because residents in the affected areas lacked clout or their elected officials having ‘other priority streets’ to reward supporters and districts where the elected official came away victorious.
I’d like to share with you some things crucial to Yonkers which the Mayor with so many true accomplishments didn’t have time to mention. Double Parked Cars. Cars parked illegally in handicapped parking spaces. Cars parked illegally in spots not meant for car parking. Cars illegally parked with City of Yonkers related placards that are not ticketed when their meter runs out. Placarded cars that are given a ‘free ride’ because someone somewhere has directed enforcement agents not to touch them. City of Yonkers government vehicles driven by higher ups parked illegally or double parked and not ticketed.
Have you ever driven the stretch of Yonkers Avenue from Central Avenue to the topless bar and viewed how many cars are double and triple parked blocking vehicles from transversing the road? It’s often impossible for legally parked cars to get out of their spaces without honking and searching for the drivers of the illegally parked cars.
This is unfair to those who abide by the laws and park legally or put money in the meters. Which is most of us. Next time you get hit with a ticket, look for cars around you that have meters that have run out or placards in the window and are not ticketed. Bring it or send it to the hearing to show the ‘ selective enforcement’ that exists. Mayor Spano early on said he was going to do away with this ‘special treatment,’ but I notice and you good readers have told me it exists more now than ever!
You have seen them all over town. Signs that list the posted speed and the actual speed you are driving at. I read a posting on Facebook from a gentleman in the Park Hill section of town taking credit for getting these speed signs in his neighborhood. This my friends is 1980’s technology. Yonkers and New York State, particularly in this post pandemic (we pray) world need to get serious just like New York City has done around schools with speed camera programs. Give our police officers speed guns where they can target and ticket those going over the speed limit.
Put up speed cameras and see how quickly the word gets around. Generating needed revenue for Yonkers!
Red Light Cameras. How can I mention cameras without mentioning them. If Yonkers is going to continue a ‘State Approved’ (though our State officials clearly note they are doing it only because Yonkers officials want it) Red Light Camera program, the traffic lights at Red Light Camera locations have to be calibrated in line with the law. Not happening in Yonkers. Get a Red Light ticket, ask the Hearing Officer to see records as to when the street light was calibrated. Can’t be produced? Ask what you are being charged for and tell the official the cameras green to yellow to red timing is out of sequence. Refuse to pay the ticket. Be aggressive and don’t let Yonkers rip you off of $65!
The Yonkers Parking Authority like most cities in Westchester needs to put little stickers on meters telling parkers the days and hours meters are in effect and what days the meters are not in effect. And properly placed street signs with the same information. All I hear are complaints from our elderly residents who have drama using the electronic parking machines in and around the downtown area particularly around the library. New York City has a program that works and doesn’t require the input of a license plate number. If Yonkers feels people with extra time on their tickets and no license numbers are going to share the extra time with other parkers, get over it! And Merchants, keep pressure on City Hall and the Parking Authority to keep the free 10 minute parking buttons, just enough time to run and and pick up something quick.
On to our schools. Though some would call into question the results of assessments giving during the Covid crisis, our schools are accomplishing achievements greater than the rest of Big 5 cities in New York State and frankly better than the state as a whole. Kudos to Superintendent Quezada and Administrators, Teachers and Civil Service Staff who are working under difficult, challenging situations. Mayor Spano’s recent appointments to the School Board have a deep understanding of the needs of our students.
As our student population is largely on the west side of town, I am glad to see new Schools like the Sotomayor School breaking ground. This and the addition of other schools in West Yonkers is going to have to lead a most difficult discussion to the return of neighborhood schools that use to exist in our city. Bussing is taking up too much time for our students and their families and hampers traffic morning and afternoon throughout much of Yonkers. And it is costly. Before the student population shifted east we had many schools on the west side of town that were decommissioned and put to other uses. Now that we have schools opening on the west side of town there will hopefully not be a need for all the bussing that occurs. Desegregation is not the problem that it was when the issue was taken to court.
Yes, when I graduated Yonkers High School in 1978 the schools on the east side of town had many more resources than those on the west side of town. Buildings on the west side of town were in worse shape than the new schools in the east part of town. Slowly that is turning around after oh so many years. This discussion will be a tough one for Yonkers until we can be sure every students across our city gets the same quality education. But it’s a conversation that has to take place.
Students who attend school in Yonkers must reside in our city. It is illegal for students to attend the Yonkers Public Schools if they don’t live in Yonkers. I see way to many students being dropped off and picked up in cars, some. with New Jersey license plates. If a child lives in Yonkers his or her parent or guardian should have no fear of supplying the district with current documentation. This has been done in neighboring communities and by the time it is the turn for the parents to bring in documentation, when they don’t live in the city the students ‘magically’ disappear and return to their home districts. Why? Because an aggressive Board of Education and City can go after them for the cost of tuition in the district for the child. Remember. Kids in the district illegally are taking away resources from children who live in Yonkers.
So, some issues that I feel are important for Yonkers, a city on the move. I’ll have more thoughts in future articles like what has to be done in Getty Square, not the most glorious place to travel through to get to all of our great waterfront has to offer. Good luck Mayor Mike Spano in continuing work to once again make Yonkers, ‘The City of Gracious Living!’ We are here to support you!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen on the Westchester Rising Radio Show alternating Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, WVOX.com click listen or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
