By Dan Murphy
Former Yonkers Mayor Angelo Martinelli currently stands at the longest serving Mayor in the City’s history. Like former President Grover Cleveland Alexanderx, Martinelli served staggered terms as Mayor, from 1974-79, and from 1982-87. The City of Yonkers, and its downtown was a much different place in the 1980’s, as were many urban centers.
One of the problems at the time for Mayor Martinelli was the Yonkers Train Station. Crime surrounded the area, and the City was trying to turn the area around so that commuters would return and use the station and economically revitalize the area.
Another problem with the downtown Yonkers train station was that Amtrak refused to stop in Yonkers. “It irked me that Amtrak never stopped in Yonkers, which at the time was the 4th largest City in New York. With the help of then U.S. Senator Al D’Amato, we were able to get a meeting with Amtrak. So I went down to Washington with Phil Pepe (titlex),” said Martinelli.
“The minute we walked into Amtrak’s office, the first words out of the director were ‘its good to see you Mayor thanks for coming, but you are not going to get what you want.”
“When I asked why, he explained that once the Amtrak train leaves Penn Station it picks up so much speed that it would be unproductive to stop in Yonkers. I asked him, then why does it stop in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which is closer to Penn Station then Yonkers. He looked at me funny because I stumped him. He agreed to come to Yonkers to take a look at it and eventually we got Amtrak to stop in downtown Yonkers.”
In addition to getting Amtrak to shout out All Aboard in Yonkers, Martinelli also worked with Metro North to have an open glass office in the train station. Metro -north had agreed to spend millions on the train station, including a new office for the Metro North police. I suggested that they open their office so that officers can look through the glass and see what’s going on in the station. At the time wee were having problems at the station, but this move made it safer and more secure.”
Eventually, the Yonkers downtown train station was renovated to its former glory, and became one of the anchors for the transformation of the waterfront and all that the downtown no offers residents and visitors alike.
Mayor Angelo Martinelli made all of those efforts possible with his successful efforts to bring the Yonkers train station back to life, and for that he was honored with a bronze plaque that now sits in the train station which reads
“With grateful appreciation for his long standing commitment and dedication to the City of Yonkers by establishing the Yonkers Train Station, the gateway to the Historic Hudson Valley.”
