A rendering of the completed Yonkers Greenway project
By Dan Murphy
After standing in Yonkers to launch their efforts to deliver the funding needed to jumpstart the community’s long desired Yonkers Greenway, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Congressman Jamaal Bowman today revealed they have secured up to $3.5 million in the recently approved fiscal year (FY) 2024 Senate and House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations bills to transform Old Putnam Railroad into a first-of-its-kind greenway to better connect Southwest Yonkers communities to New York City.
Schumer and Bowman said they will now fight to deliver this funding in the final government spending bill that must pass in Congress later this year. The lawmakers said this funding represents one of the final pieces of the puzzle for this long-desired project to breathe new life into this historically redlined neighborhood that features treelined greenspace and bike paths to give the community the connectivity it has long deserved.
“In January, I stood alongside leaders from across Yonkers and promised I’d deliver federal funding to help make the Yonkers Greenway become a reality. Today, I am proud to say that hope is on the horizon with nearly $3.5 million secured to better connect Southwest Yonkers to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx with the greenery and transportation accessibility Yonkers has long deserved,” said Senator Schumer. “I couldn’t ask for a better partner than Congressman Bowman in this fight. This is how we connect communities that for too long have been forgotten, and lay the foundation for a more equitable and better connected Yonkers for all. I will continue to fight to deliver this critical funding in the final appropriations bill later this year to help finally begin Yonkers Greenway.”
“Redlining has harmed our Black and Latino communities in Yonkers for decades,” said Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16). “From cutting off marginalized neighborhoods from economic opportunity and transportation options, to denying them sufficient tree cover and parkland, we have separated the city based on race and class and perpetuated the inequitable access to healthy green infrastructure. It is up to us in the Federal government to step up and right that wrong by supporting the efforts to bring a new greenway to our community. We have nearly secured $3.5 million in funding for the Yonkers Greenway that will revolutionize and reconnect our neighborhoods. Every community deserves vibrant greenspaces where kids, families, and communities can thrive. I am proud to join Senator Schumer in fighting for the Yonkers Greenway funding.”
“The Yonkers Greenway and the renewed South Broadway corridor is within reach, thanks to Senator Schumer and Congressman Bowman. These funds will breathe new life and resources needed to reconnect this long abandoned railway and neighborhood. With the help of our federal and local community partners, Yonkers Greenway can become the most transformative urban revitalization project in decades. Together we are reimaging a more equitable and sustainable future for Yonkers,” said City of Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano.
Schumer and Bowman explained that a lack of trees, green space, and parks has long plagued Southwest Yonkers, not only limiting recreation and connectivity, but creating wide stretches of concrete and pavement trapped heat without natural landscapes to absorb it, leading to urban heat islands. This is most noticeable along the derelict former Putnam Railroad, which had once served as a connecting artery for Yonkers to New York City from 1888-1943, but now serves as a barrier rife with abandoned lots.
Schumer added, “As Yonkers saw an unprecedented industrial expansion in its Southwest neighborhoods, communities of immigrant workers formed along the Old Putnam Railroad, connected by its four stops running from Getty Square to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. This all changed when the Saw Mill River Parkway divided the city, relegating low-income housing projects to the west side of the parkway, and more expensive, split-level homes to the east. Soon after, the Old Putnam Railroad ended service, not only separating Southwest Yonkers’ historically redlined communities, but also suddenly removing the jobs, education, and services in New York City and Westchester. ”
The Yonkers Greenway project will transform the derelict old railroad corridor into a 3.1-mile multi-use transportation and recreational trail. The project will run from the #1 subway in the Bronx to Yonkers MetroNorth Station and along multiple Westchester bus routes. Schumer and Bowman said that this transformation of the rail corridor and blighted lots along it will finally give residents the greater access to transportation Southwest Yonkers communities have long desired for daily needs
