Yonkers' wish list for stimulus aid: $645M

Len Maniace
The Journal News

YONKERS - City and school officials have put together a $645 million wish list of construction projects, including a $45 million downtown baseball stadium, that they hope can be funded through a federal economic stimulus package promised by the new presidential administration.

The total construction-funding wish list comprises $321 million in city projects and $324 million in school projects.

City officials want the federal government to pick up the entire cost of infrastructure improvements required by the massive downtown revitalization project by Struever Fidelco Cappelli, at $159 million. The biggest element in that request is $112 million for public parking required by the SFC's signature project, River Park Center, which includes a $45 million stadium and two apartment towers atop an 11-story shopping and entertainment complex.

Much of the school list was outlined in a report several years ago by Cannon Design, which found that district school buildings needed nearly $300 million to fix leaky roofs, crumbling walls, failing ventilation systems and other problems and $1.3 billion to bring the entire school system to current standards.

There's been no shortage of proposals in the past month for how the federal stimulus funds expected to be released under the Obama administration should be spent. An $850 billion version of the package released last week by House Democrats calls for $550 million in new spending, including construction, and $275 billion in tax refunds.

New York officials are looking for assistance with a $715 million bill to upgrade sewage systems in the state. Westchester County is looking for help with its share, $235 million, for projects including four expanded sewage-treatment plants on Long Island Sound.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer wants the package to include $5 billion in extra Medicaid dollars to ease the burden on the state and its counties.

Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone said the city and school projects meet basic goals of the stimulus package: boosting the economy by producing new jobs; improving school and public facilities; and producing minimal impact on local budgets.

"The projects that we have and feel would be appropriate would do every one of those things," Amicone said in an interview Friday. "And if the requirement continues to be that the projects are ready to go, ours are ready to go."

Federal funding would be a major boost to the SFC project, which faced financial questions even before the economic meltdown. A city consultant had said the baseball stadium would be a financial drain on the project. And the city has not yet settled on a final plan for how to fund the public infrastructure.

Along with the baseball stadium and SFC infrastructure, the municipal projects include an estimated $36 million to uncover the Saw Mill River at the site of the SFC project and at Larkin Plaza, as well as $63.6 million for improvements along the Ashburton Avenue corridor.

Although most of the work in the city remains to be done, the city is requesting $70 million for work that is already under construction.

Asked how paying for that with federal stimulus dollars would produce new jobs, Amicone said the federal aid would free up other funding for future projects.

The biggest school construction projects would not be ready to begin for two years. That work includes the $83 million reconstruction of Gorton High School, building rehabilitations at the Martin Luther King School and School 13 for $39 million each; and a $29 million building rehabilitation at the Kahlil Gibran School.

Without federal stimulus funding, prospects are not good for those improvements, said John Carr, executive director of school facilities management. The state provides only 46 cents for every dollar of construction projects for district schools, roughly half what Buffalo and several other upstate cities get from the state, Carr said.

"I don't think the city of Yonkers could afford to do (the repairs). That's huge tax liability," Carr said. "But it really has to be done."

The city's request has been sent to Schumer; Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison; and Gov. David Paterson, mayoral spokesman David Simpson said.

Though the precise rules for determining what gets funded have not yet been determined - the stimulus package still must be approved by Congress - Paterson spokeswoman Erin Duggan said last week that decisions on which municipalities get federal stimulus money will be made on the state level using congressional guidelines.