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Yonkers, county explore new transit
center
By Len Maniace
The Journal News • February 9, 2008
YONKERS - A plan to create a transit center for downtown got a push
forward this week with the creation of a task force to look at moving
the city's bus hub from the center of Getty Square.
The leading site appears to be a corner of i-Park on Hudson, an office
and research center created from the old Otis Elevator complex located a
short distance from the downtown Metro-North Railroad station.
"The Getty Square transit hub is basically the same as when we had
horse-drawn trolleys going through," said county Legislator Kenneth
Jenkins, who heads the Board of Legislators' Government Operations
Committee, which formed the task force.
Bus riders now catch or transfer at Getty Square for several Westchester
County Bee-Line buses that stop there in the often congested nexus of
Broadway, Main Street and several smaller streets.
The transit center would be similar to those built in White Plains and
New Rochelle that are designed to be convenient transfer points between
those traveling by rail, bus, car and taxi. A Yonkers center would be
close to the city's new water taxi, which leaves from the city's
historic Municipal Pier.
Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone said they city has wanted to bring together
various transportation modes at i-Park for several years, in combination
with a garage that i-Park principal Joseph Cotter wants to build. The
transportation center would contain additional parking for commuters and
a bus depot and would be a short walk from Metro-North and the water
ferry.
"They would all be, literally, within a stone's throw of each other,"
said Amicone said. He said he believed that a county commitment was
essential for the project.
Downtown Yonkers has the largest concentration of bus service in the
county, making it attractive to build a transit center to better
coordinate various transportation methods, Westchester County
Transportation Commissioner Lawrence Salley said.
But the county can't give a commitment until it studies the area,
including plans for major new construction projects there, Salley said.
Called the Getty Square Task Force, the group would also look at the
problem of large numbers of high school students congregating in Getty
Square, a concern to some merchants who say the young people sometimes
deter older customers from shopping, Jenkins said. Getty Square is a
magnet for two reasons: It's a transfer point for students going home
from school and a popular destination because of its many small shops.
Creating a transportation hub elsewhere could reduce some of the young
population, Jenkins said.
The task force also plans to look at staggering the release time of
students as an interim solution, Jenkins said.
At one point last week the county and city seemed to be at odds over
which level of government needed to take the first step to get the
transportation center. Jenkins said the city first needed to put the
project in its master plan for the area, but Amicone said that Cotter
would not plan for a transit center unless he had commitment from the
county.
Amicone, who had previously spoken to Jenkins, didn't think the
difference was significant, however.
"With the county government the county legislature, our city and the
developer in favor of it, we will get it done," Amicone said. "Sometimes
everything falls into place at just the right time, and that's what is
happening now."
Told that the city did not plan to conduct another study for the transit
center, Jenkins said he believed the formation of the task force would
prevent that issue from becoming a stumbling block. The task force would
have members from city and state government as well as the Yonkers
school district and Police Department.
Like other transit centers in Westchester, a new Yonkers transportation
hub would rely on county and federal funding. The project is likely to
face stiff competition for federal funding until September 2009, when a
new national transportation package is expected to be in place, said
Patty Chemka, the county Transportation Department's planning director.
Reach Len Maniace at
lmaniace@lohud.com or 914-694-5163.
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