Yonkers News Center: July 2022

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

YONKERS: Luxury Apartments, Film Studios And New Schools Are Coming On Line As New York's Third Largest City Moves Forward

Yonkers has been undergoing a massive growth spurt....

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY: Yonkers' development boom boom has brought new residents, new schools, new housing, new businesses and new jobs.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: New York's third largest city has witnessed more than $4 billion in private investment in new projects leading to more than 9,000 multifamily units planned, completed, under construction or approved for development.

YONKERS: Things started to change in the city of hills back in 2019 when MGM spent more than $800 million to buy Empire City Casino.

Now its looking like the Empire City Casino, already the city’s largest taxpayer and employer, will ascend to another level.

New York State has decided to grant three full casino licenses to downstate businesses.

MGM, which has already been flourishing as just a racino and racetrack to date, seems to be a favorite for one of those licenses.

The site has one of the largest gaming floors already and 97 acres of land, leaving MGM and Empire City Casino plenty of room to expand by adding more gambling opportunities but also hotel space and entertainment venues.

This year Lionsgate Studios started building near near the train station for easy commutes to New York city.

The campus, built by Great Point Studios and aided by tax incentives from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, has already generated jobs through its first phase.

The space, which launched this year with the filming of the series Run This World, features three soundstages, two of 20,000 square feet and one of 10,000 square feet; suites for actors; writers rooms; and a carpentry shop.

Plans call for an expansion that will allow for a back lot enabling filmmakers to shoot outdoor scenes, screening rooms, post-production areas and a grand total of eleven soundstages.

Great Point is also moving toward purchase of another plot of land in Yonkers which has city officials refering to Yonkers as “Hollywood on the Hudson.”

Great Point Studio is also partnering with the city to build a school on the site that will focus on film.

In addition, the city is building a $56 million elementary school named for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Those schools are needed because the city, with more than 210,000 residents, passed Rochester in the last census to become the state’s third-largest city.

But with all the newcomers, the city still has the lowest unemployment rate of large cities in the region.

And the city recently added 10 police officers to the police force, the first time it has done that since 2001.

Yonkers is in the midst of a building boom that includes adding 4,000 units at market rate>

Hudson Piers, which just had a groundbreaking in May and is being handled by Extell Development Company; the $585 million project will become one of the region’s largest mixed-use communities featuring 1,400 apartments, retail and a riverfront esplanade and a small public park.

It will be developed over six years in three phases.

This waterfront development is on old brownfield sites so this is not gentrification pushing out poorer residents and seniors.

Yonkers now has an ordinance that requires 10% of new units, of developments over 200 units, need to be affordable housing.

The city has tallied 1,500 affordable units since 2013.

Once the center of a national controversy for its racist policies in public housing, Yonkers is trying to make things right in those aging buildings that often date back more than half a century.

In these public hosing buildings new kitchens with microwaves and dishwashers and new windows.

But, the school system was in dire need of repairs and upgrades and the city is currently 4,500 students over its ideal capacity.

Traffic is a concern as growth continues and there are many infrastructure concerns that residents have.

This Article Originally Appeared In The New York News Center:

https://newyork.town.news/g/new-york-ny/n/80717/yonkers-luxury-apartmen…

And Also Appeared In The Westchester News Center:

https://westchester.town.news/g/white-plains-ny/n/79201/real-estate-big…

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

GUN VIOLENCE IN YONKERS: There Have Been At Least A Dozen Shootings In Yonkers Over The Last 100 Days - By Brian Harrod

The so-called 'safest city' just marked a sad anniversary....

YONKERS, NY — April 28, 2022 — Marilyn Cotto Montanez, a Yonkers teenager was shot to death a year ago; and was an 18-year-old junior at Lincoln High School.

Miss Montanez died after being shot by 15-year-old Jamir Thompson, who was aiming for a different teenager when he fired a gun near the corner of Lake Avenue and Morningside Avenue.

Miss Montanez was on the street with her younger sister, but not involved with the dispute that prompted Thompson to fire a gun.

And despite claims by Yonkers Police Commissioner John Mueller that crime is down in the city of hills there have been at least 12 shooting incidents in Yonkers shown on social media pages in the last 100 days.

This works out to be a shooting incident about every eight days in Yonkers over the last 100 days

Just 48 hours ago social media reports said a man was shot at 202 Buena Vista Boulevard

A few days before that the Yonkers Police Department said that an FBI agent killed a suspect who shot a Yonkers officer.

The incident happened inside a bodega at 115 Elm Street after 2 p.m.

Yonkers Police Chief John Mueller says the officer involved is a member of the FBI Westchester County Safe Streets task force, a unit that works to cut down on gun violence.

The police chief confirmed that the detective, who was shot in the stomach, has 27 years with the Yonkers Police Department.

Multiple police sources say the detective involved is Brian Menton, a decorated detective who is set to retire next week.

Detective Menton has a twin brother who is also on the task force.

Police say his brother drove him to the hospital.

The task force engaged with the suspects in front of the bodega, authorities say.

The suspects then went inside the bodega.

The YPD believes that the only shots fired by law enforcement came from the FBI agent.

Menton was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi.

The Yonkers police commissioner says Detective Menton was not wearing a body cam because he is a member of the task force.

Vanessa Jackson, the suspect's mother, identified him as 28-year-old Bryant Jackson, a father of five from Georgia. She says she is unsure why he was targeted in the investigation.

The incident was recorded on surveillance video.

Before this On April 20, 2022 A Man Was Killed And A Yonkers Detective Was Shot At A Deli On Elm Street

On April 6, 2022, There was a report of multiple shots fired at 78-83 Highland Avenue and the police found several bullet casings.

On April 4, 2022, Shots were fired in an attempted robbery of a Blue Bar at 30 N. Broadway

On March 20, 2022, Shots were fired at South Broadway and Radford.

On March 20, 2022, there was also a second incident where multiple shots fired and the police found five bullet casings at Herriot and Hawthorne.

On March 3, 2022, A man was found with a fatal gunshot wound at 288 Riverdale Avenue.

On February 20, 2022 Shots were fired in the vicinity of 105 McLean.

On February 6, 2022, At the Duo Bar on Yonkers Avenue shots were fired and a bouncer was killed.

On January 17, 2022, Yonkers police shot and wounded a man at 52 Main Street in the downtown area. A Yonkers Police officer was injured during the incident. A resident was shot.

On January 13, 2022 A man was shot in the chest by an assailant at 44 Gorton Street in a drive by shooting.

And this 100 day Yonkers shooting incident list is not definitive, it's just what was discovered in a quick social media search and there may well be other shootings in Yonkers during this time frame....

https://www.facebook.com/groups/YonkersNewswire/posts/3230242503899972/

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Brian Harrod is the publisher and editor of the RoundupNewswires.com news website, as well as, the hyper local YonkersNewswire.com news and social media pages. You can learn more about Mr. Harrod at BrianHarrod.com.

This Article Originally appeared In The Westchester News Center:

https://westchester.town.news/g/white-plains-ny/n/76746/gun-violence-yo…

FOCUS ON: Greenburgh Town Judge Erin McGoey

The Greenburgh Town Board appointed Erin McGoey of Ardsley as a town justice to replace Judge Christie D’Alessio, who was elected to the State Supreme Court....

TOWN OF GREENBURGH: Judge Erin McGoey is serving a one-year term until the seat is up for reelection this November.

Judge McGoey has been licensed to practice law in New York State for the past 15 years, the vast majority of which has been dedicated to public service and public servants.

She began her law career as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Yonkers, a position she held for about two years.

She spent the next eight years as an Assistant Westchester County Attorney.

Following about three years as a Senior Associate Attorney for the White Plains office of a regional law firm, Judge McGoey became Deputy General Counsel at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City.

Most recently, she worked as the Deputy Commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities.

Judge McGoey is a member of several Bar Associations, including the Westchester County Bar Association and the Westchester Women’s Bar Association and has been actively involved in several community and charitable organizations in Greenburgh and Westchester County.

She is a long-time resident of Greenburgh and currently lives in the Village of Ardsley with her husband Barry and their three young children Madeline, 12, John, 10, and Matthew, 8.

This Article Originally Appeared In The Westchester News Center:

https://westchester.town.news/g/white-plains-ny/n/76806/focus-greenburg…