01
Central Avenue
Works as a road. Fails as a place.
- Existing value
- Traffic, retail demand and commercial land
- Required response
- Rebuild selected properties around people, with compact districts where you park once and stay.
A civic argument by Jay Mandel
Yonkers got $10 million.
Let’s be honest about what that buys.
The city is celebrating a downtown revitalization grant. In the community next door, the same money buys about four median-priced houses.
NEW YORK’S THIRD-LARGEST CITY2.3 MILES OF CENTRAL AVENUEDECADES OF NEGLECT TO ADDRESS
Ten million dollars is a fortune to a family or small business.
In urban redevelopment, it is seed money.
Spending it on a few waterfront attractions will improve a few properties in Yonkers. It will not, by itself, improve life for people dealing with poverty, addiction, neglected storefronts and failing infrastructure.
Those are not the same accomplishment.
01 / READ THE CITY CLEARLYDifferent places.
Different places.
Different prescriptions.
Yonkers does not need one glossy master plan. It needs to protect what works, rebuild what does not and stop confusing a destination with a community.
02
Broadway + Getty Square
Character worth protecting.
- Existing value
- Culture, independent businesses and community
- Required response
- Rehabilitate buildings, support existing merchants and confront poverty and disorder.
03
Cross County
A destination—with limits.
- Existing value
- Strong tenants, events and walkability
- Required response
- Keep investing in the experience while addressing the social conditions beyond the property line.
04
Ridge Hill
An experience, not a string of errands.
- Existing value
- Dining, entertainment and pedestrian streets
- Required response
- Add housing and connect the property more effectively to the rest of Yonkers.
THE ASSET WE ALREADY HAVE
Broadway has what Central Avenue cannot manufacture.
Storefronts meet the sidewalk. People live above the businesses. Barbershops, Mexican restaurants, Dominican businesses and neighborhood relationships already exist.
Rehabilitation should let those merchants improve with the neighborhood—not replace them after years of neglect.
Getty Square, Yonkers · Photo: Wikimedia CommonsTHE COMMUNITY NEXT DOOR
The difference is visible.
Wealth matters. So do maintenance, storefront relationships, public space and reasons to stay after completing one errand.
MAC ARTICLE EXHIBITSFive exhibits.
Five exhibits.
One scale problem.
These visual exhibits isolate the article’s core evidence. Each can be read on its own, but together they show why a $10 million grant is a starting point—not a citywide solution.
EXHIBIT 01 · THE COUNTERWEIGHT
$10M≈
⌂⌂⌂⌂
The entire Yonkers award equals about four median-priced Scarsdale homes.
The comparison does not make the grant meaningless. It puts the celebration in proportion.
EXHIBIT 02 · CAPITAL SCALE
Public grant. Private-project money.
Yonkers DRI$10M
Cross County expansion$90M
Ridge Hill acquisition$220M
The grant is 4.5% of Ridge Hill’s purchase price and 11.1% of the Cross County expansion.
EXHIBIT 03 · THE PRELIMINARY ASK
$17Mrequested÷$10Mavailable
The proposals already exceed the award by $7 million.
Before construction begins, the plan requires choices. Waterfront attractions compete with community infrastructure for a limited pool.
EXHIBIT 04 · THE HUMAN CONDITIONS
A renovated shopping center. No handheld baskets.
At the Stop & Shop beside Cross County, a police officer told me baskets and carts were removed because people steal them.
Property investment cannot substitute for social investment.
EXHIBIT 05 · ONE CITY, FOUR PRESCRIPTIONS
Stop applying one redevelopment answer everywhere.
PlaceActionTest
Central AvenueRebuild selected propertiesCompact, walkable districts
Broadway + Getty SquareRehabilitate without displacementExisting merchants remain
Cross CountyMaintain the destinationAddress conditions outside it
Ridge HillAdd housing and connectionsLink it to the rest of Yonkers
Figures and descriptions reflect the comparisons and preliminary proposals discussed in the article. “M” means million dollars.
02 / FOLLOW THE MONEYThe city-scale
The city-scale
math is unforgiving.
The award matters. The victory lap does not. Private projects already underway in Yonkers show the scale of capital needed to create and maintain places.
THE PRELIMINARY ASK
$17 million requested from a $10 million award.
These projects are proposals, not final awards. Several could create public value. The waterfront emphasis still deserves scrutiny.
Immersive theater$5M
Nepperhan Community Center$3M
Point Street bridge$2M
Seasonal dining$1.5M
City Pier Dock + Dine$1M
Waterfront esplanade$1M
Boat marina$1M
Hudson River beach$1M
A SMALL DETAIL. A BIGGER WARNING.
The missing shopping baskets tell another Yonkers story.
At the Stop & Shop beside Cross County, a police officer told me the store no longer offers handheld baskets because people steal them—and shopping carts too.
A $90 million shopping-center expansion can create parks, boardwalks and events. It cannot repair the poverty, addiction, homelessness and public disorder surrounding it.
Good property management can improve a destination. It cannot repair the social conditions of an entire city.
03 / USE THE GRANT AS LEVERAGEFund what changes
Fund what changes
daily life.
The state program favors capital projects and reimbursement. That can make the money easier for established developers to use than struggling small businesses.
✓ What it can fund
- Building rehabilitation
- Parks and plazas
- Street and transit connections
- Public art
- Limited façade improvements
× What it generally cannot
- Continuing addiction services
- Routine salaries
- Rent and utilities
- Ongoing maintenance
- Existing program expenses
Reimagine the right things.
Build compact districts
Turn selected Central Avenue properties into places where people park once, walk, eat and stay.
Invest without erasure
Fix Broadway’s buildings and public spaces while giving existing merchants a path to remain.
Address the human conditions
Treat poverty, addiction, housing and public disorder as city problems—not inconvenient scenery.
Demand larger commitments
Use the $10 million to attract far more public and private capital, tied to measurable resident benefit.
Central Avenue needs to become less transient.
Downtown Yonkers needs investment without erasure.
And people who are down and out need something more meaningful than a marina, a mural or another political victory lap.