Edward Sheeran, special assistant to Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, says the Empowerment Zones in Yonkers include three former industrial areas: an area north of the Yonkers Pier that includes the former Port Authority Industrial Park (now known as the iPark), the entire Nepperhan Valley section of the city and the Chicken Island area adjacent to Yonkers City Hall. The zone also includes a mainly residential area from Mulford Gardens to Nodine Hill, he adds.
On Jan. 15, the city of Yonkers was among seven cities selected as federal Empowerment Zones by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The agency noted that the designations will offer an estimated $17 billion in tax incentives and regulatory relief to stimulate job growth, promote economic development and create affordable housing opportunities. Along with Yonkers, HUD also granted Empowerment Zone status to Syracuse, N.Y., Pulaski County, Arkansas; Fresno, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Oklahoma City; and San Antonio. There are now 30 Empowerment Zones in the program that first began in 1994.
Sheeran notes that the federal Empowerment Zone will help make these areas of the city more attractive to developers since they had previously been selected by New York State as Empire Zones and are therefore eligible for state tax incentives as well.
"These tax incentives couldn't come at a better time," said HUD Secretary Mel Martinez when announcing the Empowerment Zone selections. "This critical partnership between the public and private sectors will give local businesses in distressed neighborhoods an economic boost to help drive revitalization, provide jobs and ultimately build a foundation for stronger communities."
The Empowerment Zones can take advantage of wage credits, tax deductions, bond financing and capital gains benefits to stimulate economic development and job growth, HUD officials say. In addition, the area is also eligible for federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
The City of Yonkers had originally applied for Empowerment Zone status in a joint application with the City of Mount Vernon in 1998. In 2001, the city submitted a new application that covered just sections of Yonkers.
"We felt we had a stronger application alone," Sheeran relates. "This is a major victory for the City of Yonkers because cities of our size can't do it alone"
He adds that the revitalization effort is definitely underway in the city and that the Empire Zone designation will continue to sustain the redevelopment momentum that has been underway for sometime in Yonkers under Mayor Spencer.
Earlier in the month, New York State announced an agreement in principle had been reached in the decades old Yonkers school desegregation case that if approved would put an end to litigation and federal intervention in the Yonkers public school system.
The agreement would require New York State to provide $300 million in settlement funds over the next five years to be used solely for the improvement of the city's school system. The agreement, which must be approved by the federal courts, also would give control of the school system back to the city and its School Board.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
