Young professionals in Westchester County might be more drawn to White Plains than to the West Village or Williamsburg and other New York City youth havens, according to a recent focus-groups study addressing “youth flight” in the county.
Sponsored by The Business Council of Westchester and its Westchester Coalition for Business Development, the study was conducted last month among young professionals and college students in Westchester.
Downtown White Plains was singled out by many in the groups as the ideal place to live in the county. The county seat scored high on night life, restaurants, family activities, ease of commute to Manhattan, recreation and entertainment, professional networking and diversity. Focus group participants called White Plains an excellent “walking city” that offers young adults a great balance of urban and suburban life.
Other communities favored by young adults were Katonah and Purchase for the arts, Scarsdale and Rye for their schools, Yonkers for its Hudson riverfront and Port Chester for its restaurants.
“This study offers valuable insight into one of the vexing issues facing Westchester: how does the county attract and retain young people as residents,” Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester, said in a press release. “We were pleasantly surprised to see how well Westchester fared with young people as a desirable place to live even when compared to New York City. However, we need to address the issues and concerns raised in this study so we can ensure that our young professionals remain here.”
Among the study”™s conclusions:
- There is a strong desire by young professionals to stay in Westchester provided that there are employment opportunities and housing they can afford.
- Despite the prolonged recession, Westchester remains a desirable place to live for young adults due to its high quality of life, particularly in its downtowns.
- Westchester”™s main competitors for young people are areas in the tristate region with more affordable housing and lower taxes.
- If young adults choose to leave Westchester for another tristate area to establish their first household, it likely will be due to the county”™s unacceptably high property taxes.
The study offered these recommendations on curbing the county”™s youth flight:
- Build more mixed-used development, such as that in downtown White Plains, where housing, retail and mass transit are available in one location.
- Enact a tax rebate program that would help make living in the county more affordable for young people. The rebate would apply to the first five years of a home mortgage.
- Improve utilization of parkland to include dog runs and bike paths, popular venues for young people to socialize.
- Permit more cell towers on county property to generate revenue as well as improve cell phone service, particularly in the northern half of the county.
- Create a consortium of all Westchester colleges and universities that would provide young professionals with access to employment, internship and mentoring opportunities.
- Develop a website and phone app that would be a one-stop source of information on all events, programs and services in Westchester attractive to young adults.
Gordon said the council will work with Arts Westchester on that online initiative to “focus on events of interest to young people. What we heard is that the young people want communication; they want to know what”™s happening.”
Asked what they liked least about living in Westchester, those in the focus groups cited the high cost of housing and property taxes.
The focus groups were conducted for the Business Council by Kraft Foods, a member company. Participants – Westchester residents, employees and college upperclassmen ”“ were under 35 years old.
In response to the study findings, Business Council and development coalition officials said they also will implement these action steps:
- Launch a campaign to educate the public on the benefits of creating downtown hubs that incorporate retail office space and residential units around existing transportation hubs.
- Continue to work with government at all levels to oppose legislation that stifles economic growth and job creation, and fight for needed changes to existing laws to encourage business development.
- Work with Friends of Westchester Parks to develop more youth-focused parkland.
- Continue the coalition”™s work in partnership with the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Investment Board to create an internship clearinghouse connecting local students with internship, mentoring and job opportunities at Westchester businesses.
The village of Ossining will be a pilot community for the ongoing study as it seeks to attract young professionals by learning best practices of other youth-oriented communities. Village officials will create a task force comprised of young adults to provide input.
“Overall, Westchester needs to better market its attributes to young people starting at the high school and college level,” said Timothy M. Jones, chairman of the Westchester Coalition for Business Development and managing director and partner at the Robert Martin Co. in Elmsford. Jones said coalition members will “reach out to the mayors of Westchester”™s cities to review these results and discuss how they can make their downtowns even more appealing to our young people.”