Gotta get to Getty

A downtown Yonkers business group supports the formation of a government task force to study the creation of a public transportation hub in the Getty Square area at the core of the mixed-use redevelopment effort in Yonkers.

Westchester County Legislator Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, recently announced plans to form the task force at a meeting of the county Board of Legislators”™ government operations committee, which he chairs. A persistent advocate for a permanent transportation hub in the Getty Square area, Jenkins has urged Yonkers City Council members to include a TransCenter in the master plan they are considering.

“The Getty Square area is a critical transportation hub for Yonkers public transportation system,” he said. “It’s the main transfer point for the county’s Bee-Line bus routes and Metro-North commuters. But Getty Square is basically the same as when horse-drawn trolleys were the mode of transportation. The Yonkers City Council must approve a plan that brings Yonkers public transportation into the 21st century. A comprehensive transit hub is a glaring omission in all of the plans currently in front of the Yonkers City Council.”

Jenkins said county transportation engineers cannot begin a study and the county will not expend resources until the city council includes that improvement in Getty Square planning. “All the proposed plans would significantly impact traffic flow, including street closures and street direction changes,” he said.

Steve Sansone, executive director of the Yonkers Downtown Waterfront Business Improvement District, thanked Jenkins for his initiative. “Clearly, Getty Square ”“ which is a main transfer point for the county”™s Bee-Line bus routes and Metro North commuters ”“ needs to be upgraded to reflect today”™s needs and future demands,” Sansone said.

Sansone said his business group expects to join in task force discussions and be an integral part of planning. “We want to ensure that any proposed plan would not impede the flow of customers to the merchants and other businesses in the downtown district who are providing the engine that”™s driving the area”™s economic revitalization,” he said.