A river runs through it -- Yonkers, that is - Gerald McKinstry

7/16/13 9:54 PM

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Gerald McKinstry
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McKinstry: A river runs through it -- Yonkers, that is

September 13, 2012 6:14 PM By GERALD MCKINSTRY
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Photo credit: Faye Murman | The Saw Mill River Daylighting at Larkin Plaza is a state and local-funded park in downtown Yonkers which has re-exposed a portion of the Saw Mill River. (July 6, 2012)

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Gerald McKinstry

When Rick Magder moved to Yonkers more than a decade ago, he had a visionary idea: Portions of the Saw Mill River long buried under concrete ought to see the light. But it was no easy sell. For a city with a long history of struggles -- with its schools, finances

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A river runs through it -- Yonkers, that is - Gerald McKinstry

7/16/13 9:54 PM

and decades-long housing battle with the federal government to name a few -- and related image problems, digging up a dirty river could easily be seen as a pipe dream -- and a waste of money. A founder of Groundwork Hudson Valley, a group that backs cleaning Gerald McKinstry
Gerald McKinstry is a member of the Newsday editorial board. bio | email | twitter

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and renewing urban waterways, Magder and other supporters in those early days toured some damp, eerie places in the city's downtown, bringing with them a lantern and anyone who would listen: business owners, community groups and even skeptical politicians. "You could see the river flowing in basements," said Magder, 51, a Detroit native who also oversees Groundwork's national operations

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from an office in Yonkers. For decades, the Saw Mill, a 20-mile river that runs from Chappaqua to Yonkers, where it meets the Hudson River, was a mostly forgotten piece of the city's history. Trickling under parking lots and rundown buildings and snaking in between abandoned lots and old factories, the hidden river was as much a part of city lore -- with tales about bootleggers, including Dutch Schultz, who apparently used the waterway to transport barrels of booze during Prohibition -- as it was an unseen relic of better times in the downtown. Fast-forward to 2012 and you have a great success story: Part of the river that was buried under Larkin Plaza was dug up, or daylighted, and is again visible, running through a public park and throughout the downtown. It's an anchor for a revitalized city center and waterfront with condominiums, industrial parks, restaurants, public esplanades and the best views of the Palisades along the Hudson. It's also an environmental coup. The Saw Mill is clean with abutting landscaping, large stones, a tidal pool, freshwater ponds and a rebuilt aquatic habitat for fish -- a complete turnaround for the tributary that was covered in the 1920s because it was polluted and smelled pretty bad. It is again reconnected with the Hudson River for everyone to see. Ned Sullivan of the Poughkeepsie-based land preservation group Scenic Hudson said this effort is a model for "reclaiming damaged resources" and integrating them into the life of a community. "This is the kind of thing we'd like to see in cities throughout the Hudson Valley," he said. This first daylighting phase, which cost roughly $18 million in city, state and federal dollars, was a partnership between government, businesses and nonprofit groups like Groundwork, Scenic Hudson and many others. Gov. George Pataki was one of the early supporters, designating millions of state dollars to help get the project moving. Because this effort was successful, it will be followed by the opening up of at least two other parts of the river, including Mill Street and Chicken Island just a few blocks east. All the daylightings are expected to be integrated into several large-scale developments that include hundreds of millions of private dollars for building luxury apartments, live-work loft spaces, restaurants and retail shops. The developers are on board. So it's clear that this was a smart investment. And its success makes future river openings far more plausible -- in Yonkers and throughout the country. Daylighting the Saw Mill may very well put Yonkers in the national spotlight. Gerald McKinstry is a member of the Newsday editorial board. User rating:
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A river runs through it -- Yonkers, that is - Gerald McKinstry

7/16/13 9:54 PM

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http://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/gerald-mckinstry/mckinstry-a-river-runs-through-it-yonkers-that-is-1.4000386

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