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The Glenwood Avenue and Warburton corridor, near the Nepperhan Community Center, has become the latest target of the city’s “Neighborhood Protection Partnership” - a collaboration between city brass and residents to clean up Yonkers streets.
“Working together we can establish what are the unique needs and develop a 360 approach of how we can best combat quality of life issues in the community,” Mayor Mike Spano said while announcing the project’s launch outside the Nepperhan Community Center Tuesday.
In August of last year, Spano announced the launch of the “Neighborhood Protection Partnership” inside Trinity Plaza. Since then, the Yonkers Police Department’s mobile command unit has been on the move, making stops on Elm Street and other police-identified “hotspots” around the city.
“If we see something going on in one area, we use our resources to tackle those areas,” Spano said.
Now, officials are moving onto Glenwood.
In addition to the high-tech command post, complete with advanced commutations and surveillance systems, which will be parked in the neighborhood, Yonkers police officers have pledged to ramp up their presence in the area.
In addition, police have already installed a security camera on the corner of Glenwood and Warburton avenues. One of roughly 50 such cameras throughout the city, the newest device, perched high atop a traffic light post, is meant to combat the drug deals and other elicit activity that neighbors say has plagued the corner for years.
“To know there is one more security measure that’s been put in place to help keep our children and our citizens safe is an outstanding thing,” said Jim Bostic, director of the Nepperhan Community Center.
But it doesn’t stop with increased law enforcement. The Department of Public Works will also pitch in with organized clean-ups and targeted neighborhood improvement projects. Residents will also able to air their questions and concerns directly to city officials in regular community forums.
“People want to make sure their community remains safe, that their community is somewhere where they can live, enjoy and safely raise their families,” said City Council member Christopher Johnson. “What is being established today is just an opportunity to continue that desire.”
And with the restoration project of the nearby Glenwood Power Plant ramping up, officials said now is an ideal time to being cleaning up their neighborhood.
“The most transformative economic development project probably in the entire state of New York is within a couple blocks of the intersection on Glenwood,” City Council President Chuck Lesnick said.
“We need to have a safe entrance to that project so that project will succeed.”
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