Mayor's Desk: 'The Platinum Mile'

A few people, after reading some of these columns, have criticized me for informing you of problems, but not offering solutions. It is much easier to identify a problem than it is to come up with a solution.  Most of these problems – such as the one I will discuss below – have taken a long time to develop, and the solution may take an equally long time to completely resolve.  That is not to say that we are not working towards solutions — we are.  

A missed garbage pick-up can be fixed immediately, a street light that is out can be repaired within a short time. To fill empty office space – space we don’t own, or to get a judge to render a final decision on the Beaver Swamp, those are problems beyond our control. So today I will talk about that empty office space and its effect on us… a problem that it is not within our power to solve, but which affects us greatly. 

There was an article in Sunday’s Journal News (2/27/11) detailing the inception and current status of Westchester Avenue’s so-called Miracle Mile. The article was a surprise, but the information in it was not. The town board has been aware of the fact that the office buildings along Westchester Avenue, on our side as well as on the White Plains side of I-287, have been losing tenants, and indeed some of them are almost empty.  

Built in the early '80s, the space no longer suits today’s corporations. In the early ‘80s, computers were in their infancy, took up almost a whole room and most files were still kept in paper form. Sen. Oppenheimer, in comments at the LWV’s gathering also on Sunday, said that when she first was in office, her Albany staff was six people. Today, with computers, faxes, cell phones, etc., she needs only one staff person there. 

How does this affect Harrison? As the Journal News article stated, there was a time – in the '80s and early '90s, when about 60 percent of our property taxes were paid by the office buildings.  As tenants left, and new ones were hard to find so offices or floors were vacant, the building owners came to the town and said:  “Lower the Assessment on our buildings. It is not worth what it was two, five or 10 years ago.”    

Today, commercial buildings pay less than 30 percent of our budget.  And — the owners come back every three years, which they are legally allowed to do, and ask for further reductions. Seventeen owners are now before a judge asking for reductions. Since part of their value is in their rent roll, and that rent roll is greatly reduced, generally they get that reduction. (Of course, homeowners are now coming in and asking for reductions, but that is a story for another time.) 

Aging office buildings are a problem. What is the solution? It truly lies in the hands of the building owners. They need to make their buildings attractive to new tenants. This is a process that has been on-going for several years. Slowly, but on-going. There is hope. For instance, the Gannett building has been sold, and an announcement will be made "soon".  Many of the buildings have been renovated for medical uses.  Where one comes, others follow.  On March 3, I am attending a breakfast meeting on the topic Retrofitting Westchester’s Office Parks. I will be looking for ideas.   

(Editor's Note: This column was submitted before the meeting, it was already attended at time of publication)

In April, I will be part of a panel discussion on the MTA project, at the annual convention of the American Planners Association, and will put in a good word for development along Westchester Avenue, as well as telling them how great our town is. 

What can you do? How can you help? Well, where is your office located? Are you thinking of moving? Why not on Westchester Avenue? It would be an easy commute, wouldn’t it? The article quoted one tenant as saying that the rents are very low. What are you paying?   

For the names of the owners of the various buildings, please call our Assessor, Mark Heinbockel, at 914-835-3063.   

The shredder truck will be in the RR Parking Lot at the corner of Harrison and Halstead Avenues on March 12 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Bring all those out-dated personal papers that are filling your boxes and closets — up to three boxes per person. Protect your identity, and have all those papers shredded. No hard covers, just paper.