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neighborhood character of Fifth Avenue area

 

Many of the residents in the 5th Ave. study area have lived there for over 20 years. 82 year old Josephine Notaro, of 49 Pleasant St. was born and grew up in that house and remembers when the area behind it (now I-95) was swampland. Other residents, like Mr. and Mrs. Gataletto, of 8 Pleasant St. moved to City Park in the late 1950's, when the house they owned in downtown New Rochelle was bought by the city through eminent domain to make way for redevelopment there. Mr. Gataletto recalls that the neighborhood then was home to mostly immigrants from Italy. There was a butcher shop and a candy store where children could buy soda and snacks. After the city rezoned the City Park area M-1, industrial uses became predominant and residential property values continued to decline. Many of the business owners in the area cite the attractiveness of being in a neighborhood where industry thrives. The McMahons, who own a prepared-food distribution business on Pleasant Ave., usually begin their day very early, around 3:30 am and try to have the trucks loaded and on the road by 5:00 am. It is a great advantage to them to be surrounded by other businesses that do not complain about the noise and early hours.

Many of the new residents of the city park area are recent immigrants, mostly Latino. A few cite living in a mixed industrial /residential neighborhood as an advantage because they work in landscaping or other agricultural services like tree trimming and are able to store equipment and vehicles on the premises without the complaints that could be elicited if the neighborhood were entirely residential. Although the city has designated the 5th Ave. study area as "blighted", most of the structures are fairly well maintained (see blight assessment section). Many of the houses have gardens and planters in the front, and front porches with chairs where people sit and visit. People know each other in the City Park area, and there is a feeling of community among the neighbors. It is a well-integrated neighborhood, with Latino immigrants, older Italians, African-Americans, and a variety of businesses co-existing side by side. The storage yard at the corner of Valley Place across the street from the church is not well lit and attracts rowdy teenagers in the early hours but besides that, crime is almost non-existent in this neighborhood.


Two churches have buildings in the 5th Ave. study area. The Emanuel AME church at the corner of Valley and Plain Ave. is home to two congregations. St. Paul's Refuge Church on Plain Ave. is a smaller, independent church. Emanuel AME has a very active African-American congregation which holds a social/ chicken and fish fry every 1st and 3rd Saturday. On Sunday mornings, parking can be difficult as people attend the two services.

This neighborhood is alive and active every day. Weekdays begin early and see a flurry of activity dominated by the businesses. Trucks make deliveries and pick-ups, many of them temporarily obstructing the narrow streets. Early mornings and after three, the school buses leave their storage lots on the way to pick up children all over New Rochelle. Some of the children who live in the neighborhood also rely on school buses to get to school. The businesses close at night and the entire area quiets down.

A majority of the workers in the study area seem to be men. When asked, most of them said they live in New Rochelle, within 5 to 10 miles of work. There is only one eating place in the area, and that is Rose's Pizza Parlor, owed by a Brazilian couple. Between noon and 2:00pm, the eatery is full and lively, but after about 2:30 it is deserted. The current owners of the business are moving within the next few months, as the lunch crowd does not provide sufficient revenue for them to stay in business. They claim that no business could survive in this spot because of the lack of parking and customer base. There is one gas station on Fifth Ave and no other retail. No grocery or convenience stores, no drug stores. People who live in City Park and across the street at the MacLeay Apartments, a private, subsidized housing development have to travel outside the area to shop for groceries.

5th Ave. is a narrow two lane street used as a highway by many people. It connects the industrial area of New Rochelle to Larchmont and to the I-95 South ramp to New York City. Although the posted speed limit is 25, vehicles and heavy trucks regularly speed down 5th Ave, posing a great hazard to the residents of the MacLeay Apartments. 5th Ave is too narrow to provide any parking, and the speeding traffic makes it extremely difficult for vehicles exiting the lots of the businesses on the street.

Across from the study area on 5th Ave. is the William Flower Park, surrounded by a green chicken wire fence and no walkways or visible entrances from 5th Ave. A few of the residents in the City Park area stated that they did not know that WF was a public park. On weekends, the Park is used by the little leagues and two intramural soccer leagues. Parking is a big problem and people who use the park complain bitterly about being ticketed unfairly. There is a pool at William Flower Park, and a playground for the kids, a soccer field, a football field and a baseball diamond. None of these amenities of are visible from the 5th Ave. There is also a community center and an old, abandoned older structure that is padlocked and boarded up.

 

In a door-to door survey conducted in Spanish and English over a five-week period, the residents and businesses of the City Park area expressed the following priorities for their neighborhood:

Traffic:

Speed bumps and traffic lights on 5th Ave, Plain Ave and Pleasant St.
Better sidewalks on 5th Ave.
Crosswalks on 5th Ave. connecting the City Park Area to the Park
Solutions to alleviate parking shortage

Economic Development:

Remove Blight Designation
Approve plans for expansion of existing businesses
Promote the existing Industrial base
Help the businesses grow
Promote the concept of an Industrial Park
Promote small retail (grocery store)
Promote retail compatible with industrial uses
Attract new technologies and manufacturing (computers, computer parts, plastics)
Attract light industrial manufacturing from other parts of Westchester
Clean up unsightly lots currently used for open storage

Labor:

Better trained workforce, possessing more modern, up to date skills
English proficiency for workers