Call Center Company in Yonkers, NY

Yonkers’ housing authority is seeking firms’ bids for phase one of converting gas lines to electrical systems at the Palisade Towers housing, where gas service was shut off for safety reasons after discovery of pipe leaks/corrosion in August 2024.

Bids are due by 3 p.m. on April 21, a legal notice said. The request for proposals has been online since March 17 at mhacy.org.

Phase one upgrades include new electrical distribution panels, new service wiring to each apartment, new sub-meters, installing new stoves and new outlets in the apartments. The hope is to be under contract by June and for construction to start as soon as possible after.

Future phases will include plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning work to install new hot-water systems and HVAC units.

A walkthrough is Thursday, March 27, at 9 a.m. for potential bidders at the site.

Yonkers' Palisade Towers residents without gas since August

In late August, residents of the eight-building complex in the Walsh Road-Schroeder Street area reported a suspected gas leak. The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers and Consolidated Edison responded and repaired it, but pipe corrosion was found and the situation became a bigger issue.

Temporary boilers and cooking appliances have been in place for residents to have hot water for showers and other needs in the more than 400-unit complex for months. In addition, area food pantries and restaurants have donated meals to residents since the shut off.

In January, Westchester County government said a $4.6-million grant will be provided by the Landlord Tenant Assistance Program, for as well as $10.1 million is expected from the Community Preservation Corporation’s Climate Friendly Homes Fund.

Wilson Kimball, Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers president and CEO, said at the Jan. 22 news conference the money was the first step in converting Palisade Towers from gas to electric.

Jeanne Muchnick

It's a family affair at The Italian Oven in Yonkers where two pairs of sisters — all first cousins — are opening their first restaurant.

The new spot, in what had been Fortina, opens March 19 for lunch and dinner. It’s the first eatery Amanda and Angelina Oppedisano, along with Nicoletta and Cristina Sakellaridis, have run on their own, although the four have, for the past five years, worked at the restaurants siblings Peter and Anna Maria Oppedisano own in Long Island, Queens and the Catskills. (Peter is Amanda and Angelina’s father, while Nicolette and Cristina are the daughters of Anna Maria.)

Their family-owned spots include Mangia Bene and Churchill's in Rockville Centre as well as KX Burger in Astoria and Slopes at Hunter Mountain in Tannersville.

As for why they chose Westchester, Cristina Sakellaridis said they saw the vacant restaurant as an opportunity to expand their footprint. "We're a big Italian family who loves cooking and eating," she said (both Peter and Anna Maria Oppedisano and their four siblings were born in Calabria), "My uncle saw this space and knew he could transform it into a project for the four of us.

"We're all super close — we grew up living next door and are basically like sisters — so we're excited to bring our love of classic Italian food to Yonkers.

"With all of us in one place, we can't really go wrong,"

A love for Italy

"Simplified" casual Italian is how the women describe the pastas and pizza that make up the bulk of the menu where paninis also rule. Other items include wood-fired wings, baked clams, meatballs, chicken parm, eggplant Rollatini, salads, soups and more.

They consider the new spot a little cousin to Mangia Bene. "Everyone just calls it Mangia Bene but it's full name is really Mangia Bene Italian Oven so we took the Italian Oven part and figured we'd go with that," explained Nicoletta.

In staying true to their Italian roots, they're relying on chef Fernando Calle, who grew up in Verona, and pizzaiolo Pasquale D'Ambrosio, who grew up in Pompeii.

Their goal is to appeal to families, singles, girls' nights, date nights and more with affordable price points — dishes are in the $13 to $20 range — with a sense of fun.

"We want this to be a place where everyone's comfortable," said Cristina.

Instagrammable Decor

What had been a vast industrial-looking space with a sunken bar in the middle has been remodeled and leveled off with the bar now set against the back of the restaurant, and the dining room filled with greenery and a black, white and red color scheme.

The pièce de résistance is the large dining room mural featuring the four cousins eating pasta and pizza. A neon sign in front with the wording "More pizza, More pasta" adds to the sense of whimsy with colors that change from blue to green to white.

Unchanged from the days of Fortina: an open kitchen where you can see the gas and wood-fired pizza oven — and the chefs — in action.

If you go

Address: 1086 North Broadway, Yonkers, (in the Boyce Thompson Center), 914-400-0200, italianovenofny.com.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday; to 10 p.m. Thursday to Saturday.

Good to know: The 200-seat space has plenty of room for parties; their back area, curtained off for privacy, can seat up to 50. Also good to know: cauliflower crust is available as a pizza option for those who are gluten-free.

To come: Brunch will be added down the road.

Jeanne Muchnick covers food and dining. Click here for her most recent articles and follow her latest dining adventures on Instagram @jeannemuchnick or via the lohudfood newsletter.

Empire Center: Median Teacher Pay Exceeds $100k in a Quarter of NY School Districts

A total of 186 out of 685 school districts outside New York City last year had a median classroom teacher pay over $100,000, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website, up from 159 five years earlier.

All eight Rockland County school districts had median pay over $100,000 during the 2023-24 school year, as did 54 of Nassau’s 56 districts, five of Putnam’s six districts, 41 of Westchester’s 46 districts, 59 of Suffolk’s 69 districts and six of Ulster’s nine districts. Orange County had six districts over $100,000, Dutchess had three, and Erie had three.

At the county level, the highest median teacher pay levels were found in Putnam ($126,971), Westchester ($123,413), Nassau ($121,840), Rockland ($119,469), and Suffolk ($119,123).

Compared to five years earlier (2018-19) and not adjusting for inflation, the difference in county-level median pay ranged from 8 percent lower in Niagara County to 51 percent higher in The Bronx. The pay figures, collected by the state Education Department, do not include employer contributions toward health insurance, pensions, retiree health coverage or other benefits.

The district with the state’s highest median teacher pay was Mid-Hudson’s Scarsdale ($156,432). In other regions, the district with the highest median pay was:

Cold Spring Harbor (Long Island) ($150,089)

Sweet Home (Western NY) ($104,467)

South Colonie (Capital Region) ($98,353)

Utica City (Mohawk Valley) ($85,996)

Baldwinsville (Central NY) ($85,081)

Medina (Finger Lakes) ($81,020)

Wells (North Country) ($81,481)

Addison’s (Southern Tier) ($78,904)

Buffalo City School District – the biggest school district outside New York City – employed 3,122 full time classroom teachers, paying a median salary of $80,707.

Figures for the other big school districts were:

City of Rochester: 2,154 teachers with a median pay of $69,361.

City of Syracuse: 1,702 teachers with a median pay of $69,030.

City of Yonkers: 1,445 teachers with a median pay of $146,259.

A district’s median pay reflects the pay scale set by union collective bargaining agreements and where teachers fall on their respective pay scales based on seniority and degree attainment. Teacher union contracts, and individual pay records going back to 2008 for school administrators, teachers and other employees and other school data are searchable on SeeThroughNY.Teacher salaries are among the biggest cost drivers in New York’s school district budgets.

The Empire Center maintains a dashboard that illustrates the major financial drivers including cost components, revenue categories, and per pupil expenditures for New York’s school districts. According to the latest available data for 2022-23, 478 of New York school districts, or 70 percent, paid out at least a quarter of their annual budgets for teacher salaries, with several as high as 40 percent.

The latest teacher pay data highlights New York’s increasingly bloated school district spending, which is the highest in the nation. However, test scores have remained consistently mediocre, with New York’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math and reading scores trailing behind those of Mississippi, Kentucky, and Alabama.With the annual school district budget vote approaching in a month,

New York’s school districts face pressure to eliminate DEI programs or risk losing federal funding. While federal aid accounts for less than 15 percent of most school districts’ total budgets, NYSED has made it clear that it will not comply with President Trump’s order. As a result, the state will need to find alternative funding sources, and taxpayers will likely bear the burden through higher property and state taxes.

The Empire Center, (empirecenter.org) based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.

New York’s Growing Housing Crisis Has More Middle Class Families Facing Eviction, With Record Rates of Childhood Poverty and Homelessness

See Pictures From the Actions in NYC, Rochester, and Yonkers Here

NEW YORK — Today, VOCAL-NY held rallies in New York City, Rochester, and Yonkers to demand policies to end homelessness in the final state budget by including funding for the Housing Access Voucher program (HAVP).

“We need to get folks out of shelters and prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place” Said Noam Cohen, a leader with VOCAL-NY’s NYC Chapter. “HAVP could get me into permanent housing, giving me a chance to get my life started.”

“If Governor Hochul had created the Housing Access Voucher program years ago, young mothers like me who were struggling with homelessness could have been spared from this destabilizing experience. I hope that we can count on Governor Hochul’s leadership so that we can end homelessness for children, individuals, and families across the state,” said Monika White, a member of VOCAL-NY’s Rochester Chapter.

“We took action today to deliver a simple message to our state elected officials in Westchester: You can not pretend homelessness is not an issue in this community. We’re counting on you to tell the Governor to support common-sense, immediate solutions to the homelessness crisis, like the Housing Access Voucher Program!” said Ernest Williams, a member of VOCAL-NY’s Westchester Chapter.

BACKGROUND:

In cities across New York, advocates are rallying alongside VOCAL-NY to demand the legislature and Governor prioritize funding to end homelessness in the final state budget. When asked about the HAVP recently, Governor Hochul has stated that she is focused on the construction of a modest amount of new units — but this fails to address the immediate needs of New Yorkers on the verge of eviction, living in the broken shelter system, or trying to survive on the streets.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual point-in-time survey, which estimated that more than 158,010 people across New York State experienced homelessness in 2024. Data from the NY State Technical and Educational Assistance Center for Homeless Students (NYS TEACHS) showed that over 155,000 children were homeless during the 2022-2023 school year – 35,000 of them living outside of NYC. Homelessness is a growing problem, particularly amongst children upstate, as rural regions have seen a shocking rise in youth homelessness of more than 1000% from 2014-2024. The driving force behind these increases continues to be non-payment evictions, and rising housing costs have meant higher and higher income earners are winding up in rental arrears.

The Westchester County Board of Legislators celebrated the 100th birthday of Herman S. Geist, the first-ever Board Chairman and an extraordinary lifelong public servant. After serving as a lieutenant in WWII where he helped liberate Domažlice in the Czech Republic, Geist graduated from NYU Law School and went on to make history as the inaugural Chairman of the Board from 1970-1973, later co-founding the Westchester Parks Foundation which donated over $15 million to county parks under his guidance. Throughout his remarkable century of life, he further distinguished himself through service on the Westchester Medical Center Board of Trustees and as Chair of the County Bi-Centennial Commission, earning the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Parks Foundation in 2013.

The Board produced and played a video, Herman Geist: A Century of Service to honor the former Chairman and express their admiration. During the meeting, legislators expressed their good wishes to Mr. Geist, who watched the meeting remotely with his wife, Barbara Geist. Watch the video on YouTube here:

To honor him, the Board named its paid summer internship program the “Herman S. Geist Summer Fellowship Program.” The four-week program offers students both paid opportunities and unpaid positions for high school credit, providing hands-on experience in county government while building valuable skills and connections for potential careers in public service.

Board Chairman Vedat Gashi (D- New Castle, Ossining, Somers, Yorktown) convened the ceremony, “This sought-after internship now bears the name of Herman Geist, who transformed Westchester through a century of dedicated service building county government, enhancing parks and hospitals. His life journey proves the remarkable impact one committed person can achieve in their community. We hope our interns, future public servants, will draw inspiration from his extraordinary legacy.”

Legislator Benjamin Boykin II (D- White Plains, Scarsdale, West Harrison) President of the New York State Association of Counties said, “It was my privilege to speak with the Honorable Herman Geist in a video commemorating his 100th birthday. The conversation revealed both the wisdom of my mentor and the warmth of a dear friend. As the architect of our County Charter and first Chairman of this Board, Herman guided me toward service with NYSAC, where I’m now honored to serve as President during its centennial year alongside Herman, who continues his dedicated role as parliamentarian. On behalf of our Board, I presented him with a plaque honoring his groundbreaking leadership, personal mementos from his time here, and a framed collection of all 62 county seals—fitting tributes to a WWII veteran, accomplished professional, and extraordinary public servant whose influence continues to shape Westchester County.”

Immediately following the celebration, the Board of Legislators convened a regular meeting in which it unanimously approved a local law that will improve the County’s ability to identify the lowest responsive and responsible bidder on public work contracts. By adding a legally required questionnaire to the approval process prior to contracting, the County will be able to better determine the bidder’s “responsibility” under the law based on the bidder’s financials, legal capacity, integrity, and past performance on government contracts.

Legislator Erika L. Pierce (D- Bedford, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, North Salem, Pound Ridge, Somers) Chair of the Public Works & Transportation Committee and co-author of the bill said, “Westchester is required to award contracts, in most cases, to the lowest “responsible” bidder. How we as a County define “responsible” is the focus of this important good governance legislation. This legislation helps set up a structured system for identifying when a bidder might be deemed non-responsible, and a system for documenting that status for future contracts opportunities, protecting tax payer money and producing better outcomes for our infrastructure projects.”

Legislator Nancy E. Barr (D- Harrison, Port Chester, Rye Brook), Vice Chair of the Public Works & Transportation Committee and co-author of the bill said, “This unanimous approval gives Westchester the power to look beyond price tags when awarding contracts. Our new mandatory questionnaire examines a bidder’s financial health, legal standing, integrity, and past performance because the cheapest option isn’t always the best deal for taxpayers. We’re raising standards while making smarter decisions with public money.”

A building collapsed overnight in Yonkers, New York after a massive boulder came loose and crashed into it, causing a fuel spill.

The two-story cinderblock building is owned by Peterson Tool Rental, a family business that opened in 1953. The building was used to store Bobcats and other construction equipment.

The collapse was discovered at around 7 a.m. Monday on Saw Mill River Road, but it happened sometime overnight, officials said.

"First-arriving units found a massive collapse at the south side of the structure behind me. It appears that a large boulder that was embedded in the hillside behind that let loose, took out the rear wall, which resulted in the two-story southern portion of the building collapsing," Yonkers Deputy Chief of Fire Prevention Chris DeSantis said.

Photos and videos from the scene show damage to the foundation and equipment under the rubble. The north end of the building may also have to come down because of extensive structural damage.

No one hurt in Yonkers building collapse

Jimmy Nolan, a customer, said the tool-rental business has a stellar reputation. He feels for the owner, Carl Peterson.

"I think everybody who bought a house in Yonkers rented tools out of this place," Nolan said. "It's sad."

But the mess could have been much worse. The impact crushed expensive construction equipment, but no one was inside and there were no injuries.

"The building was unoccupied at the time, thank God," DeSantis said. "If it occurred during the day, that area of the building is normally occupied by a number of workers. So, luckily, it happened at night while the building was unoccupied."

The building hugs a rock outcropping that supports a hillside leading to a street above. DeSantis said the recent April showers may have caused the boulder to come loose.

"The boulder appears to have been embedded into the dirt and the hill behind it, and just with the rains and possibly over time -- I can't get back there to evaluate it, but it appears it either sheared off the rest of the rock or just loosened up and came down against the rear wall," he said.

Section of Saw Mill River Road closed

The area of Saw Mill River Road was roped off and closed for some time in both directions between Tompkins and Ryder avenues.

"In the collapse area, there are still some unsupported areas, so that will have to be taken down carefully in the near future, piece by piece, to avoid causing any further damage to the remaining portion of the structure," DeSantis said.

An oil tank was also crushed and gallons spilled into the street. First responders used absorbent material to keep the runoff out of storm drains.

"Once we have that cleaned up and we finish putting absorbent down, then we'll reopen the roadway. The premise will be condemned as a precaution until they get a structural engineer to evaluate it and they begin the process of removing the debris," DeSantis said.

The road reopened Monday evening.

Tony Aiello contributed to this report.

Renee Anderson

Renee Anderson is a digital producer at CBS New York, where she covers breaking news and other local stories. Before joining the team in 2016, Renee worked at WMUR-TV.