Hi All-

Four years ago a group of paddlers in Yonkers, NY managed to inherit the old Yonkers Canoe Club clubhouse on a patch of waterfront land on the Hudson River in Yonkers, NY. The waterfront at that time was old & broken down, and the clubhouse had sat mostly dormant and ignored for a number of years. The YCC had its glory days, preparing athletes for competition and winning two Olympic gold medals in 1948. But the nature of the sport changed, and the club could not make the transition to recreational paddling.

We formed the Yonkers Paddling & Rowing Club in 2000, and we started to grow. We have had up to 200 members, ran races & events, and kept the waterfront active as the City of Yonkers started an ambitious waterfront revival. We were officially part of this, being embraced by the City. They even gave us grant money to improve our dock, and to set up a boatbuilding shop nearby.

The piece of land we are on belongs to Westchester County though, not the City of Yonkers. We were accepted by the County, and were given a yearly license to run a recreation paddling club, open to all. We thrived for four years.

This November, we received an eviction letter from the County, ordering us out by December 31st. Penalties would be placed if we failed to remove all posessions from the Club in a specified time. We had known all along that the County would have liked to have us moved at some time. They were in the final phases of bulding a park, and our neighbor, the County Sewage Pumping Station, had an additional building erected. Despite all this activity however, our spot, which is largely undevelopable, was never included in any of these plans and we stayed on and were given yearly licenses.

We are now facing an eviction in several days. The timing of this action is suspect. The County could have waited a month & simply declined to renew our license. That would have had the same purpose. We don’t now what the message was that the County is sending us on this, having us leave over the Holiday Season. We would need to remove & find homes for over 80 boats, some of them historic old racing boats from the YCC era.

We have been actively seeking help from local & State agencies, the local Media, newspaper & TV, organizations and politicians. Scenic Hudson, Clearwater, The Hudson Riverkeeper, and others all have made their voices heard to help us continue on the Hudson.

If any of you in the paddling world would like to help, the best thing we could ask of you is to simply send an e-mail to Andrew Spano, the Westchester County Executive, asking him to reconsider his actions. The Yonkers Paddling & Rowing Club gives the citizens of the metro NY area a great opportunity to paddle & enjoy the Hudson.

Mr. Spano can be reached at:

http://westchestergov.com/SectionIndex/discformajs.asp?categoryid=12

There is also a list of local politicians on our website, www.yprc.org

Evey voice counts. And at this critical time, a solid show of support can help the County change its mind.

Thanks for your help-

Jack Gilman
YPRC