It’s a truism voiced by every generation: “Our future depends on the young.”
For many Westchester County municipalities, the future is now.
Faced with aging populations, stagnant post-“great recession” economies and static or declining tax bases, local villages, towns and cities are eyeing millennials and young professionals as potential saviors. It’s the same story across the nation as communities look for ways to attract 18- to 34-year-olds.
With an estimated 75.4 million people in that age group, the Pew Research Center says millennials surpassed the nation’s 74.9 million baby boomers last year, making them the largest generation in the U.S. Their numbers alone suggest that millennials will soon drive the economy and culture, and that the communities they choose to call home will reap the benefits.
The office buildings and residences along North Avenue and Huguenot Street in downtown New Rochelle. (Photo: File photo by Mark Vergari/The Journal News)
“Ten years ago, talent would relocate for work,” said Bob Knight, spokesman for the Westchester County Association, a business group. “Essentially, that model has been flipped on its head. It’s now the companies that relocate to be closer to the talent. If Westchester is serious about attracting and retaining business, the community needs to engage with millennials and aggressively invest in amenities and corresponding infrastructure to appeal to the next generation.”
Municipalities are trying various things to do that, including:
Encouraging development of diverse housing stock that includes affordable rental apartments.
Promoting downtown nightlife, restaurants and entertainment venues.
Providing diverse recreational opportunities that take advantage of local resources such as hiking trails, beaches and river fronts.
Touting the area’s proximity to New York City and the convenience of mass transit.
Knight pointed to New Rochelle as an example of a city that has “embarked on an ambitious plan for smart growth with the goal to attract innovation, millennials, and empty-nesters, as business follows talent.”
In a November article for the New York Law Journal, White Plains attorneys Neil J. Alexander and Charles J. Gottlieb wrote that “municipalities are in a war over the attraction of millennials,” which they said is “crucial to the vitality and sustainability of a municipality and its financial circumstances.”
The Yonkers waterfront. (Photo: File photo by Mark Vergari/The Journal News)
Alexander and Gottlieb, of the Cuddy & Feder law firm, said the state’s 2 percent property-tax cap is forcing municipalities to consolidate, cut services or grow. The cap, implemented in 2011, limits the growth in property taxes to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.
“It’s what we’ve been seeing in representing clients across the Hudson Valley and Long Island,” Alexander told The Journal News/lohud. “Municipalities are trying different things. There’s a need for diverse types of rental housing. You have to take risks.”
Examples, he said, include the “Generation Yonkers” marketing campaign in that city and New Rochelle’s decision to completely re-invent its downtown. Rezoning, incentive zoning that gives developers concessions in exchange for making public improvements and transit-oriented development are all tools municipalities are using to both retain and attract employers, and to convince millennials to move in.
The good news for them is that, in recent years, the local efforts appear to be working. According to U.S. Census estimates, the number of 18- to 34-year-olds in Westchester climbed from 170,419 in 2005 to 196,723 in 2014 — a 15 percent increase. In 2014, millennials made up 20.4 percent of the county’s population, up from 18.6 percent in 2005.
A train passes over the railroad bridge on Westchester Avenue in downtown Port Chester. (Photo: Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)
“I’ve noticed a lot of younger people walking by our store,” said Shacoya Wallace, a senior sales associate for the Deja Vu Consignment Boutique, located near the Port Chester train station. “They’re getting off the train after coming from the city, or they’re going to the city.”
She said the once “sleepy, quiet village” is “making progress because they have a host of things that are geared toward that age group, like eateries, entertainment and shopping.”
‘The fundamentals’
To see what they’re doing and how it’s resonating with young adults, The Journal News/lohud asked six Westchester municipalities — Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Peekskill, Port Chester and New Rochelle — to fill out resumes, highlighting what their community offers millennials and young professionals. A group of five volunteers from that demographic then critiqued the resumes and shared their thoughts with us.
The panelists noted that all the resumes put some emphasis on nightlife and dining, but agreed that, as millennials, they were more interested in affordability and convenience.
“I don’t know that music and bars will really sell someone on relocating,” said Anthony Luisi, a 32-year-old Eastchester lawyer. “That’s like the cherry on top; but you have to have the fundamentals.”
Another panelist, Bo Zhang, 28, a project director for United Way, said millennials “are a lot more practical than people think. It’s not necessarily about how big a place is — it’s about the number of young professionals who live there, and affordability. I think those are the most important factors.”
North Division Street in Peekskill (Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)
Although millennials have generally flocked to major cities such as New York, high rent, low wages and, in many cases, heavy college debt, are making it more difficult for them to afford to stay. That gives suburbs such as Westchester an opportunity to siphon off those on the front edge of the millennial generation as they begin to marry and settle down, said Neil Howe, an economist, demographer and co-author of “Millennial Rising: The Next Great Generation,” who is credited with coining the term millennial.
Howe, founder and president of LifeCourse Associates, a Virginia-based consulting firm, predicted that young professionals will head for the suburbs as they start families, but will want to stay near the cutting-edge companies and experimental ventures found in big cities. He said they’ll seek communities that can offer convenient transportation to the city, dynamic recreation and social opportunities, and affordable places to live.
“You can’t generalize too much, but I think they’ll be attracted to inner suburbs,” he said. “They’ll want to stay close and connected to the action and vitality of the big cities, and they’ll want to be with each other. The suburbs that will be successful will be those that are affordable and convenient. It has to be easy to get to and from the city.”
‘Trying to survive’
Garrett Berger, 26, brings a young professional’s perspective to his job in Peekskill’s Planning Department. He moved to the city from Dutchess County. Peekskill has marketed and promoted itself as an artist’s haven for more than a decade, and Berger said he likes the “artsy vibe.”
“It had to do with work, of course,” he said of his decision to move there. “Also, just looking at all the other communities, it rated pretty highly for me in terms of affordability and things to do.”
He said that New York City “is such a draw for people in my demographic — it really sucks them out of Westchester. The big exception to that is a young couple looking for their first home. Westchester is where you’d look, just because the city is so expensive.”
Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce President Dwayne Brown said it was vital for his city to attract young adults because “we need new influxes of money. Without that, we’ll have a hard time trying to survive.”
Brown said he sees some change, including the construction of rental apartments near the Mount Vernon West train station and Hartley Park that he said will attract millennials, “But we need a lot more stores and a better retail hub to give us a chance against the other cities.”
Kevin Cacace, president of the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce, said the city’s development and marketing efforts are bringing “a significant amount of millennials” into rental apartments downtown, and that they are needed, particularly by larger employers looking to replace retiring baby boomers.
The desire to engage young professionals in the business community prompted the chamber to change the way it presents itself to the public, he said.
“We’re trying, as a chamber, to reach out — increasing our web presence and reaching out on social media, because there is a divide between the way baby boomers and millennials communicate,” Cacace said.
White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said that, by encouraging development of housing in the business district, and negotiating with developers to make public improvements, the city is “creating an exciting, vibrant downtown.”
Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains (Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)
“We’ve been successful in attracting not just millennials, but empty-nesters and people in general,” he said.
Roach agreed that bringing young professionals into the region was critical.
“It absolutely influences our decision-making. Corporate employers want young, well-educated employees and, if you don’t bring them here, the corporations will move to where they are. My job is to make sure that, when you’re looking to hire someone, you don’t have to sell them on White Plains because we’ve already done that.”
Staff writers Matt Coyne, Christopher Eberhart, Ernie Garcia and Jun-Kai Teoh contributed to this report.
Filed under: News Tagged: housing, Millennials