Affordable accessible housing opens in Lower Hudson Valley, NY

From LoHud.com:

NYACK, N.Y. - The decorative railings were missing and grass seed was on the bare ground near the new red buildings, but everything else was in place for the ribbon-cutting of Nyack's newest apartment units.

Nearly 100 people, including local politicians and a representative from Gov. David Paterson's office, gathered under a tent in the parking lot of the newly christened Leonard Cooke Pine Street Homes yesterday to praise the opening of 28 units of housing for handicapped and low-income residents.

The $5.7 million complex was 12 years in the making, but most of its initiators were on hand to bask in the applause from many in the Nyack housing community.

Bert Hughes, president of the Nyack Housing Assistance Corporation, read a list of contributors, volunteers and professionals who worked to take the project from idea to physical building and praised the village officials who made sure the project came to fruition.

"The work started with a dream, an idea, and they worked very hard at maintaining it," Nyack Mayor John Shields said. "This is public housing all of us could be proud of and any of us could be happy living in. It's what should be done with low and affordable housing for citizens who need it."

The work was designed to help people and families with a handicapped member who wants to remain in Nyack but can't find affordable housing with handicap accessibility.

Cooke, who first proposed housing for handicapped and low-income residents in the 1970s, helped found the Nyack Housing Authority and was a vocal advocate for reasonably priced housing.

Several people who spoke at the ceremony recalled a man hard to resist and one who would have been on hand to see the units open if he could have.

It was only common sense to name the project after him.

"Leonard Cooke was involved in everything in Nyack, from 1948 up until 2005," said his widow, Elizabeth Cooke. "Leonard was a man who believed not only in himself but in us, and you are part of that project today. I'm just so proud to be here today to say thank you, thank you, and I'm sorry Leonard was not here to be here and accept the honor of this project being named the Leonard Cooke Pine Street Homes."

Ground was broken for the project about 18 months ago, with many of the politicians who were at the January 2008 event on hand yesterday. There were some problems during construction, including 22 days of rain when the sidewalks were supposed to be poured in June, but three units were open for inspection by those who attended yesterday, with work continuing on several other units.

The five new units are sided in red and come with amenities that include central air conditioning, dishwashers, extra-wide halls, extra-wide doorways, rails and pull-down seats in bathrooms and tubs and entrances directly onto outdoor sidewalks, without steps or door ridges. They are two stories high but, because they are built on a hill, entrances are flush with the outside.

Architect Jan Degenshein designed the units.

The apartments are reserved for households with incomes at or below 60 percent of Rockland's median income of $57,060 for a family of four.

About $4.25 million in funding came from the state Housing Finance Agency; another $241,000 from federal tax credits for the creation of low-income housing.

Julie Salgado, 43, of Spring Valley, who is visually impaired, was on hand with neighbor Linda Scott for the ribbon cutting.

"I put in an application. I heard they were wonderful apartments," Salgado said. "I'll hear by Sept. 1. I really hope (I get one). Nyack is a beautiful town."

Rodney Picott of Sparkill and William Harris of Suffern also came to see what the apartments looked like. The two, who grew up in Nyack, said they have friends living in the older units in the neighborhood and were curious about the new units.

After a tour of one of the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, both men were full of praise.

"This is better than where I live," Picott quipped. "This is where a disabled person can live in dignity and comfort. I would want my mom to live here. This is huge, what they're doing for people."