NEWBURGH – The closing of the Lower Broadway branch of Key Bank in Newburgh has the city council concerned for the residents of the east end. The council is urging corporate headquarters not to shut it down.
Mayor Judy Kennedy led the charge suggesting corporate officials do not want to serve that community any longer.
“This bank is the only bank within this east side within census track four and five where there is a high ratio of minority folks, there is a high ratio of low income folks and this is a discriminatory act against people on this side of the city and we are asking that they rethink this. Transportation is hard for people; they are walking,” Kennedy said.
Jonathan Jacobson, one of three Democratic mayoral candidates, and an attorney, called for a federal investigation into the closure.
“Key Bank has a national charter and their obligations to their communities which the bank serves,” Jacobson said. “Thousands of people in the east end of Newburgh who have no transportation will not have a local bank within walking distance.”
City council members suggest that while they contact Key Bank headquarters and urge them to keep the facility open, they also contact area credit unions and try to persuade them to open a branch on Lower Broadway.
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