Click to read the report
NEWBURGH –Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, the region’s
independent think-tank organization, Thursday unveiled its “Urban
Action Agenda,” a blueprint to guide cities and urban areas in the
nine-county region in their rebirth.
The report looks at 25 cities and urban areas and offers a toolkit on how to breathe new life into them, said Pattern President Jonathan Drapkin.
“We need to figure out how do we do it, how to we change, and that’s what this report is rally doing; it is offering a prescription for how the valley can grow in the years to come, protect our green space, break our cycle of poverty, which will not be easy, but there is no reason why we can’t start now,” Drapkin said.
Pattern’s report found that:
Valley cities and urban areas are far safer than many perceive due to dramatic drops in crime rates
The Hispanic population is growing in raw numbers and as a percentage of the population
The percent of commuters using trains is increasing in most urban areas, carpooling is decreasing, and more people are walking to work
Many closed schools across the Hudson Valley are finding creative
new uses that serve the public
There is increasing access to healthier food in cities and urban areas via farmers’ markets and community gardens
The Pattern report studied the urban communities of Beacon, Brewster, Catskill, Ellenville, Fishkill, Haverstraw, Highland Falls, Hudson, Kingston, Liberty, Middletown, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Nanuet, New Rochelle, Newburgh, Nyack, Peekskill, Port Jervis, Poughkeepsie, Saugerties, Walden, Wappingers Falls, White Plains and Yonkers.
