White Plains is Getting Greener (Part 1)

White Plains is getting greener with several new sustainable projects that are in the works.

Cycling in the City

Mayor Tom Roach is working on creating bike lanes with dedicated bike lanes from the Highlands neighborhood of the city to the White Plains Metro-North train station. 

“What he envisions is that this will be the first of several bike paths around the city,” said Karen Pasquale, senior advisor to the mayor. “There are bike racks at the train station and in the downtown area, as well. They go hand-in-glove. We want to make the core downtown as walkable as possible, so people have a place to put their bike and walk.”

Though the city’s infrastructure isn’t ready to have an onslaught of bicycles through the entire downtown area, there are some yellow painted bike racks, such as one outside of Starbucks in Renaissance Plaza, for people to bike-into the downtown area then walk around. 

White Plains is currently working with Metro-North to get more bike racks and bike lockers at the North White Plains train station.

Electric and Other Vehicles

The City will also install an electric vehicle charging stations. Pasquale says the hope is that this will encourage people to use electric vehicles knowing that they won’t have to worry about running out of power, since there is a local charging station where they can also park their car.

The mayor’s office is working with local electric car manufactures to see if they would be interested in using the city as a pilot program. Roach’s office is also working with companies who may be interested in started a car-sharing service in White Plains.

The program would be similar to Zipcar or Hertz On Demand, where one has a membership car that allows them to reserve a car at a specific location for an hour or however long they need it. The car is later returned to the same location.

“The idea is that if I’m living in the downtown, in a co-op or a rental, and I can walk to the train station—I don’t necessarily need a car,” said Pasquale.  “If I have at my disposable Zipcar or the Hertz version—I can do what I need to do and go about my business, while living an environmentally friendly and urban lifestyle.”

Check back for Part 2 of White Plains Is Getting Greener Thursday at 5 a.m.

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