Thursday, March 10, 2005

 Cooperative public/private high-tech camera initiative
creates a better Downtown

Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone today announced the inauguration of a new cooperative effort that will place eleven state-of-the-art cameras throughout the Downtown/Waterfront - Getty Square area to monitor traffic flow, pedestrian walkways, parks, parking spaces and lots in the downtown.

Others joining him included Yonkers Parking Authority Executive Director Robert Jean, City of Yonkers Office of Downtown & Waterfront Development Director Jim Pinto, Commissioner of Community Development J. Stephen Whetstone, Police Commissioner Robert Taggart, Fourth Precinct Captain Patrick McMahon and Yonkers Downtown/Waterfront BID Assistant Director Joan Jennings today announced the inauguration of a new cooperative effort that placed eleven state of the art cameras throughout the Downtown/Waterfront � Getty Square area. 

Representatives of each group did a number of on-site walk-throughs to determine the optimum location for the cameras which are positioned on poles specially wired by T&A Electrical. Each camera is in a sightline of the receiving antenna positioned on the top of the YPA Buena Vista Garage at the corner of Hudson Street and Buena Vista Avenue. Signals from cameras not in a direct line with that antenna are routed through devices called �repeaters.�

"This is the type of cutting edge technology and teamwork that characterize the development on the Yonkers waterfront," said Mayor Amicone.  "I would like to thank all of the people who helped make this initiative a reality."

The state-of-the art system was engineered and purchased from Nexus Technologies Group of Hawthorne, NY, who oversaw the entire project. The system uses a revolutionary software called �Perceptrak�� developed by Cernium of St. Louis, MO, that detects 13 identifiable movements, or, in some cases, non-movement.  �In a post-9/11 world, a package left unattended can be cause for concern,� said Jennings, �and this software addresses these concerns.� The Perceptrak� software picks up these behaviors and alerts trained technicians who monitor the cameras. The technicians work in rotating two-hour shifts to create 24/7/365 coverage in the Security area located at the Buena Vista Garage. The software alert technology is the cure for inattention due to boredom that has plagued these systems in the past.

�When you watch an action movie where some elaborate plot is involved, it somehow always hinges on tricking bored security people monitoring cameras that have a never-changing view. That can�t happen in downtown Yonkers with the Perceptrak system in place because our system cancels out the boredom factor by alerting the monitoring techs that something is wrong and it jumps right out at them,� said Mike Dalton, Deputy Executive Director of the YPA who oversaw the installation of the system.  The software also allows the footage captured on the cameras to be archived to a DVD format which is more easily searchable and more compact to store than the older style VHS tapes.

 Downtown & Waterfront Director Jim Pinto�s office and that of Steve Whetstone helped coordinate the grants that paid for the equipment.

There was a Mayoral press conference demonstrating the cameras and software held at the Buena Vista Parking Garage (8 Buena Vista Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701) on Thursday March 10^th at 10 AM

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Tony of T&A Electrical and Ron Posner of Nexus, supplier of the cameras, watch the demonstration.