Yonkers opened w/violations

Yonkers Raceway opened the first phase of its video gaming facility earlier this month despite being cited for more than 60 fire safety violations, according to a state report and reported by Thursday's The Journal News. Both the racetrack and a state agency spokesperson said the violations were primarily in parts of the building currently under construction, although two were cited as "severe" and 14 were considered "serious."

According to Yonkers' general counsel Timothy Rooney Jr., most of the serious violations, which included blocked emergency exits and hazardous and combustible materials stored near boiler, mechanical or electrical rooms, have been corrected. However, Rooney disagreed with the state requiring fire extinguishers to be installed throughout the facility, stating the sprinkler system replaced that need. Rooney also said that the required emergency lighting is taken care of through the track's multi-million dollar emergency generator.

The newspaper published a list of the most serious violations:

No smoke detection systems
Emergency exits blocked
Outdated emergency plan
Fire extinguishers not present in buildig
Employees not trained for emergencies
Emergency lighting not working
Hazardous materials not stored properly
Combustible materials stored in boiler, mechanical or electrical rooms

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