White Plains Soapbox

From John Bailey,

  WPCNR: The CitizeNetReporter Soapbox is for you to express opinions about White Plains and what is going on in schools, in politics, in developing the city, in business, in traffic...whatever concerns you. E-mail your comments to Soapbox@wpcitizenetreporter.com

After reviewing your comments, they will be put up for you to be read.

August 2: Harry Potter Goblet of Fire reviewed by Juliana Bailey

The new book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was sensational. It was the best of the books that have come out so far.

Many people think that the order of the books that have come out so far from favorite to least-favorite is Book 4, Book 3, Book 1, Book 2.

The plot of this new book was more complex than the other three books. That is why I liked it the best. In this book, something new was going to happen at Hogwarts and it was supposed to be very interesting. The new thing that was going to happen was the TriWizard Tournament. The school was going to have this tournament instead of the Qudditch Cup. The tournament was for kids ages 16 and up.

Somehow, mysteriously, Harry Potter's name got put into the cup. Harry is stunned. He doesn't know why or how his name got put in the cup, because he didn't put it in himself. This leads to a lot of other mysterious happenings in the book, including Lord Voldemort coming back.

The book is more violent than any of the other three books in the series. First of all, Cedric Diggory is killed by Lord Voldemort, and there are many new characters brought into the story which you think are their real selves, but they are really not.

I would not recommend this book to anyone under the age of 7 years of age. The reason why is that the book involves murdering and scary things and it wouldn't be good for younger kids. I think any person who enjoyed book 3 will love this one.

Review by Juliana Bailey.

Take on Diallo Shooting:

   Here's the deal for those of you that spent 1999 in a big plastic bubble: As it happens, an immigrant from Africa named Amidou Diallo is outside his home in beautiful NYC, and these four cops spot him, chat with him in a language yet unfamiliar to him, and open fire. It seems a rape had occurred in the area, and the rapist was described as "African-American." Four off-duty plainclothes cops saw him and started to question him. People say he thought he was being mugged, which is why he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his wallet. Unfortunately(for everyone involved) from several feet away, a wallet looks like a gun when in the process of being pulled from a coat pocket.

    End result, 41 bullets shot, 19 hits. There's one problem right there. These were obviously badly-trained officers. Then there's the issue of their being in this situation in the first place. They were off-duty, and heard a call to someone else about a rapist. This call was not directed to them. They had no business being there.

    Diallo is coming home from work when he sees four men coming toward him. They start to speak to him in English, which he doesn't know. He thinks he's being mugged by these guys. Better give up so he doesn't get hurt. He reaches into his coat to give them his wallet. They suddenly start shooting.

    The four cops see a man who "fits" the description they're looking for. They try to speak with him, but he won't answer. He abruptly reaches into his coat pocket and starts to pull out something that looks mysteriously like a gun. They, in self-protection, open fire.

    People say "Oh, they should have waited to see if he really had a gun." In real life, that just doesn't work. In the millisecond it takes to see that someone is holding a gun, you could be dead. There was no time at all to check. They could have died. They didn't, but there was no possible way of knowing whether or not this guy was, in fact, the perpetrator, and whether or not he was about to shoot them.

    The assumption that it was racism is almost as bad as racism in its own way. When people hear that the perpetrators were Caucasian and the victim was African-American, their initial reaction is: racism. If Diallo had, in fact, possessed a gun, it would still be considered racism because he's African-American and they're Caucasian. It is the same thing as racism: judging people on their looks. If two cases like this happened, with one of them saying "Four guys killed an immigrant that didn't know English because they thought he had a gun." people say "that's tragic." If the other says "Four white guys killed an African immigrant that didn't know English because they thought he had a gun." people say "that's racism!" It is wrong to judge someone on how he or she looks, and it is wrong to judge a situation on how the people involved look.

Submitted by a student in the White Plains Middle School.

On County Plan to House Homeless in the Community

From Ron Mitchell, Director, Open Arms

Dear Mr. Bailey,

    Thanks for the information and for covering this important issue. I would like to note as by way of correction that all residents of Open Arms do not have mental illness. Almost all residents are addressing some issue of mental health/ addiction, and about 1/4 or so have only a mental health issue (not connected with an addition and not necessarily serious).

    Note also that I have an opinion piece in today's (March 31, 2000) JournalNews on the Pathways/ shelter issue.

Sincerely,
Ron Mitchell

From Ralph Nagan

The Two Schools (This matter is coming to the Zoning Board of Appeals on April 5)

    The accident (at Solomon-Schechter School), however slight, (We don't know the emotional effect, if any), sustained by the Solomon Schechter schoolgirl, should be a wake-up call regarding the negative effect of auto and bus traffic to and from our schools.

    In the North Street corridor, between Ridgeway and the Hutch, we have had testimony from residents who already are having difficulty accessing North Street. The approvals of the 2 schools requests will only exacerbate the problem; it is not a question of whether or not, but, to what degree -- no matter the traffic consultants say. The requests cannot be considered in a vacuum.

    Sure, schools, generally, are a good thing., But in the North Street area, they will aggravate an already bad situation. Also, I haven't heard any positive argument advanced in behalf of the (proposed) Japanese School. Few, if any, North Street residents will be students. The school will pay no taxes; on the contrary, the cost of municipal support services can only increase.

    The same can be said in the case of the German School with one exception. Namely, that the traffic situation the Haviland Manor area would be improved. However, that is offset by the resulting increase in the North Street problem.

    I do not understand why the Zoning Board of Appeals didn't reject the two requests a long time ago after they heard the objections of the local residents.

   As for the Council of Neighborhood Associations, as an organization, we should continue our efforts to outlasw these, and similar kinds of special zoning permits. We should take a leadership role in rallying the various neighborhood associations in the North Street corridor to make known to the ZBA their opposition to the two schools requests.

    The ZBA must consider all petitions for zoning variances, otherwise the petitioner could take it to court. Then it would have to prove it had good reason for its rejection. So i must give each petitioner an opportunity to make its case.

   Hopefully, the negatives which I mentioned, and others, will cause the ZBA to reject both petitions. I think the idea to use off-duty WP poolice is a good one. They should be used wherever there is a school traffic problem.

Indeed, if the two petitions are approved, the petitioners ought to be required to agree, in writing, to provide such policing.

Subject: COUNTY TO PLACE MOST DIFFICULT HOMELESS IN APARTMENTS

Bill Waterman

Dear Editor:
    I was very unhappy to learn that Westchester County Executive Spano (Dem) was having secret meeting about placing 120 homeless single males in apartments of which 38 have already said they would like to live in White Plains. While this may sound like a good idea, the County's plans are to place the "Most Difficult To Place" ie active drug and alcohol users in apartments.

    What was really the shock was that all this was and is still being discussed behind closed doors without any imput from White Plains residents? Why have there not been any public notice to all residents of Westchester County? It may appear that the County Executive and DSS are trying to balance the budget on the backs of the taxpayers, because next year is an election year.

    According to Deputy Commissioner DSS Nancy Travers said County cannot force an individual to accept social services if the person does not voluntarily accept the help, counseling, and assistance available. So who is getting the help they need?

    Why have we not heard and out cry from Mayor Delfino, Councilman Delgado(REP) and the five Democrats Malmud,Greer, King, Oliver, Boykin? They had a lot to say about Cablevision In White Plains changing the channels, but nothing on White Plains becoming the Homeless Dumping Ground. It would appear to this writer that the Common Council is more concerned about their rating on cable TV.

   We the citizens of White Plains having been working for 10 years to turn our Downtown around, and now with a lot of help from the County Executive Spano and secret meetings, we will turn the clock back. Thanks Andy, so much for your open government policy. I also look forward to hearing the excuses from All Our White Plains Elected Officials on this one. I'm sure they have some good ones.