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WPCNR WATER REPORT. By John  F. Bailey. September 8, 2005: The Department of Environmental Conservation and the County Department of Health have ignored dangerous bacteria levels contaminating Silver Lake for the last six weeks. Water containing bacteria levels high enough to close a beach has been flowing down into Long Island Sound.  DEC and the County Department of Health attributed the cause to stormwater sewage run off from the July 18 downpour that hit White Plains. Neither agency has  taken a proactive role in locating the source of the bacteria, nor did they alert the public of the dangerous bacteria levels of the contaminated water.

SILVER LAKE LIBERTY PARK, LABOR DAY. Fence installed by City prevents citizens from approaching the contaminated water. The city awaits lab tests to see if bacteria levels remain high or have gone down. Photo, WPCNR News.

 

 

The City of White Plains fenced off the Liberty Park waterfront of Silver Lake, ending water boat activities for the season at the city’s three-year old water recreation area, according to City Executive Officer Paul Wood,  to protect residents. The city awaits latest lab tests to determine if the bacteria level is still high, and whether it is safe to hold the city’s 9-11 Memorial there Sunday.

The fencing, Wood said, was to prevent citizens from touching or entering the lake which has consistently tested, Wood reports, at a bacteria level in the water of 1,600 MPN for the last six weeks.

 

The bacteria level according to the Westchester County Department of Health and the Department of Public Works would necessitate the closing of the lake to the public if it was used as a bathing beach.  Wood said the park would remain closed to the public until the city deemed it safe. The Mayor, speaking to the City of White Plains, concluding the Common Council meeting Tuesday evening, said that Liberty Park adjacent to the algae fouled lake would be the scene of the city’s September 11 Memorial festival.

 

 

North End of Silver Lake from Harrison side. Labor Day. Photo by WPCNR News.

 

Paul Wood announced the city fencing decision this week, was to keep citizens safe from the polluted waters. Wood said there still is no explanation for the contamination at this time. “We don’t know,” he said. “An odor was detected. We shut the park immediately (July 28) because we didn’t know what it was.”

 

The Department of Environmental Conservation spokesperson, Wendy Rosenbach, told WPCNR last week, that DEC’s Tarrytown water quality office is aware of the lake situation, but this may only be because WPCNR contacted that office first, and they referred WPCNR to Ms. Rosenbach. City Hall spokesperson David Maloney informed White Plains last Friday the city had not informed the DEC of the Silver Lake algae and odor condition.

 

Rosenbach told WPCNR that a person in that DEC Tarrytown office, Lenny attributes the cause to stormwater overflow into the lake and geese droppings.

 

Mr. Wood told WPCNR that the geese arrived at Silver Lake only after the park had been closed to the public for a few weeks. Wood told WPCNR last week the Department of Recreation and Parks was going to spray the Liberty Park area with a goose repellent to discourage the geese from loitering. (In a related development the City of Montclair, New Jersey, has found great success by posting a statute of a coyote in the middle of a town water park, which has lowered the geese population from 98 to 5).

 

West Side of Silver Lake (White Plains side) as seen from the Harrison waterfront Labor Day. Major algae bloom is on the Harrison side of the lake as of Labor Day. The Bloom, looking very similar to Blue-Green Algae, a sometimes toxic bloom, that is “alerted” in the State of Vermont, has been growing since July 18, when a sewage like stench was reported. Photo by WPCNR News.

 

Wood said the sewage-like odor was detected the day after the rain storm of July 18, and Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti, conducted tests on the lake, which showed the high bacteria readings. Nicoletti smelling the alleged sewage, immediately closed the park The most recent testing was drawn one week ago and the city apparently still awaits those test results from the County Lab in Grasslands.

 

Asked if the DEC was concerned that the high level bacteria testing water was flowing into Long Island Sound, the DEC spokesperson Rosenbach said it was a small lake (12 acres). Asked if the Department of Environmental Conservation tested other tributaries, including Silver Lake, flowing into the Mamaroneck River for bacteria, and when and what  level of bacteria became an environmental concern, considering the nitrogen problems Long Island Sound is having,  Rosenbach said she would check to find what the DEC procedure was to monitor bacteria levels of streams and lakes flowing into the Mamaroneck Avenue River. The dieoff of lobsters in Long Island Sound, a study, funded by Congresswoman Nita Lowey found runoff of West Nile spray to be a major cause of the lobster dieoff in the Sound.

 

However, an algae bloom as of Monday, Labor Day,  still covered approximately 40% of the lake at the North and South shores and extends approximately 10 to 15 feet out from shore on the Western White Plains shore and a similar distance on the eastern shore in Harrison, and the northern end of the lake.

 

Brian Murphy of the City of White Plains Department of Public Works meeting with Paul Wood and WPCNR by phone said told WPCNR Tuesday, August 30, that the latest DPW tests of the water quality, performed by the City Department of Public Works, showed a Mean Probable Number of 1,600 bacteria content, which he said is seven times greater than the level (200-300 MPN)  at which the Department of Health would close a beach to swimmers.  For reference, the toxicity of the waters flooding New Orleans today are 10 times the level considered unsafe, so this was very contaminated water in Silver Lake.

 

South End of Silver Lake, Labor Day. Photo by WPCNR News.

 

Murphy said another test was conducted Tuesday, August 30 and results were expected to be in from the county Department of Labs within 48 hours. But as of Wednesday, September 7,  those results apparently were not in yet, because City Hall did not have any new news on the Silver Lake water condition after the Common Council meeting Tuesday night.

 

Murphy said the level of bacteria has remained constant at 1,600 since the testing began, meaning the lake waters which flow into the Mamaroneck River and travel eventually to Long Island Sound, could conceivably be much higher. Murphy explained the Department of Labs scale only goes to 1,600. The PH level of the lake, The Mayor’s Office said was 7.9 which they explained was slightly alkaline. (As acidity of the lake increases, the PH reading descends, with 1 being very high acidity which kills all fish.)

 

Thomasine Mastrantone, a spokesperson for the County Department of Health said the department, as a matter of policy did not monitor and was not concerned about bacteria levels or algal levels in bodies of water that were not public beaches.

 

Ms Mastrantone said the Department conducted daily dye tests over the last month and “there was no evidence of any sewage in the water now. The algae that is naturally occurring is a normal thing that happens at any water source. We’ve been (dye) testing since mid-July. We believe it was caused by overflow of rainwater. Sewage overflowed from the manhole (on the Harrison side).” She said she was not sure whether the sewage was of human origin, “I don’t know if they tested what kind of stuff came out. There is no evidence of any sewage in the water right now (Tuesday, August 30.)”

 

She attributed the algae bloom to the heavy rains and storm water overflow of July 18. She did not have the identity of the kind of algae it was.

 

The Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities spokesperson Anthony Zabrinski, said that the department did not monitor Westchester lakes unless the contamination involved sewage. Asked what could have caused the algae bloom, Zabrinkski said he did not know, and did not know whether the heavy rains had contributed to acidic build-up in the water.

 

No Benchmark.

 

Brian Murphy of the White Plains DPW, speaking to WPCNR, last week, said that there was no baseline measurement ever taken of lake water quality when the city took over the lake in 2002. The readings taken after the algal blooms appeared, (along with a pungent raw eggs sewagelike stink) were the first water quality readings ever taken by the DPW on Silver Lake). The readings showed the lake was contaminated within a week after July 18. Murphy confirmed that when the city took possession of the park  they never tested the water.

 

Labor Day Afternoon. Flow into Mamaroneck River all but slowed to a trickle and WPCNR detected an odor. Photo by WPCNR News.

 

The algae has been growing and expanding on the lake surface for five weeks, unreported to the residents of White Plains by the city, and unreported to the public by Westchester County. The condition was first brought to the attention of the White Plains Department of Public Works by a person calling the DPW after the rain storm who noticed the sewage like smell. Wood said Commissioner Joseph Nicoletti immediately recommended closing the park on the White Plains side.

 

A White Plains Police source said the park was closed due to a possible sewage leak from the Harrison side. The Mayor of Harrison, Steve Malfitano has not returned a WPCNR call for comment to clear up what Harrison found on their side of the lake.

 

Ryan Calls City Response Unsatisfactory.

 

Legislator Bill Ryan got involved in early August. Ryan, the County Legislator, informed us he first learned of the closing the first week in August from a call from a constituent.

 

Ryan, did not have an explanation to WPCNR why the population of the City of White Plains was not informed officially of the closing, and why the County Department of Health did not announce it. Ryan said the fencing “was an unsatisfactory response to an unsanitary condition. It’s not in compliance.”

 

The cryptic closing signs erected by the city are often ignored. On Labor Day, two gentlemen wanted to fish at the park, and two mothers wanted to picnic, but WPCNR which was there observing the lake condition to take these photographs, informed the two would be recreationers of the reason for the park being closed. This did not deter two joggers from running into the park while WPCNR was having a conversation with the fishermen and the two mothers.

 

Next, Ryan recalls, he heard a report that a truck had dumped some raw sewage intothe lake. This prompted him, Ryan said, to call White Plains August 15, and he was told Commissioner Nicoletti was out of town, and the Mayor’s office said they would get back to Mr. Ryan. Ryan said they never did. On August 16, Ryan said he was referred to Brian Murphy, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works.

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The next day, August 17, Ryan said he called the Harrison Department of Public Works, and said that Harrison’s Commissioner of Public Works, Bob Wasp, who informed him the algae bloom was brought to Wasp’s attention after the rains of July 18. Wasp told Ryan that after dye tests were done showing no sewage was present in the water, he, Wasp decided to keep his Harrison side of Silver Lake open to the public.

 

After WPCNR reported exclusively on the closing of Silver Lake last week, Wood informed CNR that White Plains sewer lines were sound and not leaking.

 

The County Public Health Department told WPCNR last week they found no evidence of raw sewage in the water, that the Health department saw no reason to close the lake, and the County Health Department did not know the bacteria content of the water. The spokesperson said the Department of Health concluded the algal bloom was caused by overflow from stormwater drains from the Harrison side of the lake.

 

Remediation Methods Available

 

Mr. Wood said the city brought in a consultant, Raul Cardenas for advice on how to eliminate the algae blooms. Brian Murphy of the White Plains DPW said last week that the city was thinking of irradicating the bloom with copper sulphate, a common remedy, but Cardenas, also said the city risked a fish kill. So, Wood said the city decided to fence the park instead. Murphy also said Dr. Cardenas did not identify the type of algal bloom.

 

WPCNR contacted Wendy Rosenbach, spokesperson for the New York State Department of  Environmental Conservation in New Paltz and asked if the city had consulted with DEC on the algae. Rosenbach said the DEC was aware of the Silver Lake situation. She said they had not.

 

Asked what remedies for the algae were available to the City of White Plains, Rosenbach stated remedies for the algae, in addition to the copper sulphate method,  included stocking the lake with grass carp, a bottom feeding vegetarian fish that is sterile and will not reproduce that eats algae and plants.

 

For Silver Lake, a 12 acre lake you would need, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Inland Fisheries Division, five 10-12 inch grass carp per acre if the water body has 50% or less plant coverage on the bottom, or 60 fish; and 10 per acre (120 fish) if the plant coverage is greater than 50%.  Rosenbach said the city would have to receive a permit from the NYDEC to stock the carp to remove the algae.

 

Another solution Rosenbach said was to use booms to scoop out the allergy.  To prevent algae from forming, Rosenbach suggested the city install aerators,  (fountains)  on the surface of the Lake, similar to those found in golf course water hazards that would roil the surface of the water.

 

Ryan not happy with City Response.

 

Ryan contended in last week’s story that it was the city’s responsibility to clean up the algae in the water since that was part of the lease. Wood denied the city was responsible.

 

A copy of the lease between Westchester County and the City of White Plains was given to WPCNR by Mr. Ryan, who pointed to the following passage, as his evidence that the city by the terms of the lease is responsible for the water quality of the lake. The passage Ryan cites is on page 3 of the lease and reads:

 

“To the extent that Tenant shall make any improvements to or conduct activities on the Demised Premises that are consistent with the aforementioned standard, it shall also take all reasonable measures to protect the water quality of the Lake and other sensitive environmental features of the Demised Premises and the adjacent Silver Lake Park, including, but not limited to wetlands, streams, sleep slopes or rock outcroppings.”

 

The lease also states on page 6, the county “will not provide any improvements, services or utilities to the Demised Premises. To the extent that Tenant undertakes to construct any improvements or to utilize any services or utilities on the Demised Premises not consistent with the standards set forth in section”2” above, the same shall be at the sole cost and expense of the Tenant.

 

And the lease further requires the City of White Plains to “comply with all statutes, ordinances, rules, orders, regulations, codes and requirements of the Federal, State County and municipal governments and of all their departments and bureaus applicable to the Demised Premises or the conduct of any activities permitted under this lease upon the Demised Premises, including, but not limited to State and County public health laws, codes, rules, regulations, and applicable  environmental laws, rules and regulations, including, but not limited to, the State Environmental Quality Review Act.”

 

DEC monitors Silver Lake-Mamaroneck River Connection on a Spot Basis.

 

WPCNR asked Ms. Rosenbach of the DEc if the DEC was concerned that such high bacteria content was flowing out of Silver Lake into the Mamaroneck River to Long Island Sound for at least a month, July 18 through August 31. Rosenback said the DEC has a schedule of basin monitoring determined by its Albany office, but said the DEC Tarrytown office had not taken any action on the White Plains finding of high bacteria account in the water.

 

This is interesting, because the DEC is required to make sure limits on contaminants are not execeeded according to their news release announcing a program to renew Long Island Sound in 2001:

 

The DEC has set standards of dissolved oxygen in the waters of Long Island Sound which is effected by nitrogen and phosphate levels as well as sewage entering the Sound. According to a DEC press release of February 8, 2001, the DEC “has completed its Total Maximum Daily Load analysis to achieve water quality standards for dissolved oxygen in Long Island Sound. The TMDL assessment will ensure that releases of nitrogen into Long Island Sound from sources in New York and Connectuct will not result in violations of dissolved oxygen standards in the Sound.”

 

The release reports, “New York and Connecticut have determined that water quality in Long Island Sound is impaired due to low levels of dissolved oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. Sufficent levels of dissolved oxygen in water are a basic requirement for marine life, and hypoxia can have sever negative impacts on fish and other marine organisms. Nitrogen releases from land-based sources such as sewage treatment facilitiers and agricultural operations, or atmospheric deposition from combustion of fossil fuels, can result in decreased levels of dissolved oxygen in a receiving water body.”

 

Forgotten Promise? Press Release Announcing DEC readiness to monitor county waterways leading to  Long Island Sound. Photo by WPCNR News.

 

The most interesting part of the February 2001 press releases states that “The Federal Clean Water Act requires states to identify water bodies that do not meet water quality standards. States must then develop assessments of how much of a given pollutant the affect water body can safely receive and absorb, and then identify and implement measures to ensure such limits are not exceeded.”

 

According to the Department of Health of the County spokesperson Mary Landrigan speaking to WPCNR yesterday, the Department of Health does not regularly monitor tributaries along the Mamaroneck River, or any other water body in the county for water quality sampling water quality. The previous spokesperson had told WPCNR that the Department of Health is only concerned with water quality at bathing beaches and ponds where swimming is permitted.

 

The February 2001 release states the “DEC is actively involved in local watershed efforts, conducting important monitoring and assessment activities, modifying permits and limiting the discharge of pollutants into the Sound, all of which are having a positive impact on the health of the Sound.”

 

WPCNR will be contacting DEC in Albany to see how often they swing by Silver Lake to monitor the Mamaroneck River inflow there, and other tributaries.

 

In the case of Silver Lake the high level bacteria content  has been dismissed by the DEC and the Department of Health as not of their concern, and they have not taken remedial steps to prevent or remediate the release of the bacteria for six weeks from July 18 through the end of last week.

 

 

The City of White Plains has been the only official entity concerned about the alleged sewage problem. The source has not been positively identified and the remediation has been to let the lake work the pollution out.

 

The city as of this time awaits confirmation that bacteria levels have declined to manageable levels, according to City Hall as of Tuesday. No word yet as to whether the park will be ready for the celebration on Sunday.

 

Not a West Nile Hazard says county.

 

 

In another matter, last week the County Department of Health announced mosquito batches collected in Mount Vernon, Yonkers and New Rochelle have tested positive for West Nile Virus. Informed of this by WPCNR, and asked about Silver Lake being a breeding ground in its present state,  Legislator Bill Ryan had Gary Kriss, his press officer for the Board of Legislators check with the Department of Health to see if the algae infested Silver Lake posed a West Nile breeding ground hazard and whether the county has checked that lake.

 

Kriss said the County Department of Health informed him that West Nile mosquitos generally thrive in urban environment where there is standing water, and that Silver Lake is not tested for mosquitos infected with West Nile virus because it is open flowing water and not likely for mosquitos who carry West Nile to breed there, though this is breeding season.

 

Mary Landrigan, spokesperson for the Department of Health said that if White Plains wanted to have Silver Lake tested for West Nile-infected mosquitos they could call the county at 813-5000.

 

A biologist dismissed this explanation of the Department of Health, saying mosquitos do not have preferences for small standing water puddles as opposed to open lakes and marshes.

 

WPCNR also notes that one of the fears cited by health officials about the New Orleans flood waters (very similar to a lake) is that they are a breeding ground for West Nile virus. It should also be noted that when the county first sprayed for West Nile mosquitos,  they sprayed virtually every water body in the county, which was determined to have caused the lobster dieoff and resulted in a $120 Million settlement.

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. September 7, 2005: At the monthly Common Council meeting Tuesday night, the Council approved without comment the payment of $1.4 Million to the city by The Jefferson at 300 Mamaroneck Avenue as the method by which JPI, builders of the 281-unit luxury condo-townhouse complex would meet their affordable housing obligation. Originally intended as a rental, The Jefferson is about to offer their units and town houses as condominiums.

 

Very quietly, city assessibles continued to decline.

 

The council simultaneously approved $131, 801.70 in tax certiorari  settlements for a pair of elderly condominiums, resulting in $500,000 plus in certiorari paybacks by the city school district further pressuring the School District budget for 2006-07, now in preparation. WPCNR is awaiting the School District figures on exactly how much the latest certiorari hit will be on the district.

After an impassioned plea from affordable housing advocate Rose Noonan, not to approve the payment in lieu of, the Council voted 7-0, rebuffing her request. No Councilperson commented on their decision or indicated whether this was now the standard city policy that condominium complexes could pay a one time fee. With two Condoplexes awaiting public hearings next month (having been continued to October), this is a key issue.

 The $1.4 Million JPI payment to escape offering affordable units from their inventory, was calculated from a fee schedule assessing a fee for each of five two-bedroom units, and eleven one-bedroom units adopted by the Common Council August 1, 2005.

 

Two More Condos Follow Bay Hills Condo Lead.

 

Crystal Towers Condominiums at 20 Old Mamaroneck Road and Heritage Towers Condominium on 15 Stewart Place are the latest city condos,  to join the march of assessed properties that have come to the Delfino Administration for tax relief and reassessment that have been settled by the city without a court fight.

 

Bay Hills Condominiums in the posh Southend received a $215, 691.25 total certiorari last month, costing the school district an estimated $862,765 in certioraris.  For every tax dollar the city gives back, the City School District has to pay back four.

 

Crystal Towers, according to the paperwork submitted with the Common Council agenda, but not disclosed in the Common Council official agenda, received a tax refund of $71,549.31 cumulative for the tax years 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06. The assessment of the property has been lowered from a high of $487,800 to the new assessment value of $325,000 a decline of $162,800.

 

Heritage Towers at 15 Stewart Place will receive a $60,252.39 tax certiorari covering the years 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06. The assessment of that complex has declined from $1,129,410 in 1998-99 to its present assessment of $925,000. The total decline in assessment is $204,410.

 

The Council also approved bonding of $680,000 for the purpose of buying heavy duty rolling stock for the Department of Public Works.

 

Scope on St. Agnes Property Closed.

 

The Public Scoping Hearing on the 390-unit St Agnes North Street Community senior condominium complex was closed.

 

The public has 10 days to submit written comment to the Planning Depart, 255 Main Street White Plains, NY. The hearing saw the repeat of Wyndham Close concerns about traffic, storm water runoff, size of the complex, and raised again the issue of what the rezoning precedent requested by North Street Community would mean for the development of the rest of the New York Presbyterian Hospital property adjacent to the the former St.Agnes property.

 

C.J. Follini, the principal of North Shore Community told WPCNR exclusively that the group was not talking or considering partnering with New York Presbyterian Hospital to run the complex for them. Follini said they did not have the experience or expertise of administering a senior care facility, and were not in the mix. He said he was considering six possible partners in the project. He said he would talk to New York Presbyterian Hospital “as neighbors” but was not considering them as a possible working partner.

 

Marc Pollitzer of the North Street Association warned the Common Council not to spot zone and to stick with their zoning for the hospital property, warning they would not be able to defend granting other specific zoning changes to another developer,  if they crafted a special zone for the North Street Community, as is being requested by the developer.

 

Next in the process is the Common Council acceptance of the scoping document.

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. September 5, 2005. UPDATED 12:20 P.M. E.D.T. UPDATED 2:00 A.M. E.D.T. September 7,2005: Inspector Daniel Jackson, spokesman for the White Plains Department of Public Safety confirmed to WPCNR that a serious assault took place Sunday evening at the Winbrook Housing Project on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the park centered in the middle of the Winbrook complex. Jackson said the assault took place following a picnic held Sunday evening.

Inspector Jackson, in a statement to WPCNR Tuesday has provided more details of the incident. Inspector Jackson’s statement:

There were two people injured in the fight at 33 Fisher Ave. 1 female with minor injuries and 1 male whom was seriously injured. He was taken to the Westchester Medical Center where he underwent Emergency Surgery.

His status as of this morning was stable but serious condition. The investigation is continuing.

As of now, four people have been arrested for participation in the assault and charged with Gang Assault 1st Degree a B-Felony.  Lamont Person of Chatterton Ave. Tammel Esco, Shamel Esco, and Dennis Paige all from Dekalb Ave.

More arrests are expected.

Tuesday afternoon, Inspector Jackson provided more details to WPCNR of the circumstances. The Inspector said the incident was called in at midnight Sunday from the Winbrook complex and that it originally started as an altercation between two females, and then the males joined in.

Jackson said the victim was stabbed and struck with a chair and weapons such as a knife and a box cutter were involved in the assault.

When asked in the persons involved had been drinking, Jackson said the Police Report did not indicate that. Asked if the suspects arrested had been given sobriety tests, Jackson said they had not.  He said the investigation was continuing and more arrests were expected.

 

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WPCNR News Commentary. By John F. Bailey. September 4, 2005: President Bush and his scrambling damage controllers are now asking the media to help them out of this “temporary disruption being handled by the federal government and private sector” as the Great Bush describes the Katrina Apocalypse.

 

I wonder if the Republican and Democratic Senators in Washington, only one of whom has come to New Orleans, would consider 1,000 counts of Involuntary Manslaughter grounds for bringing impeachment charges against a sitting-on-his-ass President, his vacationing staff, his Homeland Security Advisor, who apparently comes from the donuts-and-coffee era of Car 54 Where Are You Policing, his FEMA director, who has yet to get New Orleans excrement on his Gucci loafers, and his Secretary of State fashionista and Broadway Showtune Afficionado and tennis buff, the former sharecropper’s daughter; and oh, yes, the Vice President. Perhaps they all should be hung for the genocide they are presiding over.

 

Obviously, receiving sexual favors in the White House and seducing a 25-year-old woman, is, and that, of course is a far more serious offense that would automatically trigger impeachment proceedings, and negligent genocide committed by inaction when Americans are dying on our soil because of mismanagement pales in comparison to that atrocity committed on Monica Lewinsky.

 

But, the media have lost all reliability when they do not report explicitly that Mr. Bush was in New Orleans Friday and did not tour the area, did not commiserate with the victims (perhaps they smelled too bad, and the man who co-pilots jets onto an aircraft and says mission accomplished could not stomach it.) Those people waiting and dying have far more courage than anybody. It takes courage to face death. It takes no courage to provide gratuitous concerns.

 

I gotta tell you, you got to go into that airport area and spend some time if you are a decent human being in charge of taking care of them.

 

All America wants to take these poor brave souls into their homes I think. The President could not even walk amongst them. What would Jesus do?

 

It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. Well, I write the truth.

 

Maureen Dowd, writing in The New York Times today reported that “the can-do” President was at the New Orleans airport Friday, and did not, did not, did not visit the sick and dying victims his administration ignored for 4 days, and immediately flew his sorry do-nothing butt out of there. Ms. Dowd, thanks for revealing that. You are a great reporter for reporting what all the anchors and all the on the scene reporters did not.

 

If you watched CNN and Fox News Friday night from 10 P.M. to 3 A.M. early Saturday moring as I did, you had no clue he was in New Orleans Friday. If you listened to News Radio 880 and WABC Talk Radio, and Air America Radio in New York, during the day Friday, you also had no clue he was in New Orleans on the ground Friday. I want to know why the first time I am hearing in detail, that President Bush was on the tarmac in New Orleans is in Maureen Dowd’s column!

 

The Washington Post  buried this little item in their Saturday coverage, but at least they grasped the significance of it, and I bet the editor had to fight to keep it in. But this story was a Washington Post story the Journal News picked up.

 

The Washington Post wrote: “Bush flew here (New Orleans Airport) and saw firsthand an airport turned partly into a large field hospital. There, for most of the day, the tarmac was home to the injured and infirm, taken there for triage or treatment. Some walked or staggered; others waited in wheelchairs or on stretchers.”

 

But hey, Washington Post, did he touch a victim? Did he go up and see them? You got to report that.

 

Well, according to Ms. Dowd, he did not even go up and express sympathy. No Photo Op there! How callous of the President to avoid the dying.

 

Last night at about midnight, CNN dismissed, dismissed, dismissed coverage of the ongoing situation in The Big Hard, by doing around 15 minutes an the death of the Supreme Court Justice. Who cares about the man who put President Bush in office? The court that endorsed wholescale election fraud to their everlasting shame.

 

God, this Reinquist death was so welcomed by the media moguls, because it has given them an excuse to defocus America off the New Orleans involuntary genocide. Both news networks rolled glowing obituary tributes to the death of this man. One man.

 

This is news judgment that boggles the mind. Reinquist  was insignificant. But he was white, rich and powerful and distinguished. His death was more important than thousands’?????

 

But, that’s not all, ladies and gentlemen. The CNN reports were last night at midnight that all New Orleans refugees had been evacuated and were being routed to shelters. ALL. A little later they said that thousands were waiting at the New Orleans airport for flights out. This gives the impression the crisis has been met.

 

Well, hold on CNN and Fox. The victims were not in effect on their way. They, in reality, were moved a few miles to wait somewhere else for evacuation. This is spin. This is trying to make good so it can be said they’ve all been evacuated. They did report that officials were making phonecalls to hospitals around the country to take these poor folk and treat them. They don’t know where to send them.There are no contingency plans that they can tap. Why is that not being said?

 

No running death toll has been reported. And, as of Sunday morning, there is no estimate of the number of people left in the city to be rescued.

 

The flippant attitudes of the papers this morning and the television outlets last night was that the Guard has evacuated everybody. They were putting positive spin. And still the reports of looting were laced right up there at the top of the stories. The excuse.

 

Well let’s hear soundtrack of gunshots, CNN. Let’s run live footage instead of rerunning the same stuff. Let’s see the bodies. Better yet have your reporters COUNT bodies they see.

 

 Let’s turn the camera on the street at that embattled police station the other night, so we can see the people doing the seiging.  Let’s see have specifics of how many looting areas there were. If you can report it you must have it on tape somewhere. There was looting, yes. But to listen to the audio, you get the impression that this was Watts or Washington D.C. 1968 – it is not. I was there in Washington in 1968.

 

The most telling quote of all was from Bill Lockey, the FEMA official in charge in Louisiana. This is what he said, according to Washington Post report:

 

“It seems our planning was inadequate. We worked on it, we exercised for it, but the reality of it – we’ve been working as hard as we can do. I’ve yet to be in a disaster where it went right.”

 

Inadequate? There was no planning. The basic question FEMA had to ask themselves about New Orleans, was, how do we get 480,000 people out if the levees break? Where do we treat 480,000 people? Obviously they did not have a preset plan. You can see it on TV.

 

The media is struggling to make the President look good. The in-the-muck reporters are showing great courage in getting the story. Adminstration and officials statements are not being challenged and hard questions not asked.

 

It takes no courage to write this column. But it is the right thing to do. Somebody has to see a cover-up in the process.

 

Now what will be Sunday’s photo ops? Perhaps they can wash up a few grateful refugees for the President to hug by Monday.

 

Let’s face it, the Bush Administration is spending more energy trying to show the President cares than any real caring.

 

Is that an impeachable offense, not caring?

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WPCNR ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley, 89th Assembly District (White Plains) September 2, 2005: It was recently reported that the Metropolitan Transit Authority will end 2005 with an $833 million surplus.  The MTA is attributing this multi-million dollar surplus to a hot real estate market and low interest rates on bonds.  Being that the MTA receives a percentage of the tax revenue from New York’s mortgage recording tax as well as the property transfer tax and the actual revenues from these taxes far exceeded what MTA official had projected, the agency will end the year with substantial profits.

 

Unfortunately, the MTA has indicated that they may take these additional funds and apply them toward building a platform and a new MTA headquarters over the 13-acre West Side railyards.  

 

It’s hard to fathom that the Metropolitan Transit Authority actually plans to build a new platform and new corporate offices with this surplus, while Westchester commuters have had to endure outrageous fare hikes and parking fees that the MTA claimed were necessary to protect existing services.  It’s outrageous that the MTA duped the commuting public in the past with cooked books and a bait and switch tactic to justify fare hikes, only to turn around millions in profits a few years later.

 

The MTA should be implementing a fiscally responsible plan that would apply the surplus toward paying off current debt, off-setting existing fares and those fare increases already planned for 2007 and 2009.  Let’s stop picking the pockets of our commuters and give the commuting public the break they deserve.

 

Scandal and fiscal mismanagement continue to plague public authorities.  Authorities clearly need to be reined in and made accountable.  That’s why the Assembly passed legislation I sponsored to improve oversight of the state’s public authorities and public benefit corporations (A.9007).  This legislation, which also passed the Senate will:

 

·        create an inspector general with jurisdiction over authorities to make sure they are given the kind of oversight they are lacking;

·        create the Authority Budget Office to review authority budgets;

·        mandate training for authority board members, strengthen ethics and prohibit authority executives form sitting on authority boards;

·        improve standards for independent audits of authority spending; and

·        establishing new rules to regulate the sale of authority property.

 

I urge the governor to sign this vital legislation into law immediately so that we can begin to crack down on our Public Authorities. I also call on his hand-picked MTA Board of Trustees to end its reign of mismanagement and invest the $833 million surplus of public dollars into protecting struggling commuters.