WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. February 15, 2007: Cappelli Enterprises, according to its Vice President, Bruce Berg will present to the Common Council tomorrow morning a proposal to convert the existing top floor of the City Center Municipal Garage, operated by Cappelli Enterprises into rental apartments. The details will be presented to the Council in discussion of a site plan amendment to be presented Friday morning. No reason, other than use of the previously approved retail space, was given by Mr. Berg.

Cozy Drive-Ups: Top Floor of the City Center Parking Garage, Trump Tower at City Center looming at the left. The floor houses the New York Sports Club (lit windows in background), which will remain.  Cappelli Enterprises seeks a site plan amendment to add 23 Rental Apartments to the structure. The configuration has not been made public yet, but may be introduced Friday morning. The scene here is the White Plains Hospital Center gala in September of 2005. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

Mr. Berg previewed the idea for The CitizeNetReporter Thursday evening, explaining that they had originally planned to put in retail there in the form of The Fountain Spa. “That deal fell through,” Berg said, and now they want to amend the site plan for the garage to allow 23 rental apartments. Berg did not indicate what the rental rates would be.

Sources contacted by WPCNR this evening observed that the  new rental apartments could, should the Cappelli organization choose, be converted into affordable housing fulfilling the 24-units required of the 221 Main Street Ritz-Carlton as a condition of receipt of its Certificate of Occupancy, should for any reason The Pinnacle Project not be built, thus enabling the Cappelli Organization to step in and meet its affordable housing commitment on the 221 Main Ritz-Carlton Westchester project, scheduled to open in seven months.

Observers will Recall… 

Delay in The Pinnacle financing for its 52 units of affordable housing on Main Street convinced the Council to grant Ginsburg Development Corporation an extenstion until April to execute a Guarantee that they would build the 52 units, 24 of which were to satisfy Mr. Cappelli’s obligation to provide 24 affordable units as condition of receiving his Certificate of Occupancy of the Ritz-Carlton.

At that Common Council meeting, Corporation Counsel Edward Dunphy noted to Ms. Malmud the following observation that the “likelihood”  of the Pinnacle affordable housing being built by “late 2007”, the time when 221 Main is targeted for completion and a certificate of occupancy required, is unlikely.

Councilperson Malmud asked what would happen if the Pinnacle failed to cobble together its financing by April. Dunphy said the responsibility for the Cappelli portion of the affordable units would revert back to Mr. Cappelli. Where Mr. Cappelli would build that affordable housing was not conjectured by Mr. Dunphy.

Malmud said at the time she would do “everything in her power to withhold the certificate of occupancy from Mr. Cappelli until his “share” of the affordable housing was built.

Dunphy suggested to Ms. Malmud that short of that stance, the council could withhold Certificate of Occupancy from the second tower, as means of enforcing the affordable housing piece.

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WPCNR BREAKING NEWS. FROM A WPCNR READER/ Town of Poughkeepsie Police. February 15, 2007 UPDATED 2:30 PM EST: Detective Robert Rolison of the Town of Poughkeepsie Police reports to WPCNR that so far there are no injuries or missing persons at this time in the aftermath of the collapse of the second deck of a parking garage at the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall.

Detective Rolison reports that “a partial collapse” of  the second deck  (reported by News 12 to be a 30 to 50 foot section) took place during a snow removal process which had been storing snow temporarily in a corner of the second deck of the garage. Rolison said that there  are no injuries, however “several cars are buried under snow.”  He said the police are now “still working  (to determine) with the structural intergrity of the garage.”

A WPCNR reader reported earlier that a section of the parking lot at the POUGHKEEPSIE Galleria Mall had collapsed. The collapsed area, he said is on the upper deck, in front of Best Buy and Ruby Tuesday. The area is where Galleria employees park their cars.  

The Poughkeepsie Galleria is a shopping mall in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, not far from Wappingers Falls, and is the biggest mall in New York’s Hudson Valley region. The mall, which opened in 1987 after much controversy regarding its construction, has an area of 1,100,000 foot² with two floors and 250 shops and restaurants as well as an 12-screen Regal Cinema theater. Adjacent to the mall is South Hills Mall, previously the dominant retail center of Dutchess County, whose decline has come at the expense of the Galleria’s dominance.

The mall is owned and managed by The Pyramid Companies, a group who also owns and manages regional sisters Galleria at Crystal Run in Middletown, Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston, and the Palisades Center in West Nyack. It is currently the most recent adopter of the Pyramid corporte “MB-18” teenage curfew policy on weekend evenings, a policy that began in September 2005.

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WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. From The Mayor’s Office. February 15, 2007: Mayor Joseph M. Delfino is pleased to announce that the 2007 Summer Jobs Applications will be available beginning March 1st at the White Plains Youth Bureau, 11 Amherst Place.  The Summer Jobs Program is open to White Plains residents 14 -21 years of age.  The six week summer jobs program will start Monday, July 2th and end will end Friday, August 10th.  A variety of summer job experiences will be provided, including:  camp counselor, recreation aides, life guards, ecology and conservation, and positions within White Plains departments.  For more information, contact Patty Staffiero or Antonio Martinez at 422-1378.

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WPCNR ADAM IN ALBANY. By State Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley, 89th District. February 14, 2007: The Assembly passed its ethics reform bill that will bring substantive changes to the way business operates here in Albany This is legislation that we worked to accomplish with the governor.  I have long advocated that we need to curtail the influence of special interests because elected officials should be accountable to their constituents, not to lobbyists.

The Assembly passed legislation I sponsored that will limit the influence of special interests, increase penalties for ethics and lobbying violations and create a permanent entity to oversee and regulate such violations (A.3736-A/S.2876). 

Broadly, the legislation will:

·        Virtually ban all gifts from lobbyists to elected officials;

·        Strenghten the revolving door rule so former legislative employees cannot lobby the legislature for two years after their employment ends;

·        Striclty limit lobbyists from paying or reimbursing travel and accommodation expenses;

·        Increase penalties for lobbyists and elected officials who violate the new regulations; and

·        Merge the Temporary State Commission of Lobbying and the State Ethics Commission to create the new Commission of Public Integrity to pursue violations.

The legislature and governor have reached two significant agreements this year that we were unable to accomplish in years past – budget and ethics reform.  However, we have much more work to do.  We begin budget conference committees next month and my attention will be on making sure Westchester families get significant property tax relief and that our schools and health care facilities receive sufficient funding.

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WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Cappelli Enterprises. February 14, 2007 (EDITED): The White Plains Performing Arts Center (WPPAC) today announced a one million dollar fund-raising campaign that is designed to assist the not-for-profit theater in the creation and presentation of additional programming to serve the White Plains community. 

Kathy Davisson, left, and The Super Developer, Louis Cappelli, shown on Opening Night of the White Plains Performing Arts Center, November, 2003. The Super Developer is jump-starting a new start for the troubled Arts Center which is only staging two general interest entertainments this spring and is supporting a very limited schedule with children’s productions this spring. It is Mr. Cappelli’s second major gift to WPPAC in a year. His $100,000 Gift helped bail the theatre out of a $300,000 deficit last year brought about by massive losses on the venture, Saving Aimee.  Photo, WPCNR News Archive

In launching the campaign, the WPPAC announced a $250,000 pledge from Cappelli Enterprises, Inc., the Valhalla-based real estate development company that built the theater for the City of White Plains in 2003, as part of City Center at White Plains.  The first of the five monthly installments of $50,000 that comprise the Cappelli grant was received by the WPPAC in mid-January.

“The contribution from the Cappelli organization will help jumpstart our fund-raising activities, and we are very grateful for the company’s continued support,” said John J. Ioris, President of the Board of Trustees of the WPPAC and a White Plains resident.  “The funds will allow us to add the staff necessary to take the organization to the next level in its program development.”

Mr. Ioris continued, “It is my hope that our board members will take this pledge of support from Cappelli Enterprises as encouragement to help rally other members of the business community in assisting with the future of the WPPAC.  Together, we hope to make our Center a more integral part of the growing and culturally diverse White Plains community.”

Bruce Berg, Executive Vice President of Cappelli Enterprises, said, “On behalf of Louis R. Cappelli and the company, we are pleased to support The White Plains Performing Arts Center.  We believe that the theater is poised to become the cultural centerpiece of White Plains.  The influx of luxury development in the downtown – including our own current project, The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester and The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester hotel – necessitates that there be an outstanding performing arts center.  An integral part of the audience is here in the condominiums and rental apartments that surround City Center.  They are interested and excited by the prospect of more live theater.  The demand will only increase when the hotel opens, residents move into The Ritz, and other developments that are planned for the area are built.”

Kathy Davisson, the WPPAC’s General Manager, stated, “The organization’s mission is to be a leader in the production and presentation of first-class cultural entertainment, and to provide outstanding education and outreach programs in a state-of-the-art facility.  It is our goal to bring quality, inclusive, live theatre to our community, and to make a difference, while highlighting the diversity of cultures and ethnicities.  Our support of family oriented programming will assist young people with their cultural and intellectual growth process by exposing them to the best family theatre and events.

The White Plains Performing Arts Center, Inc. is a professional, not-for-profit, producing and presenting company that continues to bring innovative, eclectic and always-entertaining new plays and musicals to its beautiful new facility.  The theater, a 410-seat, $6 million facility, also hosts local, national and international performing artists whose work reflects Westchester’s diverse population.

Created in 2003, the WPPAC, a 501 (c)(3) corporation, has a 10-year contract to operate the theater, which is owned by the City of White Plains within the City Center complex.  The WPPAC’s operations are supported by ticket sales, individual and corporate contributions, grants from foundations both public and private, and generous support from the City of White Plains.

If you are interested in contributing to the fund-raising efforts or wish to make a donation to the WPPAC, please contact Kathleen Davisson at (914) 328-1600.

Cappelli Enterprises Inc. is a leading real estate developer and general contractor in the Northeast. Headquartered in Valhalla, NY, the company has built more than 10 million square feet of mixed use, retail, waterfront, residential, office building, laboratory and parking facilities.