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 COMMON COUNCIL-CHRONICLE EXAMINER. September 6, 2006: The Common Council and Mayor Joseph Delfino conducted the monthly council meeting last night, voting to close the zoning portion of the public hearing on the North Street Community senior citizen development, agreeing to take it up again December 4, but not before Councilperson Rita Malmud chided the city for giving the council a 47-page document on zoning changes just prior to the meeting.

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The Council was assured by the Corporation Counsel Edward Dunphy that the present zoning proposal was “not worth the paper it was printed on,” and that eventual new zoning the council would “craft”  would be noticed for a public hearing once the council had discussed the 47-pages of “recommendations,” and come up with how it wants to address zoning to fit the North Street Community project.

The head of the Wyndham Close Association (immediately South of the proposed project),  said he objected to reading in The Journal News how the city had suggested cutting 18 units from the North Street project which he had not been told about.

He said that was way too small a cut in density, saying it should be much more. Rosemarie Hicks, speaking against the project said the council never met a development they did not like, and warned the cumulative effect of all the projects could be devastating for the city.

The council, after being assured by Mr. Dunphy that further discussion of the present zoning plan suggested was meaningless, voted 6-1 to close the zoning hearing, pending their creating a new zoning solution to hear before the public in December. Ms. Malmud put Mr. Dunphy and the city on notice that she wanted plenty of time to review the final bond agreements for the project prior to approval.

After the vote, the Planning Commissioner, Susan Habel, addressed the 18 unit reduction proposal report published in the paper in response to the Wyndham Close President’s criticism: “There’s obviously misinformation out there. The statements in the newspaper…a statement was made that a communication refers to reducing it by 18 units. The Planning Department looks at a number of options in it the communication over a range and has to have analyses done of  these different options for the Common Council. There are no firm or specific recommendations that are made. There are recommendations that are made based on sets of assumptions which you may or may not accept.” 

The Mayor said smiling,  “Sometimes talking to a reporter, being kind and fair you talk about a million things and he makes a story out of it. That’s what happened in this case and it’s to be avoided in the future.”

B-2 Zoning Change Nixed.

Then the council  surprised Ms. Hicks, closing the public hearing and  voted against zoning the 586 North Broadway property owned by VBJR Realty, which would have moved the balance of the owner’s property into the B-2 Zoning District, making the property more attractive. Councilpersons Malmud, Roach and Boykin strongly endorsing the view  that the city had to protect against encroachment of commerical interests on the close in neighborhoods, and not change zoning to benefit owners at the expense of the quality of life of city residents. The Council voted unanimously to kill the proposal, and recommended the owner seek a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

In the final public hearings of the night, the council approved the undertaking of the Urban Renewal Demonstration Project to build 52 rental units for households earning 60% to 50% of median income ($80,000) at  260 Main Street to build  affordable housing as part of the  171-unit The Pinnacle condominium  development  across the street from City Hall. The Council also approved designating 260 Main Associates RC (the Ginsburg Development Corporation concern created for this project), as the “qualified and eligible sponsor” of the 52 rental units. The developers’ lawyers noted upon questioning by Councilman Benjamin Boykin and Dennis Power that they expected to break ground on the Pinnacle project by beginning demolotion by the end of September. Willimam Null revealed on questioning by Power that they are seeking a Westchester County grant from the Westchester County Department of Planning to replace the grant rejected by the county two weeks ago.  The council was again assured publicly by the City Planning Commissioner that the project would be guaranteed to remain affordable housing for 40 years.

Dump Work Bonds to be Issued for $1M

The major item on the consent agenda consisted of the city approving bonding for $1,050,000 for “improvements” to the City Dump, as described in the agenda. However, the “improvements” consist of installing a concrete barrier under the composting fill to prevent leaching of toxic waters into the water supply and removal of trees and wooden refuse. The city is being required to execute the change to the composting pile to remove an ongoing violation of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regulations that the DEC has known about for thirty years, that the city has ignored complying with until this year.

A spokesperson for the DEC, Wendy Rosenbach, told WPCNR Tuesday that the compost pile could be reestablished on another portion of the dump property, but that the dump could no longer be used as a landfill and had to be closed. Rosenbach was asked whether the City would also be required to remediate and remove the TriChloralEthane (TCE) contamination the DEC has found on the site, that the city has allowed to remain for 30 years.

Rosenbach said she would check into whether the remediation issue involving the TCE had been resolved. She said the city may be allowed to simply “cap” the landfill and not dispose of any more TCE’s, but to her knowledge, she could not say as of yesterday whether the city would he required to remediate the TCE (for possibly more expense) before executing the construction of a new DEC-compliant compost.

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WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. From Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. September 5, 2006: Paul Feiner becomes one of the first public officials to comment on the third power disaster in three months to unplug Westchester County.  Mr. Feiner files this report on a news conference call with Con Edison this morning, he participated in and sent to WPCNR at  1 P.M. Tuesday afternoon. In a letter made public today, Mr.  Feiner calls for placing overhead power wires underground:

A number of elected officials participated in a noon conference call with Con Ed officials today. This is what we were told: There were 76,000 customers out of power after the storm began. Currently, there are 17,000 customers out of power. Con Ed has assigned 550 crews to restore service to the area. Crews consist of one person or two people. Con Ed is also employing people form Boston, Pennsylvania and out of the area to help. There are 100 blocked roadways in Westchester.

The following letter is being sent to the Vice President of Con Ed today re: studying the possibility of placing wires underground. Your comments and input are always appreciated. We will be holding another conference call tomorrow at noon.

I requested that Con Ed give priority attention to those with medical emergencies. Con Ed indicated that they will give special attention to these requests.
For residents who are upset because you think Greenburgh is at the bottom of the list—don’t be upset. All the other mayors/supervisors from other communities who participated in the same conference call were also upset. Everybody is angry with the outages.

(MORE–Letter to Con Ed follows:)

September 5, 2006

 William J. McGrath Vice President, Electric Operations

Con Edison

511 Theodore Fremd Ave. Rye, NY  10580

 Dear Mr. McGrath,

 The September 2nd storm from Ernesto left thousands of Westchester residents out of power.  In my town many residents have been without power this year 5 or 6 separate times.  They have no confidence that they’ll have electricity, heat or air conditioning after a storm.  This is not a third world country but the frequent power outages make us feel like we’re living in a third world nation.

The time has come for Con Ed and other utility companies in the region to seriously study the possibility of placing power lines underground.  Placing power lines underground might help reduce the possibility of outages since trees that have come down frequently cause these outages.  Underground lines would enable the utility company to continue to offer service to residents – even after a major storm. Underground lines would enable power to stay on even if lots of trees fall down in a given area.

It would be interesting to read a study detailing the costs of taking this action. The study should also explore phasing in this approach over a period of time.  Westchester utility customers deserve to have confidence that they will have electricity, heat and air conditioning after a storm.  Assuming that climate change will result in increasingly volatile weather, meaning more damaging storms, the costs of responding to storms will continue to increase and the benefit/cost analysis of under grounding becomes more favorable.  There are other benefits to this approach: saving trees, decreasing certain types of maintenance expenses (others will increase), decreasing insurance premiums, fewer business losses, environmental improvements, etc..

 Sincerely,

Paul J. Feiner
Greenburgh Town Supervisor 

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WPCNR THE POWER NEWS  September 5, 2006: WPCNR awaits the Con Edison Media Relations morning report on White Plains homes still without power. City Hall where no one was available to speak to the public or the press over the weekend reports they are “swamped” with calls from White Plains residents this morning on the pace of power restoration. Press calls were being held as of 9:30 A.M..

 A reader also writes on the ongoing power situation in the Soundview area. Also in Soundview a live wire, guarded by a Con Edison worker in a “Community Assessment” van (who was observed sleeping in his vechicle Sunday afternoon), has electrocuted a wild animal. The same could happen to any child, pet or jogger who fails to see an unreported downed wire and blunders into it.  Residents should take care because, WPCNR warns that there may be downed wires undiscovered at this time due to residents being away on holiday. Gedney Farms was also reported still without power Sunday evening. If you find yourself without power, you must report it to Con Edison to be assured you will be reconnected. Call 800-75CONED. 

 A resident files this report on the blackout in Soundview:

Hi,
The entire neighborhood south of Miles, between Old Mamaroneck Rd and Soundview Ave  has been without power since Saturday at 3PM. Despite driving around Soundview/Highlands numerous times I counted ONE Con Ed crew–fixing a power line on Sunday morning near Bryant Ave. Not a single crew in sight since then. In fact, a drive through White Plains yesterday afternoon around 4 yielded the same result (this includes Gedney where I saw 2 separate lines down). I saw numerous Verizon crews, but not one Con Ed crew. There are 2 power lines down nearby my house–one on Miles near Old Mamaroneck, one on Hartsdale near Soundview.

Thus far, Con Ed has parked a guy in a van at each site. I’ve spoken to each, and they have zero information regarding when repairs will happen. It seems impossible to believe they can’t get two wires spliced back together in less than 4 days–there’s no trees to clear, no broken poles, just 2 wires that need to be spliced. Con Ed’s response is completely unacceptable, and I strongly question their propaganda about how hard they’re working to restore power.

Another resident wrote WPCNR as of this morning about the ambivalence of unmarked downed wires:

As of 8:45 this am a wire is still draped across the road at about 100
Grandview. The part that bothers me is that there’s no ribbon. The
advice from everyone is always to not touch ANY downed wires and then
they look at a wire and if they know it’s just a phone wire, they drive
away. Someone should be able to ribbon it so you don’t drive into it 
or cone it or something. By leaving it there for days, people assume it
must be a non dangerous wire and not be wary of it.

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WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. September 4, 2006: The Con Edison Media Relations Office advises the CitizeNetReporter that 23,000 homes in Westchester are still without power as of 9:30 A.M. The spokesperson said there were 400 crews working the county at this time, and as of this hour 50,000 homes have been restored to power. As of Sunday evening 2,800 homes in White Plains remained without power, and the office expected they could get an updated White Plains restoration figure in about an hour.

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WPCNR CITY DUMP DAILY. By John F. Bailey. September 3, 2006: The City of White Plains will issue $1,050,000 in Serial Bonds to comply with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation conditions for continuing to operate the city composting operation at the City Dump for the next ten years. The compost pile at the dump has been leaking TCE contaminants into the ground water for thirty years, according to DEC documents. The bonds will be quietly authorized at this Tuesday’s Common Council meeting. It is not known at this time whether the DEC will at a future date require decontamination of the existing contaminants at additional expense.

The City Dump Compost Pile. (Looking North to Gedney Way) The concrete in foreground has been removed by the city since this photograph was taken in June, 2006  Photo by Carl Albanese

The Compost Pile, Gedney City Dump. March 2006. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

The proceeds will be used to “conduct environmental, water, soil and air quality tests, and creating several impermeable surface locations at the facility (as mandated by DEC directives). The sourthernmost areas of the facility will be asphaltic concreate and other sections will be graded with topsoil and compacted fill. This project also includes the regrading and creation of stormwater drainage channels. In order to perform the aforementioned testing and Bitumin installation, logs and other wood waste will be removed from the site.”

 

The city will also contract with a Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities “wood waste disposal contractor”  to dispose of the trees and wood waste now on the site (left from July’s microburst damage).

The nature of the expenditure of the bond issue is described in the official Common Council agenda as “to pay part of the cost of site improvements at the Gedney Way Recycling Facility,” with no mention of what those improvements are. The explanation that the bonds are being issued to make the Gedney Dump comply with DEC regulations is only contained in the “backup” material.

The backup material does not mention whether the city will be required to remediate the TCE contamination in the ground beneath the dump that has been there for thirty years, according to DEC documents.

 

Two weeks ago, Wendy Rosenback, spokesperson for the DEC told WPCNR:

 

Rosenback would not comment on whether the DEC would require the city to remediate the contaminated water situation that the DEC confirmed in tests conducted in April, 1999, April 2003, and confirmed again this past April. The tests confirmed that “Groundwater and surface water contamination have been confirmed on site and may have moved off-site.”

 

The contamination consists of Trichloroethene (TCE) in the amount of 180 parts per billion as tested at one of the monitoring wells. The DEC standard for trichloroethene allowable is .005 parts per billion. Documents on file with the Department of Environmental Conservation show the contamination has been affecting the groundwater and the waters of the Mamaroneck River tributary which runs out of the dump for twenty years. The DEC has been scolding the city to remediate the contaminants for the last seven years. In a letter of May 4, 2004 to Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti, the DEC wrote,

 

“The median total Volatile Organic Compounds value at Monitoring Well-3 is 215 ppb and the total VOCs during the most recent sampling round waste was 223 ppb. In 1999 the City removed several 55-gallon drums located downgradient of monitoring well MW-3. Otherwise, the City has not initiated and actively responded to the detected VOC contamination. Ground water quality at well MW-3 has no significantly improved and more aggressive action is necessary. The has identified a solvent disposal “hot spot” in the west-central portion of the landfill. The City should consider source removal of the waste solvents as part of site remediation facilities.”

 

This spring after two more years of city failure to respond to DEC suggestions, the DEC wrote the city saying their permit to run the composting operation had expired and that the landfill needed to be closed because of the groundwater contamination on the site. The city explained this saying they had just “forgotten” to file a permit, denying there was any contamination in the dump at the time.

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The long covered-up conditions of the dump are finally being acted on this Tuesday. From the best WPCNR has been able to determine Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti informed the Common Council of this possible settlement with the DEC at the work session of August 24, in Executive Session.

 

WPCNR first reported on the conditions in the dump this spring when the contamination of the dump was denied by City Hall.