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 WEATHER SCOOP. By John F. Bailey. July 26, 2006: Nancy Fisher of Assemblywoman Amy Paulin’s office told WPCNR moments ago that the Assemblywoman Paulin attended Monday afternoon’s hearing on the Con Edison outages and demanded that Con Edison answer the following:

Fisher said “The issues Assemblywoman Paulin raised with Con Edison were  (what were their) plans and  adequate funding for capital improvements and infrastructure, adequate staffing during periods of expected over usage and emergencies, both weather-related and internal (that means storm related damage and equipment failure), (the state of) availability of backup supplies and response time …in other words how far they have to go to get a new transformer, do they have it in stock, and the appropriateness of the priority system, which is what you are talking about…who gets the utility crews first.”

Fisher, asked if Ms. Paulin had a reaction to Con Edison’s “clarification” yesterday they would not pay food spoilage refunds to Westchester residents who lost power due to storm damage, Fisher said she would ask Ms. Paulin about that. Fisher said it was unclear whether Ms. Paulin was aware of that at the hearing.

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WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Westco Productions. July 25, 2006:  Westco Productions, Westchester’s resident non-profit theater company for family audiences, will be celebrating its 27th anniversary with a gala featuring music icon Judy Collins on September 16, 2006 at the Irvington Town Hall Theater, Main Street, Irvington. The concert will begin at 8 PM and be followed by a dessert reception with Ms. Collins at historic Lyndhurst in Tarrytown. 

Judy Blue Eyes Returns to Westchester to Honor Jim Benerofe September 16! Photo of Ms. Collins, Courtesy, Westco Productions

The Westco event will honor White Plains’ Jim Benerofe, the noted philanthropist and real estate investor, and the Shirley G. Benerofe Foundation for their many years of support to Westco and its programs. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.  

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WPCNR WEATHER SCOOP. By John F. Bailey. July 25, 2006. INTERVIEW WITH CON EDISON: Within less than 24 hours Con Edison has reversed its policy of food spoilage refunds for Westchester residents stated Monday evening before a county hearing by Mark Drexel, its Acting Director of Emergency Management.

Drexel reported to have said  the 50,000 Con Edison customers who lost power from a tornado two weeks ago, and heat-related blackouts and outages by severe thunderstorms one week ago today and last Friday would have to produce some proof of food losses to receive payouts, but the payouts would be limited to $150 without receipts to Westchester residents and $350 to Queens residents.

Con Edison reversed this policy sometime today, WPCNR has learned.  Food spoilage will be limited to those customers who suffered outages due to failure of Con Edison equipment.

 WPCNR learned this in attempting to confirm an approximate 3:55 P.M. WCBS 880 news report that Westchesterites could now receive refunds up to $350 without receipts that Mr. Drexel’s reported statements last night in The Journal News and reconfirmed this morning on WCBS Radio and this afternoon is not correct.

WPCNR, too, was told by Con Edison’s Media Relations office yesterday that Westchester residents who had food spoilages from the storm could apply for reimbursement using the form on the Con Edison website, but would be limited to $150 without receipts.  It was not made clear by the Media Relations office yesterday at any time that this was related to equipment losses only. Today this policy is no longer in effect, if it ever was.

In this morning’s Journal News,  Mark Drexel of Con Edison was reported to have said Westchesterites and County Legislators that Westchester residents were only entitled to $150 of food spoilage payments without receipts rather than $350 without receipts the Queens residents were entitled to and did not state a reason. WCBS Radio reported this morning the reason for the recept limitation on Westchester was because of Con Ed’s agreement with the Public Service Commission and that the Queens residents’ outages were related to equipment while Westchester residents outages were related to storm problems.

Reverse of Policy

Chris Olert a spokesperson for Con Edison’s Department of Media Relations told WPCNR this afternoon that Westchester residents whose outages were caused by the fallen trees and downed lines from last Tuesday’s storm hitting Scarsdale, White Plains, Harrison, New Rochelle, and assorted other areas were not eligible for food spoilage reimbursement. WCBS Radio has since amended its 3:55 radio report to that effect.

Mr. Olert’s statements to WCPNR:

“For residential customers, we had been prior to this last outage,Con Edison had requested documentation for their losses. Since the 18th-19th outages from our equipment, we estimate there were approximately 8,000 customers who may have been affected prior to the storm. These are not storm-related” Olert said. “but failures, unique to Westchester. We estimate there were fewer than 8,000 that may have been effected by our equipment failures for 12 consecutive hours without electricity that would potentially spoil food.”

WPCNR: But there were 25,000 in Westchester affected…”

Olert: But from storm-related, unrelated to our equipment. Tree coming down on a wire because of high winds are not covered in our agreement with the PSC.”

WPCNR: So those 8,000 (eligible) are within the 25,000 or 8,000 plus the 24,000.

Olert: John, storms are not included in potential claims for food spoilage. They’re exempt. We worked this out with the PSC  three years ago..

WPCNR: Then how come CBS radio reported this morning that Con Ed said the reason Westchester residents were limited to $150 was because it (the outages) was equipment-related in Queens, and not in Westchester? Seems to me to be a contradiction?

Olert: WCBS Radio was wrong. And they have been corrected.

WPCNR: A few moments ago (3:55) they broadcast a report saying exactly what I asked you about in my first call to you (when WPCNR called to confirm Westchester was now eligible for $350 spoilage payments without receipts). You better recorrect them.

WPCNR: Could this be construed to be related to fact that you did not have enough “equipment”  to get repairs done before the food started to spoil? 

Olert: Not necessarily.

WPCNR: In White Plains, according to our Commissioner of Public Works, for the first two days you only had two line crews in here. Is that correct?

Olert: I’ll have to check.

WPCNR: Do you consider line crews equipment?

Olert: No, that’s personnel.

WPCNR: Bottom line: No one (who lost power)who had wind damage from last week’s storm in Westchester County (causing it) is entitled to a food spoilage refund. Is that correct?

Olert: Absolutely.

WPCNR: Will this be noted shortly on your website?

Olert: I’ll try to bring it to their attention.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL By John Bailey July 24, 2006: Carl Albanese shared with WPCNR readers earlier today his views he sent to the Common Council on the ordinance the Council will consider to license air powered rifles and pistols in the city, which are sold in Wal-Mart, and The Sports Authority (where teens where eagerly examining them last week when WPCNR was browsing that store.)

Albanese points out in the following letter and photograph these instruments which would require licensing by the city of White Plains and a background check.

WPCNR checked with the Mayor’s Office, which through its spokesperson David Maloney, denied this had anything to do with any air pistol incident involving the Mayor’s car, but Maloney did not know if another public official had suffered an incident involving their vehicle being damaged by an air pistol being used to shoot out the windows, as rumored. WPCNR asked Mr. Maloney for a statement as to the reasons for the air pistol, air gun licensing law today, and as night fell Monday evening, the Mayor’s office has not issued an explanation for why suddenly the city is getting into the gun control legislation business. Asked if there had been a number of air pistol robberies or incidents, city hall did not comment.

City Hall Seeks to License Ownership of these Air Pistols and Air Rifles, including the 70 year old classic, the Red Ryder BB Gun. Photo, Courtesy Carl Albanese.

Mr. Albanese, a certified firearms instructor,  elaborates on the photograh he has sent showing guns to be “licensed” by the new city air gun registration procedure:

“This a photo of air guns, spring, air and gas firing instruments purchased at Walmart in White Plains today, some are my own for training purposes for children and adults, on gun safety and ownership.

These are a small variety and percentage of toy guns and air guns that will fall under the licensing code, including paintball guns.

The NYS penal code for air guns is Law # 265.05 it states: No one under the age of 16 years old can buy an air gun or air rifle in NYS. It does not mean that one cannot possess or use one, or requires  a license to do so in NYS.

Any person under 16 years old is permitted to use and own one under adult supervision.”

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Nicoletti said he personally toured city shortly after the storm hit and determined the extent of the damage.  He reports that he was able to mobilize 5 City crews prepared to clear trees blocking city streets compared to 2 Con Ed Line Crews the first two days and occasionally a third line crewthe first two days of the storm. Had Con Ed responded with more line crews the city streets could have been opened sooner with the implication power could have been back on faster with more crews. Nicoletti estimated there were between 500 and 600 trees downed.

“We mounted two shifts a day, immediately, 70 on the day shift and about half that on the night shift, and we continued to work Saturday and Sunday, working around rain storms, working 10 hours each day. You can’t get blood out of a stone. This is a marathon not a sprint. (On Wednesday and Thursday) We’re working at the pace of Con Ed too, as fast as they could disconnect the lines, we’re hard on their heels to take the trees away,” Nicoletti described the last five days of DPW activity with Con Edison.

Would you say the DPW had more crews to remove the trees than Con Ed had crews to turn off the power, WPCNR asked the Commissioner, “Oh, by far,” the Commissioner responded, “Con Ed had one or two or sometimes three line crews on its part (for the entire city). The minimum number of crews we had out was four to five. I  know we were always manning 4 to 5 with aerial crews, ground crews. Each crew had a loader, dump trucks, chain saws. When Con Ed told us the electricity was off, we would remove the trees and chop them up, and move them over to the side of the road, because we had multiple road closings. hen we would go on to the next one.”

WPCNR was informed that more crews were brought by Con Edison on Friday and Saturday. Exact numbers of line crews from Con Edison at any given time in White Plains were not made available to WPCNR by Con Edison Media Relations at any time.

WPCNR asked how he assessed the state of the city at the present time:

“The roads are cleared. That’s our top priority that the roads are not blocked.”