WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER 3,374,995 VISITS IN ONE YEAR—65,000 VISITS A WEEK BY 985,281 VISITORS

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. July 29, 2004: National Amusements personnel from the City Center Cinema De Lux theatre in White Plains will meet with White Plains Department of Public Safety Fire experts next week to address evacuation procedures for the new City Center theatres, according to Jennifer McGuire Hansen, spokesperson for the theatre management company.

ON THEIR OWN: The concourse leading to entrances of Cinema De Lux theatres at the City Center. A meeting between National Amusements and Fire Department officials is being scheduled at the insistence of the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Public Safety after an orderly, but alleged unsupervised,  confused evacuation of thousands of movie goers late last Saturday afternoon from the complex after “cooking problem” caused a smoke alarm to sound, prompting a mass exit from all 15 theatres. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

According to Candyce Corcoran, who brought the incident to WPCNR’s attention, she and her husband were in a Director’s Hall with the main feature about to start at approximately 4:30 P.M. At that point a man in a red shirt, identifying himself as a projectionist, said the fire alarm is sounding and that the audience should leave the theatre. However, according to Ms. Corcoran, they were not advised by the official where to exit, and the person had no flashlight. She said there were no lights in the theatre except for the red exit signs and the footlights in the aisles.

DIRECTOR’S HALL, City Center Cinema De Lux, interior. Only aisle footlights and red exit signs were visible after moviegoers were advised to leave the theatre, according to patrons. Sconce lights on wall, lit here were out. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

She said she and her husband elected go to a side exit, and not back out into the main foyer. Corcoran said there were no public address announcements of what the emergency was or where it was located She said patrons were orderly and there was no panic, but personally attributed that to the mature crowd.

Corcoran said that she and her husband exited down a corridor at the side of the theatre but had no idea where they were going, eventually making their way to the street. Once outside the complex, Corcoran said the sidewalks on Main Street were jammed with “thousands” of theatre goers. Some, she said returned inside to the movie.

Ms. Hansen, Corporate Public Relations Director for National Amusements in Boston, commented to WPCNR Thursday afternoon said part of the evacuation problem dealt with where people were being evacuated, and their expressing complaints to the Mayor’s Office and the Fire Department about being evacuated out onto the street, and not being allowed to return to the City Center Garage.

“We will examine this with the Fire Department (next week) to modify our evacuation plan, whether it should be into the Parking Garage, or the Street, (or other parts of the mall.” Ms. Hansen said.

Asked about why there were no Public Address Announcements either by the fire personnel, or the National Amusements employees, Hansen said it was her understanding there was a public address system in the theatre, and that “it was used.” She said she would check into it Persons in the theatre, WPCNR has heard from said, they heard no public address announcements.

Hansen said every National Amusements Cinema de Lux “has an evacuation plan in place.” WPCNR asked if the theatre personnel were drilled on what to do in an emergency, and Hansen said she would get that information.

A spokesman for the Mayor’s Office, Paul Wood, confirmed to WPCNR Tuesday of this week, that the incident did take place, and that the Department of Public Safety had offered to work with National Amusements on evacuation procedures.

WPCNR has learned that all public places are required by the Fire department to have an evacuation plan. White Plains bars are monitored by Fire Department Inspectors for occupancy compliance, for example. However, establishments are not required to submit details of the plan prior to opening.

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. July 28, 2004: The invitations were in the mail. The next step in the Cappellization of White Plains was all set for August 3. Today, Thompson & Bender announced that the Topping Off and Tearing Down ceremony combining celebration of the construction of Trump Tower at City Center reaching its final floor and the simultaneous symbolic groundbreaking for Louis Cappelli’s Hotel and Condoplex, an hour later known as Renaissance Square, scheduled to take place August 3, has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts of dignataries invited to the dual ceremonies. No date has been set as of yet for the rescheduling of the construction doubleheader.

TRUMP TOWER AT CITY CENTER APPROACHES ZENITH, July 9. Photo by WPCNR News

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WPCNR WP AFTER DARK. From Cappelli Enterprises. July 27, 2004: Cappelli Enterprises will host an exciting free  “Summer Night’s Swing” at Renaissance Fountain Plaza, directly across from City Center at Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue on Wednesday, August 11, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (rain date August 12). The “Summer Night’s Swing” will be an evening of swing dancing, complete with a live band, food, and entertainment.

SUPER DEVELOPER HOSTS SUMMER NIGHT’S SWING: Louis Cappelli, shown here at the opening of the White Plains Performing Arts Center last fall plans a “Thank You” to White Plains. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

RENAISSANCE PLAZA. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

 “We could thing of no better way to show our appreciation to the people who live and work in the White Plains area for their unbelievable support of the City Center complex,” said Marge Schneider, Vice President of Cappelli Enterprises, the City Center developer.   “We’re looking forward to a very special evening, and hope that ‘Summer Night’s Swing’ will become an annual event.”

Applebee’s, Legal Sea Foods, and Barnes & Noble will offer free refreshments from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.  The entertainment will begin at 7:00 p.m. with the Benson-Scott 20-piece Big Band and professional dancers from the Arthur Murray dance studio. The dancers will help to get the giant dance party started and will conduct a large group dance lesson. 

The evening will also include a special appearance by Robert Royston, choreographer of the Broadway show, “Swing.”  A four-time U.S. Open Swing Dance Champion, Mr. Royston has been featured on the “Today Show,” “The View,” “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” and others.  He is also an instructor at Dance Manhattan.  Mr. Royston and his partner, Nicola Royston, will dazzle the audience with a swing dance exhibition.

From 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., participants can enjoy a delicious assortment of desserts, courtesy of Zanaro’s Italian restaurant, just across the street from Fountain Plaza.   Parking for the event will be available at the City Center garage.

Cappelli Enterprises Inc., the City Center developer, is a prominent real estate developer and general contractor in the Northeast.  Headquartered in Valhalla, NY, the company has built more than 4 million square feet of mixed use, retail, waterfront, residential, office building, laboratory and parking facilities.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VOICE. July 26, 2004: A few months ago, due to a flurry of caustic and scathing commentaries about officials of the City of White Plains, which they vehemently objected to, the CitizeNetReporter, seeking to show this publication had no malice towards our city servants, chose to spare those former officials and removed the ability for our readers to post comments to this site anonymously.

Today, with those particular officials no longer having anything to do with the operation of the city and safely out of the line of fire, the CitizeNetReporter again places its faith in the responsibilities of our readers and will again allow you to post comments to stories anonymously. However, WPCNR urges you to comment responsibly.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. Special to WPCNR from Stacey Davison, Katelyn Griffin in Houston. July 25, 2004:  The Texas Thunder took their fifth straight from the New York New Jersey Juggernaut in their University of Houston ballpark Saturday night, shutting out the Nauts, 7-0, after beating the Nauts Friday evening, 2-1 in eleven innings. Texas leads the league by a half game over Akron and 2 full games over the Nauts, at 24-16, with Texas having a 24-11 record. The two teams play Sunday afternoon at 4.

Friday evening, Selena Collins hit a walkoff home run off Kaci Clark (pitching in relief of Amanda Scott)in the eleventh to defeat the Nauts, 2-1. Christa Williams went the distance for Texas to move her league leading record to 9-3.

Venus Taylor homered for the Nauts in the second inning for an earlier 1-0 Naut lead. That lasted until the sixth, when Ryan Realmuto doubled to right to score pinch runner Selena Collins.

Saturday night the wheels came off when Texas plated 3 in the fourth off Kellie Wilkerson (pitching in relief of Amanda Scott who was removed in the first inning), 1 in the fifth and 3 in the sixth off Gina Oaks to roll to a 7-0 win. A walk to Lindsay Gardner, a single by Clare Burnam and a single by Selena Collins scored Gardner. Ryan Realmuto doubled to right center to score Burnam, and Karrie Rider hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Texas picked up a another run in the fifth, scoring while Lyndsey Garner jockeyed in a rundown between first and second. Then added three more in the sixth, scoring on two passed balls and a single.

Judging from our correspendents Saturday night was one of the worst Juggernaut performances of the season.

NATIONAL PRO FASTPITCH STANDINGS July 25, 2004

Saturday Scores

Texas 7, Juggernaut 0

California 3, Akron 0

New England 3, Arizona 1

Friday Night Scores

Texas 2, Juggernaut 1 (11)

New England 3, Arizona 1

Akron 8 California 3