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 THE CITY HALL ALUMNI NEWS. April 6, 2005, UPDATED with Links, April 7, 2005. 11:00 A.M. E.D.T. : Former Executive Officer of the City of White Plains,  George Gretsas, now in Month 9 in his new job as City Manager of Fort Lauderdale has created a neighborhood cleanup program that is the subject of a Justice Department investigation, according to the Associated Press. The Gretsas-created program NEAT targeted a series of mostly black neighborhoods in Broward County for a code enforcement sweep called NEAT. The object: clean up garbage heaps and junked cars from yards, long eyesores. Fort Lauderdale Code Enforcers went door-to-door, writing up code enforcement violations.

George Gretsas, White Plains former Executive Officer, April, 2004 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Photo by Joe Amon From WPCNR News Archive.

The NAACP and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now protested that the city was singling out poor people who are black for the sweep. Their protest included ambushing the Fort Lauderdale Public Information Officer, David Hebert, with television crews two weeks ago.  Residents of the area, the AP reports, objected to penalties that included jail time and fines as high as $250 a day. The AP reports 1,700 code violations were issued, and 1,000 of them fixed by homeowners. The Justice Department is not commenting on their investigation. The AP reports three persons have been asked to cooperate with the Justice Department.

The Associated Press report may be read at http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles_p/local/C71796.

The Sun-Sentinel also filed a report and it may be read at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cneat19mar24,0,5299480.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

Fort Lauderdale is also attracting a lot of sharks to its Spring Break beaches — ones with fins. On Wednesday,  television network video showed hundreds of black-tip sharks frolicking in shallow water close to the Fort Lauderdale beaches.

 

 

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WPCNR CITY HALL LEAKS. April 5, 2005: The big green and white book on City Councilpersons’ desk visible in the WPGA-TV, Channel 75 telecast of the Monday Common Council meeting Monday  turned out to be the proposed 2005-2006 budget.  The appearance of the budget shocked observers. The budget was apparently was delivered by immaculate conception by the capital projects committee and city budget committee at internal meetings inside city hall with virtually no notice to the media or the citizenry, and no mention of same by any member of the Common Council.

Preliminary reports on those familiar with the budget talking to concerned city hall sources indicate there may be a reason for that: The 2004-05 budget has failed to meet projections primarily due to an approximate $500,000 additional overrun in Department of Public Safety overtime and Department of Parking revenues falling $500,000 short, (of a projected $4.7 Million) making at least a $1 Million shortfall. If that is the limit of the shortfall, this translates into at least a 3% property tax increase to begin. These figures come from persons believed to be reliable, but since city hall never returns calls on budget questions, we cannot immediately confirm this. The budget book was not available to the media Tuesday, according to media sources who asked for it. It should be available in the City Clerk’s office Wednesday.

Susan Habel,  Commissioner of Planning delivered good news on sales tax, remarking last night at the Comprehensive Planning Review Committee public meeting,  that the city is projecting a $4 million increase in sales tax collections (putting the projection of sales tax increase to $42 Million by the end of 2004-2005 fiscal year in the new budget), which she said would be devoted to restoring the city’s fund balance. Ms. Habel is believed to be a reliable source.

One legislative official in attendance at the Comprehensive Planning Review Committee public meeting, said he was “shocked” to see the budget book appear when Ms. Habel held it up. So were most of the audience. Ms. Habel did not give any details on the state of the 2005-06 budget to the CPRC, except for the juicy nugget about the sales tax.

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WPCNR North End News. April 5, 2005: The Comprehensive Plan Review Committee held its fourth public meeting Tuesday evening at George Washington School. The Citizens Plan Committee which spearheaded the formation of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee had one spokesperson deliver their take on the process. John Kirkpatric isolated six areas of concern that he and the committee feels need to be addressed by the CPRC.

The next meeting the CPRC will hold will be on April 10th at 12:30 P.M. at Centro Hispano, at which WPCNR understands their will be translation offered in Spanish. This will be followed by a sixth meeting at Thomas H. Slater Center, 7:30, April 12. The public is encouraged to attend and make know their views on White Plains growth, development and their visions for the White Plains future. Here is the text of Mr. Kirkpatrick’s remarks:

Transcript of Remarks of John Kirkpatrick speaking for the Citizen Plan Committee, Tuesday Evening:

 

The Citizens’ Plan committee came together from a concern that the City was not addressing the implications of recent change. Put simply, the planning achievements of the 1997 Plan, projected to occur over fifteen years, were occurring much more rapidly – more like seven years.

 

In response to our pushing, the Mayor and Council appointed you, the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee. You have been meeting and addressing at each meeting two major agenda items: first, and in great detail, what has occurred in terms of Plan implementation; and second, comments of the public on chosen subject areas.

 

Your willingness to do this is very much appreciated. You are performing a public service. However, we are very concerned that you are missing the big picture.

 

White Plains has a rich and noteworthy tradition of city planning and a respected and well-deserved reputation as a planned city. Its strength lies in its geographic location, its diverse population, its variety of housing types and neighborhoods, its well-defined commercial districts, and the substantial amount of public and privately-owned open space interspersed throughout the city.

 

A great deal of development and redevelopment has taken place in White Plains since the 1997 Plan. Exactly as was the case with the development that followed the 1977 Plan, the most interesting point in an examination of such development is the difference in its pattern. Some sectors were hugely successful, others not so, and some were totally unforeseen.

 

A major lesson to be learned from that is this: the City is not an island. Increasingly, the City is subject to what is rapidly becoming a world economy. Thus, planning for White Plains requires an understanding and appreciation of all the influences on the city’s economy, including world, national, state, regional and local. This understanding and the City’s choices must then be projected over the period of any plan.

 

What does this mean for White Plains and the big picture?

 

Most immediately, it means that your Committee should seriously address six major issues. Your Committee needs to get beyond enumeration of accumulated successes, and start a serious discussion of some major concerns.  None of these are new issues – unfortunately – but we are running out of time.

 

These issues are:

 

1.  Finances – we are too dependent on sales taxes

2.  Migration – this Country was built on migration, and it made us great. White Plains can also benefit, but we need to understand the people moving in and plan for their needs and their contributions.

3.  Quality of our Schools and its effect on property values – we need to recognize this interdependence and treat the school system as a community resource.

4.  Housing – we need to provide for all income strata.

5.  Commercial trends – we cannot let the World Economy pass us by.

6.  Health care – both in terms of health care delivery to our citizens and in terms of the vitality of our health care infrastructure

 

Given how limited the amount of citizen participation has been, we urge you to resist the pressures to meet some arbitrary timetable and produce a final report within a month or two.  Such a timeline will not allow for the level of analysis, research and public consideration of options that we believe is essential, given the seriousness and complexity of the issues that confront our City.

 

There is substantial unease in this City, and considerable disagreement among its citizenry about the directions that the City administration is taking.  Your committee has the potential to create a process that will invite citizens to contribute ideas and suggestions about this City’s future, in an effort to reach some consensus about a vision and set of priorities for future development. We ask you to take the time necessary to do your job well, and to enlist whatever resources you need to assist you in your efforts.  Your responsibilities are too important to be subjected to an imposed political calendar.