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.

Hits: 0

WPCNR Police Gazette. November 17, 2004, UPDATED 4:15 P.M. E.S.T., UPDATED November 19, 2004, 4:30 P.M. E.S.T. : Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety, Charles Jennings reported to WPCNR at 3:45 P.M. Wednesday that the fire at 189 Main Street has been estinguished. Main Street appeared to be  being reopened to traffic, Jim Benerofe reports, but as of 3:55 P.M. that the street was open again for traffic.  Jennings said there were no injuries to either tenants or fire fighters.

Inspector Daniel Jackson, speaking for the White Plains Department of Public Safety stated Friday, that fire department inspectors attributed the cause of the fire in the third floor offices was “unintentional,” and caused by “careless smoking.” Jackson noted to WPCNR that the closing of Main Street was “handled relatively well,” thanks to changing the cycle of the traffic lights.

SCENE OF FIRE: 189 Main Street is the three-story structure next to the lower black building off the wingtip in the lower center of the picture. Bar Building is in upper right. Grace Church is in upper right of photo. Photo by WPCNR News.

Jennings said the fire broke out on the third floor of 189 Main Street, and the alarm came in at 2:25 P.M.. The building in question houses the check cashing service on the ground floor at 189 Main across from Macy’s is in the heart of White Plains. Jennings reports the fire took about an half-hour to put out, and the cause is now under investigation. The Commissioner says damage was confined to four rooms on the third floor.

Fire Chief Richard Lyman, speaking to WPCNR at 4:10 P.M., said fast action by his men saved the building, a wood, brick and joist structure. and that water damage was very light. He said power was off on the first and second floors as a precaution, and that his men extinguished the fire in twenty minutes. Chief Lyman confirmed traffic was now flowing again on Main Street

Main Street was reported blocked off as of 2:45 P.M..

Jim Benerofe, of suburbanstreet.com, eyewitness on the scene moments ago (3 P.M.) reports the fire is in the check cashing building. He had not seen smoke, but the fire appeared to be within the building. He said they appeared to be fighting the fire on the roof, and from within the building. His guess was that the firemen have the incident under control, but he was not provided with any information from police or firefighters at the scene.

Benerofe reported all Eastbound traffic on Main Street was being detoured to Hamilton Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at the Galleria corner. Benerofe’s estimate is the fire started approximately 2:30 P.M. Traffic is a mess, Benerofe reports.

No Commissioners, or city hall officials were available to report or provide the details of what was going on to the public, until an hour and 15 minutes after the fire began.

Hits: 0

WPCNR DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK. By John F. Bailey and  Compilation From Press Reports. November 17, 2004, UPDATED 1:00 P.M. E.S.T.: The Empire Resorts purchase of the Concord Hotel and Grossinger’s Hotel properties from Louis Cappelli and Reckson Strategic Venture last week, reported by Dow Jones and now  the Associated Press Monday, is reported by the Middletown Times Herald-Record in a story published last week to be the beginning of a two-casino deal.

Super Developer Louis Cappelli: Sells Concord & Grossingers for 40% Stake in Empire Resorts. Mr. Cappelli is seen on the schmooz at the White Plains Performing Arts Center Gala last week. Photo by WPCNR News

In this gamble,  Mr. Cappelli’s former property, the Concord would house one casino owned by the Seneca Cayuga tribe of Oklahoma, and the New York Cayugas would open a casino at the Monticello Racetrack.  However, Mr. Cappelli’s selling of the Concord is not what it seems.

Mr. Cappelli still technically has a big piece of the Concord and the legendary Grossinger’s, because he and Reckson Strategic Venture Partners now own 40% of Empire Resorts.

Mr. Cappelli and his junior partner, Reckson Strategic Venture Partners, owners of Concord Associates, have sold their Concord and Grossingers Hotels to Empire Resorts in exchange for 18 Million shares of Empire Resorts Stock worth $196 Million at the close of Tuesday’s trading (giving them control of  40% of Empire Resorts.)  Empire Resorts trades publicly on the NASDAQ  Small Capitalization market at about $12 a share.  (At the close of trading Tuesday, Empire Resorts traded at $10.88 a share, off 51 cents at the close, making Mr. Cappelli and Reckson owners of shares valued at $195,840,000, as 1 P.M. it is at $11.53 a share, up 65 cents.)

It’s a windfall profit for Cappelli and his Reckson partners who acquired the Concord and Grossinger’s resorts for $16 Million in 1998.

Mr. Cappelli and Reckson Strategic Venture Partners, according to terms of the deal acquire a 40% stake (18 Million shares of Empire Resorts stock valued at $205 Million) through stock in Empire Resorts which lends credibility to the MiddletownTimes Herald-Record story of the Concord being the site of a double-casino attraction in the sleepy Catskills.

The partnership with Empire Resorts may allow Mr. Cappelli to bring his expertise in construction to a new level: casino gaming.  

Hits: 0

WPCNR ROVING PHOTOGRAPHER. November 16, 2004: Today’s unique photo is of a wonderful thing: a freight yard, recalling the burly days of yesteryear of glamorous freight cars,  sleek diesels dripping testosterone, and steel tracks that went to the ends of the earth. The tracks are rusty now, the mighty workhorse engines rest. Freight cars no longer are invitations to the Union Pacific, the Southern, the Pennsy, the Milwaukee Road, the Soo Line, the Illinois Central or the Boston & Maine, the D & H. But you can see them again and get the feel of the old main line at Danbury Railroad Museum.  

PLAYGROUND FOR TRAINS. Danbury, Connecticut. Photo by The WPCNR Roving Photographer.

Hits: 0

WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. November 16, 2004: Mario Scarano, Athletic Director for White Plains Schools for the last six years, who was forced to retire this year by the Board of Education this year due to conflicts in philosophy with Board of Education members, will be honored at a Retirement Dinner Thursday evening, November 18 at the Davenport Club in his hometown of New Rochelle. For reservations call 632-7800.  Dr. Laura Boehlert, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, reports a new Athletic Director is expected to be appointed in December.

So Long, Mr. Scarano. Mario Scarano, in an old familiar scene. No longer the man who was always there in the White Plains High School Athletic Office. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

 

Mr. Scarano introduced Fall Winter and Spring Sports Dinners to honor White Plains Athletes, brought a full-time Trainer to the high school athletic program, installed a weight room and training facility, an obstacle course on campus, enhanced the softball, soccer and baseball fields at the high school,  pioneered women’s sports, and presided over an athletic program which won 87% of their competions last year.

Nick Panaro, Interim Athletic Director. Photo, WPCNR Sports Archive.

Mr. Scarano has been replaced on an interim basis by Nick Panaro as Interim Athletic Director. Dr. Lenora  Boehlert, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the School District reports to WPCNR that six candidates  for the Athletic Director position and six candidates for the Coordinator of Health position will be presented to the full committee in charge of selecting Mr. Scarano’s successor, within the next two weeks. She said she expected to name a new Athletic Director, and a new Coordinator of Health by the beginning of December. 

Sad End to the Scarano Scenario

The “Scarano Scenario” resulting in Mr. Scanaro’s  untimely departure (just before the start of the athletic year) had its routes in Mr. Scarano’s desiring to split the position of Athletic Director and Coordinator of Health Programs, and was aggravated by a conflict with a member of the Board of Education involving their child. That member had pushed Mr. Scarano to restore their child to an athletic team when that child was cut. Mr. Scarano refused to do so, making an enemy.

That matter came to a head when Mr. Scarano suggested this year, for the second year in a row that the Board of Education split the position.

Mr. Scarano proposed last year and again in January to the Board of Education that his Athletic Director & Coordinator of Health position be split into two positions because he felt it was too much for one person to handle.

If the position had been split, Mr. Scarano, would have stayed on as Athletic Director. However, the Board of Education delayed the decision to divide the duties of the job, citing passing of the School Budget as an excuse (though White Plains passes the school budget every year by a better than 3 to 1 margin). This left Mr. Scarano no choice but to retire, he felt.

The Split Delayed.

Mr. Scarano advised Mr. Connors in early July he would retire and submitted his papers officially (Mr. Connors had held the papers for about six months, pending the Board of Education decision on splitting the position).

The day after Mr. Scarano officially told Mr. Connors to submit his papers, the Board of Education voted to split the position.

Sorry, You Can’t Come Back.

When Mr. Scarano told Mr. Connors he wanted to come back now that the Board had decided to plit away the Athletic Director position, the Board of Education declined to take action to reinstate him in the position as he wished. They denied taking a vote on his coming back, but by not allowing him to come back they were, in effect, firing him. As Mr. Scarano told WPCNR, “they decided to go in a different direction.” 

Persons familiar with the situation say Mr. Scarano had made enemies of certain members of the Board of Education and parents who were out to get him for not submitting to their requests involving the treatment of their children by certain team coaches.

 

Hits: 0

WPCNR TALK OF WESTCHESTER AVENUE. November 15, 2004: Former Councilman John Martin writes WPCNR explaining the Stop N Shop responsibilities towards Weschester Avenue owners, noting that Stop N Shop is obligated to allow customers of north Westchester Avenue establisments to use their parking lot:

John,
Please note that the city “gave up” a very busy public lot to make the Stop N Shop project feasible. In exchange, the property is encumbered by an agreement, of public record in the county Clerk’s Office which grants parking to people who patronize the businesses on the northerly side of Westchester Avenue.

This, of course, does not apply to the Westchester!

Councilman Emeritus John Martin