WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER ALL TIME HIGH 2,414,445 VISITS 1 YEAR TODAY.. SMART NEWS THAT LIFTS YOU OUT OF YOUR CHAIR! TODAY WEDNESDAY AS 9 A.M. 325 PERSONS MADE 1,506 VISITS. YESTERDAY TUESDAY, 708 PERSONS MADE 6,530 VISITS. IN LAST 7 DAYS 5,090 PEOPLE MADE 28,476 VISITS THAT'S 6 VISITS A DAY! APRIL 17 TO TODAY MAY 17 : 21,157 PEOPLE MADE 101,135 VISITS IN ONE MONTH . 325 PEOPLE INDIVIDUALLY MADE 5 VISITS DAILY. WELCOME FIRST TIME VISITORS OF MAY 17, 2023

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WANTED: FORMER MOTHER-CHILD

HOME PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

The WJCS Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP), formerly called the Mother-Child Home Program, is searching for participants dating back to 1972 to help celebrate its 30th anniversary in June.

Over the past 30 years, more than 2,400 families in Greenburgh, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Port Chester and White Plains have participated in the program which promotes the joy of learning.

An award winning program sponsored by Westchester Jewish Community Services, PCHP is an early childhood, parent education and family literacy program designed to prevent school problems for disadvantaged preschoolers and encourages self-esteem and child rearing competence in their parents. During half-hour, twice-weekly visits, trained home visitors use specially selected toys and books to provide cognitive enrichment through verbal interaction and special game play.

“Although we have a good database of program graduates, we have lost touch with many who may have moved or changed their telephone number.” says Patrice Cuddy, Program Director “We would love to reconnect with our former mother and toddler participants. If you remember those twice weekly home visits by a friendly lady who brought you books and toys, or if reading Pat the Bunny or playing with farm animals brings back happy memories, give us a call and tell us how you’re doing.”

Alumni of the Program are urged to contact Mrs. Cuddy at 949-7699, ext. 324.

A celebration recognizing the significant impact the Parent-Child Home Program has had on the community over the past three decades will take place at Westchester Jewish Community Services’ Annual Meeting on June 4 at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale. All present and past Program participants will be invited to attend.

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King Komments:By White Plains Councilman, William King, April 8, 2002, 4 PM EDT: The councilman has been pursuing shuttle bus service to the White Plains Transit Center. Here is his report on where the County stands.
I met with County DOT Commissioner Larry Salley this morning in his office in Mt. Vernon along with County Director of Surface Transportation Richard Stiller. We had a pleasant meeting but it was basically left that the County cannot afford to tweak its tightly scheduled office park loop shuttlebus service to allow any kind of pickups or dropoffs of city residents in residential neighborhoods such as the Highlands/Soundview along the way.

They explained to me that a bus returning from delivering office workers from the train station to their offices along Westchester Ave. and elsewhere has a limited amount of time to get back to the station in time for its next run. A shuttle bus running on the “A” loop route might come back to the White Plains Train Station and then go back out on a “C” route run and then come back and go back out on an “H” route run, etc.. The County tries to have as many different office loop runs in the 4-hour a.m. and p.m. peak periods as possible, meeting the maximum number of arriving trains.

Most of the drivers work 8-hour shifts split into two 4-hour stints, one for the a.m, one for the p.m. and are off during the middle of the day. The most senior drivers get to work any overtime which the County tries to limit to contain costs.

The service is expensive. The County recoups less than 20 cents on the dollar for every dollar received in fares, compared to nearly 50 cents on the dollar for the entire system. The 50-cent figure is quite high by national standards for suburban bus systems.

Despite countywide budget pressures, County Executive Spano intends to keep the office bus service running indefinitely, although limited federal “CMAQ” (Congestion Mitigation Air Quality) 3-year funding of 1 or 2 routes is ending soon and one of the routes may not be continued. According to Larry, there is no more CMAQ funding out there for additional shuttle buses such as a bus specifically targeting residential neighborhoods. I was told that any CMAQ funding usually comes with a 3-year time limit after which the costs have to be picked up by local funding sources.

Larry and Rich feel they would have to add another driver to be able to provide residential train station service in White Plains. The cost of this would be $170,000 a year which includes the salary and benefits of the driver, fuel and maintenance of the bus, and overhead expenses for both the bus company that the County contracts with and the County itself. This cost does not include the cost of the bus itself or any amortization of the cost of a bus.

They indicated that in the past they have leased used shuttle buses to towns like New Castle (Chappaqua) for $1 a year and the municipality paid all the operating costs. They also mentioned that they are going to be replacing their fleet of 20-foot long shuttle buses (which are actually built on van chassis’s) with new 30-foot long buses later this year. (The standard length of a regular, non-articulated bus is 40 feet long.) The 30-foot long buses with more seats will be similar to what rental car agencies use at airports. This way, the County hopes to provide the same number of seat miles with less drivers.

I asked about the City of White Plains possibly leasing one of the used 20-foot long shuttlebuses for a $1 a year. They said we might be able to but these would be at least 5 years old and the federal gov’t guidelines are that buses like this (converted vans) really are only supposed to last 4 years. Therefore, they might not last that long or would be more expensive and problematic to maintain. They say they take a beating.

Maybe the bodies of these shuttle buses could be reused if a whole new engine, transmission and underbody was used. I don’t know if this would save the City any money but, if anybody would know, Bud Nicoletti would.

So, I wasn’t too hopeful that going down to Mt. Vernon (35 minutes on the #40 bus) would yield positive results but, since the meeting was offered, through Larry Schwartz, I figured I better take advantage of the opportunity of meeting with the Commissioner and Richard Stiller with whom I have talked to over the phone and exchanged several emails over the years.

The only thing that I mentioned that possibly might be looked at further after I left is whether some buses could be routed on Bryant Ave. to/from Westchester Ave. (along with South Lex and Longview Ave./Martin Luther King Blvd.) as at least a quick passthrough through the Highlands that at least some residents might be able to take advantage of, without slowing the shuttlebuses down much. I’ll bring this up again with the County if I don’t hear anything back from them on this.

I said, with all the congestion on Westchester Ave. and in Downtown WP, the shuttlebuses may be able to get to/from the Westchester office parks faster and so having some kind of limited residential service wouldn’t slow them down much.

Such a bus would provide a service to the central and northeast Highlands as well as to Bryant Crescent, the Dales, the townhouse development at Bryant and North Street and down North St. to Havillands Manor if people want to walk up to Bryant to catch a shuttlebus.

I definitely did not get any agreement with possibly some shuttlebuses coming back from IBM or the Rennaisance Hotel area via the Hutch, North St. and Rosedale or Ridgeway.

– BK

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WPCNR Sunday Eagle. Special from Clear View School April 7, 2002. 2:00 PM EDT: Private Day Treatment Centers, the backbone of New York State programs for the mentally disabled are calling on citizens to write their assembly persons, urging they support passage of the first Medicaid increase in the amount paid to Day Treatment Programs in 20 years.
According to a Clear View School communication, the Senate in Albany supports such an increase, a $1.8 million appropriation, which when “leveraged” by local and federal matching funds, will grow to $7,200,000. Clear View, located in Scarborough, New York, has educated numerous disabled youth from White Plains and surrounding towns in Westchester County for 34 years.

The school is urging advocates for the disabled to write their assemblypersons, requesting they support this modest increase.

According to the school that has been in the forefront of persuading legislators to support educational and residential programs for the disabled, the Medicaid rate for children’s Day Treatment Programs has not been increased for over twenty years.

The school also feels that private programs should be supported on a scale more equal to what the state day treatment programs receive. Presently, according to Clear View, state-run agencies now receive twice the daily rate of the voluntary agencies ($100 a day vs. $47).

Clear View in its call for support for the increase in the Medicaid Rate, maintains that children’s Day Treatment Programs are “the first line of engagement” with children suffering from mental illness and “our best resource for maintaining mentally ill children in the community.”

The school also points out that current funding levels from the state, and what the school calls “an absence over the years of any cost of living adjustments (COLAS)…have made it extremely difficult to maintain qualified staff and ultimately threaten program survival.”

The organization in a statement said that low salaries are being additionally threatened by “enormous increases in the cost of medical insurance.” (The White Plains City School District had a similar problem in this year’s school budget where rising medical insurance costs and retirements combined to raise the cost of fringe benefits 15.5%.)

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WPCNR MORNING SUN By John F. Bailey. UPDATED April 4, 2002. 10:30 AM EST: The Downtown Business Improvement District Wednesday appointed Kathleen Gunn, currently with the Mayor’s Office, to the recently vacated post of Executive Director. Ms. Gunn has been credited with spearheading the Mayor’s Digital Divide initiative, and prior to this was experienced in the writing of grants, and a community liaison officer for Congresswoman Nita Lowey. Ms. Gunn begins her new job April 22.

THE BID’S NEW GUNN: Kathleen Gunn, newly appointed Executive Director.
File Photo by WPCNR

Ms. Gunn, speaking to WPCNR Thursday morning said she decided to apply for the Executive Director position on her own because she felt her credentials were a good fit. She cited her experience in the Mayor’s economic development office, her liaison work with Congresswoman Lowey, and her experience in seeking government grants.

Asked what she felt she would bring to the BID and what direction she might take, she said she would be meeting with the BID Board, the Common Council, the Mayor’s office and other interested parties after she begins work April 22 to define that direction.

BID Role Must Fit the Changing City

“The City of White Plains is changing. It is changing into a very different downtown with different needs,” Ms. Gunn said. “You’re going to have many new residents in the downtown with different needs. I’m looking forward to helping the BID evolve to meet those needs.”

Gunn said she hoped to bring her experience in acquiring grants for the SelfHelp Community Services to play in her new job. She planned no increase in staff.

Vogt confident in Gunn’s Familiarity with Economic Development

Harold Vogt told WPCNR this morning that Ms. Gunn was selected based on “her own skills, competence and her past involvement in programs of interest to the BID. All bode well,” he said. “She will be an integral part of policy development, as we move ahead.”

Voght said that he looked forward to Gunn improving BID’s communications and profile.

In the official news release announcing Gunn’s appointment, Voght said, “I am delighted that Kathleen Gunn will be the new Executive Director of the BID, and I am confident that she will bring much to the successful operation of the BID as it plays a key role in the downtown. Gunn said, “I am very honored to have been selected by the Board of Directors and look forward to working with the community on the continuing effort to revitalize downtown White Plains.”

Gunn was unanimously voted to the position by the BID’s Board of Directors. Vogt, in the official release, thanked the Search Committee which was chaired by WP Board Director, Ted Peluso, with BID Board Members, Jeff Stillman, Hal Masback, John Martin, Mark Ellman and Leon Silverman participating.

The Gunn Resume

Gunn has a Masters Degree in Public Administration/Non-Profit Management, and a Bachelors Degree in Political Schience from Pace University. She was Grant Manager at SelfHelp Community Services, responsible for securing funding for that organization’s programs and services. She was a District Representative for Congresswoman Nita Lowey, handling constitutent cases for the Congresswoman’s district office in White Plains.

Digital Divide Dynamo

Ms. Gunn in the last two years has organized, coordinated and brought together community interests to open three Digital Divide Labs in White Plains at Slater Center, the White Plains Youth Bureau and Mercy College to address the lack of computer access affecting underprivileged youth and adults. A fourth lab is being contemplated for a location at Centro Hispano.

Gunn has a businesslike way of getting things done with a very pleasant attitude, and she focuses on the long term objective, putting aside personal ego and preconceived notions to achieve tangible results.

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WPCNR Afternoon Tribune. By John F. Bailey. April 3, 2002. 2:15 PM EST: Assemblywoman Amy Paulin of the 88th Assembly District, brought WPCNR up-to-the-minute today on the latest redrawing of the Assembly District Guidelines. She reports that instead of losing most of White Plains, she will still have 50% of the White Plains voters in her newly redrawn District, should it be adopted.

Ms. Paulin contacted WPCNR to give us the latest on where the Assembly “lines” stand.

“There was some disagreement over the lines, “ Ms. Paulin told us. “The State Senate will take up the redistricting next week. We are in recess this week. We will be back in Albany Monday. We have been focusing on the budget negotiations.”

She said that currently she represents 39,000 of the 52,000 White Plains voters. The new redrawing of the 89th and 88th Assembly Districts, would have Naomi Matusow, who now represents the other 12,000 White Plains residents in her 89th district, representing 26,000 White Plains voters and Ms. Paulin the remaining 26,000. The new line, according to Ms. Paulin gives her “most of the White Plains downtown and all of the South End of White Plains. It splits it in half.”

Ms. Paulin reports the map she has seen is “hard to read” but the demarcation appears to run through the middle of the White Plains downtown. Asked if “horsetrading” of district lines in relation to budget concessions was going on, she said, “not that I’ve heard.”

Paulin said the Senate, Assembly and Governor have to agree soon on the new districts, or stay with the present boundaries, because she and Ms. Matusow, (and all candidates) have only from June 1st to July 11th to get their petitions for reelection in to the Board of Elections. Petitions are due July 8.

The new information from Ms. Paulin indicates she will have more of White Plains than originally was indicated by persons reporting on the new guidelines to us, and she will have all of Scarsdale.