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

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS NEWS PHOTO OF THE WEEK. From City Hall News Bureau. October 12, 2002: The City of White Plains held a recognition ceremony for employees who have served the city for twenty-five years or more Monday evening. Here they are, with Mayor Joseph Delfino posed in the famous City Hall Rotunda to commemorate the occasion.

25 YEARS OR MORE TAKING CARE OF THE PEOPLE’S BUSINESS: The Employees, L to R, are: Richard Lyman, Public Safety-Fire Department, Deveria Searcy, Youth Bureau, Arthur Bitting, DPW-Sanitation, Barbara Wenglin, Library, Mayor Joseph Delfino, Yvonne Charles, Library, and Paulette Minieri-Siino, Building Dept-Zoning Board. The elite six were honored for their more than quarter century of service to the city at the October 7 Common Council meeting.
City Hall Photo

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WPCNR AFTERNOON TRIB & POST. From County Democratic Committee Media Center. (EDITED) October 11, 2002:At the recent Westchester County Democratic Convention, White Plains
residents Jonathan Appel and Tim James were elected to posts as
Treasurer and Vice Chair, respectively, of the County Democratic
Committee.

These positions give White Plains three powerful voices on
the County Dems Executive Committee – the third member being current
White Plains Democratic Chair Adam Bradley, soon to be presumably elected to a seat in the NY State Assembly.

Appel, an accountant, and James, a lawyer, were unanimously elected by the delegates representing Democrats in the 6 cities and 19 towns of Westchester.

George Latimer, newly elected Chairman of the County Party praised the re-election of Appel, and the election of James:

“Jonathan and Tim are two bright stars among our team members. They bring specific expertise – and energy – to their responsibilties. Certainly, White Plains will be well-represented by them in party circles”.

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey with E. Hezi of The Yonkers Tribune. UPDATED 11:00 A.M. October 10, 2002: White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino, the Mayor responsible for attracting over $1 Billion of development to White Plains in the last two years will participate in gathering of eagles and angels Wednesday at the first Westchester Mayors Business Summit.

The conference to be held in Yonkers will bring together five of Westchester’s key Mayors with the finance community of Westchester County to discuss how more development can be stimulated in Westchester’s cities.

“It is our mission,” according to Anthony Fardella, President of Westchester Venture Group, major sponsor of the conference, “to create a forum whereby entities who seek financing and the financing community can meet.”

Dee Del Bello, President of the Westchester County Business Journal, another even sponsor, added, “It is the hope of all the participants that the Westchester Mayors Business Summit becomes an annual event.”

Aims at Developing Westchester’s Cities: Spencer

Mayor John Spencer of Yonkers said, “This is an amazing opportunity for the mayors of this county to come together and work toward the goal we all hold very much in common. That is, bringing more and more community-friendly, professional and intelligent economic development to our cities and involving highly trained, skilled men and women in the process.”

Westchester’s Big Five

The Summit will be hosted by Mayor John Spencer and the City of Yonkers and will be sponsored by Morgan Stanley. Participating in the panel of distinguished executives will be Mayor Delfino, New Rochelle Mayor Timothy Idoni, Mount Vernon Mayor Ernest Davis, and Rye Mayor Steven Otis.

The program is scheduled to begin with an informal “Networking Breakfast” beginning at 7:30 A.M., according to Vincent Bocchimuzzo, a spokesman for the Westchester Venture Group.

Mayors Seeking Investment Meet the Investors

Bocchimuzzo reports that the format of the Mayors Business Summit will consist of panel discussion between Mayor Delfino, Mayor Iodoni, Mayor Spencer, Mayor Otis and Mayor Davis and a second panel of executives from venture capital firms.

Venturer firms appearing on the investor side of the panel are Green Hills Ventures LLC, Morgan Stanley, New York Community Investment Corporation, Enhanced Capital Partners, Signature Bank and Venture Partners. The panels will be moderated by Joseph DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Signature Bank.

Show and Tell.

At the beginning of the event, Bocchimuzzo said, each Mayor will speak about his city and then the panel of venture capitalist representatives will respond. They will make comments and “engage the mayors,” followed by a question and answer period from the floor.

Westchester’s Money Market.

Bocchimuzzo says the event has over 100 persons scheduled to attend at this point, and his hope is that entrepreneurs with business plans, and an audience of what he describes as “a cross-section of the Westchester business community” will, in turn engage the Mayors and venturists in discussion to mutual benefit.

“The organizers see this,” Bocchimuzzo said, “as a way to bring a new source of finance to the people of the cities, to entrepreneurs with new business initiatives.”

Asked if representatives from Westchester County government would be on the panel, Bocchimuzzo, said “No,” that the plan for this meeting was to provide a forum for just the Mayors and 30 venture capitalist groups. He said, the organizers of the event, Westchester Venture Group, the Westchester County Association, and the Westchester County Business Journal, the organizations which “conceptualized this” hoped to organize a similar event involving the county next year.

The Money is Out There.

Asked if the discussion was going to address the apparent weak economy in the county, Bocchimuzzo told WPCNR that “this was a perception that venture capitalists were not ready to invest, and not the reality, because we are not seeing enough of venture capitalist firms.”
He said the purpose of the Summit was “to give them (venture capitalists) visibility, that their doors are open for business.”

He said this was going to become an annual event, and at the end of the morning, the Mayors would draw out of a hat to see which city would host the Summit next year.

The Summit, slated to begin at 8:30 A.M, Wednesday, October 16 at Ridge Hill Plaza, 1 Ridge Hill Drive, in Yonkers, New York, just off Exit 6A North of the New York State Thruway. You exit onto Stew Leonard Drive, and make a right at the Guard Booth.

For information on how you can register contact 914-699-2020, Extension 118.

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WPCNR AFTERNOON TRIB & POST. By John F. Bailey. October 9, 2002: Mayor Joseph Delfino announced today a new program in conjunction with Westchester Community College, the Westchester Library System, the White Plains Public Library providing 12-week courses in English for non-English speaking adult residents over 18, who speak little or no English, to be given mornings, afternoons and evenings all year round at the White Plains Public Library.

ESL FOR DAILY LIVING ANNOUNCED: The architects of the new ESL for Daily Living program just launched at the White Plains Public Library at their news conference Wednesday morning: L to R, Walter Anderson, of the National Center for Family Literacy, Isabel Villar of Centro Hispano, Sandra Miranda of the White Plains Public Library, MayorJoseph Delfino, Dr. Maurice Freedman, Director of the Westchester Library System, and Dr. Joseph Hankin, President of Westchester Community College. There is still room in the first series of courses and adults over 18 must register in person at the library Thursday at 3:30 PM.
Photo by WPCNR News

Registration for the current session in the mornings and afternoons is scheduled for Thursday afternoon 3:30 PM at the Library. The cost per student is $40 for books and course materials, with instructors of the course being provided by Westchester Community College.

Mayor’s Initiative.

The program was conceived by Mayor Delfino and suggested to the Library and Westchester Community College that worked together to design the program.

Sandra Miranda, Director of the White Plains Public Library, said that the current course underway has received an “overwhelming response,” and that there is still room for students in the morning and afternoon courses. She said that 85% of the persons currently enrolled are from White Plains.

Limited Room in present course. New course begins in Janurary.

Beginning in January a new course will start up. The instruction will be primarily for Spanish-speaking persons wishing to learn English, but all persons who speak a different language than English who want to learn English, technological English, and English skills for employment and daily living are eligible and will be accepted into the program, space permitting.

Currently the program is designed to handle 100 to 125 students per 12 week course. The present course is filled in the evenings, however there are some slots open in the mornings and afternoons and those will be filled on a first-come first served basis beginning at 3:30 today at the White Plains Public Library. For more information, call the White Plains Public Library at 422-1400, or Westchester Community College.

Program funded by Westchester Community College.

The cost of the program was not available at the news conference, but it is being underwritten by Westchester Community College, and they are reimbursed by grant money from New York State.
Mayor Inspired to Create the Program by his father.

Mayor Joseph Delfino, introducing the course, said “the diversity in our city is important to us, and this program will bring us together.”

The Mayor pondered on the questions residents who speak no English raised in his head: “How do you communicate? How do you relate to your children and with homework? How do you motivate them?”

The Mayor said the new courses are designed to help make them a bigger part of this community. He cited the example of his own father:

“There’s the example of my own Dad. He was talking to me, he said “how tough it was when I came here. I couldn’t do anything.”

The Mayor said his father got a job at New York Hospital in a custodial position where he had to do a certain task each day. He said he told his father “It wasn’t that you couldn’t do anything. It’s just that you couldn’t read, and he said to me, what do you know?”

“In my heart,” the Mayor said, “I know that had he had the ability to learn and speak English he would have done more.”

Walter Anderson – a living example.

Walter Anderson, CEO of Parade Magazine, a White Plains High School student and White Plains resident, and a member of the Board of Advisors of the National Center for Family Literacy spoke next in support of the program.
Mr. Anderson said that he grew up in Mount Vernon, the son of an alcoholic father who beat him when he caught him reading. On the other hand his mother encourgaged him to read. He said there was an “island” in the midst of the turbulence and anger and violence, and it was the Mount Vernon Library, which had “wonderful librarians.”

“I would do anything I could, and I was able to imagine myself out of a slum (through reading),” he said.

He praised a teacher of his, a Ms. Williams, who encouraged him: “Every child needs somebody to be crazy about them.”

It was her encouragement guiding him to parocial school, Windward School in White Plains, and White Plains High School, and eventually the Marine Corps and then a degree from Westchester Community College which lead to his success today.

“I read myself out of poverity long before I worked myself out of poverity,” Anderson said. “Destiny is not something you wait for. Destiny is a choice.”

“We are going to make a Difference.

Mayor Delfino in closing the official side of the news conference, and thanking the organizations who created the program, looked Heavenward and said, emotionally, “Dad, I found a way. I tried. I found some people to help. We are going to make a difference.”

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. October 8, 2002: UPDATED 8:20 A.M. E.D.T. CORRECTION October 9, 2002 The Common Council all but approved “God’s Miracle” last night, voting unanimously to refer out to departments the plans for the building of a 1,200 seat new sanctuary building adjacent to Calvary Baptist Church fronting West Post Road to the raucous approval of about 25 Calvary Church members attending the big night. Such was the congratulatory handshakes going around, that it appeared to this reporter the proposal was approved, however, there were several items needed to be resolved, and the matter was actually adjourned to November 4. WPCNR regrets the error.

“GOD’S MIRACLE” ALL BUT APPROVED BY COMMON COUNCIL: Councilpersons discuss the new sanctuary building before voting on the proposal last night. L to R, Robert Greer, Benjamin Boykin, Gary Warshauer (architect), Rita Malmud, William King and Reverend Lester Cousin, Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church whose personal vision for the congregation sees the sanctuary as being a center for use by the entire community, discusses the 1,200-seat ediface to rise on West Post Road.
Photo by WPCNR

In other action, the Council approved the leasing of 2 acres of the former Dellwood Dairy property off Lake Street and 18 acres of Silver Lake, acquiring White Plains first lake front park.

Meanwhile, across town in the Michaelian Building, the County Legislature voted 17-0 to rent the park property to the city for $1 a year for 30 years, and 12-5, respectively to approve purchase of the Pettinichi property and the construction of affordable housing on the site.

Mayor Joseph Delfino called it a happy day in White Plains history, and thanked the County, the council, the city staff, and the Woodcrest Heights Association for working together to make the park acquisition possible.

In other council action:
The Council kept the public hearing on overnight paid parking on Old Mamaroneck Road open until the November 4 Council meeting, after hearing 6 citizens speak against it and 5 citizens speak for the ordinance. Susan Habel, Commissioner of Planning, Albert Maroni (Executive Director of the Parking Authority), and Joseph Nicoletti, Commissioner of Public Works, spoke out firmly against the proposed one-year trial of overnight paid parking. The Battle Hill Neighborhood Association and the Highlands Civic Association announced their strong opposition towards the plan.

CHEERS ON SOUTH BROADWAY: Coughlin’s American Bistro was approved last night. Here is how the exterior of the new restaurant and pub will look on South Broadway. The new owner is seriously renovating the former Oliver’s into an upscale sophisticated pub and lounge with gourmet food with a renowned New York chef. The new establishment will have a fireplace and lounge on the main floor, a fireplace on the interior balcony, and richer luxurious atmosphere. He plans a Thanksgiving weekend opening, promising entertainment and hopes to attract business and social events.
Photo by WPCNR

The council inacted an ordinance approving continuing salary and benefits to city employees called to active duty by the armed forces. Jim Donohoe, President of White Plains Professional Firefighters praised the Common Council, and told the story of how a member of the WPFD, currently serving as a rifle instructor with the National Guard at Fort Bragg was being helped by this measure.

The council accepted over $171,000 in grants for Youth Bureau programs that were secured by the efforts of Frank Williams, Director of the Youth Bureau.

At the outset of the Council meeting, the Mayor recognized a group of employees celebrating their 25 and 30 years of service with the city.

The hearing on the transferral of development rights within the central business district was postponed until November, pending the rewriting of the ordinance. Details were not immediately available as to what changes were contemplated with the new ordinance.