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

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WPCNR NOON NEWS. Special from the Mayor’s Office. June 24, 2002. 11:45 A.M. E.D.T.: The Mayor’s Office is organizing a Common Council tour of the Entergy Nuclear Station at Indian Point, WPCNR has learned. Actual date of the visit has not been determined, however the trip is a “do.” Arrangements for media to accompany the Common Council at the fact-finding trip will be available.

The trip to the Indian Point facility is a serious Council effort to make an informed decision on whether or not to consider a resolution calling for the decommissioning of the plant.

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WPCNR Environmental Enquirer. By John F. Bailey. June 24, 2002. 9:00 A.M. E.D.T. Concerned Citizens for Open Space, the grassroots White Plains association of environmentally sensitive citizens is planning on running a full page ad or ads in local media to demonstrate community opposition to the New York Presbyterian Hospital project.
The advertisement, WPCNR has learned, has been seeking signatures of White Plains residents, the names of whom will be printed in an advertisement, urging the Common Council to vote down the New York Presbyterian Hospital biomedical/proton accelerator project.

Citizens being approached are neighborhood association activists and concerned residents and names readily recognizable by the Common Council members.

The substance of the advertisement calls on the Council to reject the hospital project on the grounds that it violates residential zoning now in place on the property, desecrates open space that could be used for a park, and that the project itself will create a negative impact on the adjacent neighborhoods. No organization other than Concerned Citizens for Open Space is mentioned in the ad, as far as our information indicates.

WPCNR Poll on Issue Sluggish.

In a recently concluded WPCNR Poll which ran for two weeks, only 50 readers of WPCNR expressed opinions on this issue, which is surprising because WPCNR has a documented Webtrends readership of 2,000 daily visitors a month, and 10,000 page views.

73% of Poll-Respondents Want Project.

In that poll of 50 voters, 9 said the project should be rejected outright, 32 said the project whould be approved on an interior site away from Bryant Avenue, and 9 said the project should be approved as proposed on the Bryant Avenue side. This is less interest than was expressed by our readers in the poll we conducted during the Louis Cappelli City Center Approval Process(64).

Most Recent WPCNR Poll Consistent with Earlier NYPH Poll

In an earlier WPCNR poll on the very same issue, when 56 votes were cast, 57%, 32 persons said the biomedical/proton accelerator complex should be denied on Bryant Avenue, but moved to an interior location.

Twenty-two votes, or 39%, said the biotech center should be approved as proposed on Bryant Avenue. In both polls, the numbers asking for the project to be denied altogether were very low: 18% and 4%.

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WPCNR Friday Night Final. By John F. Bailey. June 22, 2002. 1:00 AM. EDT.UPDATED MONDAY, June 24, 2002 1:30 PM EDTThe Common Council will meet Monday evening at 7:00 PM at City Hall to vote on whether or not to accept the New York Presbyterian Hospital Final Environmental Impact Statement. The decision must be made Monday evening, in order tomeet the deadline of June 27 for either acceptance or rejection of the FEIS as “complete.” The Council response has to be written by the Planning Department and submitted to state authorities by Thursday.

“PLEASE REVIEW THIS. THERE WILL BE A POP QUIZ ON MONDAY”: Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel hands out New York Presbyterian Hospital “Final Answers” to Councilpersons’ questions on research, tree loss, ancillary activities, and concerns raised during the Gerrard Talks (with Arnold & Porter environmental legal counsel, Michael Gerrard), last Wednesay evening. The new document is available at the White Plains Public Library and the Planning Department.
Photo by WPCNR

Mayor Joseph Delfino told WPCNR Friday that Thursday evening’s session of the Gerrard Talks V, consisted of much discussion of distribution of employees expected at the research facility, their hours, and comings and goings on the site. WPCNR has been advised by City Hall that the Council must decide by Monday whether or not to accept the FEIS. Four votes are required for acceptance.

A city hall source advised WPCNR that a likely date for a Council decision on the hospital’s biomedical research and proton accelerator cancer treatment center for its White Plains campus is the Common Council meeting of August 5.

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King Komments. By Councilman William King. June 21, 2002:Parking will be allowed between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and will be free, as it is now. The mayor was saying he wouldn’t go down and move his car if it was parked on the street overnight and the weekly street cleaning was between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. when Glen Hockley first thought that’s when maybe the best time to do it was. I straightened Glen out on this at the meeting – the best time is later in the morning, say between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. which I have seen in NYC.

OLD MAMARONECK ROAD SOUTH TO BRYANT: Overnight metered parking is proposed by Mr. King for the right side of this White Plains throroughfare in a heavy apartment-ed area.
Photo by WPCNR

Overnight on street local area resident parking permits is not being given up on, certainly not because the permits themselves are considered unwieldy. What is unwieldy is bureaucratic unwieldiness in that such permits actually require a change in state law by Albany for local streets that a municipality wants to do it on.

Steve Otis, mayor of Rye and Suzi Oppenheimer’s counsel, says it takes a year or more, if then, for the State to pass such legislation for a specific municipality. The village of Mamaroneck currently has a bill pending in the legislature.

I have indicated to the city that we should get a home rule message going that would allow us to have resident permits for overnight onstreet parking in the future … but this could take years and we shouldn’t wait to do what we can.

Young mothers with kids don’t like having to walk back at night from remote parking lots to their buildings, not just assigned spaces.

There is currently already metered parking during the day, 6 days a week, on Old Mamaroneck from Shapham Place north to Mamaroneck Ave.

OLD MAMARONECK ROAD NORTH TO MAMARONECK AVENUE: Councilman King also recommends overnight metered parking on Old Mamaroneck up to Mamaroneck Avenue. (Opposite view of earlier picture)
Photo by WPCNR

Names Streets

Streets which are currently free that would have meters added (single space meters or multi-space meters), on the east side of Old Mamaroneck Rd., from Shapham Place south to in front of 101 Old Mamaroneck, the north side of Bryant Ave., between Nosband Ave. and Old Mamaroneck, the east side of Overlook Road, in front of 2 Overlook, the west side of Nosband Ave., from Bryant Ave. to Shapham Place, and the north side of Shapham, from Nosband to Old Mamaroneck.

Al Moroni’s and others’ thinking is that, with meters there for the overnight parking, it would be too confusing not to also charge during the day, so go ahead and charge during the day, except between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. where it is free everywhere. The leaders of the two coops I have talked to said that was ok, that they were willing to compromise and so, so am I.
William King
White Plains Common Councilman

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WPCNR Afternoon Tribune: Planning Board Round-up By Shivaun Dipshan. Wednesday, June 19, 2002. 3:00 PM E.D.T.: The Planning Board’s June monthly meeting revealed that plans for the Jillian Estate Subdivision have been put on hold due to the expiration of the builder’s contract with the landowner.

A lawsuit is pending between the applicant and the owner. The applicant is suing the owner because he wants a renewal of the option agreement, which expired in June. Mary Cavallero, Chairperson, said that the board will “adjourn pending advice from the law department.”

The Jillian Estates is a proposal for 14 new homes that would be placed parallel to Sunset Drive. The proposed location is an environmentally sensitive area. Neighbors are saying this construction would change the character of the neighborhood. The developer, Leslie Cohen estimated that the number of tress that would be cut down is 168.

Eric Press, Co-President of Woodcrest Heights Homeowners’ Association has said that the project would create extra traffic and noise.

Worried About Appearance

Seth M. Mandelbaum, the representative for Nextel Communications presented the revised design for the wireless facility they wish to install at White Plains Mall based on the comments of the Planning Board’s last meeting.

Their new design is 8ft lower and sleeker than the original. The actual structure of the design is 10 ft, adding to the height of the penthouse. There would be 12 antennas that would be 4 ft. high by 6 in. wide.

Carlos Roskell, Planning Board Member, voiced his concern about adding more height on the penthouse.

“We did lower the facility as much as possible,” Mandelbaum said.

J. Russell Imlay voiced his concern about the visibility of the facility.

“We want the antennas to look like they belong there…It’s gotta look right,” he said.

Residents, Jim McMahon and Erica Schornstadt, who live in the area voiced their concern about the health threat, esthetic effect, and the over development in their neighborhood.

Cavallero explained that the reason the board was so concerned with this facility as opposed to others was because people can see it from their windows.

The board then asked the representative to come back on July 16th with an architectural design that would be more appeasing to the eye.

Improvements Need to Be Made on Jaffee Subdivision

The Jaffee Subdivision planned at 89 Woodcrest Avenue, also in Woodcrest Heights, was told that treatments of the driveway would need to be examined before the board made any decisions.

“We will need to see a profile of the driveway to make improvements on it, said Susan Habel, Commissioner of Planning. She asked for cut and fill estimates, cross-sections on all 3 properties and driveway profiles.

Habel also said that they would have to do a survey of the adjacent properties to make sure they wouldn’t be affected by blasting.

Further discussion of the subdivision is set for their July 16th meeting.

Plans to visit Armogida Site

The Armogida site, which is planned at 57 Hall Avenue, is an environmentally sensitive site. Residents who live near the planned site complained about serious problems of erosion and sewage. They also said there were not enough parking spaces there already and if they were to improve the street it would only make it worse.

Cavallero, recommended that the board “schedule a time to look at it.” The visit is scheduled for June 29th at 8:30 a.m. and is not open to the public.

Changes Need to Be Made on St. Agnes Antenna Sitings.

Both Omnipoint Communications and Verizon Wireless are requesting permits for antenna facilities to be set up at St. Agnes Hospital, which is located on North Street.

Omnipoint needs these antennas to supply reliable coverage around the surrounding area. They already have existing antennas on the building and are requesting the permission to change them.

According to the representatives, the change will be very minimal, the framework and the zoning divisibility will not change.

The antennas for Verizon are planned for the lower roof of the main building of the hospital.

Cavallero said that she was open to co-location because it “cuts down on extra poles going up.”

She said the board is likely to approve these facilities next month unless there are any objections from the Department of Public Works.