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Sunrise Edition, By John F. Bailey, Filed 3/04/02,UPDATED 1:00 PM: Councilman William King conducted the second of his King Klean-Up sweeps Saturday morning on Westchester County-owned property on Silver Lake in White Plains.

KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED ON PATROL, arrives at Silver Lake Saturday morning for the first of his King Klean-Ups.
Photo by WPCNR

King and three volunteers cleared one-third of a mile of shoreline of bottles, refuse, and assorted litter. The woodsy slope up to fencing of the Pettinichi property on Woodcrest Heights The Councilman’s foray into county “open space,” revealed a shocking neglect of forestry practices.

Sunrise Action

The King Klean-Up began at 7:15 AM, with the arrival of Kevin McGrath of the White Plains Conservation Board and his son, Dan who were shortly joined by Councilman William King, and another volunteer from the White Plains Middle School, Geoff DeSoye.

DONNING WADERS,FAVORED BY TROUT FISHERMEN, the Councilman, McGrath and Desoye waded into the freezing water armed with rubber gloves and plastic litter pales, fishing for litter.
Photo by WPCNR

One-third of White Plains side of Silver Lake cleared.

After an hour and a half, the vigilante cleaners has cleared about one-third of a mile of deceptively benign-looking shoreline of beer bottles, brake shoes, lead piping, baby carriages and assorted refuse littering the banks and waterbed of Silver Lake.

ISN’T THAT COUNCILMAN BILL KING? Yes, it is, removing human pollution from Silver Lake Saturday morning.
Photo by WPCNR

Sixteen bags of trash were bagged and ready for Department of Public Works pick-up Monday. King said he would notify City Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti of the trash heap for collection.

King Officially Notifies Nicoletti

Mr. King advised the Department of Public Works Monday morning, and released this statement:

“There are two piles of collected trash to pick up, one by the trash receptacle by the parking lot, the other in a little bit, beyond the gate to the Dellwood property, as pictured in the attached website article. Could your 2 depts. have these piles picked up? Thanks.

King also said in his statement:

“There will be more piles showing up in the near future at Dellwood and along the Bronx River Parkway. I keep getting adults saying to me that they would like to help and want to know when the next cleanup will be and would I advertise it (I am telling people to keep April 6 open = when I will be with the girl scouts and maybe boy scouts in the BRPR and possibly also back at Silver Lake and points between).”

“I think people are sick and tired of seeing our parkland and alongside our streets just get more and more littered and appearing to be uncared for.”

Hopes for the future.

King told WPCNR Monday,

“I could have done it all day. I actually have fun doing litter cleanups. My other volunteers usually have to leave after only a few hours. I am telling people about April 6.

Perhaps we can have a couple of armies out there and finish what we started. I want Dellwood to be a de facto park by this Spring. I want to cut back brush and briar patches along the lakefront as well so people can actually put their canoes in and sit on the banks.”

COUNCILMAN KING AND GEOFF DESOYE STANDING WITH SIXTEEN BAGS OF LITTER, they and Kevin McGrath, and Dan McGrath removed from county-owned land for a third of a mile along the shoreline of Silver Lake Saturday. The White Plains Department of Public Works was notified Monday to pick up the trash.
Photo by WPCNR

County, City Collaboration?

King said he had walked the property with county officials William Ryan and George Latimer with Concerned Citizens for Open Space representatives two years, and was enthusiastic about the county-owned land then as possible park for the City of White Plains.

However, he was concerned about the litter dumped there over decades. He reports he has cleaned up himself close to a dozen times since then.He decided to do something about this more dramatically last week.

After a personal clean-up attempt last Wednesday, he enlisted the McGraths for Saturday’s first “King Klean-Up.” A second is planned April 6 for the Bronx River Parkway at 10 AM, enlisting the aid of local Girl and Boy Scout Troops.

An archeological dump

The amount of junk and outright garbage dumped on this property, obviously there for a long time is immediately apparent on just a short walk into the property. The build-up indicates, to this reporter, and to Mr. King the problem with this parcel of passive open space: it has become a dumping ground, and, sadly, a home to the homeless.

Where to spend the night in White Plains at bargain rates.

Two persons were encountered by this reporter, prior to the Councilman’s arrival, obviously rising Saturday morning form spending a night lakeside. One dumped a tattered blanket on his way out of the property. King said he had seen the two in the area Wednesday morning when he stopped by to retrieve litter from the lake for the first time, and felt they had been spending the night in the area for sometime.

WPCNR encountered these two men when we arrived prior to the Councilman’s arrival. We thought they were there to help with the councilman’s clean-up, but they appeared to not have any particular business in the area and did not speak English.

EVIDENCE OF HOMELESS SQUATTING in Silver Lake: a towell soapy and recently used hanging out to dry Saturday morning.
Photo by WPCNR

After the two men had proceeded out of the lake area, last seen walking towards West Harrison, passing McGrath and King and their young helpers as they were preparing to enter the waters, WPCNR inspected the area where we had encountered the two the first time.

There was evidence of a campfire, and a little further down the shoreline a very fresh towel smelling of soap. McGrath reported to CNR on his hikes in the Silver Lake property, he has encountered what he calls “stashes” of belongings, in tarps, that were stowed by persons he believes are using the Silver Lake county property as a base of operations, and a place to spend nights.

OH GIVE ME A HOME BY SILVER LAKE WHERE NOBODY ROAMS: Remnants of a campfire on Silver Lake, observed by WPCNR, after two persons were seen leaving the area at 6:45 AM.
Photo by WPCNR

The problem with passive open space.

It is lovely to look at, but not so lovely to walk through. The results of King’s Klean-Up indicate Westchester County does virtually nothing in the way of forestry to keep the Silver Lake property (which it owns) maintained.

The litter consisted of beer bottles, wine bottles, junk of all kinds, from baby carriages to discarded furniture. It reminds one of empty lots in the Bronx. Huge trunks of rotting trees, there for years, judging by the mushroom growth on them, are encountered. King said the county owns this White Plains land but obviously has little interest in maintaining it for public use.

City reported in negotiations with county to lease the West Bank of Silver Lake property

The Councilman said that the City of White Plains is negotiating with Westchester County to lease the property. However, the county, King said, because of its budget problems, is demanding more than the city feels is fair. King said city leasing of the property would include the ability to build facilities on the property to make it more recreational, and cleaner.

King did not elaborate on what the city had planned, but said the Mayor’s office was dickering with the County. Another city source confirmed that leasing of the West Bank of Silver Lake was being entertained by the City.

The City Recreation Master Plan calls for a trailway along the East Branch of the Mamaroneck River which flows out of Silver Lake, and advocates removal of the litter found in the Mamaroneck River bed flowing on the East boundary of Delfino Park.

Councilman King began Saturday taking clean-up matters, at least into his own hands.

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White Plains Variety by John F. Bailey, Filed 2/28/02, 5 PM EST:The Fort Hill Players are rehearsing nightly for three and four hours at a clip, “putting the Ritz” on the debut of their second original musical revue, Harmony on the Sea: An Original Musical with Songs You Know, premiering March 8.
The extravaganza sets sail next Friday at Rochambeau School Auditorium at 8 PM for a three week run.The stage of the Rochambeau Auditorium will be transformed into a giant stern of the SS Harmony complete with ship’s funnel and promenade deck.

ORIGINAL DANCE, DIALOGUE SHOWCASE YOUR FAVORITE HITS OF ALL TIME: Director Joan Charischak (standing by piano), puts Fort Hill Dancers through their synchronized routine (choreographed by Sergei Nabatov) to “Heat wave,” one of thirty songs, integrated seamlessly into an original romantic comedy script about couples meeting on a cruise that launches Friday night, March 8. Tickets at $14, $12 for Seniors and Students, $6 for children under 12 are available by telephone, 421-0008 for pick-up at the theatre door for Friday performances on March 8, 15, and 22nd at 8 PM and Saturday performances on March 9, 16, and 23rd at 2 PM and 8 PM.
Photo by WPCNR

WPCNR interviewed Joan Charischak, who is directing her second production of this type for Fort Hill. Harmony builds on the hit format she directed in 2001, Musical Memories which she and the Fort Hill Players introduced and staged last year. MM proved very popular with the public. Memories was the first Fort Hills original musical prototype, blending the audience pleaser of a musical review of hit music standards of the past into a new libretto, which this reviewer really enjoyed.

DIRECTOR CHARISCHAK COACHES THE CAST: After a nonstop four-hour rehearsal Tuesday evening, Director Joan Charischak makes points to the players about the pulling together of the elements of the new musical romantic comedy replete with new jokes!
Photo by WPCNR

“It went over beautifully, it was a lot of fun, we had a fabulous turnout (cast).We had a sizable cast, as we do this year.” Ms. Charischak reported to CNR Tuesday evening, relaxing finally into one of the wide, nostalgic wood Rochambeau Auditorium seats.

She was eager to talk about the show, though losing her voice from four hours of instructing, blocking, critiquing, coaching, cajoling and stroking the talent through a standard four-hour nonstop rehearsal.

Lessons of Creating Original Theatre

Charischak noted lessons learned from Musical Memories,“We have about thirty people in the cast, and we wrote that musical (Musical Memories)as well. This year’s musical (Harmony on the Sea)has a lot more plot line to it. We certainly learned (from Musical Memories) to start earlier in the year. We learned we wanted to have more of a plot line than we did last year, though the plotline was quite successful. This one is much more developed. We had sort of fun writing a comedy as well. We also trimmed down the number of songs.”

Seven Months in Making.

Ms. C. described the creative process to us. She said the Fort Hill Players had been working on Harmony since last summer:

“We started with concept, you know, what did we want to do. We had about six or seven scenarios. We met with about eight or nine people,” as she related the show’s genesis. “From that we decided which scenario we liked the best. What we wanted to do with it. So we developed this, it’s sort of a ‘Love Boat’ theme.”

The original book for Harmony was developed by Anita Abrams, Jim Brownold, (who did “quite a bit of the writing, he’s quite good at that,” Charischak said), Ms. Charischak, Denise Dunn, Anthony Fabrizio, Robert Kahn, Dana Searcy, Mark Snyder, and Robyn Washington. Ms. Charischak said the libretto was developed before the songs, all standards, were weaved into the script.

BIG FINISH NOW: Director Charischak coaches a songstress to deliver the message at the close of a big number. Harmony will feature an in-house 3-piece orchestra through the run of the show, rendering 32 memorable standards including, But Not For Me, ‘S Wonderful, Whatever Lola Wants, Anything You Can Do, On a Wonderful Day Like Today, Day by Day, Girl From Ipanema many with a tropical theme.
Photo by WPCNR

Jennifer Ware, Musical Director, assisted the writers in picking the songs. Anita Abrams, Ms. Charischak, Anthony Fabrizio, Robert Kahn, Dana Searcy, Mark Snyder, who also is the show’s indefatigable piano man, and Robyn Washington selected the favorites theatergoers will be hearing next Friday evening.

Storyline—A little Cole Porter and a little ABC

Harmony on the Sea depicts in typical Cole Porter style (Anything Goes) the voyage of the SS Harmony on a voyage from New York to Rio de Janeiro. The audience meets a variety of passengers whose stories of romance, old loves and new, unfold, “love boat style” from song to song. Ms. Charischak reports the script is more detailed and intricate than Musical Memories complete with original jokes.

Cast Notes

“It’s a non-lead show, a collaboration really. There are four storylines that actually go through the show,” Charischak said. “So we have eight people who mostly have dialogue, and there is a single person who is only an actor, who plays a stowaway.”

On the Fort Hill Players website, www.forthillplayers.com, the publicity for the show, handled by Robert Kahn, invites theatre goers to “meet the inseparable lovebirds, the long-married couple about to separate!” The advance notices promise an “amusing cruise filled with discovery, conflict and resolution.” The site also provides the complete cast.

Musicals, Dramas Equally Attractive to Actors.

Charischak said thirty-two actors and actresses, including high school students appear in Harmony. “A large portion” hails from White Plains, she said and the cast includes talent from all over Westchester County, representing Yonkers, Mahopac, Peekskill, Harrison, Briarcliff Manor, and New Rochelle. They have been rehearsing since January 1, three times a week, about three hours a night.

We asked if there was more interest in performing in musicals, rather than dramas, and Charischak said, no: “Actually, I think it’s pretty well mixed. When we did the auditions for Rumors, (produced last fall), we had 72 people come to the audition. So that was a wonderful turnout. We had an absolutely wonderful turnout for this show, too. We had 50 people audition for this show.”

State-of-the-Show

Interviewed nine days before the show we asked the Director what process of production the show was in. She did not hesitate: “It’s going quite well actually. We’ve got a ways to go, but it will come together. It’s a good cast. They’re very dedicated.”

The hardest thing to get right?

“Getting all the separate pieces together,” Charischak said. “You’ve got a choreographer (Sergei Nabatov) rehearsing dancers. You have a Musical Director (Jennifer Ware) rehearsing singers. A stage director directing people entering and exiting and pulling that all together is the tough part. We started doing that two weeks ago (February 12.)”

INDEFATIGABLE PIANO MAN MARK SNYDER THROWS A MUSICAL CUE: Mr. Snyder is the swinging septuagenarian piano man who never takes a break, will direct a four-man pit orchestra consisting of himself on the ivories, bassist and two percussion sidemen, laying down the familiar musical “beds” for the classics from Getz to Porter that you’ll see and hear in Harmony on the Sea. Costumes are by Terry Hanson; Producer is Kathleen Haverlak, Robyn Washington handles Props, and Mike Lynch is the Sound Technician.
Photo by WPCNR

We asked what performers or acts were more difficult to direct, dancers or singers:

“They’re both tough. Dancers want to perform as well as singers want to sing. So it’s tough on both parts.”

Turning Rochambeau into the SS Harmony

On opening night, the Rochambeau Theatre will be transformed into a cruise ship, according to Ms. Charischak: “Anthony Fabrizio is doing the set, and he is creating a forced perspective of the stern of the boat. We have a huge smokestack in the center. It’s going to be very nice. We’re using some lighting changes, and some appropriate dimming and mood-setting.”

Tickets May be Ordered by Telephone or Website or Mail.

Tickets to Harmony on the Sea: An Original Musical with Songs You Know may be ordered through the Fort Hill Players website, (www.forthillplayers.com), or by telephoning 421-0008, reserving for pick-up at the door. Show times are Fridays, March 8, 15 and 22nd with the curtain going up at 8 PM; Saturdays March 9, 16 and 23rd with two performances at 2 PM and 8 PM.

Tickets are $14 for Regular Admission, $12 for Seniors and students, $6 for Children under 12. There is a Dinner Theater Combination Ticket at $42. Performances are presented at the Rochambeau School Auditorium, 228 Fisher Avenue White Plains.

Sixty Four Years of Productions

The Fort Hill Players, she reminded us is celebrating its sixty-fourth year: “We are the longest running community theatre in Westchester County.”

Charischak herself developed her directorial skills she says from her stage experience in college and working in non-equity summer stock productions. She also has directed Junior High School productions for ten years.

A Showcase for Talent

Typical of the persons who perform in Fort Hill Players is Patti Rome, of Silver Lake, who creates the role of Janet Krauss in Harmony.

Ms. Rome sings You Don’t Bring Me Flowers in the show. Ms. Rome can also be heard and seen in the ensemble numbers, ‘S Wonderful, But Not for Me, and the opening number, What do we do, We Sail.

Patti reports she learned to sing by taking adult education classes some eight years ago at SUNY Purchase. She also took drama classes there, too, to fulfill her love affair with the theater.

She told WPCNR the role she landed in Harmony fits in with her ambition to create a cabaret act, which she hopes to develop in the next year. She enjoys singing torch songs, and the Harmony vehicle gives her the opportunity to do just that.

“I’m just one of these people who love the theatre but have not turned professional yet,” Ms. Rome says.

She is not alone. As Ms. Charischak puts it,

“People like to do musical revues. People like to get out there and sing. We’ve given a lot of people who are of all various levels of talent the opportunity to sing. And they love that.”

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High Noon News, By John F. Bailey, Filed 2/26/02, 1:00 PM EST:The Mayor’s Office, at request of the Common Council has released the 10-page legal opinion of Arnold & Porter, the Council’s environmental law firm, on the effect of zoning questions involving the New York Presbyterian Hospital proposal to build a biomedical/cancer research facility on its central White Plains campus off Bryant Avenue. The ramifications are significant.
Michael Gerrard, of Arnold & Porter, in his advisory, (written with Nelson D. Johnson), significantly writes that “medical research” is a permitted use as part of the Special Permit the hospital now enjoys.

He also advised the council, that under a New York State Legislature law, the city has no right of eminent domain on the hospital property, contrary to legal opinons of opponents of the proposal, who apparently are unaware of this law.

In further analysis, Gerrard’s opinion indicates that the council could refuse a request for a change in zoning, with more legal certainty that if they were to deny a Special Permit use.

The opinion is written by a lawyer (Gerrard) who drafted the New York State SEQRA standards under which the hospital proposal is being reviewed, and is in direct contrast to legal advice offered to the council by opponents of the proposal.

In a third finding in Mr. Gerrard’s memo, he and Mr. Johnson write that the city, indeed, does have the right to rezone the property.

WPCNR will provide more details.

The document in its entirety, may be reviewed on the City of White Plains Website. To reach the city website, click on “White Plains Links,” go to Government and click on the City of White Plains Website, and go to the “New York Hospital–New” headline.