WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER 3,826,065 VISITS IN ONE YEAR—73,578 VISITS A WEEK BY 1,111,506 VISITORS

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WPCNR Common Council Chronicle-Examiner. Special to WPCNR. June 18, 2002: The Common Council will meet in two work sessions this week. On Wednesday evening at 6, they will consider the issue of introducing overnight street parking in the Highlands neighborhood.

Thursday evening at 5:30 PM, the New York Presbyterian Hospital Gerrard Talks continue, with the Council receiving more advice and counsel from their environmental lawyer, Michael B. Gerrard, of Arnold & Porter, on their impending acceptance of the Final Environmental Impact Statement on the hospital’s Biomedical-Proton Accelerator proposal for the Hospital property.

Tonight the Planning Board meets at 8 PM in City Hall to discuss among other items, two controversial projects in Woodcrest Heights.

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WPCNR City Hall Herald-Statesman. Press Statement From The Mayor’s Office. City Hall. June 14, 2002. 11:00 PM E.D.T. The following is the text of Mayor Joseph Delfino’s remarks introducing his nominee for Commissioner of Public Safety, Dr. Frank Straub, made today at a news conference at City Hall to the media.

MISSION: WHITE PLAINS: Assistant Commissioner for Internal Training of the NYPD Counter Terrorism Bureau, Dr. Frank Straub, left, listens to Mayor Joseph Delfino’s announcement to the press at noon Friday. Commissioner Straub awaits interviews with the Common Council over the next two weeks.
Photo by WPCNR

For the past several months, we have been conducting a national search to fill the vacancy left by former Commissioner John Dolce. Over 90 candidates from 13 states applied for the job with roughly 15 individuals that we interviewed. I am very proud of the fact that this City has attracted the best and the brightest in the field of public safety and I believe it is a testament to the terrific job that our Public Safety Department has been doing. It certainly says a lot about the wonderful reputation that our department has and there is no question that it is one of the best public safety departments in the state of New York.

In searching for a candidate to head up the department, my primary concern has been that the department’s new leader be someone who understands the vital role that the department plays in preserving the quality of life in White Plains and who has the administrative background to lead an organization with roughly 400 employees.

I was also looking for someone who has the experience and vision to manage a department that will be facing new challenges in these uncertain times.

I am very proud to announce that I will be submitting to the Common Council the nomination of Frank Straub for the position of Commissioner of Public Safety.

For almost two decades, Commissioner Straub has dedicated his life to protecting public safety at the local, state, and federal levels. He currently serves in the New York City Police Department’s Counter Terrorism Bureau as Assistant Commissioner for Internal Training, where he is part of an elite group dedicated to developing and implementing the department’s counter terrorism strategies.

Prior to that, he was the chief administrator for the NYPD’s office of training, which had a $25 Million budget and a staff of 750. Under his leadership, Commissioner Straub graduated a police recruit staff of over 1,300, expanded the civilian board of visitors, and developed and implemented the department’s first responder program in the aftermath of September 11th.

He is also Co-Chair for the Metropolitan Area Terrorism Committee’s training subcommittee where he is working with the New York City Fire Department and other agencies to develop joint training programs for emergency responders to chemical, biological, and radioactive terrorist events.

Prior to his work in the NYPD, he served as Executive Deputy Inspector General in the Office of New York State Inspector General, where he led a team of investigators, auditors and attorneys charged with investigating corruption and fraud in New York State agencies.

Before that, Commissioner Straub spent almost ten years working for the United States Department of Justice. He began as a special agent, working his way up to second in command of the New York Field office, which is responsible for the Nation’s Northeast Corridor, rising to the rank of special agent in charge of the Inspector General’s Office of Research and Policy Analysis, an elite unit that conducts research on misconduct in the Department of Justice. While with the Department of Justice, Commissioner Straub administered an agency-wide accountability and performance system, and developed a nationwide anti-corruption program.

Early in this federal law enforcement career, he served in both the United States Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and the United States Naval Investigative Service.

Commissioner Straub holds a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the City University of New York, a Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from St. John’s University.

He also teaches graduate courses focusing on the investigation of public corruption, ethics, and community policing at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He has been published in several local and national publications focusing on various public safety issues.

Commissioner Straub is also a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, serving on the Police Investigative Operations Committee, and a member of the American Academy of Professional Law Enforcement.

Commissioner Straub, a twenty-year resident of Westchester County, lives in Cortlandt Manor with his wife and his two children.

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WPCNR Daily Mirror. By John F. Bailey. June 13, 2002. 12:00 E.D.T.: Seven members of the White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations toured the Entergy Indian Point atomic power plant Tuesday, and saw for themselves the security and emergency steps to be taken in the event of a possible terrorist strike at the Buchanan plant.

CNA REPS IN INDIAN POINT EMERGENCY OPS FACILITY: Jim Steets of Entergy demonstrating how the Wind Solar Map with its 10 mile mapping of the area surrounding Indian Point, predicts the direction of any radiation releases. He is shown explaining the operation of the WSM to CNA delegates, L to R, John Vorperian, Riena Kaplow, Ingrid and Carl Barrera Tuesday at Indian Point. Also observing were Joel Rudikoff and Peter Katz.
All Photos by WPCNR.

CNA CO-President Carl Barrera, Joel Rudikoff, Ingrid Barrera, Peter Katz, John Vorperian, and this reporter were escorted into the depths of the Indian Point plant by Entergy spokesman, Jim Steets, Tuesday. We saw the facilities often characterized as vulnerable to terrorist attack by prominent politicians and a threat to the public by environmentalists.
In His Sights.

I was told by Mr. Barrera to enter the complex by a side entrance where we would meet our guide. However, I drove up to the main entrance just to check it out, to be met by concrete barriers and an obvious military presence. I could feel the security personnel’s eyes on my car as I very carefully and slowly turned my Camry around — very carefully.

As I drove down Bleakley Avenue South in the direction of where I thought the side entrance was, I was met by another security vehicle of the National Guard. I had stopped my car to get my bearings on the directions, and the Guardsman riding atop a camouflaged HumVee, locked onto me with his green scope giving me a no-nonsense, once-over. Being in his cross-hairs, gave me a very unnerving feeling.

When Indian Point Checks You In, They Check You In.

In order to go on this tour, I had to be precleared in advance by the Indian Point Communications Office with a series of paper procedures. My name was on the list, which the entrance Guard checked on my visit. An identification procedure was conducted. I was told where to park and exactly where to proceed on the site.
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Evacuation Has 10-Hour Lead Time.

Before I could join the CNA group, I was furnished with new credentials, and a second set of identification procedures prepared on the spot so plant security could keep track of me on the site. Only after 45 minutes was I escorted into the Indian Point Emergency Operations Facility situation room. Jim Steets, our guide was looming over the Wind Solar Map, where the 10 miles surrounding Indian Point is rendered on a screen.

WIND SECTOR MAP identifies towns and areas threatened by any airborne radiation leaks. There is an estimated minimum of ten hours leadtime before communities can expect to have any radiation leak reach them, according to Steets.

Steets said, the Wind Solar Map is used to predict what areas might be affected should any “plume of radiation” escape Indian Point’s reactor. The Map uses wind direction and windspeed as a guide, to advise Westchester County Executive Andy Spano of communities the projected path of any radiation drift.

“The facility is staffed with people with a variety of tasks, whose job is to get all the information they can about the status of the plant, the condition of the plant, and the potential for releases,” Steets told me. “We can measure, with great certainty and accuracy exactly what a release would entail. Then we can make a recommendation, which we’ve done in drills, to the county, one or four, or all four counties (Dutchess, Orange, Westchester, Putnam), that there’s a potential for release, potentially in X amount of time, and you ought to evacuate certain areas.”

A Calculated Reaction.

“Then the County Executive can look at it and say, well, actually, we’ve already evacuated those areas, or, thanks for the advice, we’ll take it under advisement. It’s also, really his decision to make. He makes those decisions based on what’s going on at the plant, and what advice he can get from his own experts in a variety of fields, his own health department, his own advisors.”

The impression this reporter received is that, contrary to evacuation plan critics’ portraying miles of jammed highways and panic in the streets, there was no need for a “War of the Worlds” panic evacuation, given the leadtime to analyze any radiation release.

Slow Rate of Drift Means No Rush. No Panic.

Steets said that the wind speed and direction determines how fast any radiation emission, that might be brought about by a leak from the domes from any possible enemy attack. He said the slow speed of radiation cloud drift allows the county a lot of time to mobilize any necessary evacuation in an orderly manner, (“We have capability to evacuate areas”). Any shift in wind direction disperses and deconcentrates any radiation cloud, Steets said, and does not spread it in concentrated form to other areas.

Within 2 miles, Cloud Dissipates.

Steets said that any radiation escape from either dome in the form of radioactive steam, loses its concentration quickly: “The concentration of radiation diminishes so much after two miles, that areas 5 and 7 miles away you don’t have to evacuate.”

Steets said that this conclusion was “based on science.”

Steets added that it was Entergy’s opinion that the Westchester County Evacuation Plan was workable, citing the ten hours of lead time before any release of radiation would spread significantly.

Talking to Anybody.

Leading us out of the Emergency Operations Facility into a conference room, Steets said, “We are meeting with as many people as possible. If this (close Indian Point movement) is rooted in fear, all we can do is tell you where we’re coming from. We’re not afraid of this plant.”

(WPCNR Will Continue “Inside Indian Point”)

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WPCNR Morning Sun. By John F. Bailey. June 12, 2002. 9:00 A.M. E.D.T. UPDATED June 13, 2002 5 PM E.D.T.: Councilman William King confirmed to WPCNR today that the Mayor and Common Council are arranging to tour the Indian Point 3 Nuclear Plant in Buchanan, tentatively on June 26. Entergy Corporation reported Tuesday that the White Plains Common Council and city officials were in the process of planning a tour of the Entergy Indian Point atomic power plant before taking a political position on Indian Point closure.
Karen Costable, of the Mayor’s Office, is in the process of arranging the tour, according to Mr. King.

James Steets, Director of Communications for Entergy, told WPCNR Tuesday that city officials and members of the Common Council had expressed interest in accepting Entergy’s invitation to review Entergy operations, safety and emergency procedures and evacuation plan prior to drafting a Common Council resolution taking a position vis-a-vis the continued operation of the atomic energy facility.

Steets said he had approached the Mayor and Common Council members, inviting them to tour the Buchanan facility when he heard the Council was about to draft a resolution taking a position on the plant.

Steets told WPCNR Council members had expressed interest in taking a fact-finding tour prior to drafting the resolution. He said the Mayor’s office was trying to organize the excursion within the next two weeks.

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WPCNR Common Council Chronicle-Examiner. By John F. Bailey. June 11, 2002. 12:02 A.M. E.D.T.: Susan Habel, Commissioner of Planning, put on her master builder’s hat Monday evening and presented her concept of how New York Presbyterian Hospital could fit their planned biotech/proton accelerator complex into buildable areas in the historic district of their property.

SUSAN HABEL TO THE RESCUE: The Commissioner of Planning presents a plan that would fit new buildings into the historic districts on the New York Presbyterian Hospital property, at the third session of “The Gerard Talks” at City Hall Monday evening.
All Photos by WPCNR

This exercise was requested by Councilmembers Benjamin Boykin, Rita Malmud, Glen Hockley, and Tom Roach last Thursday.

The Hospital, to fit an equivalent amount of square footage into the historic district, would have to build 10 buildings instead of two. Michael Gerard said this violated the spirit of “practicable” environmental solutions.

Ms. Habel made the presentation at the third session of “The Gerard Talks,” the sessions scheduled by the Common Council with their environmental lawyer, Michael Gerard, to discuss legal issues involved in their acceptance of the NYPH Final Environmental Impact Statement.

The meeting adjourned to yet another Executive Session at 8:15 PM last night, where they were expected to ask for a one-week extension to accept and prepare their Acceptance of the Final Environmental Impact Statement until June 24. According to the SEQRA regulations, the Council must accept the FEIS by June 17, six days from now.

Habel Presents Her Own Site Plan for Historic District.

In a meeting where Michael Gerard had very little to say, Ms. Habel did most of the talking, showing the building footprints that could be accommodated under the exacting restrictions dictated by the State Historical Preservation Office.

The bottom line, according to Ms. Habel, who along with her Deputy Commissioner, Rod Johnson, and the Planning Department prepared a hypothetical Historic District Building Plan requested by the Council, over the last two working days, requires the hospital to build 10 buildings instead of two.

Gerard Advises Habel Plan Fails the “Practicality Test.”

Gerard after digesting Habel’s one-hour presentation, said that at the heart of the spirit of complying with the SEQRA statute was to form a mitigating course of action that was “practicable,” for the applicant, rather than dictating steps that were “physically possible”

His statement was meet with a very quiet silence by the council.

Gerard Dismisses Conservation Board Concern on Contiminating Water with Soil Runoff.

Mr. Gerard was asked by Councilman Glen Hockley about the Conservation Board letter worrying about possible contimination of Cassaway Brook with soil runoff, due to a reported high amount of mercury in the soil samples on Site 6.

Gerard dismissed this as not a problem as long as no construction was undertaken on site 6. He also pointed that the contiminant concentration in the soils were less than normal drinking water, and the mercury level was .1 above the level allowed for drinking water. Ms. Habel advised the Conservation Board got their letter in too late to be included in the original draft Final Environmental Impact Statement.
Mayor Delfino said, “Don’t believe everything you read in the papers (to Mr. Hockley), listen to him (Gerard), he’s getting the big bucks.”

Hockley Concerned About Solid Waste.

Mr. Hockley said he wanted to know how many more trucks and trips to transport solid waste out of the facilities would add to the impact of the site. Ms. Habel said this was addressed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Boykin, Hockley Both Await Further Clarification on Research Being Conducted at Other Hospital Sites.

Ms. Habel stated that she was awaiting information from Cornell, Mount Sinai Hospital and NYU campuses on the nature of Safety Level 3 biotech research they were now working on. At this point, she said, she has heard from NYU that they were working with Turburculosis, their only Level 3 research on only 300 square feet. New York Presbyterian Hospital, she said, was working with only “a small amount of Level 3 research within their system and was going to get back with specifics, that it was not a major problem element.”

She said the hospital was doing a small amount of AIDS research, which she said was a Safety Level 2 concern, since it was not spread by inhaling. She expected more information on the kinds of research within the NYPH system by the end of the week.

More Time Needed.

Ms. Habel said that the Plannind Department needed approximately one week more beyond June 17 to marshall the material for the Acceptance of the FEIS.

The Council adjourned to Executive Session to consult with Mr. Gerard about the feasibility of extending the June 17 deadline.