WHITE PLAINS WESTCHESTER DAILY NEWS SERVICE VISITS SINCE 2000 A.D. 25TH YEARl REPORTING THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW News Service Since 2000 A.D. 2026 WILL BE OUR 26TH YEAR OF COVERING WHITE PLAINS NEW YORK USA . John F. Bailey, Editor (914) 997-1607 wpcnr@aol.com Cell: 914-673-4054. News Politics Personalities Neighborhoods Schools Finance Real Estate Commentary Reviews Policy Correspondence Poetry Philosophy Photojournalism Arts. The WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER. TELEVISION: "White Plains Week" News Roundup, 7:30 EDT FRI, 7 EDT MON & the incisive "People to Be Heard" Interview Program 8PM EDT THURS, 7 PM EDT SAT on FIOS CH 45 THROUGHOUT WESTCHESTER AND, ALTICE OPTIMUM WHITE PLAINS CH 1300 Fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way. TOP 10 VISITORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD :1. USA. 2.BRAZIL3.VIET NAM 4. CHINA 5. JAPAN 6.UK. 7.CANADA. 8.INDIA. 9.AUSTRALIA 10.IRELAND 11.GERMANY 12..ARGENTINA 13.BANGLADESH 14.RUSSIA. 15.NEWZEALAND. 16. FRANCE. 17.MEXICO. 18.UKRAINE. 19.SOUTH AFVRICA. 20. IRAQ.
Despite assurances Saturday that the interruption in Altice-Optimum television, internet, phone and cellphone services were restored, the company is still reporting 7,317 outages in Weschester, New Jersey, Manhattan and Connecticut on their “outage” website that can be viewed at this address:
Please join us at Senior Law Day on September 10th from 8:30am to 2:00pm at the Westchester County Convention Center for a day of FREE workshops and one on one consultations with attorneys, certified financial planners and geriatric care managers. Topics will include estate planning, elder law, health care, Medicare, Medicaid, housing options and more. Great educational event for seniors, family members and care givers. For more info, please go to: http://www.seniorlawday.info/
FREE parking at County Center Parking Lot. Call 914.813.6300 for info.
WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. September 7, 2019 UPDATED. SECOND UPDATE 5:45 PM:
SATURDAY AFTERNOON, DESPITE NEWS12 REPORT THAT SERVICE HAS BEEN RESTORED, WINS RADIO AND WCBS RADIO ARE REPORTING ON THEIR WEBSITES, AN UNDETERMINED NUMBERS OF CUSTOMERS ARE WITHOUT INTERNET, DESPITE NEWS 12 REPORT THIS MORNING OF SERVICE OR SERVICES WERE RESTORED, WITH NO DETAILS.
WPCNR HAS LEARNED FROM PERSONS IN THE BRONX AND WESTCHESTER EXPERIENCED CELL PHONE LOSS TOO, IN ADDITION TO THE 911 SERVICE PROBLEM, THE TELEVISION OUTAGE AND APPARENTLY THE INTERNET. THE PROBLEM FIRST CAME TO ATTENTION WHEN CUSTOMERS CALLED POLICE STATIONS IN CONNECTICUT COMPLAINING THEY DID NOT HAVE TELEVISION SERVICE.
AT 11:15 Saturday morning on Channel 12,, Altice News12 announced that 911 service has been restored but did not state the reason for the outage. The 15-second announcement by Jackie Lucas was apparently the first mention this morning on the 24-hour newschannel of the massive 911 outage across three states,
New York Connecticut and New Jersey.
APPARENTLY AS OF 6 PM COMPLETE RESTORATION HAS NOT
HAPPENED. A RESIDENT OF YONKERS SAID WITHIN THE HOUR THEY NEITHER HAVE TELEVISION OR CELLPHONE SERVICE.
Jackie Lucas on News12 reporting 911 service is restored Saturday morning at 11:15 A.M
Friday evening, Altice Optimum 911 service went out to “multiple local police departments,” according to Westchester County.
White Plains Police Saturday morning confirmed to WPCNR that White Plains residents could call 911 in White Plains because it is currently working.
“The outage” affected 10,000 customers in Connecticut Altice Optimum televsion services, as well as as Altice Cablevision customers receiving Altice cable programming in White Plains, throughout Westchester, and Altice Customers in New Jersey.
Catherine Cioffi, Director of Communications for Westchester County told WPCNR Saturday morning that county 911 service never went down, but she could not speak for Altice as to whether all Altice 911 service has been restored to communities that lost 911.
Ms. Cioffi was asked by WPCNR if the county has learned the cause of the tri-state outage but the county has not responded as of 6 PM Saturday evening.
As of 11 A.M. Saturday morning, WPCNR had seen or heard no coverage reports or interviews on News 12 Altice Westchester on Altice Cablevision about the massive failure or what 911 services in communities have been restored to emergency services this morning and what communities have been restored.
Connecticut customers are outraged that their News12 services have not reported this Altice malfunction and resultant security failure of the 911 system not to mention how many 911 communities served by Altice are back in operation or the cause.
At 10:46 P.M. Friday night Westchester County announced:
“The County is aware of a large outage on Altice networks.
This outage is impacting emergency phone service at multiple local police departments in the County, along with many customers. We are in communication with Altice, and are closely monitoring the situation. The County Police administrative lines are down but 9-1-1 is working. If you need to call 9-1-1 you can call from your cellphone as your landline might have a dial-tone but might not be operational. We will continue to bring you updates as they come in.”
WPCNR also noted that Altice television service had also disappeared across the spectrum. Saturday morning as of 10:30 A.M., television service is restored on Altice in White Plains.
White Plains City Court Judge Elizabeth Shollenberger 1956-2019
WPCNR MILESTONES. ByTim James. September 5, 2019:
Liz Shollenberger, my wonderful, kind, sweet, vibrant, funny, keenly intelligent, fiercely competitive, loving (and greatly loved) wife of 29 years and partner of 42 years, died this morning.
She was 63.
She had been in a series of hospitals since June, primarily for respiratory problems, and succumbed to an infection that struck on Labor Day, which she was unable to fight off even with the help of excellent medical care.
Liz had been under nearly constant assault from her own body, for mostly mysterious reasons, for more than 15 years, but never let her persistent health issues affect her cheerful personality or stop her for long from doing the things that she loved, including practicing law, leading the White Plains Democratic City Committee, reading, going to movies, keeping up with friends, helping others, doting on our cats (and other cats she met) . . .
and keeping alive her attendance streak at Princeton Reunions, which she maintained through this year.
Liz grew up in two small towns in Ohio – Alliance, a steel town, and Circleville, a rural community in the northernmost county of Appalachia, where she attended junior high and high school.
But she wanted to make an impact in the wider world, and worked methodically to get there. A teacher gave her a long reading list of books one should know for college . . . and Liz read all of them. She became the co-valedictorian of her high-school class.
When she learned that the subjects tested on the math branch of the SAT would include trigonometry, which was not taught in her school, she asked her math teacher to help her learn it. When it turned out that her math teacher did not know trigonometry, Liz got a book and taught it to herself.
She ended up with a 1500 on the SAT and became the only student from her school in memory to go to Princeton – where we met, and where she earned a grade-point average of 3.9 on her way to Yale Law School.
After working at three highly regarded private law firms in Manhattan during her first years out of law school and teaching for two years at NYU Law School, Liz spent the bulk of her legal career as a Legal Services attorney, representing indigent clients, first in the Bronx, where she became the head of the Housing Unit, and later, of their Senior Unit, and then in Queens, where she headed the public-benefits unit.
In Housing Court, Liz loved being the equalizer, altering the imbalance of power that normally exists between low-income tenants (usually unrepresented) and the attorneys for landlords. Armed with her “Housing Court Spanish” (as she called it), a quickly acquired expertise in the substantive and procedural aspects of housing law, and a cheerful but steely willingness to go to trial in any case where she felt the landlord was not being reasonable, Liz became a force in Bronx Housing Court.
She knew a lot of ways to win a case, or at least make the adversary settle on terms her client could live with. Liz and I got involved in Democratic politics in Greenwich Village in 1981. In 1983, at age 27, she became the first President of the Village Reform Democratic Club, which we helped to found.
In 1986, the small-town-Ohio girl was elected in a primary as Female Democratic District Leader for Greenwich Village, representing a district that encompassed about three-quarters of an Assembly District. She held that position for nine years, winning two more primaries and then winning two more terms without opposition.
While she was District Leader, we were able to play a significant role in the initial election to Congress of Jerry Nadler, who now chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
In the mid-1990s, Liz decided that she wanted to be a judge. In 1996, she ran for Civil Court in a district that encompassed most of the Village and other parts of Lower Manhattan. But she lost the primary by 24 votes out of approximately 7,300 –the closest primary in New York City that year.
We moved to White Plains in 1999 and immediately got involved with the White Plains Democratic Party. Liz’s leadership abilities were so apparent that, just four years later, in 2003, she was elected Chair of the White Plains Democratic City Committee, succeeding Adam Bradley, who had been elected to the Assembly the year before.
Judge Shollenberger sworn in as City Judge, January 3, 2017
She served joyfully and successfully as Chair of the City Committee for over 13 years, until her appointment by the Common Council at the end of 2016 to be a City Court Judge. Liz was thrilled to become a judge, 20 years after her near-miss in Manhattan.
Unhappily, as a result of both her health issues and (even more so) the very misguided response to those health issues by the State’s Chief Administrative Judge, Liz did not have the opportunity to make much of a mark on the bench – which was a source of great frustration and sadness for her over the past two years.
During her periods of enforced idleness, she worked on a book she had long planned to write about her time in Legal Services and the clients she served, did a lot of reading, and took an increased interest in cooking (to her husband’s benefit).
Liz showered me with love for over 40 years. She has been at the center of my life for so long – throughout our entire adult lives – that it is difficult right now for me to imagine a version of my life without her. But I will work on that.
There will not be a funeral or memorial service for Liz right away. I expect to hold a memorial service for her later this year or early next year, and you are all invited.
The Urban Renewal Agency meeting this morning. Mayor Thomas Roach, center, assured attendees that any residents that were displaced by any future eminent domain action, if the legislation were enacted, would be helped to find other housing. He described the eminent domain legislation being considered as an effort to revitalize the Post Road block and contribute to the prosperity of the city.
WPCNR POST ROAD STORY. By John F. Bailey. September 5, 2019:
The Urban Renewal Agency opened and closed a hearing on the city proposal to exercise eminent domain on a string of properties fronting on the North side of Post Road, but did not vote on the measure aimed at improving the ambience on Post Road across the street from White Plains Hospital.
Susan Fox of White Plains Hospital told the Renewal Agency that the hospital was supportive of the measure, but told WPCNR the White Plains Hospital had not worked with the city in any way to suggest the city exercise eminent domain on the project.
Gabe Arrango, speaking the Board an owner of several parcels, opposed the project saying the properties were worth a considerable amount of money and were positive projects.
A representative from Grid Properties which owns vacant property at the confluence of Maple and Post Road, said they were planning an office complex on the property, but had not submitted plans to the city for a project yet. The representative told WPCNR Grid felt they would entertain the prospect of White Plains Hospital using those planned offices.
Mack Carter of the White Plains Housing Authority told WPCNR that demolition was proceeding on 135 South Lex as part of the Winbrook rebuild, and that asbestos abatement would be completed in October, when demolition would begin, with the second building completed sometime in 2020. Carter said the Housing Authority supported the eminent domain project because it provided the possibility of an enhanced environment for the residents of Winbrook.
WPCNR has learned that the eminent domain project was not discussed with the Common Council members WPCNR talked to. To this reporter’s knowledge there was no discussion of this eminent domain project in work sessions open to the public. The public relations agency for White Plains Hospital could not confirm if the hospital was or was not interested in building on the properties, if they are acquired by the city by eminent domain.
WHITE PLAINS URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY WILL CONSIDER THE ABOVE PROPERTIES OF STORES, RESTAURANTS, AND RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS ACROSS THE STREET FROM WHITE PLAINS HOSPITAL FOR AN UNDISCLOSED “POST ROAD/SOUTH LEXINGTON URBAN RENEWAL PLAN WPUR-12 and EAST POST ROAD URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT.
WPCNR POST ROAD STORY. September 5, 2019: The Westchester Business Journal reported today that the White Plains Urban Renewal Agency will consider the eminent domain of properties from 1-2 East Post Road to 184-188 South Lexington Avenue for an unspecified urban renewal project.
In an article by Peter Katz, an owner of properties on that route, Gabe Arrango expressed complete surprise at this development which he was advised of August 19, to read Mr. Katz’s detailed report go to:
WPCNR MILESTONES. From the Robert Martin Company. September 4, 2019:
As co-founder of the Robert Martin Company, Weinberg was a real estate development pioneer who transformed Westchester County over the past 60 years
Robert F. Weinberg, a visionary commercial and residential developer who over six decades transformed the landscape and economy of Westchester County as co-founder of the Robert Martin Company, died of natural causes at his home in Manhattan on Sept. 3, 2019. He was 90.
Working side-by-side with his life-time business partner, the late Martin S. Berger, Weinberg and the Robert Martin Company were at the forefront of innovation and change in the real estate industry.
The company pioneered the development of more than six million square feet of office and industrial parks across Westchester and Fairfield counties, as well as over 3,000 apartments, condominiums and single-family homes throughout Westchester.
Weinberg’s astute business sense consistently kept the company on the cutting edge of real estate trends. This enabled the firm to play a leading role in a wide array of major projects, including the creation of expansive suburban office and industrial parks, hotels, retail centers, as well as thousands of housing units. The company was particularly active in the cities of White Plains and Yonkers; the towns of Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant; and the villages of Tarrytown, Elmsford and Port Chester.
Combining their first names, Weinberg and Berger, who died in 2011, founded the Robert Martin Company in 1957. They began by modestly building five single-family homes in Ardsley. They quickly expanded, building larger single-family home developments in Hartsdale, Yorktown, White Plains, and other communities.
The company was the first major developer to invest in the Urban Renewal of downtown White Plains. Its work there included the development of sixteen unique projects, culminating in the development of a full city block opposite the White Plains train station known as Westchester Financial Center. Located at 50 Main Street, the project included two office towers, an apartment tower, and a common parking garage.
In the late 1960s, they took a step that was to change the course of their business and in real ways, even the trajectory of economic development in Westchester. Acquiring a large tract of land on Route 9A in Greenburgh, Weinberg and Berger decided to build an office-warehouse park, the first of its kind in Westchester County.
The overwhelming success of the Cross Westchester Executive Park led to a series of transformative mixed-use office and commercial projects that the company developed, including the South Westchester Executive Park in Yonkers; the Mid Westchester Executive Park in Hawthorne; and the Stamford Executive Park in Stamford, CT
The company also led the way in the redevelopment of downtown Port Chester and constructed over 1,000 apartments in Elmsford and Greenburgh.
A memorial service will be held Friday, September 6, at 9:30 a.m. at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, located at 1076 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10028 at 81st Street. Further arrangements are being made for the family to receive friends in both Westchester and New York City.
The family suggest, in lieu of flowers, that memorials be made in his memory to the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center in Yonkers, N.Y., or the Ranachqua Foundation, which supports Boy Scouts activities and college scholarships, in Bronx, N.Y.
Growth of Suicide in the U.S. through 2017. Statistics from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention., www/afsp.org
WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester CountyDepartment of Communications. September 4, 2019:
Upholding Westchester County’s Commitment to suicide prevention, awareness and the importance of overall mental health, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, the Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) and several community partners kicked-off the month of September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
The month-long messaging campaign was created to help educate Westchester County residents on the appropriate ways to discuss mental health crisis in identified communities, and the resources available to them.
Suicide Rates by Age . Age 45 to 54 (Gray Line) Is Most at Risk. From the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer said: “It isn’t always easy to speak up if you think a family member or friend may be dealing with a mental health crisis. Throughout the month of September, in partnership with our Department of Community Mental Health, we will be rolling out public service announcements, task forces and educational materials to help our residents start that discussion. Helping those around us is everyone’s responsibility, and we want everyone to know about the support and services that are available to them.”
White Population Commits the Most Suicides. From the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
The Suicide Prevention and Awareness Plan includes:
· Westchester County being selected as one of only four counties in the state to initiate a Suicide Fatality Review Committee
· Introduction of Westchester County Suicide Prevention Awareness Task Force
· Series of public service announcements aimed at educating Westchester residents on the importance of mental health.
· Training calendar of various Suicide Prevention & Education efforts throughout the month of September
· New DCMH Brochure
· New Mental Health Awareness and Education Tip Sheet
Each public service announcement will delve into a specific population, and explore the appropriate ways to discuss suicide prevention, and overall mental health in that community. The public service announcements will include the following themes:
· Children/Adolescents Mental Health
· Importance of supporting Employee Mental Health in the Business Community
· Veterans and Mental Health
· Senior Citizens and Mental Health
· Law Enforcement and Mental Health
Utilizing the unique hashtag #BeTheLink, the educational campaign addresses how to recognize the potential warning signs of a mental health condition, how to best help someone who may be struggling with mental health issues and how to “link” those in need with Westchester County services and supports.
Commissioner of DCMH Michael Orth said: “It’s everyone’s responsibility to support each other’s mental health. We can all help prevent tragedies in our own communities by learning to recognize and take seriously the signs of depression and emotional pain. It is important that we reach out to family members, friends, neighbors and colleagues and open the door for conversation.”
Lt. Wayne Hardy, 1st Vice President Westchester Rockland Guardian Association said: “We as ‘Guardians’ encourage all to call us, we will come to your meetings, we speak with youth, seniors, even police academy recruits. We aim to make everyone’s lives a little easier and lower the chances of suicide.”
Hassan Bilal, Member of “Mind, Body & Spirit Community Coalition” Westchester County said: “We aim to do as much as we can, in everything we can, to make sure this situation does not happen to someone else. The only way to do that is to work to get the word out, to let people know that there are agencies, individuals and community groups that are there to help them.”
Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH)
For more information and a complete list of resources and services, please visit us at: https://mentalhealth.westchestergov.com
