WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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PUT IT IN THE BOOKS!

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John Bailey May 16,  2018:

White Plains voters passed the 2018-19 Proposed school budget Tuesday, 792 to 147.

The voters approved spending $10 Million from the school district Capital Reserve Fund, 831-96, for improvements in school building security and repairs.

Voters also approved free busing to the White Plains High School for students living more than one mile away from WPHS, 815-122.

There are 32,000 registered voters in the city, meaning that 2.9% of those White Plains citizens eligible to vote in the  budget election voted. The budget was passed by a margin of 84.3%

The following incumbent members of the White Plains Board of Education were reelected:

Candidates (Unopposed for 3 seats)

James Hricay                      764

Cayne Letizia                      781

Rose Lovitch                       764

Dr.  Joseph Ricca, White Plains Superintendent of Schools issued this statement on the passing of his first White Plains School Budget:

“It takes an engaged and committed community to create and promote a high quality proposed district budget. We are very thankful to all that took the time to attend meetings; distribute information; participate in focus group meetings; and organize community gatherings.

“It is because of you, and the support of our community, that we are able to move forward with support for our outstanding student programming! We are thrilled and we are grateful.”

This year’s budget, the first proposed by first year Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Ricca, increases expenditures by 2.1 %. In the current year, 2017-18, ending in June,  the budget was increased 2.58%. Though the school district was allowed under the tax cap to raise the budget 3%, they did not– holding the increase to 2.1%

This results in a tax increase of 2.9%, raising the school tax on a $650.000 median priced home approximately $300 to $10,616 up from $10,300 this year. The tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation moves up from $626.37 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $644.41

Proposition 2 authorizing $10,000,000 does not increase the budget since the funds already exist and therefore the district does not have to borrow to make the improvements.

The expenditure of $166,000 to provide free bus transportation to students living more than a mile from White Plains High School, but the expenditure is obtained through reorganizing bus routes the district reports.

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WPCNR Boondoggles, Bungles, Believers and Delayers. News and Comment by John F. Bailey May 14, 2018:

You will not read this story anywhere else.

It’s news no one wants to print.

I have sadly announced to my family who all live on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River that I no longer will host holiday gatherings at my home in central Westchester in order to preserve family sanity.

The reason is that the traffic volume on holiday weekends cannot be handled by the New NY Bridge across the Tappan Zee Bridge. It does not work.

I had my inlaws and nieces and nephews, husbands, wives and boyfriends over for Mother’s Day Sunday. All but my daughter came from New Jersey. The daughter and friend arrived on the stroke of 3 and my brother-in-law and family arrived 45 minutes later. It took them 2-1/2 hours to traverse the too-small, too-narrow, no breakdown lane bridge.

It took my inlaws coming froon Boonton, and extra 45 minutes to make it  over the “New but Same as the Old Tappan Zee Bridge” even though they have often arrived early. My brother-in-law said that a car was broken down on the bridge causing a merge left, backing up traffic phenomenally. There was no breakdown lane. Why weren’t  there State  Police or some law enforcement entity, any one with concern for the hundreds of cars backed up to points north, directing the merging of cars? And if you have children in the car—what a nightmare.

This is a pet peeve of mine. Nowhere in the New York metro area when I’ve encountered a breakdown lane blockage, do police take an active role supervising merging traffic . They shoul d do that or at least clear the accident off the byway as quickly as possible. They don’t do this very often (and that is giving them the benefit of the doubt).

It took my nephew coming from Floral Park,NJ 3-1/2 hours for essentially an hour and a half drive at most. But by that time the traffic had been building back pas the I-87-I287 merge. Forget about it he arrived at 5:45 PM! What nightmare!

What’s going on here?

What’s going on is—the engineers bungled.

The S-curve approaching the new NY Bridge from the West backs up the Eastbound Westchester traffic, coming from the North and west,  first forcing the drivers already bumper to bumper to swing down and to the right in a lower “S”, then cruise up and to the left to ascend the sharply rising upper “S” curve to ascend the not-so-gradual upgrade up the new NY Bridge.

Defenders of the bridge say, well there was an accident. Well they have to be more professional managing the new bridge! You have to have a wrecker ready to move a stall/accident/etc. off that bridge.

When finally they have all of the two spans open, they are still only going to have 4 lanes of traffic in each direction east and westbound (one more lane only from the old bridge);  supposedly an express bus lane, a bicycle lane a breakdown lane and observation deck. This is crazy. The bicycle lanes will last until a semi goes out of control and kills a series of bycyclists. Now. There were not many trucks on Saturday or Sunday, they slow the action even more.

. And please, the police have to direct traffic professionally around a lane blockage. (The only city I know that employees police in a professional manner to direct around a traffic blockage is White Plains, especially during work stoppages.)

Now I drove to New Jersey on Saturday for another reunion, traveling Westbound from Westchester we encountered pretty smooth going, but were stunned by the amount of back up eastbound  into Westchester that backed up all the way to where I-87 merges with I-287. I couldn’t understand it.

On Sunday I understood it.

The new bridge at the official cost of $3.9 Billion is obsolete and it is only 7 months old. Though constructed on time, it has not improved traffic flow.

It backs up Eastbound in the mornings. I-287, Cross Westchester Express is a parking lot into White Plains because 4 lanes of traffic from the new Tappan Zee Bridge go into the same merge sequence it has for decades.  The pipe dream of a Bus Rapid Transit system that will get drivers out of their cars is not in place. There are no bus only lanes.There is no sequenced entrances to the Cross Westchester which were supposed to “smooth traffic flow.” Delays westbound in evening rush, start at 3 PM, because of the entrance at Route 100, and the sun delay after White Plains, then you bog down before the westbound Tappan Zee side when 287 and I-87 merge lanes into 3—just a standstill. The engineers missed this?

Any one who drives into Westchester our Out of it Mornings and evenings knows it is not different—but worse.

You never hear detailed traffic reports on traffic on the Tappan Zee Bridge because it is an embarrassment. They say, unless there is a bad accident, traffic is normal on I 287—which means “all stacked up.”

The Memorial Day Week exodus will be the worst of all time and I predict it will back I-95 across Connecticut, maybe even to Maine.

Better leave Wednesday, March 23 to get out and there with your sanity intact.

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LATIMER, MCDONALD AND NONNA ON

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE STANDARD AMUSEMENTS-PLAYLAND DEAL

ON

THE ULTIMATE NEWS AUTHORITY FOR 18 YEARS

JOHN BAILEY, PETER KATZ JIM BENEROFE

ON

GOOD COUNSEL

THE ONGOING SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL

LABOR DISPUTE

THE HUB CAFE GRAND OPENING

THE SCHOOL BUDGET VOTE MAY 12

THE WEEK IN TRUMP LAND

THE OLD TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE COMES DOWN VIDEO

and more….

TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE AMERICAN WAY REPORTING

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JOHN BAILEY INTERVIEWS

LENORE FRIEDLAENDER

ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SEIU 32BJ UNION

ON THE INTERNET NOW

THE FIRING OF 7 UNION WORKERS BY A WHITE PLAINS BUILDING APRIL 2

THE UNION’S “EXPEDITED” LAWSUITS THAT HAVEN’T BEEN EXPEDITED BY THE COURTS YET.

THE VIOLATION OF THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISPLACED WORKERS LAW 

WHY THE ISSUE IS IMPORTANT

UNION-BUSTING

THE PLIGHT OF THE WORKERS UNEMPLOYED SINCE APRIL 2

THE POLICE TEMPORARILY BLOCKING ENTRANCE TO A PUBLIC BUILDING BY COUNTY LEGISLATORS AND UNION MEMBERS

THE COUNTY POSITION 

AND MORE

SEE WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU  ON

PEOPLE TO BE HEARD

THE TRI-STATE AREA’S MOST RELEVANT INTERVIEW PROGRAM

7 PM SATURDAY NIGHT ON WHITE PLAINS TV

FIOS COUNTYWIDE CH. 45

IN WHITE PLAINS ALTICE CABLEVISION CH. 76

AND RIGHT NOW ON

www.wpcommunity.org

(SCROLL DOWN THE VIDEO WALL TO WHITE PLAINS WEEK-PEOPLE TO BE HEARD TO SEE THE PROGRAM)

MS. FRIEDLAENDER (in blue) and 2 SEIU Members now without jobs since April 2

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 WPCNR THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE ROUNDUP. From The Westchester County Department of Communications. May 9, 2018″

 Latimer Convenes Shared Services Panel, Today 3 PM

Westchester County Executive George Latimer will be convening a meeting of the Westchester County Shared Services Panel, which is comprised of the chief elected officials from each municipality.

At the meeting discussing shared services will also be various County Departments and Offices, members of the County Board of Legislators, and representatives from school districts, school boards and BOCES.

The aim of the meeting is to work together towards suibmitting a revised County-wide shared services plan.  (Editor’s Note: a similar effort held by the previous County Executive reached no significant consolidation achievenments.)

County-Wide Shared Services Panel

May 9, 2018
3-5pm
Little Theater
Westchester County Center
White Plains, New York

WESTHELP SITE TO BE SENIOR HOUSING

Westchester County Executive George Latimer announced plans for the development of 74 units of affordable senior rental housing – housing yesterday

The WestHELP site, a six-acre parcel located off Knollwood Road adjacent to the campus of Westchester Community College, has been subject to years of political wrangling and discussions among the County, the Town of Greenburgh, Valhalla School District and community stakeholders. Discussions revolved around the need for safe, affordable housing while also ensuring that the School District the project resides in did not fall victim to overcrowding.

The lease submitted last October was for only 54 units, the Latimer administration has now come to an agreement with the Town of Greenburgh, the surrounding neighborhood and School District for an expanded 74 units.

The plans call for the developer, Marathon Development Group, to pay $1.5M – $900K to County and $600K to town, on behalf of County, in exchange for town relinquishing all rights to site.

The new development will serve a wide mix of income levels, including 40% to 60% of Area Median Income as well as 80% to 90% of Area Median Income. Market analysts note the mix of units will broaden the property’s appeal to the senior community.

Latimer said: “We have to get away from the era of the individual politician who is the leader that ‘has’ all the vision – the vision is we. It’s when we discuss, and collegially work through things, that we are finding the best way to make decisions. Issues with the WestHELP site were resolved because we were able to work across lines and not try to be secretive. There was a combination of things that made this happen, and if we’re going to do anything good it has to come out of that combination.”

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said: “Members of the Greenburgh Town Board and I are very excited about the plans to build affordable senior citizen housing at the former WestHELP homeless shelter. There is a need for senior housing, and this initiative will provide an enhanced quality of life to many senior citizens.

I also want to thank the County Executive for the way his administration handled this proposal. The County Executive practiced what he promised – the County was a good neighbor. The County Executive encouraged the Town and the developer to reach out to the community and School District – which we did. We explained what was being proposed and the community agreed to support the senior housing.  This is exactly what needs to be done.”

County to Launch Non-Profit Local Development Corporation Tour In June

Highlighting that non-profits in Westchester County play a vital role in our economy, and that they are the underpinning in our County’s culture and spirit of giving back County Executive George Latimer announced the LDC Non-Profit Tour Tuesday.

The Westchester County Local Development Corporation, or LDC, is a private, non-profit corporation created to promote economic development in our County.  The LDC provides benefits only to non-profit organizations.

The Tour will include meetings with non-profits across the County to talk to them about the benefits the LDC offers and ways the LDC can help.  The first meeting is set for June. 

Latimer said: “We treat non-profit organizations with the same appreciation and professionalism that we treat for profit corporations.

Along with the Tour the County will also be unveiling a new LDC logo.

Deputy Director of Economic Development Bridget Gibbons said: “We are going to be building better relationships with non-profits in this County.  Our meetings with each non-profit will take place on their turf where we will provide one –on –one guidance and talk to them about their specific projects and ideas.”

Created in 2013, the LDC provided non-profits access to millions of dollars in low-cost tax-exempt bonds to finance acquisitions, construction, reconstruction, equipping and/or furnishing of facilities, or to refinance existing debt at a lower interest rate.

From 2013-2017, the LDC provides nearly $871 million in low cost, tax-exempt financing for hospitals, educational institutions, nursing homes and social service agencies. During this time the LDC projects created more than 1,600 permanent and construction jobs.