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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Randolph McLaughlin, one of  the Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr. Attorneys,  at the microphones,conducting a news conference outside the Charles L. Brient Federal Court House in White Plains, announcing the Chamberlain civil lawsuit will go to trial November 7.  To Mr. McLaughlin’s right is Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr., to Mr. Chamberlain’s left is Deborah Cohen, the attorney who presented Mr. Chamberlain’s case for a trial. (Photo by Peter Katz

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. Special to WPCNR from Peter Katz. September 12, 2016 UPDATED 11:26 PM E.S.T. UPDATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS, September 14:

United States District Judge Cathy Seibel ruled  Monday evening shortly after  5 PM that the $21 Million civil suit filed by the Kenneth Chamberlain  family  in  the fatal shooting of 68-year old former Marine Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. by the White Plains police, will proceed to trial in November, beginning November 7 with jury selection

In a news conference in front of the Charles L. Brient Federal Courthouse, Randolph McLaughlin one of the Chamberlain legal team said Judge Siebel–

“has ordered the city of White Plains to stand trial for the killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. The Judge has denied the shooter,  Anthony Carelli, who is a defendant his motion for summary judgment. She said there is sufficient evidence for this case against Mr. Carelli to go forward and let a jury determine what happened across the street at 135 South Lexington . She has also concluded that The City of White Plains must also stand trial under state tort law because  they hired an individual who, there’s sufficient evidence to go forward arguably committed an assault and battery against Mr. Chamberlain.”

Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr.,  son of Kenneth Chamberlain, ( above)choked up,  almost unable to speak said,

“It’s kind of hard to really  put into words. We’re finally — getting our day in court. I’m pleased with the decision the judge made to say that is sufficient evidence The evidence we found out is very disturbing. How could you have police officers like that working in this city?

“So with that being said,this goes back to May of 2012 when there was a failure to indict. This proves there was no full and fair investigation on the part of the Westchester County District Attorney. I’m asking the Department of Justice again to come to the City of White Plains and investigate the police of this city…There’s something wrong in there and it has to do with leadership.To  What say you now now that the judge has said there is enough evidence to go forward. Will you now admit wrongdoing or stand by this lie you’ve been telling the entire time. There will be justice for Kenneth Chamberlain,Sr.” (Photo by Peter Katz)

McLaughlin said the claims against Mr. Carelli are under the Federal constitution for violation of constitutional rights, under the fourth amendment that he used excessive force and state law claims as well  for assault and battery revolving around the use of the firearm. The charges he said against the City of White Plains, under state law, an employer is responsible for the torts committed by their employee.

Deborah Cohen, the attorney who argued the case before Judge Seibel, said

“We are going to put before the jury, evidence that Mr. Chamberlain was on the ground, after being brought down by the force of four shots from a bean bag shotgun that the city’s own information says is equal to the force of a punch from Mike Tyson or a fastball of a pitcher in the major leagues.

“And that this man, who had serious health problems, which the jury will hear about, could not possibly have bounced up like some sort of low-flying superhero after being felled to the ground, to continue to be a threat to anyone in that room.”

Another attorney, Mr. Bartlet noted that, “It’s crystal clear that one of the things that has to change is the way the police unions are able to operate…They’re the only people who don’t have to give a statement with respect to their conduct and can maintain their employment. They should certainly have fifth amendment rights They should not have to incriminate themselves…

“What we’re dealing here right now is multiple police officers who had an opportunity to confer with one another, to defer their statements and come up with a common statement. That undermines trust in police across the board it puts their fellow officers at risk it makes us question their fellow officers’ behavior and the execution of their jobs as well.

There is no other union, no other employment  in the world where you have that right. Not one of us here could engage in conduct where we are mistreating individuals and not have to give an explanation as to how that occurred and have expectation that our job would be waiting for us.”

Supporters of Mr. Chamberlain’s civil lawsuit observed, offering resolve in a respectful manner. Photo by Peter Katz

Mr. McLoughlin said “We think frankly given the current climate of police misconduct, police involved shootings all across the country, we think it would be in city’s best interests to at long last put this case behind us. But that’s in their hands. We have at all times been  reasonable and willing to have a conversation. They haven’t been willing. But that’s O.K. with us, we feel very strongly, a jury of Mr. Chamberlain’s peers will come to the same conclusion as us: This was an unjustified shooting.”

“We think that it’s quite clear: Black Lives matter. Black lives matter. If Mr. Chamberlain, Sr. had not been African American, not been suffering from a mental issue, had not been living in a housing project which is perceived as a dangerous place by some, that he’d be alive today. I doubt very seriously any police department would have broken into his house, took his door down if he lived in Scarsdale and was a doctor. So it’s class, race, and mental issues. So yes, it’s a national issue.”

He promised to be very “fight aggressively in the jury selection. If there is any effort by any lawyer here to exclude African Americans from this jury we will have them answer for that.”

McLoughlin also said that the U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was investigating the case. He said the matter is under investigation by Mr. Bharara’s office.

In the news conference, Mr. Chamberlain, Jr., said that he was never called by police to intervene with his father and possibly have an oportunity to defuse the situation.

Five years ago, the White Plains police responded to the accidental activation of Mr. Chamberlain’s medical alert device in the early morning hours of November 19, 2011. 

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WPCNR NEWS & COMMENT. From the WPCNR archives. Written by John F. Bailey on September 11, 2001:

In the worst premeditated surprise attack on any nation anywhere, with loss of life in the thousands, the World Trade Center Towers collapsed into rubble Tuesday morning by 10:30 AM and we all realized how connected we are.

No novelist has imagined this disaster. It is all too real and horrible. Not since the Hindenburg disaster have I heard radio reporting so emotional. Not since Hiroshima and Nagasaki has there been such loss of life in a single attack. As the attacks mounted every 15 minutes observed one radio reporter, America realized how connected we all are. At least this reporter did.

What impressed this reporter, was how connected we all really are here in America. A candidate for office worried about their treasurer’s wife who works in the Trade Center. I worried about my nephew, just starting his new job this summer in lower Manhattan, and I do not know exactly where he works. My brother-in-law called from Miami to see if my wife was all right. (She is.) My wife saw the towers collapse from her mid-town offices. (I asked her today September 11, 2016) fifteen years later how she felt seeing the towers collapsed. She hesitated, saying “I don’t know. I was in the moment.”)

A friend of mine called to see if my wife was all right, too, fifteen years ago. Then he mentioned what about those children in school who have parents working in those buildings? It was a sobering, angering thought.

Sobering because, you knew some of them had to have lost their parents. You just knew that.

Our very communicative society was communicating, phonelines were jammed. Everyone thought of loved ones or persons they knew that perhaps worked down there.

Persons watching the horror unfold, broke down in front of their televisions. Breaking down, because of the sense that there was nothing they could do. (I listened to the attacks unfold on the radio. I did not watch it on television.)

As I write this at 12 noon today (September 11, 2001), the end of these maniacal acts (a very appropriate description from one WOR reporter) is not in sight. But, when it does end, and it will, let’s remember how connected we feel to those entombed in the Trade Center rubble.

Let’s pull together and work together more, like those brave New York City Firefighters who obviously were trapped in the buildings when they collapsed. The police who obviously have died trying to evacuate the innocents within. I don’t want to hear any more knocks on the NYPD.

2016 Reflection:

I remembered that connection and the Candlelight Walk that took place in White Plains two weeks later where easily 7,000 people filled Main Street from the railroad station to City Hall holding candles to just be together and feel together and connected. 

How we have changed since September 11, 2015. We are a nation no longer remotely connected. We have persons running for President blaming our troubles on other Americans. We have people running for President on messages without substance, putting their hopes in failed ideas of the past in both parties. Talking big but having nothing big to say. 

There is no connection between Americans today.

Respect for each others’ views no longer exists. The importance of  putting the truth out and dealing with the reality of our challenges is not being faced by our leaders, our politicians, our educators, our health providers, our media. It is a shambles.The blame era began with the fall of the Towers.

No one now needs to take any responsibility, just blame someone else: It’s immigrants; it’s the far right; it is Wall Street; it’s the banks; the insurance companies; it’s companies exporting jobs to avoid taxes; it’s the oil companies; it’s the media;  Have I missed anyone? None of these institutions take responsibility for when they make a mistake. 

It would be nice if we could go back to that brief time after 2001 when we pulled together.

Thought how our actions, words, feelings, and dependence on self-interest so prevalent today effects other people. 

Can we recapture that September 11, 2001 compassion Americans showed to each other, the mutual respect, when you’d hug strangers to comfort them?

As the hero in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises said to Brett, the heroine when she says 

“Oh, Jake, we could have had such a damned good time together.”

Jake replies:

“Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

But our country and all of us it need to do that figure out how to have a damned good time together, and make things work.

At the 9/11 ceremonies today is a good time to begin.

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WHITE PLAINS WEEK

“FASNY NEWS SPECIAL”

PETER KATZ AND JIM BENEROFE 

TAKE YOU THROUGH THE TUESDAY NIGHT

COMMON COUNCIL APPROVAL OF THE FASNY SETTLEMENT

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SEE IT INSTANTLY NOW

IN CRYSTAL-CLEAR PICTURE, HI-DEFINITION WITH, CRISP SOUND AT

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THIS WEEK ON 

PEOPLE TO BE HEARD

“THE TRISTATES’ MOST RELEVANT INTERVIEW PROGRAM”

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JULIE KILLIAN OF RYE

CANDIDATE FOR THE 37TH  STATE SENATE DISTRICT

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JOHN BAILEY, PETER KATZ AND JIM BENEROFE

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SEE HER SATURDAY NIGHT AT 7 PM ON CHANNEL 76 WHITE PLAINS CABLEVISION 

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VERIZON FIOS CHANNEL 45 THROUGHOUT WESTCHESTER COUNTY

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THE COMMON COUNCIL VOTED TO APPROVE A TEMPORARY SETTLEMENT OF THE FASNY LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY OF WHITE PLAINS IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY REVIEW THIS ALTERNATIVE SITE PLAN AND SPECIAL PERMIT APPLICATION. THE SITE IS EXPLAINED IN DETAIL IN THE WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY  IF YOU SCROLL DOWN THIS COLUMN

WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. Special to WPCNR from Peter Katz on the Scene. With Released Comments Provided by the French American School of New York. September 6, 2016: 

Peter Katz reporting for WPCNR this evening, reports the Common Council approved the settlement  of a lawsuit filed by  the French American School of New York against the city, before an overflow crowd of persons attending the council meeting tonight at City Hall.

“Citizens to be Heard” the pre-council meeting feature was packed with speakers mostly against approving the settlement, Mr. Katz said.

Katz said the ordinances 76 and 77 items approving the settlement with the school were taken out of order and put at the top of the proceeding. Councilman Dennis Krolian proposed a motion to table Ordinance 76 and the Council voted 4 to 3 not to table. Krolian next proposed to table Ordinance 77, the Stipulation of Settlement, and again the Council voted 4 to 3 not to table.

Then the Council voted 4 to 3 approving the Settlement.

Voting to approve the Statement of Settlement were Mayor Roach, and Councilpersons John Kilpatrick, John Martin and Beth Smayda.

Councilpersons Nadine Hunt-Robinson, Dennis Krolian and Milagros Lecuona voted against approving settlement.

Mr.  Katz said Mayor Thomas Roach, casting the deciding vote, said the settlement was not approving the amended site plan, that it was just putting the lawsuit “on hold,” while the new plan was considered. Mayor Roach, Katz reports, said  that FASNY could have filed a new site plan at any time. Mr.Katz reports that the Mayor emphasized he had not made up his mind on the new plan FASNY will be submitting.

9 Weeks to the new plan

That new plan will be officially in about 9 weeks, if you go by the Stipulation of Settlement text, to wit:

After Judge Lefkowitz signs the Statement of Settlement, the city will have 14 days, to provide “an itemized list of documents and submissions necessary to make the Alternative Site Plan Application complete…FASNY will file its Alternative Site Plan Application for the site plan approval and a special permit within seven (7) weeks after this order is approved by the court.”

Next, Judge Joan Lefkowitz has to sign the Stipulation of Settlement. Mr. Katz there is no schedule as to when Judge Lefkowitz will sign the order, but Katz says the city has regular morning meetings with the judge.

Andrea Colombel, Board Chairperson of FASNY in a 10 PM news release from FASNY said, “We expect the judge to sign the agreement in the next few days which will give the Court authority to oversee the review process. We expect a timely and fair review and look forward to putting a shovel in the ground. FASNY is a wonderful school with a vibrant community which will contribute to the City of White Plains and its residents for many years to come,” she added.

Katz interviewed John Botti of the French American School who told him the school as a gesture of “good faith” has already filed in court a conservation easement that will guarantee public access to the lands reserved for the nature conservancy.

In a statement issued at 10 PM this evening, The French American School  Chairperson of the Board, Ms. Andrea Columbel had these comments on the conservancy:

“As a matter of good faith to resolve the dispute, FASNY has already recorded and created a 51-acre publically accessible Conservancy on part of its land with plans to create east-west and north-south pedestrian and bicycle paths for neighborhood residents, as previously proposed.  Known as “Parcel D,” the land has frontage on Bryant Avenue, North Street and Hathaway Lane.

“It has just become the largest private conservation easement in Westchester south of Interstate 287, and the first in the City of White Plains.  The conservation easement assures that the property cannot be developed, and will ultimately be open to the public. The conservation easement, which is the largest in White Plains, will   include miles of bike/pedestrian trails safely connecting the neighborhood.

“The reduction in conservation easement from the 78 acres offered by FASNY in the original plan reflects the 35 percent reduction in the size of the school buildings and the 33 percent reduction in the student population under the Alternative Plan.

“We are deeply appreciative for the continued and growing support we have received from thousands of residents and businesses across White Plains.  We look forward to moving forward and putting this unfortunate delay behind us,” Colombel said.

The terms of the proposed Stipulation of Settlement, according to the FASNY news release include that:

• The Upper School (grades 6-12) will be built on the already developed portion of the site (“Parcel A”) where the clubhouse and other facilities of the former Ridgeway Country Club now stand.
• Hathaway Lane will remain open.
• No environmentally sensitive features on the site will be impacted.
• The Lower School (Nursery through 5^th grade) is eliminated from the application reducing student population by 33 percent from 950 to 640, reducing building square footage by 35 per cent, and significantly reducing traffic by another 42 percent.

Under the proposed Stipulation of Settlement, the Common Council would agree that this plan presents a potentially reasonable alternative for resolving and settling the outstanding litigation.  The Council would also agree to provide the Alternative Plan a diligent and fair review in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, mutually agreed to milestones, Court-ordered oversight for the review process, and the staying of all litigation until the Alternative Plan is determined by the city under its normal public review procedures.

 “We are gratified that the Common Council has approved the settlement agreement. Tonight’s vote is long overdue and represents a win-win for the City and the FASNY community.  All parties can now put aside costly litigation and concentrate on obtaining final approvals for a compromise school plan,” said Andrea Colombel, Board Chairperson of FASNY.