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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 WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2013. From Cass Cibelli, Candidate for Mayor of White Plains. August 4, 2013:

Renaissance Plaza needs to improve its image. What could be the jewel of our downtown seems drab and stuck in time, seemingly tired and uninviting. Particularly now, on Wednesday nights, the fountains are jammed with people listening to loud, contemporary music while a chalkboard chronicles the scribbles of a sentence stem begging, “Before I die”.

We Propose:  “As I live…” displayed electronically, and erected high so as citizens watch the fountain waters rise, their eyes take in positive and refreshing messages. These messages may be texted from all over the world, or right from our very own town such as announcements, words of encouragement welcoming home soldiers and congratulations to graduates, local teams and civic groups; it all can be managed from a lap top computer.

In terms of Public Safety, the band shell needs to go. That it sits in a full lane of traffic just raises the probability that if for any reason, the City needs that space at a moment’s notice; it just doesn’t have it, at great peril to pedestrians and automobiles; save to mention bicyclists. A city-owned light truck sits idle with no emergency vehicle in sight. Perhaps it was inconspicuous?

Save the electricity, down size the unnecessary overhead, and transform the arts.  Change the experience from a top down, passive performance venue like cover bands, to a more appropriately amplified musical performance such as string quartets and light jazz ensembles; moreover, Doo Wop artists and the many tribute artists currently on the circuit.

It appears that from the sound and volume of the cover bands, the fact that the bands tower over the crowds, losing the natural buffer all those bodies provide, restaurant patrons within ear’s shot while dining alfresco obviously strain their conversations.

Economically speaking, the City spends taxpayer dollars to produce this venue and fails to leverage its clout to raise revenues by utilizing a space like Renaissance Plaza Fountains effectively.

We see in Renaissance Plaza a chance for real culture.

A venue whose ambiance deserves what is pleasing to the eyes, palate and particularly to the ears so citizens can choose where to spend their dollars and hear themselves think.  In Frascati, Italy, there are merchants with fresh fruits, gelato and Panini, jewelry; both costume and fine, literature, paintings and prints, and as you shop or browse, you remain engaged and free to be you.

Here at home we will generate fees from Participating Merchants so residents, visitors and future investors alike experience the real 21st Century White Plains. We can replicate world class experiences in White Plains.  We propose to promote local and world-renowned artists, musicians and retailers. That they be celebrated in White Plains doesn’t come free. It’s a win-win situation, particularly for tax payers. We do not believe for a second that owners of the Residences at the Ritz Carlton expected their investments to include a regularly scheduled Block Party outside their windows?

This November, we have a real chance to change the direction of White Plains by focusing now on what seniors, young families and their children deserve: A quality of life supported and paid for by raising revenues and relieving us of the current outrageous tax burden. The lack of vision at Renaissance Plaza is endemic of the lack of vision for the entire 10 square miles that makes up White Plains.

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PETER KATZ, JOHN BAILEY BAND JIM BENEROFE REPORTING

PETER KATZ, JOHN BAILEY AND JIM BENEROFE

ON

 THE TAPPAN ZEE ACCIDENT

 THE CITY DRAGS FEET ON REVEALING THE REAL POLICE OVERTIME FIGURES SAYS POLICE JUST WANT A 3-DAY WORK WEEK. POLICE SAY $50,000 EXPENDED IN OT IN JULY ALONE.

MAIN STREET HOTEL BRINGS IN THE CRANES

CITY AUDITS CABLEVISION AND VERIZON.

PETER KATZ ON THE TELEVISION OF THE FUTURE.

ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK THE CITY NEWS ROUNDUP SHOW

 ON THE INTERNET

AT

www.whiteplainsweek.com

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From New York City Police Department. August 2, 2013:

The NYPD is asking the public to advise them if they know of the whereabouts of former Bleakley, Platt & Schmidt paralegal, Dana Lauren Bonanno, reported missing from her Greenpoint, Brooklyn apartment since July 22. The official information:

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey, July 31, 2013:

THE CITY OF WHITE PLAINS will audit cable franchise operators in the city, agreeing to authorize spending $35,000 to hire an independent audit firm with experience examingng cable operations, to audit Verizon Fios and Cablevision for the last five years of operations in the city. The new effort was presented to the Common Council at a Special Meeting Monday night.

John Callahan the city Corporation Counsel told WPCNR the effort is to confirm that Verizon and Cablevision are paying all the money they should on all the revenue streams they are supposed to be paying their franchise fees on.

 Callahan said that if the audit found Verizon and Cablevision are earning less, the city might have to pay a refund. However that is not likely. towns in the county have found in recent audits that they were owed amounts of approximately a million dollars by cable companies after similar audits.

The cable business has been losing share to new media.

Verizon has taken away about 4,000 subscribers from Verizon, which has 15,800, down about 4 to 5,000 from five years ago when Verizon came in. And the cable business is losing share to the new media. 

Callahan, asked about the Public Education Grants fees that cablevision has not paid in six years, told WPCNR  the city is negotiating with Cablevision on this matter. Estimates are the lack of an agreement on the PEG fee  has been costing the city cable television operation $220,000 a year for 9 years.

Establishing regular PEG payments again with Cablevision is critical for the city to pay for the $1.5 to $2 million move to the White Plains Public Library some day. They have no money to do that yet, unless other revenues are diverted to the reinvention of White Plains Public Access TV to the library.

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WPCNR LETTER TO THE EDITOR. July 28, 2013:

NOAM BRAMSON IN WHITE PLAINS LAST WEEK.

Noam Bramson, candidate for County Executive authored this commentary on the Trayvon Martin shooting and death, and the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial in Sanford Florida, after attending a memorial for Martin Friday evening:

Last night, I attended a vigil in Peekskill held in memory of Trayvon Martin. It was a good event, attended by an impressive cross section of the surrounding community, and featuring speeches from religious and civic leaders. This morning, I feel inspired to share a few thoughts, but I do so with caution and humility, because I can’t claim any special or original wisdom on such a difficult subject.

As a father, I can only imagine the pain that Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, must now feel. When a case is the topic of such extensive commentary and has such broad social significance, the person at its center can be reduced to an abstract symbol. It is important to remember that he was a human being, flesh and blood, loved and
now mourned.

As a policy-maker, I believe that so-called “Stand Your Ground” laws encourage a dangerous shoot-first mentality. Except in the rarest of circumstances, we are much better off working to deescalate conflict and leaving deadly force to public safety professionals. The success of the gun lobby in promoting these laws around the country offers a dispiriting parallel to the gun lobby’s equally harmful obstruction of common sense gun safety
standards in Congress and elsewhere. I genuinely respect the right of responsible citizens to keep and bear arms, but I will never comprehend the logic that says the answer to gun violence is more guns, with more firepower, in more hands.

Finally and most importantly, as a citizen, the verdict and the myriad discussions that followed remind me of how much race relations in America have advanced . . . and of how far we will still have to go.

Several years ago, as I was preparing to leave home to attend the annual  MLK breakfast in New Rochelle, I asked my boys, half-jokingly, what I should say to the crowd. Jeremy replied: “why don’t you talk about how people should be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.”

Jeremy had just learned about Dr. King in kindergarten and was simply repeating
the lesson, but, still, I was floored and moved. When a little white boy growing
up in the suburbs learns those words literally before learning how to add and
subtract, there is no doubt that something is going right.

But there is also a sort of false comfort in such little anecdotes. Knowing the words is
easier than living them. And celebrating equality in theory, although certainly a good thing, is no substitute for wrestling with the persistence of inequality, in all its uncomfortable complexity. Trayvon’s death and the disparate responses to the verdict, starkly divided by race, reveal a nation still struggling with its original sins. All of us need to try harder to reach beyond the confines of our own personal interests and experiences and better understand our neighbors and fellow Americans.

I am an optimist by nature, so I will close with another famous quote from King: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Good words to remember. Let’s also remember that the arc of justice bends with our help.

My thanks to the organizers of last night’s (Friday)vigil for giving us a chance to come together.

Noam Bramson, Mayor, City of New Rochelle