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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From left: Marissa Quattrone, Empire City Casino; Catherine Stevens, Renaissance Westchester Hotel; Taryn Duffy, Empire City Casino; Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino; Natasha Caputo, Director of Westchester County Tourism and Film; David Leftwich, IBM Learning Center; and representatives from participating hotel partners.

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Executive Office. July 1, 2013:

Tourism is up again in Westchester County..

At a press conference today at the newly renovated Renaissance Westchester Hotel in White Plains, he reported that tourism in Westchester generated $1.68 billion in 2012, an increase of $26 million over 2011. Visitor spending also produced $108 million in local taxes and supported 23,064 jobs in Westchester last year.

“We are pleased to say that the tourism industry in Westchester County is thriving and growing,” Astorino said. “We have growth in recreation, food and beverage, lodging and transportation, as well as new developments. By building on the momentum of our Meet Me in Westchester branding campaign, we have significantly increased awareness of what the county has to offer visitors and residents.”

Astorino also announced the launch of a new program through which Empire City Casino will provide free round-trip shuttle service Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 Westchester hotels to the casino in Yonkers and back to each hotel.

The county executive noted that over the last year, there has been more than $100 million invested in hotel renovations, development and tourist attractions.

These include:

• A $50 million expansion at Empire City Casino, including a new casino entrance, 66,000 square feet of gaming floor, Dan Rooney’s Sports Pub, Alley 810, a craft cocktail lounge with bowling lanes, and Pinch Restaurant, a collaboration with Ducasse Studio.
• A $12 million complete overhaul of the Renaissance Westchester
• A $15 million renovation of the Crowne Plaza in White Plains
• A $10 million renovation of the Castle Hotel & Spa in Tarrytown
• A $2 million investment by the Westchester Marriott on a complete “reconcepting” and renovation of its on-site restaurant, now called Cooper’s Mill

Two other hotels currently are under construction: a 130-room Cambria Suites hotel on Main Street in White Plains, part of a $47 million mixed-use development; and the Green Holiday Inn in Peekskill, which is the first platinum LEED Certified Hotel in the Northeast.

Dan Conte, general manager of the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown and president of the Westchester Hotel Association, said the robust construction was a sign of a healthy hospitality sector.

“We have an outstanding collaboration in Westchester between the county, our hotels and our tourism attractions,” said Conte. “And it continues to get better, thanks to the efforts of County Executive Astorino.”

Ryan Murphy, vice president of marketing at Empire City Casino, said that he expects the new shuttle service to be a great success.

“Empire City Casino is a top entertainment destination,” he said. “More than 8.4 million people come to our casino each year, including both residents and out-of-county visitors. Partnering with Westchester hotels to increase tourism for the area is something we’ve been working on for some time. We are proud to announce today’s launch of this shuttle service and look forward to its success and expansion.”

Several tourist attractions also opened in the last year, contributing significant dollars to the area and adding to Westchester’s status as a destination. These include:

• The only LEGOLAND Discovery Center in the northeast and one of only five in the country opened this past March at Westchester’s Ridge Hill in Yonkers. The center cost $12 million and is a draw for visitors from across the New York Metropolitan area.
• $1 million in electric and climate-control upgrades at John Jay Homestead State Historic Site in Katonah and a new visitor center.

Westchester accounted for 53% of all travel and tourism spending in the Hudson Valley region, according to Tourism Economics, a leading economic forecasting and assessment consulting company that prepared the 2012 “Economic Impact of Tourism” report for the New York State Department of Economic Development.

The tagline for tourism in the county, Meet Me in Westchester, is the center of a multi-disciplinary campaign that incorporates print and digital advertising, public relations, social media and a comprehensive website that features information on hotels, events, restaurants, retailers and destinations throughout the county. For more information, please visit www.visitwestchesterny.com.

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2013. By John F. Bailey. June 27, 2013:

I interviewed White Plains Councilman Benjamin Boykin on White Plains Week Monday evening on his positions as he starts his run for County Legislator in the White Plains, Harrison, Scarsdale District 5.  in his bid to replace Bill Ryan who is retiring and decided not to run. Boykin is opposed by Miriam Flisser, Mayor of Scarsdale up until four months ago.

I thought Mr. Boykin said several interesting things.

He said revaluation countywide is not the answer to cutting property taxes, mandate relief is. He said the state should take over Medicaid, pensions and child disability services from the county (not charging the counties for them).

He said county revaluation of properties was a distraction and would cost the county $50 to $100 Million dollars to execute.

Boykin criticised  the number of jobs the Rob Astorino administration had added to the management side of the county, saying it had to be trimmed. 

He said  taking fund balance dollars to avoid a property tax increase was a procedure he believed in ,(“sometimes you have to do that”). 

Boykin got on board with the Noam Bramson (Democrat candidate for County Executive), saying he advocated retaining social services while keeping property taxes in check.

Asked how incentives to attract businesses can be offered and still avoid losing benefits of new business taxes, he called for “clawbacks” attached to business incentives if businesses granted tax breaks did not meet job creation promises.  

I asked him about the never-ending wrangling between County Executive Robert P. Astorino and the county legislature over the affordable housing HUD settlement.  Boykin brought up an interesting take: He said what HUD is overlooking is that smaller communities targeted by the settlement as being in need of affordable housing and zoning restrictive  do not have the infrastructure in place  now such as sewage systems and transit services required by dense units such as townhouses or cluster housing.

The councilman who has supported quotas of affordable units in new White Plains developments, said each community targeted as needing certain numbers of units had to find the solution on their own and work out the solution to HUD satisfaction.  Mr. Boykin stopped short of saying the county should intervene with zoning in place in the HUD-pinpointed communities.

On the ongoing analysis of how Bus Rapid Transit could be incorporated into the Cross Westchester Expressway corridor (just recently completed by the Department of Transportation), traveling through White Plains and Harrison, he supported placing Bus Rapid Transit stops at the White Plains and Harrison railroad stations (whenever the new Tappan Zee Bridge is completed). 

To see the complete interview with Mr. Boykin with John Bailey and Jim Benerofe, go to www.whitplainsweek.com

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WPCNR THE HOUSING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. Interview with Mike Graessle, Rand Realty. June 25, 2013:

Housing sales in the City of White Plains are up 48% as of Monday according to Mr. Real Estate in White Plains, Mike Graessle of Rand Realty.  

WPCNR  talked with Mr. G Monday afternoon and through Monday, Closings in White Plains for the first six months of 2013 are 83 compared to the first six months of 2012 (5)8—up 43%. Prices have bottomed out and appear slowly on upswing.

The average selling price the first six months of this year  is $583,505 almost even with the first 6 months of 2012, still down 4% from the $601,602 it was in 2011. Mike tells your reporter that there are a number of contracts negotiated the last two months that will be closing in July and August which he feels will sustain this robust White Plains market.

The median price  is another story: It’s even with the $530,000 median price the last three years.

It’s taking longer to sell a house this spring. The average days on the market on closings was  8 months, that is up from  6 months on the market in the first half of 2011. Mike interprets this to mean homeowners are holding  out for higher prices in midst of the demand. 

However  buyers have been selling at just 6% off their first offering price and 3% off their final listing price. Prices are fluctuating up, Mr. Graessle reports. This in contrast to three years ago when the drop from the first offering price final price was 15%.

Another factor in White Plains is appraisers are being cautious, so as not to run afoul of the Dodd Franklin Act. Mike warns sellers they have to not price homes too high and negotiate  too high a selling price that an appraiser working for the mortgaging bank would characterize as too high. Graessle warns sellers they need to make sure that banks have the most up to date information about their house. 

Mike has seen instances where buyers could not get a mortage because the appraiser had appraised the house lower than the agreed-on mortgage. By the same token sellers lost money when mortgages were turned down because the appraisers thought the price at which they agreed to purchase was too high.

Mike’s rosy report:  the White Plains housing inventory is down, meaning good news for homeowners wishing to sell.

 Potential buyers  have to decide if interest rates are going up as the fed indicated this week, should they mortgage now. 

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Aubrey Sinn Thoroughly Thrilling as Maria in WBT’S SOUND OF MUSIC!

WPCNR THEATRE REVIEW By John F. Bailey. June 23, 2013:

What is the best  super musical of all time? My Fair Lady? Anything Goes? Phantom?  Annie Get Your Gun? Forty Second Street?

My vote is The Sound of Music.

The measure of a musical entertainment is its impact at the time and how it plays a half century after it was first produced. The Cole Porters, the Lerner and Lowes, the Irving Berlins, the Rodgers and Hammersteins’  they hold together  charming audiences decades removed from when they first awed critics and were hot tickets.

You see the magic that sets the supermusicals apart from the rest through August 11 at Westchester Broadway Theatre, (the Super County’s number one entertainment value).  Bring grandma, grandpa, and the grandchildren to see Bob  Funking and Bill Stutler’s (creative teams in their own right)  production of  R & H’s The Sound of Music.  Sound of Music  flaunted its  charm before the distinguished members of the press Thursday evening.

As the nuns of Nunnberg Abbey wonder where Maria is, there is the intrepid Maria, played with poised aplomb by  Aubrey Sinn, singing The Sound of Music  against a majestic mountain,  you come alive! As if an old friend is back again.

You’re grinning to the nuns of Nunnberg Abby singing “What do you do about a problem like Maria?”  as they in song,  define the character you’ve just met:
How do you solve a problem like Maria?

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

How do you find the word that means Maria?

A flibbertigibbet, a willow the wisp, a clown

After these first two songs, if you’re not already in love with  Ms. Sinn’s Maria, who hits just the right nuances of independence, spirit, courage and spunk, with repressed sex appeal, and sense of wonder too, of course, hitting all the notes just right, emotionally, comically  as well as  personnally connecting,

Karen Murphy as the Abbess is  taken in…reminiscing with the repentant  Maria dueting on  A Few of My Favorite Things”   (Whiskers on kittiens…remember)

Aubrey Sinn’s Maria charms The Sound of Music’s charming von Trapp children at first encounter

Ms. Sinn (last seen in Legally Blonde at this venue) is totally believable, interacting naturally and selling Maria’s connection with the von Trapp children, played  by the best acting collection of kid thespians I have seen in a long time since the Mousketeers.

Captain von Trapp (Matthew Shepard) is shocked, shocked to see his children singing under Maria’s tutelage and whistles them back into march step

And I want to name them all now:  Mollyjane Boyle, Evelyn Carr, Harrison Cohen, Jasmine Cores, Olivia Fanders, Giann Florio, Hannah Moore, Michelle Moughan,, Matthew Quirk, Travis Ramirez Race Rundhaug and Brandon Szep.

They did not all play on the night I saw the show, but the ones who did play had such great rapport, choreography and presence particularly on  Do-Re-Mi. Maria transforms the regimented children of Captain Von Trapp, and teaches them to sing. (Von Trapp summons his children  with a naval ship whistle that’s how domineering he is).

When Maria  is first introduced to the dashing Captain Von Trapp and the uplifting attraction between the three: Maria, von Trapp and the children clicks on stage!  The singing children capture you in the nonsensical “So Long Farewell” at the close of the ball in Act One. (Surprised how songs you know keep cropping up?). Come on you slightly older people–you remember how So Long Farewell goes:

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good night

I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu

Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu

The oldest of the children Leisel is brought heart-rendingly to life by Molly Emerson whose love for a young man engulfed in the Nazi occupation of 1938 cannot be. Ms. Emerson’s emotionally true reactions – the dramatic confrontation in Act Two in the Abbey Garden with Rolf (Cameron Bartell) is a dramatic highlight – are played flawlessly.

Molly Emerson as Liesl duetting with Cameron Bartell singing Sixteen Going on Seventeen duet in Act One is pitch perfect between the two. I liked these two actors in this cameo romance.

I am assuming everyone knows the story of The Sound of Music. I saw this with my journalism colleague, Brenda Starr who in her career of reporting for The Flash, had never seen either the musical or the movie of this musical. Ms. Starr is very demanding in her entertainment. Well, she felt the production was  “Well  done. Maria was great sang beautifully and sweet and innocent and the kids were all fun.” This is high praise from the no-nonsense redhead.

The musical is based on the story of Maria Von Trapp who published her autobiographical book, The Story of the Von Trapp Family Singers  in 1949. It is the true account of how she and von Trapp fled German-occupied Austria in 1938, escaping with nothing, eventually settling in Vermont, making a new life for themselves, and toured the world as The von Trapp Family Singers.

Mary Martin, the actress bought the rights for a stage version, commissioned a script and Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote new songs.  It became a  Broadway hit that plays today with all the heart, inspiration and magic it had 54 years ago.

So you’re getting the idea here that WBT has in its reverent respect for the great musicals of yesterday and beyond yesterday has brought this classic back? I hope so.

Karen Murphy, The Abbess, consoling Aubrey Sinn (Maria)

Karen Murphy, playing The Abbess will send chills up your spine and replace your lost courage with her glorious over-the-top house-pleasing Climb Every Mountain.  Ms. Murphy exhorts Maria – who of course has fallen in love with Captain Von Trapp – and has left to return to the abbey in shame — to go back to the family because her love for von Trapp is a higher calling – as love always is. Murphy steals the show with her two belt-it-out-of-the-park Climb Every Mountain performances.

Matthew Shepard as Captain von Trapp and Aubrey Sinn is his Maria. All photos by John Vecchiola, courtesy Westchester Broadway Theatre

Matthew Shepard is a game Captain von Trapp to the iconnette   Maria, Aubrey Sinn. I would have liked to have seen a little more chemistry, (but you know these military types!) But perhaps that is what is most charming about Shepard and Sinn in these two roles. They are an incongruous striking couple without the faux passion that Hollywood so often sells us. You root for them.

The clinches between Von Trapp and Maria are delicately and expressively played.  Shepard appears genuinely enchanted. Maria not knowing what is happening to her.  And they will get better. It’s true romance. Everybody in the audience feels it and wanted it.

Maria’s return to the von Trapp family in Act II is well –played by them both. The marriage of the two excellently staged.

When the nasty Nazi high command shows up demanding von Trapp take a commission  in the Nazi navy, Maria and her new husband know they must escape. (A note: the menace of the Nazis is superbly rendered by the brown-shirts in this.)

Jamison Stern plays a deft comic foil in Max Detweiler who encourages the von Trapps to appear in the national talent show that plays a key role in their attempt to escape.

Michelle Dawson does a glamorus 30s heiress with her cap set for the Captain, delivering laughs as she observes the threat Maria is to her designs.

The talent show  Max  arranges sets the stage for the von Trapp escape.  The lovely Edelweiss sung by Maria,the children and the Captain at the conclusion of the talent festival means there is no turning back.

Does true love triumph? What do you think?

In my mentioning all these songs, don’t you want to hear them again? You bet.

This is a show where the book is so seamless with the music, tunes so good they move the plot, and  that the frequent reprises in the show tell the timelessness of their message.

A tip of my panama hat to Jonathan Stahl, the director and choreographed whose controlled staging and plot-concious choreography did not distract from the emotional drive and momentum of this musical. And this one really moved, ladies and gentleman. An hour and a half first act that seemed short. The relaxing 30-minute intermission.  A 45-minute second act  filled with suspense and left you walking out uplifted, entertained, and enthralled. The orchestra under Leo P. Causone laid a musical bed that made the singers’ lyrics glitter. No overriding!

As Piia Haas, the ballyhooette who writes WBT program notes observes, “It has been said of the pair (Rodgers and Hammerstein) that they changed the destiny of American musical theatre. The Sound of Music ended up being the most financially successful film adaptation of a Broadway musical ever made.”

Ms. Haas who can be considered the curator of musical history at the WBT, notes in a poignant anecdoate, Edelweiss was the last song Oscar Hammerstein II wrote.

Sound of Music ran for five years on Broadway for 1,443 performances.

In my book, I had no expectations going to see this. My natural cynicism was ready to dismiss it. But, it’s right up there slightly better than My Fair Lady, I’d have to say the musical’s songs and book speak to the doubts we all have in life. The many reasons we find not to chase our dreams and addresses the reasons why we should have the courage to never let them go..

The ball, where von Trapp is distracted by Maria.

This is Number one in my book. You will love it. And not one nasty word in it. Perfect for children of all ages.

The Sound of Music reprise at Westchester Broadway Theatre plays through August 11. Tickets which include dinner may be purchased at  914-592-2268 or on the theatre website, www.BroadwayTheatre.com

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The Sturgeon

WPCNR NEW NEW YORK BRIDGE NEWS & TRAFFIC ADVISORY.  Special to WPCNR from The New York State Thruway Authority. June 23, 2013:

Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC (TZC) will place a full array of acoustic receivers near the construction zone during the week of June 24.  This series of receivers will be used to locate endangered Atlantic and Short-Nose sturgeon that have been tagged by other researchers. 

Limited geotechnical analysis boring and subsurface utility exploration operations continue this week in Tarrytown. The work will require eastbound I-87/I-287 right lane closures in the vicinity of exit 9 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday as well as westbound I-87/I-287 right lane closures Wednesday and Friday.  Work activities will be conducted between 10 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday.

The Sturgeon Acoustic Telemetry Monitoring Plan has been developed by fisheries scientists to monitor the movement of sturgeon through the construction zone.  This data will be reported to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the National Marine Fisheries Service and will be an important resource in the study of sturgeon migration and movement through the Hudson Valley.  This is only one part of a much larger environmental stewardship program being undertaken by TZC and the New York State Thruway Authority.

Ongoing operations:

–          Cleaning and preparation for future construction of the Thruway’s Rockland Bulkhead

–          Construction of the temporary Westchester work trestle which includes pile driving operations that will occur weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

–          Survey inspections on existing bridge

–          Rockland environmental monitor installations continue

–          Geotechnical land borings

–          Mobilization at the Interchange 10 staging area

–          Support for river-based work from the Rockland shoreline

Rockland: Limited geotechnical analysis boring operations continue this week on Thruway property in South Nyack and will not require lane closures due to work being performed behind barriers.  Work is scheduled on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m..