WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER 3,374,995 VISITS IN ONE YEAR—65,000 VISITS A WEEK BY 985,281 VISITORS

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. June 8, 2009: Senator Suzi Openheimer’s press office advised WPCNR today that  Senate Bill  1076 A establishing a separate Commercial Assessment Ratio for commercial properties in Westchester County is not scheduled to go to the senate floor. It is still in committee.

 Press officer Debra LaGapa told WPCNR that Senator Oppenheimer is preparing a statement on the bill criticized by the Westchester Count Association last week to correct “a lot  of misinformation” about what the Commercial Assessment Ratio bill would do.

County Executive Andrew Spano of Westchester County has sent a letter indicating he has sympathy for the residential taxpayers, but not supporting this bill at this time, because, according to Department of Communications spokesperson Victoria Hochman, he has reservations about how the separate commercial assessment ratio would affect the county economy at this time, and that the bill may need some clarification. WPCNR awaits text of the letter

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From The Governor’s Press Office. June 8,2009: Governor David A. Paterson today unveiled Bold Steps to A New Economy: A Jobs Plan for the People of New York. Speaking at the New York Academy of Sciences in lower Manhattan, the first stop on his statewide New Economy Leadership Tour, the Governor highlighted the emergence of a New Economy based on knowledge, technology and innovation – and outlined his vision for how New York will lead this New Economy. The Governor’s Jobs Plan capitalizes on federal stimulus dollars to drive economic recovery in the fields of energy, environmental protection, technology and health care.

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Governor David Patterson. WPCNR News Archive Photo

Governor Paterson announced the creation of an Innovation Economy Matching Grants program that will provide a 10 percent match for every stimulus dollar the federal government awards through competitive grants to research facilities in New York State. New York will allocate $100 million over several years for this program which is expected to leverage one billion dollars in federal research funding. This program will help ensure that new research centers are built in New York which will position the state for future federal grants and private investment.

“At this critical moment in New York’s history, it is our responsibility to act, and to act with the interests of future generations in mind. We are a state rich with resources, the most impressive of which is our human capital,” added the Governor. “A new economy is emerging: an economy based on knowledge, technology and innovation. Our state has led the world’s economy for the past hundred years, and we are poised to lead for the next hundred. We have the brightest minds, the best universities, the most dynamic companies, and a thriving tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship.”

In addition to the creation of the Innovation Economy Matching Grants program, Governor Paterson announced several other new initiatives:

Renewable Energy: New York State will urge the Public Service Commission to release $100 million from our Renewable Portfolio Standard program by the end of the summer to ensure we have shovel-ready projects in the pipeline that can compete for stimulus funding for renewable energy programs.

Smart Grid Technology: New York will capitalize on federal stimulus funding for smart grid technology. Through the stimulus, the federal government will provide up to 50 percent of project costs for smart grid. Governor Paterson today called on the Public Service Commission to review New York’s utility proposals for smart grid deployment and approve matching funds before applications are due on July 29. 

Scientific Research: A life science innovation cluster will be created that brings together venture capital companies, medical schools, academic health centers, and research institution partners to develop the health care products of the future. Under Governor Paterson’s leadership, New York State has already created the Empire State Stem Cell Fund which has already invested $118 million to support vital stem cell research at institutions across the state.

These new initiatives build on steps that Governor Paterson has already taken over the past year to build a new economy for New York including:

• Establishing a 45 x 15 clean energy goal which is projected to create up to 50,000 jobs for New Yorkers;
  
• Reforming the Empire Zone program;
  
• Creating a $600 million Empire State Stem Cell Fund;
  
• Establishing the Governor’s Task Force to diversify New York State’s economy through Industry – Higher Education partnerships;
  
• Creating the SUNYGREENSNY initiative which is a partnership among Alfred State College and seven partners to develop clean energy technology training across the State;
  
• Restore NY through which the state invested $300 million over the past three years to improve the state’s infrastructure

“The time for bold thinking is now. This is the time for encouraging businesses that are thriving and for investing in the industries that hold promise for the future. Through coordination among our innovation-promoting state agencies and the new programs we announced today, we will put our greatest resources to work for the people of New York,” said Governor Paterson.

Bold Steps to the New Economy: A Jobs Plan for the People of New York

Capturing the New Innovation Economy and Creating Jobs for the People of New York

According to the Council on Competitiveness, approximately 50 percent of the recent US annual GDP growth is attributed to an increase in innovation. New York has the tools needed to succeed in a number of key innovative industries – life sciences, cleantech, and nanotechnology.  In the Kauffman Foundation’s 2008 State New Economy Index study, New York ranked highly in several areas, including: broadband telecommunications, science and engineering, patent development and alternative energy use. 

By helping to grow these industries, Governor Paterson will work to ensure that quality jobs are created in and imported to New York.  The innovation economy lends itself to higher paying jobs. The average salary of an individual who works in the innovation economy is over double that of an individual who works in the non-innovation economy.  New York State ranked second in the nation in the number of “gazelle” jobs – jobs at the fastest growing companies. In addition, in New York State, innovation economy industries produce a higher “multiplier effect.” For every one job that is created in the innovation economy, 3.5 jobs are created overall. Every job created in the non-innovation economy leads to the creation of only 1.7 jobs.

Innovation Economy Matching Grants Program

We will commit up to $100 million to create the Innovation Economy Matching Grants Program.  The National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation and other federal agencies will soon make American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars designated for technology and research available for competitive distribution. New York institutions and companies are poised to successfully compete for these funds. In order to leverage these ARRA funds, and to enhance the competitive position of New York applicants, the State of New York is committing up to a 10% match in State funds for each ARRA awardee in strategic areas. We will prioritize applications from the most promising sectors of New York’s innovation economy: renewable energy, clean tech, and smart grid; nanotechnology; stem cell, biomedical, and life sciences; advanced manufacturing; broadband, information technology, and cyber security.  We expect that the State will invest up to $100 million over several years, thereby leveraging over $1 billion in federal research funding.  The Governor’s Stimulus Cabinet, which has been closely monitoring opportunities for competitive funds, will determine the parameters of the grants program and oversee its administration. By prudently allocating the State’s limited fiscal resources, we can have a dramatic impact on our ability to tap into important ARRA funds, thereby accelerating our economic development efforts across the state.   

In addition to the $1 billion in federal research funding, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act includes nearly $8 billion of funding for smart grid technology, renewable energy and clean energy projects.  New York will be able to utilize available Recovery Act dollars to accelerate the pace at which the Governor’s 45 by 15 clean energy goal is achieved.

We have reason to be hopeful as this approach has already worked in New York.  In the one known major ARRA program for which a 10 percent State match was committed, the Department of Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) awarded the state with five grants that will infuse over $95 million in federal funds to New York-designated centers.  The 10 percent match made by New York entails only approximately $477,000 in cash outlays in FY 09-10.

Examples of the investments we will make through this matching program are:

Cutting-Edge Research in Medicine and the Life Sciences

• New York is already a leader in cancer research, and if we combine the mega-watt talent that resides in this state, we can find better cancer treatments and get them to patients sooner.  There are six NIH National Cancer Institute Centers in New York State: Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Herbert Irving Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; New York University Cancer Institute; and Roswell Park Cancer Center.  We will identify specific advances in cancer treatments which have come from these efforts and which are underway today.
  
• In diabetes research, New York State has NIH designated Centers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Columbia University and Albert Einstein School of Medicine.  Key to future efforts will be integrating the work of other specialties from other institutions to explore new collaborative efforts for breakthrough discoveries.
  
• We will foster the creation of a life science innovation cluster, building off of private sector assets such as the East River Science Park, which will house and attract leading life science and venture capital companies, and the strengths of our leading medical schools, academic health centers, and research institution partners, resulting in a collaborative state-wide research initiative.

Commercialization of Science and Technology

• The Federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, administered by NYSTAR, allocate and set aside a portion of federal R&D funds for small business to develop and commercialize innovative technology (In 2009, federal agencies set aside $2.9 billion in SBIR & STTR program funds). Awards are made by respective Federal Agencies in phases, with initial awards of up to $100,000 for six months, and subsequent awards of up to $750,000 for two years made to small businesses.   While New York has ranked in the top 6 States for receiving federal SBIR and STTR awards, New York applications for federal funding have trailed well behind states such as California and Massachusetts.  Both the submission of applications and receipt of awards are expected to increase if additional matching funds are provided by the State.  The Task Force on Industry-Higher Education Partnerships will identify ways to maximize the effectiveness of awarded funds.

Universal Broadband

• Governor Paterson has articulated a goal of achieving universal access to high-speed broadband Internet coverage in all corners of the state. By Executive Order 22, the governor is creating a Broadband Development and Deployment Council that will articulate and execute a broadband policy for New York and guide the State as it invests funds received through ARRA. With universal broadband access, all 19,000,000 New Yorkers will become equal and full participants in the information an age and information economy. 
  
• The ARRA includes $7.2 billion for broadband development, and our New York State Universal Broadband Strategy lays the groundwork for the state to maximize these funds.  ARRA funding would allow the state to build the next-generation of broadband networks, support affordable Internet connections, and develop digital literacy training programs for low-income households to increase household adoption rates.
  
• Our broadband goals are designed to: leverage existing state-owned and privately held assets; exploit state procurement practices; foster public/private partnerships to maximize use of services offered over the Internet for citizens; and create jobs through innovative community-based digital literacy and technology training programs to increase household technology adoption rates.  These goals can only be achieved by reaching and maintaining speeds and coverage levels that will sustain our competitive advantage. 

Nearly $8 billion in Recovery Act dollars are available for smart grid, renewable energy, and clean energy projects.  Opportunities available for energy matching grants include:

Leveraging Recovery Act Dollars for Smart Grid Technology Deployment

• A Smart Grid consortium will bring together more than 16 industry partners and research institutions to position New York in applying for federal smart grid ARRA funding.  Partnering New York’s research strengths in areas such as sensing and IT architecture, which is critical to the realization of a Smart Grid, will lead to numerous opportunities for manufacturing the necessary technology components, and enabling the acceptance of other clean energy technologies – i.e. solar, wind and hybrid vehicles. 
  
• Under the federal ARRA, there is $3.375 billion available nationwide for deploying smart grid technology.  The U.S. Department of Energy will pay up to 50% of the project cost for selected projects.  Applications are due July 29.  As this infrastructure is built largely by utilities regulated by the Public Service Commission, the Commission must approve any matching funds.  In an effort to ensure New York’s utilities are well positioned to compete for ARRA funds, we requested that utilities file smart grid project plans with the PSC by April 17.  Utilities submitted projects totaling $1.3 billion for PSC review.  It is essential that the PSC act swiftly to finish its review of these project proposals, and approve appropriate matching funds before the utilities’ applications are due on July 29. 

Leveraging Recovery Act Dollars for Clean Energy and Renewable Energy Projects

• The ARRA also makes $2.5 billion available nationally for clean energy and renewable energy projects.  And for projects that commence construction in 2009 or 2010, the ARRA provides a tax credit up to 30 percent of the project cost.  In order to ensure there are shovel-ready projects in New York State that can take advantage of the federal tax credit and ARRA funding, NYSERDA must issue a Request for Proposals by the end of the summer, making available over $100 million in state incentives for eligible renewable energy projects under our Renewable Portfolio Standard program. 

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WPCNR MEDIA-ATIONS. June 6, 2009: The independent White Plains information websites, www.whiteplainsonline.com and www.wpny.com, gathered, edited and created for the last five years by Don Hughes of White Plains will “go dark” by the end of next, Mr. Hughes announced today.

Don Hughes, right, the “Documentarian” with Eleanor McDonald at recent City Budget and Management Committee Meeting. Mr. Hughes announced he was not going to continue his unique information websites.

The sites were begin in 2004 by Mr. Hughes in an effort to get important facts, papers, and official documents to the White Plains community in a timely manner. Mr. Hughes said due to business concerns, he can no longer finance the sites and devote the time to gathering the extensive data needed to produce the site content.

Hughes said he began the site in an effort to bring more transparency to both the city government in power and the Democratic Party.  For the last five years, he has done just that, attending work sessions, taping the sessions, and putting up audio clips of particularly interest, plus a host of other interesting documents.

Now that historical resource that Mr. Hughes has created will  be gone in a week.

Mr. Hughes issued the following statement, chronicling why he is closing the sites. It also reveals a pattern of official attitudes towards transparency on the part of the city administration, the Common Council and the City Democratic Party.

Herewith, Mr. Hughes’ statement:

I can no longer afford to maintain the websites www.WhitePlainsOnLine.com, and www.WPNY.us, or the weekly schedule e-mail.

In early 2004 I was very concerned about the political polarization of our country.  A fog of posturing and rhetoric, occasionally rent by lightning strikes of fear, had settled over the county.  There was a climate of “my way or the highway”. 

And, despite claims of wanting to work together, people with different views were dismissed as fools.  Decisions were being made based on faith and intuition instead of facts.  I also believed (and still do) that the overwhelming majority of people are not fools and will make reasonable decisions given reasonable information.

Knowing that I would have little impact on a national level, I offed to help the White Plains Democratic City Committee with technology issues and to add additional information to their website.  There was no interest. 

I then made phone calls and wrote letters for several national candidates and did research for several local candidates.  After the election, I felt that a number of candidates (both Democratic and Republican) deserved better vote counts than they got.  It seemed that many of the really important issues could not be adequately discussed in sound bytes, palm cards, or three minute answers at a candidate’s night forum. 

Consider that in the intervening years a number of candidates attempted to discuss the potential for the financial problems now overwhelming our city, and that they were easily trivialized as being messengers of “doom and gloom”.  If the subject had been honestly discussed, maybe we would not now be looking at a 6.5% tax increase. 

 And while I think that most of the people that have been elected to office are well meaning, I do not believe that they were always the best of the field, or whom a better informed electorate would have chosen.

Tried of talking and in an effort to get things going, I started a new website called www.WhitePlainsDemocrats.com and sent out the following request:

“Even though the election is over, it is still important that the issues that were raised are not brushed aside for another 2 years.  Perhaps it is even more important now so that the administration does not forget that they represent all of the residents, not just the ones that voted for them.

“I am looking for ideas on what to include.  Some thoughts: mailing list, database of letters to the city and when/if they were answered, current financial information, meetings calendar, speakers, meet ups…. Thoughts?”

The response was a demand to close the site because it might be confused with the the WPDCC’s site www.wpdems.com and viewers might think that it represented the official position of the WPDCC. 

After some thought, I renamed the site www.WhitePlainsOnLine.com and expanded the audience to include all political parties including Democrats, Republicans, Working Families, Green, Conservative, Independence, Liberal, and Libertarian. 

 I offered free web pages to neighborhood associations and offered any local official the opportunity to reach out to area residents with newsletters, blogs, white papers, articles, or anything else that they though would help to keep the voters informed on the important issues.  I contacted all of the Common Council members and pleaded with them to discuss the issues behind items appearing on the agenda.  I promised to not censor the content. 

There were no takers.

The project was taking more and more of my time, but I felt that it was critical, and with my wife’s consent, I quit my day job to devote full time to collecting and posting information.

As I became more involved, it became clear that by the time projects came up for votes at Common Council meetings that it was too late to have much impact on the outcome; that it was necessary to identify important projects early in the process as they were introduced in the various committees and boards. 

I also discovered that almost none of the background material (explaining the rationals and specifics behind resolutions and projects on the Common Council agendas) was available on-line, and that  researching any proposal meant many hours at the library. 

I bought a scanner and OCR software and started scanning some material, and manually entering other information; and organizing it all in a searchable on-line index.  I asked if I could get monitored access to historical agendas and minutes so that I could scan them. 

The city refused.  Fortunately someone with personal copies gave me access to several years of material.  Many late nights were spent scanning documents.  An equal amount of time was spent in creating programs for managing, searching, and displaying the resulting files. 

Most requests to the city for data were returned indicating that they should be made as FOIL requests – which I did, and which resulted an interesting exchange with the Mayor at a subsequent Common Council meeting about burdening his staff with requests (which was strange since most of them are still unanswered)..

I postulated that perhaps one of the reasons that so few people attended the various hearings and meetings was the lack of an accurate calendar.  I started an on-line calendar.  I discovered that obtaining accurate information was difficult and required numerous weekly phone calls to various departments to verify times and locations.  And since I was getting frequent e-mails asking when various items would be discussed, I started sending a weekly e-mail covering important meetings.

I reorganized the website into two parts:  www.WhitePlainsOnLine.com with a searchable collection of agendas, and minutes, and www.WPNY.us with a collection of ordinances, maps, and other information.  I spent a lot of time entering information from the city’s charter and code, building code, financial reports as text and excel files, and traffic ordinance.  Some projects such as the interactive map of sex offenders required a lot of time navigating the maze of state bureaucracies to get approval and then a lot of tinkering to find some way to automate extracting the data. 

 I spent several days at the DEC office in New Paltz photocopying material (documenting the city’s long covered-up 30 year toleration of the contaminated city landfill) to add to the site. 

I attended meetings and uploaded audio recordings to the site.  I added maps of building code violations, and maps of election information including voting patterns.  Accurately mapping voter registration information required purchasing several databases and a month of programming effort (sticking pins in a map is easy, doing it accurately with ambiguous data is hard).

I also asked  about getting electronic copies of a number of city and county maps but was informed that they were not available.  I purchased lager printed maps, paid to have them scanned and converted to .pdf files at a local blueprint shop, and loaded them on the site.  I added write-ups on the membership and charters of various boards and commissions. I added RSS, SMS, voice-mail, and Twitter interfaces.

My hope was that there was some truth in the oft repeated claim of wanting to work together, and that the city and others would see this as an opportunity to take advantage of a considerable amount of expertise at no cost. I met several times with the city to offer to help on any technology projects that they did not have the resources to handle.  I developed and demonstrated a problem reporting and contact management system.  Perhaps I was suspected of having some hidden agenda because there was never any followup. 

There also was never any response to my requests to serve on the Cable Access Commission, or the Pedestrian/Traffic Management Advisory Committee.  To be fair, similar offers to the county were met with similar silence.  The only groups to take advantage were the state DOT, which keeps me actively updated on local projects, and the White Plains School District which regularly supplies meeting information and supporting material.  The Library Board, and the Beautification Foundation sporadically send meeting information.   

The city’s website has been recently updated and some of the missing information such as the City Charter and Zoning Ordinance have been added, there is a form for reporting problems, and you can now pay some fees on-line.  I hope that I had some part in pushing them into the 20th  century.

Last year I wrote: “Being a District Leader is an important position.  They are the elected positions closest to you and thus the start of the information pipeline to higher levels of government.  Vote for someone from your neighborhood who shares your Democratic values, who takes the time to knock on your door to get your opinions, and who will still be interested in your concerns next year and the year after, and is not just trying to make a one-time point.” 

Shortly thereafter a past committee chairman forcefully stated that the function of district leaders was to collect signatures, not to collect opinions.  I was stunned.  I increased my efforts in trying to find a way for people to express their concerns.

Late last year I was thrilled when the WPDCC reconstituted the Issues Committee.  Unfortunately after meeting several times to generate a list of concerns that the WPDCC might want to discuss, and before any decisions were made on how to present the information, we were visited by two Common Council members who indicated that they did not want to be constrained by published position papers.  The committee has not met since.

The last straw was several weeks ago when the Common Council effectively eliminated the job of Director of Information Services for the city and it became clear that the Common Council does not see technology as critical to making the city more efficient and cost effective, but as simply as a cost center that, like an electric bill, needs to be controlled. I am tired of hitting my head against the wall, my family is tired of forgoing purchases, and I am admitting defeat.

I would like to thank everyone who sent supportive notes, to John R. who made a donation, and to the neighborhood associations who paid for acquiring some of the material.  I  now need a real job, and would also appreciate any information about anyone looking for a Technology Director, and my wife would appreciate any information about EMT or Emergency Response coordination positions.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS By John F. Bailey. June 5, 2009: The Board of Education is reported to have settled on a new contract with the Civil Service Employees Union for the next two years, beginning July 1. Meanwhile, the White Plains Teachers Association reports the Board of Education cancelled its scheduled fact-finding presentation of May 27 with no explanation. The next scheduled fact-finding meeting is June 15.

Teachers Association President, Kerry Broderick told WPCNR their legal team is prepared to submit the teachers’ case for wage increases that day.  Broderick cautioned that unless a settlement was reached that day or very close thereafter, ratification of the settlement (done in public meeting of union members) would most likely be delayed until the fall. Broderick said the union is entitled to 5 school days after a settlement is reached to put the settlement before the union membership.

Broderick said she expected Board Member  Peter Bassano would be taking less of a role in the teacher-district non-binding arbitration underway,  because the Teachers Union had formally complained about Mr.Bassano’s  recent lobbying activity, which she said violated fact-finding impartiality rules the district was forced by law to observe. She said Mr. Bassano campaigned against the teachers’ position  using school district computers to send partisan messages to a large segment of the community.  The union brought this to the attention of the School Board.

Broderick told WPCNR the teachers union was open to an agreement that would get the school district “through this difficult time without compromising the integrity of the teachers’ pay scale.” Asked if this meant the teachers might consider a “backloaded” contract (smaller  increase in first year, larger increase next year), Broderick said that was possible.

Broderick told WPCNR that incoming Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher Clouet was closely monitoring the situation, and realized he was coming into a “fractured” district, where his first task was to start “healing” the relationship between faculty and administration.

CSEA Reported Settles New Contract.

A knowledgeable source close to the school district CSEA  negotiations told WPCNR Friday afternoon that the CSEA workers were voting on the pact today which calls for a 2%salary increase and a giveback in health benefits, which are not as extensive as those enjoyed by the teachers union. WPCNR is awaiting response from the schools CSEA President to confirm this settlement.

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WPCNR BACKROOM BULLETIN. By John F. Bailey. June 4, 2009 UPDATED WITH STATEMENT FROM REPUBLICAN PARTY11:20 P.M. E.D.T.: For the first time in the history of White Plains, a political party has endorsed the opposition party candidate for Mayor.

A highly placed official of the Republican Party tonight has advised WPCNR the White Plains Republican Party has decided to “invest” in the Democratic Candidate for Mayor, current Assemblyman Adam Bradley, by endorsing him for Mayor.

The official told WPCNR tonight, Adam seems like a good man, and rather than nominate someone to oppose him, though persons were willing to run, the source said. The source advised WPCNR that Republican City Committee head, Brian Maloney had met with Mr. Bradley and on the basis of those meetings the party decided that it had to unite because of “what faces White Plains down the pike,” referring to budget problems the city is experiencing.

The source said Glen Hockley, the Democratic Councilman was interested in running for Mayor on the Republican ticket, but the party rejected him.

Asked by WPCNR whom the Republicans would run to oppose District 5 County Legislator William Ryan, the source declined to answer the question, saying the Republicans would contest Ryan’s seat but could not divulge the candidate at this time. WPCNR asked if this person had White Plains Common Council experience. The source said the Republican County Legislator nominee did not.  Glen Hockley, the Councilman, long rumored to be angling to contest Ryan, has Council experience.

For Common Council, WPCNR’s contact advised that the Republicans would run two newcomers for two of the Council slates: James Arndt, a retailer with extensive experience who runs a retail operation in New York City. The second Common Council Candidate is just retired White Plains Director of  Information Services, Leonard Lolis, whose retirement was disclosed just two weeks ago in the last stages of the White Plains budget approval process. Lolis has been with the about ten years.

The Republicans have decided to endorse the present Democratic Councilman Thomas Roach, for similar reasons they are endorsing Bradley. The source said the Republicans felt thecity has to pull together in this time of crisis and eliminate partisan politics for the sake of politics.

Shortly after 10 P.M. Thursday evening, the Republican Party released this statement: