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 MAMARONECK AVENUE RAMBLER. (Special to WPCNR) December 18, 2010  

Christmas week got off to a merry start in downtown White Plains Sunday morning when Westco Productions presented Breakfast With Frosty the Snowman and his friends at Applebee’s on Mamaroneck Avenue, in the City Center. The event attracted residents from neighboring communities, such as Greenburgh and New Rochelle, as well as White Plains. 

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WPCNR BACKROOM BULLETIN. By John F. Bailey. December 16, 2010:

Councilman Dennis Power, the lone councilman who stands between a Common Council resolution possibly acting to remove Adam Bradley from office, says he is not being pressured by party bosses or district leaders to cast the key 6^th vote that the council would need to remove the Mayor from the Common Council according to some interpretations of Section 30 of the City Charter.

Power spoke to WPCNR in a phone call Wednesday morning from his office with the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities. WPCNR asked Power directly if he had been threatened by Democratic leaders with possible loss of his county job, or threatened with being denied the nomination to run again for Common Council next November (his current term expires at the end of 2011).

Power said “No.”

I asked Power if Council President Tom Roach had approached him on the issue of his casting the all-important sixth vote. Power said, “No.”

I asked if Power had been made aware the council was possibly planning a special meeting to hold a vote to remove the Mayor because of his convictions last week, which the Mayor plans to appeal. He said he had no knowledge of plans for such a meeting.

WPCNR asked the question because there have been strong rumors (apparently they are only rumors, according to Power), that a faction of the Democratic party in White Plains is eager to remove Bradley from office on the grounds of having committed “disorderly conduct,” as spelled out by Section 30 of the White Plains City Charter.

The issue of the Mayor’s dismissal in some form have arisen because of the Mayor’s conviction on charges of Contempt of Court, Attempted Assault, 3^rd Degree, and three charges of Harassment,2^nd Degree last Thursday by Judge Susan Capeci in Westchester County Family Court. . In the same proceeding the Judge found the Mayor not guilty of three charges of Assault in the Third Degree lodged by his wife.

Section 30 of the City Charter, titled “Discipline of members; expulsion” reads:

“The Common Council may compel the attendance of absent members at any meeting properly called, and may punish or expel a member for disorderly conduct, for violation of its rules, or for official misconduct, or declare his seat vacant by reason of absence, provided, provided such absence has continued for the space of four (4) months; but no expulsion shall take place and no vacancy on account of absence be declared except by the vote of 3/4 of all members of the common council , or until the delinquent member has had an opportunity to be heard in his defense.”

City Councilman David Buchwald told WPCNR Tuesday evening ¾ of the council is 5.2 members, meaning a 6^th member would have to vote for such expulsion. Buchwald believes Section 30 gives the council the power to remove the Mayor from office.

The City Charter is ambiguous on this issue, however. The Mayor is defined in the charter as being a member of the Common Council thusly in Section 28:

“The council shall consist of a mayor and six (6) councilmen.”

On the other hand, does the Common Council really have the power to remove the Mayor? Section 20 of the same City Charter appears to say “No,” to wit, italics added by WPCNR:

Section 20: Resignations and removals.

“…Any city officer, except the Mayor, councilmen, city judge and acting city judge, may be removed from office by a majority vote of all the members of the common council…

That section appears to conflict with Section 30.

Could the Mayor be removed — and How? Unclear.

The charter provides this remedy a few sentences later in the same Section 20:

“Any elective officer for whose removal no provision is made herein  may be removed by the governor in the same manner as a sheriff, except that the governor may direct the inquiry provided by law be conducted by the attorney general. After charges have been received by the governor he may suspend the officer affected thereby for a period not exceeding sixty days pending the investigation. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to take from any officer or board the powers to remove subordinates according to law.”

It is unclear whether the Common Council would have to send the “charges” to the Governor asking  for the removal of Mr. Bradley to activate Section 20. It is also unclear if the Council would have to pass a resolution to do so, and whether such a request would require a 6-1 margin also.

Appeal could take a year.

Buchwald told WPCNR he would support removing the Mayor from office using Section 30 because of the length of time an appeal to the appellate court would take. Buchwald said it could take months, even years

Buchwald appears correct.

Charles Lederman, a White Plains criminal trial lawyer familiar with the timing on appeals confirmed to WPCNR that the process of appealing the Bradley verdict could take as long as a year or more.

Lederman said a party “has 30 days from the sentencing and the pronouncement of judgment to file a notice of appeal, and 180 days from there to perfect the appeal unless there are extenuating circumstances that call for an enlargement of time given by in this case, the Appellate Term (court), I believe. Usually these things take probably another six months to nine months for a decision unless there is any kind of motion practice that goes on during the appeal requiring enlargements of time or substitutions of counsel.”

WPCNR asked John Callahan, the city’s Corporation Council and Chief of Staff for the Mayor, that in the event the council moved and voted to remove the Mayor under Section 30, and the Mayor filed a Show Cause order to stop the motion, who would handle the Common Council’s case. Callahan said he’d have to look into that question.

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 WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of  Communications. December 16, 2010:

Saying he could not sign a budget with phony revenues, wasteful spending and unfunded liabilities, County Executive Robert P. Astorino today announced that he would veto 247 lines of the budgets for 2011 approved last week by the Board of Legislators.

“What the legislators approved last week is flawed and puts Westchester County government at risk,” said Astorino. “While it is commendable that the board followed my lead to reduce county property taxes, the legislators did so in an irresponsible way. The combination of phony revenues, wasteful spending, unfunded liabilities, illegal actions and rejection of generally accepted accounting principles jeopardizes our AAA credit ratings. I cannot sign this budget in its current form.”

These vetoes include 220 to the operating budget, 200 involving about  $32.5 million in expenses and 20 involving almost $23.3 million in revenues; 24 to the capital projects budget; and three to the solid waste district budget.

In November, Astorino proposed a spending plan for 2011 that cut the county property tax levy by 1 percent, maintained all essential county services, protected the county’s needy and ensured fiscal responsibility. Last week, the Democratic-controlled Board of Legislators pushed through additions and deletions.

“I take very seriously my fiduciary responsibility,” said Astorino. “We only have to look at what is going on in Nassau County to see warnings of what not to do. Nassau cut taxes, without making the hard decisions on spending. As a result, its credit rating has been downgraded and a state oversight agency may take over.”

The Override Odds

Astorino’s vetoes can be overridden by a two-thirds vote (12) of the legislators. The Democrats control the board by a 12-5 margin over the Republicans.

The vetoes announced today (the last day to do line-item vetoes under the County Charter) include many of the board’s additions to the operating budget for next year, including expenditures on the Section 8 program, day care, Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Human Rights Commission, neighborhood health centers, one homeless shelter and community mental health clinics. Vetoes also include added revenues for the sales tax and the departments of Parks and Labs & Research.

Under law, Astorino may only use a line-item veto on the additions, not the deletions. However, he expressed his concern about some of the board’s deletions, saying some may be illegal. Of particular concern, he said, is the board’s deletions of all three deputy commissioners in the Department of Social Services.

No time for Review

Astorino also blasted the Democratic-controlled legislature for pushing through its changes without allowing any time for the Republican minority or the administration –  or the public –  to give them scrutiny.

“This is what the Democrats call transparency,” Astorino said. “Vote now and let the public find out the facts later. The reckless process that led to Friday’s passage of a $1.79 billion budget is a prescription for financial disaster.”         

SOME OF THE VETOES

Operating Budget Expenditures

• Section 8 Housing Voucher Program: The legislators restored $4.1 million for 40 people to administer this program. The county has no legal obligation to administer the program and Astorino has argued that it is costing county taxpayers about $1 million annually to do so, once short-term and long-term costs are factored in. Astorino had already given the state notice of the county’s plan to terminate the contract at the end of this year and the state is proceeding with plans to replace the county.


• Day Care: The board has added approximately $5 million for day care. Under the board’s plan, the parent share would be lowered to a level far below what most counties and even New York City pay. In addition, the board has restored a scholarship program that has failed in its purpose of getting people off unregulated day care. Even with the vetoes, the county will spend $29 million on day care next year, reflecting the administration’s support for these programs.                                                        


• Cornell Cooperative Extension: The board added $990,000  to Cornell Cooperative Extension to continue to run nutrition and farming programs. Astorino has maintained CCE’s programs are a complete duplication of programs run elsewhere by the county and various non-profit groups.


• Human Rights Commission:  The board has restored five positions at a cost of $575,500 (including benefits). Astorino had cut  the commission, saying it duplicates the work of local and state agencies.   


•  


• Neighborhood Health Centers: The county executive vetoed the $1.9 million subsidy the legislators  allocated to the Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center, Hudson River Healthcare and Open Door Family Medical Centers. “Putting a budget together is all about allocating resources to the greatest needs,” said Astorino. “The fact of the matter is they no longer need the county’s financial help because they have been reaping a financial windfall from the federal government. Last year, all three closed their books with multi-million dollar increases in their net assets.”


• Homeless Shelter: Astorino had proposed the closing of two homeless shelters: WestHelp in Greenburgh and Oasis in New Rochelle. The board added almost $950,000 to keep Oasis opened. Astorino vetoed this, saying the shelters were underutilized and not needed.


• Mental Health Clinics: Astorino had proposed closing two of the county’s mental health clinics in January and two others in June. These services would be provided by non-profit agencies, with  transition plans for all patients developed. The legislators added funds to delay the closing of two of the four clinics until June. Astorino vetoed this change. 


• Other Positions: The county executive had originally proposed a total of 226 layoffs based on recommendations of his commissioners. All but 95 of these position had been restored by the legislators. Including the Section 8 program, Astorino vetoed 134 positions of the 147 that the legislators had restored to the budget. This includes 118 positions that are currently filled.

Operating Budget Revenues

• Sales Tax: In his original budget, Astorino projected that sales tax revenues for next year would increase 4 percent from the current year. This projection is based on a regional consensus and was called optimistic but “reasonable” by the county board’s own auditors. The board has added almost $2.3 million more in sales tax revenue, which Astorino said is overly optimistic. He noted the county may not even hit its 2010 projected sales tax revenues. “The problem with over estimating is that it leaves a deficit for the following year. Making up sales tax numbers so the budget looks balanced is irresponsible,”  he said.


• Parks Revenue: The board increased parks revenues by $750,000. The legislators added $100,000 for the Playland pool. Astorino in his original budget had said that the pool would not be opened next year because it needs $50,000 in repairs. The board also added $500,000 for golf fees, beyond the $500,000 addition that Astorino had proposed. The county executive questioned whether the market could bear this further increase, which could in fact lower revenues. The approval is also needed from the Parks Board, which was not consulted on the board’s increase.

• Labs & Research: The board added $1.5 million in additional revenue from “enhancements” to the department’s business plan. Astorino noted that the board is claiming revenue from a business plan that has not yet been written.  He added that the legislators should have learned from the 2010 budget when the county added $2.7 million in revenue that never materialized.

Capital Projects Budget

Approximately $60 million in infrastructure capital project additions by the board were vetoed.

Astorino said some of the projects might be worthy but that the board had not followed the required legal process of vetting the projects through the county’s Capital Review Committee and Planning Board. “We have a process that must be followed,” he said. “Otherwise these projects are subject to the whims of legislators and become nothing more than legislator’s pork.”

Solid Waste District budget

The three vetoes include a position added without funds and $100,000 in expenses.

LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS  OF CONCERN

·        The board has eliminated all three deputy commissioner positions in the Department of Social Services. This is the county’s largest department with a budget of $575 million. The board’s action puts the department at risk. Under law, the department must have at least one deputy.

·        The board has transferred $500,000 from the Department of Law (County Attorney) to its own budget for “legal services.” By law, the county attorney and his staff represent all branches of government. “At a time when the public is crying for consolidation, why is the Board of Legislators setting up its own legal fiefdom and patronage positions that will have no legal authority to act on behalf of the county?”  Astorino asked.

·        The board’s adopted budget cut $10 million in funds allocated to pay for past and future labor contracts. Said Astorino: “While it sounds nice to say no county employee will get a raise in 2009, 2010 and 2011, the fact is six of our eight unions have unsettled contracts that are retroactive; five of which are subject to binding arbitration, over which the county has no control. This is a mandate that the board is leaving unfunded.”

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WPCNR ON THE TOWN. By John F. Bailey. December 18, 2010:

“Something’s Coming and it’s going to be big” Sutton Foster sang those lines to open her show  Sunday night and Sutton Foster was big!  Faster than a spotlight the audience lit up– face to face with the Broadway star of our time.

She’s the Top!

Sutton Foster, Broadway’s “Go-to” Leading lady playing the Irvington Town Hall Theater Sunday evening. She brought down the house! Photo by Peter Katz

Sutton Foster, the Broadway Baby who never says good night, played the Irvington Town Hall Theater Sunday night with her elegant accompanist, Michael Rafter.  The duo left the audience of young Broadway babies to be and lovers of musical theatre on their feet standing, roaring, clapping for more as the Tony Award winner drove up from her home in New York City and put on a show. She delivered three encores after her 80-minute, nonstop performance. And you know what, she didn’t seem to want to stop.

What a show! Personable,slickly timed, organized she made the performance still seem adlib and casual (extremely hard to do). Ms. Foster ignites instant rapport with her fans with humor, pace, ease, drama, emotions, genuiness and, of coure, the voice to remember. It must be extremely hard to deliver a performance that seems so casual and natural with a pace that is just right!

The packed theater audience saw the statuesque star of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek the Musical, and (soon to be Reno Sweeney in the revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes! ), Ms. Foster –  booked through an absolute programming stroke of genius by Westco Productions Susan Katz— deliver the greatest audience reaction stage hands at Irvington Town Hall can ever remember, topping the Westco 2010 season with a show no one wanted to end.

That’s how good she was.

Even the old theatre seemed to enjoy the unique pefection of performer, voice, repertoire and rapport.

Sutton Foster signing autograph after autograph and having her picture taken with over 150 fans who stayed after the show. The Westco “Meet and Greet the Star” tradition is a unique feature of Westco concerts.

Sunday night Ms. Foster showed range, drama, actressing – the total package with one extra spicy ingredient – “niceness” – to everybody.

She delivered with the articulation and just-right nuances we rarely hear on the stage, up close and personal. This young lady needs no microphones, ladies and gentlemen. She takes you back to the days when singers had to reach the balcony without technology.

Her opening medley of Something’s Coming,(from West Side Story) and NYC (from Annie) had the audience from the first two words. She never let them go.

Her cabaret performance has been described as “bedazzling,” and she herself as a talent of the first order and the “go-to-girl” when Broadway producers are searching for a lead. You could see and hear why into the night. Every song commanded your attention because Sutton Foster sings that way.

From her comic performance of Air Conditioner— (“if you have an air conditioner, you’re the man for me”) showcasing Ms. Foster’s acting muse hilariously — an appropriate song for a cold night – to her fabulous riveting seductive “Gimme Gimme” from Thoroughly Modern Millie – her unique enticing Up on the Roof,  and her “bring down the house” number Show-off from The Drowsy Chaperone — everything she did was beyond good.

My personal favorite was  her first encore.

The way Ms. Foster and her partner in patter on the piano, Michael Rafter, sketched Once Upon a Time, a ballad she handled so wistfully, so longingly with the piano embodying the feel of the memories was haunting. I have not heard this classic “music to make you misty” done this well since the Tony Bennett, Ralph Sharon Trio rendering in the 1950s. Foster and Rafter play together a duet of voice and piano.

I would strongly urge you to see her in Anything Goes! when it opens. Cole Porter would have loved Ms. Foster for that role, which has not had a talent like Ms. Foster do it since Ethel Merman created the role.

As Cole would say,

“She’s the Top!”

Jason Summers, well-known director for Westco Productions (who originally got his start acting in Westco chidrens’ productions) made his own cabaret debut opening for Ms. Foster and delivered a performance that got stronger and stronger, showing an ability to deliver a punchline,  showing manic humor in “I’m Catholic,” a satiric song romp that got the audience laughing, and that he set up beautifully. He gathered momentum and confidence,  touched memories and hearts with his “I Just Haven’t Met You Yet” and finished with a big Broadway windup of “This is the Moment” that the audience just loved.  

Next big Westco Night will be May 1 when Westco presents the legend, Ben Vereen, at Irvington Town Hall Theater at 7:30 P.M. Theatregoers have the opportunuity to meet Mr. Vereen at a dessert reception after the show for the benefit of supporting Westco’s shows and programs for disabled children. Contact Westco at (914) 761-7463, or go to www.westcoproductions.org

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. December13,2010:

Figures just in from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance tell a positive economic start for the city of White Plains in the key holiday shopping season.

November city sales tax revenue rose 7.8% (less than the proportionate increase in city sales tax of 12%), but still the first time since 2008-2009 the city has topped $4 million in sales tax receipts in November ($4,003,728 this year compared to last November receipts of $3,712,175).

The city has generated $20,615,401 sales tax the first five months of fiscal year 2010-11, compared with $18,591,570 the first five months of 2009-10, a year to year increase of 10.9% slightly less than the 12-1/2% proportonate gain the sales tax increased overall when tax was increased 1/4% to 2-1/2% that took affect last June 1.

If the city maintains the 11% pace of gain in sales tax receipts the city should approximate $48 Million in sales tax receipts for 2010-11.

Countywide, Westchester enjoyed a 4.8% increase in sales tax receipts, $33,056,729 compared with $31,525,664 in 2009. The county is on target to top budgeted sales tax receipts for the year. The county continues on pace to generate $437 Million in sales taxes by the end of is current 2010 fiscal year, giving tghe county about $6 million more than for forecast for 2010 when county prognosticators predicted the county would genrate $432 Million in salestax.