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

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WPCNR THIS WHITE PLAINS LIFE. November 27, 2008:  The U of M “charter” flight (it might as well have been a charter for all of the U of M students on the flight) arrived discharging into the antiquated, dismal, underinformationed, dingy, dirty  Delta/ Northwest Orient Arrivals area at LAG, right on time and the three day Thanksgiving Tour year 2  had begun.

White Plains and the metropolitan area is swarming tonight with collegians zipping to and fro across White Plains, greeting old friends, heading who knows where.  Many will be meeting again later today for traditional football games (perhaps some with $104,000 scoreboards that actually arrived in time for the game!)

So tonight one such collegian arrived greeted by  her specially chartered ride at the airport, was whisked to her home for a fast pizza (“White Plains has the best pizza”), was assured her parents still bicker over who clears the table, tried out the new Hi-Def television, was overjoyed that the Spiderman Hi-Def Blue Ray trilogy had been purchased – said hello to her cats then within an hour was out and about on the town. It’s the Thanksgiving holiday – that break where we come home – see friends, eat turkey, and touch base, and assure the parents they still exist.

The official reaction on being home rolling up the Hutch: “I love New York. It’s so much more exciting.”

Who ever came back home from college successfully when there were no cellphones, I’d like to know.

So be careful out there, kids, drive carefully, and enjoy yourselves, we love having you back!

Chauffers were waiting at LAG for arriving collegians.

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WPCNR GUEST EDITORIAL. By Carl Albanese. November 27, 2008:

On our great American Holiday, a holiday of thought derived from the historical American colonies four hundred years ago in 1620 a historical voyage took place across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World we call America.

These brave Pilgrims in search of a new land, opportunity and freedom settled in what is now known to be the state of Massachusetts 1620. A harsh and bitter winter followed, deprived of food and sustainable resources, many died, many suffered, many believed in their dreams. Half of the new settlers children and families died from disease, hungry, cold from the harsh new land we know as America. Native Americans, the Iroquois Indians, shared their wisdom kindness and humanity and taught these new Americans the seeds of farming planting crops and renewable sustainable food sources.

So it comes to be our great American holiday is born to be in the autumn of 1621 bountiful food harvested, starvation and survival less no more. The early settlers having much to be thankful for and the very first feast of gratefulness is honored and appreciated shared in gratitude with 90 Iroquois Native American Indians and their Chief. On this special day in American history and harmony the
very first celebration of Thanksgiving is born.

Years following our early settlers continued this yearly celebration of thankfulness in appreciation and honor for all they had to be thankful for. A place to live, food to eat, friends in harmony and a time of sharing the most basic needs of friendship, family friends and food for all to remember and be thankful for. Upon the United States of Independence our country being born, many more lives lost, suffering and war our nations commander and chief George Washington declares November 26th as our nations Thanksgiving Day. Our nation’s commander and chief in 1863 after another incomprehensible loss of life and blood shed in the civil war, Abraham Lincoln appealed to all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving.

On November 1, 1782 the official Thanksgiving Proclamation for a general Thanksgiving Day is ordered and received to the Continental Congress. An American holiday is born of thanks for our new nation of freedoms, independence, equality and appreciation for all we as Americans can be thankful for.

Let us not forget those that gave it all to us, the dream, the inspiration, the suffering, the wars, that made us what we are today as a great nation of people. The land we call America. Remember the homeless the less fortunate, those whom have less, give a little share a little, make the world a better place and be grateful for what we all have on Thanksgiving Day. Help one another, extend a hand, care and thank those and never forget always remember we are a country off freedom and greatness by those who guarantee and protect that freedom. Our Veterans.

On Thanksgiving Day I honor and thank all our Veterans for all we have to be
thankful for.

Carl Albanese
White Plains, NY


Thanksgiving Proclamation
State of New Hampshire. In Committee of Safety, Exeter, November 1, 1782:
Ordered, that the following proclamation for a general thanksgiving on the
Twenty-eighth day of November instant, received from the honorable Continental
Congress, be forthwith printed…
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. in COMMITTEE of SAFETY, EXETER, November 1, 1782.

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WPCNR THE SEWER REPORT By John F. Bailey. November 26, 2008: The $234.7 Million sewer project announced in postcard mailers to residents in the Mamaroneck Valley Sewer District throughout White Plains this week, could cost White Plains residents $150 more a year in sewer bills by 2014, based on preliminary estimates the county has run on the cost of the federally mandated project to upgrade the Mamaroneck Valley Plant (on Mamaroneck Harbor), and the New Rochelle plant.

GREETINGS FROM THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY SEWER BOYS.

The postcard from Commissioner Tom Lauro announcing $234.7 Million sewer plant rehab project — the largest county capital project in history — according to the County Legislature Press Office. Very preliminary estimates indicate White Plains residents in the Mamaroneck Valley Sewer District would see bills escalate $75 to $150 and up by 2014,  or sooner if the county does not get a bailout.

In 2008 the median White Plains home ($700,000) assessed at $18,475 a year paid $323 in sewer taxes. If the preliminary figures hold, sewer taxes for Mr. and Mrs. White Plains will go  up related to the project funding beginning in 2011 out to 2014, or perhaps all at once depending on how the project is financed by the County. 

2008, the Mamaroneck Valley Sewer District residents in White Plains paid a total of $3.3 Million to the county, Bronx Valley District residents in White Plains, paid $3.4 Million according to the White Plains Finance Department. Gina Cuneo Harwood told WPCNR Tuesday evening the way the sewer tax is figured is this: The county gives White Plains the sewer levy, and White Plains calculates the per $1,000 of assessed value tax rate, to figure the rate Mr. and Mrs. White Plains pay for sewer services.

The county will address the project  Monday in a public hearing  on the budget at the Michaelian Building at 3:30 P.M.

County Legislator Tom Abinanti, chair of the Health Committee for the county, stressed to WPCNR that the full impact of any sewer district increase affecting White Plains, Blind Brook, New Rochelle and Port Chester would not hit until 2014, that these were estimates he has  only at this time. (The County Department of Communications has yet to provide as requested by WPCNR, the actual figures previously presented which would give more detail).

 Mr. Abinanti supplied preliminary figures he has from correspondence. Abinanti made clear that the county is seeking other sources of funding for the $234.7 Million project, appealing to Senator Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton for federal aid, and that it is not altogether certain the residents in the four sewer districts, would have to pay for it.

At this time, residents of New Rochelle, White Plains, Port Chester, and Blind Brook are “on the hook,” for that increase, the County Legislator press office told WPCNR Tuesday.

The Legislative Press Office told WPCNR the fines associated with the county not complying with the federal order were $195,000 civil penalties and responsibility for funding $780,000 other environmental projects as selected by the Department of Environmental Conservation of New York State.

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WPCNR THE PARKING NEWS. November 26, 2008, UPDATED 2 PM E.S.T.: White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino and White Plains Hospital Center President Jon Schandler officially opened the $19 Million Longview Municipal Parking Garage, at a ribbon cutting ceremony, today. The garage holds 758 spaces of which 324 on the upper levels have been leased to the Hospital and will be open to parking for employees of the hospital Monday morning. 

It features chemical reductive energy efficient lighting,  roomy parking spaces with wide car clearances, among other amenities, and parkers pay using the central “Moroni Money Machines,” familiar to White Plains residents, eliminating pay-as-you-exit booths currently used by the hospital at the Davis Avenue garage.

The new garage will be open to the public Friday, according to Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti.  The ribbon cutting marks the culmination of a 10 year process to construct the 758 space parking garage and provide critically needed parking to White Plains Hospital and area businesses and residents. 

Mayor Delfino, left, with Commissioner of Parking, Al Moroni, center and CEO of White Plains Hospital Center, Jon Schandler, right. at this morning’s opening. The Mayor called the new garage “The First Step” in the hospital’s planned $100 Million “Renaissance.” 

The Mayor told WPCNR that the garage opening was the first step in the city’s planned upgrade of East Post Road, which he said would possibly mean a redevelopment of a portion of the Sholz Buick property at Post and Lexington Avenues. The Mayor said he did not know the details but Sholz was looking for a developer for a portion of their property on the open car display lot. Sholz, the Mayor said, would possibly continue his car dealer on another portion of the site.

She’s Open! The Stakeholders officially open the Longview Cromwell Garage Wednesday morning: Front: L to R, Paul Weissman, Chair of the Board, White Plains Hospital Center. Jon Schandler, Chief Executive Officer, Mayor Joseph Delfino, Councilpersons Rita Malmux and Thomas Roach. Standing on steps, Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti, builder of the garage, and Commissioner of Parking, Albert Moroni.

The garage will also be used by visitors to the Kensington Assisted Living Facility, to be built on the adjacent site to the garage. The White Plains Hospital Center $100 Million expansion plan  shows the Kensington preliminary design above (the building to the right next to the Longview Garage that opened today.

The White Plains Kensington  project currently awaits Housing and Urban Development Funding for that $30 Million project, in addition to over $900,000 in tax relief from the county and the city, without which the project, they indicated could not be built.

The Post Road Upgrade Possibilities.

Melissa Lopez, officer in charge of economic development for White Plains, told WPCNR that the city is willing to work with property owners of buildings on the side of Post Road opposite the possible towards improvement of their storefronts, but stopped short of saying the city would provide city dollars for the improvements.  The Mayor said the buildings fronting the street on Post Road involved five separate owners, and therefore it remained to be seen how any development could occur on that sector without the owners agreeing on  their property.

The Mayor said Winbrook, the public housing complex was there to stay and would not be touched, though the White Plains Housing Authority is entertaining a gradual rebuild of each building with Housing and Urban Development department funding, the details of which have yet to be finalized.

Moving Forward 

Melissa Lopez, spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office,  told WPCNR last July that the delay in the start of the White Plains Kensington assisted living project scheduled for groundbreaking this month, now delayed indefinitely, due to the Fountain Properties application with HUD to pay for the construction (due to the financial market malaise), would not begin possibly costing the city money until April 2009 when the first payment on the $19 Million bond for construction of the Longview Municipal Garage in the final stages of completion is due.

Lopez said last July,  it is expected Kensington will begin making the payments in April, 2009, on the garage debt service and that the city will not have to pay the debt service and principle.

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WPCNR THE SEWER REPORT. By John F. Bailey. November 24, 2008 UPDATED 10:40 P.M.: White Plains Residents in the Mamaroneck Valley Sewer District in Westchester ( approximately east of Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains, according to White Plains Commissioner of Public Works )  may be facing an unspecified increase in their sewer taxes, in addition to  a Westchester County property tax hike.

Those residents  affected by the surprise sewer project, are  receiving a public notice from Commissioner Tom Lauro of the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities, informing them that Westchester County is being mandated by the state and federal government  (with no financial aid for the repairs from either state or Washington) to execute $235.7 Million in sewer repairs to eliminate discharging nitrogen into Long Island Sound. 

The Board of Legislators set a public hearing on floating a bond for that amount  for Monday, December 8 at 10:30 A.M.

Senator Charles Schumer speaking in Purchase, New York, Monday morning said this was one infrastructure project that County Executive Andrew Spano said the county might receive infrastructure aid on as part of the Obama Administration “stimulus” package.

This additional burden on the taxpayer is brought about by the county agreeing  to fulfill an agreement between the state of New York and the Federal Government executed in 1998. The County Board of Legislators was scheduled to conduct consideration of bonding for those improvements Monday afternoon.

White Plains Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti, queried about this by WPCNR Monday evening was unaware of the mandate. According to the public notice, the sewers in the Blind Brook Sewer District, the Mamaroneck Valley, New Rochelle and Port Chester sewer districts are affected.

White Plains officials were unaware of this mandate when asked about it Monday evening. White Plains residents served by the Mamaroneck Valley Sewer District may be expected to pay for any debt service incurred by the county to execute these repairs.

Monday evening the Board of Legislators issued this curt summary of the scheduled hearing:

The following public hearings have been set for Monday, December 8, 2008 at 10:30 AM:

• BNR Consent Order

Proposed Consent Order with New York State concerning nitrogen reduction of sewage drained into the Long Island Sound, in ultimate compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. The legislation includes a bond act in the amount of approximately $235 million to fund the design and construction of improvements needed to upgrade the New Rochelle and Mamaroneck Sewage Treatment Plants.  The agreement must be approved by the end of the year in order for the county to avoid having to pay heavy fines imposed by the state. (16-1; No: Maisano)

It is interesting to note this mandate was not mentioned in today’s report issued out of the County  Legislature Budget and Appropriations Committee detailing the 2009  County Department of Public Works budget.

The complete consent order may be read at http://meetings.westchesterlegislators.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Download=Attachments&AttachmentID=1905&agencyname=westchestercounty