Jobs Dwindle in Hudson Valley but decline Less. Education, Hospitality Up.

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. FROM DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ANALYST JOHNY NELSON. JULY 15, 2010:  


Private sector employment in the Hudson Valley Region decreased 10,700 or 1.5 percent, to 718,500 for the 12-month period ending June 2010.  Employment gains were recorded in educational and health services (+1,800) and leisure and hospitality (+1,300).

 

In Westchester County, 32,800 persons were unemployed in a labor force of 488,300. The county unemployment rate held steady as it has over the last quarter of April May and June at 6.6%-6.7% after being at a high of 7.8% in February.

 

Locally,in White Plains, in a labor force of 31,000 persons,1,900 are unemployed, however the city unemployment has gone over the last three months, 5.9%, 6.2% and 6.4%.

 

Meanwhile, job losses were centered in the following industries: natural resources, mining and construction (-5,000), manufacturing (-2,500), trade, transportation and utilities (-2,300), professional and business services (-2,100), financial activities (-1,100), and information (-1,000). The Government sector shed 900 jobs over the year.

 


Analyst’s observation:

 

The regional labor market continues to exhibit signs of a turnaround.  In June 2010, private sector jobs in the region fell over the year by 1.5 percent.  While not great, this was a major improvement from the 4.4 percent drop recorded in June 2009.  Signs of a recovery are even more apparent in leisure and hospitality, which surprisingly posted a 1.7 percent over-the-year rate of growth.  This was a drastic turnaround from the 3.5 percent decline recorded in June 2009.

 

 

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Mayor to Appear in Court Next Week. Mother-in-Law to Return When Trial Date Set

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. July 15, 2010:


 


Mayor Adam Bradley is scheduled to return to Supreme Court one week from today to face the charges of domestic abuse filed against him by his wife, Fumiko Bradley,  and charges of witness tampering and harassment added by the district attorney’s office.


 


Lucien Chalfen, spokesperson for the Westchester District Attorney, told WPCNR that Mr. Bradley will return to Judge Susan Capeci’s court room next Thursday “to determine readiness for trial,”  and a trial date will be set, Chalfen speculated that trial date will be set in the fall. As part of preparation for trial, jury selection may begin if the parties agree they are ready for trial.


 


Mr. Bradley’s mother-in-law, meanwhile, Kane Machinaga, a key witness in the matters, was allowed to return to Japan in June because she promised to return to testify at the trial. A video deposition of  her testimony, considered at the time by the District Attorney’s office, was not taken because Mrs. Bradley’s mother-in-law committed to return if there was a trial.


 


Mr. Chalfen said the mother-in-law is still in Japan. He said she is expected to return if and when a trial date is determined.


 


The Mayor faces charges of alleged assault in the 3rd degree, harrassment,violations stemmping from an alleged tea-throwing incident on January 11 of this year, in addition to assault in the third degree and three other counts regarding a alleged incident February 28 when the Mayor was charged for allegedly slamming his wife’s finger in a door.


 


The charges of withness tampering, 4th degree, Harrassment 2nd Degree and Contempt in the 2nd degree are a result of the Mayor’s alleged violating the order of protection against him five times.

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All Bengal Tiger Block to Be Demolished. Review of Inspection Process Promised

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WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. By John F. Bailey. July 14, 2010:


John Callahan, City Hall Chief of Staff, told WPCNR Wednesday that entire block of East Post Road from the Bengal Tiger to Court Street will be demolished before an investigation into the cause of last week’s fire will begin. Callahan said the building was unstable.  He also said that the owners of the property, Boston Post Properties, would be handling the demolition, but would be closely monitored by police.


Callahan said the insurance companies, the owner,  and city officials had come to agreement to demolish the property today. Callahan said the upper portions of the building were unstable and in danger of collapsing.


Callahan said  after the cause or causes of the fire were determined, t”in a couple of weeks,” the city would also conduct a review of fire inspection procedures with  the police and the fire bureaus in how older buildings, “grand-fathered” in  to out of date less safe fire codes, and therefore not subject to the improved White Plains building and fire codes over the years are handled to prevent such possible conditions in the future.


Callahan said demolition would begin in earnest Thursday morning.


Discussing the future of the Post Road block, Callahan said the block would be returned to being a lot at grade, then the city and the owner, Bost Post Properties would consider how the property might be redeveloped.

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Con Ed:Transformer Explosion During Bengal Tiger Fire Caused by Carpet Covering

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WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. July 13, 2010:


 


While White Plains fire investigators delve into the fire wreckage of The Bengal Tiger trying to find the cause of last Wednesday’s historic blaze, WPCNR has learned that the cause of the transformer explosion that took place between 7:30 and 8 P.M. requiring for precaution, the clearing of Mamaroneck Avenue was man-made, according to Con Edison, and was not the result of any Con Edison equipment malfunction or malfeasance.


 



Mamaroneck Avenue Sidewalk Cafes cleared between Post Road and Maple Avenue after an small explosion and fire involving a transformer in front of 149 Mamaroneck Avenue last Wednesday. The transformer fire was caused by covering the transformer vault vent with carpeting.


 



 


According to Allan Drury, Con Edison spokesperson, the transformer explosion  last Wednesday evening was caused because someone or somebody had covered the  grating covering the Con Edison transformer vault in its subterranean chamber below the sidewalk in front of 149 Mamaroneck Avenue, shown above.



 


Drury told WPCNR that the grate was in front of 149 Mamaroneck Avenue, (the location of the Haiku Restaurant), which WPCNR observed  at the time of the fire was running a sidewalk café operation. WPCNR observed patrons of the cafe were watching the unfolding drama up Post Road of fire trucks and thick smoke a block away.


 


Drury said that the transformer vault below street level had a grating to vent the vault.“Carpeting had been placed on the grate and that caused heat to collect and the transformer overheated.”


 


Mayor Adam Bradley in explaining the transformer fire last week as not being part of the Post Road fire said only that the transformer had been covered.


 


The statement by Con Edison clarifies that neither the  Bengal  Tiger incident nor Con Edison caused  the transformer explosion that caused police to clear all sidewalk cafes on the block between Post Road and Martine last Wednesday.

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City Meets Sales $$ Projection.Finish: $3.8 Million Deficit. Off County Surplus

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE.  By John F. Bailey with the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance. July 12, 2010 UPDATED JULY 12, 2010 3:45 P.M. E.D.T.UPDATED JULY 14, 2010:


 


Westchester County-wide sales receipts (which include White Plains figures, of course) were up 25% year to year in the June period, reports Susan Burns of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, and has experienced a 6.7% increase in sales tax receipts the first six months of its fiscal year.


 


White Plains did not keep pace with the county. City June tax receipts are up 5%, nearly 4% of that comes from the 1/4% tax  rate increase that went into effect in June. The sales tax was raised proportionately 12%, resulting in only 5% more revenue.


 


The county sales tax dollar handle, though rose approximately $10 Million in June alone, generating $48,046,635.36 in June ’10 compared to $38,386,277 in June 09.


 


Based on comparison of year to year records supplied by the Department of Taxation and Finance,the county has generated $219,830,772 in Sales Tax Receipts compared to $206 Million (rounded off to nearest million) in the first six months of 2009, a year to year gain in 2010 over 2009 of 6.7% over the first six months of the current fiscal year.


 


If Westchester County (on a January to December fiscal year) maintains last year’s sales tax pace the last six months of their fiscal year (in which it received $209 Million from July to December, the county will get $429 Million in sales tax receipts.


 


The county has budgeted for $432,600,000 in sales tax.


 


A sustained 7% growth rate in sales tax receipts could generate an $11 Million surplus in County Sales Tax Receipts over budget, if June is a bellwether that the county economy is turning around.


 


If the county continues to keep this 6.7% gain the rest of the year, the county would realize $444 Million in sales tax receipts easily making the county budget with a surplus of $12 Million.


 


According to Susan Burns of the Department of Taxation and finance, “Westchester showed many sectors with growth,  including but not limited to: Auto dealers, Telephone and Utilities, Finance and Insurance, and Retail.”

The city of White Plains, by contrast, with a 1/4% sales tax increase going into effect June 1, generated $4,073,768 and 47 cents in sales tax in June, finishing the 2009-10 Fiscal Year ending June 30 with $43,533,908 in sales tax receipts, approximately $200,000 over Commissioner of Finance Michael Genito’s projection.


 


Nevertheless, this is $3,8 Million in the red below what the Delfino administration had projected for 09-10.


 


The $4.1 Million city  June handle is up only 5% (4.89%) in sales tax receipts over last June’s take of $3.9 Million.


 


The rebound in Westchester sales tax receipts in June, and the White Plains slight rebound is good news going into the Budget and Management Committee meeting at City Hall July 19.


 


This trend, if I were in charge of the city would concern me because if White Plains, the leading retail and entertainment center in the county (and easiest place to travel to), is up only 5% in sales tax receipts in a month while the county is up 25%, then people are going elsewhere in the county to shop, instead of White Plains.

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White Plains 14Under Little Leaguers Win District Championship.

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WPCNR SPORTSWIRE. July 12, 2010: White Plains District 20 14-and-under All-Stars defeated Eastchester, 7-5 in 8 innings to win the city’s first District Championship since 1998 this weekend. After losing game one, White Plains took two in a row to win the Championship. They now go on to the State tournament.

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You Be the Developer: What Should Replace the Bengal Tiger Block

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WPCNR MR. AND MRS. AND MS. WHITE PLAINS POLL. July 12,2010 UPDATED 8:40 A.M. E.D.T.: 


 What was a disaster for 13 businesses last week: The Bengal Tiger fire, now presents an opportunity for White Plains, if the city has imagination to revitalize the moribund East Post Road corridor with something either completely different or the lack of imagination and deliver more of the same.



THE BENGAL TIGER BLOCK TODAY. DEMOLITION WAS IN FULL SWING OVER WEEKEND




 As demolition proceeded on the site over the weekend, WPCNR thought of just a few possibilities for the block which of course could be reconstructed the way it was or turn into something completely different and dynamic.


WPCNR thought of just a few possibilities (at the right in our brand-new poll) which the city might consider seriously to counter the economic stagnatio of pay-and-keep-out parking policies, a rowdy drinking district and a deteriorated West Side.  The city has been talking for years about revitalizing the West Side and even still has yet to tell specifics of the Lexington Avenue plan even though the developer has already been picked. Now, there is an opportunity to key note it as the Bengal Tiger block has to be rebuilt.


Here is Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. White Plains opportunity in the survey at the right to tell the city how to plan and what it needs on the burned-out block. If any of the choices appeal to you at the right, vote early and often:


New Bengal Tiger/Restaurant Mall:  Rebuild the block similar to before with a new improved (sprinklered) Bengal Tiger, and shops as before.


 


Bi-level Retail Shopping Mall: A two-or-three story mall with parking deck, with shops, restaurants and  retail, creating a dynamic upscale presence complimenting the Downtown Drinking District on Mamaroneck Avenue.


 


Multi-story Office/Mixed Use Building: A 10 or 20 story combination residential/office/with retail at the street level, bringing new residentialites, professional office space and a cosmopolitan mix of retail to the street.


 


New Performing Arts Center: The White Plains Performing Arts Center in the City Center has failed to ignite the imagination of the public. It lacks funding or street presence. How about building a Lincoln Center for White Plains on the Bengal Tiger block and Municipal Parking lot behind it, which would be a regional draw for concerts, theatre, a home for the Westchester Philharmonic, theatre groups and more – something the White Plains Performing Arts Center management has failed to do thanks to high rents and failed programming over the last 7 years.


 


City of White Plains Museum: White Plains played a significant role in New York State history but you would never know it because there is no museum in the city. The site could be transformed into a Revolutionary War history, a history of the four White Plainses: 19th century, turn-of-the-century, the 1950s, urban Renewal, and of course, the just-ended Renaissance. The museum could serve as a base for a freedom trail through the city, and much more. Such a White Plains facility is long overdue.


 


Permanent Farmers Market/Food Court – Take the Bengal Tiger block, combine it with the Municipal lot behind it – acquire the office building behind the BT Block and create a Faneuil Hall International Food Court, a permanent destination with parking underneath.


 


Chain Food or Entertainment Complex: This would envision White Plains and the Bengal Tiger owners who own the block, again removing the office building behind the BT Block and attracting some destination chain such as SHAKE SHACK, HARD ROCK Cage, ESPN ZONE, SCORES (a neat fit with the Drinking District a weaving stroll away),


 


Sports Arena Convention Center Complex: Sports Arenas are a mainstay of communities I’ve visited: Charlotte, Providence, Grand Rapids. Westchester needs an intermediate facility and White Plains would benefit from a 10,000 seat facility for hockey, basketball, and big concerts. You’d fill it up with state tournaments which now are held in places like Albany, Lake Placid and Buffalo. It would also attract conventions which White Plains cannot do now.


 


RETAIL CHAIN BIG BOX:  Think Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond.


 


Transit Center:  White Plains needs a center city hub. Take out the office building behind the Bengal Tiger block, and combine the Municipal Parking lot with the Bengal Tiger block and you create a retail/transit center hub which could be a center for the Department of Transportation Bus Rapid Transit station, a taxi station, and a hub for the Ben Boykin Trolley System (coming someday to White Plains). What do you think?


 


New City Hall: The City again could acquire the Bengal Tiger Block and the office building behind it and combine it with the Municipal Parking lot and build a new City Hall (right across from the county office complex. Makes great sense – and opens the very attractive old city hall site for development.  The new City Hall could combine all city offices in one place. Call it the Adam T. Bradley City Hall.


 


New Public School; The block could be swapped out to the School District for a new public school to handle the growing elementary school population that is exceeding district estimates. Growing at a 100 kids a year, the district will need a new elementary in five years.


 


 


 


 


 

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The Garden Scrambles to Pick Up Players Any Players.

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WPCNR VIEW FROM THE MEZZANINE. By WPCNR’S SPORTSTALK Morty Slickman. July 11, 2010:


 


So I am sitting here in the old Madison Square Garden in the blue smoke of the rafters of the mezzanine in the arena of memory.


 



 


Richie Guerin in the old garden, going up against Paul Arizin of the Philadelphia Warriors, 1958. That’s the Knicks Kennie Sears (12) and Mendy Rudolph is the Ref in the old garden of memory: where even in the third balcony you were on top of the court, the cigar smoke smelled like sports and the Knicks played hard.


 


I’m reading the sports pages Saturday and Sunday, and I am musing to myself should I ignore the upbeat spin being spun out by the hapless New York Knick management? Swallowed hook, line and sinker by the sports press? Who are already beating drums for the Knick Brains now out signing everyone in sight?


 


Should I ignore the urge to tell it like it is, and be a warmer, kinder gentler commentator?


 


Should I push my fedora back on my head, loosen my tasteless tie, puff my White Owl panatela and drink my black coffee and be positive and upbeat? And get on the Knick bandwagon to the crusade for 12 more wins? Shall I resist the urge to rap out in staccato fashion on the old Smith Corona a blistering indictment of the Knick-Knacks? Shall I show love and compassion?


 


Absolutely not!


 


 


What’s a sports columnist for anyway? 


 


We serve no moral purpose except for creating myth and selling tickets and perpetuating fallacies and ignoring the raw, ugly underbelly of “professional” sports and “knowledgeable management,” who “understand the game.”


 


I just have to point out the flaws in the spin being floated out there by the desperate Knick-Knack management.


 


If I own those courtside seats, I’m shortselling.


 


No less an authority than The Times wrote yesterday that their alternate plan B, and I quote “It appears to be enough to get the Knicks in the playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season.”


 


The Knicks, having fanned on LeBron James – but having signed Amar’e Stoudemire, the Phoenix star—and traded David Lee now have a starting five  consisting of three players from the Golden State Warriors, that perennial playoff contender. (NOT!)


 


The Warriors won three less games than the Knicks last season with these new hopes the Knicks have picked up from the “Wha?yers”:  Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuik and Ronny Turiaf. Anthony Randolph is supposed to be a forward, teaming with Stoudemire.


 


They have signed Ray Felton from Charlotte who is expected to point guard, but his history is as a shooting guard. Well he better put it in the hole, and pinpoint his passes to Stoudemire otherwise the Knick-Knacks are going to be seeing the same scoring droughts that have plagued them the first two years of this sorry regime. A regime that gives up on players too soon and does not recognize the value of defensive play, let alone effort.


 


Is this talent from the Kansas City A’s of the NBA – the Warriors–  have enough potential undeveloped talent to pick apart the Dee to get the ball to Amar’e?  Can they make stops? Can this untried combo of Randolph and Felton compete in the half court as well as the open court and swing that ball?


 


Unlike the Knicks, the better clubs in the NBA play defense.


 


More to the point, does the Knick coach have the patience to develop the young talent? He had no patience with the young players he has struggled with the last two years. Remember how the man the Knick Coach unloaded became a key part of the Celtics? That said a lot about the Knick coach.


 


However the Knick goal, as usual is modest.


 


They  have to win just 12 more games. Even a one-dimensional coach should be able to squeeze 12 more games out. That would give the Knicks a .500 mark which would have given them the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference this year.


 


But, if as I alluded to Friday, the supporting cast is inconsistent, auccombs to being not quite ready for prime time, Stoudemire will assume the Bernard King role, the only man you have to stop to beat the Knicks. With the rough guys bumping Stoudemire big time, there is the risk of injury. Not only that but Felton and Randolph have a history of injury. The Knicks have  Danilo Gallinari  coming back and Eddie Curry. Gallinari, whom I always will recall sleeping on the sideline, while the Knicks were staging a comeback last season, has to be won over by the coach.


 


Is this the best backup plan they could come up with? Scoop up the nucleus of a 26-55 team and two “maybe babies?”


 


We shall see.


 


The Knicks lost a lot of games last season because of lousy defense and panic.


 


Without improving the way they defend, rebound and make stops, they could shoot their way to .500.


 


 


 


Heck, pal, they just have to win 12 more games and they are investing let’s see maybe, what $2 Million per game for each of those 12 more wins? I can’t do the math. I’m a sportswriter.


 


Get this: if they played defense last year they would have made the playoffs with 12 more wins.


 


But make no mistake, should the Knicks win those 12 more games, the sportswriters will laud the Knick management is being on the right track, and 2011-12 will be Carmelo Anthony time and a return to glory.


 


The sportswriters  always do, no matter what they do.

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Photographs of the Day

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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. By the WPCNR Roving Photographer. July 9, 2010:


Today’s shots to remember are the aftermath of Wednesday’s amazing 11-hour fire on Post Road that left 13 businesses affected, 7 of them destroyed after the fire raged too soon and too hot for firefighters to attack it inside the building. The Roving Photographer shows the implacable, remorseless damage. A pungent, sharp acrid smell of smoke lingered in the air throughout the day Thursday in the vicinity of the White Plains downtown.



At 7:15 Thursday evening. Fireman were still putting out hot spots at the Bengal Tiger. Photo by Patti Cantu.


For more photos, CLICK READ MORE…BELOW


 



The  Street –Noon Thursday



OVERHEAD VIEW OF BLOCK FROM CHESTER & MAPLE GARAGE.





 



Court Street–what once was a beauty salon.




 





Behind the Bengal Tiger. Firefighters pump out water at noon Thursday.



 


 

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Air Ball!

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WPCNR VIEW FROM THE MEZZANINE. By WPCNR SPORTSTALK’s Morty Slickman. July 8, 2010:


 


It’s not good, like Nedicks.


 


The New York Knickerbockers  “Believe in us. We have a plan. Lose now. Lose a lot. So We Can Win Next Year with signing free agents” just threw up a brick.


 



 


The way it used to be in New York Hoops. George Mikan right hooking with Sweetwater Clifton defending at the Old 69th Regiment Armory.


 


The biggest air ball ever. They let the clock run out without taking a shot.


 


The Miami Heat sold their season tickets out for 2010-11 overnight.


 


The Knickerbockers  negotiate like they play ball. No defense. No bench. No consistency.


 


The hardwood wasteland in the world’s most ghastly arena for seeing anything (Madison Square “are those ants down there?” Garden)  is forever now, because the grand strategy of clearing cap room to sign (like the Yankees) two or three super free agents has failed big time.


 


The Knicks are not the Yankees and that’s obvious.


 


If the Knicks make the playoffs before I die I will be amazed.


 


Could the Nets owner buy them, too?


 


Why? Because the present management has a lousy track record. Pat Riley who runs the Heat has a great track record.


 


The Knicks did not get LeBron. They did not get his two pals They got LeBron’s other pal, who has to be admired for convincing the Knick Knack management that he is close to LeBron. What a salesman! I want him selling downtown White Plains.


 


His next conversation with his pal LeBron will be a beaut.”How could you leave me with this terrible team?”


 


Remember what all those astute sophisticated New York Knick season ticketholders were told the last two dreadful years?


 


That the New York sports press and know-nothing talk-show hosts supported this strategy to my everlasting scorn, and the genius of sports radio and the papers did not even consider the Knicks not signing one of these guys?


 


 We’re clearing the cap, the Knick-Knacks told the expense account crowd (the dumbest rich people in America) to give you an NBA title when all those free agents are free to come to New York. We’ll win for years. Wait…


 


Now they are going to lose for the next decade.


 


And the fans who remember Carl Braun, Sweetwater Clifton, Kenny Sears, Howard Komives, and the fabulous Knick Fives of the late 1960s remember when it hurt when the Knicks lost.


 


Now we are numb.The true fan wants to win every game. He wants to believe management does,too. There is something sick and unamerican about mailing in a game — well we Knick fans have watched the Knickerbockers mail in three seasons worth of games.


 


It was not pretty.


 


Well the prime meat did not want to come to New York, anyway.


 


Why? Because this would mean they would have to play for Cablevision, the organization that took the Rangers and the Knicks from Champions to Chumps of the NBA and the NHL.


 


Both teams are run by suckering the season ticket holders every year with big promises  who run out of gas at playoff drive time (the Ranger strategy) and worse on the Knick side where they build teams around bench players, what a strategy!


 


So now LeBron’s pal assumes the Bernard King  the job of the aging superstar that might keep the greatest suckers in the world: New York fans coming back to entertain their clients.


 


We know the name of that tune.


 


There is no joy at 33rd and 7th tonight.  Nor over in Newark where the Nets never really had a chance, but at least they have new ownership who has not made a bad decision yet.


 


The Cablevision boys have never made a good Knickerbocker or Ranger decision.


 


The Knickerbocker strategy – never even second-guessed by the New York sports press —has failed utterly. They have all this cap and no one wants their money. They have nobody on their roster anyone wants except LeBron’s “friend.”


 


Perhaps Omar Minaya would want him for the Mets stretch drive.


 


You know the Knicks should call Walt Frazier and work him out because nobody in his or her right mind is going to go watch the Knick Knacks next year.


 


I feel very badly for the purgatory of sportscasting: all the guys who do Knick and Ranger pre and post-game shows day-in, day-out living the never-never-land that those organizations care at all whether they win.


 


They don’t.


 


 And Frazier could at least even at his age break down a defense in the half court.


 


I love it.


 


And why did the three basketeers not come to New York?


 


No nucleus. No coach. You have a coach at the Garden who does not believe in defense. LeBron James knew he was not going to win here and the fat boys who feed off the Knick press buffets would rip him to shreds when the Knicks can only do .500 with him.


 


The big 3 went to Miami because they know how to win. They play D.


 


Where is the Knick backup plan?


 


Can we hear it please?


 


Ho hum – another 30 and 50 season next year.


 


 


 


But wait–we’ll win the lottery next year.


 


The Knicks don’t win anything. They don’t work at it at all


 


If that.


 


Another year of lousy pro basketball and tired hockey.


 



The Old 69th Regiment Armory where Knickerbockers played and fans learned to love them.

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