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 PARKING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. April 19, 2010 UPDATED APRIL 20, 2010: Imagine my surprise when I read in The Journal News this morning that White Plains Parking Fines were going up. Gee, I wondered how did I miss that?

 

The Department of Parking Fine Increases are projected to raise $872,000 more dollars in 2010-11. Fine revnue has been flat for three years.

 

The Common Council was not consulted in any detail  by the administration on the question of the effect of raising parking ticket fines and nonpayment escalation fees, before the city proposed budget was presented. A total of $1.4 Million is expected to be raised in new traffic ticket and other increases — the equivalent of an extra 3-1/2% tax increase on top of the currently planned 19% increase– if the parking ticket and other items are not increased.

 

 WPCNR did not remember at all hearing about these upgraded fees  in any Common Council “Work” Sessions (there have been two in 3-1/2 months).

 

When city revenues were discussed Monday evening Councilman Benjamin Boykin observed that the parking ticket fine raise to $20 was “a fait accompli,” having been approved by city court. He told WPCNR he knew fines were going up having seen it in the published Mayor’s Budget. Tom Roach, Council President, told WPCNR that the administration had not discussed the policy of raising of the basic overtime parking ticket fine with the council, nor the possible impacts of such an increase.

 

No member of the council expressed concern over the increase of $15-$20 in the basic ticket

 

Dennis Power contacted by WPCNR yesterday on the question has not indicated one way or the other whether he knew, indicated last night the raise of $5 was still under other cities in Westchester, but would not want to see the ticket become much more than it is.

 

Councilman David Buchwald though was troubled that the fine amounts were still being decided by city court now that parking is no longer a private public authority. He asked Commissioner of Parking, Albert Moroni, since city court currently holds the power of approving parking fines and fees, (an arrangement followed when Parking was a public authority and separate from the city) whether he thought he Common Council should have the final say in improving such increases in the future. Moroni said he did not have an opinion on the subject and that the court had always had such approval in the past, and observed it was an issue.

 

 

PARKING METER FEE HISTORY, LAST 3-1/2 YEARS. Parking meter revenue eroded 3% ($300,000)  from 2007-08,possibly due to the recession. The city projects to recover that in 2010-11, however meter fees are NOT being raised.

A $1.4 Million Parking Revenue increase is anticipated based on all increased parking fees.

 

The Council voted to approve a new violation allowing the Department of Parking to write tickets for expired registrations on parked cars in White Plains as part of the Common Council consent agenda April 5. However, in going over  the backup material (supplied with the Common Council agenda) with a fine tooth comb, WPCNR only notes that Commissioner of Parking Albert Moroni in his letter to the Common Council wrote,

 

“The Department of Parking has had discussions with City Court Judge Friia, who is  in agreement that it would be appropriate for the “Parked Without Valid Registration” violation within the Traffic Ordinance to take effect immediately, or as soon as is practicable.”

 

There is no mention in the letter to the Common Council of any additional parking fine increases on other violations.

 

However, in the letter to Judge Jo Ann Friia, Senior Judge, City Court of March 24, Mr. Moroni writes,

 

“As per our recent meeting and discussion regarding current parking ticket fines, the purpose of this letter is to officially confirm your approval of  the attached Parking Violation Fine and Penalty Schedule with Proposed Changes. Thank you for your continued support.”

 

However, to be fair, there was ultimately, no need for the Commissioner to mention those increased fines to the Common Council. The Parking Department still operates under the regulations governing the old White Plains Parking Authority, which was regulated by city court,  Commissioner Moroni said:

 

“The Common Council sets the parameters of what limits (of parking fines) can be. It is up to the city court judge to approve any requests (by the Parking Department, previously the White Plains Parking Authority) for violation increases.”

 

Moroni told the Common Council and members of the Budget Committee last night that the “parameter” the council has previously set is no fine shall go above $150.

 

The new parking fines are as follows — and it should be noted, lead-footers with have a tendency to speed through White Plains — the initial speeding ticket has been jacked to $50.

 

 

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WPCNR CITY DESK. By John F. Bailey. April 17, 2010: When Brenda Starr (Mrs. Bailey) picked out the documentary film Ahead of Time at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville for us to go see,  she told me it sounded interesting. She said it was about a writer/reporter who helped save Jewish refugees in World War II. The name of the writer did not ring a bell with me.

Ann Curry, left, News Anchor/Correspondent, Today Show and Dateline, with Ruth Gruber and Stephen Apkon, founder and executive director of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville. Curry interviewed Gruber after screening of Ahead of Time, the opening night film of the Westchster Jewish Film Festival 2010 at the Center. Gruber, the subject of the film was a foreign correspondent, photojournalist, author and humanitarian for 70 years. She covered the Nuremberg Trails,documented the voyage of the Exodus and has a lifelong devotion to Jewish causes. Photo, Courtesy, Jacob Burns Film Center, by Lynda Shenkman Curtis.

 

 

So we went and I met Ruth Gruber.

 

I know who she is now. She really did fight  for truth, justice and the humane way. She was one writer against the odds, just like in the movies.

 

With one big chilling difference: she had no script to assure things would turn out right and she would come back alive.

A packed house at the Burns was enthralled by the movie, intercut with memorabilia of Ms. Gruber’s life, pictures of the famous men and women and her presence in the course of twentieth century history. It is a movie that describes her youth growing up in Brooklyn, and being encouraged by a teacher who came to her home one day encouraging her parents that she was a great writing talent. To this day, Ms. Gruber confided to the audience that this teacher inspired her to become a writer

 

After seeing this movie, I asked  reporters I know if they knew of Ruth Gruber. They did not know her.

 

 I, after meeting this shining example of what reporting is and what it’s all about,  shall always remember her .

 

All of us who report because we are compelled to do it, because it is in our gut, and who still search for those guts at times, who still have the inner resolve, should see this movie and learn about Ms. Gruber.

 

I know her now. At the age of 20, (1931) as a young writer growing up in New York she traveled to Germany and earned a Ph.d at that young age. Staying with a Jewish family at the time, and possessed of a reporter’s curiosity, she saw and listened to Adolf Hitler at a Nazi rally, on the rise at that time.

 

In the question and answer period after the movie, she told the audience, “I shall never forget the sound of his voice.” The comment spoke volumes. It was risky for Ruth Gruber to attend that rally, she dressed in a manner so that she would not be perceived as Jewish. It was the curiosity and courage that would distinguish Ms. Gruber’s reporting and adventures her entire life.

 

Ms. Gruber covered the Nuremberg Nazi war criminal trials. She visited Ben-Gurion when he was dying. She stood up to powerful men.  She was a foreign correspondent for the Herald Tribune.

 

Through her pluck and guile and refusal to say “no,” or “give-up,” she became the first correspondent to report from the Russian Arctic. She reported on matters that were not politically correct. 

 

She escorted a boatload of Jewish refugees knowing the ship could have been targeted by German aircraft and submarines, and wrote about the plight of the refugees.

 

She snapped away pictures on the Jewish refugee ship Exodus on its endless voyage,  embarrassing Great Britain, and shaming them into letting these refugees into Palestine. Her photograph of the Union Jack flag with a swastika painted on it is a news photo classic. It was a photo that changed thousands of people’s minds because she had the guts to take it.

 

She picked by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to report on the potentials of Alaska, and stood up to staunch political criticism of her selection.

 

Throughout the film, it became clear that Ms. Gruber achieved because she would not take “no” for an answer, had the courage to take a chance, and always looked to the horizon. She did what she thought had to be done.

 

After the movie ended, Ann Curry, the NBC Correspondent introduced the Ruth Gruber of today, 99 years old.

 

Ms. Gruber was precisely articulate, confident, and we learned she was still out there reporting.

 

Just four years ago, she was asked to go on a speaking tour she said to raise funds to transport Jewish refugees from Ethiopia to the United States during the awful civil war there. She said she could not do that without seeing first-hand the refugees’ plight. So in her mid-90s she traveled  to Ethiopia and interviewed the refugees first-hand.  For a person that at half her age doesn’t like driving into New York City, well I tell you, I was confronted with my own fear.

 

When you meet some one like Ruth Gruber, you’ll never forget them.

 

In the audience were persons who traveled on the refugee ship that Ms. Gruber was on in 1944 as am ambassador and actually a human shield, that because of her international reputation, the United States felt the refugee ship would be protected with her on board. Ms. Gruber took the risk. Their admiration for her was shining, even after all these decades have passed.

 

She has authored seven books and writes every day, using computers.

 

She is the reporter’s reporter, and I wondered why I and some of my colleagues did not know of her. We know of the Cronkites, the Murrows, the Hemingways, Martha Gelhorn, but I had not heard of Ms. Gruber, until last week.

 

Some one in the audience asked what advice she had for the young today for young writers.

 

She said, “Read, read read every paper you can get your hands on. Write, write, write, do not be discouraged by rejection. Do not let anything stand in the way of your dreams.”

 

Asked how she raised two children and still kept her career going, Gruber, obviously the mold from which tough, no-nonsense, nose-for-news woman reporters were made of dismissed the incredulous-tinged question with a thoughtful, “it was not easy.”

 

The woman has a way with dialogue. Snappy, direct, uncompromising, self-sufficient. It is very attractive.

 

I encourage every reporter – especially young women and men  in journalism—to see this documentary, Ahead of Time. It is a film to watch whenever you don’t get that interview, whenever you’ve been scooped, lied to, hit on, disrespected, not given big assignments, and given the shaft, and your editor is a jerk.

 

Ms. Gruber was treated like that, experienced those things but did not let it stop her – she rose above it – when women were not supposed to be reporters.

 

Asked for one last bit of advice from the audience about what she would tell young people, Ms. Gruber repeated,

 

“Let nothing stand in the way of your dreams.”

 

Ruth Gruber Reporting

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. April 16, 2010: The 2009-2009, White Plains City School District School Report Card shows the district Elementary and Middle School populations improved substantially on English and Math performance on the new 08-09 achievements last year. The April 15 release of the previous year Report Cards was a first for the New York State Education Department, which traditionally have issued those reports in June, substantially after all school budgets are presented to voters in May.

Early analysis of the test results by WPCNR, show stunning improvement at the elementary levels. In 5th Grade English Language Testing, results were even with 2007-08 80%  402) of 499 students passing, and 14% scoring in the highest level as opposed to 7% in the highest achievement level.

In 5th Grade Mathematics, 87% of the Elementaries (443 of 501 students taking the test) passed compaged to 76% in 2007-2008.

The Middle School results were even more impressive. In 8th Grade English Language, 75% (389 of 502) passed compared to 58% in 2007-08, a 17%  improvement.

On the Mathematics Side, 90% (474 of 520 students) passed, compared to 80% in 07-08.

The High School Results on Regents exams were comparable for the most part with previous years.

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. April 14,2010: The Carrier Brothers, Jim, President of the White Plains Police Benevolent Association, and Joe, President of White Plains Firefighters Local #274, each told WPCNR they recognize the city is in financial trouble, and are willing to come to the table and talk with city management and the Common Council about ways to ease the city deficit, pegged at $9 Million,  and to discuss ways to trim the projected19% tax increase.

 

 

Joe Carrier, Head of White Plains Fire Fighters Union listening to Michael Genito discussing city budget woes Monday evening.

 

Both union presidents said neither the Mayor, or any of his staff, or any member of the Common Council has contacted them to come to the table and help work on the budget to cut down the planned 19% tax increase.

 

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. April 14,2010: The Carrier Brothers, Jim, President of the White Plains Police Benevolent Association, and Joe, President of White Plains Firefighters Local #274, each told WPCNR they recognize the city is in financial trouble, and are willing to come to the table and talk with city management and the Common Council about ways to ease the city deficit, pegged at $9 Million,  and to discuss ways to trim the projected19% tax increase.

 

Both union presidents said neither the Mayor, or any of his staff, or any member of the Common Council has contacted them to come to the table and help work on the budget to cut down the planned 19% tax increase.

 

WPCNR reached out to Joe Carrier this afternoon, after noting the Common Council had no suggestions on how to cut the budget substantially at Monday’s Budget & Management Committee meeting. I asked if the firefighters were willing to discuss short-term solutions to trim expenses, salary increases in 2010-11.

 

Joe Carrier of the Firefighters told WCPNR, “It’s important to let you know, speaking for White Plains Firefighters Union Local 274, we are open to sit down. We recognize the financial crisis the city is in, and are willing to sit down and are open for any and all suggestions. (As of Wednesday afternoon, we have not been contacted by either the Mayor (Adam Bradley) or his staff or any members of the Common Council.”

 

WPCNR asked what the firefighters might be prepared to do. Carrier said he was not going to negotiate in the press. He said the firefighters were not in good position to agree to layoffs, noting: “We are currently 12 (firefighters) down. We have 9 rigs in the city, 5 engines,. 3 trucks, and 1 emergency unit. Presently, we do not have the men to run Ladder 34,andwe are down to staff to run only 2 trucks. Without the overtime provisions in the budget we cannot staff those trucks.”

 

Wednesday evening, WPCNR asked Jim Carrier, President of the White Plains Police Benevolent Association, if his union would be willing to forego raises, put in a wage freeze, or make other kinds of temporary money-saving if the city dropped its court action to have the 12-hour shifts for police controls voided.

 

Carrier echoed his brother, Jim’s thoughts: “I’m aware of the city’s financial problems and fiscal situation. I have not been contacted by Mayor Bradley, his staff, or any member of the Common Council either.  I’m not going to talk of any proposals or negotiate in the press. I’ve always been willing to do that (talk) to the Public Safety Commissioner (David Chong), and the Mayor and his staff.”