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WPCNR STATE OF THE CITY PART 2. By John F. Bailey. December 4, 2024:

EDITOR’S NOTE THIS IS A LOOK AT WHAT I WROTE IN 2008 ABOUT THE STATE OF THE CITY AND HOW THE CITY ADDRESSED THESE ISSUES.

1.Bring Budget in Line with City Revenues? Instead of budget cutting, city hall has pursued spending policies in recent years that have required, and continue to require revenue generating by selling city land, while funding affordable housing projects with city assets. The city now faces renegotiating union contracts which they will settle at a minimum of 4% — maybe even 5% — now that they have a ¼% sales tax increase in the works.  The city needs to look at their spending policies – task force the budget – instead of lurching forward with what appears to be a lack of planning? FIXED! THE CITY HAS KEPT BUDGETS FROM GROWING, NOT RUN DEFICITS AND KEPT TAXES ACCEPTABLE. DESPITE THE COVID IMPACT ON THE CITY THE LAST THREE YEARS THE CITY SALES TAX IS NOW BACK THROUGH OCTOBER UP 2.8% IN REVENUES AND IF THAT 2.8% GROWTH RATE (REFLECTING INFLATION) STAYS WHERE IT IS THE CITY WILL MAKE $49, 119,250 MILLION BY THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR BUT BIG NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY AND JUNES COULD PUT THE CITY AT AN ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH OVER $56 MILLION. MOMENTUM HAS TO CONTINUE. WESTCHESTER COUNTY IS COLLECTING SALES TAX REVENUES 4.9% ABOVE LAST YEAR, AND SHOULD HIT $800,061269. A GREAT NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER COULD PUT WESTCHESTER AT $1 BILLION FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024 AN ALL-TIME HIGH.

2.Televise Work Sessions, Planning Board, Zoning Board Meetings. Major policy decisions are made at these meetings, and, in the case of the Common Council Work Sessions, and Special Meetings seemingly scheduled suspiciously close to holidays and at inopportune times to satisfy developer priorties.  Important city issues are decided on in a small packed conference room with limited audience. The city should televise these sessions and Planning and Zoning Board meetings to better inform the public. Lack of equipment is no excuse. They could also be easily televised over the internet via the city website. If WPCNR can do it with White Plains Week, the city with its Commissioner devoted to internet services and computers, could certainly do it. FIXED. IN THE LAST 17 YEARS THE CITY THROUGH WHITEPLAINSCOMMUNITY MEDIA.ORG HAS TELEVISED WORK SESSIONS, SPECIAL SESSIONS, PLANNING BOARD AND ZONING BOARD AT TIMES.

3.Enact Surcharge to Arrest Assessment Decline. It is no secret that declining commercial assessments are killing Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. White Plains. This year the owner of a $700,000 house in White Plains will pay over $16,000 IN school, city and county taxes with no end in site. A Tennessee County (IN 2008) hadmoved to enact surcharges on increased value of commercial and residential properties  to reflect the actual resale value of  the properties. The city could explore a surcharge for services, an air rights tax, or similar mechanism to relieve the White Plains residential property owner. The Adam Bradley-Suzi Oppenheimer separate Commercial Tax Rate  proposal for assessments (designed to eliminate the Equalization Rate penalty that increases White Plains property tax for homeowners when our homes increase in value) did not pass the State Senate and has been forgotten,  It is time for the city to take action and take aim at the commercial property owners who are bleeding the homeowners with certioraris. NOT FIXED. NO TAX RELIEF ON PROPERTY TAXES. BOTH THE CITY AND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HAVE KEPT PROPERTY TAX INCREASES BELOW INFLATION. SCHOOL BUDGET INCREASE THIS WAS 1.06%. HOWEVER THE ASSESSMENT ROLL FOR 2024 WAS DOWN 1.7% FROM 2023.  IN 2024 THE ASSESSMENT ROLL THE ASSESSED ROLL WAS $270,398,423. IN 2023, IT WAS $275,179,938. LET US ASSUME COVID TOOK ITS TOLL ON OUR ASSESSMENTS DUE TO CERTIORARI FILINGS, MAYBE. IN 2021, THE WHITE PLAINS CITY ASSESSMENT ROLL, THE BASIS OF PROPERTY TAX CALCULATION WAS $280,775,263, DOWN 3.6% IN 5 YEARS. WHEN CAN WE EXPECT THIS TO SWING BACK UP AGAIN? WHY ARE NOT RISING HOUSE PRICES THE LAST TWO YEARS HAD A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE ASSESSMENT DRAIN? IF I WAS DOING THE BUDGET THIS YEAR I’D WANT TO KNOW.

4.Add Warming Shelters: My sources tell me there are a lot more than 17  homeless persons who need shelter from the cold and misery of one of the dampest coldest miserable winters we are experiencing. The homeless bed shortfall is by no means solved despite the efforts of the last two weeks. I suggest the backslapping and the sanctimonious pats on the back that characterized the last special meeting of the Common Council when the council agreed to allow cots is premature and in bad taste. Once again our Common Council has shown they are not leaders. They should reach out on their own to enlist the aid of concerns within the Central Downtown area to make available vacant buildings to provide beds for them all. Sites that come to mind are: the St. John’s School, which is closed and empty – and fenced. If the Archdiocese would step forward and give its permission to use this vacant space nights, you have plenty of room to house the homeless. But that’s just one place. I also suggest  the fire house down by the railroad station, the Fire Station at Lexington and Maple,  the White Plains Housing Authority, County Center perhaps.  Could we explore with a little creativity, please? And could we have them open all year?  There is no excuse for not taking a lead on the issue, when no one else is. NOT FIXED. HOMELESSNESS VAGRANCY PANHANDLING IS MUCH MORE VISIBLE IN THE CITY

5.Liaison with the Department of Transportation on the Tappan Zee/I-287 Corridor: This is long overdue. You cannot make plans for developing the railroad station area – as the council seems to be inclined to explore – without working with the state. If White Plains is not careful we are going to have another Exit 6,7,8 construction nightmare rammed down our throats.  One look at the way the Department of Transporation has ruined the Central Westchester Parkway and eastern gateway to our city is a preview of what the DOT is going to do to White Plains unless we start looking over their shoulders. Could the Mayor and the Common Council get on the stick on this issue.  You cannot redo the Railroad station without figuring out the role of light rail and commuter rail east-west. At last look on this issue – the geniuses were talking light bus routes!  Are you kidding me, DOT? We are polluting the planet with fumes and you’re even thinking more buses, which no one rides???? This kind of thinking is going to wreck White Plains unless as I say, the Mayor and the Council start interfacing with the state on this issue.  It doesn’t matter what you think you want to develop if the state wants to develop something else.NOT FIXED. GROWING WORSE. ONE DRIVE INTO WHITE PLAINS ON MAIN STREET OR UP MAMARONECK AVENUE WITH DAILY CLOSED OFF LANES, RECKLESS U-TURNS MADE WITH NO TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT AND OBLIVIOUS PEDESTRIANS  STARTING INTO CROSSWALKS AGAINST THE LIGHT AND JAYWALKERS WITH A DEATH WISH CROSSING AT MIDBLOCK HOW ARE STREETS GOING TO BE ABLE TO LOSE LANES? REALLY. AND ANOTHER THING THE CITY-OWNED PARCELS ALONGSIDE THE METRO NORTH RAILROAD STATION HAVE GENERATED THE FLURRY OF PROPOSALS THE CITY ASKED FOR I THINK 5 YEARS AGO. THAT WAS A CORNER STONE OF THE CITY TRANSIT DISTRICT PLAN.

 6.Illegal Housing Crackdown: The next time one of the multi-family homes with 50 persons in it burns – the city may not be so lucky. When 208 West Post Road burned, this was a warning. According to the Mayor, the residents attempted to put the fire out themselves rather than call the fire department. I wonder why? It is time to get tough on the illegal rooming houses, not matter how many rich and powerful politically connected slum scum own them. If, and mark my words this may happen next week or next month, 10 persons die in an illegal housing fire, White Plains will be front page news. NOT FIXED NOT BEING ADDRESSED. MAYBE THE NEW WESTCHESTER COUNTY D.A. WILL LOOK INTO THIS. THE CITY IS NOT TO MY KNOWLEGE AND IF THEY HAVE GOOD FOR THEM, WHY NOT ANNOUNCE FINES CONVICTIONS OF LANDLORDS OVERCROWDING AND UNSAFE PREMISES.

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WPCNR STATE OF THE STATE  EDUCATION 2025. By John F. Bailey. December 1, 2024:   A WVOX Radio Commentary from 2013 UPDATED TO TODAY:

 Editor’s Note: I delivered this commentary on WVOX RADIO 1460  “VOX POPULI” on the T.J. MCCORMICK Morning program in the fall of 2023 after assessment tests were first administered. It deserves remembering how badly the first assessment tests in the spring of 2013 were. Sadly with the suspension of assessments during covid and now last year’s resumption, we have no idea where the State Education Department on Regents Exams or assessments or how the new administration in Washington is going on national testing. As I see it we are now gone back in time to where we were. Interested parties in education and who have no idea what it is to teach think they want to change curriculums to teach “what they think” needs to be taught, conflicting with the same problems we parents faced in 2013. Here were my thoughts then.

DO YOU KNOW T.J. (McCormick) THAT LAST SPRING’S LIVE ADMINISTERING OF THE CONTROVERSIAL 2013 ENLISH AND MATH ASSESSMENTS WAS THE FIRST TIME THOSE TESTS HAD EVER BEEN GIVEN LIVE TO ANY GROUP OF STUDENTS?  GOING IN TO THOSE TESTS THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAD NO IDEA IF THE TEST CONTENT COULD BE HANDLED BY STUDENTS IN THE TIME AVAILABLE FOR THE TESTS. NO IDEA HOW SMART STUDENTS, MEDIOCRE  STUDENTS, OR UNDERACHIEVING STUDENTS, LET ALONE MINORITIES CAN HANDLE TESTS BUILT ON READING UNDERSTANDING. IT WAS LIKE THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB. IT WAS MUCH TOO POWERFUL WAY BEYOND THE COMPREHENSION OF EVEN THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST. THAT SHOWED A DISCONNECT BETWEEN WHAT THE STATE THOUGHT STUDENTS COULD DO ONLY TO FIND THE REALITY HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL. THEY WEREN’T READY.

WHY BECAUSE NO FULL LENGTH MOCK TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED TO SCHOOL POPULATIONS TO “TEST” THE TESTS. THIS IS WHAT WHITE PLAINS CURRICULUM HEAD TOLD ME ON PEOPLE TO BE HEARD THIS WEEK (in 2013).

ACCORDING TO JESSICA O’DONOVAN THE WOMAN WHO TURNED PORT CHESTER SCHOOLS MINORITY LEARNERS AROUND AND IMPROVED WHITE PLAINS MIDDLE SCHOOL AND ELEMENTARY SCORES THE FIRST THREE YEARS HERE – MOST WHITE PLAINS STUDENTS TOLD TEACHERS THE TESTS WERE TOO LONG AND THEY COULD NOT FINISH.

THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY COULD NOT FINISH, HAD TO SPEND AN AVERAGE 10 MINUTES ON A QUESTION. O’DONOVAN SAID THIS WAS THE VAST EXPERIENCE WHITE PLAINS HAD ACROSS ALL 7 GRADE UNIVERSES. TO HER KNOWLEDGE SHE SAID THE PEARSON DEVELOPED TEST TRIED OUT QUESTIONS ON STUDENTS IN FIELD TESTS, BUT NO COMPLETE TESTS WERE CREATED AND GIVEN IN ACTUAL TEST CONDITIONS. 

WHEN SHE TOLD ME THIS I NEARLY STOOD UP OUT OF MY INTERVIEW CHAIR. I SAID, ‘THAT IS INSANE.” O’DONOVAN ALSO SAID THE STATE HAD TOLD THEM TO EXPECT DROPS OF ALMOST 30% IN THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PASSING. WELL GEE THE PARENTS COULD HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT.

NOW THE SPOTLIGHT HAS TO SHIFT ON HOW THIS TESTING COMPANY CAN POSSIBLY PUT A TEST FORMAT OUT THERE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN GIVEN IN ITS ENTIRETY TO LIVE SUBJECTS.

THE SPOTLIGHT HAS TO SHIFT ON THE REASONS WHY THE NEW YORK STATE BOARD OF REGENTS THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD START – WHEN THEY HAD NO EVIDENCE APPARENTLY THAT IT WOULD WORK?

PARENTS CAN COMPLAIN THE TEST WAS UNFAIR AND NOT A TRUE MEASURE OF THEIR KIDS, BUT MAYBE THE KIDS NEEDED MORE TIME AND SHORTER ESSAYS TO READ. 

THE BOARD OF REGENTS HAS INADVERTENTLY SET BACK STANDARD TESTING FOR YEARS INTO PERIODS OF DUMBING DOWN THE TESTS TO SAVE THE FACE OF  SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. SO LET’S HAVE PEARSON THE TESTING COMPANY UP THERE WITH COMMISSIONER JOHN KING AND THE BOARD OF REGENTS. PEARSON’S METHOD OF PUTTING TOGETHER THESE TESTS HAS TO BE DISSECTED. THEY DID A LOUSY JOB.

(Editor’s note: well no State Senate or Assembly leader at the time called for hearings with Pearson on why the scores were so bad. Nothing. Instead every politician and Superintendent said the tests were too hard, and of course, sided with teachers who said the same thing and parents who were outraged their children could not read or compute at grade mathematics level. This always happens when things are bungled. Politicians  go with the wind of there must be something wrong with the messenger. No effort was made to find out what was wrong with the tests.)

UNFORTUNATELY, IT GIVES THE UNITED TEACHERS, AN ORGANIZATION STEEPED IN ANACHRONISM AND DEFENDER OF MEDIOCRITY, AMMUNITION AGAINST STANDARD TESTING AND TEACHER STANDARDS. DEFENDING THE MEEK IS A GOOD THING, BUT DEFENDING THE INCOMPETENT EXECUTION OF CREATING THE TESTS  SACRIFICES OUR CHILDREN. BUT WE DID NOT FIND OUT WHAT WAS WRONG.

ONCE AGAIN WHEN IT COMES TO A HEALTH WEBSITE, A NATIONAL ASSESSMENT TEST, YOU CANNOT TRUST GOVERNMENT OR A GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR TO DO IT RIGHT. THEY DON’T HAVE TO ANSWER TO ANYONE BECAUSE THEY ARE THE GOVERNMENT AND ARE NATURALLY INCOMPETENT AND THEY ARE A GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR WITH  ECONOMIC IMMUNITY DESPITE THEIR INCOMPETENCE.

THE CHILDREN SUFFER.  MINDS, FUTURES ARE NEVER-TO-BE SAVED LOSSES DUE TO ARROGANCE OF ABILITY UNTEMPERED BY REASON.

(Editor’s note: Today we are at another crossroads facing the same problem. standardized tests are under attack and have been for five years, and thanks to suspension of testing during covid, we have just and a new test which results have not been fully explored. We should do that more rigorously in this state. Soon. Are the tests going to be dumbed down again this year or have the minority gaps compared to white student test scores been made easier on the  perceived reduced level of competence across the state ( a side effect of covid). Were last year’s tests hard enough, or reflective of the skill set in the school population.)

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View this email in your browser November 29, 2024 Celebrating Local History In 2026, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence. In partnership with Revolutionary Westchester 250, White Plains Library’s very own Digital Media Specialist Austin Olney has been hosting immersive virtual reality programs in the Library’s panoramic video room, known as “the Igloo,”  bringing the region’s revolutionary history to life. In addition to these engaging sessions, Austin recently collaborated with Revolutionary Westchester to celebrate the Revolution on the Hudson event at Croton Point Park on November 9th. He documented this exciting event in a special YouTube video, capturing the spirit and significance of the area’s revolutionary history. Check out the video on the Library’s YouTube channel to see highlights from the celebration, and don’t miss upcoming Igloo programs at the Library that explore Westchester’s pivotal role in the American Revolution! Sincerely, Laura Eckley Library Director   The Library is committed to ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities. We appreciate support from the White Plains Library Foundation for many of our programs. Events funded by the Foundation are noted with an . The Library will be closed Thursday, November 28 for Thanksgiving. English Conversation Group Saturday, November 30 2:00pm – 3:00pm Rotary Room Adults who speak English as a second language have the chance to converse with each other in a fun, supportive environment! Beginning and intermediate ESL students are welcome. Do Gooders Monday, December 2 3:30pm – 4:45pm Edge Media Lab Teens in grades 7-12 can earn community service hours by attending Do Gooders meetings. We work on projects to benefit the library or other local organizations and plan future After Hours events. Tech Tuesday for Youth Tuesday, December 3 4:30pm – 5:15pm Edge Media Lab Each week, youth participants (grades 4-12) will have technology-related fun. Led by Digital Media Specialist Austin Olney. Equipment provided, all encouraged! Storybook Dancing with Steffi Nossen Wednesday, December 4 11:00am – 11:45am Auditorium Steffi Nossen School of Dance presents Storybook Dancing, a fun, movement-filled program for children age 1-6. Spanish Conversation Wednesday, December 4 6:00pm – 7:00pm Classroom 2 Practice your Spanish with award-winning stories and poems. We will read excerpts from these works and then we will discuss them and thus expand your Spanish vocabulary and learn about the culture. Saturday Cinema: A Fun Family Film Saturday, November 30 2:00pm – 4:00pm Auditorium Bring your family to the library for a screening of The Good Dinosaur. Please refrain from bringing in outside food and beverages. Future is Female: Book Discussion Group Monday, December 2 2:00pm – 3:00pm Zoom Ellen O’Connell, White Plains resident and retired English teacher, will moderate a discussion of the novel The Secret Chord, by Geraldine Brooks (2015). Poetry Slam & Open Mic Wednesday, December 4 7:00pm – 9:00pm Zoom Join our monthly virtual Poetry Slam! New performers must email Tim with a short bio. Click here for the Zoom link. Teens and adults are welcome. Lunchtime Meditation Wednesday, December 4 12:00pm – 12:45pm Zoom Instructor Seth Segall will lead attendees in peaceful meditation. Click here for the Zoom information to join. Make Your Own Snow! Wednesday, December 4 3:30pm – 5:00pm The Castle Whether or not the weather outside is frightful, come to the library for a delightful sensory craft! Make and play with your own snow that you can take home! Bilingual Family Night: El hombre de pan de jengibre Wednesday, December 4 7:00pm – 8:00pm Bring your whole family to listen to a bilingual story, sing bilingual songs and make a craft. This program will be in ENGLISH & SPANISH. Did you know that you can get free, full-access to the NY Times with your White Plains Library card? Find out how to get access here. Photo of the Week   Above: Battle of White Plains reenactment Submitted by: Caitlin K Send us your photos! In each issue of This Week on Martine, we feature one patron submitted photo that was taken in White Plains. To submit your photography for a chance to be featured, visit our submission page, upload a photo, and fill out our form with a short description of the photo and your name. Sign up for this Newsletter Copyright © 2024  White Plains Public Library, All rights reserved. Julia Rae Hodenfield – Editor – jrhodenfield@whiteplainslibrary.org Our mailing address is White Plains Public Library 100 Martine Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 914-422-1400 librarian@whiteplainslibrary.org Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Forward this to a Friend

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WPCNR Thanksgiving Portfolio, all photos by WPCNR:

On this Thanksgiving, let us remember the band of hardy intrepid souls who crossed an ocean in a boat no  bigger than a large Chris Craft and settled in an unforgiving landscape and started a country in the cold landscape of New England.

They were immigrants.

They were helped by Indians who welcomed them, without Indians’ compassion they would not have survived. And, remember, those pilgrims were immigrants.

A salute to this brave band. A salute, too, to the indians who accepted them without visas, without jobs, with no background checks no green cards. No border wall. No cages for children. No fear on the part of the Indians and their humanitarian leader, Squanto

The pilgrims sailed into a bay, dropped anchor and just carved out a living after living in incredible conditions in a ship’s hold for weeks, crossing the storm-tossed North Atlantic. Here are some views of America’s hometown by the WPCNR Roving Photographer.

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Plymouth Rock Landing. Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Mayflower II. Plymouth Harbor.

Statue of Squanto welcoming the Pilgrim Settlers. Plymouth.

Governor William Bradford Statue on the Shores of Plymouth Harbor

“Plymouth Rock,” The landing place of the pilgrims.

Settlers Home, left, circa 1690.

Church, Plymouth late 1700s. .

The Jury: Old Burial Ground, Plymouth. Last resting place of the pilgrims overlooking Plymouth Harbor. The sacrifices, bravery and perseverance of these persons stand as examples to Americans today.

and don’t forget the apple pie!

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LOOK FRONT AND BACKWARDS AT ALL TIMES TO AVOID WESTCHESTER LONG ISLAND NJ AND NYC OUTLAW DRIVERS AND PEDESTRIANS THEY’RE OUT TO GET YOU AND YOU DON’T WANT TO GET THEM.

HIGH ALERT FOR: Aggressive, Arrogant, Maneuvering, Passing on Right. Excessive Speed on Westchester Highways AND SUICIDAL JAYWALKERS

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND LAST MAY–OBEY SPEED LIMITS AVOID AGGRESSIVE DRIVING.

WPCNR TRAFFICA ALERTA; News and Comment by John F. Bailey. November 27, 2024:

Warning: this is not an official alert it is a WPCNR Public Service alert for the unexpected, the never encountered before this year in high traffic season.

The Taconic and Sprain Brook Parkways, in fact all parkways and expressways in this county are notorious for the aggressive speeding and passing at high speeds by many drivers going as high as 25 miles or more over the speed limit and passing at high speed the motorists ahead of them and on aware of their coming up on their tails.  I have to assume that the Saw Mill, the I-684 and I-287 are subject to the same “Cowboys” maneuvering in and out  and around cars they feel are driving too slow and holding them back.

I rarely see such menaces to other drivers pulled over.

The Westchester roads subject to highly dangerous traffic extends to cities like White Plains. Talk about pedestrian-friendly, they the pedestrians are downright friendly, aggressive crossers, pedestrian crossway violators and trusting us not to hit them.

In White Plains, we drivers have to not only be alert for U-turns on Mamaroneck Avenue by motorists blatantly making a “U-ie” when they miss a turn or want to go back! the way they came.

We drivers must also be alert for aggressive pedestrians jaywalking in the middle of Mamaroneck Avenue and other streets heads in their cellphones, leaving us the careful or not too careful drivers to see them even when the pedestrians are wearing dark clothing. The walkers in White Plains are overenergizing the streets of White Plains, making them too exciting, life threatening, but they are using all of every street as if they have the right of way all over every street using it as one big crosswalk,  by the jaywalking in the middle or anywhere they want to all along the blocks .aggrr

I do not exaggerate, ladies and gentlemen.

I am no personal injury lawyer, but by White Plains tolerating such trends as U-turns, and out of control jaywalking, (also aggravated by pedestrians using a crosswalk and starting to cross by stepping into a cross walk when cars are making right turns and have the green light), if I as a driver do not see a jaywalker and I hit them, the city could be sued for liability for not enforcing against jaywalkers.  The city needs to pass a no-jaywalking ordinance if it does not already have one. Let alone the driver hitting a jaywalker with a vehicle and being sued in a civil suit.

Driving in cities and major county roads is no longer safe. Too many drivers are violating speed restrictions by 15, 20, 30 miles over the limit and more and playing NASCAR by passing recklessly often very close to clipping the car they are cutting around.

You drive at the speed limit in this county you have to look in your rear view mirror to spot one of these cowboys coming at you with frightening speed (no shot at stopping) and it freezes you.

Just a friendly observation, hoping that “honchos driving too fast,” as Jan and Dean called them in their great ode to the California Highway Patrol, Freeway Flyer, would slow down for their own safety, you have no shot if you misjudge your passing cut-in. You get clipped, flipped and you go fly into oblivion.

Pedestrians you have to curtail your jaywalking habit.

Cross at the corner at a cross walk. Even if you’re impatient. Just tell your date you do not want her to get hurt. Also what happened to wearing white at night? Do it to be seen crossing streets legally.

As White Plains  and other cities and town apartments open and fill up, the streets will be like New York City-ized.

The latest outrage is that New York City’s City Council has suddenly surpassed the United State Congress, both houses of it, for the most irresponsible governing body by making jaywalking legal in New York City. Which mean that if you as a driver hit one of those New York City arrogant crossers between blocks, you are liable. You weren’t careful.

Ai Yi YA!

Meanwhile few delivery guys and gals in New York City using the bikelanes, obey the traffic signals.

I repeat for out-of towers: few delivery guys and gals in New York City using the bikelanes, obey the traffic signals.

Watch out O-O-T-ERS! I motorbike at high speed can injure you serious knocking you flying into a severe head injury broken hand or arm or fractured leg. And then you have to wait a half hour for an ambulance.

There need to be police on the beat to write up jaywalking and crossing cars and u-turning cars.

We need some traffic control initiatives not only on moving violations like U-turns, but jaywalkers, and crosswalk violations when cars have the light to turn.

I do not need official statistics.

I see the violations.

I see them every time I drive in to White Plains, or put on my NASCAR crash helmet, fireproof suit and activate my perimeter radar to  drive the Taconic Parkway (on weekends particularly), The Sprain I-684, hope I see the “honchos” before they make a slip.

Be careful out there.

More careful.

Vigilance for the Driving Vigilantes.