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 MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS SURVEY. January 1, 2010: The WPCNR Editorial Board has, as has been the WPCNR custom the last ten years it has been reporting the important news White Plains needs to know, is singling out citizens of the city and personalities who have made a difference in the quality of life in the city in an effort to move the city forward during the past year. The list is purely subjective, and we submit the following personalities. One we submit posthumously, always a sad thing.

WPCNR also invites you to send in your own nominations for person of the year and when the votes are in, WPCNR will mention.

Here are this year’s WPCNR suggestions for White Plains Person of the Year 2009, in alphabetical order:

Paul Anderson-Winchell – Executive Director of Grace Church Community Services. He is nominated for his focusing White Plains efforts to house the homeless during cold winter months by diffusing the political football of increasing beds at the Open Arms men’s shelter and Samaritan House for women shelters run by Grace Church. His efforts persuaded the county and the city to stop making the homeless a political issue by expanded bed capacities for two years over the winter months of 2009 last spring and 2009-10 by 17 beds. 

Adam Bradley – Elected the city’s 17^th Mayor. Mr. Bradley is nominated for having the courage to leave his 89^th Assembly District seat in the legislature to run for Mayor of White Plains against incumbent Joseph Delfino. At the time Bradley chose to take this gamble, he did not know Delfino would choose not to run. Bradley faces a daunting task as the city is in financial disarray as he takes office, (“I am inheriting Rome after Nero,” he says. For the courage to come to the aid of the city by bringing hopefully intelligence, analysis, and pragmatic judgment to 255 Main Street, Mr. Bradley is nominated.

Lou Bruno – Co-President of the Council of Neighborhood Associatons. Mr. Bruno has taken over from the previous leadership of the CNA and continued and improved the presentation of city issues to the CNA, and has persuaded city officials to come and address the association. The organization continues to grow.

Patti Cantu – of the Battle Hill Association. Ms. Cantu has continued to highlight the disgrace of illegal residential housing in her neighborhood as well as other neighborhoods in the city. Her dogged persistence and presentation year after year of unsafe situations, unsanitary conditions tolerated by landlords, and laxly enforced by the city has continued. It is only a matter of time before a disaster in an overcrowded housing situation somewhere in the city results in multiple death or injury. Ms. Cantu appears to be the lone social activist in the city with the courage to continue to point out the emperor has no clothes. 

Louis Cappelli – Mr. Cappelli is nominated for his gritty recovery from a brain aneurism he suffered last July, and his continued efforts to keep his Cappelli Enterprises moving forward to close and build two major projects in Yonkers and the Catskills, both of which, it can be argued are crucial to the continued financial stability of both areas. While Mr. Cappelli continues his comeback, he continues to press forward with projects while few other contractors are stepping forward and banks husband their cash. Like the fictional architect, Robert Roark in the Ayn Rand novel, The Fountainhead, Cappelli pushes ahead against long odds, fights compromise and mediocrity at all costs and is at his best in a tight spot.  He is also nominated for being candid in discussion of his condition, his treatment, in hopes of alerting others to the dangers of stress and warning signs.

Margaret Dwyer – Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, White Plains City School District. Ms. Dwyer is nominated for turning around the White Plains Middle School instruction, resulting in vastly improved math and English Language Arts scores at the eighth grade level in the last year. Under her leadership the last two years, increased teacher availability  was given to students identified as not meeting standards; an extended summer program; instituting differentiated instruction in classes; sophisticated analyses of student performance data (to identify students needing more teaching effort to identify for extra health on the cusp of meeting standards); and piloting a reading program that has “accelerated the progress of our struggling readers.” Dwyer’s ability to achieve this turn-around is to be saluted, and the long term results should enable future White Plains Middle School students to enter high school considerably more prepared for high school level work, based on achievement scores last spring. She is an educator who gets things done.

Glen Hockley – former Councilman. Today is the first day that Glen Hockley is officially out of city government. Mr. Hockley is nominated for focusing attention on how the Board of Elections consistently gives the appearance of using intricate, and somewhat ambiguous election law to frustrate the efforts of citizens challenging major party candidates. Though Mr. Hockley’s effort to place his name on the Mayoral ballot was thrown out by the Board of Elections due to Mr. Hockley’s own personal error (not filing a Certificate of Acceptance of his own candidacy), his appeal of that Appellate ruling pointed out the conflict between upstate appellate court rulings on this very issue. The New York State Court of Appeals refused to consider his appeal of the Appellate Court 2^nd Circuit removing Mr. Hockley’s name from the White Plains mayoral ballot. Had Mr. Hockley’s name been on the ballot, and with some labor support voting on the Republcian line, the race with Mr. Bradley would have been closer. Hockley’s Quixote-like tilt at the Westchester County Board of  Elections  disturbing history of  finding election law reasons to refuse petitions of candidates also brought out the heretofore unknown that that write-in ballots can be cast with a stamp on the write in slot on election machines.

Hockley, though obviously serving his own interests, pointed out two areas of reform that need to be addressed—arcane hoops created over the years—to hamper candidates opposed to party policy to get on the ballot. He is also saluted for the efforts made to engineer his write-in campaign.

Susan Katz – Executive Director of  Westco Productions. Ms. Katz is nominated for founding the popular non-profit children’s theatre group, Westco Productions, which in 2009, celebrated its 30^th year of successful productions for kids. Her creativity and instinct for what the public will see in fund-raising concerts for her organization, as well as her innovative, pioneering efforts in presenting theatre to children, involving them in theatre for the first time, and using theatre for the benefit of the community are preeminent in Westchester County. She was also a loyal city employee for 29-1/2 years retiring this year with the vibrancy and enthusiasm not associated with the usual retiree. The thousands of Westchester youngsters and parents who have been made happy by Westco are living testimonials to why theatre is necessary – to spark the urge to dream, create, and test ourselves.

Rita Malmud – Twenty years a member of the White Plains Common Council. She chose not to seek reelection this year. Ms. Malmud is nominated for her rational approach to issues and her loyal service as a councilperson, and though you might not have always agreed with her votes, you felt her votes were honest ones. She played a major pivotal role in voting for the Westchester in the early 90s, the City Center in 2001, and the Ritz-Carlton complex in 2004.Though she voted against the New York Presbyterian 60-acre park for commercial development deal in 2001, perhaps a major mistake in retrospect,  she made the best decisions she felt she could make at the time. She was not intimated or ever regretful about her votes and her decisions.

Frank Straub – former Commissioner of Public Safety. Dr. Straub is nominated for bringing a substantial modernization of the Department of Public Safety, promoting a spirit of cooperation and team feel to the police and fire departments over his seven years, and significantly modernizing the department with communications, equipment, hiring of Hispanic, African-American and female officers, and making White Plains a safe, though expensive city to drive in (due to his aggressive traffic enforcement program), and for providing a safe downtown environment as the city grew. (He was aided inthis effort by the expertise of David Chong, whom Straub brought in as Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety), and who now takes over as Commissioner of Public Safety.

 Gang presence in White Plains over the Straub watch, appears to be at a distinct minimum compared to other Westchester cities. Dr. Straub also oversaw successful installation of the 12 hour and 24-hour tours of duty for police and fire officers respectively this year that significantly reduced overtime according to police statistics, which ironically led to his abrupt departure due to a rift with the Common Council over continuing its trial.

Paul Wood. City Executive Officer, deceased. Mr. Wood was a fixture of the Delfino Administration. Brought in as Director of Economic Development by Delfino mastermind, George Gretsas, and as press spokesperson, Wood took over management of the city day-to-day operations in 2005 when Gretsas left to run the City of Fort Lauderdale as City Manager. Wood was a tireless worker working well into the evenings during the week and on weekends. He negotiated the recent labor contract with police and fire that the Council rejected, but Wood was correct in saying that arbitration would award them the same money, and that is exactly what the city did. Wood is nominated for his loyalty, his effort, and his dedication to what he thought was best for moving  White Plains forward. He was passionate about his job. He was clever at it. He could be adversarial when he had to be and was an astute player of the press. You never knew he was as sick as he was judging from the effort he made up to a few weeks before the end of his life. He was a little Broderick Crawford, a little Bogart, a little E.J. Cobb, but he was not acting, though he was a good actor. He was living it and literally worked himself to death.

Other – Do you have someone you think is also one who contributed to the quality of life in White Plains in 2009? Vote for one of our 11 if you wish or submit the name of the person you feel should be recognized, in the survey at the right.

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From news reports. December 31, 2009: The Journal News reported today that three White Plains youths, aged 20,17, and 15 were apprehended and were about to face charges in connection with ‘as many as 34’ car break-ins in the last week. The arrests were not reported to any other media,  nor were the rash of crimes reported by the police alerting residents to the existence of the threat.

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WPCNR MILESTONES. December 31, 2009: Katherine Conroy of Havilands Manor, passed away Wednesday evening in Greenwich,Connecticut,  surrounded by friends, at 95 years of age, her family reports to WPCNR.  She resided for decades on Mansfield Road, and was a well-known, respected and loved volunteer for dozens of organizations in White Plains.

A former school teacher, Mrs. Conroy, mother of six children, was known in the neighborhood for her always putting up a holiday decoration on her cheery frontdoor.  A turkey for Thanksgiving. A rabbit for Easter. February was her toughest month. She would put up a picture of Abraham Lincoln for Lincoln’s Birthday on the 12^th, switch it immediately to a heart for Valentine’s Day the 14th  then put up a picture of George Washington for February 22.

She was a neighbor who looked out for you, worried when you stayed up too late, and always said a cheery hello and chatted animatedly about the goings on around town when she saw you. She spoke her mind and was never shy about telling things the way they were. She was an old-time neighbor who never let you down.

Her civic spirit, (she never missed a Woman’s Club meeting), her care for her community was always uplifting and she was always upbeat. She was the kind of person you would meet in an ongoing television series and eagerly await the next episode, only Mrs. Conroy was better  — she was real, warm and always growing.

Arrangements are pending at this time.

We should all have a next door neighbor like Kay Conroy.

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WPCNR NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS. From the Battle Hill Association. December 29,2009: The Battle Hill Association has officially severed ties with the Council of Neighborhood Associations after a disagreement with the Association on the Board’s reluctance to take stances on issues and provide support to associations with specific neighborhood-centered concerns with the city.

According to a letter sent to the Council of Neighborhood Associations, shared with news media,  the Battle Hill Association states:

 At the December 8, 2009 meeting, Lou Bruno and Joel Rudikoff stated, CNA organization is for informational purposes only and does not consider voicing eighborhood concerns at council meetings beneficial. The CNA elected officers statements and discussion on December 8, 2009 confirmed that the by-laws prevents and restricts the ability to “voice” issues and concerns with the appropriate city departments on behalf of those affected  neighborhoods in need of a “voice”.

The Battle Hill Association is a productive, vocal and action oriented group of citizens that encourages residents to have a voice on neighborhood issues.

The Battle Hill Association Board of Directors has voted unanimously not to renew our membership with the White Plains Council of Neighborhoods.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the Office of the State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. December 23, 2009(EDITED): School districts across New York state, including White Plains and New York City, face a potential funding gap of at least $2 billion when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding runs out in 2011-12 unless federal aid is renewed or replaced by state aid, according to analysis released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Property taxpayers could face on average a 7.7-percent tax increase in 2011-12 to make up the loss in ARRA funds, assuming school budgets and state aid remain constant.

The White Plains School District according to Comptroller DiNapoli’s Office  received $3,876,166 of its $13,736,444 in school aid this year from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding that is due to expire. If the funds are not restored by Washington,  the district faces a 2.1% tax increase to replace those funds. This would based on other factors cited last week by the school district send the district budget well over the$200 Million mark in 2010-11.

Last week the School District Finance Committee heard Assistant Superintendent for Business, Fred Seiler detail that the district faced a $15 Million increase in expenses made up of $$2 Million (now $3.9 Million according to the Comptroller’s figures) deficit in state aid, a STAR EXEMPTION DECREASE, $3 MILLION more in salaries, $3.5 Million more in pension costs, $4 Million in Health benefits, and replacement of about $3 Million decline in the assessment roll. The increase indicated by the Comptroller this week, if the ARRA is not extended, would mean if the City School District Budget does not cut expenses, the budget will top $203 Million.

“ARRA funding has helped ease some of the budget pain for school districts and taxpayers,” DiNapoli said. “But that money stops in 2011-12, and when it does, New York’s schools face a $2 billion funding gap. That’s a big hole to fill. The time to start thinking about how to fill that hole is now, not when the money is already gone. It won’t be easy; schools are already facing financial problems. But this won’t just go away.”

DiNapoli’s analysis found ARRA funds made up on average 5.3 percent of total school budgets in 2009-10. The school budgets most reliant on ARRA funds in their 2009-10 budgets are New York City (5.7 percent), the big four districts (5.1 percent) and high-need schools (4.9 percent). Low-need school districts face the smallest gap as ARRA funds represented just 2.4 percent of their 2009-10 budgets.

In upstate New York, school districts in Central New York, the Capital Region and the Finger Lakes ARRA funds made up 5.5 percent, 5.2 percent and 5.1 percent of their budgets on average in 2009-10 respectively. ARRA funds represented just 3.2 percent of Long Island school districts’ budgets and 3.3 percent of Mid-Hudson Valley school districts’ budgets.

DiNapoli’s analysis also found ARRA funding helped independent school districts hold tax levy increases to 2.1 percent on average, rather than an estimated 7.7-percent increase had ARRA funds not been available. Alternatively, school districts would have had to cut costs by as much as 3.2 percent without ARRA funds.

The state projects that foundation aid (the main source of school aid to most districts) will increase by 17 percent over the next three years. To backfill the stimulus funding and meet this commitment, the state would need to increase its share of funding by $4.1 billion, or 31 percent, between 2010-11 and 2012-13, an unlikely scenario given the state’s fiscal difficulties.

To view DiNapoli’s analysis, visit: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/arra-snapshot-121709.pdf.

To view a district-by-district breakdown of ARRA funding as a percent of school district 2009-10 budgets, visit: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/arra-percent-budget-by-dist-2009-10.xls.