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

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WPCNR THE DAILY BAILEY. Commentary By John F. Bailey. September 5, 2007 UPDATED 9:56 A.M. EDT 9:56 P.M. EDT: The Democratic City Committee sent out a mailing this week to city Democrats eligible to vote in the September 18 Democratic Primary. The campaign literature seeks to convince the Democratic voters they should vote for “the real Democrats.”

This raises the question of what is a Real Democrat? The flyer also makes a series of allegations that need to be clarified and put into perspective.

In the literature being received around the city, the Democratic City Committee  proclaims it “is supporting the real Democrats in this race, the three people who stand for open and participatory government, compassion for those in need and concern for managing the growth of White Plains so as to keep it a livable suburb.”

Roasting Bernstein.

The publication called WPDCC, penned by its Democratic City Committee “leader,” is a 4-page flyer eviscerating its former fair-haired candidate Arnold Bernstein who four years previously was chosen over Eridania Camacho-Quinn  for Common Council nomination. This year, the tables were turned by the nominating committee on Bernstein, who replaced him with Milagros Lecuona.  Bernstein was also the campaign manager for Glen Hockley in days when he was considered “a real Democrat.”

They take Mr. Bernstein to task for opposing the location of the homeless shelter in downtown White Plains – this as being un- Democratic – and in the process question the truth of White Plains Police Reports . However, the flyer neglects to tell readers that Mr. Boykin and Mr. Power, their two candidates failed to support the Mayor’s resolution asking that the White Plains shelter be relocated. However, the conditions of that shelter, since closed, well-documented by WPCNR showed that whatever “compassion”  the Common Council had for the homeless – other than Rita Malmud attempting to convince Andy Spano to move it,   was not evident in the 18 months it existed at 85 Court Street.

 Mr. Bernstein,  in voting for the resolution was listening to persons in the downtown who complained about the security threat of the homeless which the police reports which today’s flyer attempts to discredit. The Democratic flyer ignores the fact that the Democrats, including Mr. Boykin and Mr. Power refused to call for the shelter to be relocated, as the Mayor, Mr. Hockley and Mr. Bernstein wished.  The Mayor asked Rita Malmud to intercede with County Executive Andy Spano to see if she, as a Democrat could convince Mr. Spano to relocate the shelter. Nothing happened until  9 months later when the shelter was closed August 5.

Democrats Want it Both Ways on Station Square

 The Democrats excoriate Mr. Bernstein for pressing for the Exclusivity Agreement on Station Square – forgetting to tell the reader that all Democratic City Councilpersons,including the candidate Mr. Boykin,  (Mr. Power skipped his briefing with Mr. Cappelli),  knew of the Station Square Project  weeks in advance of when it was introduced May 10. Mr. Boykin told WPCNR he knew about the proposal as did his colleagues, Ms. Malmud,  and Mr. Roach well before the May 10 meeting.  The main reason Mr. Boykin and Mr. Power voted against it was because Mr. Boykin’s, Ms. Malmud’s and Mr. Roach’s prior knowledge of the project was exposed by WPCNR and it was politically incorrect for the council to pass the Exclusivity Agreement  in front of the community opposition.

The flyer makes no mention that  the council has made no outright rejection of the Request for Qualifications introduced two weeks ago, calling for firms to submit qualifications  in 30 days for a project very similar to the Station Square proposal. The Request for Qualifications  trots out the Exclusivity Agreement in a different form. Neither Mr. Boykin nor Mr. Power have said, “Hold on, Mr. Mayor, this is the same Exclusivity Deal we threw out last Spring.”  They have not opposed Bernstein’s original support of the Station Square Exclusivity Agreement.

They Criticize Bernstein But Voted With Him

The WPDCC  accuses Bernstein of rubber-stamping plans for high rise luxury development – neglecting to mention that Mr. Boykin and Mr. Power voted for a series of developments. Mr. Boykin voted for  221 Main with Mr. Bernstein.  Mr. Boykin voted for approval of an extra floor on the Ritz Carlton Podium with Mr. Bernstein.  Mr. Boykin voted for Avalon Bay with Mr. Bernstein. Mr. Power and Mr. Boykin voted for the LCOR Bank Street Commons  affordable housing project, and Mr. Boykin voted for the North Street Community project with Mr. Bernstein. Mr. Power voted against the North Street Community, but he was the lone dissenting vote, with his three democrat colleagues voting for the North Street project, essentially it was a free pass for Power to show support for opposition to the project at no cost to him. Originally, WPCNR reported Power had voted for this project and we correct that impression.

Against  Affordable Housing?

The flyer accuses Mr. Bernstein of being against a county affordable housing project, neglecting to mention that the city wanted to build its own affordable housing project there for seniors, which Bernstein supproted, so Bernstein was not exactly against affordable housing in that location as the flyer charges.

 Mr. Power and Mr. Boykin voted for The Pinnacle affordable housing exchange last spring, allowing the shift of  affordable housing owed by the 221 Main development to be built in the City Center garage – also a proposition supported by Mr. Bernstein.

Waffling on the Homeless? 

The flyer seeks to portray Mr. Boykin and Mr. Power and Ms. Lecuona as being more guardians of the community and more pro-affordable housing than Mr. Bernstein when  they (Boykin and Power) have voted with Mr. Bernstein – except on the homeless shelter issue.

The only issue Boykin and Power voted against Bernstein on were the homeless resolution that the Mayor, Glen Hockley and Mr. Bernstein supported calling for relocation of the shelter.

In short, the Democratic City Committee would have its voters believe that two of its three nominees are “concerned with managing the growth of White Plains so as to keep it livable,” while Bernstein is pro-development.

But that is not the way Mr. Boykin has voted.  Boykin voted for the City Center, the Jefferson, two condominium projects on Maple Avenue, Avalon Bay, Bank Street, and “son of Bank Street,” and voted to sell off Railside Avenue for development in face of pleading neighborhood opposition where he voted with Mr. Bernstein. Mr. Power has not taken a strong stand yet where he was the deciding factor, and has not even questioned matters that raise serious questions, but for that matter neither has Mr. Bernstein.

If the incumbent councilpersons Boykin and Power are not pro-development they certainly are not anti-development, either, or anti-administration, for that matter, and not critical of it or administration procedural policy.  

So to say Mr. Bernstein is not a real democrat because he voted for projects supported by the Mayor, is simply sophistry aimed at a public the leaders of the Democratic Party feel is too uninformed and uninterested  to remember the way things really were.  

Silence from Bernstein. Outrage from Corcoran.

Mr. Bernstein contacted for comment on this flyer Wednesday evening said he would not have a comment until tomorrow (Thursday).

Candyce Corcoran, the other contender in the primary was criticized in the flyer as being linked to traditional Conservative Party issues such as Right to Life.

She pointed to her past history as a District Leader for the White Plains Democrats,  and as a person who broke her foot at a pro-choice rally in Washington, D.C.,  was incensed that the Democratic Party would try to paint her as not being pro-choice.

She also said she ran as a Democrat on the Republican Ticket when she ran against William Ryan in 2001, not as a Republican. She chided the Democrats  pointing out, “When I win (the Democratic Primary), the Democratic Party will tell Democrats to vote for their slate on the Working Families Line.”

She said she was only running on the Conservative Party line, after being denied the Democratic Party nomination. “It’s obvious that where I put people before politics, the Democratic Party puts politics before people and will support the Democrat no matter who they are. A good councilperson will work and listen to all the people no matter who they are.”

The Democratic Party chides Ms. Corcoran  for running on the Conservative Party line that they say supports cutting services for the needy, taking away rights of workers and “endanger women’s reproductive freedom.”

Ms. Corcoran points out this is disingenuous. She reports this morning she was Treasurer of the Pro-Choice Political Action Committee and was at a Pro-Choice rally at the White House when she broke her foot.

Corcoran for the record, was once the Organizational Chairperson and a District Leader with the Democratic party of White Plains. As further evidence of her Democrat pedigree, she points out she was Co-Campaign Manager for Benjamin Boykin in his first campaign for Council.

She was a member of the WESTHELP Advisory Board; White Plains Recreation and Parks Advisory Council;  an advocate for handicapped parking in White Plains.

A Convenient Election Issue

 Finally on the front page of the WPDCC, the publication pumps the Democratic Majority recent effort to increase the affordable housing percentage of units to 10% in the city for “workforce housing.”

 Well, overlooked is the fact that this proposal has not been studied extensively with developers’ input, taking the analysis of the LCOR Bank Street Commons job as a basis for this legislation is preposterous, because Bank Street Commons is getting millions in tax breaks on this development, which means the city loses.  LCOR would never do this job if it were not for the tax breaks – which they said originally they did not need! Remember? 

Advancing this type of percentage proposal without talking with developers is not too smart. Once this is passed, if it is passed, White Plains may stop development interest cold. However, it is an easy proposal to make in an election year.

And, when pray tell is all this affordable housing going to come on board for the workforce? We are still waiting for Bill Brown’s project to open and the county Horton Mills townhouses to open that have been in the works for five years.  (But that’s another column.)

We have been thinking what makes a real Democrat in the eyes of the Democratic City Committee.

They write in the issues of WPDCC that “Our nominating process was open and fair.”

The nominating committee chose Mr. Boykin, Mr. Power  and Milagros Lecouona, a political unknown. They rejected Robert Stackpole, the longtime planning board member, Wall Street financial expert, and a man who has been highly critical of city financial policy; they rejected Ms. Corcoran; they rejected Don Hughes, a person who has followed issues very closely and made information available to the public on his website, a man who knows issues in the city; they rejected Claire Eisenstadt, an architect and long time observer of the direction the city was going.

The case could be made that by rejecting Mr. Stackpole they rejected the best candidate for Common Council in years, based on his experience and intelligence and familiarity with the issues.

Stackpole is continuing the fight with Mr. Levine by appearing on the November ballot.

So what is a Real Democrat? You Decide.

On September 18,  and again in November 6, the Democrats of White Plains,  have the opportunity to either keep the same or make a change. They have Mr. Stackpole, Ms. Corcoran and Mr. Levine and Ms. Lecuona against very known quanitities: Mr. Boykin, Mr. Power and Mr. Bernstein.

 Tuesday September 18, though,  is Mr. Bernstein’s last hurrah.  If he does not nose out Ms. Lecouna, Mr. Power or Mr. Boykin in the Tuesday vote, he is out of there. Ms. Corcoran, Mr. Stackpole and Mr. Levine will be the remaining choices in November.

Of course there are the Republicans, too, available on Election Day November 6: Anthony Pilla, Augie Zicca and Cass Cibelli.  Perhaps one of them will turn out to be Appalachian State.

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The Nook Corner on Main Street: One Way Out.

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WPCNR THE SEWER REPORT. By John F. Bailey. September 4, 2007 UPDATED 4 PM E.D.T.: The Nicoletti Bypass sewer connection on William Street, built to relieve the Main Street sewer of  new effluent from the 221 Main hotel and condominium complex (nearing completion), failed its first test recently when sewage backup and pooling was discovered according to the contractor who installed the bypass. The original contractor who claimed he wanted to install the pipe with extra ballast to hold it in place and was told not to do so by the city

Nicoletti Bypass Sewer Line, as it looked Tuesday morning at Main and William Street.

The city disputes this. Melissa Lopez, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office, told WPCNR that “the original contractor is back on the job now (as of 2:30 PM Tuesday) and has come in “to fix what was his mistake.”

The contractor was observed to be back onsite on the 221 Main site where the new sewer line begins as of 4 PM Wednesday afternoon.

Lopez said Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti said “the contractor is back on the job right now and fixing it.” Lopez said the fix is being executed at the contractor’s expense at no cost to the city or Cappelli Enterprises.

Asked what was the cause of the pooling and backup, Lopez said, “The pipe was installed improperly.”

Dan Seidel,who watches the Main Street construction from his offices on William Street, reports to WPCNR that he was talking with the construction company owner on the job site last week who explained to Seidel what was causing the digup.

Seidel said the contractor who installed the pipe explained that when a sewage test was conducted recently prior to the opening of the Ritz-Carlton Westchester complex, previously scheduled for mid-October,” test sewage pooled and was not moving.”

Lopez placed the date of the sewer test as about a month and a half ago.

The Nicoletti Bypass boarded over Tuesday morning awaiting major surgery.

 The city had the contractor dig up the area on Main Street to see what the problem was. The contractor told Seidel  the pipe along 123 Main Street (in front of the New York Power Authority Building) somehow “floated and moved after everything was poured and hardened” snapping the pipe. Last Friday, according to Seidel a sewer cleanup company was at the William Street and Main corner cleaning up the spilled sewage. “It really did stink that day,” Seidel reports.

An alleged Disagreement

According to Seidel, the contractor who operated the heavy machinery told him the White Plains Department of Public Works told him he only needed “K-crete” for securing the pipe, not rocks first then K-crete.

Seidel says the contractor told him that buried pipes unless weighted down, move.  The contractor explained to Seidel that he had advised The City of White Plains that he wanted to put heavy boulders on top of the pipes to hold them in place, and then K-crete because White Plains had never installed a pipe this deep before, and the contractor did not know what forces the pipe would be subjected.

The contractor according to Seidel,  “I wanted to do it (put in heavy boulders), but  the city engineer supervising the job said “No need. You don’t have to do it.”

Told about this, Lopez said she knew nothing about it, but would get the Department of Public Works side of the story. WPCNR also asked when the sewer test occurred and it raises the question of if the pipe was installed improperly why did not the city engineer know it was being installed improperly and point it out.

Lopez reports to WPCNR that Commissioner Nicoletti says “The contractor failed to put in the pipe the way it should have been done, and that he (Nicoletti) does not know anything in response to the contractor’s suggestion of boulders.”

Lopez reports that Commissioner Nicoletti and the contractor have mutually worked out “an alternative (to secure the pipe) consisting of crushed stones followed by K-crete.”

The site remains dug up as of Tuesday morning with no work in progress, however the contractor is reported by Ms. Lopez as back this afternoon.

Lopez said she had no date when the pipe was expected to be fixed.

Nicoletti Bypass pipe in its trench awaiting surgery this morning.

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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. By the WPCNR Flying Photographer. September 2, 2007: Perhaps never in this reporter’s memory has the northeast enjoyed such a perfect weather Labor Day Weekend. The weather was perfect on the “New England Riviera” — Block Island — the home of the five hour vacation — with swimmers from tots to teens to adults enjoying the rolling waters of the crystal blue Atlantic. Vacationers arrived by ferry and plane strolling Ocean Avenue, biking the island, shopping the bookstores and studios and enjoying lobster rolls, steamed clams and clam chowder. Block Island is the perfect five hour vacation and Sunday it was perfect.

It was the last summer weekend to get sand in your sandals, a sunbronzed complexion, and dip into the therapeutic waters of the Atlantic with just a hint of autumn in the westerly sea breeze.

The New England Riviera: Approach to Block Island. Yachts fill New Harbor.

The Breathtaking sweep of Mansion Beach washed by long rolling Atlantic breakers.

Classic Victorian Hotels Stare out to the bustling harbor on Ocean Avenue filled with Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. America getting a last 5 hour vacation.

The Beach on the Atlantic looking out to Old Harbor Point. Sea breeze, ocean peace and a last summer fling.

View from balcony enjoying a Lobster Roll.

The weatherbeaten Victorian grand dame hotels evoke a relaxing slower pace of a century ago.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. August 31, 2007: Judge Barbara Leak of White Plains City Court ruled earlier this week in favor of Cappelli Enterprises in its effort to evict The Corner Nook café and Continental Foods from the 240 Main Street block, where the development firm plans to build affordable housing to satisfy its obligation to the city prior to opening The Ritz-Carlton Hotel.  The Ritz-Carlton Westchester is also reporting on its website that the Ritz at 221 Main Street will open in November, not October as previously planned.

The Corner Nook/Continental Deli legal dispute with Cappelli Enterprises was ruled on this week. The Nook must vacate 240 Main Street by October 31, according to its owner, speaking to WPCNR today.

 Jim Benerofe, the White Plains Week commentator, broke the news on the weekly news roundup show. White Plains Week this evening on White Plains Public Access Television. According to the owner of The Corner Nook, Peter Dimitrakakis, speaking to the CitizeNetReporter, this afternoon Judge Leak’s court order stipulates he must be out of the premises as of October 31. It could not be learned directly from the Cappelli organization if demolition would commence promptly November 1 for construction of the affordable housing the Cappelli organization owes the city as part of the Ritz-Carlton project.

The Nook has been living on borrowed time since 2002 when Cappelli Enterprises purchased the complex. Meanwhile the Corner Nook has reaped a fortune in breakfast, lunch and break business from the construction workers swarming over the City Center project from 2001 to 2003, and now the 221 Main Ritz Hotel project under construction from 2004 to the present.

A falling out between developers Martin Ginsburg and A. J. Rotundi created a cross-suit between the two partners making the erection of the Ginsburg Development Corporation Pinnacle indefinite at this time.  The Pinnacle development, followers of WPCNR will recall, was going to incorporate affordable units in its Pinnacle project and fulfill Cappelli affordable housing obligations. Since Mr. Rotundi and Mr. Ginsburg have been in litigation, the question of Cappelli Enterprise obligations to build the affordable apartments has been in the air.

Cappelli Enterprises, owing 41 units of constructed affordable housing 17 on the City Center project and 24 as its quota  owed the City on its Ritz-Carlton project has pursued two options: building affordable units in the City Center Parking Garage facility under the New York Sports Club or building units on the Corner Nook site.

Judge Barbara Leak’s decision now allows Cappelli Enterprises to begin construction on the affordable units, which will allow them to obtain Certificates of Occupancy for not only the Ritz-Carlton Hotel complex, but also the condominium Residences at the Ritz-Carlton.

WPCNR awaits details on Cappelli Enterprise plans for the affordable housing from the Cappelli organization.

THE RITZ TODAY. A Cappelli spokesperson said the hotel would be opening November 14. He said the hotel section of the project was really taking shape. 

Meanwhile, the Ritz-Carlton Westchester website reports the planned opening of the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Main Street will be in November, not October 10 as had been previously stated just two weeks ago. The website reports the hotel will now open in November. Geoffrey Thompson, spokesperson for Capppelli Enterprises said the opening is now scheduled for November 14.