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.

Hits: 0

WPCNR MILESTONES. June 6, 2008:

Hits: 0

WPCNR TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE NEWS. June 5, 2008: The Project Director of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project, charged with the evaluation and recommendation of the best solution to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge, told WPCNR today that a decision on the best transit alternatives to replace the 49 year-old bridge (undergoing repairs as needed) will be delayed “for weeks.”

Mr. Anderson (shown here at a February 2008 meeting, said his people were checking figures going over alternatives and their data and were not as far along as they had hoped in coming to a final recommendation (on transit mode selected for the bridge makeover – commuter rail, bus rapid transit, light rail). He gave no reason for the delay. He said no decision had been made.

Details of Implementation Not Considered at this Time

Two weeks ago, Anderson told Don Hughes of the North Broadway Civic Association (who has been following this issue), that reconstructing the current bridge  to accommodate commuter rail did not make sense because, Hughes recalls, the bridge foundations would have to be rebuilt, and it would be cost-prohibitive if commuter rail connection with Metro North at Tarrytown was desired.

Hughes   also said Mr. Anderson told him that a decision on the bridge transit option combination would be made without considering or worrying about the execution of   “the details” (location of stations, I-287 lane construction) of accommodating the transit options (commuter rail, bus rapid transit, or light rail) on the Westchester I-287 corridor.

Anderson, Hughes told WPCNR said those “details” would be worked out once the transit alternatives had been selected. Anderson indicated to Hughes a number of alternatives and combinations of commuter rail, light rail and bus rapid transit had surfaced and, they had decided to make the rapid transit decision first as to what would be accommodated on any new bridge.

Presently no decision on the transit combination has been made, Mr. Anderson told WPCNR today, and he had no timetable as to when a decision would be made.

The Schedule

In February a timeline  called for “Announcing Preferred Transit Modes” in May 2008, with “Final Alternatives in Draft Environmental Impact Statement” to be promulgated by the end of June, with an Open House scheduled for June. From what Mr. Anderson said today, the schedule is delayed indefinitely.

In February, documents presented at the series of Scoping Sessions on the Tappan Zee Corridor project indicated a final preferred alternative would be arrived at late 2009.

The identity of the Preferred Alternative was to be announced in May 2009, with Draft Environmental Impact Statement published in June 2009, with hearings on the DEIS extending to 2010. The publishing of the Final Environmental Impact Statement on the “Preferred Alternative” was to happen in February, 2010 with a decision to be made April, 2010.

Hits: 0

Hits: 0

WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. June 3, 2008 UPDATED June 4, 2008 9:40 A.M.: Two Indians on, nobody out, and the Tigers held a 2-1 lead Tuesday afternoon in the last of the seventh in the quarter final of the fastpitch Class AA Sectional in Wappingers Falls.

The hardworking Tiger in the circle,  Lauren Sputo was over 100 pitches. She went 3-1 to R. C. Ketchum’s clean-up lady, Jess Syska. Senior catcher Sandra Mastrangelo went to talk with Lauren they touched gloves. Sputo came back getting two called strikes for out number one.

Next up came the number five hitter, Amanda Machio who took three balls. Tiger catcher Sandra Mastrangelo went out to the circle again and laid on the gloves  with Lauren. Then,  boom! Boom! Boom! Sputo came back to get  Machio  on another called third strike on the corner.

Two out and Sputo into her 130^th pitch, was facing Chelse Boyes, who had blasted a triple in the second inning, walked, and looped a liner to left. The first pitch was over for a strike, then a ball, a swing and miss, and a foul, 1-2, the runners led away. Sputo delivered a nasty pitch across the thighs tying her up inside , Boyes  connected hitting the inside pitch off the fists past the circle.

Christine Coppola positioned perfectly in the third base hole gathered  it in as the crowd held its breath. Gloving it with care,  as if the yellow roller  was a bounding land mine, she gingerly, carefully eased over to  third base and planted her right foot decisively on the bag for the game-ending force out. Here Christine is bringing the precious ball to the home plate umpire. The big out.

The Tiger softball team  (Co Champs of League 1-A with Scarsdale), had ousted the Number 1 seed! It was a clutch performance by the battery of Sputo and Mastrangelo that capped a taut afternoon in the sun, moving the Tigers into the Section 1 Semi-Final on Thursday where they will play Yorktown, last year’s defending Section 1 Champion at 4:30 P.M. at Yorktown High School.

The game was scoreless  through the first 4-1/2 frames, as Chelse Boyes and Sputo dueled for the second time in two weeks. Boyes won the first battle in extra frames at the  Melissa Danielle Bisaccia tournament. The Tigers and R.C. Ketchum have a lot of great games with each other and Tigers Coach Ted O’Donnell plays that tournament very year because of the high calibre Ketchem competition. 

Ketchum scored in the fifth when Michelle Sasso hit a shot off Sputo to Christine Giansante behind the mound, who just missed throwing her out at first base. Sasso went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Lauren Boyes’ solid single up the middle into centerfield for a 1-0 lead. Sputo walked the next hitter, induced Syska to ground to Giansante at second, moving the runners up. Then Sputo fanned Amanda Macio on three pitches to retire the side.

Chelse Boyes had been mowing the Tigers down for the first five innings with the Tigers having no bona fide threats. Twice Chelse had cut down Tigers at second on sacrifice bunt attempts to avert scoring situations. 

Flooks Flyer Sets Up The Equalizer

In sixth the Tigers broke through. Jackie Flooks the leadoff Tiger, cued the ball  on a slapper from the left side in the third and short hole. The shortstop gunned it to first, but Jackie was safe on a banger.  

With pitcher Boyes deadly on bunts, Coach Ted O’Donnell put on the steal on the second pitch to Christine Coppolla and Flooks was flying.  The catcher’s throw was up the line, and the shortstop swipe tag missed Jackie’s left shoulder going by, the umpire right on the play went palms down! Tying run on second.  Coach O’Donnell told WPCNR he wanted to shake things up a bit, and that’s why he put the steal on.

R. C. Ketchum Talks it over as Coach O’Donnell instructs Flooks — a familiar sight over the years — Coach Ted O’Donnell endlessly communicating leaving nothing to chance.

Boyes then induced a grounder to second, and Jackie had to hold the second sack. A passed ball allowed Flooks to go to third. After Kate Smayda worked the count to full, and walked, Sandra Mastrangelo came to the plate. The first pitch to Sandra was a wild pitch all the way to the backstop and Jackie scored in a cloud of dust, the throw from the catcher  high and late and it was 1-1,  Smayda moving to second.

Sandra Mastrangelo Turns Second and Holds On as Coach O’Donnell Holds Her up, after the SandraShot puts Tigers ahead 2-1.

Boyes’ next pitch to Mastrangelo, Sandra told WPCNR was outside and a little up and she got ALLLLLL of it. Out it soared to the opposite field, a long screaming line drive into the gap that scored Kate Smayda from second to put the Tigers ahead 2 to 1.

Going to the bottom of the sixth, Sputo had thrown 75 pitches on the warm afternoon, and after a catch of a hump back Texas Leaguer into shallow left by Tiger Shortstop Christy Reina, and a ground out, surrendered a hit and a walk, but fanned lead off hitter Michello Sasso on three pitches to closeout the threat.

The Tigers did not score in their half of the seventh, setting the stage for Sputo’s great clutch performance in the last of the seventh.

Put it In the Books

Unofficially Sputo threw between 125 to 135 pitches.  (On WCBS 880, Yankee broadcasters were worrying that Joba Chamberlain had thrown  39 pitches in the first inning, and only was going to go for 60 pitches, the poor baby).

Sputo  struck out 10, walked 6.  Sputo’s mental toughness to come back from 3 ball counts to strike out the Number 4 and 5 hitters with the tying and winning runs aboard – and catcher Mastrangelo’s ability to pull her pitcher through the crisis  pitch by pitch – showed catcher-pitcher coordination at the highest level. Coach O’Donnell did not leave the bench in the seventh inning crunch – a gesture of confidence in his senior catcher and the sophomore windmiller that speaks volumes. (If O’Donnell had been managing the Mets last September, things might have turned out differently in Flushing.)

Tiger Paws at Work

A key play of the game was the Ketchum pitcher Chelse Boyes’ triple in the second inning. Boyes facing Sputo on a 1-2 count got all of a pitch up and drove it majestically one hop the the red right field net in straight away right. Rightfielder Laura DeMarte ran it down and launched a long throw to third to Christine Coppola covering. Coppola slapped the tag on Boyes who had beaten the throw, but Boyes momentum pulled her foot off the bag!

Too late!

 Coppola, alert to the baserunning miscue,  instinctively slapped the tag on again and the plate umpire — right there  within 3 feet of the play — pointed to the foot off the bag and punched her out. It was a great call! No argument. Credit Demarte for the great throw, and thirdbaser Coppola for not giving up on the play.

DeMarte in rightfield also made a fine running catch in foul territory down the rightfield line to retire Sam Tierney to begin the bottom of the sixth, when the wind was blowing the ball away from her.

It was a great team victory by the Tigers who played a perfect defensive game.

Meeting at Home Plate: Coach Ted O’Donnell and Captains Sandra Mastrangelo and Jackie Flooks, going over the ground rules at the traditional meeting at “Grand Central Terminal.” 

Mastrangelo’s catlike movements and intensity behind the plate are reminiscent of the great Pete Rose in hustle, desire and “fastpitch instrincts.” In the seventh she chased a foul ball behind the backstop (out of play) just on sheer will to catch the ball. You may see other ballplayers who hustle as much as Ms. Mastrangelo — but you will never see another who hustles more.

Fastpitch Sunset

The sad thing about such a great contest is that one team feels sky high, and plays again, and the other team’s season ends. That pathos was evident as the runner on second base for R.C. Ketchum, a team with five seniors, senior Lauren Boyes who had started the seventh so promisingly, was forced out to end the game.

She sank to her knees in front of third base, silently crying in the infield dirt.

The ball game was over.

Her season was over.

She would never play fastpitch for RC Ketchem again.

Just like that.

Perhaps no end of game is more agonizing than the final out.

No more days in the sun on the clay  field in between the lines — the greatest place you can be if you’re 17 and live the fastpitch life.

Hits: 0

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. June 3,2008; The New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief called for a 4% Tax Levy Cap across school districts yesterday, an aggressive Circuit Breaker program to replace the state STAR Basic and Enhanced Relief programs, and a new budget voting process where school district budgets would only have to go before voters if the proposed budget exceeded the budget cap. The Commission also provided for the voters of a district to place an “underride” vote on theballot to keep the levy growth to a level beneath the calculated levy cap.

The Report, 124 pages in length, was forwarded to the media by John Reid, the Executive Director of the Commission. The  “Final” report is due to the Governor by December 1, (after the elections). This delays any reform in property taxes to the 2010-2011 tax year, at the earliest, by WPCNR estimates.

4%?

Applied to the White Plains City School District, White Plains would be hard-pressed to keep their budgets at a 4% year-to-year tax levy increase, since the district’s lowest tax increase in the last 11 years was 4.94% in 1997.

 Since 1997, the district has increased taxes, 5.51% (1998), 6.72% (1999), 7.64% (2000) , 7.94% (2001) , 8.59% (2002), 6.89% (2003), 7.53% (2004), 9.36% (2005), 8.12% (2006), 6.95%(2007) ,   and this year (2008), the school district quoted a 5.98% tax increase, however, when you take into account the significantly reduced STAR BASIC and ENHANCED EXPEMPTIONS, never announced by the district or the state legislatue, the tax increase is actually 8%.

Levy Cap Needs Definition

The recommendation on the levy Cap is hedged, though, the Commission recommends including new construction of homes, businesses and renovations in a district being added to the levy cap because they write that “expand(s) the school district’s tax base without affecting existing taxpayers.”  The Preliminary Report does not explain what this actually means and how this would be figured into their proposed Levy Cap, and the overall effect. 

One of the problems with the White Plains City School District is that new construction in White Plains of which there has been plenty, has not kept up with the certiorari drain that has plagued the district tax base.

Capital expense/Debt Service Votes Exempted from Levy Cap.

Another softening of the hard levy Cap is Capital items are exempted from being included in it. Just as capital expenses and debt service are excluded from the contingency budget figured by the state, the Commission recommends, “Capital items – one-time expense or debt service – would continue to be authorized by public vote, and would not be included within the levy cap.”

White Plains would Face a 60% Override Plurality Tied to State Aid.

On Override votes, say, where White Plains may want to spend a budget next year (bound to be a whopper since this year’s budget was relatively modest by White Plains spending patterns), school districts would have to submit an approval of the override – subject to the amount of state aid the district receives.

Take White Plains. The County Seat  currently receives 8%  of its $184.4 Million budget for 2008-2009 in state aid. The Commission recommends that to override, if a district receives  an increase of more than 5% of their budget in state aid, 60% of the voters would have to approve the override. This year’s White Plains budget of a 6% Tax Increase (8% in reality), passed by 52% to 48%.  That is a problem.

This year White Plains received a state aid increase, much ballyhooed by the state legislative representatives of 9.35%. Applied to this year’s budget vote, the proposed new “aid” override policy, would have meant that the White Plains School Budget would not have passed at the 52% to 48% margin, and the contingency budget would have to be put into effect.

The usual Suspects

The Preliminary Report calls for a halt to new legislative mandates; no new mandates from the State Education Department without complete analysis of fiscal impacts, an Office of the StateComptroller report on the cumulative cost to localities of complying with all new regulatory and legislative mandates.

The report endorses the Triborough provision of the Taylor Law to exclude teacher step and lane increments from continuation until new contracts are negotiated; calls for centralized and streamlined school district reporting, and a Commission tas force on other State mandates to research reforms between this Commission’s final report in December.

Wrapping up the recommendations is a requirement to have districts report on collective bargaining outcomes; A study to evaluate a new Tier 5 within the pension system; establish a BOCES statewide energy purchasing program to save energy costs, and finally, establish uniform statewide assessing standards (undefined).

The Commission recommends a Commission Task Force on Special Education (purpose not defined), and a Commission Task Force on Fiscally Dependent School Districts for the Big Four Cities.

Suozzi Comments

In Chairman Thomas Suozzi’s cover letter to Preliminary Report, he notes in the opening paragraph to Governor Patterson, “While titled “preliminary,” this report recommends major policy changes — especially a property tax cap — that need not wait for our final report.”

Cover Letter

Mr. Reid’s cover letter introducing the report comments:

I  am pleased to share with you a copy of the Preliminary Report of the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief.  The report is, in large part, the product of hours of testimony, discussion and research by hundreds of individuals representng the broadest spectrum of interests and perspectives.

Your insight during this process has been invaluable.  The Commission Members, Special Advisors and the staff  look forward to continuing our dialogue on this most crucial of issues.