Main Street, Fountain Plaza Closed: Police. Debris Blown Off.

Hits: 0

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. October 20, 2006 UPDATED 10:45 P.M. with PiX:  WPCNR has confirmed from White Plains Police that Main Street  and Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains are closed at this hour. Residents should be advised of the danger of flying debris in the sustained 30 Mile per hour winds, gusting to 40 Miles per hour.



LIKE OLD TIMES IN WHITE PLAINS; View from Corner of Martine and Mamaroneck Ave 9 P.M. Friday night: You could shoot a cannon off and not hit somebody again. Fountain Plaza deserted as White Plains Police cordon off area due to unsecured debris being blown off the “ghostly tower” of The Ritz-Carlton skeleton center of picture. Photo, WPCNR News


WPCNR observations of the City Center-Fountain Plaza area from 8:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. have discovered that Applebee’s, Legal Seafood and Zanaro’s are closed. Citizens are being prevented from walking Main Street West to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East past City Hall to E. J. Conroy Drive. They are also not being allowed to walk past Martine Avenue. Police interviewed on the scene said they had no idea what debris fell. They also had no idea how long the area would be closed, or whether it would open Saturday morning if the winds subsided. The officer WPCNR spoke with said the area was closed between 5 and 6 P.M.  WPCNR was originally told glass had fallen to the street by a person reporting the incident, but this was denied by police.



The view down an empty Main Street, 9 P.M. Seen from corner across from City Hall. Bar Building is in center of picture. The “ghost” of The Ritz-Carlton (under construction) looms top center. Photo, WPCNR News


The City Center can be entered from the City Place Court yard at Martine Avenue. Movies, retail establishments are open for business.  


In a reported television interview moments ago, Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Daniel Jackson told News 12 construction debris, including a piece of plywood had falled from the builing.


According to Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Daniel Jackson reporting to WPCNR as of 7 P.M. E.D.T.:


Currently Main Street east of MLK ( Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard) and Mamaroneck Ave. North of Martine are closed. When the wind picked up this afternoon some debris started blowing off 221 Main Street (Ritz-Carlton Hotel). A construction worker suffered a back injury on the 32nd floor when he was blown into a stairwell. At that point the building department determined that it was unsafe for anyone to be on the construction until the wind dies down. 



No glass panels were blown out. We will have the roads closed until the wind subsides. The current wind advisory is in effect until 10 pm for the local area.

Posted in Uncategorized

Johnny V. Mr. White Plains Sports — Interviews LA’s Mota, Duncan on BTG–Tues

Hits: 0

WPCNR PRESS BOX. October 20, 2006: Mets Rehab continues into Day 2. White Plains Public Access Television, Channel 76, popular sports television talkshow Beyond the Game presents Gedney’s own Johnny Vorperian interviews with Los Angeles Dodgers Coaches, Manny Mota and Mariano Duncan  Tuesday at  10 P.M. on the local sportscaster’s long-running sports celebrity talk show.  Johnny will also be talking with Sports-caster Julion Pabon, the host of the only bilingual sports talk show in New York on WVOX.



Johnny V on the Diamond with Dodger Pinch-hitter de Lux, now Coach, Manny Mota. Photo, Courtesy, Beyond the Game.



Johnny V In the Dugout with Mariano Duncan of the Dodgers. Photo, Courtesy Beyond the Game


 


 

Posted in Uncategorized

Referendum Yes Vote Drops 10 Votes. Does Not Affect Result

Hits: 0

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From Michele Schoenfeld, Clerk to the Board of Education. October 20, 2006: The City School District announced Friday morning that the number of yes votes, due to a clerical error has been reduced from 1,060 to 1,050. The Number of “No Votes” remains at 934. This will be officially reratified by the Board of Education October 23, 2006 at 7:30 P.M.

     

Posted in Uncategorized

School District Supervises, Reports Own Elections, Not Cty Board of Elections.

Hits: 0

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 19, 2006: This may surprise you, because it surprised me, and surprised every one I talked to about it.


 


School District elections in White Plains are not supervised, reported or certified by the Westchester County Board of Elections, according to Tajiane Jones, assistant to Reginald Lafayette the Westchester County Board of Elections Commissioner. The conduct of a school district election and the reporting of its results is solely the responsibility of the City School District


This was a revelation to this reporter who had always thought that at every election in White Plains, the County Board of Elections oversaw the conduct and recorded and reported the results. They do not.  The School District which supervises the school budget vote in May of every year, and Board of Education elections when required is totally responsible for supervising the vote and reporting the results.


 


Ms. Jones said that the County Board of Elections makes available lists of Board of Elections Inspectors to the School District to select from to staff their six election district locations. Jones reported to WPCNR that the Board of Elections supplies the poll lists and signature books which voters arriving on School District Election Day have to sign next to their photocopied signature as they vote. Jones said the District purchases these sign-in books from the Board of Elections, and at the close of the election, the books with the records of who signed in to vote that day are retained by the School District. They are not kept on file with the Board of Elections.


 


Michele Schoenfeld Explains the Process


 


Upon learning this from the Board of Elections, WPCNR asked Michele Schoenfeld, Clerk to the Board of Education how the City School District runs its elections.


 


Schoenfeld said she supervises the election with the help of two assistants. She said the district hires Westchester County Board of Elections Inspectors, “most of whom,” she says, “are hired and trained by the Westchester County Board of Elections.”


 


She said they are given a list of rules and protocols to follow and there are three Inspectors, who read the results when the Polling Place closes and phone them in to Ms. Schoenfeld. Schoenfeld said the three inspectors sign a sheet  (A Statement of Canvas) attesting that the number of persons voting and signed in match the number of votes on the machines.


 


Inspectors Trained by County


 


Schoenfeld said the inspectors are trained in operation and opening and counting the voting machines by the County Board of Elections.


 


She explained that each voting machine arrives with a running total on it from previous elections. When the polls close, the inspectors note the number of tallies of  candidate votes or, in the case of the Tuesday election this week,  proposition YES-NO votes, and subtract them from the new total, as a check of how many persons voted, and match that number with those voters signed in. Schoenfeld said they sign a sheet guaranteeing the results. Of course this would mean when there is more than one machine, inspectors add the totals from all three machines to get the number of voters.


 


No Machine-Created Paper Record.


Impound for 30 Days.


 


Schoenfeld reported that there is no paper record created by the voting machines on how many votes were recorded when they are use.


 


Schoenfeld said the election machines are locked up for 30 days, which, looking forward would mean that the approximately 10 voting machines could not be used by the city in their general election November 7. As readers of WPCNR will recall, one of the rationales given by the School District for having the voting for the referendum proposition conducted October 17 and not November 7, the general election day was there were not enough voting machines for the school district to use. The White Plains City Clerk had told WPCNR the city had about 76 machines available, and they expected to use 63 in the November 7 election.


 


In view of this information told WPCNR today, that the machines the district used Tuesday are locked away for 30 days, those machines will not be available for the November 7 general election. This would indicate that the machines could have been available for use by the school district on Election Day after all.


 


As far as inspecting records of any School District election, Schoenfeld said the poll lists and sign-in books from Tuesday are available for viewing at the City School District as well as the list of the inspectors the school district hired to run each district.

Posted in Uncategorized

State Education Department Clarifies 60% Majority Circumstances.

Hits: 0

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From J. Burman, Public Affairs, NY State Education Depatment. October 18, 2006: On Wednesday, before the School District had made a statement on why the District Referendum passed with a simple majority, instead of a 60% plurality, WPCNR asked the State Education Department to clarify the 60% rule. A media spokesperson, provided the following background to WPCNR:


The following Q&As come from a book called “School Law,” which is published jointly by the NYS School Boards Association and the NYS Bar Association. It’s not an SED publication, but provides a good overview of the law.

Q:  Must a school board adopt a resolution to authorize the issuance of bonds and notes?


A:  Yes, according to section 31.00 of the Local Finance Law.

Q:  Must the school district’s voters approve the issuance of bonds and capital notes?


A:  Yes. With limited exceptions, before a school board can adopt a resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds or capital notes, voters must approve a tax to be collected in installments for the bonds that are to be issued (§ 37.00; see also Educ. Law § 416). Different restrictions can be found in sections 37.00 and 104.00 of the Local Finance Law.




Q:   Does a school district need the consent of the Board of Regents or the state comptroller to issue bonds?


A:   The consent of the Board of Regents to issue bonds is necessary when a district, other than a city school district, having an aggregate assessed valuation of real property of $100,000 or more (excluding the payment of judgments or settled or compromised claims), proposes to issue bonds or bond anticipation notes, which would cause the school district’s indebtedness, as determined pursuant to Local Finance Law section 137.00, to exceed 10 percent of the valuation of the real property subject to taxation by the school district. Moreover, under such circumstances, the tax voted to be collected in installments to satisfy the indebtedness, or the proposition for the approval of the bond resolution, must be approved by at least 60 percent of the qualified voters who vote at the election called for such purposes (§ 104.00(d)).
   
In school districts located wholly within the Adirondack Park that have within their boundaries state lands subject to taxation, the full valuation of which is more than 30 percent of the full valuation of real property subject to taxation by the school district, the consent of the state comptroller also is required (§ 104.00(d)(3)).
   
In city school districts, the consent of both the Board of Regents and the state comptroller is necessary before the district can contract indebtedness (including existing indebtedness) that exceeds 5 percent of the average valuation of real property in the school district. Under such circumstances, the tax voted to be collected in installments to satisfy the indebtedness, or the proposition for the approval of the bond resolution, must be approved by at least 60 percent of the qualified voters who vote at the election called for such purposes. The proposition presented to the voters must contain a statement indicating that the obligations to be issued may exceed the constitutional debt limit of the school district (§ 104.00(b)(8), (c); see also 19:76).

Posted in Uncategorized

Board of Ed Ratifies Final Referendum Result. Trataros Returns to Board.

Hits: 0

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 18, 2006: The Board of Education received the final official referendum Special Election results this evening from Clerk to the Board, Michele Schoenfeld, and ratified the result unanimously. The final tally was 1,060 voting YES, and 934 voting No for the $69.6 Million Capital Project, a plurality of 53% for and 47% against.



A Full Board Ratifies the Special Election and $66.5 Million in new lending this evening. Photo, WPCNR News


The meeting signalled the return of School Board President, Michelle Trataros to her seat on the board. Ms. Trataros, (shown in orange sweater at head of table in above photo), is in the process of defending a charge  against her for alleged endangerment of the welfare of a child (her daughter), and second-degree harassment. She  has not sat on a public meeting of the Board since September. William Pollak has been Acting President for Ms. Tratoros since the week of September 1, so as not to distract the public from the referendum issue, Pollak said (at the time Ms. Tratoros stopped attending public meetings of the Board of Education).


 


Michele Schoenfeld, the clerk of the Board presented the following final official results:


#1-Fire Station # 5         62 YES       88 NO


#2-Church St. School    175 YES    163 NO


#3-Rochambeau School 116 YES      59 NO


#4-Middle School          293 YES     230 NO


#5-Mam’k Ave School     53 YES       47 NO


#6-Ridgeway School       361 YES     347 NO


TOTALS                       1060 YES    934 NO


Yes: 53%


Schoenfeld said about twenty more absentee ballots were counted with approximately 15 being for the proposition, and 17 Affidavit Ballots from a senior citizens’ home were counted most of which were for the issue. She said officials from the Board of Elections recorded those ballots and oversaw the seniors’ signatures on the ballots.


The Absentee Ballots were delivered to the school district, unopened by the Board of Elections.


Tratoros Never Off.


Michelle Trataros returned to the Board, sitting at the head of the table. WPCNR asked Ms. Trataros if she was back on the Board to stay, and she said she had never left the Board. 


 In view of the Board of Education statement that Ms. Trataros had left the Board temporarily while she dealt with the court proceedings against her, WPCNR asked Ms. Trataros if her daughter had returned home, (currently reported living with relatives) and Ms. Trataros said that that was a personal question she declined to answer.  Asked if the case had been settled, Ms. Trataros referred WPCNR to her attorney but declined to give WPCNR his telephone number.


WPCNR asked if Ms. Trataros felt, in view of her personal experience in her current court case, whether she felt she could maintain an objective view and make valid judgments on discipline issues coming before her on the Board of Education, and she declined to answer the question.

Posted in Uncategorized

Connors: 60% Majority Not Required. Can Borrow $356M With Simple Majority

Hits: 0


 WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 18, 2006: The School District Referendum result passes with a simple majority of 53%, according to Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors in an interview with The CitizeNetReporter early this afternoon. According to Assistant Superintendent for Business, Fred Seiler, the district can borrow up to $356 Million before the 5% rule referred to in the New York State Constitution affects the amount the district wishes to borrow..


A source had alerted WPCNR to the statute (see early story), and WPCNR had asked Superintendent of Schools earlier today why the 60% majority did not apply.


Connors said today with Mr. Seiler in a conference call with WPCNR, “It’s really clear there’s a 5% rule on what you’re allowed to borrow, and we’re far below that. (The amount, $66.6 Million), we’re about one and a half percent. Because we’re below the dollar amount, we’re not required to have the super majority, we simply have to have a simple majority.”


The vote yesterday found 1,032 voting for the $69.6 Million Referendum, and 926 voting against, a margin of 53% to 47%.


Assistant Superintendent for Business Fred Seiler explains that school districts would be subject to a 60% super majority for approval if they wanted to borrow more than their debt limit:  “For city school districts, it (the debt limit) is restricted to 5%. If a district were to exceed their 5% debt limit, they would need to have a 60% plurality on their vote. In White Plains, we’ve just done the numbers for our district, the equalization of the full valuation of our property comes to a little more than $7 Billion dollars. So our 5% debt limit would be $356 Million.


When we take into account our current debt plus the proposed debt for this new project, we come to $108 Million. We’re well below the $356 Million that is permissible to us under that 5% debt limit.”


Connors told WPCNR, that though the district is able to borrow $356 Million, it was only goin to borrow “what we need and manage it well.”

The Board of Education is expected this evening to certify the results and authorize moving forward with the bond.

Posted in Uncategorized

Did School District Get Enough Votes to Pass the Referendum? Needs 60% Approval

Hits: 0

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 17, 2006: Pending clarification from the School District, the positive vote on the referendum Tuesday night may not be enough of a margin of victory to approve the $69.6 Million bond issue according to the New York State Constitution, as a jubilant Board of Education hoped, unless the School District perhaps got permission from the state for a straight yes-no count without a specified winning margin.



Is Referendum Vote Approved at 53%? Constitution Seems to say otherwise. Photo, New York State Constitution by WPCNR News.


WPCNR has learned this evening, that according to the New York State Constitution, in order to pass the referendum for $69.6 Million today, the School District apparently needed 60% of the voters casting ballots Tuesday to approve the issue.


At 1,032 Yes Votes to 926 No votes, at this hour, pending counting of affidavitt ballots tomorrow, the district has only a 53% to 47% margin failing the state 60% requirement. According to the Clerk to the Board of Education, Michele Schoenfeld, less than 100 affidavitt ballots remain to be counted. However, if there were 100 Affidavit ballots all in favor it would still not deliver the 60% margin.  (1,132 Yes Votes to 926 No votes, yields a 55% margin — 5 fiver percentage points short of what the constitution says is the required margin of approval.)


The paragraph in the New York State Constitution at http://www.dos.state.ny.us/info/pdfs/cons2004.pdf spelling out the margin requirements is on page 31, in Article VIII, Local Finances, Section 4 Paragraph H, and reads:


(h) any school district which is coterminous with, or partly within, or wholly within, a city having less than one hundred twenty-five thousand inhabitants according to the latest federal census, for education purposes, five per centum; provided, however that such limitation may be increased in relation to indebtedness for specified objects or purposes with (1) the approving vote of sixty per centum or more of the duly qualified voters of such school district voting on a proposition therefor submitted at a general or special election, (2) the consent of The Regents of the University of the State of New York and (3) the consent of the state comptroller. The legislature shall proscribe by law the qualifications for voting at any such election.


Pending a final canvas tomorrow, the yes votes may go up, and the point moot, reaching the magic 60%. The School District could not be reached at this hour to determine what this means to the tentative declaration of voter approval tonight. Votes were counted tonight on site by Board of Elections inspectors hired by the School District according to Ms. Schoenfeld.


Incidently, the paragraph also shows conclusively that  the referendum could have been legally held by the School District in the general election November 7.


 

Posted in Uncategorized

Bonding to take place in three waves: Seiler.

Hits: 0

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 17, 2006: In discussing the steps to take on the financing of the $66 Million dollars worth of bond issues to be floated to finance the $69.6 Million Capital Project approved by voters Tuesday, Fred Seiler, Assistant Superintendent for Business said the district would offer the first of free bond issues to the financial community next June:


Seiler said: “You have a process now where we begin to do a lot of the design work and prepare the documents that go to the State Department of Education for approval. Once they approve it, we begin to prepare to go out to bid. Once the bids come back, we need to begin to arrange for the financing to actually pay those contractors. We’re hopefully since we expect work to start next summer, we’ll probably be doing our bonding in June of 07 at the latest.”



The as the apparent, at this time approval of the referendum became at the time conclusive. Standing, left to right Superintendent Connors, Nicholas Andreadis, Triton Construction, Eric Kaeyer, Kaeyer Garment & Davidson, Amy Geiger, Michele Schoenfeld, Mike Lynch, Administrator of Facilities and Operations, Fred Seiler, Assistant Superintendent for Business.  Photo WPCNR News


Seiler confirmed that payment on the principle and debt service of the first wave of bonds would be in the next school budget, 2007-2008. “It would phase in over three years, because we’re looking to do three bondings for about 1/3 each of the full project there ($22 Million each, state aid and a $1 Million gift make up the rest of the $69.6 Million project cost).”


Asked how much principle and debt service on the bond would decrease for the tax payer beginning in the 2010-2011 budget year, Seiler said, “It’s a small amount each year. It’s a fairly flat. Think of it like a mortgage schedule.”


Eric Kaeyer, principal of Kaeyer, Garment and Davidson, the architects, asked what is next said,  “We start working with the district in terms of the plans.”


Asked what that would consist of, Kaeyer said:   “We go through the entire program. We’ll probably have a Building Committee, and we’ll meet with the users (schools affected), obviously the principals and the people who are going to be using that Post Road School, as well as the other facilities. We’re going to put together the schedule and we’ll start our work. We’re looking forward to it.”


Michael Lynch, Mr. Kaeyer and Nicholas Andreadis, the CEO of Triton Construction were already discussing possibilities of the two stadium constructions as the happy occasion broke up. Lynch said it was up to the architects and the construction manager, Andreakis how work would proceed on the stadiums.


Kaeyer said the Post Road School would take a year as far as design and approvals and “we should be looking at this time next year starting the construction process.”


Kaeyer said Kaeyer Garment & Davidson would sit down with the district and put together a plan on how the meetings with the schools involved, to receive their input on the design


 

Posted in Uncategorized

Connors Thanks Community for Their Vote.

Hits: 0

 


WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 17, 2006: Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors speaking after the approval White Plains voters gave his $69.6 Million referendum request tonight, said, “I appreciate the work of the Board of Education, and the voters coming out. It looks right now, it is as I had thought that it would be. We won. We’re going to verify that in the morning, and then move forward. I appreciate the people coming out to vote and I think it’s good news.”



Timothy Connors, Superintendent of Schools left, thanking the Board of Education and the community. Center is Nicolas Andreadis, of Triton Construction, and Eric Kaeyer, Principal of Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson, architects. Seated at right is Leah Rea of the Journal News. Photo, WPCNR News


Asked what the next step was in the process, Connors said the Board would verify the vote Wednesday evening, “and we’ll come together and determine our next steps with moving forward with the bonding and with our architects and moving forward with the state to get this project under way.”


Asked when construction would start on the stadiums (previously said to be the first step in the project), Connors said, “I think what we’ve got to do now is sit with the architects and the construction managers and get a timetable that we can put out there with certainty so people know for certain what’s going to happen, not only in terms of the infrastructure and the fields, but what the timetable will be for Mamaroneck Avenue and Post Road. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ll get started on that very shortly. We thank the people for coming out to vote and thank all those who worked hard to make sure we shared with the public the pros and cons with the project and we’re very pleased what we see right now.”


 

Posted in Uncategorized