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

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. By John F. Bailey. August 7, 2006 UPDATED August 8, 2006: Tastefully tucked away in the First Reading Ordinances, Items 29-30 on Monday evening’s Common Council Agenda was an ordinance authorizing the first of the new fiscal year’s certioraris, which is a $523,337 refund to Macy’s of The Galleria, and a corresponding lopping of their assessment from $1.8 Million to $900,000, continuing the assessment drain lead by commercial properties in the city.

 

The $523,337 refund translates to approximately an additional  $2.1 Million refund from the city school district. (School Taxes are 4 times the city tax). The School District is planning to issue an $8 Million bond to cover this and other expected certiorari refunds this year, the debt service coming out of school taxes.

 

The Monday evening  settlement covers tax years 1995-96 through 2005-2006. Paul Wood, the City’s Executive Officer, said the settlement is not a new one but is the other half of the settlement with Federated Department Stores from last year where Bloomingdales’ received a tax cert. Wood  confirmed the $523,337 would come out of this year’s budget and affect the 2007-2008 tax roll.

 

Mr. Wood also said that the city made its budget in the final quarter of 2005-2006 ending June 30, actually making more than the budget called for, and he would get the figures for WPCNR from the Commissioner of Finance. WPCNR awaits the good news.

 

It is too early to tell whether this is the beginning of a new raft of certioraris that will outpace increases in assessments from condominium and home sales and possibly increased PILOT payments this year that will result in additional pressures on the school and city taxes, or perhaps, keep the assessment roll even which would stop a disturbing trend.

 

In the last four years, the City Tax Roll has declined $22,472,507, ($4.4 Million in 2003-2004, $9.1 Million in 2004-2005, $2.6 Million in 2005-2006, and 2006-2007, $6.3 Million). This has shifted the burden of paying for the city and school services to the homeowner to the benefit of the commercial property owner.

 

Meanwhile the White Plains homeowner is paying the vast share of taxes, and faces a watershed increase in taxes as the school district prepares to repair its physical buildings.

 

The school budget at $165.8  Million in 2006-2007 has grown from $89.4 Million in 1995-96. That is an increase of 86% in a decade when inflation has risen 26%. To finance this growth and the recent declines in city commercial assessments, the school district has increased Mr. and Mrs. White Plains school taxes 92%. From $202.91/$1,000 of assessed valuation(1995-1996) TO $449.64/$1,000 in 2006-2007.

 

With the city budget fat with expenses that outstrip its revenues this has resulted in an increase of city taxes of 7.8% this year.  The continued dwindling of commercial property assessments of established successful business mainstays of the city  through the certiorari process appears to be continuing  as evidenced by the Macy’s refund  approved Monday night. 

 

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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. August 4, 2006: I am very pleased to announce that the governor recently signed legislation I authored to facilitate communication between parents and teachers by establishing an Internet-based communications system for schools (Ch. 160 of 2006). The new law, known as the Parent-Teacher Communications Act will help parents remain involved in their children’s education.

 

 

A child’s education is greatly enhanced by parental involvement. Unfortunately, large class sizes and busy parental work schedules often do not allow for sufficient communication between parents and teachers. This new law will help bridge the gap between the home and the classroom.

 

The Parent-Teacher Communications Act requires the state Education Department to develop guidelines to help schools establish Internet communication systems for parents or guardians to communicate with teachers. Combined with reform and oversight legislation, the measure will help parents communicate with teachers and enable them to provide important information and stay more involved with their children’s education. It will also enable educators to provide parents with important information regarding their child and make educators more accessible.

 

I have been working to ensure that our children have the best education and that our schools operate in the most efficient manner. Last year, I sponsored a new law (Ch.263 of 2005) to increase oversight of school districts statewide. To continue these efforts, the Legislature’s 2006-07 bipartisan budget agreement doubles the money for state Comptroller audits of schools, providing $2.8 million over last year to make sure our tax dollars make it into the classroom. 

 

Money alone cannot achieve our educational goals; we must have accountability and we must have reform. We must involve parents and help enhance their role in our children’s education. I look forward to continue working on measures that make sure that our schools are the very best they can be.

 

 

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WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. By Town of Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner. August 3, 2006: Paul Feiner has announced an agreement with Verizon to provide cable fiber optic service to Greenburgh and assorted villages, to the media today. Here is Mr. Feiner’s announcement and explanation of the agreement:

The Greenburgh Town Board will be holding a hearing on a proposed agreement that will enable the town to have cable TV competition. Verizon is seeking a franchise with the town. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, August 9^th at 7:15 PM at Greenburgh Town Hall. If you are able to attend the hearing to express your thoughts on the proposed franchise and on the concept of cable TV competition – it would be appreciated.  I have been pushing for cable TV competition since the early 1980s. I believe that competition will result in better service, more options for customers and hopefully more competitive rates. The following is a summary of the proposed franchise agreement.  The Town Board has the option to vote on the agreement at the August 9^th meeting or to put the vote off till our September meeting. Cablevision is also in the process of concluding a proposed franchise agreement with the town.
PAUL FEINER

 

Here is the text of the Town of Greenburgh agreement with Verizon:

 

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED FRANCHISE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN VERIZON NEW YORK INC. AND THE VILLAGE OF ARDSLEY THE TOWN OF GREENBURGH, THE VILLAGE OF HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, THE VILLAGE OF IRVINGTON, THE VILLAGE OF TARRYTOWN

 

Background

 

A Consortium of the Town of Greenburgh and the villages of Ardsley, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown (Consortium) has conducted a process originally seeking to simultaneously conclude both a new cable television franchise with Verizon New York Inc. and a renewal cable television franchise with Cablevision of Westchester.  However, this original objective has proven elusive for a number of reasons. Consequently, the Consortium – in consultation with elected and appointed officials of its constituent municipalities – more recently has focused on negotiations with Verizon New York Inc. in response to the latter’s demonstrated greater interest in concluding an agreement. The document that you have either received or soon will be receiving represents the results of these negotiations.

The renewal process with Cablevision remains open and the Consortium looks forward to resuming that process at the earliest opportunity.

Process

 It should be stressed that this franchising process is not a competitive bid situation.   Verizon and Cablevision are each entitled to a franchise (or renewal) to provide cable television service if they (a) comply with federal and state laws and regulations and (b) agree to meet the reasonable cable-related community needs specified by the local franchising authority (i.e.,the Town and each of the villages).

The Consortium prepared for negotiations by carefully reviewing the cable-related needs of its constituent communities taking into account the costs associated with meeting those needs. The bulk of those cable-related needs were concerned with public, educational and government access and this fact is reflected in each proposed agreement commensurate with the demonstrated need in each community. However, in the conduct of the process other such needs were identified and these also are reflected in the proposed agreement.

State regulations specify certain minimum franchise standards. In particular, Section 895.3 of Public Service Commission cable television, rules states that “No municipality may award or renew an agreement which contains economic or regulatory burdens that when taken as a whole are greater or lesser than those burdens placed upon another cable television franchise operating in the same franchise area.” While much of the evaluation regarding level playing field awaits completion of the Cablevision renewals (whose underlying current franchises have nominally expired but are continued provisionally under temporary operating authorities granted by the PSC), the Consortium has negotiated the proposed agreement with Verizon giving particular attention to this important responsibility.

 

The Greenburgh area communities are on the cusp of a new competitive marketplace for cable television service. Obviously, the public hearing is a key stage in that process. Within 60 days of the municipality’s approval of the franchise, Verizon is required to file an application for a certificate of confirmation with the PSC. Upon release of an order granting the certificate, Verizon may then begin to provide cable service to the community.

Highlights

 The proposed franchise agreement with Verizon affords each municipality in the Consortium and its residents the maximum benefits reasonably achievable under the current cable television regulatory and business environment. In most cases, these benefits are quite liberal when compared with some contracts recently concluded in other jurisdictions. 

Term

 This agreement provides for a non-exclusive grant of ten (10) years. 

Service Obligations

Verizon is required to provide cable television service to all residents within five years. The sole exception to this commitment is a finding of economic infeasibility by the PSC, each and any incident of which must be filed for and demonstrated to the PSC’s satisfaction by Verizon. In most if not all cases, Verizon has or will indicate in its application that it has completed the construction of its Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) network to in excess of 90% of the households in each of the municipalities. Economic redlining is expressly prohibited. The vast majority of the residents in each community will have service available to them almost immediately following PSC certification.

Verizon is required to comply with all Federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to cable television service including the handling of requests for service, complaints and trouble calls, subscriber billing, termination of service for non-payment, system installation and repairs, subscriber credits and fee waivers, protection of subscriber privacy, technical performance and safety of the technical plant. While adequate safeguards exist within federal and state rules and the proposed agreement, it is expected that the imperatives of a competitive marketplace also will ensure the provision of superior customer service. Nonetheless, there is a procedure specified in the proposed agreement to effectively address deficiencies in this regard short of revocation of the franchise.

 Verizon must maintain its system using materials of good and durable quality and all work performed with respect to the system must be done in a safe, thorough and reliable manner. Verizon must comply with all local laws governing the right-of-way and the municipalities retain all rights regarding police powers. Verizon must comply with federal and state Emergency Alert System requirements. While Verizon is required to maintain a system with the minimum capacity of 860 MHz and 77 analog channels, it is expected that, in addition to the safeguards described in the proposed agreement, the imperatives imposed by a competitive marketplace will compel Verizon to regularly maintain and improve its system to meet the needs of its customers and in other communities currently being served has exceeded the minimum standards.

Franchise Fees

Verizon is required to annually pay, on a quarterly basis, a franchise fee of five percent (5%) based on “all revenue, as determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, which is derived by Franchisee from the operation of the Cable System to provide Cable Service in the Service Area.”

Because the amount of the franchise fee collected from subscribers is included within the definition of gross revenue in the proposed agreement, the effective rate of the franchise fee obligation is 5.25%. Each payment must be accompanied by a report showing in detail the basis for the computation. The proposed agreement anticipates a marketing device known as “bundling” under which voice, internet and video programming (cable) services are offered at a discounted rate if the subscriber agrees to subscribe to all three in a package from the same company. If such  bundling occurs, Verizon has agreed not to allocate such discounts “for the purposes of evading the franchise fee”, and to “allocate the bundled discount such that the discount allocated to Cable Service revenues will not exceed the amount which would be allocated to Cable Service revenue on a pro rata basis”.

The municipality may audit any such payment for a period of up to three years after such payment is first made.

Public, Educational and Government Access Support

 Under the proposed agreement, Verizon agrees to make available three full time, dedicated Public, Educational and Government Access (PEG) channels on its cable system to be transmitted as part of its basic broadcast offering.

In addition to agreeing to provide, install and maintain, without cost to the municipality, the equipment for receiving a video signal feed from each municipality’s “master control” facility for distribution to the community at large, Verizon has agreed to provide live interconnection to the “master control” facility from up to three sites in each community.

If the underlying technology changes in such a manner as to render the existing connections inoperable or insufficient, Verizon has agreed to provide suitable upgrades and replacements, also at  no charge to the municipality.  Verizon also is required under the proposed agreement to make both an “Initial PEG Grant” and “Annual PEG Grants” to be used by the municipalities for capital costs associated with PEG access.

Within sixty (60) days of effective date of the proposed agreement, Verizon will pay to each municipality for the following “Initial PEG Grant”:

 

Ardsley                          $24,793

Greenburgh                    $88,843

Hastings-on-Hudson      $61,983

Irvington                        $33,058

Tarrytown                     $41,322

 The “Annual PEG Grant” is payable annually on the anniversary of the effective date of the proposed agreement. In order to ensure competitive neutrality, the amount due to each municipality is expressed as a monthly per-subscriber assessment as follows:

Ardsley                          $0.57

Greenburgh                    $0.60

Hastings-on-Hudson      $0.75

Irvington                        $0.55

Tarrytown                     $0.69

 Provisions are made within the proposed agreement for computational methodology.  Each annual payment is to be accompanied by a report explaining in sufficient detail how the payment was calculated and on what basis. Verizon also is given the option to defer the first payment of the “Annual PEG Grant” for a period not to exceed three years from the effective date of the proposed agreement or until such time as it has recovered from subscribers an amount equal to the Initial PEG Grant, whichever is earlier.

 The amounts associated with the “Annual PEG Grant” are contingent on each municipality requiring Cablevision, in any renewal agreement, to make “substantially equivalent PEG financial contributions”.  In the case of the “Initial PEG Grant,” if a municipality does not require Cablevision to provide substantially equivalent PEG contributions, then Verizon may offset against its franchise fee obligations to the municipality by the amount by which the Initial PEG Grant that it is required to pay exceeds the amount that Cablevision is required to pay. Consistent with federal law, Verizon is permitted but not required to pass  these costs on to subscribers and to identify them as a separate line-item on its billing.

 

Other Provisions

The proposed agreement requires Verizon to repair or replace and to restore to serviceable condition any municipal property damaged or destroyed in connection with its provision of cable service and to restore to its pre-existing condition any subscriber property damaged in connection with the installation, repair or disconnection of cable service 

Consistent with recent PSC orders, the proposed agreement provides that upon delivery of cable service, Verizon’s FTTP network becomes a “mixed use” facility subject to the PSC’s minimum cable television franchise standards and the police power of the municipality but that the municipality is not granted any broader authority over the construction, placement and operation of the mixed use facilities as a consequence of Verizon’s providing the municipality with cable service.

 

Free basic cable service will be provided to each public library and educational institution chartered or licensed by the state education department or Board of Regents, as well as other buildings used for municipal purposes.

 

Under the proposed agreement, the municipality has the right to inspect Verizon’s pertinent books and records and Verizon  will be required to maintain certain records for a period of three years.

There are insurance and indemnification requirements running to the benefit of the municipality.

The municipality retains the right to approve or deny transfers, consistent with the limitations imposed by federal law.

Verizon is prohibited from abandoning service, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the municipality.

Equal employment opportunity practices also are ensured under the proposed agreement.

 

 

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WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. August 2, 2006: With the 11 o’clock temperature 88 degrees with 66% humidity (very icky)  a sweltering, fetid sweat sock of a night shrouds the county seat in stifling misery for those without power. A resident of Reynal Park reports that about 25% of her neighborhood is without power at this time, having gone out sometime between 8 P.M. and 10 P.M. She says she knows persons checking into hotels because they cannot stand the heat.

Joy Farber of Con Edison Media Relations reports to WPCNR as of 11 P.M. there are 746 customers without power in White Plains, in the  6,561 Westchester County residents without electricity at this time. Farber said the numbers of outages have “hit a spike” as people have returned to their residences.  If help is needed, the Mayor’s Office urges people to call the police at 422-6111

Asked whether the majority of outages in White Plains could be caused by circuit breakers on the wires blowing and causing a short circuit blacking out  vast blocks as happened last night in the Highlands, Farber said “that could have been a cause,” but actual causes would be determined until lines that fail were “autopsied” at Con Edison’s laboratory in The Bronx. Farber said she would try and find out. Farber said most of the outages were heat related. In a number of cases in the past,

WPCNR has asked the reason behind blackouts, and Con Edison has given the same answer that the laboratory has to investigate, however, results never seem to be announced of those investigations. The failure of the transformers in downtown White Plains two years ago where feeder cables melted, but why they melted was never explained.

 A “CitizeNetReporter” from the Highlands reports that Midchester Avenue — home to Councilman Benjamin Boykin–  has been out since 4 o’clock — and that the fire department was going house to house on that street, but did not know why. WPCNR has also learned that a portion of Prospect Park went “offline” at 4:30 this afternoon. A CitizeNetReporter also notes that there are other portions of the Highlands that have winked out.

The cause of the rolling blackouts tonight in White Plains is not known at this time.

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WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. From The Mayor’s Office. August 2, 2006: As of 5 PM with the temperature steady at 95 degrees in the shade, and residents begin to return to their homes, when evening demand yesterday blew circuit breakers in the Highlands, the Mayor’s Office has released to WPCNR the following Con Edison statement:

“As a result of the record setting temperatures that continue in Westchester County today….

We continue to be fully mobilized for the current heat event and have brought in additional staffing at all levels, 24/7.

We are responding to local scattered outages in the county as a result of this excessive heat event

Con Edison set a new record for electric usage Tuesday, reaching 13,103 megawatts at 5 P.M. (Tuesday), which topped the new 13,059 megawatts the company set last year on July 27, 2005. The load forecast for today is significantly higher than for yesterday.

We urge all customers not to use any unnecessary electrical appliances and conserve energy during the current heat wave.

Electric supplies are sufficient to meet the projected demand for electricity this week, and company crews remain ready to respond to any power outage that may occur.

If customers do experience an outage, they should contact Con Edison by calling the 24-hour, toll free number at 1-800-75CONED.

Municipal concerns should continue to be addressed through normal channels.”

Con Edison requests:

“Turn off appliances when they are not needed. Set air conditioners at 78 degrees or higher. Use energy-intensive appliances like dishwashers, washing machines and dryers late at night, or early in the morning.”