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WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By Johnny Broadway. April 10, 2006; UPDATED With More Pix 4:45 P.M. E.D.T. NEW PIX added April 11, 2006 4:45 P.M. E.D.T.: White Plains own Westco Productions and the White Plains Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Committee and 9 other patrons, practitioners, sorcerers and angels of the local arts  received  the coveted “Stars” at the posh luncheon extravaganza thrown by the Westchester Arts Council Arts Award 2006 celebration Wednesday, as over 500 patrons of the arts filled 53 Tables at Rye Town Hilton ballroom at $50 a ticket to celebrate the people who “make a difference.”

As Frank Ingrasciotta, an actor receiving a “Star” for working with Greenburgh youngsters in film, said, as to why he acts and works with the children, “They make me feel like I make a difference.” The Winners of the “Stars” make a difference!

First Lady of Westchester Theater, Westco Productions Susan Katz of White Plains, shown  receiving her “Star” for creating Westco Productions as a summer program in 1980 and growing it to where it stages 17 productions a year, bringing the sunshine of performing and magic of the theatre into children’s lives. Here, she receives her “Star” from Chairman of the County Board of Legislators, Bill Ryan, as the debonair Tony Aiello, WCBS-TV News Anchor looks on. Photo by WPCNR ArtsCam.

The Pied Piper of Sculpture: Eli Schonberger Chair of the White Plains Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Committee, accepts with Mayor Joseph Delfino, “America’s Favorite Mayor of  All the Arts,” receiving their “Star” for reintroducing sculpture as a cityscape in Westchester County. Mr. Schonberger worked to bring an exhibition of sixteen sculptures to grace White Plains Library Plaza. Photo, by WPCNR ArtsCam

 

 

Everybody Loves the Arts! Yours truly arrived just before luncheon to find the glamorous, the glitzy, the glib, the  “Who is Somebody of Westchesta” elbow to elbow,  schmoozing over cheese and cocktails, catching up on the arts, the deals, and the gossip. Everywhere I turned I  saw the powerful, the connected, the savvy and the suave tightly, tentatively navigating very crowded cocktail and conversation space. Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

The photo ops were many, the Westchester celebs select! On hand were a who’s who of County power groups: Andy Spano and his sidemen: The Legislators:  Bill Ryan, Ursula Lamotte, Marty Rogowsky, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Will Stevens, Lois Bronz, Tom Abinanti. There was Pat Keegan representing Representative Nita Lowey,  WP Commissioner of Recreation and Parks Arne Abramowitz, Mack Carter of the Housing Authority, Frank Williams of the Youth Bureau, Assemblyman Adam Bradley and a lot of very caring, generous persons who believe in the arts.

 

Susan Katz, left, with WCBS-TV’s Tony Aiello, Liz Aiello, and Michael Barrett of Caramoor, schmoozing. Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam. 

 

 

 

After a half-hour of patter while enjoying open bar and cheese and crackers the distinguished guests drifted into the grand ballroom to fill 53 tables to lunch. What awaited them was a culinary one-time only trendy tour for the tastebuds  precisely prepared flakey but willowly and slender filet of chilled poached salmon, irresistibly, indolently posed seductively on a culinary stage of coquettish mixed greens and jewels of succulent artichoke hearts. It was a gourmand’s match,  garnished with choice of delicately gleaming dressings, playing with a piquant, palate-pleasing finale:  slivers of orange on chilled custard torte to engage the tastebuds of the most discerning with a mellow cup of Rye Town Hilton coffee. Not exactly the bacon cheeseburger, fries and malted this repawta has for lunch, but hey, this was the Westchester Arts Council!

 

The Queen of the arts, herself, Janet T. Langsam, Executive Director of the Arts Council hostessed her own event with easygoing poise and cordiality which created an air of intimacy and support throughout the adoring artsy throng. Ms. Langsam saluted the Westchester lawmakers on hand for the luncheon for “doing the right thing for the arts.” Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

As one presenter, Jan Adelson of Adelson Galleries remarked, “No one does it better (fundraising and networking than Janet Langsam).” 

 

Ms. Langsam got off the best line of the afternoon, too, in searching for a piece of script, at one point, she smoothly quipped, “I seem to have lost Page 10,” which brought down the house, with hearty guffaws and uneasy laughter, depending on your political affiliation.

 

Ms. Langsam turned proceedings over to that smooth talkin’ guy, (described as “What a guy,” by Ms. Langsam), the genial Tony Aiello, Channel 2’s Westchester Correspondent. What an emcee!

 

Mr. Aiello glibbed and glided a verbal softshoe pattering masterfully through the 11 presentations with panache,  interesting, articulate and smooth, getting in plugs, and introductions at exactly the right moment without awkwardness. He’s really good at emceeing, better than most celebrity hosts I’ve seen. Channel 2 should give him a talk show if he does not already have one.  The Academy Awards are next, Mr. Aiello.

 

Two of Mr. Aiello’s colleagues in broadcast news, News 12 alumna,  Mary Calvi, and Scarsdale High’s Jim Rosenfeld also presented, having that unique gift of making the audience feel at ease in their presence, giving importance credibility and honor to the “Stars.” The running joke was the WCBS 2 News personalities had to promise to give future reports on Katie Couric’s great CBS Anchor adventure.

Mayor Joseph Delfino, center with WCBS-TV’s gracious Mary Calvi, the News12 Newscaster who went to the big time,  accepting Star  award on behalf of the White Plains Sculpture Committee.  Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

The “Stars” were awarded one after another with slide show montages on the big projection screen behind Ms. Langsam’s arts pulpit, giving graphic evidence of each “Star” winner’s endeavors in the Westchester arts, managerial skills and dedication to creating excellence in performance and cultural venues. One of the wonderful things about Ms. Langsam’s Star Awards are they familiarize persons with art experiences who do not know of them.

 

 

Bill Ryan, (left)  Chair of the Board of County Legislators, presented  the Arts Organization Award to “The First Lady of White Plains Theatre,” Susan Katz, and Steven Sledzik, President, Westco Productions Board of Trustees, saying that Ms. Katz’s Westco Productions was such a great entertainment for kids, the family, but more than an entertainment that it introduced children to a lifelong love of theatre, while bringing out their poise by acting themselves. Mr. Ryan was particularly complimentary of Ms. Katz’s work ethic, her tireless energy and commitment to involving children in theatre magic. Photo, Courtesy, Westchester Arts Council, by Ben Hider

 

 

Ms. Katz in accepting the award, thanked everyone who had worked long and hard to make Westco a success. She thanked her Board, and the county  and the Arts Council for their support and announced her little theatre company would pass the  the 600,000 mark in total attendance when she opens her fall 2006 season. She said the little company has honored its contributors by never incurring a deficit in its 26 year history. Westco mounts 17 separate productions a year divided between professional productions and childrens workshop productions all around Westchester County.

 

 

 

Hey, That’s My Kid! Mrs. Katz’s father, Sonny Katz, the City Marshall of White Plains since 1663,  looked on. May every parent know the pride the senior Katz must have felt. Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

 

 

Mayor Joseph Delfino, (Center), accepted the White Plains Sculpture Committee “Star” (Committee members surrounded the Mayor on the dais) and extolled how Eli Schonberger had come to him with the idea for the Scuplture Garden (opened in October, 2004), and how “there’s nothing we cannot do if we work together.” The Mayor also noted that Westchester County through Andy Spano is adding to the White Plains sculpture “collection,” with its sculpture in place at the Westchester County Courthouse that is getting sculpture noticed. Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

Mr. Schonberger (fourth from right in above photo), returned the bouquet saying how it never would have happened without the Mayor’s help, either. Schonberger announced that White Plains will be receiving more sculptures to grace North Broadway in Tibbetts Park under the Sculpture Committee’s ongoing effort to bring the grace of street sculpture to White Plains.

 

Eli Schonberger holds his “Star”, with the rest of the White Plains Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Committee. Mayor Delfino is shown with Mary Calvi, of WCBS-TV, third and fourth from right.  Photo, Courtesy, Westchester Arts Council, by Ben Hider.

 

A very happy Westco Board of Directors sits with Susan Katz. Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

Scarsdale’s Favorite Anchorman, Jim Rosenfield of WCBS-TV presents his “Star” to Frank Ingrasciotta. Mr. Ingrasciotta told the audience of a little girl who took a film class of his in Greenburgh in which the children reenacted a slave’s escape. He told how the little girl said to him after her acting part that she had been afraid to do it, but in learning about the slave’s escape, she felt she was not afraid to be on stage any more. Mr. Ingrasciotta said it was a moment that told him that what he does “makes a difference.” Photo, Courtesy, Westchester Arts Council, by Ben Hider.

 

 

The Winners of this year’s Westchester Arts Council “Stars”: For Arts Patron:  Helio Fred Garcia of Chappaqua  (not pictured), President of the Neuberger Museum of Art, Matthew Lifflander (not pictured)and Onyx Orton Lifflander  of Hastings-on-Hudson (second from left, front row) for being on the Board of the Hudson River Museum; For Artist, Melvin Sparks of Mount Vernon, (back row. far right) the rhythm and blues guitarist, creator of 9 solo albums and 150 recordings; for Arts Organization, Caramoor Center for the Arts, Katonah,  Michael Barrett, backrow, extreme left  and Susan Katz of White Plains, (front, center)Westco Productions;  For Education: Frank Ingrasciotta, of Greenburgh,   Arts Educator in film back row, second from right; and Yvonne Pollack of Katonah (back row, second from left), of the New Castle Art Center, founder of Katonah Museum of Art Education program, and member of the Jacob Burns Film Center’s Educational Advisory Board;  Carol Walker, of Purchase  Dean of the Purchase College’s Conservatory of Dance (front row, extreme right); For Community Arts, Anthony Fazio of Harrison, founder of The Harrison Friends of the Opera, (front row, extreme left) and Eli Schonberger, front row, second from right, White Plains Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Committee.  Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

A recurring theme among the acceptances speeches by the awardees was how their parents had originally introduced them to the arts.

 

Artist receiving his “Star,” Mel Sparks of Mount Vernon played a  finger-snapping, head bobbing, very “way cool” set with songstress Nikki Armstrong. Photo, WPCNR ArtsCam

 

The event was sponsored by The Journal News and Hudson United Bank that is changing its name to Bank North in a hot new financial item megadeal. Look for the new green logo. Now, if only someone would buy The Journal News and put me in charge of it.  Calling Katie Couric!

 

None of this would have been possible without Ms. Langsam’s One and Two Star Sponsors: Jan and Warren Adelson, Entergy Nuclear Northeast and Pace University. Patron Tables were taken by A & A Maintenance, A. Uzzo & Company, Tony Aiello WCBS-TV, Citigroup Private Bank, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, Judith & Anthony Evnin, Jacob Burns Foundation, MasterCard International, Pace University, PepsiCo, Inc., Deborah Simon and Jacqueline Adler Walker.

 

The 2006 Arts Award Panelists selecting the 2006 winners were Geneive Brown-Metzger, Aaron Flagg, Dare Thompson and Lucille Werlinich.  The 2006 Arts Award Committee was chaired by Mr. Aiello, Tom Donovan, Publisher of The Journal News, Kenneth Gould, Emily Grant, Hannah Shmerler and Fran Singer.

 

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WPCNR ODD LOTS. April 10, 2006: A spokesperson for Pulte Construction, would-be developers of 71 luxury condominiums at 10 Windsor Place told WPCNR today, the company “is not going to build it.” Windsor Terrace was approved with much fanfare to a development group which included the builders of Clayton Park, which cleared the property (after site plan approval by the Council).The original developers sold the property  to Pulte Homes for $6 Million according to a The Journal News report, and now Pulte is pulling out and selling it again The Journal News reports.

 

Eyesore across from Eastview School:  10 Windsor Terrace joins the Hamilton Avenue and Church Street vacant lot (across from the site where Avalon Bay plans to build), as another White Plains lot in limbo. Projects approved for these two sites have been abandoned after Common Council approval. The Church and Hamilton lot has already been sold once, and now there is an uncomfirmed report that the new owner has sold it again. Photo, WPCNR

Ten Windsor Place becomes the second site plan approved by the Common Council in the last three years to stall out. The Hamilton project on Church and Barker has been sold once and now is reported up for sale again. The Journal News report said that Pulte Homes has a buyer for the property, based on a spokesperson’s e-mail to a neighbor in the area, George Curtis.

Keith Eddings, the Journal News reporter, notes in his story today that Pulte is asking the Common Council to approval an extension of the site plan.

A lot with an approved site plan is more valuable and can fetch a higher price on the real estate market.

There is a third site plan that has been approved by the Council and extended three times that is the New York Presbyterian Hospital biotech/proton accelerator project, which is still awaiting a council decision as to whether to extend for a fourth time. Nothing has been done on that project for four years from the time it was approved in 2002. 

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WPCNR MILESTONES. April 10, 2006: A friend passes along this family remembrance of Stanley Schear:

The family of Stanley Schear would like you to know that Stanley, 77, died peacefully at home at the Schear farmhouse in Briarcliff Manor, NY, on Saturday morning, April 8. A team of home hospice nurses and a home health aide worked with the Schear family to keep Stanley comfortable and free of pain. Stanley was diagnosed with esophageal cancer nearly three years ago, and he continued to live his life con gusto and work on behalf of the causes he believed in, despite major surgery and rounds of chemo therapy and radiation treatments.

(More)

Since 2001, Stanley dedicated himself to the low-income elderly residents of Westchester County, New York as the Director of the LIFE Program (Living Independently for the Frail Elderly ) of Family Service of Westchester. For the preceding decade, Stanley directed the Bridge Fund of Westchester, a program that prevents homelessness by making it possible for at-risk individuals and families to stay in their homes and apartments.

Before becoming a full-time advocate for affordable housing, Stanley was renowned for twenty-five years as the owner and operator of Jespersen’s Pastry Shop in Scarsdale Village, where his famed chocolate pastry named for Sarah Bernhardt brought joy to countless connoisseurs of fine pastry. 

Stanley was also well known as a community activist who believed that all people deserve the dignity of a roof over their heads, regardless of their race, income, age, or mental health status. An avid defender of the U.S. Bill of Rights, Stanley served on the boards of the Westchester County and New York State Civil Liberties Unions, as well as the Paul Robeson Foundation. Stanley founded and organized the annual Bill of Rights Day Celebration for high school students, which takes place at St. Paul’s Church in Mt. Vernon, the site of the trial of Peter Zenger, which established freedom of the press.

Stanley is survived by Doris Schear, his loving wife and life partner of 58 years, his daughter Rose Anne and sons Stuart and Mitchell, and their families. Stanley leaves behind many friends, admiring colleagues, and fellow activists who believe in the full promise of the American dream for all. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Stanley’s honor to the Sunshine Fund of Family Service of Westchester, which meets critical needs of the county’s low-income frail elderly, so they may live with dignity. Donations to the Sunshine Fund may be sent c/o FSW, One Gateway Plaza, Port Chester, NY, 10573.

A public Memorial Service will take place at the Westchester Society for Ethical Culture in White Plains on Saturday, April 29 at 1 PM. . The family will be receiving guests on Monday April 10 and Tuesday April 11 starting at 5 PM, and on Sunday, April 16 starting at 2 PM at 230 South State Road in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Burial is private.

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE.  By John F. Bailey April 8, 2006: First looks at two pages of the 2006-2007 budget by WPCNR indicate the city is running a deficit of  $2,249,069 more than revenues as the Common Council prepares to be briefed by the Mayor’s financialists Monday at 6 P.M. in the Mayor’s Conference Room at City Hall. The projected tax rate for both city and school system mean the owner of the White Plains average home assessed at $15,000, will pay a total of $8,393 in school and city property taxes in budget year 2006-2007.

THE RAW BUDGET. A “Black Market” copy of the budget may be seen on www.whiteplainsonline.com. Photo, WPCNR DocuLab.

On the city side, the $136,580,112 General Fund calls for an 8.7%  property tax increase to augment Sales Tax and other revenues to meet the $136,580,112 in expenditures. This computes a tax rate of $132.64 (up $9.59)  per $1,000 of assessed value, a $144 increase in City Property Taxes for the property owner living in a house assessed at  $15,000. When you add that  $144 to the $1,845 in city tax that owner pays in City Taxes in 2005-2006, and the city tax bill for you, Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. “Average Homeowner”  is going to be $1,989. (I have rounded to the nearest dollar.)

The tax rate bumping up against 9% is caused in part by the hemorrhaging of assessables that spiraled down to $296,154,564 for 2006-2007 down from $302,256,199 in 2005-2006. The city has to make up far less than the school district. The ratio between school district and city tax dollar is $4 for every $1.

When School and City Taxes Mingle…

Combine the rather modest  $144 City Tax increase with the $500 increase called for by the new School District Adopted Budget released Monday.  That same average total city-school tax bill for for $15,000 property will goes up $644 for that $15,000-assessed house. 

The homeowner of the $15,000 home pays $1,989 in City Tax as the present City Budget goes into surgery, and $6,404 in School Property Taxes for a total of $8,393 in taxes.

Budget Director Outlook

Anne Reasoner writing in the 2006-2007 begins with this analysis of the city in transition:

“if the City had not planned as well as it has for the future, the following facts hold true here: The assessment reductions on older buildings would still have happened, since the Equalization Rate substantially affects valuation and the increase of residential properties are part of the mix. The increased sales taxes would not have been there to help restrain property taxes. Additional revenues from PILOTS vs. equivalent property taxes would not have been generated. The sizable mortgage tax revenues realized by the City would have been substantially less, not to mention parking revenues from increased visitors and White Plains would very likely have continued to be a City in decline with a deteriorating downtown, instead of the vibrant, award-winning place it has become, attracting new (on balance higher earning and younger residents and visitors to live, work, and play.

Ms. Reasoner’s predictions are mixed:  Revenues from Sales Tax will eventually level off. To that end, it is imperative for the City to review fee structures in all departments to make sure they are kept up to date. Ms. Reasoner, in addition calls for consolidations and to be wary of duplication of services between departments.

Sales Tax Flat at this time. Waiting for Wal Mart

Sales Tax in the 06-07 budget is estimated as $42,550,000 absolutely deadeven with 2005-2006. The city is crossing its fingers that Wal-Mart due to open this month will get the sales tax nudging.  The money collected in sales tax after six months of 2005-2006 was sitting on $21,184,041. Unless Wal Mart comes through big time in May June bringing in a million, without impacting Target and other mall stores, the city will not have that little something extra. But, that is not to say the Wal Mart Windfall will not save the day.

Meanwhile, salaries are projected at $69 million, up 4.2%,(from $66,216,965)  benefits $32.4 Million up 6-1/2% (from $30,424,197) and Debt Service at $8.9 Million in 2006-2007.

The unforeseen windfalls of 2006-2007 could bring visions and realities of  mortgage taxes, new assessment valuations, higher parking collections, and land sales to turn a surplus. But, this should all come clear as the budget talks begin Monday evening.

One thing Ms. Reasoner notes is that the revenue budget is bolstered to the tune of $1,483,365 in deferred (amortized) pension payments for the police and fire pensions, for the third year straight. This technique actually produced the 2004-2005 surplus the city announced prior to the election, when $2,350,000 was teamed with the  mortgage tax windfall of approximately $4,000,000.

Cash coming in over the transom from mortgage taxes in combination with the pension amortization was the 2004-2005 magic bullet that created the “surplus” OF $1,451,437 in 2004-2005.

 

Combined Budgets Show City Operating at a loss going into budget deliberations. Photo, WPCNR DocuLab.

The “Paper Chaser” Puts 2006-2007 Budget Online

The “paper chaser,” Don Hughes has posted the elusive City of White Plains 2006-2007 Proposed Budget on his “just the documents, ma’am” website where he publishes the documents the city of White Plains could publish if it wished to on its own website, but does not.

Mr. Hughes, as a service to Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. White Plains publishes them for aficionados of the obsure but impactful ordinances, relations and decisions that alter and illuminate and complicate our time. All the sections of the brand-new $25 a copy  budget may be viewed at http://www.whiteplainsonline.com/WPOL_listing.rsp?_p_Operation=Ordinance&_p_Path=bd/2007/0.ProposedBudget/ 

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WPCNR SOUTH END TIMES. From Council of Neighborhood Associations. April 7, 2006: Commissioner of Public Safety Dr. Frank Straub and an entourage of police top brass will be the guests of the Council of Neighborhood Associations Tuesday, April 11 at 7:45 P.M. Commissioner Straub will introduce his three new “Precinct Commanders” to the neighborhoods and explain how the neighborhood and the police can work more closely together in a joint effort to make White Plains a safer city.  The meeting is at 5 Homeside Lane, Education House.

 

The New White Plains Police Big Three at CNA Tuesday: Public Safety Commissioner Frank Straub, center is flanked by First Deputy Commissioner Charles Jennings, left, and new Deputy Commissioner Daniel Jackson, right. They will be joined by Police Chief William Bradley, newly appointed Assistant Police Chief Anne FitzSimmons, and new “Precinct Commanders, Lieutenant Kevin Christopher Commander of the North Area, Lietenant Elizabeth Seit, Commander for the South Area of the City and Police Sergeant Wade Hardy for Captain Paul Lundin who will be in charge of the Central Business District. The White Plains police officials will describe how the new Area Command will be implemented to the neighborhoods. Photo of Wednesday news conference by WPCNR News.