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.

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2007. By John F. Bailey. August 21, 2007. UPDATED AUGUST 22, 12:40 A.M.: Elizabeth Schollenberger, Tim James and Steve Wallfish  (leaders of the Democratic City Committee in White Plains) have filed “General Objections” to the petitions filed by Robert Levine and Robert Stackpole in their efforts to secure a slot on the November city election ballot for Common Council, the Board of Elections reported this morning.

Commissioner Reginald LaFayette’s office reported that Schollenberger , James, and Wallfish have until August 27 to file specific objections.  Stackpole was a candidate for the Democrat nomination for Common Council who was rejected by the City Committee, which instead nominated Benjamin Boykin, Dennis Power, and Milagros Lecuona. Stackpole with his running mate Robert Levine are attempting to secure an independent position on the ballot in November.

Robert Levine, of the Levine Stackpole Common Council Independent Candidacy issued this statement to the media late Tuesday on the Democrat Challenge: “Our petitioning effort was undertaken with the care and respect we expect to accord the people of White Plains when we are elected to the  Common Council. Those who are leading the city Democratic organization’s challenge  will be seen to be  on a fool’s errand– business as usual– proving again that it’s time for a change.”

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WPCNR THE SUNDAY BAILEY. News & Comment by John F. Bailey. August 19, 2007 UPDATED 1 :30 P.M. WITH PIX: At the “Council of Neighborhood Situations” monthly Kvetch Klatch Tuesday evening, (better known colloquially as the Council of Neighborhood Associations which wrings its hands monthly about deterioration of their quality of life in their neighborhoods),  Joseph Apicella and Brian Cappelli of Cappelli Enterprises fielded questions and barbs from the mostly southend  residents on the City Center, and the Ritz Carlton.

Mr. Apicella & company  proceeded to reintroduce the Cappellis’ Station Square project which it occurred to me has virtually nothing much to do with impacting the persons living south of Post Road.

The Chaos Hour  (6 to 7 PM) at the Little Station of Horrors.

 Why should the residents of the southend and the Northend even care about whether the Station Plaza is built or not? Especially when, based on their questions they have not been paying attention. In all the years this reporter has attended CNA meetings, I cannot recall anyone ever complaining about the Metro North TransCenter. White Plains residents attending these meetings, other than complaining about the ragtag taxi squad, where cabs are shared – an unheard-of process—rarely complain about something they should complain about – the traffic pattern, the inadequate parking facilities, and the gridlock when arrivals and departures peak. Just try jockeying to drop off your spouse in a hurry when you’re slightly behind schedule in the 8 AM  or figure out how to pick them up at the 6 PM Chaos hour.

What they should care about is the hour of chaos that takes place every morning and evening rush hour at the White Plains TransCenter (railroad station).  

The Cappelli Empire though obviously focusing on the profit-motive in proposing a 4-building, modern transcenter-hotel-office complex there, is right. The station is antiquated, has no grandeur or cachet and does not serve the public it has now. Mr. Apicella pointed out that the MTA and MetroNorth do not think the station is inadequate.

Anyone who attempts to pick up or drop off passengers, or park a car to take the train knows that it is inadequate, inconvenient and dangerous. Impatient drivers waiting to pick up arriving or dropping off commuters,  jockey for position to park for a pick up and drop-offers are jammed by shuttles and cabs stopping at the apex of the loop attempting to merge. The backup does a 360 backing out onto Ferris Avenue (top of this picture). It’s a nightmare of exhaust fumes, pedistrians dodging bumpers and persons with rides walking in front of departing taxis. 

 

 Part of that inadequacy is laid to the inept management of the facility by the City of White Plains – for years—extending back several administrations. The Delfinos cannot take the full hit on this mess, but the progressive Delfino Administration can once again fix it – if they planned beyond the next week.

Let’s take a look: the taxicabs. The taxi drivers want more fees from the city Taxi Commission and a gas price relief allowance added to their wretched fair structure.  However, they give lousy service. The cabs are filthy. The drivers scruffy. They force passengers to share cabs, even though they are not supposed to, and the long line of cabs  impedes private automobiles when motorists try to drop off or pick up customers. The cabline  in place for years due to really inept thinking on the part of the city – exists mostly on tradition. There appears to be no rationality behind it.

Today, the cabline location makes no sense and is a major inconvenience.

Next let’s look at the plaza. Incredibly there are parking meters in a series of rows for transients to park for limited periods of time. That does not make sense because cars crawl between the rows of parked cars to await arriving passengers. The awaiting cars block parked cars from backing out of spaces. Does that make sense? No, Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. White Plains, it does not – despite what any bureaucrat will tell you. This is bureaucratic design! A Rube Goldberg operation.

Now – the Parking Structure. Depending on who you talk to, there is a 600 person waiting list for slots. This garage should long since been expanded by the city even before the Super Developer arrived to revitalize and save the city. The thing is Mr. Cappelli can only do so much: the city has to supplement his development with a comprehensive infrastructure that can handle the growth. Well, the city is too busy adding rolling stock, burning money on parks they let go into disrepair and repaving streets, and building parking garages to  keep their ban on overnight parking rules in effect, provide parking for a hospital that could purchase the parking themselves, and a parking garage for the City Center that they negotiated into for fear of losing the City Center project.

 Did they ever think of adding floors to the top of the train station parking garage that exists now at the train station – or the feasibility of same? Did they even look at putting up a parking garage annex spilling over to the fire station 7 – as Mr.Cappelli so astutely suggests? No. No thinking here—for years. When I was commuting to the city a decade ago, that train station garage was already overcrowded and spaces in demand.  The 1997 Comprehensive Plan as I recall never even thought of that.

Now The Cappelli Organization has offered a solution – a station makeover, new parking facility, a glass transit center gateway, and the glass complex of new high rise office and hotel buildings to “hub up” the TransCenter area. 

Well that is, despite the Cappelli Organization promise of getting the buildings built by 2009, a way off.

 

However, the city can redesign their station parking now if they had any negotiating skills with the transportation authorities.

There’s more things wrong with the station – you’ve got the Greyhound and Trailways buses picking up in the midst of the influx traffic motoring into the plaza. You’ve got the Bee Line county buses swinging into the bus center across the street. And, you’ve got that big empty Gateway II Lot that could have been built into a parking facility. Did anyone ever think of adding parking at the upper floors of the underused BEE LINE facility? (Just a thought.)

Last but not least are the shuttle buses. There are a lot of these little mini-buses which, because they stop and drop, block traffic, further aggravating the situation for passenger pickup and drop-offs. There are simply too many shuttle buses that contribute to the rush hour gridlock at the transit station.

 

Two Way Merge Creates Big Time Jam when “Departure Traffic) entering on right into exit to Ferris Avenue, jockeys with cab and pick-up traffic entering from left.

 

Abandoned former Greyhound Terminal on West Side of Station Not in Use is an obvious solution staring the city in the face for a decade. Why isn’t it used. You even have a functioning traffic light for no traffic (serving only Bronx River Parkway northbound traffic onto Main Street).

Has anyone ever noticed that all the activity at the train station takes place only on the East side of the station? This is ludicrous. I do not know who owns the former Greyhound-Trailways terminal and street  on the West Side of the station – but it is not used, ladies and gentlemen.

Why not?

I can hear the excuse now: Not enough entrances up to the platform. So build one. All it takes is one stairway and overpass. Or open a fence right around the underpass going under Main Street.

The traffic powers that be in the city should think seriously about routing all shuttle and cab traffic to this unused Greyhound street  and let the cabs kew up there and drop off there. It’s wide with a built-in terminal for AIR LINK, hotel and office complex shuttles — even dare we say it? A Starbucks. This would really allow  exclusive private vehicle pick up and drop off  on the east side of the station to use the outer loop in the existing plaza (where the cabs are now), which makes much more sense than the private vehicles waiting in the lanes among the cars parked in metered slots in the plaza, don’t you think?

Another possibility that should be looked at is making a continuous one way loop for pickups and drop offs, instead to the two directional loop that exists now.

Considering the concentration of vehicles in that area now at peak pickup and dropoff hours, this needs to be addressed.

 

Do you know what this Van Is? Signage, advertising of AIRLINK and other shuttles is non-existent at the Train Station. There should be a central shuttle staging area that could be set up on the West Side of the Station at the abandoned Greyhound Depot.

Now, about Air Link – the shuttle bus from the train station to the Airport.

 Kenneth Jenkins, the County Legislator told me last week at a County Airport Press Conference that the county shuttle to the airport is taking 60 persons a day. That is about 5 to 6 an hour. He is pleased with that.

This tells me that if the County actually promoted this service intelligently (does the county do anything smart?), you’d get a lot more.

Come on, Uncle Andy – put White Plains Councilman Dennis Power on this one to give that local angle – put him in charge of promoting Air Link.  (In fact, the entire White Plains Council should get off their collective hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, ask no questions, offer no ideas, affordable housing schtick and take an interest in their city problems and the station situation — if  they are evening thinking of thumbs-upping the Station Square project Cappelli is reintroducing.)

(Now, since Mr. Power has no expertise in advertising – but then he does not have professional expertise in Environmental Facilities where he now works for you now – he’s a Dennis of All Trades I’ll give him some pointers to start:)

1.       Could we put up a highly visible AIR LINK sign at the Train Station?  (More than 1)

 

2.       Could we designate a spot permanently where the AIR LINK bus arrives and departs from the Train Station? (Andy, this is what they do in major transit hubs).

 

3.       Could those great public service radio stations of Westchester – WVOX, WFAS, and The PEAK, and HUD, give you some public service spots (10 seconds) – to create awareness of service. Twist a few arms, Andy, you know how to do that.

 

4.       Could we put up some signs at the County Airport about AIR LINK, and a designated pick up and drop off spot at the airport. I did not notice any signs at the terminal entrance – so if you have them – they are not very good signs. Throw the design to Thompson & Bender, they can get them up within a week. How long have you been running AIR LINK without decent signage? (Since it’s inception).

 

5.       Have AIR LINK make well advertised pickups (by reservation) at offices in White Plains. (That could actually have the ancillary halo effect of creating another County Department or bureaucracy, too, Andy).

 

6.       Have an Air Link Hotline so customers could find out about it.  (Next one due in, it’s times of departure, etc.)

 

7. Advertise Air Link in the Yellow Pages.

 

8. Have Air Link Serve the south end of the city, too.  

The Taxi Disgrace

 

 

I also have some suggestions for the City on the ongoing Taxi disgrace.

 

1.       Privatize the city cab operation. Put out an RFP and award a franchise. The taxi drivers have been given decades to clean up their act and seem incapable of providing good service, clean service and legal service (obeying the rules). I’d provide limousine, sedan, van service on request, with a dispatch queue at the Train Station.

 

2.       Failing that, inspect the present cabs monthly for cleanliness and order cabs that need an “outside and inside” to a car wash in lieu of a $25 Quality of Transit Ticket. It could be dubbed a “WILO.”

 

3.       Do not allow shared cabs — at all. (This is also a safety issue.)

 

4.       Allow only 6 cabs in the East Side Station plaza at any one time, with cabs parked in a staging area ( perhaps on the West Side of the Station.

 

5.       Clear out a section of the parking meter area for the cabs to park, this would give you a clean, cab free outer loop, and allow persons needing cabs to go direct to the cab area,  perhaps a short walk across the lane where the cabs park now.

 

6.       Make all Taxi Drivers where a jacket and tie.

 

7.       Supplement Taxis with Rickshaws for short jaunts to the downtown.

 

8.       Install cab meters and do away with the fee system to areas of the city.

 

9.       Install cab stations in outlying areas of city (at busstops) to encourage transit to the station.

 

10. In lieu of that Bring back Officer Bill Belosi from retirement and have him sort out the Plaza Mess in the Morning and the evening by his legendary traffic intersection management.

 

Anyway, that’s one reporter’s opinion on how the station rush hour madness and aggravation could be addressed until the Cappelli Station Plaza is built.

And folks, it is going to be built. Trust me on that one.

 

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WPCNR In the Balcony. Review by John F. Bailey. August 17, 2007: Little Shop of Horrors is Westchester Broadway Theatre’s snappiest “ReHit” of 2007. It’s got a driving, toe-tapping rock and roll score. It’s got the most elaborate set WPCNR has ever seen WBT execute in my seven years of reviewing its shows; the hardest working, entertaining ensemble of actors delivering hilarious material, and it has that fascinating charmer, Audrey II, Westchester’s most glamorous and dominating diva.

Julie Connors as Audrey right, encounters the “Lips to Die In” as Audrey II, the plant with discriminating tastes, sees supper in Little Shop of Horrors at the Westchester Broadway Theatre. Photo, by John Vecchiola

Audrey II is the creation of Bill Diamond who animates her and Terri White, whose nuanced, articulate delivery is a bizarre, creepy cross of Oliver J. Dragon, Barney The Purple Dinosaur, Mr. T, Eddie Murphy, Vincent Price and Jobba the Hut. Ms. White articulating Audrey II, sends chills up and down your spine. She sweettalks you. She demands. She fusses. And, like any leading lady Audrey II has “Lips to Die In.”

Isn’t she a cutie? Eric Santagata as Seymour pleads with Audrey II to grow. Photo by John Vecchiola

Audrey II, (for those of you who do not know),  is a plant spawned under a full moon in Mr. Mushnik’s failing flower shop on Skid Row. She is raised to health by the inferiority complex-afflicted Seymour. Mushnik took  Seymour in as an orphan, gave him a place to sleep under the counter and gave him every other Sunday off. Seymour cuts himself one day and  drips some of his own  into little Audrey II’s mouth. The cute little wee plant, laps it up, developing a taste for human blood. Sounds like a fun theme, right, man-eating plants? You bet!

It’s got teenage street girls, too!

Three streetcorner teen girls of those late 1950s, Chiffon, Crystal and Ronnette (Talana Deshaies, Kimberly Hamby and Jalynn Steele) send up The Angels, The Supremes, and The Pointer Sisters musical styles throughout the upbeat horror musical. The ultimate doo-wop girls get things started upbeat with “Little Shop of Horrors”  and “Skidrow Downtown” with all the moves of those girl groups you remember.

Seymour (Eric Santagata), Gary Lynch, as a William Morris Agent, (second from left), and Kimberly Hamby as Crysstal, Talana Deshaies as Chiffon and Jalynn Steele as Ronnette doing “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth” in Act II.  Photo by John Vecchiola

Ms. Deshaies, Ms. Hamby and Ms. Steele reappear throughout as the world’s best updated “Greek Chorus.” They deliver messages of how we’re supposed to be feeling – just in case we do not get it.  Their highlight number,”Dentist” introduces the blonde shopgirl’s mean boyfriend, Dr.  Orin Scrivello, (he needs to be addressed as “Dr.) who treats Seymour’s blonde hearthrob  mean.  This very funny song gives truth to something I’ve always believed myself.

Julie Connors delivering “Suddenly Seymour” in Act II — a highlight of the show. Her Audrey is precisely right, and a comic delight with precise articulation of lyrics. Photo by John Vecchiola

The statuesque Julie Connors plays the original Audrey, the shopgirl whom Seymour names his little nasty plant after, is simply solid and spectacular in the role of the simple shop girl living on Skid Row, dreaming of living “Somewhere That ‘s Green,” her first big number. 

 

Mr. Santagata and Ms.Connors dueting delightfully, realistically, believably. They also execute a great tour de force novelty phone duet, “Taking Orders” in Act II. Photo by John Vecchiola

Ms. Connors gets every number right with her clear contralto, and delivers her comic lines clear as a bell with perfect timing to cascade the laughs.  She and Eric Santagata as Seymour (payed as a lovesick Woody Allen type), nurturer of the man-eating plant, brought whoops and cheers from the audience with their Suddenly Seymour duet – which for those of you who know what I am talking about is a sendup of teen movie love duets, recycling  Tammy. The duo just nail this song!

As Audrey II grows, the shop’s business grows, but Audrey II is getting hungrier. When Orin the nasty biker dentist pushes  the defenseless blonde around once too often. Audrey II, who now has taken to groaning and pleading, “Feed me Seymour, feed me,” suggests seductively to feed the dentist to her.

Needless to say, Audrey II grows , the shop grows, but so does Audrey II’s appetite for human delicacies.

NBC comes calling. Life Magazine wants Audrey II on its cover and Seymour, now a famous horticulturist, is tossed between the ghastly diet of his creation Audrey II, or to ….the hilarious denoument is reminiscent of a Night of the Living Dead played for laughs.

From the very believable little flower shop, located next to “Skid Row Koscher Meats”  Little Shop takes you to the Lower East Side to a different time. Set Designers George Puello and Steven Loftus have spared no expense or creativity in recreating Skid Row. Meshed with Andrew Gmoser’s lighting effects, it is one of the more atmospheric and real sets they’ve ever done. Photo by WPCNR ShowCam

Little Shop is the also the most cohesive, hardest-working ensemble WBT has put together this year. All the actors and actresses blend well, throwing their energy full-tilt at his very fun show which delivers original lyrics to nostalgic rock n roll riffs with bounce, energy, and seamless byplay of the Skid Row Orchestra and the singers. Kudos to the Skid Row Orchestra:  Robert Felstein and John Conway, Ken Ross, Arnold Gottlieb, Tom Goslin and Von Ann Stutler for laying the musical bed just right.

Gary Lynch is the Biker Dentist Fiend Who Loves Inflicting Pain. Photo by John Vecchiola

The ubiquitous Gary Lynch earns over-the-top laughs as the biker-dentist who torments Audrey the shopgirl. His scene in the nitrous oxide (laughing gas) helmet is horrifyingly funny as is the entire show. Lynch also plays a television executive, a William Morris talent agent, a Life editor with great Laugh-In  and Saturday Night Live realism. We liked Bob Arnold’s Mr. Mushnik for his accent, his clever detective work – “I keep finding these drops of blood. What is this Seymour?” – and his lamenting which is over the top.

The Guilt of Success. Audrey II enjoys while Seymour ponders his protege’s appetite. Photo by John Vecchiola

Will Seymour and the fragile blonde Audrey find happiness where Audrey is living in a home where she is Donna Reed, and has a 12 inch television screen? Will Audrey the plant sway Seymour to get her the food she needs, or will he destroy her?

 

Bill Diamond who brings Audrey II to life with Terri White, the Voice of the creature. Photo by John Vecchiola

Dare to go down to Skid Row at the WBT and experience the “ReHit” of Little Shop of Horrors – the musical made based on Roger Corman’s 1960 movie.

The songs drive this show. There is little book, and the show motors along. Though it is an hour and 45 with a 30-minute intermission, it seems short, that’s just how smooth it is.

 

Little Shop is open for business at the WBT in Elmsford, Westchester’s most entertainingest theatre Tuesday through Sundays through September 29. For ducat information call 914-592-2222. Or, go to the WBT website, www.broadwaytheatre.com.

But, whatever you do, don’t feed the plants!

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WPCNR AIR NEWS. By John F. Bailey. August 16, 2007 UPDATED with Pix 3:40 P.M. EDT: The Westchester County Airport introduced  the CLEAR  Biometric Identity Card system today for frequent users of the county airport that will cut their security wait time  down to 5 minutes or less  by entering at their own special security boarding gate.

CLEAR CEO Steven Brill demonstrates the CLEAR card to County Executive Andy Spano at the CLEAR Card Check Point that begins operations for present holders of a CLEAR card Monday. Local travelers wishing to avoid the security waits can apply for the card at the airport Monday through Friday.

The “CLEAR –ed” traveler still  must go through metal detectors and their carry-on bags will be x-rayed. But their wait will be cut by as much as 30 minutes to an hour. Obtaining a CLEAR Card means you do not have to be at an airport  an hour-and a half or more  before your flight.

The key to this time-saving device is the CLEAR Airport Security Fast Pass which travelers may apply for beginning Monday at the airport. Travelers first must  apply for the card online at the CLEAR website, www.flyclear.com,  then can have their fingerprints and eyes scanned at the airport beginning Monday to start the process of acquiring the CLEAR Card.

County Executive Andrew Spano and Steven Brill, founder and CEO of CLEAR introduced the system in a news conference today at the airport, announcing that travelers who are U.S. citizens may apply for their CLEAR  Airport Security Fast Pass at kiosks opposite the Air Tran Check-in at the Westchester Terminal.

Before you can use the FAST PASS gate you must register with CLEAR online at their website, www.flyclear.com. You will be issued a 16-digit account number in an e-mail (being demonstrated here by Clifton Turner who manages the CLEAR program for Westchester County Airport). You bring  the  web-site generated letter to the County airport to complete the physical identity check for a CLEAR Fast Pass at the kiosk pictured below.  Local residents may do that beginning Monday at Westchester County Airport for the next two weeks at the CLEAR kiosk which will be open Monday through Friday from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. It will only be open at the county airport until August 30.

 

Mr. Turner Demonstrates the CLEAR electronic examiner which records your fingerprints, “iris” of your eye and takes your picture to create the CLEAR Fast Pass.

Mr. Turner Demonstrates how the kiosk takes fingerprints.

Presto! You are electronically fingerprinted! Prints and iris of your eye are encoded on the CLEAR Pass.

 In  approximately four weeks, your CLEAR Card will be issued through the Transportation Security Administration, granting you access to enter airport security check-in at the specially marked Blue CLEAR gate that will be available at HPN’s business times for boarding. The CLEAR Fast Pass Gate will begin operations initially open Mondays  and Tuesdays from 6 A.M. to 10:30 A.M and Thursdays from 1 P.M. to 6 P.M. The Fast Pass Gate will expand as needed according to Clifton Turner, who manages the CLEAR operation for the County Airport.

 

The CLEAR Check Point, with the security lines in the background at Westchester County Airport this morning.

The CLEAR Card enables the traveler and any of their family (who also must apply individually for a CLEAR Card) to bypass the regular lines for security check in by checking in at the Blue CLEAR gate.

Airport Manager Peter  Scherrer told WPCNR that CLEAR is the airport’s attempt to cater to and serve the business travelers who use the County Airport, and now are faced with large lines at security. (At the time of this news conference, the parking garage was jammed with no available spaces and line for security was a good 30 or more persons deep.

 “We brought in Air Tran and Jet Blue, catering to the consumer,” Scherrer told WPCNR, “and 60% of our usage is business travel. That’s caused longer lines and we wanted to do something for the frequent business traveler now (with CLEAR) they don’t have to stand in line with vacationers going to Disney World.”

Scherrer said this was an airport intitiative, and the airport put out a Request for Proposals for an express identification system, even though the airport did not meet CLEAR’s guidelines for such a system, Scherrer said, “we convinced them we could be profitable for them because we are a high-end market.”  CLEAR was the only company that responded. CLEAR  developed a system to the airport needs. CLEAR will charge $99.95 to each traveler who applies and is cleared by the Transportation Security Administration for a card. CLEAR supplies the systems at the airport at no cost to the airport, according to Mr. Scherrer.

In other Airport News.

Air Link

Kenneth Jenkins, County Legislator, head  of the Legislator’s Transportation Committee gave WPCNR an update on two other key county airport issues.

 He said that the Air Link bus shuttle, operating from the White Plains Railroad Station was currently carrying 60 persons a day, about 5 passengers an hour, which he said, had exceeded expectations. Asked why the county did not advertise Air Link more, Jenkins said the county was attempting to inform businesses and corporate campuses about the bus system.

AIRPORT PARKING

Asked if the county was any further along in furnishing more parking for the airport, which as WPCNR observed this morning was “packed” with cars parked on embankments inside the parking terminal, Jenkins said the county was attempting to live up to agreements and understandings it had with the community regarding enabling airport expansion (which, by inference, WPCNR took to mean more car capacity would lead to more flights). The bottom line was there were no immediate initiatives he knew of to increase parking facilities.

Pilot I.D.s

Mr. Scherrer told WPCNR the security access system for private pilots was still about two weeks away from being implemented because the airport was having problems with a vendor. Asked why the airport did not use the CLEAR system as a security check for the private pilots and aviation personnel based at the airport, Scherrer said that it did not qualify, that the TSA system was only for commercial aviation.

He also said the county would have to deploy CLEAR equipment at too many checkpoints to make a CLEAR system feasible. He said the pilot/owner access identification system was designed to be strictly an identity “swipe” card system, allowing pilots to access the entrance gates with a swipe card rather than the present key system which could be easily duplicated. It is also designed he said to prevent gates from remaining open after they have been unlocked.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. From Larry Giordano. August 16, 2007: Tuesday night an agreement was reached on the merger of the White Plains- based Hudson River Panthers and Team Explosion softball programs, to be effective this upcoming fall season.  Both sides are very pleased with this merger.

White Plains Explosion July 2003

 

Ray Frederick and his  Hudson River Panther Scholarship girls: L to R, Dena Frederick of the White Plains Tigers, Poughkeepsie’s Taryn LaColla and New Rochelle’s Erica Koehler. Photo WPCNR Sports.

The unification now offers competitive players, in and around Westchester County, an opportunity to develop and grow under one banner as they move up in age. Besides developing a player’s softball skills, the program will continue to strive in building a player’s self-being. One key element that separates the HR Panther program from other programs in the area is that it is not affiliated with any high school program.

White Plains Explosion  12-Under 2006.

This allows every player a fair chance to compete no matter where they reside. This is not always the case for other tournament programs in the area. Tryouts for the three teams the organization will be sponsoring will be held August 25 and 26, 9 to 1 PM at Ridgeway Field on August 25 and 9 to 1 at Delfino Park, White Plains on Sunday, August 26. 

 

The Panthers, founded by Ray Frederick in 2003, is a well run organization with a very solid reputation. In addition, over the years Ray and his staff have fielded very competitive teams at the 14u, 16u and 18u level. They have won their fair share of tournaments, have competed in the PONY Nationals and make it a point every year to attended college showcases. A number of players have gone on to play at the collegiate level for Division I and II teams, including Ray’s daughter Dena, who will be playing for Concordia College this upcoming season. As you come in contact with Ray and his staff we are confident you will come to share our great enthusiasm for this relationship.

 

Here is how the combined programs break down for next year:  

• 18u  – Head Coach – Ray Fredricks
  
• 16u  – Head Coach – Cyndi Carneghi 
  
• 14u  – Head Coach – TBA

 

Our first step together will be to hold tryouts on August 25^th and 26^th. Time and place TBA early next week. All Team Explosion players from this past summer teams are invited to tryouts. Players that make a team must be willing to commit for the 2008 summer season at this time. Like past years, we will still have access to Frozen Ropes as well as structured winter workouts on the weekend. 

 

If you have any further questions, please feel free to email either Ray (hrpanthers@aol.com) or Cyndi (socwrkr312@gmail.com).

 

 In 2006 WPCNR interviewed Coach Ray Frederick and some of the players he helped coach to scholarships for 2007-2008. Here is a reprint of that interview.

 

Hudson River Panthers Founder and Head Coach: White Plains Ray “Make It Work” Frederick. Photo, WPCNR Sports

 

Taryn Lacolla of Poughkeepsie (third from left) and her parents, signing her “L of I” last night. She told WPCNR  hit her way with the Panthers to a 4 year full ride at the University of Albany and says of Coach Frederick, “Ray saved my softball career. My confidence was shot. He gave me the best summer of my life, turned my swing around. He believed in me. He brought my best game out of me and taught me to never quit.” Photo, WPCNR Sports

 

 

 

 

Brijette  Martin, in the Red Stony Brook jersey, with her mother and father. Brijette of Murray Bergtraum High in New York City, will be attending Stony Brook on a full four year softball scholarship. She played with the New Jersey Breakers 18-under Gold Team, credited Frozen Ropes Rob Crews with “taking me to that level in softball. He encouraged me to go that extra mile by building up my strength training, getting me to swing level. He’s great!”  With Ms. Martin is her high school coach, Ed Diaz of Murray Bergtraum High.  Photo, WPCNR Sports

 

 

Erica Koehler of New Ro — signing up for Central Connecticut State last night with her parents and Coach Frederick looking on. Photo, WPCNR Sports.

 

Ms Koehler said Central Connecticut State got interested in her watching her play in Panther tournaments, which she alerted the CCS coach to come and see her. Of her Panther ball experience, she said, “I made a lot of friends. It’s highly competitive.  Everybody is trying their best. It makes you a better player.”

 

 

 

Mr. Frederick founded the Panthers in 2004, said of the Travel Team Experience: “The toughest thing at the travel team level is trying to make sure all the girls are feeling good before the first game, if they’ve been well-rested and they’re ready to play. It’s getting the girls prepared for those first three games of the day, probably the hardest thing. Once they get past that first and second inning, everything seems to go well.”

 

Frederick talked about the commitment Erica, Dena, and Taryn had to make to play the 18-Under Gold Circuit: “The Panthers practice ten months of the year. We keep it going. We work at Frozen Ropes during the winter Tuesdays and Thursdays. We give individual hitting to the players on Sunday mornings. We rent the armory in Peekskill during the winter, from 9 to 1 we’re up there for three months. At the high school season we stop. When it stops we pick up again. We practice on Sundays in the spring to get the girls back together in the spring prior to our summer season.”

 

Ray Frederick and his Panther Scholarship girls: L to R, Dena, Taryn LaColla and Erica Koehler. Photo WPCNR Sports.

 

Eight of Frederick’s eleven players that he had are signed for college scholarships:  “I have Kristin Fiorio from Poughkeepsie, Katie Lynch from Briarcliff, Tara LaColla here, Erica Koehler, Dena, Samantha LaBella is now playing for Mercy College, Courtney Christie for Iona, I have a pitcher named Tanya Springer from Albany, signing for Mercy College also. My coaches are Mike Barone, Brian Lynch and I did have Juliana LaBella as pitching coach this last summer. That worked out well. It’s nice to have a woman in the dugout. 

 

I asked Frederick the advantages of travel ball: “For the girls, it’s camaraderie. Meeting other players. traveling the East Coast. The experience of traveling, staying in hotels like the professionals do, and they eat together, and share special times in their life. It’s a lot of commitment, learning what it takes to play as a team, and managing your time well. The cons – I don’t think there’s any bad experiences in travel ball.”

 

The Guru.

 

Rob Crews, Frozen Ropes hitting guruz who works with the Panthers and the Explosion – swing coach for Maddy Coon (who is tearing up the PAC-10 for Stamford)  and swing mentor to Brigette, Jillian, Erica, Taryn and Dena concurred with the players and Frederick on the value of travel ball:

 

“I believe that travel ball is most necessary.  It’s definitely more competitive than high school. It puts them on a national platform most times and gets them in front of more college coaches.”