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WPCNR WEATHER SCOOP. July 23, 2006: As glorious sunshine and blue skies and fluffy whites returned to the metropolitan area Sunday afternoon, so did electricity. As of 10:30 P.M., a spokes for media relations of Con Edision reports all of Westchester County has been restored, after 4-1/2 days of sawing, chopping, lifting, splicing and dicing, Con Edision as turned Westchester County back on.
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WPCNR WEATHER SCOOP. July 22, 2006: As of 8:45 P.M. Saturday evening, Con Edison spokesperson Chris Olert reported to WPCNR that 69 White Plains homes are still without electricity, and 631 homes in the rest of the county are without power. Con Edison has reconnected 862 homes in White Plains in 24 hours, at the rate of 35 an hour, and appears on target for completing their commitment to Mayor Joseph Delfino that White Plains would be completely back “on” by Sunday. Saturday morning extensive work was seen in the Gedney Farms area, one of the hardest hit areas. Olert said an additional 1,800 homes in Yonkers were knocked out by Friday evening’s storms, by as night fell, only 700 remain powerless throughout the county.
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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By NYS Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. July 22, 2006: The 2006 legislative session was a success because of several agreements to toughen
Expanding the DNA Database
Protecting our families from Sex Offenders
I sponsored an important new law to enhance Megan’s Law. This enhancement adds Level 2, moderate-risk sex-offenders to the state’s on-line sex offender registry. In addition, it authorizes local police authorities to provide information concerning low-risk Level 1 offenders to entities with vulnerable populations (Ch. 106 of 2006).
The Assembly and Senate have passed legislation that I sponsored to crack down on the most dangerous sexual predators (A.8939A). The measure will create the crime of predatory sexual assault, elevating penalties for Class B violent felony sex crimes to a maximum of life in prison if the perpetrator acts especially violent, is a repeat offender, or attacks a child under 13. I urge the governor to promptly sign this legislation into law.
The Legislature also passed a bill increasing the penalties for incest (A.9305B). This bill assures that a person who commits a violent sexual assault against a youthful family member faces charges that are at least as severe as the charges brought against a person who commits such a crime against a non-family member.
Toughening DWI Penalties
Bipartisan agreements were reached on the strictest DWI legislation in decades:
· Increasing penalties for repeat drunk drivers who subsequently kill or seriously injure others (A.10619B)
· Enacting comprehensive reforms to the state’s approach to alcohol and other drug related traffic offenses (A.11963).
By enacting these laws,
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WPCNR WEATHER SCOOP. July 21, 2006, 11:30 P.M. E.D.T.: Though thunderstorms hampered Con Edison and White Plains Department of Public Works cruise earlier this evening, the city succeeded in opening up the Havilands Manor neighborhood and Con Edison has restored power to 65 more homes since 7 P.M. As of 11:30 Friday evening, D. Joy Faber, Con Edision Media Relations reports 935 White Plains residences remain without power. Faber said Con Edison will be working throughout the weekend to restore those homes. Faber said invididual house and yard connections where there are trees down in power lines to the houses constitute the vast majorty of homes still affected.
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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Department of Communications and WPCNR News July 21, 2006: Con
As of
(WPCNR was told by a Con Edison spokesperson there were 1,000 White Plains residents without power as of 3 P.M — see our report of two hours ago. )
White Plains Details. Yard Tree Debris Hamper Restoration.
Saxon Woods lost power again late this afternoon when a lightning strike in connection with a 4 P.M. thunderstorm knocked out a wire, but Con Edison has since fixed that, WPCNR colleague Peter Katz reports. Katz says the White Plains DPW is doing extensive, fast-moving cleanup in his area.
Con Ed hopes to have all but 2,700 county households restored by the end of Friday, the county reports.
The City of White Plains spokesperson David Maloney reported the Department of Public Works had cleared all streets as of 3 P.M., however the DPW is still doing massive cleanup operations of debris in yards, which still are preventing Con Ed ability to restore power to individual houses and delays reconnection.
An E-Mail letter from David Roseman a White Plains resident received at 4 PM highlights the house-to-house problems the City DPW and Con Edison have to work out for each individual power outage:
“Hi,
I live on Oakley Road and am without electric. As of last night, Con Ed promised power back on by Midnight last night. As of this morning, they promised tonight. As of 30 minutes ago, they pushed it back to Sunday, claiming that Con Ed work crews had surveyed the repair work, and determined that there were trees blocking the lines needing repair. I send this as it conflicts with your report from the mayor’s office. If you find out which party is twisting the truth, please post it.”
IF YOU ARE WITHOUT POWER, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE REPORTED IT TO CON
If you have already reported it, Con Ed should be able to give you an estimated restoration time. Call that same number and make sure you speak to a customer service representative.
Con Ed has told the county that its estimates have been generally accurate.
The utility will continue to distribute dry ice at Bloomingdale’s in
Please pass on this information to any friends who are without power.
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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. July 21, 2006. UPDATED 6:40 P.M. E.D.T.: As reported by WPCNR last week, Geoffrey Thompson, spokesperson for Louis Cappelli, the Super Developer, announced today Mr. Cappelli has asked his Louis Cappelli Foundation board to donate $1 Million to the renovation of Loucks Field in White Plains. Thompson, at this point describes the gift as cash. To date, Mr. Cappelli is the only corporate citizen of White Plains who has stepped to aid the School District on the High School athletic field project. The city government has not indicated it will match the gift in any way at this time.
Paul Wood, City Executive Officer, contacted WPCNR at 5:30 to clarify that the $1 Million may be a contribution “in kind,” and the form of it had not been “finalized” yet. Wood also said that the city was responsible for the gift, because Mr. Cappelli had asked the city recently what he could do for the city, (in connection with his enthusiasm at building 221 Main beyond his site plan approval). Wood said the city suggested Cappelli contribute to the school district.
Mr. Cappelli contributed $1 Million to Grace Church last year for renovation of Samaritan House, the women’s shelter, whose residents have reportedly been housed elsewhere. When first announced, the gift was reported to be cash, but WPCNR learned that it was in “in kind” services, design of renovations and construction of the renovation, which is under way. While Mr. Cappelli’s firm is renovating, his construction crews are using the Grace Church driveway for delivery of cement to the 221 Main project.
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Cappelli the man behind the Rennaissance in White Plains, the philanthropist who has contributed approximately $12 Million to White Plains in the last five years since he came to town, has stepped up to donate yet another gift.
The renovation of the White Plains High School Loucks Field will add a state-of-the-art-track, soccer, football, field hockey and lacrosse artificial turf playing surface, new spectator stands, press box, lights and dressing rooms to the site of the New York State Loucks Games was put last night by Triton Construction Corporation as $5,777, 742. The school district apprised of the gift by the city last week, had been hoping it would defray the escalating cost of the capital construction bond put last night at $70 Million, and calculated to go up 2% a quarter before construction begins.
Mike Graessle, chair of the Capital Projects Committee last night, held open the possibility that the committee is leaning to eliminating the artificial turf and stands at the Middle School Highlands Parker Stadium (a cost of $3,672,717), and spending substantially less on redoing the stands at Parker in order to bring down the cost of the bond.
The Cappelli gift defrays $1 Million of the High School Field Cost, and should the district trim the Parker Stadium cost below a million, the bond could be cut by $3.5 Million, and state aid of $2.5 Million could cut the bond back to under $65 Million. To date the Capital Projects Committee has not indicated what projects other than the two athletic fields they will recommend cutting, if any cuts are even being anticipated. A $66 Million Bond Issue, including Loucks Field renovation would cost $66 additional taxes to owners of a $15,000 Assessed house, beginning in 2007-2008
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WPCNR WEATHER SCOOP. July 21, 2006. 3 P.M. E.D.T.: A Con Edison spokesperson, Alfonso Quiroz, has confirmed at 3 P.M., there are 1,000 White Plains residents still without power in the city at this hour. According to David Maloney of the Mayor’s Office, the city has cleared the last of streets of tree debris and Con Edison and their crews can get right to the remaining outages.
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WPCNR DOWNTOWN DAILY. July 21, 2006: Taste of Downtown White Plains Food Festival and Car Show has been postponed due to rain and scattered thunderstorms predicted for Saturday, July 22. A Taste of Downtown White Plains has been rescheduled for Saturday, September 9th, 2006. For more information, please contact the White Plains Downtown BID at 914-328-5166
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WPCNR WEATHER SCOOP. July 21, 2006: Alphonso of Con Edison Media Relations reports to WPCNR just a few moments ago that Con Edison has restored power to over 1,000 homes in White Plains since midnight. As of 9 A.M., the spokesperson reports only 1,100 homes remain without power. With Keyspan crews on the job today, White Plains power sufferers should have their electricity restored sooner than expected. Mayor Delfino reported yesterday Con Edison had promised him White Plains would be powered up by Sunday. Thunderstorms, one lurking over the County Seat as of this hour may slow the recovery. WCBS Radio reported 6,700 homes remain without power in Westchester (including the 1,100 in WP and 2,400 in Scarsdale).
Con Edison and crews from Orange Rockland, Mid Hudson Power and now Keyspan have cut White Plains powerless from 3,700 to 1,100 in 19 hours. (3,700 were without power at 2 PM and 1,100 remain as of 9 A.M.
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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. July 21, 2006: Triton Construction Corporation presented new numbers based on their review of the projected costs of the School District proposed $66.7 Million Infrastructure and Capital Improvement program Thursday evening to the Capital Projects Committee at the White Plains High School Library because Education House was without power for the second straight day.
Chris Pearson of Triton Construction Corporation, the city’s construction manager on the as-yet-to-be-approved project, presented costs of the projects as approaching $69,366,748, up 3% from the previous $66.7 Million figure.
Pearson attributed the rising costs to a 3% increase in the cost of construction of the new Post Road School from $36 million to $39,359,008. He also warned that costs would escalate due to construction inflation at 2% a quarter. At that rat, considering construction could not start before July 2007, WPCNR estimates the bond amount may eventually have to be floated for $75 Million in either October or December. It is unlikely the Board of Education would put the bond referendum up for vote in November when there would be a high turnout of electorate. Russ Davidson of Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson, who said he had not seen Mr. Pearson’s figures before the evening, said he was pleased Triton’s figures on the project were only 3% higher than what KG & D had estimated.
The Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors stated that the school was expected a gift towards the Loucks Field construction from the Super Developer, Louis Cappelli, but that the amount and form of Mr. Cappelli’s generosity has yet to be announced by the city or Mr. Cappelli. Last week, WPCNR was told by Mr. Cappelli’s spokesperson, Geoffrey Thompson the terms and nature of the gift were being negotiated. (The cost of the renovation of Loucks Field at White Plains High School was estimated by Mr. Pearson last night as being $5,777,742.)
Mike Graessle, Chair of the committee set August 2, Wednesday, for the committee to reconvene and discuss its recommendations to the Board of Education.
The Committee dismissed accountant Richard Hecht’s recommendations to bond the infrastructure improvements separately, based on Assistant Superintendent of Business Terence Schruers bond projections showing no significant savings in tax payments if the district did that. Schruers noted that the cost of the bond in a tax increase would be an additonal $66 to $70 a year in taxes for the average assessed home in White Plains ($15,000) . For a home worth $700,000 in White Plains assessed at $18,000, that cost would be an additional $85 a year in additional to any increases in the school budget any given year.
Peter Bassano speaking to WPCNR after the meeting said that Kaeyer Garment & Davidson’s contract with the district for supervising the project was still being negotiated and the percentage the architectural firm would receive based on the costs of the infrastructure was being vigorously negotiated. KG & D according to the initial contract considered was to receive 8% of infrastructure costs under $5 Million, and 7% of new construction costs over $5 Million. Their contract was cost based.