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 ENVIRONMENTALIST. From Emmett Pepper. (Edited) February 23, 2006: Conservation groups cheered last week as the New York State Assembly passed, by an overwhelming bi-partisan vote, legislation – the Clean Water Protection/Flood Prevention Act (A.2048) – to expand protection of New York’s wetlands. The Assembly action proposes to protect wetlands under New York State law that are now unprotected as a result of rollbacks at the federal level. (1) Environmental groups and citizens statewide overwhelmingly support passage of the Clean Water Protection/Flood Prevention Act and call on the Senate to pass S.2081 in 2006.

WPCNR learned by following and exposing  the White Plains Silver Lake pollution coverup last August by Harrison and White Plains officials, that neither the Department of Environmental Conservation nor the Department of Health (in Westchester County) do not monitor tributaries on a coordinated regular schedule. The Mamaroneck River outletting from Silver Lake, is  shown here as it looked in mid September, 2005, at the height of the raw sewage pollution dumped into the Lake July 19. The tributary, one of hundreds is not monitored on a conscientious basis, only according to a lax schedule prepared by the state, meaning that on-going dumping into tributaries can go long periods of time, polluting wetlands without being detected. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

“Friends of the Bay applauds the New York State Assembly for their prompt consideration and passage of this significant environmental legislation,” said Friends of the Bay Executive Director Kyle Rabin. “Now the Senate must take action. As an organization on Long Island, we know how important wetlands are to protecting our drinking water and cleaning up the polluted runoff that threatens our bays and estuaries.”

Under current state law, the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) can only regulate development and other activities that threaten wetlands when the wetlands are included on New York’s Freshwater Wetlands Maps.

New York law directs DEC to map only those wetlands that are 12.4 acres and larger, or that are determined to be of “unusual local importance.” In practice, very few wetlands of “unusual local importance” have been included on the maps. By comparing the state maps with maps produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Sierra Club determined that the USFWS shows 281,216 wetlands in New York, while DEC reports that it regulates 15,625 wetlands. (2) This leaves hundreds of thousands of wetlands in the State subject to federal protection alone. On this score, federal records demonstrate that, since the rollback began in 2001, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), the primary federal agency that regulates wetlands, has not applied federal protections to hundreds of New York State’s wetlands. Currently DEC gets no warning when ACOE determines that a wetland is not subject to federal regulation.

“New York clearly cannot rely on ACOE to protect important smaller wetlands,” said Leila Goldmark, Staff Attorney for Riverkeeper, Inc. “The New York State Attorney General’s Office recently reviewed all wetland permit determinations available from 2001-2004. The AG’s Office has stated that fully 45 % (562) of the applications received were found to be non-jurisdictional by ACOE. Of those, only one application was found that qualified for regulation under state law. All of those wetlands went unregulated and were destroyed.”

Last year, the Assembly passed A.2048 and the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee released S.2081 with a nearly unanimous 11 to 1 recommendation, but the Senate leadership refused to allow the measure to go to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

“Every year we delay results in additional wetlands going under buildings, malls and parking lots, resulting in increased non-point source pollution, increased flooding and poorer habitat,” said Don Riepe, Director of the NE Chapter of the American Littoral Society. “It’s time for the Senate to end the delay and stand with the Assembly and Governor in taking responsibility for protecting our most vital resource.”

Wetlands perform important functions in natural drainage systems. By capturing and holding water runoff from rain-storms and snow melt, they filter out contaminants and reduce potential for flooding. Water held in wetlands is then released slowly to streams, rivers and groundwater. In this way, wetlands purify the surface waters that many public water supplies rely on as a source of drinking water and provide steady flows of the cool clean water that fish and other aquatic animals rely on. Due to the critical nature of these functions, every other northeastern state regulates activities that threaten wetlands much more comprehensively than New York State’s current law allows. (3)

“New York has a long tradition of leadership on environmental issues that is even more critical today given that the federal government has abandoned any pretense of protecting the nation’s environment for all Americans,” said Brad Sewell, Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “On wetlands, New York is far from the leader, and we ask that the state catch up – our smallest wetlands are frequently our most valuable, and they are being destroyed as we speak.”

“The public understands and appreciates the value of protecting New York’s remaining wetlands,” stated Dereth Glance, program director with Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE). “We continue to find overwelming public support for urgent legislative action–this session–to protect New York’s vulnerable wetlands.”

“Fish and many wildlife and waterfowl live in wetlands, and their protection is critical,” stated Wally John, Legislative Vice-President, New York State Conservation Council.

Governor Pataki’s budget this year included, in addition to measures intended to address this loss of federal wetlands protection, funding for much needed staff in the state wetland protection program run by DEC.

“We appreciate Governor Pataki’s proposal to increase DEC staff dedicated to wetland protection and to expand the reach of New York’s wetland protection program. The Assembly has taken the first step in moving a regulatory proposal. We call on the Senate to now follow their lead. It is critical that both members of the Senate and members of the Assembly insist that expanded wetland protection measures be achieved in the budget process for fiscal year 2006/2007 and in passage of the Clean Water Protection/Flood Prevention Act,” said John Stouffer, Legislative Director for Sierra Club – Atlantic Chapter.

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WPCNR NEWS & COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. February 22, 2006: It is the birthday of our first President, George Washington, the father of our nation.  One cannot help be reminded of the snowy winter at Valley Forge, when the bedraggled, poorly equipped rebel army suffered but held together, and attacked the Hessians in Trenton on Christmas Eve, 1776, crossing the Delaware River at night. What kind of man was he that George Washington could inspire his troops against all odds?

Washington was a man of tremendous character. Where did he get this character? He specialized in self-control at an early age.

Reenacters Marching to Raise Old Glory at Purdy House Sunday in Honor of George Washington’s Birthday. Photo, WPCNR News.

According to The American President, Washington, at sixteen, had formed a code of conduct. He had written a book of etiquette with 110 “maxims” to guide his conduct in matters. In this etiquette book he had written, Every action done in company ought to be done with a sign of respect to those who are not present. Sleep not when others speak; sit not whwn others stand; speak not when you should hold your peace; walk not when others stop;…Let your countenance be pleasant but in serious matters somewhat grave…Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.

According to the character sketch provided by the authors of The American President, this personal “rulebook” was a book that Washington wrote over the years and referred to it often, “for self-control, to avoid temptation, to elude greed, to control his temper. Reputation was everything to him. It had to do with his strength, his size, his courage, his horsemanship, his precise dress, his thorough mind, his manners, his compassion. He protected that reputation at any cost.”

Honor Guard Strikes the Colors Sunday to a Drum Roll. Photo, WPCNR News.

Note: The American President By Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter W. Kunhardt (Riverhead Books. Penguin-Putnam, Inc.,1999) is the source for this information on George Washington.

This article originally appeared in The CitizeNetReporter in 2003.

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As a resident of 30 Lake Street (a building that has never been part of any neighborhood/ neighborhood association), I am looking for volunteers to Step Up to create a neighborhood Association within the downtown area.

Our first meeting is scheduled for “late February” at a downtown restaurant or diner location.

Sign up below for our mailing list or further info.
Our goals will be to have a voice in the city and the C.N.A., creating a neighborhood crime watch, creating fun activities and events [co-sponsered by neighborhood restaurants and companies], creating better sidewalks [there are many broken sidewalks around the Lake Street area]; improving our parks, parking issues, creating lecture series with downtown colleges, creating more arts and art events downtown, addressing the county in skirting Megan’s Law, housing sex offenders [in any secure site] THEN dropping them off unsupervised within blocks of downtown schools and daycare centers; working on safe, logical solutions to the “White Plains Homeless” population [creating a liason for our City and County government agencies]. Also working with the city and dept. stores to improve our safety in parking lots and parking garages.

***All condo and co-op board members are encouraged to join***

Our rough neighborhood borders will be from [West] The Bronx River Parkway, to [North] Route 119/ Main St. and Lake St., to [East] I-287, and south to Maple Avenue (then to S. Lexington Ave. to Bank Street).

We would very much appreciate help from our neighboring associations: Battle Hill, Fisher Hill, Carhart, The Highlands, and The North Broadway Associations.

In a nutshell this will be about information, quality of life issues, promoting safety, creating fun events, and lobbying our leaders so we too “have a voice”.
Soon we will have a website available.
To get on our new mailing list, please contact:
Rob Tamboia 428-4477
30 Lake Street, WP 10603 or
rob@championlife.com SUBJT: Downtown Assoc. thank you for your help!