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

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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY By New York State District 89 Assemblyman Adam Bradley. March 13, 2004: New York’s economic development efforts must focus on the strengths of its various regions. Here in Westchester, we must take advantage of our strong education system and skilled workforce. To help revitalize our struggling economy and meet the challenges of a changing business environment, the Assembly recently released a comprehensive plan called NY@Work. The plan would create tens of thousands of jobs, help businesses, and leave New Yorkers better prepared to compete in today’s high-tech economy.

 

 

 

     New York is an uncontested leader when it comes to high-tech research and development. This plan would bring new research-driven technology to commercial markets, and provide businesses with important capital to foster growth in biotechnology, nanotechnology and other advanced technologies to create the jobs of the future.

 

Developing a workforce for the future

 

      Another Assembly initiative, Expand Local Economies through Vocational and Technical Education (ELEVATE NEW YORK), will help the state invest in its workforce by:

 

·        supporting school-to-work programs that help students by providing career orientation and work experience;

·        investing in vocational education and support programs that train workers in the changing technology in trade industries;

·        initiating a new program called “Experience and a Degree” which promotes the use of internships that help bridge the classroom to the workplace;

·        backing Educational Opportunity Centers which provide job training and educational services to roughly 20,000 low-income New Yorkers; and

·        supporting apprenticeships that provide on-the-job training and access to the skilled trades.

 

     This program will help support high-tech training for jobs that will develop in our area. It’s time we kept professionals trained in our universities as part of our workforce, rather then exporting them to the rest of the nation. These initiatives will blend career awareness, education and work experience into a winning formula.

 

Providing low–cost power

 

     Lowering the cost of energy is vital to keeping the manufacturing sector viable. The Power for Jobs Program – first proposed by the Assembly – provides low-cost power to manufacturers. NY@Work would reform and extend the program for three years, while making key changes so it runs more efficiently.

 

   New York’s high energy rates are not only unattractive to new businesses, they are forcing many established businesses out-of-state. Lowering energy costs through programs like Power for Jobs has kept jobs here and will help create new ones.

 

 

 

 

Supporting community-based economic development

 

     The Assembly’s plan recognizes the importance of community-based development, and offers support to programs like the Minority and Women-Owned Business Development Lending Program and the Rural Revitalization program. It also provides the business community greater manufacturing, agricultural, small business and tourism assistance.

 

Redirecting the state’s failed approach to economic development

 

To improve the accountability and efficiency of the state’s economic development efforts, the Assembly’s NY@Work plan would create an Economic Policy Coordination Board to develop a long-overdue strategic plan for economic growth and oversee the state’s investments in research and development projects.

 

It will also replace the current Empire State Development Board with a new, three-member Economic Development Control Board – providing the governor, the Assembly Speaker, and the Senate Majority Leader each with one appointed member.

 

The decisions we make now will affect the prosperity of our region and state for years to come. Investing in economic development policies which take advantage of our unique strengths will ensure that New York continues to move forward economically.

 

For a copy of the NY@Work plan, visit www.assembly.state.ny.us.

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WPCNR ROVING PHOTOGRAPHER. March 13, 2004: Today’s photograph is from the 29th Floor Terrace of One City Place at City Center, as the North Citadel of City Center opens for rentals. The view is Southeast. The Street in the center of the picture is Maple Avenue. The buildings left of center constitute White Plains Hospital Medical Center. The building at far right is Post Road School. The skyline is New York City.

CITY CENTER SUNSET. 29th FLOOR. By The White Plains Roving Photographer

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VARIETY. March 12, 2004: Ron Jackson, “The Last Activist,” lifelong friend of Jerome “Bump” Robinson, the leader, founder of the Slater Center, founder of the Slater Drum Corps, will reminisce with John Bailey, the White Plains CitizeNetReporter Monday night , about his old friend,  the outpouring of community grief, and what can be learned from Robinson’s story on the city news roundup show, White Plains Week, Monday evening at 7:00 P.M. on the “Spirit of 76,” WPPA-TV, Channel 76, White Plains Public Access Television.  News on the School District, City Budget and the unfolding Louis Cappelli story will be highlighted  on the Roll-O-Newsreel March of Time segment.

THE LAST ACTIVIST, Ron Jackson, right, talks about the void, the legacy of a  real Legacy of White Plains, Jerome Robinson who was buried Thursday after a most touching Home Going Ceremony at Mount Hope A.M.E. Zion Church. Photo by WPCNR News

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WPCNR Main Street Journal. By John F. Bailey. March 11, 2004, Updated with Pictures 12:30 A.M. E.S.T.: In an interview with WPCNR late Thursday afternoon, an ebullient Louis Cappelli announced “major institutional investors” were lining up to pump $400 Million into new retail outlets in the first floors of his North Citadel Apartments and in his Main Street Cappelli Hotel complex, which he expects to begin construction in June, pending Common Council approval of the project.

 

 He disclosed his friend, Donald Trump, a visitor to the City Center complex on January 7, is interested in investing in the South Condoplex which Cappelli reports as having  been redesigned by Mr.Trump’s lead residential architect,  Costas Kondylis, designer of Trump’s World Tower on 47th and 48th Streets in N.Y. Cappelli said construction  will resume from the 9^th floor on the City Center  South Complex next Wednesday.

 

 

ALL SYSTEMS GO: The South Condoplex of 34 stories now at 9 stories will resume Wednesday and his pal, Donald Trump is interested. Photo by WPCNR News

 

L.A. Fitness Wins the Health Club

 

In another major thrust to City Center fulfillment, the Super Developer announced he has signed a lease granting L.A. Fitness the sprawling health club in the sky with a view he is building atop the new City Center garage.

 

L.A. FITNESS COMPLEX SITE: Photographed February 18, Louis Cappelli’s health club under construction on top two floors of City Center Garage. Bridge to City Center is in extreme right of photograph. Photo fromWPCNR News Archive.

 

 

 

Mr. Cappelli calls LAF  “ultra high end of fitness clubs. Where all the pretty girls go.” He reports the amenities the L.A. Fitness complex will have include a basketball court, two racquet ball courts, two squash courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool. He said the health club plans to start pumping iron and pounding NordicTraks  September 1. “We’ve been negotiating for three months,” he said.

 

Reeling off development coups mortal developers would die for like a seasoned croupier rakes in the investor chips, Cappelli continued, so breathless with excitement, you almost expected him to say, “and that’s not all.”

 

 North Citadel Apartment Models Open this Weekend. Tenants In First of April.

 

Cappelli proudly announced that furnished models in the North Citadel will be open for view this Saturday, and he said they were “spectacular.” He has also welcomed his first tenant, who has rented one of the top floor units.

 

NORTH CITADEL OF THE CITY CENTER seen coming East on Main Street. Photo from WPCNR NewsArchive

 

He described the tenant as a retired couple who sold their home in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and plan to live in Florida during the winter, and in the City Center apartment the rest of the year, “fitting our demographic perfectly,” the Super Developer said. He said the apartment spire has a waiting list of 10, with its first occupant to be taking up residence in three weeks.

 

Cappelli, perhaps the most optimistic, focused individual you will ever meet told WPCNR, “Some people believe the rental market is soft, Louis Cappelli does not believe that to be so.”

 

Full Steam Ahead on the South Condoplex. Major Tweak in Design Done by The Man from TRUMP.

 

 

Cappelli put to rest rumors of troubles in City Center that have swirled the last six weeks when activity at the South Condoplex stopped. As reported by WPCNR this week, Mr. Cappelli said it has taken six months to redesign the South Condo Citadel to design and engineer aesthetically the expanded condominium floor plans to fit the condo market.

 

Cappelli said the plex was reconfigured from a design and engineering perspective by Costas Kondylis  & Partners Architects, (www.kondylis.com)  whom Cappelli said was Donald Trump’s primary architectural designer for Mr. Trump’s residential properties.

 

Designer of the Trump World Tower Spiffs Up the South Condoplex

 

Costas Kondylis, according to his website has built 45 highrise buildings around New York City, including the Trump World Tower, the 72-floor, 90-story stunner next to the United Nations. Kondylis in a biography on his website said the World Tower was built in 18 months, and design was done as the building was progressing. Kondylis added that nowadays it is not necessary to spend three years designing a building then building it. Mr. Cappelli, too, is not one to follow a bad idea when he discovers a better way. 

 

Herbert Muschamp of The New York Times describes the Trump World tower this way: “Aggression and desire, violence and sex, put them together and you have Trump Tower,” and goes on to write:

 

From downtown, the tower also makes a good impression. Its visual appeal derives, first of all, from the contrast between its amplitude of scale and its simplicity of shape. Then, like the Empire State Building, there is an unbalanced ratio of width to depth. Depending on your perspective, the tower shifts from sliveresque to monolithic. After all the frou-frou launched into the skyline for the past generation – the fussy attempts at three-dimensional collage; the ersatz Art Deco confections weighed down by stepped silhouettes and ornate crowns – it is pleasing to see a flat roof raised to the top of the skyline by four flush glass walls. From downtown, the tower also makes a good impression. Its visual appeal derives, first of all, from the contrast between its amplitude of scale and its simplicity of shape. Then, like the Empire State Building, there is an unbalanced ratio of width to depth. Depending on your perspective, the tower shifts from sliveresque to monolithic. After all the frou-frou launched into the skyline for the past generation – the fussy attempts at three-dimensional collage; the ersatz Art Deco confections weighed down by stepped silhouettes and ornate crowns – it is pleasing to see a flat roof raised to the top of the skyline by four flush glass walls.

 

A Trump Deal?

 

Asked if Mr. Trump was interested in the South Condoplex as an investor, Mr. Cappelli said it was not appropriate for him to speak for Mr. Trump, “that should come from him, but Mr. Trump is contemplating  the projection of the Trump name in White Plains.”

 

LOUIS CAPPELLI, “THE SUPER DEVELOPER” from an appearance on White Plains Week. Photo by WPCNR News. 

 

DONALD TRUMP Photo by Photo Rozzi

 

 

 

Cappelli said the South Condoplex of 34 stories will be a richer darker building, consisting of a “bronze metal brushed window treatment, with a bleached beige, oyster brick exterior,” giving the building a distinctive elegant look, yet elegantly complimenting its Northern twin. The look is similar, Mr. Cappelli said to Donald Trump’s taste in building exteriors.

 

Cappelli has promised the design to be revealed shortly.

 

There is No Place Like White Plains

 

Mr. Cappelli advised the CitizeNetReporter  that “there is no place like White Plains.” He explained that “major instiutional investors” are lining up to invest a total of $400 Million in new retail in both the base of the North Apartment Complex in the City Center on Main Street and the Westin Hotel and Retail complex planned on his 221 Main street Cappelli Hotel project.

MAJOR PLAYERS SEEK PIECES OF THE CAPPELLI CITY CENTER  and his proposed Cappelli Hotel & Office Complex (in green and yellow) File Overhead Model, Courtesy Cappelli Enterprises.

 

Asked if he would retain control of both City Center and the Cappelli Hotel properties, the Super Developer said the investors are looking to come in as partners. He had not made up his mind whether to keep control of the properties or retain simply a piece of them, giving major interest to other major partners who wish to come in. He did not say he would retain majority interest, and did not say he would not.

 

Cappelli updated WPCNR on the status of his 90-day window deal for the Bar Building annex, saying he had forwarded the contracts to the Longhitanos.

 

CITY CENTER LEASED UP

 

Cappelli said that Office Max was taking the last 25,000 square feet next to Filene’s Basement on the second floor of the City Center, wrapping up rental on the City Center.

 

He said Legal Seafood is coming along and is 80% finished, saying it should be open in mid-April. Its neighbor on the corner, Zanaro’s, Cappelli said is going to be “the most spectacular restaurant in Westchester County, in the region.”

 

Cappelli said all his City Center leases are for 15 years, with an option for 25. He described LA Fitness lease as a 15 year lease.

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WPCN WESTCHESTER COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Department of Communications. March 11, 2004: This year, on its 20^th anniversary the Women’s Hall of Fame will induct perhaps its most famous honoree – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton – during a ceremony on March 22 at 11 a.m. at the Rye Town Hilton. Also being recognized posthumously is Mother Irene Gill, founder of the College of New Rochelle.

 

 “The Women’s Hall of Fame has recognized so many women for their contributions to Westchester and to women,’’ said County Executive Andy Spano. “These women were brilliant, motivated and dedicated. Some were elected officials and businesswomen others were educators, homemakers, volunteers or religious leaders. What they all had in common was a commitment to improving the quality of life for women. This year’s honoree epitomizes the works of all those who came before her. Senator Clinton has worked to improve conditions for women the world over, whether in Bejing, Iraq or right here in Westchester. We welcome her to the Hall of Fame.’’

In honor of its 20^th anniversary, the Women’s Hall of Fame has invited all of its past honorees to the reception (see attached for complete list). And as it has done in past years, the Hall of Fame will award scholarships to promising young women it hopes may be future inductees. This year, 18 scholarship winners will receive a total of $61,000 in scholarships.

 

Clinton Reaction:

 

 

Senator Clinton of Chappaqua said she was honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“I am so very honored to be placed in the company of so many incredibly talented and inspiring women.  The stories of each of these women have inspired countless others to fulfill their dreams; indeed, it is humbling to be recognized by the Westchester Women’s Hall of Fame in this way.  I have always thought that the Westchester Women’s Hall of Fame has an important role in reminding us all of how very far we have come and offers a tremendous opportunity for all of us to learn about our history, our heritage and our future,” 

            Recognized as a role model for women around the world, Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, the only First Lady ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate. A tireless advocate for the rights of women and girls, she has traveled around the world speaking on behalf of a woman’s right to education, family planning and economic opportunity.

Senator Clinton, who serves on the Senate Committees for Environment and Public Works; Health, Education, Labor, Pensions and Armed Services, has introduced legislation to rebuild schools, strengthen the economy of upstate New York, secure Homeland Security funds for first responders and extend unemployment insurance benefits.

 In Westchester, Senator Clinton was recently a featured speaker at the county’s Elderboom Conference, which focused on the need to prepare for social changes that will take place with the surge of aging baby boomers. She also participated in a Not-For-Profit Summit to help non-profit agencies leverage funding.

Born in Chicago, Illinois on October 26, 1947, she grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois and attended public school there. She attended Wellesley College, and is a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School. Senator Clinton is married to former President William J. Clinton and they have one daughter, Chelsea.

 

The Senator has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Claude Pepper Award of the National Association for Home Care, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Medal, the Servant of Justice Award of the New York City Legal Aid Society, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the Public Spirit Award of the American Legion Auxiliary, the Shalom Chaver Award for International Leadership of the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, the Albert Shanker Award of the New York State United Teachers.

Senator Clinton is also a best-selling author of  Living History, released in June of 2003; It Takes a Village: and Other Lessons Children Teach Us, An Invitation to the White House, and Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids Letters to the First Pets.

In nominating Senator Clinton award committee members wrote, “Senator Clinton is a role model for women across our country. She had a dream and made that dream a reality. Beginning with her outstanding collegiate record at Wellesley College, where she excelled as a leader among women, to her years a Yale Law School, where she shined academically and set new standards proving that women can achieve whatever they set out to do.’’

 

Irene Gill College of New Rochelle Founder.

 

Nominated for this year’s Posthumous Award is another woman who served as a role model to thousands of girls and women. Mother Irene Gill, founder of the College of New Rochelle, believed that women could find advancement through education and used her vision to create the first Catholic college for women in New York State.

Born in Ireland in 1856, Mother Irene Gill came to the United States at the age of 12 and joined the Ursuline order in 1876. In the tradition of the Ursuline order, founded in 1533 in Brescia, Italy, Mother Irene persevered and established the college—then called the College of St. Angela—on September 12, 1904.

 Mother Irene died on Dec. 22, 1935 at the age of 80, but the college, known as The College of New Rochelle since 1910, continues to thrive today.  CNR is committed to its Catholic heritage, educating women and men from a women’s perspective, and providing students with a liberal arts education. This year CNR celebrates its 100^th anniversary, and is comprised of four schools ‑‑ School of Arts & Sciences, School of New Resources (for adult learners), School of Nursing, and the Graduate School ‑‑ with six campuses, an enollment of about 7,000, and more than 38,000 alumnae. The School of Arts & Sciences remains all women, while the other three schools are coeducational.

                                                                       

 

According to President Stephen J. Sweeny, “The College continues to model for society a creative environment that values diversity, promotes appreciation for difference, and prizes justice. Here students of all ages discover and strengthen their dignity and journey from this College to transform the world, not simply as women and men of personal and professional achievement, but as women and men of conscience and compassion.”

Hall of Fame Award recipients are selected by a panel of judges on the basis of their work to improve women’s lives in significant and enduring ways, and their work as pioneers in a particular field. Past hall of fame winners have included Rep. Nita Lowey, Sally Ziegler, County Legislator Lois Bronz and District Attorney Jeanine Pirro and former Sen. Mary Goodhue.

Proceeds from the luncheon will go to help fund scholarships for college-bound women, who will receive the awards at the event. The luncheon is hosted by the Westchester County Office for Women and sponsored by Avon, the Stock Family, Con Edison, Fuji, IBM, Lanza Family Foundation, MasterCard International, Diversified Investment Advisors, Merrill Lynch, Verizon and the Westchester Women’s Bar Association Foundation. Fortunoff’s is presenting past recipients of the Hall of Fame with a specially-designed gold charm commemorating the 20^th anniversary.

Tickets for the Hall of Fame luncheon are still available at a cost of $65 per person. For more information, call the Westchester County Office for Women at 914-995-5972.