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

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    WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. By  Town of  Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner. February 23, 2004:  WPCNR is pleased to introduce Paul Feiner as a regular contributor to The White Plains CitizeNetReporter. Mr. Feiner has undertaken to prepare The Feiner Report, a weekly roundup of news matters and government happenings in the Town of Greenburgh. And now, Mr. Feiner:

This is the first in a series of weekly reports to White Plains  CitizeNetReporter. I’d like to thank John Bailey for inviting me to write this report  — so Greenburgh people can be better informed of what’s happening in our town.
   

This Wednesday night, the Greenburgh Town Board will hold our next Town
Board meeting. The meeting will begin at 7:15 PM at Greenburgh Town Hall, 177
Hillside Ave, Greenburgh. You’re invited to attend and to participate. In the
event that you’re unable to attend you can watch our meeting on our local cable
TV access channel and call in live. Phone us from your home during the
meeting (993-1540) and participate. Calls are not pre-screened. Phone calls are
accepted any time during the meeting. That’s open government at its best.
 

In the coming months we hope to initiate a new feature: residents will be
able to view our Town Board meetings live on our internet site:
www.greenburghny.com and will be able to archive meetings. I hope that this innovation can
be started within 2 months.
 

  Another way for people to learn about town government is to subscribe to
our automatic e mail alert listing. I post Supervisor Reports on our web site
a few times a week and mail those reports to anyone who is interested in
learning more about what’s happening. Want to be on our e mail list? Email me at
pfeiner@greenburgh.com.
 

  On Thursday I’ll be assigned to the Town Attorney’s office, adjudicating
traffic tickets in Town Court. Once a month I work in a different department
in town government. It’s a great experience, interacting with town employees.
And, I always learn from our employees.
   

Feel free to call me anytime. My office is 993 l540. My home is 478 l2l9.
And, you can always e mail me at pfeiner@greenburgh.com
PAUL FEINER

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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By District 89 Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley, February 21, 2004: Westchester County is a beautiful place to live. Keeping our environment healthy will ensure that our future generations enjoy all this area has to offer. Since I took office, I have made it a mission to sponsor legislation that protects our environment.

One of the pieces of legislation I authored would give municipalities a direct role in reviewing proposed private developments in other communities if they can establish that the development would have a substantial impact on the water or air quality in their locality (A.8672). This would ensure that communities have a say in protecting their environment when their environment is clearly placed at risk by decisions made across their border.

Another piece of legislation would ensure legal standing for those individuals seeking to challenge development which may be harmful to the environment (A.8673).

I also sponsored legislation to help reduce and eliminate the exposure of school children to hazardous substances that may be found in school facilities (A3935). The legislation calls for sampling of school indoor air, water and paint to identify potential problems.  This legislation also calls for parental notification in the event an environmental health hazard is detected.

An environmental danger in our own backyard is the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. I don’t have faith in the plant’s assurances that all of us living near it are safe. Serious questions still remain about Indian Point’s evacuation plan should an emergency occur there. Simply, we do not have the roads or infrastructure to have a successful evacuation in an emergency. It is an outrage that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission signed off on it. I will continue to be an outspoken critic on this critically important matter.

Preservation of our environment and protecting our quality of life is of utmost importance. I will continue to fight for the future of Westchester County so that our children can continue enjoying a healthy, beautiful and natural environment.

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey with Dan Seidel. February 20, 2004: It was a routine lunch hour for Daniel Seidel, the attorney with offices based at 2 William Street. On his way back from lunch, he spotted three White Plains Department of Public Works personnel setting up a work barrier around the Main Street Sewer manhole opposite the delivery entrance to Macy’s on Main Street downline from City Center.

SITE OF SEWER FLOW CHECK FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Macy’s delivery entrance is on the right. Manhole in question is near the sign below the red light. File Photo of Main Street Sewer route From WPCNR News Archives

Mr. Seidel reports that he engaged the DPW workers in friendly conversation, who allowed him to peer some 20 feet down into the manhole at the top of the open 16” Main Street sanitary sewer. Seidel says he saw the water running fast and close to the top of the pipe.

Eyewitness to Sewer Flow: First Respondent, Dan Seidel, White Plains attorney, shown at the Common Council work session Wednesday evening. Seidel observed the Main Street sewer flow for himself Friday afternoon. Photo by WPCNR News

Mr. Seidel told WPCNR in a comment: “It’s 1:40 p.m. on Friday, Feb 20, 2004, and the DPW guys are doing sewer flow review on Main Street, in front of Macy’s delivery entrance. Guess what? The sewer is flowing (nicely) at about 60-75% of its diameter capacity. You can see this by looking down and seeing how close to the top of the pipe the stuff is flowing”

Seidel said the DPW crew was checking the sewer flow with a Wier meter, that Seidel described as a black box that is placed in the pipe. He said the DPW workers told him the stream in the pipe was flowing at about 75% of capacity.

This is the third eyewitness account and the first for attribution confirming what midday flow in the Main Street sewer looks like since Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti reported the results of his stick test reporting 75% capacity in September, 2001 and since another eyewitness worker attempting to connect the City Center sanitary sewer connection on August 29, 2003, also said the sewer was running 75% full.

Seidel described the flow of the sewer as fast, and what was obvious to the naked eye, filling two-third to ¾ of the pipe before the Wier meter was placed in the pipe. The D.P.W. workers were doing the flow review on a day when White Plains had seen no precipitation for one week, although the city has been experiencing slow snow melt Thursday and Friday.

Mr. Seidel told WPCNR he did not know what the purpose of the flow check was and why the workers were conducting it.

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WPCNR COMMON SENSE. From White Plains Historical Society. February 20, 2004: The Historical Society opens historic Jacob Purdy House Sunday from 1 to 3 P.M. on 60 Park Avenue to celebrate the 272nd Anniversary of  President George Washington’s Birthday.

21-GUN SALUTE: Typical of traditional Washington’s Birthday celebrations at Purdy House, such as this cloud of gunsmoke from “Redcoats” in October, 2001, there will be a Flag Raising, a Re-Enactment, and tours of the Purdy House. The public can view Washington’s Letters written at the Purdy House when the first Commander-In-Chief stayed at the home in 1776 and 1778. There will be music and refreshments. Admission is Free. For Information and directions call 328-2152. Photo from WPCNR News Archives.

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WPCNR WESTCHESTER COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Department of Communications. (Edited) February 19, 2004: County Executive Andy Spano said today he was “appalled” at the contents of  flyers circulating in Port Chester, filled with venom against Blacks, Hispanics, Jews and Asians and calling for their rapes and death.  

“Westchester’s strength is its diversity of people, but there is no place in Westchester for people who would circulate this garbage,” said Spano. “This is a crime, and I hope that the person or people responsible will be caught and prosecuted.”

The flyers in question, signed “K.K.K.,” are dated Feb. 18 and call for “white people to unite” against the other groups, in particular to kill. It gives a website address.  

“This is one of the most despicable things I have ever seen,” said Spano, who earlier this week announced a partnership with the Anti-Defamation League to fight bigotry in the county. As part of the project, police officers from throughout the county took part in a new training program Tuesday that addressed hate crimes and extremism, and specifically looked  at how the Internet has encouraged the spread of such propaganda.

“Bigotry has no place in Westchester,” said Spano, who added that specialized training for local police departments is a component of the effort to prevent bigotry.   

Spano noted that Westchester County has a law on the books since 1977 that requires local police departments to notify the county Public Safety Department of bias-related crimes. Port Chester is already working with the county department.  

 “This is a good law that enables police to track these crimes and share information on trends. The county department of Public Safety, as always, is available to assist local police departments in any way it can, including crime scene investigations and fingerprinting. We must continue to work together to stop these crimes of hatred,” Spano said.

Westchester County is also preparing to unveil a new website that outlines the mandate of the Human Rights Commission, stating why it is illegal to discriminate in employment, public facilities, renting or selling real estate or offering credit based on someone’s religion, race, sexual orientation, nationality, age, gender, disability, etc. It will also direct those who have been victims of “physical intimidation or acts of hate and physical violence” to contact the Human Rights Commission. The website, expected to go up next week, is at www.westchestergov.com/humanrightscommission.