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 WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. March 24, 2005: Thomas J. Abinanti, the attorney for former deposed Councilman Glen Hockley who attended Wednesday evening’s Common Council Work Session at City Hall, has released a statement nine days after the Appellate Court, Second Department, issued a ruling on Mr. Hockley’s appeal for a jury trial on the jammed voting matter.

Abinanti takes issue with the decision, and remarks that they are still considering how to proceed:

The Appellate Division, Second Department, has issued a decision on Glen Hockley’s appeal of Westchester Supreme Court’s order removing him from the White Plains Common Council summarily without a trial. The Appellate Division found that Westchester Supreme Court  was wrong to consider summary judgment without giving Hockley the opportunity he sought to take depositions. The Appellate Division reopened discovery, gave Hockley until June 30 to conduct depositions and stayed his appeal until both sides submit additional legal papers 30 days thereafter.

The Appellate Division decision is both gratifying and perplexing.

By finding that Mr. Hockley “should have been given an opportunity” to take the depositions of the principal witnesses against him, the Appellate Division stood up for fundamental fairness and vindicated the position we have maintained since December, 2003, when Westchester Supreme summarily prohibited us from taking those depositions.

But the Appellate Division failed to follow its own legal ruling to its logical conclusion: that Mr. Hockley must be restored to office. In so doing, the Appellate Division has abandoned long-standing legal  precedent which dictates that summary judgment must be reversed when granted without the losing party having had proper discovery  Instead, in a determination which it admitted was “unique,” the Appellate Division left summary judgment in place– and Mr. Hockley out of office– pending the completion of depositions. It’s a decision reminiscent of the “Sentence first– verdict afterwards” of Alice in Wonderland.

The disputed election was held in November 2001. The Attorney General commenced this lawsuit to overturn Mr. Hockley’s certified victory in December 2002. After the Appellate Division decided in late 2003 that the commencement was still timely,  we were prepared to take the depositions that the Appellate Division now confirms we had the right to take. But it is now fifteen and a half months later, with only seven and a half months before the next election for Common Council. The Court’s proposed  four-and-a half month delay hardly seems designed to promote a fair and timely resolution of the case.

We will carefully consider whether the procedure laid out by the Court makes any sense at this late date or if there are alternatives available to Mr. Hockley.

Thomas J. Abinanti

Attorney for Glen Hockley

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. March 23, 2005: Louis Cappelli the Super Developer is on the threshold of announcing a hotelier for his 221 Main Renaissance Square Development “within days.”  Louis Cappelli, the Artful Financier is conducting a delicate orchestration of closing for his financing for his hotel and condoplex within the next three weeks.

Last night Mr. Cappelli asked the Common Council to approve of his 25-units  of affordable housing proposal for 240 Main Street with backup proposal of 17 more units of  affordable housing at 189 Main Street  to make that possible. He said a solution to the 42 units affordable housing he promised to build was essential to secure that financing and his hotel, in addition to guaranteeing he could open the hotel on time.

THE MAIN EVENT: The Mayor’s Conference was wall-to-wall legal talent and developer intensity Wednesday evening. Martin Ginsburg of Ginsburg Development Corportion, left characterizes Mr. Cappelli’s 240 Main Street 5-story affordable housing proposal as “absolutely wrong for the site and the city.” Ginsburg said he’d build 16 units at his Pinnacle tower, if the council favored his new plan to go from 23 stories to 29 stories. Mr. Cappelli,  Renaissance Square conceptualist at right, in elegant yellow tie. Photo by WPCNR News.

DESIGN BEING WORKED ON DAILY: Mr. Cappelli said his Renaissance Square design is developing a variety of face treatments varying from sheer glass to stepped glass, showing the latest Northerly view. He said this design is being tweaked. Photo by WPCNR News.

The Super Developer made a case for buiding 5 stories of affordable housing adjacent the 28-story proposed Pinnacle Building before the Common Council Wednesday evening, and 6 stories of affordable housing at 197 Main Street, asking the council to approve the 40-story heights for his towers at 221 Main Street and assuring him a concrete way to meet his affordable housing obligation at the City Center and 221 Main.

Bruce Berg, President of Cappelli Enterprises demonstrates difference and looks between Mr. Cappelli’s 8-story proposal at 240 Main and the alternative 5-story proposal for the affordable housing building  240 developed due to Common Council unease at building the “affordables” at the 8-story height.  Photo by WPCNR News.

Looking on and making his own proposal to develop 240 Main Street in his own right, (which he did not illustrate for the audience), rival developer Martin Ginsburg, The Pinnacle kingpin, presented the Council with his plan to build 16 affordable housing units in a 29-story Pinnacle Building, up from the 23 stories he had lowered the building in a failed agreement which he claimed Mr. Cappelli had agreed to then reneged.

Ginsburg presented a letter of an agreement to the Common Council that he said he had made with Mr. Cappelli on developing 240 Main Street as a plaza and cafe. Ginsburg said Mr. Cappelli had agreed upon the plan and backed out. Mr. Ginsburg told the council the matter of Mr. Cappelli’s ownership at 240 Main Street was subject of litigation between he and Mr. Cappelli. He said litigation sought to rescind the Cappelli deed to the property.

Mayor Delfino, reacting to Mr. Ginsburg’s new proposal, said he did not like litigation to hold up a project, citing the former Ian Beyer case that contributed to the failure of the Tishman-Speyer plans for City Center.  The Mayor then prevented the council  from getting into a discussion of changing zoning alternatives for Mr. Ginsburg  at the suggestion of City Corporation Counsel, Edward Dunphy. Photo by WPCNR News

Alan Katz, attorney for Mr. Ginsburg, asked by WPCNR in the rotunda to explain the lynchpin of the Ginsburg lawsuit said that it had to do with the former owners of the property, F & J Food Corporation suing Mr. Cappelli for making a deal with the owner of the Main Street Book Store and Mr. Cappelli’s motion to have that suit dismissed via summary judgment that was rejected. James Benerofe of Suburban Street recalled he thought that the F & J Food Corporation had been settled.

Mr. Cappelli Explains.

In the rotunda after the rivals presented their plans, Mr. Cappelli told WPCNR he had never signed the agreement presented in letter form by Mr. Ginsburg. He told WPCNR he did not sign it because he felt  he had to guarantee he could meet his affordable housing committment on his hotel-condominium project.

He said  he had to build all 42 units with the hotel/condominium towers to guarantee he could eventually open the hotel complex (get a Certificate of Occupancy), on time, without being held back from opening should a site for affordable housing not be designated by the Council during the course of construction, resulting in all his affordables not being built.

Ginsburg Does Not Commit to Build if Denied.

Tom Roach, Common Council President queried Mr. Ginsburg on what he would do if the council went with Mr. Cappelli’s proposal. Ginsburg at first evaded the question, but indicated he would seriously have to reevaluate building the project. Ginsburg suggested the Cappelli 240 Main Street building was “wrong for the site and for the city.”

Mr. Cappelli, in his remarks to the council, said if the council had another site after their approval where they felt Mr. Cappelli’s affordable housing could be built, he would gladly “entertain it.” He said it would be a year before he started the affordable housing units, indicating the council had a year to come up with an alternative site, hinting, that would release 240 Main Street allaying Mr. Ginsburg’s concerns.

Reporter NOTES…

Mr. Cappelli announced that the Trump Tower at City Center was all sold out 

NEW WATER MAIN FOR MARTINE CORRIDOR. Photo by WPCNR News

Later in the Council Work Session, Joseph Nicoletti, Commissioner of Public Works, said that Martine Avenue from North Broadway to Mamaroneck Avenue adjacent to the South exit of City Center Garage would be travel restricted and sometimes closed during the for replacement of a 12-inch water Main at a cost of $700,000 to the city (half of which will be paid by Cappelli Enterprises). The water main project is expected to affect traffic around the City Center daily from May 1 to July 1, Nicoletti said. 

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. March 23, 2005: Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors reported that White Plains High School was referring most, if not all of the students involved in last Wednesday’s preplanned St. Patrick’s Day morning party, to the high school counseling program on alcohol abuse.

Connors stated today that there was alcohol on the premesis on Baylor Circle, (just off the high school athletic fields in Havilands Manor)  but “there was no proof any one of the students was drinking (at the time the party was interrupted.” Police said the party was interdicted by the White Plains Police at between 10:30 and 11 A.M. on March 17.

Asked if this meant the party had been broken up by White Plains Police before the drinking had begun, Mr. Connors said he did not know that, but “clearly, we’re grateful we were aware there might be a party there.”

Connors reported that 20 to 24 children taken to Eastview School after they were retrieved by police were being disciplined under the high school code of conduct for cutting classes and leaving school illegally, and had already received their punishments. He said it is not school policy to reveal what the penalties were, but “whatever the code of conduct penalties were, that’s what they were.”

Asked what packaging and varieties of alcoholic beverages were found on the premises, Connors said he did not know.