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 VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By John F. Bailey.  December 20, 2004:  The geniuses who run Section I have perpetrated another inept move, aided and abetted by the Recreation and Parks Geniuses at the County, and a distinct lack of comprehension of what  the spirit of Title IX means.

 

THE MADISON SQUARE GARDEN OF WESTCHESTER: THE ART DECO MASTERPIECE, THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY CENTER: FOR MEN ONLY.

Photo, WPCNR Sports Archive

Last week Section I announced that they have found a way to move 4 of 5 boys high school basketball championships into the Westchester County Center. However, surprise!

 

They have not moved any of the girls championships there. Instead the high flying fillies will play not even in Westchester County. They will play in Dutchess County or on the Bronx border in Iona, or possibly at Pace. They will not have the thrill of the County Center upper deck looking down on them. They will not play in the arena from the 30s –the Madison Square Garden of Westchester County.

 

Because they are girls. If they were boys. They’d be in.

 

 

Is this fair? No.

 

Does it make sense? No.

 

Is it defensible? No.

 

And, no one has said anything about it.

 

Well I’m sitting up here in the smokey rafters of the old Madison Square Garden and I’m blowing the whistle.

It is a slam-dunk multi-million dollar Title IX lawsuit.

 

Some lawyer-parent of a girls basketball player should sue Section I and Westchester County for a violation of Title IX which calls for equal treatment of male and female athletes, or you lose your federal funding on educational matters.

 

Another Lame Call by the Section I Boys.

 

These are the same Section I Geniuses who are attempting to prevent Thanksgiving Day football games being played to preserve their demented playoff system which leaves only one football team in the state happy in each Class after a good season.

 

Now, pardon me, but Westchester County shares the blame, too.

 

Part of the reason for not having the championships in the County Center is blamed on the fact they have the circus booked there and do not want to give up the revenue.

 

Calls to Susan Tolchin, Chief Advisor to County Executive Andy Spano and Director of Communications to respond on the county’s rationale for this decision have not been responded to as of Monday morning.

 

What’s a little loss?

 

Since when has that bothered Westchester County Recreation and Parks, losing a little revenue?

 

Kick out the circus for two to three days, so the girls and the boys can have their championships there! Come on!

 

If the circus doesn’t want to do it, pay them anyway. We now have this $9 Million surplus, don’t we, Andy and Joe (Stout)?  Dissing the Women’s basketball players is much easier than telling the boys they can’t play in the County Center (a tradition).

 

Since when has the county cared anything about wasting money on recreation?

 

Hudson Hills cost $20 Million. Hudson Hills loses money. The county golf courses lose money. And we cannot keep the County Center open for our best teen athletes because of the circus?

 

We love the Royal Hannaford Circus. This is not their fault, this is the county’s fault and the Section’s fault who cannot schedule intelligently.

 

An embarrassment.

 

The head of County recreation and parks should be called on the carpet for this scheduling mess.

 

The county also should check with their lawyer on the Title IX aspects of this cold decision to shut the Long Tall Sallys  out of the County Center venue.

 

If that is not discrimination against women I do not know what is. How politically correct are we on this one? We can hold controversial art exhibits in the County Center, but we cannot give the top classes of Women’s High School Basketball equal treatment with the boys?

 

Wrong-O!

 

I am sick of men running Section I and making lousy decisions for female athletes.

 

I have a conflict of interest. I have a daughter.

 

Every man and woman who has a daughter should be on the phone to Section I, their athletic directors and principals at their high schools, and The County Executive’s Office  and telling the county this is a WRONG-O.

 

Allowing four Boys Championships to be played in the Center and shuttling the girls up to the middle of the state into small gyms  is cruel, blatant unusual prejudice against every women’s athletic program in the county.

 

All coaches of women’s sports, male or female should be up in arms, and simply say we’re not going to do it.

 

Every father of a daughter should blast the Section I Girls Basketball Brains, for agreeing to go along with old boy thinking. How is this action representing the best interest of his female athletes? Could you tell me that?

 

Where is Mario Scarano when you need him? You can be assured he would never let this happen, and no athletic director should send their women’s team to the sectionals. Let’s get rid of them once and for all.

 

Play the top Classes of Women and Men in the Center

 

Would it be such a hurt for the boys and girls to play the larger class championships in the County Center, A and AA, and the smaller class championships elsewhere?

 

No.  The reason given saying it is o.k. for Westchester girls to play in satellite arenas (out of Westchester County) is that they have done it before for many years is weak.

 

Think of it, the White Plains Tigers, the New Rochelle Huguenots, the Mount Vernon Knights playing perhaps in Iona, or way up in Dutchess County.  Does that make sense?

 

No, it does not.

 

It’s just an easy out for the Sectional bosses and the county.

 

Being fair to women’s sports is always a great idea for the men who run section I, until it involves a little work, and saying “no” to other male coaches.

 

Girls basketball is being discriminated against here.

 

 Wake up and blow the whistle, girls, and girls basketball coaches, male or female, stand up for your ladies.

 

Throw these guys who run Section I out of there and replace them with fair-minded individuals.  They do not have the best interests of the athletes at heart in the least.

 

The children could run Section I better than they do.

 

Ready for the Sanctimonious Sachems.

 

Now, a response to this column from Section will be very sanctimonious saying they looked very hard at it and there was no way they could do this. It just happened, and will never happen again, and that I am being unfair to men and women who work very hard on high school sports.

 

Bunk.

 

I reject that. You haven’t worked hard on it at all. I also say if you all had your way you would dump women’s sports altogether, because they are a nuisance to you. That’s the mindset of a decision like this.

 

Booting Soccer to Fall Another Example.

 

Oh, and the movement of women’s soccer to the fall  because of fear of a lawsuit. That’s another dopey decision because it forces women to choose from 5 sports in the fall and only 3 in the spring, and prevents girls from playing field hockey, if they love soccer.

 

You – all of you in Section I have done the easy thing on the County Center.

 

You always do the easy thing.

 

What do the Boys Say?

And Girls Stand up for yourselves.

No one else will.

 

 

Male athletes have far more respect for their lady athlete counterparts than the adults who are running women sports.

 

This Women-Men’s basketball decision is another example of why women should be touchy about the least hint of unfairness. Women are always asked to cooperate and go along with an unfair decision, using the excuse, “it’s in the best interests of all, and it’s the best we can do, and this won’t happen again. Believe us, we had no idea.”

 

The men who usually force these kind of decision acceptances on women rely on women’s capacity to be conciliatory. They use it against you.

 

Lady basketball players and directors of women’s programs it’s time for you to pick up a Technical on this one, come off the bench jumping up and down, turning over gatorade kegs and throwing basketballs into the stands. 

 

There is plenty of time to get some Women’s Games into the County Center. The season is just started.

 

Let’s get them in there. (The County Center).

 

No Comment.

 

In fact, Section knows it is wrong and trying to pull a fast one.

 

 

 WPCNR attempted last week to contact the head of Section I responsible for this decision, the Athletic Director at Carmel, to get his side, we did so twice. The gentleman did not return our phone calls to discuss this matter.

 

Flagrant Foul.

 

This is a flagrant foul on Women’s basketball by Section I and the Women should shoot 2, and retain possession.

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. December 18, 2004. UPDATED December 21:  Police Spokesman Daniel Jackson confirmed that  White Plains Police are investigating what is believed to be a series of four burglaries in the Hartsdale Aveue-Midchester area of the Highlands Saturday evening. Inspector Jackson said two homes were burglarized on Hartsdale Avenue, another on Midchester, and a fourth on Ralph Avenue.

Jackson reports the break-ins took place between 7 and 10 P.M. Wednesday evening by “forcible entry” through doors and windows. Computer equipment, jewelry and cash were taken, and there appears to have been a vehicle involved considering the nature of the goods taken. He said the perpetrators do not appear to be professional.  Jackson said the three burglaries reported Saturday evening, and the fourth on Sunday evening.

The Inspector is asking any neighbors who noticed anything suspicious Saturday evening in that neighborhood, or anyone at all with information on the crimes to contact 422-6111 and report what they may have seen.

Inspector Jackson reminds citizens to keep homes securely locked, keep lights on in the house when you depart and keep eyes open to any goings on that appear in the least bit suspicious in your neighborhood. If you see something that does not look right, he urges you to report the incident to the police and they will investigate.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS WEEK NEWS. December 17, 2004: Robert Levine, Mike Graessle, former Commissioner of Planning, and Robert Stackpole of the White Plains Planning Board, members of the Citizens’ Plan Committee will discuss why they felt compelled to launch their 66-page report on matters that should be considered in reviewing the City 1997 Comprehensive Plan Monday evening on White Plains Week, the City News Roundup Show. The “CPC- 3” are interviewed by John Bailey, the CitizeNetReporter, and Jim Benerofe of Suburbanstreet.com at 7:00 P.M. on WPPA-TV, White Plains Public Access, “The Spirit of 76” on Channel 76 Monday evening.

The Big Three With The Dynamic Duo: John Bailey, left, Co-host of White Plains Week, with left to right, Mike Graessle, Commissioner of Planning Emeritus, Robert Levine, Robert Stackpole, and Co-Host Jim Benerofe will appear on White Plains Week Monday at 7:00 discussing their ideas on the Comprehensive Review of the City Comprehensive Plan. Photo for WPCNR News by Gary Stukes.

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WPCNR County Clarion-Ledger. By John F. Bailey. December 17, 2004: WPCNR News has learned Westchester County will announce today  whether Samaritan House, the women’s homeless shelter at Grace Church on Church Street will remain open or close by the New Year.

 

County Legislator William Ryan told WPCNR Thursday afternoon that Nancy Travers, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Social Services, had assured him closing was not an option as previously reported by other publications, that the rent was the last remaining issue.

 

Rent the Last Hurdle.

 

Ryan made it clear to WPCNR it was his understanding the Samaritan House homeless shelter situation had been resolved between the two parties with the goal to stay open, and only the final rent was left to discuss.

 

He said that staying open, meant Samaritan House would stay open without any interruption in service as the goal, and the attempt would be made that residents would not be sheltered elsewhere while other arrangements to keep Samaritan House open were worked out.

 

The county and Grace Community Services have kept the residents of Samaritan House “in the dark” for a week, not advising them or the management staff supervising the residents whether they will still have a home or a job as of the first of the year. A source who works for Grace Community Church in a management capacity, interviewed by WPCNR said they were operating with two mandates: 1.) To close the shelter, and 2.) To keep it open.

 

The source employed by the Grace Community Services operation, said the organization had just begun an effort to contact and hire the “5 or 6 persons” back they needed to keep Samaritan House open, (as of Wednesday), and that the day-to-day operations staff were very stressed over the ambiguity of their fate. Samaritan House has been operating by shifting personnel back and forth between the men’s shelter, Open Arms, and Samaritan House, they said

 

Gifts from the Santa Spano and the 17 Legislators in Spano’s Workshop.

Coal for Samaritan?

 

The County Legislature started awarding early holiday gifts of its $9 Million surplus this week.

 

One of them was an additional $750,000 in funding for the arts and county service agencies, including  My Sister’s Place, the county-contracted service for battered women, long supported by Amy Paulin, the State Assemblywoman  for the 88^th District.

 

Three Weeks to debate less than half the Arts and Social Services Windfall.

 

On the other hand, the county has spent three weeks deliberating how to deal with a requested increase less than half the “gift” announced Monday to the arts and other social service agencies.

 

 The month-long hissy fit between the D.S.S. and Samaritan House, which according to Ryan, Samaritan House overreacted defensively to D.S.S. budget questioning, has been causing residents to fret and go through anxiety over having to leave to go to other shelters. This has been confirmed by WPCNR by speaking to our insider employee sources at Samaritan.

 

The Samaritan House budget increase request was for less than half that amount that the County showered as a bonus to the arts and social service agencies. A sum settling in the $225,000 range was the Samaritan House figure that stirred the Department of Social Services scrutiny.

 

Tolchin Not Talkin’

 

It should be noted that WPCNR has repeatedly asked Susan Tolchin, Chief Advisor to County Executive Andy Spano, and Director of Communications to have Kevin Mahon or Ms. Travers of the D.S.S. explain to WPCNR, whether it was a management problem at Samaritan House, an accounting problem, or a staffing problem that caused them to balk at the figure.

 

WPCNR  asked  Ms. Tolchin, for the Department of Social Services could explain how many staff persons were required by law to operate a homeless shelter for 19 persons on each 8-hour shift, since Samaritan House dismissed six employees in mid-November and has been operating with 1 to 2 employees on every 8-hour shift.  

 

How many do you need on shift anyway?

 

The D.S.S. has yet to contact WPCNR, even though Ms. Tolchin has been asked to prod them to do so.  The source WPCNR has who is familiar with personnel matters there could not explain to WPCNR how many staff they had to have per shift. The reason this question is key is that if Samaritan House was billing the D.S.S. for 9 persons and only paying for say, six, or five when occupancy of the home dipped, that might be a cause for concern. On the other hand if for the last month it is o.k. to operate with 3 persons supervising,  then why did Samaritan House need 9 in the first place.

 

Samaritan House the Final Hours or a Christmas Miracle.

 

The WPCNR source at Samaritan House, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that Samaritan House management (Grace Community Services) had had a meeting with Larry Schwartz, Deputy County Executive, and Kevin Mahon, Commissioner of the Department of Social Services last Wednesday where a cut budget (according to County Legislator Ryan) was submitted.

 

The Samaritan House source said the D.S.S. asked some questions about it, and Grace sent back answers to those questions on Friday, and were queried some more. The source said the second round of answers were submitted to the Department of Social Services Monday, and as of  late Wednesday evening Grace Community Services had not heard back.

 

Ryan: Closing Not an Option. Rent’s the Hurdle.

 

Today after Ms. Travers was quoted in The Journal News as still considering the “close option,” we asked Legislator Ryan why there had been no response on the part of the D.S.S. since Monday.

 

Ryan who has been closely monitoring the association told WPCNR Thursday afternoon by phone that “all differences have been resolved except one. They are now negotiating on the rent issue.”

 

According to published reports, Grace Community Services was charging Samaritan House in its building a $70,000 increase in rent, (paying rent to itself). Sources attempting to explain the situation to WPCNR said that the church was trying to cover its deficits in running the program.

 

Ryan told WPCNR he was expecting an agreement to be arranged.

 

A call to the Department of Communications at 6 P.M. yielded no information as to when any announcement was to come.

 

Nevertheless, the question remains, will County Executive Spano have one more check left in his bag? Or is this just fool’s gold?

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WPCNR Southend Times. By John F. Bailey. December 15, 2004: Eight White Plains citizens, calling themselves the “Citizens’ Plan Committee,”  have analyzed the execution of the 1997 Comprehensive Plan since the beginning of the Delfino Administration.  They delivered their 66-page preliminary “state of the plan” report to Mayor Joseph Delfino and members  of the Common Council, last week.

 

Robert Stackpole addressing about eighty persons in May at Our lady of Sorrows when Mike Graessle, former Commissioner of Planning called for a new look at the 1997 Comprehensive Plan for the city. A report generated as a result of this meeting was delivered this week to the Mayor, calling to start the process, saying the time is now to see where the city is at. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

 

Their report targets issues they  feel the city needs to address now as 21^st Century White Plains evolves. The Committee alleges the city is allowing developers to determine how the city will evolve. They want the Mayor and Council to develop a tighter vision of what the city will become, by involving the members of the committee and the citizens of White Plains and ask for creation of a new Comprehensive Plan Task Force.

 

The CPC has invited the Mayor and Common Council to begin the process of updating the 1997 Plan by  joining them and “the community” in a meeting to start the task on January 13 at Ridgeway School, at 7:30 P.M. The Mayor’s Office, to WPCNR knowledge at this time, has not responded with a statement on the invitation.

 

 

The eight leaders challenge the Mayor and the Council to take up the process they have begun with the issuance of their report. The 66-pager is entitled Citizens’ Plan Committee Approach to Updating the 1997 Comprehensive Plan, calls for a citywide Comprehensive Plan task force to undertake a “comprehensive examination” of a variety of issues, challenging the present administration to evaluate their assumptions.

 

The report  is described as “an outgrowth” of a six-month effort by a number of well-known White Plains citizens, many of whom participated in the preparation of the 1997 plan, and who contributed to the new report.

 

The roster  includes,  Terrence M. Conroy (long Parking Authority member), Claire M. Eisenstadt (local architect), Michael Graessle (former Commissioner of Planning), John W. Harrington (White Plains history expert), Daniel P. Hickey (former Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety), John B. Kirkpatrick (development law and zoning expert), Robert H. Levine (architect/planner), John M. Martin (former councilman), Robert Myerson, ( 1997  Comprehensive Task Force Committee member) Marc Pollitzer (1997 Comprehensive Plan Task Force Member, Council of Neighborhood Associations personality), Robert Roston (Conservation Board Chair), Daniel R. Seidel (environmental law activist), Robert Stackpole (Planning Board member), Lewis P. Trippett (Board of Education member Emeritus), John M. Vorperian (county attorney and Council of Neighborhood Associations member), and Saul M. Yanofsky (Superintendent of Schools Emeritus).

 

Questions Development. 

 

“The community didn’t knock itself out developing the 1997 Plan just to see it superseded by isolated development interests,” Committee member Bob Meyerson is quoted in the official press release as saying. Meyerson is a committee member, who worked on the 1997 plan, and says, “As a community, we articulated the importance of maintaining the City’s unique social and economic diversity and our proud tradition of distinct neighborhoods complemented by a vibrant commercial sector.”

 

The roster of preparers of this report does not  include representatives of the African-American community, the Hispanic community, the business community, the health community, restauranteurs,  property owners of major parcels in the downtown, county government (White Plains is the County seat) or major “developers,” (Louis Cappelli, Peter Gilpatrick, Martin Ginsberg, Leon Silverman, Anthony Longhitano), whom the Committee sites as the major reasons for creating a new Comprehensive Plan now.  All of the preparers live in the outlying ultra suburban, higher priced neighborhoods of the city, and the roster of preparers apparently do not appear to enlist the services of any residents of apartments.

 

The Challenges

 

The 66-pager isolates four areas of concern and asks the city consider with them and the community of White Plains

 

Finance:

 

The report, according to their press release expresses concern about city finances going into the future, calling attention to the need for closer analysis: “The long anticipated rebuilding of the core area, and extensive neighborhood infills have not, however, produced the positive financial impact that the citizens had reason to expect,”

 

Core Area:

 

The news release notes the $1 Billion of development underway, but suggests “it is time to take stock of all this development cumulatively.”

The Committee calls for setting limits if needed on building heights, determining impacts on infrastructure, figuring the city capacity for additional development and whether zoning should or should not be revised.

 

Neighborhoods

 

The news release asks that the new Comprehensive Plan is needed to address the need for affordable housing, protection against “commercial encroachment.”

 

Transportation, Traffic and Parking

 

The CPC report calls on the city to make an independent study (not developer-funded),  to create a “comprehensive approach” to parking and traffic. The report advances the opinion that “a beneficial fit between daytime and evening/night parking demand” would be the result of the present development, but “it hasn’t worked out that way.”

 

The CPC release also asks that part of the “2005 Comprehensive Plan” preparation answer questions on the effects of:

 

·        Development and illegal housing on school capacity and funding.

·        The St. Agnes Hospital closing.

·         Expansion of White Plains Hospital Medical Center.

·        Renovation of City Hall.

·        Post 9/11 Concerns.

·        Using the City Heritage to economic advantage.

·        Active recreation facilities.

·        Resolution of the New York Presbyterian Hospital land conflict.

·        Design of the emerging city.

 

 

Letter to the Mayor – Review of Plan, two years overdue.

 

The Committee, in delivering its report to the Mayor and Common Council last week, described the report as a next step after their May, 2004 meeting at which 100 persons attended a meeting at Our Lady of Sorrows  that called for a review.

 

Their cover letter pointed out that the 1997 Comprehensive Plan called for a review every five years, and it has now been seven years since the plan has been reviewed. The Committee said that the report submitted this week was “In response,” to that meeting and that they “organized a participatory effort along the lines of the previous Comprehensive Plan Task Force to:”

 

1.)   Review original (1997) Plan assumptions, projections and recommendations

2.)   inventory and evaluate what has been accomplished thus far so that we could

3.)   seek the interest and involvement of elected City officials and staff and of all citizens of White Plains to

4.)    update the Plan for 2005, as appropriate.

 

The letter closes as follows:

 

Our Phase 1 and 2 efforts have resulted in the enclosed document. We’d like you to read it and we’d like to talk to you about its implications before making it generally available on Tuesday, December 14^th, in anticipation of public meetings, the first of which will be held on January 13, 2005. We want to work together with you on Phases 3 and 4; please get in touch with Committee Member Robert Stackpole at XXX-XXXX. We look forward to your response with enthusiasm.

 

The letter is signed by members of the Citizens’ Plan Committee: Michael J. Graessle, John W. Harrington, John B. Kirkpatrick, Robert H. Levine, Robert H. Myerson, Marc Pollitzer, Robert J. Stackpole, and Saul M. Yanofsky.