County Executive Latimer Appoints Director of Energy Conservation and Sustainability. Conversion of County Motor Vehicles to All Electric Planned

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. June 7, 2018:

Westchester County Executive George Latimer announced the appointment of Peter McCartt, one of many talented individuals who have joined Latimer’s administration to move Westchester County forward. McCartt has been tapped as the new Director of Energy Conservation and Sustainability.

Latimer said: “I am proud to name Peter McCartt as a key member of my team, who brings a wealth of experience on the environment, energy conservation and sustainability. Peter will be charged with rolling out many important initiatives, including launching a County-wide food scrap recycling program, upgrading the County’s fleet to electric vehicles and working with the sound shore communities and rivertowns to ensure our waterways are protected.”

 

McCartt said: “I am honored and excited to be taking on this new position. There is a lot of work to be done to bring the County up to the high standards held by my friends in the environmental advocacy community. I feel deeply obligated to them and to our children.  There are a great many assets within and outside this government, and I am up to the task of utilizing these valued resources of committed volunteers and professionals. The time is now to save green by being green, it just makes cents.”

 

McCartt has had a long and successful business career, with a focus over the last 12 years on the environment, energy conservation and sustainability fronts. He is responsible for the creation of several successful organizations and programs across the County, including Sustainable Westchester, Inc., Eastchester’s Environmental Committee, Friends of Twin Lakes and the Southern Westchester Energy Action Consortium. McCartt has been named United Way’s “Volunteer of the Year” for his work on environmental issues in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, and has been cited for his distinguished public service to our region.

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County Board Approves Funding for 56-unit Mount Hope Zion in Eastview Neighborhood Senior Affordable Housing Project

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION LEDGER. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. June 7, 2018:

A project to create 56 new units of affordable housing for seniors in White Plains is moving forward after unanimous approval by the Westchester County Board of Legislators Monday night.

The long-in-the-works project is Mount Hope Plaza at 65 Lake Street in White Plains which will create affordable housing units for seniors 62 years and older.

The apartments will be available to seniors whose household incomes are no more than 50% or 60% of the area median income, depending on the size of the apartment.

On Monday, the Board unanimously approved the county’s acquisition of the .75-acre site for $2.1 million dollars.

The county will transfer the property to the Mount Hope Community Development Corporation with the stipulation that the housing built there remain affordable for at least 50 years.

Further funding from the project principally will come from New York State sources. The county has not agreed to finance the project.

The site has been considered by church as a location for affordable housing since 1972 according the pastor of the church in a LoHud article on this project which was introduced to the Common Council in February 2017.

“This is a dream project,” said Board Chair Ben Boykin (D – Harrison, Scarsdale, White Plains). “It will offer the truly affordable housing for seniors that the county so desperately needs, with all the best possible attributes for this kind of project: a park across the street; shopping, restaurants and services in downtown White Plains less than half a mile away; and mass transit accessibility with a Bee-Line bus stop nearby and a Metro North train stop just a mile away.  These are the kinds of projects we need more of in Westchester County and I’m thrilled to see it moving forward.”

The county, the City of White Plains and Mt. Hope AME Zion Church – which currently owns the site — have worked together for years with other local religious institutions, community members, and housing advocates in planning the project.

But the county played a pivotal role in shepherding the project through the early stages of the development process.

 

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Robeson Smith, pastor of Mount Hope AME Zion Church, said, “Providing truly affordable housing is not a mission, it’s a mandate — to maintain sustainable communities and provide for continued, effective quality of life for those in need.   We are excited and very appreciative about the Mt. Hope partnership with Westchester County government and the City of White Plains.  This is how it can and will work, and it’s only the beginning — from a little acorn, a mighty oak can grow.”

 

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CNA FORUM TUESDAY ON DEVELOPMENT ISSUES, AIRBNB LODGING, LIME BIKES

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WPCNR CNA NEWS. From the Council of Neighborhood Associations. June 6, 2018:

The June Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 7:30 pm at Education House, 5 Homeside Lane, White Plains, NY.

The meeting will be a Roundtable on three topics of concern for our neighborhoods: Airbnb, White Plains’ new Dockless Bike Sharing Program, and the spread of new high-rise construction outward from City Center to suburban neighborhoods.

Bike share, Airbnb, new constructionAIRBNB

Airbnb is an online broker for short-term lodging rentals and leases, for travel experiences such as tours, walks, concerts, workshops, etc., and for restaurant reservations.

What is disruptive about its business model is that most of the lodging is leased or rented from unlicensed, private individuals offering a room or suite in their house or apartment or sometimes the use of their entire house.

Hotels lose bookings, cities lose tax revenue, and neighbors get unexpected and sometimes unwanted transients. Have you used Airbnb? Should it be permitted in White Plains? Should it be regulated by the City?

DOCKLESS BIKE SHARING
Another segment of the sharing economy debuted in White Plains on Monday, June 4, when two app-driven dockless bike sharing companies — LimeBike and ofo — put 300 two-wheelers on City streets at $1 a ride.

What’s different about the new program is that at the end of the ride, bikes can be parked almost anywhere. The City sees Metro North commuters using dockless bikes and existing bike lanes to scoot to the station on time.

Naysayers see vehicular traffic slowed by bikers, pedestrians tripping over hastily “dropped” bikes, and vandals sabatoging the program, as happened in Yonkers where bikes were tossed in the Saw Mill River. What do you think about the program? It costs taxpayers nothing or does it?

HIGH-RISE CONSTRUCTION AND URBAN SPRAWL
A number of new high-rise apartment complexes have been reccently completed, are under construction, or are planned for the near future in White Plains.

These include 52 Broadway, 65 Lake Street, Broadstone White Plains, 440 Hamilton Avenue, 1 Dekalb Avenue, 121 Westmoreland Avenue (Norden Lofts), 136 Westmoreland Avenue, 55 Bank Street (The Continuum), 60 South Broadway (The Pavilion), and 95 South Broadway and 4 Lyon Place (The Esplanade). The newer projects bring traffic, noise, and congestion to neighborhoods once dominated by single family homes and open land. For the City, urban sprawl promises relief from a disproportionate reliance on the City sales tax and nuisance revenues. For residents, the sprawl signifies an unwelcome change in the quality of life.

The meeting will be a Neighborhood Roundtable for WPCNA delegates, residents and the public. We hope to facilitate a healthy dialog to better understand the issues, opinions and ideas coming out of our neighborhoods. We all look forward to your input.

The meeting is open to the public — bring your friends and neighbors — and will start promptly at 7:30 pm. Light refreshments will be served.

This is sure to be a lively evening so please come early to allow time for audience participation and networking.

NOTE:
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Legislators Are STILLLLLL Looking for Answers on Storm Response from Con Ed, NYSEG. No Specifics on How they are improving Communications, Addressing “Broken” Mutual Aid. More Talks to Come. Boykin Says He is “Disappointed” with Con Ed Testimony

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Still Looking for Concrete Answers After Monday Showdown: County Board of Legislators Majority Whip MaryJane Shimsky, Majority Leader Catherine Parker, Chair Ben Boykin, Vice Chair Alfreda Williams. 

WPCNR THE POWER STORY. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. June 6, 2018 (EDITED):

While County Legislators did get responses to some of their previously unanswered questions on Consolidated Edison and New York State Electric & Gas utilities performance during March and May storms, after the meeting, Board Chair Ben Boykin (D – Harrison, Scarsdale, White Plains) called the lack of specific plans for improving the reliance on help from far-away utilities in response to storms “disappointing.”

Legislators intend to hold further meetings with the companies, including inviting CEOs to answer questions from the Board.

The meeting was a follow-up to a March 19 meeting at which representatives agreed to return answer questions that had been left unanswered and to address other necessary steps to improve storm response.

“Mutual aid is broken,” said Boykin. “The current system only seems to guarantee the residents of Westchester at least a three-day black-out until line workers begin arriving from far away. There is too much reliance on mutual aid and just not enough locally-based experienced utility staff who can jump right into work tackling downed poles and wires.”
He added, “We certainly didn’t hear from Con Ed and NYSEG today how communications systems will be dramatically improved over the disastrous track record from the March Nor’easters and the May 15th storm.“

Legislators Mike Kaplowitz (D – New Castle, Somers, Yorktown) and Kitley Covill (D – Bedford, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, North Salem, Pound Ridge, Somers), ripped into NYSEG for the company’s choice not to reimburse customers for losses of food after extended power outages – a decision Kaplowitz called “outrageous.”

Covill also noted that NYSEG requested mutual aid in the early days of storm preparation but none came, a fact that was revealed in records the company filed last month with the New York State Public Service Commission, as an illustration that mutual aid does not work.

The two legislators also repeated their call for an independent assessment of NYSEG’s electric delivery operations paid for by the company but conducted by an investigator the County would choose.  Kaplowitz also faulted NYSEG for failing to conduct cost/benefit analyses of burying overhead wire or replacing poles with sturdier ones, and for its five-year tree trimming cycle.   
Legislator Margaret Cunzio (C – Mount Pleasant, North Castle, Pleasantville) faulted Con Ed for its tree trimming program which leaves wires running through cutaways in the center of some trees, as well as for the lack of a master plan for the preventive replacement of aging transformers and poles, an item also mentioned by Majority Leader Catherine Parker (D – Harrison, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Rye).

Parker additionally took exception with the companies’ repeated claims that nobody predicted the first March storm would be as bad as it was, citing a local newspaper report from days before the storm warning of a large scale nor’easter – essentially a category 1 hurricane.

Legislators said they would be forwarding the results of their meetings with the companies to the New York State Public Service Commission, which is currently investigating the utilities’ recent storm response.

“We take this very seriously as representatives of the people of Westchester,” Boykin said.
UTILITIES ON THE CARPET:  Leg. Terry Clements; Con Ed’s Jason Litwack, Steve Parisi, Kyle Kimball; NYSEG’s Patricia Nilsen, Cindy Chadwick; CREDIT: Jaevon Boxhill.

 

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