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 SOUTHEND TIMES. By John F. Bailey. June 9, 2004: White Plains Police confirmed there were sporadic blackouts in both isolated and widespread sections of the White Plains Southend beginning late Wednesday afternoon and lasting up through 11 P.M.  As of midnight in the Highlands, power was very dim, then went dead again in certain sections.

The Department of Public Safety Desk Officer confirmed to WPNCR at 7 PM this evening that Con Edison was working on the problems which caused the dispatching of police officers to direct traffic at key intersections at Ridgeway and Mamaroneck and Rosedale and Mamaroneck Avenues. The officer WPCNR spoke to did not say what the cause of the blackout was. As of 10 P.M. power was on East of Mamaroneck Avenue and North of Bryant Avenue. The Mayor’s Office did not answer WPCNR calls for an explanation of the situation around 7 P.M.

The nature of the blackouts in White Plains was sporadic. Power would come on, then go off again, or come on but not a full- power.

Reports filtering in to WPCNR said power was off in parts of Ardsley, Tarrytown, and in Albany.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By Fastpitch Johnny & From Juggernaut Reports. June 9, 2004: The New York New Jersey Juggernaut pro fastpitchers took 2 of 3 in Tucson from the Arizona Heat over the weekend and are in Houston this evening to begin a 3-game set with the Texas Thunder.  It is the first crucial series of the season with the Thunder just a game behind the Nauts in the National Pro Fastpitch standings.

Rabbit Blake, the President of theTexas Thunder told WPCNR this morning, he has received great support from Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros who introduced the Thunder at Edison Field in Houston prior to their home opener. “That really helped us,” Blake said, and he also praised ABC-TV affiliate Channel 13 for covering the his Thunder opener (something no NY television station did for the Juggernaut opener).

Blake said the Astros are solidly behind his team and let Houston baseball fans know about the new Fast Pitch Team. Astro President of Operations, Pam Gardner, the only woman CEO in Major League Baseball also threw out the first ball at the Thunder opener. Blake said he expected a good crowd tonight at the University of Houston state-of-the-art softball stadium.

Mr. Blake said his quartet of nationally renowned fastpitch arms are set to go, he said, and he said he expected “an old-fashioned Texas whuppin’.” His staff consists of Peaches James of the University of Nebraska, and Houston native Christa Williams, the two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, neither of whom have surrendered an earned run this season, and each is 2-0. They are backed by Lindsay Chouinard and Marissa Young.

The Thunder top bats are Lindsay Gardner who is hitting .571 with 10 Runs Batted In and Kristen Zaleski, hitting .349.

Success in the Valley of the Sun

On the Nauts Southwest Swing, The Nauts won 5-4 Saturday evening in the Valley of the Sun, behind the combination of “The Leadoff Lynx,” Carri Leto who went 2 for 4, and  Jaclyn Pasquerella’s 3 for 3 and 2 RBI’s, and the relief of Amanda Scott.  Former Arizona star, Erica Hansen, tripled and scored on the JacPac’s single, and Pasquerella moved to second and scored on Leto’s single for a 2-0 lead. First Sackette Kellie Wilkerson and Catcher Lindsey Collins belted consecutive doubles in the third to put the Juggernaut ahead to stay, and Scott held the Heat to a run over the final four frames.

Sunday night, Kellie Wilkerson was the heroine in the top of the 7th. The Nauts trailed 3-2 with 2 out. Jen Smith and Carri Leto singled to begin the Naut 7th, but after two ground outs, the Juggernauts were down to their last one. Wilkerson stepped in the box, Heat Heater Eria Beach slipped over two fast strikes and Wilkerson hit the 0-2 offering over the left field fence for a 3-run dinger, 5-3 Nauts.

In the last of the 7th, the Heat tied it up off Kaci Clark on two passed balls to send the contest to extra frames, where the Nauts pushed across the winning run in the eighth.

Monday evening, the Heat behind Leigh Ann Walker, handed the Nauts their first loss of the season, 2-1 on 2 unearned runs in the fifth inning on an infield error by Carrie Leto allowing a runner from first when the ball went all the way to the outfield fence. A single by Erica Beach plated the Heat’s second and winning run.

Leto had been called out at the plate on a close play earlier in the game in the 4th inning. In the 7th, the Nauts tried to tie it up  as catcher Lindsey Collins lead off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gina Oaks.

After six games, Carri Leto is the Nauts’ leading hitter at .458. Kellie Wilkerson is at .400, leading the team in RBIs with 6. Jaclyn Pasquerella is hitting .368, and Jen Smith, .357. Amanda Scott took the loss and falls to 2-1 on the season.

The Nauts play three in HouSTUN before returning home Sunday night to face the Sacremento Sunbirds in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. The New York New Jersey Juggernaut is 5-1 on the season and lead the league by 1 game over the Texas Thunder and 2 games over the Sunbirds, and the Akron Racers.

National Pro Fastpitch Standings, June 9, 2004

Juggernauts — 5-1

Texas Thunder — 4-2

Sacremento Sunbirds 3-3

Akron Racers  3-3

Arizona Heat 2-4

New England Riptide, 1-5

The Juggernaut Stats as of June 9, 2004:

BATTING Click on column name to sort Player AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO KL SB GDP HITDP HBP SH AVG OB% SLG Clark, Kaci 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 Collins, Lindsey 24 2 5 1 2 0 0 1 5 2 0 0 0 1 0 0.208 0.269 0.292 Fairchild, Germaine 19 1 2 3 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.105 0.150 0.105 Hanson, Erika 11 1 4 0 0 1 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.364 0.500 0.455 Hershman, Sarah 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 Iancin, Lisa 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 Klein, Lyndsey 17 2 4 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.235 0.235 0.235 Leto, Carri 24 5 11 1 2 0 0 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.458 0.519 0.542 Oaks, Gina 20 1 4 3 2 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0.200 0.200 0.300 Pasquerella, Jaclyn 19 5 7 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 4 0.368 0.429 0.368 Scott, Amanda 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 Smith, Jen 14 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.357 0.357 0.429 Smith, Michele 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 Taylor, Venus 19 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.105 0.190 0.105 Wilkerson, Kellie 20 5 8 6 2 1 1 4 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.400 0.520 0.600 PITCHING Click on column name to sort Player W L S GS CG IP H R ER BB SO SHA BF AB HBP KL 2B 3B HR PB ERA Scott, Amanda 2 1 1 2 2 17.2 7 2 0 5 11 2 68 61 0 4 2 0 0 0 0.00 Clark, Kaci 0 0 0 2 0 12.2 14 8 7 6 9 0 59 51 1 2 2 0 0 0 4.02 Smith, Michele 1 0 0 1 1 7.0 3 0 0 1 12 0 25 23 1 2 1 0 0 0 0.00 Oaks, Gina 2 0 0 1 0 13.2 5 4 1 3 14 0 52 48 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.53

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WPCNR Main Street Journal. June 8, 2004: The new, improved farmers market opened in White Plains Wednesday morning attracting customers as early as 8 A.M. Twenty-two vendors opened for business at a very spacious venue: The City Hall Municipal Parking Lot, temporarily displacing the posh fleet of Commissioner’s cars usually parked in the space there.

Goods available ranged from fresh honey, assortments of rich fresh lettuce, corn, apples, pickles, breads, squash, as well as seafood from Hoboken Farms. Sebastian Bensidoun, of Bensidoun, USA, the new management firm in charge of the market was on hand personally to oversee the opening.  The market is open until 4 P.M. this afternoon. Vous-tous comme sa va! Mayor Joseph Delfino officially opens the airy market at 1 P.M. today.

Farmers Market Returns: More stalls, more space, intriguing selection marked the debut of Bensidoun USA’s International Market in White Plains at City Hall this morning. Photo by WPCNR News.

Open for Business: Sebastian Bensidoun, left, Kathleen Gunn Executive Director of the White Plains Downtown Business Improvement District, and Paul Wood, City Economic Director, rumored successor to outgoing City Hall Boss, George Gretsas, were on hand putting on the finishing touches. Photo by WPCNR News.

CUSTOMERS STROLLED IN, even before 8 A.M., and were impressed with the selection which consisted solely of food items today. Photo by WPCNR News

LETTUCE BAR: from upstate New York was impressive. Photo by WPCNR News.

PICKLES IN A BARREL at City Hall, fresh from Dr. Pickle in Patterson. Photo by WPCNR News

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. June 8, 2004: Despite strong objections on the part of two affordable housing advocates, the Common Council voted to approve an affordable housing unit provision plan for developers of condominiums Monday evening by vote of  6 to 1 (Councilman Roach in the negative). The plan offers a developer of condominiums or cooperative apartment units the option of paying cash per units instead of reserving 6% of his condominiums or cooperative apartment units.

The cash payments are $30,000 per unit for each studio or one-bedroom apartment required; $35,000 per unit for each two bedroom Affordable Ownership Unit and $40,000 per each three-bedroom unit. In the case of the Cappelli Hotel-Condoplex-Office project approved last night, Mr. Cappelli is required to make payments for 6% of 290 condominium units, or 18 units, requiring a payment of approximately $720,000.

Robert Miller, President of Westhab, a building of affordable housing, spoke opposing this plan, calling it “a buyout” that would not supply what the city needs: affordable housing units. He noted that since Mr. Cappelli’s condominiums at 221 Main Street as well as those planned at Trump Tower at City Center (the South residential tower of the City Center, now at the 21-story level, heading to 35), are planned to sell for $1,000,000, which would under the 6% affordable housing law passed two years ago require Mr. Cappelli to make such units available for $200,000.

Miller pointed out that if the builder is able to fulfill his obligation to affordable housing by paying $40,000 per unit, he makes a $760,000 profit. Miller added that the city should instead consider Councilman Glen Hockley’s Density Bonus Plan, offering the builder more floors to the project at 221 to provide affordable units without hurting his originally projected business model.

Rose Noonan, council of the Housing Action Council said more cash funds to aid persons seeking financial help were not needed because the Housing Action Council cannot find takers for the money they have to lend persons now for affordable housing. What is needed, she said was more units.

Councilman Robert Greer countered these positions by saying forcing builders to pay too high a price on renting luxury units for a quarter of their value did not make economic sense for developers to consider, and would chase away potential housing development all together. He pointed out that the monies collected from Mr. Cappelli and future condo developers could be used at the city’s discretion to leverage affordable housing.

Councilman Glen Hockley said in future months he would work for the Density Bonus Plan, because he felt it was a “win-win” situation, with the developer, the consumer, and the city all benefitting.

In Resolution Action…last night.

The council approved a home rule request of the New York State Legislature, clearing the way for Assemblyman Adam Bradley and State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer to push bills abolishing the White Plains Parking Authority effective June 30, allowing the city to carry the attractive $7.5 Million WPPA fund balance on its books for cosmetic makeup for the bond rating agencies.

The council approved legislation creating a Department of Parking, setting a hearing on this law for July 6.

The council approved a public hearing on dissolution of the Parking Authority for June 23 at 5 P.M.

The council approved 4% raises across the board for city commissioners, and a $5,000 raise for the Mayor’s outgoing Executive Officer George Gretsas, rumored to be leaving sometime after the 1st of July. Reports from sources with knowledge of Mr. Gretsas actions say he has signed the contract with the City of Fort Lauderdale and anticipates starting there in mid July.

The Council approved a permit for a new cocktail lounge, Vega on Mamaroneck Avenue, next to Lazy Boy Saloon, and approved a permit renewal for the cabaret, Vintage.

The council purchased a $300,000 annuity in order to move $700,000 into the city’s general fund from a very old pension fund.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VOICE. From Jeffrey Binder, (Counsel for Larry Delgado). June 8, 2004: The last time a Quo Warranto action was pursued by the AG was in 1988 in State ex rel. Ellis v. Eaton in Cattaraugus County. Before then, it was the early 1900’s…so there have been like two in the last 90 years or so.