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 ROVING REPORTER. January 18, 2004: Presenting the White Plains Photograph of the Day. Shot on a very cold morning.

WAKE-UP CUP . DOUBLE CAPPACHINO LATTE CITY LIMITS. Photograph by the White Plains Roving Photographer. 

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WPCNR Daily Mirror. By John F. Bailey. January 19, 2004: This morning at 8 A.M. at the Slater Center, the man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be remembered. I am not that familiar with Dr. King’s life, but I do know that he, like other great men of America who have their days, Dr. King’s name stands for a value that America holds dear.

George Washington stands for honesty.

Abraham Lincoln for freedom

Columbus for discovery,

Dr. King’s name stands for Opportunity.

When I think of Dr. King, I think of the Selma marches, I think of Birmingham, I think of Little Rock, Arkansas, where he lead the African-American community in demonstrations asking for the right of equal opportunity in America: a seat on a bus wherever they chose; a restaurant or hotel of their choice; the right to apply for a job without being turned down because you were black. Blatant in-your-face- discrimination was publicized by Dr. King and America was shown it was not right.

Today, subtle discrimination denying equal opportunity, and guaranteeing less opportunity are the evils that Dr. King, had he lived would be attacking today.

When I write those sentences I just wrote, it seems incomprehensible to me that someone would deny another person that. When you think about it, it is an awful situation to think about. In the 36 years since Dr. King was murdered, the nation has come a long way in my opinion, in breaking down the visible barriers of racism based on creed and the color of one’s skin.

Today the barriers to Equal Opportunity are more subtle and just as effective.

Barriers still exist: in the classroom. There is reluctance to deliver quality education to the black and Hispanic populations in America today. The only reason there is a concentrated effort to do so are the state achievement tests which showed the shame of our education programs for minorities.

There is the perception that because your name and skin color sound Spanish or Jamaican, or Dominican, or you look that way you automatically need help and are slow-tracked into remedial classes; the inclusion of the slower (read minority) children in one corner of a classroom so you can deal with the “problem children” all at once; the notion that it is all right to use millions of dollars meant for rebuilding poor performing schools with better buildings, better teachers, but is used to create educational  bureaucracies for the politically connected instead.

In the last ten years the products of this subtle unequal educational opportunity have been well documented and given a name: The Achievement Gap. The educational establishment invests millions in studies to fine solutions to it and they have learned a lot about it. It takes more School District heads to stand up and say like Dr. King, “we simply are not going to educate half the population any more.” 

The lagging behind of the African-American youth is blamed on the home and family breakdown. Well then you have to bring more attention to the family unit and those youngsters’ home environment, putting the education in there. It’s expensive but if you want to solve the Achievement Gap you have to do that.

The argument that you have to speak English in the schools and learn it is obvious racial superiority. Of course you have to learn to speak English, but really, Bilingual education is how we English-speakers learn another language….why not have teachers educate Hispanic background children in their own language with English simultaneously? It is proven to work. It is time to stop the subtle prejudice that we do not want Hispanic children in our towns and schools because they are too hard to educate and will cost us money to do that. They are children, you simply cannot throw them away because they are Hispanic.

That’s discrimination I think Dr. Martin Luther King would find hard to take. He would also bristle at lowering standards for minorities, because he would see right through that argument, saying well when are you going to raise the standards for my people because you don’t have to work any harder at educating them if you do not raise your expectations for them.

I think Dr. King would look around today and appreciate how Blacks and Whites, Hispanics and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Muslims and  other races mingle together in today’s America.

I think he would observe we are all becoming more appreciative and respectful of each other. But, I do not think he would like today’s buzz word :”diversity” and priding ourselves on diversity. He would say that’s nice, but let’s keep our eye on the prize, to borrow the wonderful motto of the White Plains Department of Public Safety, let us treat all with integrity, professionalism, respect, and to that add opportunity.

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WPNCR WHITE PLAINS ROVING REPORTER. January 19, 2004: Here is a postcard from the new White Plains, created over the weekend. One hundred years from now perhaps the controversy will be saving the City Center from demolition.

DOWNTOWN WHITE PLAINS, 2004

Photo by The White Plains Roving Reporter.

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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By District 89 Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. January 17, 2004: The Assembly recently passed legislation to help New York level the playing field for women and minorities in the workplace. I supported this legislation which was designed to end wage discrimination, and help businesses owned by women and minorities succeed.

      The difference in annual salaries between the average man and woman working in similar positions is more than substantial – women are making $13,087 less, according to the National Committee on Pay Equity. Not only does that mean reduced Social Security benefits and less money for bills, mortgages and savings, it also means a lack of independence, security, equality and opportunities for women.

      To remedy discriminatory salary practices, the legislation (A.6252) seeks to amend the state Labor Law to provide pay equity for all people who perform work of comparable skill, effort and responsibility.

To help achieve pay equity for all New Yorkers, I also sponsored legislation:

·        Implementing a state policy of equal compensation for work of comparable worth for state and public employees (A.737);

·        Making discriminatory salary practices unlawful — especially in traditionally female-dominated occupations (A.3998);

·        Allowing groups of workers with similar complaints to file them together — helping individuals fighting discrimination to defray the costs associated with filing a complaint alone (A.148);

·        Enacting the New York State Fair Pay Act — ensuring pay differentiation is not based on a person’s sex, race, or national origin (A.6701); and

·        Making it a discriminatory practice for public employers to compensate employees of opposite sexes differently for work that is of comparable worth (A.6237).

      I urge the Senate and the governor to join the Assembly by passing these initiatives to help end wage discrimination for all New Yorkers.

We also need to encourage the growth of businesses that provide economic opportunities for women and minorities. A measure I supported that attempts to achieve that goal was signed into law. The law extends for another 15 years a program to ensure a fair portion of state contracts are allotted to businesses owned by minorities and women. The law was also expanded to include contracts put out to bid by the Empire State Development Corporation (A.7233-A/Ch.628 of 2003). Another law is designed to help promote women- and minority-owned business participation in state contracts for construction and services (A.9057/Ch.636 of 2003).

      These innovative measures will help make New York a fair place to work and do business, we must continue to work to provide all New Yorkers with an equal opportunity to succeed.

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE. By John F. Bailey. January 16, 2004: The Common Council learned for the first time that the Cappelli Hotel will be so exclusive, if built,  that it will get its own sewer line that Louis Cappelli will pay for. The new Cappelli line will inject its effluent directly to the 27 inch trunk sewer line at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, ending the mystery over just how full the Main Street Sewer under Main Street between Mamaroneck Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard is at the present time, and how it will handle the hotel discharge. The Cappelli Hotel, in effect, will get a “direct connect” to the Yonkers Sewer treatment plant.

JOSEPH NICOLETTI TO THE RESCUE: Commissioner of Public Works and City Engineer, Joseph Nicoletti at the Common Council work session Thursday night, explains his “Nicoletti Bypass” that avoids the Cappelli Hotel project having to be connected to the Main Street sewer and gives the Hotel-Office project an exclusive new 400 foot line, (WPCNR estimate) shared with the New York Power Authority, directly to the 27-inch trunk line at the Galleria Main Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard intersection. Mayor Joseph Delfino looks on with the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Conference Table. Photo by WPCNR News

The new 15-inch line “Nicoletti Bypass,” so dubbed by WPCNR because it is Mr. Nicoletti’s personal solution that, in his opinion, takes the city out of the game of Sewer Roulette, where the city appeared until Thursday evening, to be betting how much effluent is running in the Main Street sewer now and that it can handle both the completed City Center and  Cappelli Hotelplex simultaneously without failing. 

The Nicoletti Bypass will not test the Main Street sewer at all.

NEW NICOLETTI BYPASS 15-INCH LINE WILL BEGIN HERE on Williams Street. Williams Street connects to the present parking lot behind the Bar Buiding. The Bypass  replaces an existing 8-inch municipal main beneath William Street and will run in an “L-jog” out William Street to Main Street and be laid 100 feet east under Main Street to an immaculate direct connection to the 27-inch truck sewer main section in the middle of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard. Photo by WPCNR News.

Building a “Night Line,” Lining Up Sewer Insurance for City Center, too. Main Line can’t handle 221: Nicoletti.

The Commissioner of Public Works said the work on 100 feet of Main street between Williams Street and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (at The Galleria intersection), would take place at night. He did not say how long it would take to complete the 400 foot sewer run. WPCNR estimates on observations made Thursday evening that the little traveled “L-shaped” Williams Street is about 300 feet.

BYPASS CONTINUES DOWN HILL AROUND CORNER AND OUT TO MAIN STREET. The new 15-inch sewer line will run 19 feet underground. The existing 8-inch pipe running under Williams Street will be removed as part of the project. The New York Power Authority building is to the right. Photo by WPCNR News.

In order, to assure the Main Street Sewer will perform adequately, Mr. Nicoletti is requiring that Mr. Cappelli line the Main Street sewer from Mamaroneck Avenue to the 27 inch trunk sewer line at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to smooth the flow of effluent from the City Center.

Asked after explaining H-9,  by Mrs. Malmud if the Main Street Sewer could handle the effluent from the Cappelli hotel, Mr. Nicoletti said, “In my opinion, it does not have the capacity to handle 221.”

SEWER BYPASS WILL THEN WRAP AROUND WILLIAMS STREET CORNER (foreground), and continue down Main Street to the intersection at the end of Macy’s left, and the beginning of The Galleria (background). The new  15-inch Bypass will parallel the 16-inch Main Street Sewer side-by-side, but not connect. Instead the 15-inch hits a home run to the 27″ inch trunk line at the intersection and speeds the effluent to the Yonkers sewage treatment plant. Mr. Nicoletti said the county has assured White Plains there is adequate capacity at the Yonkers plant. Photo by WPCNR News.

Commissioner Nicoletti Explains H-9 Plan to Persistent Bernstein, and Relentless Malmud Request.

The DFEIS page “H9” contents were discussed for the first time publicly, and the Common Council appeared to be hearing about and seeing the “H9” document for the first time as Commissioner Nicoletti, nervous and precise in what he was saying explained his plan.

The Common Council got Commissioner Nicoletti to testify on the sewage mystery by Rita Malmud’s demanding it  twice on December 19 and again, during the Common Council meeting January 5.

NEW YORK POWER AUTHORITY WILL SHARE THE NEW 15-INCH PIPELINE the city will embed in William Street. The city has a public utility easement located within William Street and the front entrance plaza of the Power Authority Building shown in background. Photo by WPCNR News.

A Bernstein Push  

Tonight, Councilman Arnold Bernstein joined Ms. Malmud in pressing the issue,  though facing the Mayor’s scolding  that people would think the city would not make the right sewer decision . Nevertheless, Mr. Berstein quietly and firm asked the Mayor, “What am I to say to constituents when questioned as to whether the Main Street sewer line had the capacity to handle the effluent from the proposed Cappelli Hotel at 221 Main and future development. Mayor Delfino was very defensive, muttering, “to think people would think we would allow a project to be built knowingly that the sewer couldn’t handle it,” and rolling his eyes.

Rita Malmud raised her voice raising her eyebrows, and said with her trademark dignity, she wanted to hear from “our Commissioner of Public Works” about the capacity of the sewer line. The Mayor testily said, gesturing to Mr. Nicoletti, who, with hands folded below his waist was waiting to speak. The Mayor signed and, with a wave of his right hand, said “well he’s here waiting, let him talk.”

 And talk Mr. Nicoletti did, a little tentative at first, but gaining strength of voice and conviction as he got under the street and into the effluent.

After going over the “Bypass Plan,” Mr. Nicoletti was asked by Mr. Bernstein if the Main Street 16-inch sewer line could handle further development now that the Cappelli Hotel is no longer going to be using it. Mr. Nicoletti said “that depends on the project,” then elaborated saying any other project at the eastern end of Main Street would connect to the Broadway sewer, which might, he thought need replacing.

Mr. Cappelli signs off on paying for the Nicoletti Bypass.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Commissioner of Planning, Susan Habel showed a cryptic freshly signed original letter from Cappelli Enterprises, signed by Bruce Berg, stating that Cappelli Enterprises would pay for the new sewer line and construction. “This letter will be added to the DFEIS she said.

 Mr. Cappelli told WPCNR in the post-work session defbriefing interview, he expected to pay between $500,000 and $1,000,000 for the construction of the new sewer line and the lining of the Main 16-inch Street Sewer line with teflon from Mamaroneck Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard.

 The appearance of the freshly signed letter guaranteeing payment, at the end of the meeting, may have been the explanation for the 30-minute delay in starting the meeting, (called for 6 P.M.) which got underway when Mr. Cappelli, Mr. Berg, Mark Weingarten (Mr. Cappelli’s attorney) the Mayor, Ms. Habel, Rod Johnson, Ms. Habel’s Deputy Commissioner and the Mayor’s associates, Mr. Wood and Mr. Ammirato emerged from the Mayor’s inner sanctum adjacent to the Mayor’s Conference Room, and the meeting began.

“Defusing a Time Bomb”

Mr. Cappelli told WPCNR, he had agreed to go along with Mr. Nicoletti’s “Bypass Plan” which will connect the 221 Main Cappelli Hotel & Office Complex to the Main Street Sewer at Williams Street, bypassing the block on Main Street between Mamaroneck Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

WPCNR Asked whether his sewer and effluent analysts, Divney Tung Schwalbe, (whose statistics, based on average flows per minute, insisted the Main Street sewer could handle the Cappelli Hotelplex load along with the City Center), agreed with the “Nicoletti Bypass Sewer Solution?” 

Cappelli said, “I’ve been assured by my consulting engineers that I don’t have to do this. I had too. They (the Mayor and the Commissioner of Public Works) wanted it. I wanted to defuse a time bomb,” as his reasons for agreeing to pay for replacing the sewer.

The city will perform the work and Mr.Cappelli will pay for it.

Delfino: He’s My Commissioner.

Mayor Joseph Delfino emerging from a noisy conference with his aids, Paul Wood and Rick Ammirato, was asked by WPCNR if he had come around to agreeing with Mr. Nicoletti. “I never knew from Day One there was a problem about the sewers. Usually we work things out. He’s my commissioner. I don’t know. My people bring things up.  Usually we work them out. I want the building to be built and adequate.”

Asked if Mr. Nicoletti could appear in an interview on White Plains Week, to elaborate on the sewer solution, permission was denied by the Mayor, according to Mr. Wood.

Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel concluded a brief interview with WPCNR saying with gravity, “The sewer issue has been resolved.”