THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

Governor Cuomo Announces Plan to Protect Puerto Rico Lectric Grid in Future Storms

Posted on December 12, 2017 by John Bailey

WPCNR PUERTO RICO REPORT. From of the Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. December 12, 2017:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Governor Ricardo Rosselló today announced a plan to rebuild and transform Puerto Rico’s electric power system, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria in September. The envisioned system will be more resilient, efficient, advanced, and less dependent on fossil fuel imports that cost Puerto Ricans more than $2 billion annually.

“In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in New York, a plan was immediately put into place to harden and enhance the power grid to ensure storms would not damage our communities in the future – and now is the time to implement a similar plan to ensure these upgrades are also completed in Puerto Rico,” Governor Cuomo said. “We need to act now to transform the island’spower grid and provide the people of Puerto Rico with a modern and reliable electric system.”

“As we continue to address the challenges of rebuilding Puerto Rico and restoring power to residents across the island, Governor Cuomo and the people of New York are stepping up yet again to provide unwavering support throughout this difficult recovery process,” said Governor Rosselló. “I applaud the actions of the Puerto Rico Energy Resiliency Working Group for developing this plan and creating a critical foundation to rebuild and reimagine Puerto Rico’s electric power system.”

The plan, created by the Puerto Rico Energy Resiliency Working Group established by Governor Cuomo to aid the island in its damage assessment and power grid rebuild planning, calls for the island’s new electric power system to be designed with the resiliency to withstand future storms and to be built with modern grid technologies and control systems. The new system will have increased renewable generation, such as wind and solar; incorporate new distributed energy resource technologies, such as energy storage and microgrids; reduce dependency on fossil fuels; and enable energy to become abundant, affordable and sustainable for the people of Puerto Rico.

The working group’s rebuild recommendations are based on experience implementing power system recovery, rebuilding and hardening in the aftermath of hurricanes encountered on the U.S. mainland over the last decade. The recommendations include the use of modern technology and incorporate lessons learned from the successful rebuild efforts in other regions after natural disasters, such as Superstorm Sandy in New York. Additionally, the plan’s recommendations align with the U.S. Department of Energy’s recommendations for power system hardening and resiliency.

Consistent with the observed wind speeds from Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s new system needs to withstand a Category 4 storm, which produces wind speeds of 155 miles/hour and heavy floods. The plan also calls to modernize the Puerto Rico electric grid, leveraging proven power system technologies to better contain outages, reduce recovery times, lower operations costs and enable more sustainable energy resources.

The development of this plan was undertaken in parallel with New York State’s post-hurricane assessment and restoration support to Puerto Rico that began in September. Currently, more than 450 New York State utilities workers are on the ground in Puerto Rico, working diligently to repair the island’s power grid.

New York resources and personnel currently in Puerto Rico arrived in November following two previous deployments of New York Power Authority technical experts to Puerto Rico announced by Governor Cuomo on September 22 and September 29. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, those NYPA electric utility crews embedded themselves within PREPA to assist in the triage of the power grid that included the assessment of virtually all of the island’s 360 substations.

“After Superstorm Sandy, Governor Cuomo saw firsthand the real hardships of New Yorkers without electricity and heating for days and even weeks on end,”Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance, New York State. “The Governor immediately put into action a strategy to rebuild the grid of the past with the grid of the future under Reforming the Energy Vision, or REV, for a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system. I’m proud to be part of the plan to ensure Puerto Ricans will benefit from New York’s experience and knowledge as we help the U.S. territory rebuild their grid.”

“Governor Cuomo understood early on that it would be necessary to not only rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid to restore electric service for the people of Puerto Rico, but also to develop a plan for Puerto Rico’s power grid of the future,” Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO, said. “NYPA, and our collaborators in the Governor’s working group, want to seize this opportunity to transform and harden Puerto Rico’s electric system to ensure that this catastrophic damage does not repeat itself.”

The Puerto Rico Energy Resiliency Working Group, which put forth the plan with the assistance of Navigant Consulting, Inc., is comprised of power utilities and leading entities in the energy sector, including:

New York Power Authority (NYPA)
Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA)
Puerto Rico Energy Commission
Consolidated Edison (Con Edison)
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Edison International
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Long Island Power Authority (LIPA)
Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Grid Modernization Lab Consortium (GMLC)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Additional news available at www.governor.ny.gov
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COUNTY EXECUTIVE ASTORINO VOWS HE WILL VETO THE BUDGET PASSED BY THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE

Posted on December 11, 2017 by John Bailey

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Office of Communications. December 11, 2017:

Late this afternoon, after the County Legislature had voted 12-5 to approve an expanded budget 2% over and above what County Executive Robert Astorino had submitted, adding job positions and 31 persons to the county payroll and increasing funding of community service organizations, the County Executive issued this statement:

“There’s no reason to raise property taxes on the already overburdened residents and businesses of Westchester. I proposed a budget that was balanced and provided sufficient revenues for county services. For that reason, I will veto the budget and its tax increase approved by the Board of Legislators.”

The Legislature margin of 12-5 must hold if the legislature is to override the promised Astorino veto. All nine Democrats voted for the budget and three Republicans, David Tubiolo, David Gelfarb and James Maisano also voted for the budget. Any one of the Republicans could change their mind, and reestablish the Astorino budget.

David Gelfarb, a Republican, was not reelected in the November election, having been defeated by Nancy Barr. He would be the most likely to change his vote. Mr Maisano could also change his vote. Mr. Tubiolo could, too.

LATIMER “TRANSITION TEAM” ANNOUNCES PUBLIC HEARINGS SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT ON WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IN THE COUNTY BUDGET MOVING AHEAD

Posted on December 11, 2017 by John Bailey

Following organizational meetings held as part of his Transition Team planning, County Executive-elect George Latimer (D-Rye) has announced the public hearing schedule for each of the six subcommittees.

These hearings are another step in ensuring input from residents and stakeholders in Westchester, Latimer said. They are a crucial step in my transition gathering information that will be utilized so that we all move Westchester forward together, he added.

Committee	Meeting Date/Time	Location*
Criminal Justice	12-13-17 – 6:00 pm	White Plains Library
Health and Mental Health	12-13-17 – 7:00 pm	Yonkers Riverfront Library
Social Services and Human Rights	12-14-17 – 6:00 pm	White Plains Library
Administrative Services	12-18-17 – 6:00 pm	Mamaroneck Library
Economic Development	12-19-17 – 6:00 pm	Mt. Kisco Public Library
Operational Services	12-19-17 7:00 pm	White Plains Library

The hearings are open to the public. Speakers at these hearing will be limited to three minutes apiece. Written comments can be submitted directly to the committees, by e-mailing them to [email protected], in lieu of appearing at the hearings.

The Transition Team, led by County Legislator Ken Jenkins and former County Legislator and Pleasantville Mayor John Nonna, will utilize the information gathered from these hearings to help County Executive-elect Latimer chart a plan moving forward.

The transition process is expected to continue into January.

COUNTY LEGISLATURE PASSES 2018 BUDGET, 12-5, MAKING BUDGET “VETO-PROOF” IF VOTES HOLD.FIRST BUDGET INCREASE IN 7 YEARS.

Posted on December 11, 2017 by John Bailey

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. By John F. Bailey. December 11, 2017:

Westchester Legislators passed the Westchester County 2018 budget by a vote of 12 to 5. The margin included a switchover of two Democrats who had previously voted for Astorino budgets in the last two years, and were the margin of victory for the previous two years (Mike Kaplowitz and Virginia Perez) giving the Democrats a veto-proof budget, if the margin holds.

It is the first County budget increase in 7 years. Budgets had previously been passed when not enough Democrats voted for the budget to deny County Executive Robert Astorino vetos, allowing Astorino’s refusal to increase the budgets and taxes to stand.

The Democrats voted to raise the budget this year on the rising tide of the George Latimer victory over Mr. Astorino in the November county executive election.

The budget includes funding for social programs as well as adding back into the budget, 7 parks curator at a cost of $441,000, 12 engineers ( legislators said to take care of $1.6 Billion in infrastructure needs). Those engineers were on the county staff in 2016, and apparently will have to work a lot harder to get those $1.6 Billion in infrastructure projects rolling. The Board of Legislators did not mention the list of $1.6 billion in infrastructure the Astorino Public Works Department with the 12 engineers restored on the payroll had neglected, apparently according to the Board.

Other County staff positions that were restored were 10 positions Mr. Astorino removed from the County Executive’s office at a cost of $782,000 according to the Journal News. The Democrats also added 14 persons to the Board of Elections.

The Board of Legislators said they needed to keep government running at the level depended upon by Westchester residents.

The increase in budget adds additional jobs restored by the legislature as well as a series of increases in allotments to mostly non-profit community service organizations.

The new budget raises taxes 2% – half of the allotted tax cap of 4.4%. These funds are, the legislature said, to help cover the over $30M of fictitious revenue included by the Astorino Administration budget proposal which the County’s independent auditors advised the Board of Legislators to delete. The $30 Million consisted of the Astorino plan for leasing the Westchester County Airport to balance the budget he had submitted, that was rejected by the legislature.

There is the possibility the legislature may approve such a lease of the airport because they will examine it in January when the incoming George Latimer administration takes over. The legislature is also waiting a first payment by Standard Amusements due December 31, to start the Standard Amusements Playland lease that has been dragging on for two years. If Standard does not make the payment, Mr. Latimer has said he will reexamine that Playland deal, too.

“Our financial situation is not a pretty one, but I am proud this legislature was able to come together in a bi-partisan manner to pass a budget that manages the County’s finances responsibly for the people of Westchester,” said Majority Leader Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining). “We just received another negative outlook from the credit rating agencies; we needed to get real with our finances…”