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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Mayor Joseph Delfino was sworn in for his second consecutive term as Mayor of White Plains Monday evening. Rita Malmud took the oath of office for her fourth term as a Councilperson. New Councilman Thomas Roach was sworn in for his first term at the first Common Council meeting of the new year. It was also the first-ever 6-person Council. Susan Habel was appointed Commissioner of Planning.

The Opening Bell for Round One of a Three-Round Match between New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Common Council sounded.

The Main Event was the opening of the Public Hearing on the New York Presbyterian Hospital Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which was adjourned to February 4 after 3-1/2 hours of presentation and comment.

It featured Dr. Arthur Klein, Chief Operating Officer of New York Presbyterian Hospital, heading a lineup of powerful speakers extolling the bright future for White Plains if the proposed hospital biomedical complex on any of four possible sites were to be approved and built.

In a one-hour to-the-minute presentation, hospital executives painted a seductive picture of burgeoning economic riches to the Common Council and a live tv audience. The riches would result, they said should the proposed proton accelerator cancer treatment facility and biomedical research facility on the Bryant Avenue, Bloomingdale Road be built.

They promised the complex would bring new residents to fill the downtown luxury apartments and buy White Plains homes, and professionals from all over the world to fill our new hotel on Bank Street.

They assured the council that the facility was not treatment intensive with most visitors and patients being essentially “medical tourists” with brief stays.

They promised 958 new jobs ranging from $50M to over $100,000 per year salaried positions, plus 1,000 more jobs throughout Westchester County.

White Plains a biomedical player?

Patricia Ardigo, of Insignia ESG, a broker who puts together biomedical research clusters described White Plains as the entry for New York State to catch up with New Jersey, California, Texas and North Carolina in the fast-growing biomedical research industry.

Paul Bergins, in one of his most animated and persuasive presentations we have seen him make, promised a “medical mecca” in the center of White Plains.

A phalanx of experts in water treatment, utilities, architecture, and economic development painted a picture of a complex with no environmental impact, that could handle the traffic with 2 new traffic light adjustments on Bryant Avenue and parking prohibited from the Mamaroneck Avenue and Bryant vicinity.

Dogged Opposition Surfaces, accusing hospital of master plan ambiguity, danger of segmented development, zoning subterfuge.

Allan Teck of Concerned Citizens for Open Space was the first speaker to take the floor claiming the hospital proposal had failed to provide a detailed master plan as required by zoning as part of the DEIS. He warned the Council against “segmented” development of the property.

Marc Pollitzer, speaking as President of the North Street Association, chided the hospital for quoting only half of the 1997 Master Plan “vision statement” for the New York Presbyterian Hospital property, which called for passive recreation, and fields on the property. He asked the question whether the Master Plan proposed by the hospital in spring 2000 was still in effect and how it extended past 2006.

He pointed to the former proposed Marrott site and asked why it could not be combined with an adjacent site to place the two buildings there. Pollitzer raised the issue that the intended research use with the private sector might not qualify as hospital use as allowed in the city agreement with the hospital dating back to 1927.

Barbara Benjamin said she felt like “Alice in Wonderland having just stepped through the looking glass.” She said the site choices offered by the hospital were “in your face, and they talk about taking less trees, well, if they follow the Master Plan, they’re going to tear them all down.” She warned against segmented approval of portions of the hospital master plan, and said “it is going to take courage on the part of the Council to tell the hospital they don’t have the right to determine the future of our city.”

Thomas Whyatt, CCCOS lawyer, allowed that the project had some benefits, and brought back an argument 30 years old: the hospital was trying to mask a zoning change by asking for a special permit, instead. (The hospital is zoned residential.) Whyatt described the hospital as trying to “ram this down our throats,” and said it twice. He raised the spectre of segmented development, and the need for a detailed master plan. He twice described this as an “industrial complex.”

Patti Indelicato made the most pointed and overlooked argument of the evening and that was the impact of the December- approved Fortunoff complex on Maple Avenue and Bloomingdale Road. She pointed out how gridlock was in effect over the holidays at The Westchester and Saks Fifth Avenue without Fortunoff in place. She felt this had to be considered in weighing the effects on entry and egress at the complex from Bloomingdale Road.

Two residents argued in favor of the plan and its benefits to White Plains. One is the owner of Colin Systems and the other a resident of the Gedney Farms neighborhood (a CNR reader reports this person is an employee of the hospital and lives in Bryant Gardens), who felt the treatment of cancer was a worthy endeavor that far outweighed the environmental concerns. Several others asked that the hearing be kept open.

Council reaction: Not impressed

Rita Malmud expressed a long list of questions she wanted the hospital to address, chief of which was the site where the Marrott senior treatment facility was to have been built. She wanted answers to the hospital intentions for that property, as well as answers why the sites on the northern portion of the hospital property on I-287 could not be used for the two buildings proposed. She also raised worry about the storm water ponds being grounds for West Nile virus-bearing mosquitoes.

Benjamin Boykin centered his question on the abandoned Marriott site, too, asking answers as to why it could not combine with an adjacent site to house the complex away from the forested areas.

William King made a strong plea for a site behind the Memorial Methodist Church. He said the Hospital has advised it needs those sites for staff housing, but said he wanted an explanation for rejecting that area.

Mayor Delfino, commenting to WPCNR after the meeting, said he would direct Planning Commissioner Susan Habel to ask the hospital to answer the questions raised by the council and by Mr. Whyatt on the zoning by the next meeting. The hearing was adjourned to February 4.

Susan Habel installed as Planning Commissioner

Amid much praise from each member of the Common Council, Susan Habel capped a 16-year career with the city, by being appointed Commissioner of Planning, succeeding Mike Graessle. Ms. Habel savored her triumphant moment with shining eyes and the quiet dignity that surrounds her presence, as a drumroll of applause that greeted the Mayor’s announcement of her swearing in.

BID Assessment Increase Hearing Closed, Cleared, on Way for BID Business Owners.

The effort by the Downtown Business Improvement District to raise their assessment hearing appeared on track, as the council voted to close the hearing and cleared the way for the increasement in the assessment from $300,000 to $500,000.

However, BID Executive Director, Mark Scuyler, took pains to point out that this was not an all-at-once increase, that it would be phased-in, we assume, as needed by the BID Board of Directors. Scuyler said that the Operation Clean-Sweep where yellow shirted squads clean the downtown business district costs the BID $130,000 and that part of the need to have the ability to assess higher was to pay for this popular program.

The owner of Nicky’s Pizza took the podium and roundly criticized the BID for essentially creating jobs for its executives, and doing nothing to bring business to merchants within the district. She described the BID as “a scam,” pointedly criticizing the BID New Year’s Eve Party for awarding the catering contract to Sam’s of Gedney way which is not located within the BID district.

No explanation was given by Scuyler for this, and Scuyler had left the meeting before WPCNR could ask him about this. The critic also sparred with feisty style with Councilperson Malmud over the need for the BID’s street cleaning efforts. The owner said she had never been notified of BID meetings. The Mayor urged her to talk directly to Mr.Scuyler.

In other business.

The Council approved the renewal of a three year permit for Cafénani.

Cafenani fared better than Kelly’s Thirsty Turtle Pub which has been seeking an approval for outdoor patio in the rear of the East Post Road bar for nine months. At the eleventh hour, the owners of the Sloan Bar building balked at closing their driveway off with a chain, and The Esplanade requested a vestibule be built to restrict the amount of noise. The Council moved this to Wednesday morning when they would vote on the resolution after the Thirsty Turtle and Sloan Bar had signed written agreements calling for a security guard, provided by Mike Kelly, owner of the Thirsty Turtle to prevent potential Turtle customers from parking illegally in the Sloan Bar Lot.

William King announced the Traffic Department and Traffic Commission Annual Reports, and Youth Bureau Annual Report, and presented a 15-minute critique of traffic suggestions he wished the traffic department would look into, among them, on-street overnight parking, slant parking on Mamaroneck Avenue, more 4-way stops at key intersections even though 4 out of 5 requests made by the city of the state were rejected in the last year.

WPCNR will provide more detailed coverage later in the newsday.

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The search for a new Superintendent of Schools will gather intensity this week when Dr. John A. Whritner and Dr. Deborah Raizes, two senior associates from Hazard, Young and Attia, will make the first of four public fact-finding appearances in White Plains to develop community residents’ and leaders’ opinions on key school issues in the city and the characteristics they want to see in the next Superintendent of Schools.
The four Forums will begin Thursday, January 10 at White Plains High School at 7:30 PM, continue on Friday, January 11 at Education House at 10:00 AM, Sunday, January 13 at St. Bernard’s Church at 12:30 PM, where a Spanish language interpreter will be available, and conclude Wednesday, January 16, at Bethel Baptist Church at 7 PM.

Community Groups Have Special Meeting on January 16 at 2

According to Michelle Schoenfeld, Clerk for the Board of Education, Dr. Whritner and Dr. Raizes will alternate hosting the four community forums. Ms Schoenfeld reports to WPCNR various “community leaders” have been invited privately to provide their input directly to the two consultants in a meeting at Education House on Wednesday, January 16 at 2 PM.

Schoenfeld said these community groups include all members of the Common Council, all city commissioners, and representatives from the Council of Neighborhood Associations, the Rotary, the Council of Churches, Hospital Auxiliary Board, the Womens Club and other organizations, of whom she did not have a list readily available. School-Related Organizations Consulted, too.

In addition, she said, Drs. Raizes and Whritner are or will be meeting privately with PTA presidents, the PTA Council, District staff groups, former Board of Education members, the Civil Service Employees Association, the White Plains Teachers Association, and high school students to gather their views on the issues and the requisite skills of a future superintendent.

Focus asked for.

Key community organizations have already received questionnaires from the School District asking the groups to respond to the following questions.

1. What do you consider to be the two or three most significant strengths of the White Plains Public Schools?

2. What do you consider to be the two or three most important issues or concerns facing the White Plains Public Schools?

3. Please share two or three characteristics which you would like to see in the new White Plains Superintendent of Schools?

Profile Developed from Forums, Presented January 29

From these forums, Drs. Whritner and Raizes will construct a profile of the personal attributes and areas of expertise and track record results for the kind of superintendent they hope to attract. Their final “Superintendent Profile” is scheduled to be presented to the community on January 29 at Education House at 8 PM.

No National Advertising Yet. Position Announced nationally on HYA Website

All advertising for the Superintendent of Schools position is being handled by Hazard, Young & Attia. Presently the position of Superintent of Schools has been listed on the HY & A website as one of their Executive Searches, since January 5, so word has gone out nationally that the position is available. HY & A consultants were not available to ask whether the firm has already received interested queries about the position. However, WPCNR has been told that Dr. Raizes will be in touch with us, as she has been traveling.

When you click on the White Plains Public Schools Superintendent search listing on the HY & A website, you are directed to the White Plains Public Schools website.The Hazard Young & Attia website may be viewed at http://www.hyasupersearch.com

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Special to WPCNR A crash Common Council meeting held in Executive Session Thursday night, resulted in the Common Council holding off appointing a sixth interim councilperson to fill the seat currently being contested in Appellate Court. The Council will conduct Monday evening’s meeting with five councilpersons and the Mayor with one seat vacant.
A 9-page Confidential Brief by city Corporation Counsel Edward Dunphy, drawing on 5 cases from 1837,1926,1951, 1964 and 1972, cites city inability to determine which council seat is vacant, (former Councilperson Pauline Oliva’s seat or Larry Delgado’s seat) as the crucial factor in preventing Larry Delgado from continuing on the Common Council.

This ambiguity of whose seat it is, prevents the Public Officer’s Law from kicking in, allowing Mr. Delgado to holdover, in Mr. Dunphy’s analysis of these five decisions.

According to the key conclusion of the “Dunphy Doctrine,” The fact that Mrs. Oliva (Pauline) did not seek re-election is not controlling. The controlling principle is that there is more than one incumbent and as a result, a vacancy is not capable of being identified and there cannot be a (Delgado/Oliva) holdover. This result might have been different if one of the incumbents had resigned. This last consideration is not before us and is of no consequence.”

The Public Officers Law holds that in a vacancy occurring through a normal expiration of term, with successor not chosen an incumbent holds over. (See previous WPCNR article on the holdover issue.)

Confidential Brief Delivered Thursday Morning to the Seating Five

The confidential brief analyzed the issue of a Delgado “holdover,” or a council interim appointment, was hand-delivered to all five seating councilpersons Thursday morning: Benjamin Boykin, Jr., Robert Greer, William King, Rita Malmud, and Thomas Roach. All but Robert Greer agreed to an Executive Session Thursday evening to discuss the issues with Mr. Dunphy. Mr. Greer, according to our correspondent, had a prior commitment he could not break.

Our correspondent advises us that the meeting apparently was held off until 8 PM, because city law requires that there be six hour notice before any meeting of the Common Council is held.

Dunphy brings Council Up to Date on Election Case

The meeting began in the Mayor’s council room, with Edward Dunphy taking center stage. Dunphy reported that as of 8 PM no decision had been reached in Appellate Court regarding the Adam Bradley-filed appeal of Judge Francis Nicolai, Jr.’s call for a continuation of the election. Dunphy, our reporter says, revealed that in the early years of his career, he was a law clerk in the Appellate Division.

Dunphy said, the Appellate Division usually moves very quickly in an election matter. He expressed surprise that the court will have had the Delgado/Hockley matter before it for three weeks as of Friday morning.

Dunphy is reported saying that no matter what the Appellate Court decides, it was likely that the losing interest would appeal to the Court of Appeals in Albany. Then the Council moved to Executive Session to discuss Mr. Dunphy’s brief.

After executive session briefing, Council releases “Dunphy Doctrine” to Public. Basis for their decision.

According to our CNR reporter, “The vote that was taken, after the public was invited back into the room (Mayor’s Council Chamber), at the conclusion of the executive session, was for the Common Council to waive the attorney/client privilege and to now authorize the release to the public of the heretofore confidential memo prepared by Corporation Council Ed Dunphy and which was distributed solely to the Common Council.

Boykin says no action contemplated. Awaiting Appellate Court Decision.

Our correspondent reports that after the executive session ended, Councilman Benjamin Boykin told reporters that “Dunphy’s memo spoke to the inability of former Councilman Delgado to take the position that he is a ‘holdover’ councilman and further (Boykin stated) that the Council would not be moving in the direction of appointing an individual, themselves, to fill the empty seventh seat on the Council.”

Our reporter adds that “the White Plains Common Council will be further instructed and guided by the eventual decision which will be issued by the Second Department of the New York State Appellate Division.”

Short Council has to vote ordinances twice to put them into law.

WPCNR’s correspondent reports Dunphy strongly urged the council not to appoint an interim councilperson. Our man on the scene advised that the Council will have to hear ordinances twice before they can be voted into law, as a consequence of having a “short” council. A meeting as been scheduled for 8 AM Wednesday, he says to hear a second reading of an ordinance on the Monday Council agenda.

Mr. Dunphy’s conclusion to his brief confirms this:

…When is a vacancy created, is not a novel issue; nor is the invocation andinterpretation of the controlling provision of the Public Officers Law, a question of recent vintage. Importantly, you can see, the holdover provision is not nearly as clear cut as first envisioned. As we have seen, its operation is very fact specific and it can be concluded that where the vacancy is identifiable, an incumbent can holdover. But in the facts confronting the City of White Plains, the vacancy certainly is not identifiable. Consequently, there can not be holdover.

Mr. Dunphy further reasons against vacancy identification,

An attempt to argue that a vacancy is identifiable in White Plains because incumbent Rita Malmud was re-elected and candidate Thomas Roach was elected and both certified by the Board of Elections, can be made. Mathematically it could be seen that these two were successful, in that they have filled two of the three positions on the Common Council, therefore, the third position is open and identifiable.

This argument has surface appeal, but when that strata is pierced, that argument evaporates rapidly.

And makes his play–

The vacancy is unidentifiable because two incumbents remain, Mrs. Oliva and Mr. Delgado. The fact that Mrs. Oliva (Pauline) did not seek re-election is not controlling. The controlling principle is that there is more than one incumbent and as a result, a vacancy is not capable of being identified and there cannot be a (Delgado/Oliva) holdover. This result might have been different if one of the incumbents had resigned. This last consideration is not before us and is of no consequence.

A nod to the Appellate Court…

Additionally, we must also recognize that the Appellate Division instructed that Messrs. Delgado and Hockley are presently barred from taking any steps towards the filing of an oath of office. This directive must be tempered by the realization that a holdover is not required to execute and file an oath of office…

Mr. D. Concludes With a Strong Advisory Not to Appoint an Interim Replacement Councilperson

As a final matter, a controlling consideration is what does the City do without its full complement of legislative officials? This answer is proved by the Foley Court, wherein Special Term noted that this fact was of little consequence because the government does not fail to function with less than seven members. The work will proceed with six, until a successor is chosen and there will be no interruption in government.

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Special to WPCNR:The Mayor’s office announced Thursday that Corporation Counsel Edward Dunphy has issued his opinion on Common Council right to appoint an interim councilperson in a hand-delivered letter to each Council Member. The letter presents Mr. Dunphy’s opinion on the composition of the first Common Councilmeeting of the new year Monday evening.
The Mayor’s Office announced a special meeting of the Common Council for 8 o’clock Thursday evening in Executive Session to discuss Mr. Dunphy’s opinion and the issues it raises.
George Gretsas, the Mayor’s Executive Officer, told WPCNR Thursday morning that Mr. Dunphy’s legal opinion on whether or not the council had the right to appoint an interim councilperson to fill the contested third seat on the Common Council, had been hand-delivered to members of the Common Council Thursday morning: Rita Malmud, Tom Roach, Benjamin Boykin, William King, Robert Greer.

Executive Session Called to Mull Dunphy Directive

Gretsas told WPCNR, “The Common Council will meet Thursday night at 8 to discuss the letter and ruling, and if they agree the letter (Dunphy’s) will be made public.”

City Hall refused to release the contents of Mr. Dunphy’s letter, citing attorney-client (Common Council being the client) privilege.

Delgado Oliva Not In Meeting

Asked if Pauline Oliva and Larry Delgado, previous incumbents of the Council, whose terms expired Monday evening at midnight, had been invited to the meeting, Gretsas said they had not.

Asked whether Tom Roach would be on the council, Gretsas said that Mr. Roach, and Rita Malmud, technically started their terms at midnight January 1, and that swearing in was strictly a formality. On the other hand, he said, Oliva and Delgado terms had officially ended at the same midnight hour.

The Dunphy Directive

Dunphy’s letter was expected to touch on a range of issues raised by the historic contested third seat which is currently unfilled by order of the Appellate Division, New York Supreme Court, Second Department, Brooklyn.

The Appellate Court is still reviewing Judge Francis Nicolai’s decision calling for a continuation of the November 6 election and a revote in White Plains District 18. A decision is expected either Thursday or Friday of this week

Armchair analysts think Delgado may “holdover.”

Legal analysts in the city, Jeffrey Binder, Delgado attorney, and John Martin,a former Councilperson who was himself appointed a councilperson by the Common Council, believe by virtue of the Public Officer’s law that Mr. Delgado could legally “continue” in his seat or “holdover,” until the seat is filled by a new election or a court ruling.

Other issues speculated as being covered in the Dunphy Letter are: whether the council has the right to appoint an interim councilperson (sources have told us that the Democratic council caucus would prefer reappointing Pauline Oliva); the mechanism for removing such an appointee; how long they would serve; and whose seat is vacant.

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The White Plains Professional Firefighters have elected Jim Donahoe as their new President, replacing Adrian Scapperrotti, according to WPCNR Fire Department Correspondent, Duncan MacRae. MacRae reports Mr. Donahoe edged out Scapperrotti by one vote.
Duncan MacRae, White Plains Firefighter, reports to WPCNR that Donahoe took the reins of the firefighters union as of January 1, by virtue of one vote in a secret ballot that was recounted three times. Donahoe was previously Scaperotti’s Vice President.

Asked about Donahoe’s plans for the firefighters union, McLain writes,

“He wants to become more personally involved with the membership. He wants to be a physical presence rather than a voice on the other end of the phone or the sender of a fax.”

McLain was asked his own personal reaction to the departure of John Dolce, previous Commissioner of Public Safety, and what it might mean for the department, he writes,

“Well as we all know John Dolce was ‘Public Safety’ to a lot of people and politicians in town. He lost a bit of his luster with some politicians when he didn’t support pay parity for police and fire. With his retirement, we hope that the city leaders can look at the structure
of the Public Safety Department.

McLain continued, “A separate police and fire commissioner are definitely needed. The demographic of this city is changing with its skyline. It would be in the best interests of the citizens if this were to happen and it wouldn’t cost a dime.”