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)

IN 24 HOURS AFTER LEGISLATURE BOYKIN’S EZ PASS SCAM WARNING, WPCNR GETS AN EZ PASS SCAM LETTER

Posted on July 24, 2015 by John Bailey

TWO DAYS AGO COUNTY LEGISLATOR BENJAMIN BOYKIN OF WHITE PLAINS 5TH DISTRICT SENT OUT A RELEASE WARNING OF THIS KIND OF E-Z PASS SCAM.
THURSDAY WPCNR RECEIVED ONE. BOYKIN URGES RESIDENTS RECEIVING SUCH E MAIL TO IGNORE IT AND DO NOT DOWN LOAD THE ATTACHMENT.
WPCNR HAS E-Z PASS, IF YOU OWN SOMETHING E Z PASS CONTACTS YOU BY MAIL, NOT BY EMAIL. IGNORE REQUESTS BY E MAIL.

SEE LEGISLATOR BOYKIN’S NEWS RELEASE BELOW IN THIS NEWS TRAIL

FEINER REPORTS PROGRESS IN THURSDAY A.M. MEETING WITH PETS ALIVE

Posted on July 23, 2015 by John Bailey

PCNR THE FEINER REPORT. From Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. July 23, 2015:

Greenburgh Councilman Francis Sheehan, Town Attorney Tim Lewis and I had a very constructive meeting with the leadership of Pet’s Alive this morning. Our goal is to work cooperatively to keep the no kill animal shelter open. Pet’s Alive is holding a Board meeting early next week and we agreed to meet again next Thursday morning –continuing our dialogue. We discussed the deed restriction on the property which limits development potential on the property. The deed restriction states that the property shall be used “solely and exclusively for park, recreational, or general municipal purposes or as an animal shelter in perpetuity.”

Will keep you updated.

WP COUNCILMAN POSITION ON FASNY CRITIQUED BY OBSERVER

Posted on July 23, 2015 by John Bailey

WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. JULY 23, 2015:

Time for a Change

Councilman John Kirkpatrick’s comments on the FASNY application during the recent Common Council Work Session, in my view, showed incredible disdain for the neighborhoods in the south end of the City that have vigorously opposed the FASNYdevelopment. A few cogent examples:

• Mr. Kirkpatrick discussed his experience as a land use attorney while at the same time “complimenting” the neighborhood for arguing for a decrease in the proposed school population. How disingenuous. As any rookie land use attorney knows developers always ask for more than they expect to be approved. Secondly the neighbors in the vicinity of the former Golf Club never asked for a reduction in the school population: they believed placing a regional school of 260,000 square feet on the Club property was inappropriate and remains so;

• Mr. Kirkpatrick said that the Common Council must do what is best for all the residents of the City. Where was the groundswell for FASNY? In fact, over 3,000 residents from virtually every street in the City signed a petition against FASNY. Neighborhood associations throughout the City are on record opposing the project. Other than residents with some connection to FASNY support for the school has been miniscule. FASNY will pay no taxes in a City already constrained by budgetary limitations;

• Mr. Kirkpatrick smugly states that change is difficult and “neighborhoods deteriorate, although not this one”. In fact, since FASNY made its proposal residential property values have sharply declined which is the first step in a neighborhood’s decline. Yet amazingly not a word by Mr. Kirkpatrick of this critical point.

• Not surprisingly, Mr. Kirkpatrick did not cite the standards required for issuance of Special Permits under the City’s zoning law. Why? Because the FASNY application does not come close to meeting them and as Mr. Kirkpatrick knows all too well one of the standards is that any Special Permit use be in “harmony” with the neighborhood in question.

• Mr. Kirkpatrick focused on the so-called traffic modifications FASNY has made. But he makes no mention of our School Board’s letter calling the proposed entrance on North Street profoundly unsafe. He also chose notto mention the concerns of the City’s own traffic consultant regarding“mandatory busing” and other myths like FASNY vehicles will use the already congested Parkway instead of Mamaroneck Avenue and Ridgeway.

• Mr. Kirkpatrick never said a word about the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Again, no surprise. Why because the FASNY plan is not compatible with the Comprehensive Plan as the City’s own Conservation Board stated.

Finally, with a wry smile, Mr. Kirkpatrick said it is now time to declare “Victory” and approve FASNY and transfer a local street used by the residents to the school. I think a better “Victory” would be for residents to turn Mr. Kirkpatrick out of office should he decide to seek reelection and replace him with someone who will represent the residents of White Plains.

Mary Anne Connell

Mobile: 914-522-0933

Feiner Moves to Keep Shelter Open Wednesday Night. Finds Key Document Prohibiting Sale of Pets Alive Shelter

Posted on July 22, 2015 by John Bailey

Part of the crowd of 80 persons who came out to protest and seek solutions to the possible sale and closing of Pets Alive in Elmsford at the Greenburgh Town Hall. Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner below called the meeting in response to phone calls and e-mails outraged at the Pets Alive plan to close the shelter. Photos by Peter Katz

WPCNR HUMANE NEWS. By Peter Katz. Special to WPCNR.

(Greenburgh, NY – July 22, 2015)

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner this evening told about 80 animal activists gathered at Greenburgh Town Hall that a deed restriction prevents Pets Alive, the current operator of what had been the Elmsford Animal Shelter, from selling the property to a developer or putting it to any commercial use.

Pets Alive had announced that it would close the shelter in the next couple of months, move any remaining animals to its shelter in Middletown, NY, and then sell the Elmsford property.

The deed restriction had been found and confirmed earlier today by Greenburgh Town Attorney Timothy Lewis and Town Board Member Francis Sheehan, both of whom attended the meeting. Feiner suggested that Pets Alive had hoped to receive from $3-million to $4-million for the property, for which it had paid only $10 in a land donation arrangement involving Greenburgh and Westchester County. At the time, the animal shelter had been operating in inadequate facilities off Saw Mill River Road, fairly close to some residences. The new location west of property which had been the Elmsford Drive-In Theater and now is Sam’s Club was a vast improvement.

Representatives of several animal rights groups in Westchester attended Wednesday evening’s meeting, as did a number of volunteers from the Pets Alive facility. There was a consensus that Westchester groups and animal lovers would be successful in running a new shelter at the Elmsford site, and Feiner took the role of catalyst to bring interested individuals together. He distributed questionnaires to help identify those in attendance and to begin assembling the talents needed for such a project.

Feiner said he would be meeting with representatives of Pets Alive in his office at 9 am Thursday. He, Lewis and Sheehan expressed the opinion that discovery of the deed restriction changes the dynamics of the situation, and provides tremendous leverage in negotiations with Pets Alive. Lewis explained that the restriction, which was in the property deed signed in the 1980’s by former County Executive Andrew O’Rourke, runs with the land and is binding on any entity holding title to the land. It specifies that the land can only be used for parks and recreational purposes, for municipal purposes, or for an animal shelter.

While Pets Alive has stated that repair and maintenance costs for the current building have skyrocketed and the building is unsound, several people expressed doubt about such being the case. Town Attorney Lewis noted that the building inspector has the final say as to whether a building is structurally sound, and Greenburgh’s building inspector has not declared the shelter to be unsound.

Some volunteers at the current shelter expressed concern that older dogs, who have been unwanted for adoption and have called the shelter home for years, would not survive a change in surroundings to Middletown. The current shelter in Elmsford is on more that 5 acres of land and has more than 30,000 square feet of enclosed space.