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WPCNR NEWS AND COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. April 28, 2013:

Well, we heard the County Executive State of the County speech last Tuesday evening.

Well What kind of speech was it?

Exactly the kind of speech White Plains Week told you last week he would give. How do we know these things? Because White Plains Week has been observing politicians for the last twelve years. They are predictable. And uncreative. And pathologically believe everything will get better if we just hold on.

Last week’s show I said Mr. Astorino would tout the Astorino record of holding the line on taxes the last three years, and criticize the Democrats for not going along with his cuts…he did exactly that touting his three P’s:  Protect taxpayers, Preserve essential services, promote economic growth, cutting the tax levy 2% and keeping it there for two years—obliquely challenging the legislator to set priorities, make hard choices and that partisanship must give way to partnership, rhetoric must yield to leadership  Improving what is working, fixing what’s not and focusing on symptoms of problems…then proceeded to lapse into 40 minutes of rhetoric.

I said he’d say Westchester employment is coming back, he did mentioning businesses he helped keep: Pepsi, Captain Lawrence, Bake-A-Wish, and Regeneron saving 4,800 jobs and 4,600 new jobs. And pointing out he has $58 Million in capital projects awaiting legislature approval and $75 Million planned and creation of the Local Development Corporation providing access to low cost tax exempt financing for non-profits.

I said he’d lobby hard for Sustainable Playland and legislature approval of that Playland designated developer, but he added no new reasons to believe Sustainable Playland is going to get this done –no change in Sustainable’s capitalization was reported. The proposal continues to languish as does the disturbing lack of swift Playland repair.

This week in county committee we learned the north boardwalk was not going to be repaired and the casino would not be ready until winter. This dawdling on Playland repair  is a dropped ball by both Astorino and the legislature. Together their lack of sense of urgency is going to kill this park in my opinion.

I said he’d defend his position of defiance of HUD, and he did that with a vengeance,and his opposition to zoning change creavity.

He predicted that if the county did not fight HUD EVENTUALLY  HUD would have the county build 10,768 affordable units and cause a 200% tax hike. He was over the top on this, but I also said he would not offer an olive branch like vowing to develop zoning changes for each community, to fulfill the HUD demands.

 He did not offer a counciliatory said, as I said he would not. A missed opportunity there since after the U.S. attorney threatened the county with a contempt of court, Astorinio released the source of income legislation to the legislature for their action the next. What a mistake.

I said he would say how great his administration performed during Hurricane Sandy…he did citing several anecdotes. But, if you recall Hurrincane Sandy, it was not until after communities started screaming that the county huffed and puffed about the outages.

I said Mr. Astorino would probably not talk Tappan Zee Bridge traffic flow and transit in Westchester County after the new bridge opens. I was wrong, he did say we should not have congestion after the bridge is built BUT HE MADE NO PROPOSALS….He has to start taking positions and taking recommendations to the people, not just be on commissions.

I said he probably would not back off seeking an injunction to stop HUD from withholding federal community development funds. He did not say he would not seek an injunction.

I said he would not introduce plans for cutting non-union staff to lower taxes farther and he — surprise — did not.

I said he would not say he would cut any county departments—and he did not suggest cutting or combining any – no new cost cutting initiatives.

I said he probably would not ask the legislature to undertake a study of county government and make their recommended cuts to county government to reduce spending, and he did not – another missed opportunity to fire a salvo at Westchester’s new great hope Noam Bramson.

Astorino lauded his improvements to the Department of Social Services –increasing spending by $17 Million to $559 Million…increasing slots for taxpayer subsidized day care to 600 (18%) raising the adoption rate 41%

And of course there are his green initiatives.

It was a speech that talked about the past and not the future. But this is his main selling point…holding the line on taxes.

Now the question is whether Noam Bramson can do all he says he wants to do without raising taxes…where have we heard this before…I think a guy running for office 4-1/2 years ago said that somewhere in this country.

The state of the county is a sorry state. No leader is looking at reality. No one in government has any interest in changing things. Leadership we have and would-be leaders tell us what we want to hear.

We as individuals want to believe what we hear, because believing the lies is much more comfortable than realizing the uncompromising truth.

WPCNR HEALTH WATCH. April 27, 2013 UPDATED 9:30 P.M. E.D.T.: 

The County Health Department announced Friday the cause of an outbreak of nausea among guests attending a fund-raiser at the Rye Town Hilton last week to a norovirus. One hundred guests came down with vomiting and nausea within days of attending a benefit held for the Pelham Picture House .

Caren Halbfinger issued this statement to WPCNR from the Westchester County Board of Health:

The health department has received reports that some people have become sick after attending events last weekend at the Hilton Westchester. We are coordinating our response with both the Hilton and the organizers of these events. Hotel management and staff are being very cooperative and have notified organizers of upcoming events about these recent illnesses. We are working closely with hotel management and staff to ensure every precaution is taken to prevent illness.

We suspect it is caused by Norovirus, a stomach bug whose symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea. We are reaching out to interview all those who may be affected to help determine the source of the illness and to identify any new cases. We don’t know how many are affected yet.

The health department has had inspectors on site daily this week and will continue to do so over the weekend. Inspectors are reviewing sanitary procedures throughout the hotel, as is our routine practice in these situations. Public health nurses are also reaching out to those who may be affected to help determine the source of the illness and to identify any new cases.

 Noroviruses, (according to the Medical Terms dictionary) are a group of viruses that are a common cause of food poisening and acute gastroentroitis  that can strike quickly with force and make a person feel very sick but which typically resolves within 2-3 days. The characteristic symptoms are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea  and abdominal cramping. The diarrhea is not bloody. Fever,  if present, is low-grade. Dehydration is the main complication, especially in infants and the elderly, and may need medical attention.

The clinical criteria for the diagnosis include:

1. an incubation period of 12-36 hours;
   
2. an illness characterized by acute onset of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and, in some cases, fever and malaise;
   
3. an illness of 12-60 hours duration.

The virus is spread primarily from one infected person to another (by the fecal-oral route). Infected kitchen workers can contaminate a salad or sandwich as they prepare it, if they have the virus on their hands. Infected fishermen have contaminated oysters as they harvested them. Norovirus infection has become a veritable “plague” on cruise ships.