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)

Ryan and Pagan hit Campaign Trail at CNA Tuesday

Posted on September 10, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2011 September 10, 2011:

The White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations (WPCNA) will host a forum for candidates to represent White Plains on the Westchester County Board of Legislators on Tuesday September 13 at 7:30PM at Ed House, 5 Homeside Lane, White Plains.

Bill Ryan (D) and Iris Pagan (R) are contenders to represent District 5 and Alfreda Williams (D) is running unopposed in District 8.

After introductions each candidate will talk briefly about their background and why they are running for this office.

Candidates will be asked questions compiled before the meeting. Following that as time allows we will take questions from the audience.

Calls to Hudson towns to Save Water Panic Residents. Feiner Assures Water Safe

Posted on September 10, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR ENVIRONMENTAL EAGLE. From Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. September 10, 2011:

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner assured residents Friday evening that the town drinking water is safe. He objected to his town residents being notified by robocalls to conserve water without the call making it clear the water is safe to drink. (See Mr. Feiner’s e-mail to residents later in this report.)

Feiner assured Greeburgh residents are only being asked to conserve water usage, after he received many calls on his home answering machine in response to robocalls from the County Department of Health telling residents to conserve water. The call did not make clear tap water in Greenburgh is safe to drink.

In the official press release from Westchester County to Elmsford, Greeburgh, Irvington, Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown and Grasslands, the county does not make clear the water is safe to drink, in Feiner’s opinion. He also expresses shock that his office was not made aware of the robocalls.

The press release from the county reads as follows:

Residents of Elmsford, Greenburgh, Irvington, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown and the Grasslands campus, which is served by Water District No. 3, were strongly advised by the County Department of Health Friday evening to restrict their water use now through Sunday morning due to impacts from heavy rains and saturated ground caused by Hurricane Irene and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has advised the Westchester County Health Department that it will shut down the Catskill Aqueduct tonight due to high fecal coliform levels, which will limit water capacity in the aforementioned communities.

Residents are asked not to water their lawns, wash cars and to limit other non-essential use of water.

Water suppliers in these communities also have enacted water use restrictions and notified their customers.

For more information, residents should contact the company that supplies their public drinking water.

Mr. Feiner in a letter to residents released at 10:40 P.M. Friday evening wrote:

“DON’T WORRY. WATER IS SAFE TO DRINK. WHEN I GOT HOME I HAD MANY MESSAGES FROM RESIDENTS WHO RECEIVED an automatic phone message from another government entity, NOT THE TOWN ABOUT GREENBURGH WATER.

MY OFFICE WAS NOT ADVISED THAT CALLS WERE BEING MADE. THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS AND THE POLICE CHIEF WERE ALSO NOT ADVISED OF THE automatic phone calls. SOME RESIDENTS STARTED TO PANIC, BECAUSE OF THE PHONE MESSAGES, BELIEVING THAT THE WATER IS NOT SAFE.

I SPOKE WITH THE POLICE CHIEF AND COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS. THIS IS A MEMO THAT THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS SENT. I AM ALSO FORWARDING A COPY OF THE RELEASE SENT OUT BY THE COUNTY.

A lesson was learned. If automatic phone messages pertaining to water safety are sent out by the county or by any other government entity, local elected officials should be advised. I have many phone messages on my home machine and will try to get back to everyone.

I am sorry if people were upset or stressed out over the phone message you received. Again, the water is safe.

I intend to discuss this incident with the Town Board, Public Works Commissioner, Police Chief and county officials. If the water department is swamped with calls -a message on their answering machine should be posted explaining the situation. We will learn from this.

PAUL FEINER

From: Victor Carosi (Greenburgh Commissioner of Public Works)
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 10:14 PM
To: Joseph DeCarlo; Paul Feiner; Town Board; Timothy Lewis; Charles Martins; John K. Devany
Subject: Re: water is safe to drink in Greenburgh

The Town of Greenburgh water is SAFE to drink. The Town is asking our users to conserve water this weekend as we will be supplying drinking water to other communities while their supply from the Catskill system is suspended. The Town receives water through the Delaware system which is not affected by the current problem.

Again, the water provided to the Town of Greenburgh Water District remains safe to drink.

Victor Carosi

Insurance Will Pay Loucks Field Repair. Drains Unable to Handle Rainfall Amount

Posted on September 8, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. September 8, 2011:

The New York State insurer for hundreds of school districts will pay for repairs to the three year old $5.4 Million Loucks Field storm damage inflicted by Hurricane Irene, the School District Assisstant Superintendent for Business, Fred Seiler told WPCNR today.

After an inspection by a representative from New York State Insurance Reciprocal, Wednesday, the inspector found the three year old Field Turf installation at Loucks could not handle “the excessive amount of rain” (6.2 inches over two days) Hurricane Irene had poured on the field over 15 hours..

According to Seiler, the expert said fields like Loucks can only handle about 3 inches of rain. Seiler added “the underground drains, the rain was too much for them to handle.”

Since the 6.2 inches were delivered by Hurricane Irene that caused the wrinkles which were discovered on the field Monday of last week, the field has sustained 4.81 inches more rain (according to the Westchester County Airport) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Seiler reported the expert indicated that work needed to be done on the drain system under the field to prevent this from happening in the future.

Seiler said that LandTek, the installer of the field would be handling the repair work, and could do the job in three days. However, before repair can start Seiler said “we need a few days of dry weather.” The work will consist of “ironing out” the wrinkles and cleaning out portions of the drainage system. If the work started next week, Loucks could be ready for play by the scheduled football opener at Loucks Friday, September 16 ,Seiler said.

Asked about whether the drainage efficiency of the slopes on the west side of the field (where stands are installed) had to be addressed again to carry water away from the playing surface or around the playing surface, Seiler said the school was in the process of hiring a new Director of Facilities and that would probably be “looked at.”

When excessive water came out from under the stands in January of 2009 the contractors blamed clogged drains at the base of the stands for the outflow and the school district also undertook drainage installation at the north end and south ends of the stands. Asked if a drainage study was done of the slopes the stands rest on before construction, Seiler said he was not sure.

One of the motivations for creating a synthetic turf field at Loucks was to prevent the drainage problems the natural turf field had for decades so the playing field would always be usable no matter how much precipitation fell.

Today, the district issued a press release officially announcing the field was closed, reading,

WHITE PLAINS CLOSES LOUCKS FIELD

White Plains Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher P. Clouet has announced that Loucks

Field, at White Plains High School, is completely closed until further notice, due to damage from

Hurricane Irene. He said the district is working with its insurance carrier to establish a timeline for

repairs to the field.

The school’s football team has been practicing at Parker Stadium, at the Highlands Middle

School, and early season games could be played there, if necessary.

Please see the district’s website, www.whiteplainspublicschools.org for updates.

How to Apply for Federal Irene Disaster Aid

Posted on September 7, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Office of Assemblyman Robert Castelli, 89th Assembly District. September 7, 2011:

Some of the hardest hit areas by Hurricane Irene are located in the 89^th Assembly District, and Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli is asking local leaders, consumers, and businesses to access resources dealing with insurance issues that arose because of the storm.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses can begin applying for assistance by registering online at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-3362.

Disaster assistance applicants who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY should call 1-800-462-7585 directly. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS) should call 1-800-621-3362. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

The State Department of Financial Services (DFS) is available to provide insurance assistance to New Yorkers. DFS representatives will be available to directly assist New York residents and small businesses as they file storm-related claims. The DFS will also hold public forums in these region to answer questions from New Yorkers about the insurance process.

Westchester County is currently eligible for the following types of Federal assistance:

Individual Assistance (Assistance to individuals and households).
Public Assistance (Assistance for debris removal, emergency protective actions and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities). Direct Federal assistance has been authorized.
The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (Assistance for actions taken to prevent or reduce long-term risk to life and property from natural hazards). All counties in the State of New York are eligible to apply for assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

Representatives from the DFS will be meeting with both consumers and businesses to address any and all insurance issues they may still have in the wake of Hurricane Irene. The DFS has already issued tips for policyholders and a fraud alert, which are available on the DFS website: http://www.ins.state.ny.us.

Assemblyman Castelli urged residents by the storm to call the Department of Financial Services Disaster Hotline at 1-800-339-1759 or to visit the DFS website if they have any questions.