WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. From the City Clerk. May 26,2011:
The Common Council will meet this evening at 5;30 P.M, to discuss trolleys in the downtown, imposing a smoking ban in White Plains parks, and will hold an Executive Session to discuss hiring a consultant, subject of the consulting is not disclosed.
The council will also later in the evening (at 6 PM) meet to pass the city budget of $160.5 Million, that will raise city property taxes 4.9%. (See previous story.)
WPCNR STOP AND GO. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. May 25, 2011:
In a unanimous vote Monday night, the Westchester County Board of Legislators authorized $4.075 million for improvements to North Street in the city of White Plains.
The North Street project involves the 2.52 mile stretch of roadway running from the Hutchinson River Parkway to White Plains Road. North Street has an annual daily traffic count of 12,059. It is expected to begin in July.
This project is sponsored by Legislator Bill Ryan (D-WF — White Plains, Scarsdale). Mr. Ryan chairs the Board’s public works committee.
In urging the County Board to authorize the bonding for the job, Legislator Ryan said “North Street is a major ‘gateway’ into White Plains and it needs corrective maintenance to extend the life of the roadway. Corrective maintenance now, will cost less than structural rehabilitation or reconstruction at a later date. This saves taxpayer dollars.”
In 2010, the road received a pavement condition index (PCI) of 67. The PCI is a pavement condition rating with a range of 0 to 100, with 0 signifying that the road requires reconstruction and 100 signifying that the road is new. With a rating of 67, the road requires corrective maintenance. “The planned improvements will provide a safer roadway for the thousands of motorists who use North Street each day,” stated Mr. Ryan.
The job calls for milling; resurfacing; catch basin repair; concrete curb replacement, as needed; new pavement markings; and the installation of two in-pavement bus pads.
“The job will be relatively quick, straight-line work,” explained Legislator Ryan. The current schedule calls for a July-August start-up.
North Street will be the fifth “gateway” road in White Plains to be improved by County projects sponsored by Legislator Ryan:
· $1.1 million Post Road upgrade focusing on curbs and sidewalks
· $2.0 million Central Westchester Parkway safety improvements
· $2.1 million Old Mamaroneck Road upgrade/improvements
· $5.1 million Mamaroneck Avenue upgrade/improvements
· $4.0 million North Street upgrade/improvements
Legislator Ryan has a sixth “gateway” road project in the pipeline for the city of White Plains: $2.33 million to improve North Broadway from Main Street to the White Plains-North Castle line. The project is currently in design with construction tentatively scheduled for 2012.
Mr. Ryan recently advised residents at the annual meeting of the North Broadway Citizens Association that he is working to “fast track” the job for a 2011 start-up as much of North Broadway’s road surface is in rough shape and progressively getting worse.
WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER.From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. May 24,2011:
The Westchester County Board of Legislators (BOL) voted Monday night to override County Executive Robert P. Astorino’s veto of the legislative re-districting plan, and now the new maps of the county’s seventeen districts will be in effect until the next Federal Census is completed ten years from now.
The vote, 12-5, was entirely along partisan lines.
The re-districting plan was initially approved and unanimously voted out of the Legislation Committee, chaired by Legislator John Nonna (D-Mount Pleasant), on May 2 by the Republican and Democratic committee members. Following two public hearings, where a total of eight people raised their objections, the plan was approved by the full Board again a week later, but on a partisan 12-5 vote.
When the County Executive vetoed the re-districting plan last week, without offering any alternative plan or idea of how to proceed with new re-mapping, BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins said, “The re-districting plan approved by the Board of Legislators was the result of a careful and thoughtful process that included full bi-partisan participation, open deliberations and well-publicized opportunities for comments and objections from county residents. In the end, the Board of Legislators adopted new district maps that are fair and hard to fault. The fact that the re-districting was completed extremely close to the existing lines, with necessary changes the result of population shifts, was clearly understood by most Westchester residents
The County is required to redistrict its legislative districts every ten years after the Federal Census. The principal reason for re-districting is to comply with the “one person, one vote” requirement mandated by the United States Constitution and New York State law. Voting districts must have substantially equal population. The basic standard for determining compliance with this mandate is that no district should be more or less than 5% of the average district population of approximately 55,000 people. State law also requires that districts be as compact and contiguous as practicable.
The Board received the federal census data in the last week of March 2011. This data revealed that two districts, District 1 (which includes the City of Peekskill and parts of the Towns of Yorktown and Cortlandt) and District 6 (which includes part of the Town of Harrison, and the Villages of Rye Brook and Port Chester) were not in compliance with the standard because they were more than 5% over the average population. Thus, adjustments had to be made to these districts by taking population away from them without making any other district non-compliant at the same time.
Dr. Andrew Beveridge, a consultant hired by the Board (and the low bid on the project), formulated the new re-districting plan for Westchester. In the end, he did not make any major changes to the County’s legislative districts, moving just 4% of the population. In comparison, a new re-districting plan on Long Island seeks to move over 40% of the residents from one district to another.
“After all the hard work that has been put into this, why spend another dollar and start the project from scratch when these new maps have raised so few objections?” asked Chairman Jenkins. “If the County Executive really thinks the re-districting is flawed, then he should step forward and explain to the taxpayers what he would do otherwise. As is, this is a fair plan for all of Westchester’s residents.”
Legislator Nonna said, “We made every effort to make sure that any changes requested by the legislators, the League of Women Voters and members of the public were discussed in the open at the Legislation Committee meetings. I am dismayed that the re-districting has become a political issue, and hope that we can move forward with the electoral process now that we have voted the new re-districting plan into law.”
“No re-districting plan is perfect, but we feel this one is fair,” Nonna continued. “Anyone can find something to disagree with in these instances when the mapping is finished. This plan, though, was created in an open and transparent process with bi-partisan participation, and that is hard to fault.”
WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor’s Office. May 24,2011:
Governor Andrew Cuomo and Assembly leader Sheldon Silver have announced an agreement in Albany on a 2% property tax cap for New York State. The details have to be worked out in the two houses of the legislature.
Early descriptions of the agreement indicate contributions that school districts make into the state pension system would be exempt partially from oroperty tax increase calculations of the 2% property tax increase allowed, and districts could adjust taxes if assessibles grew in value. The tax cap could also be overridden with 60 percent of a local school district vote. It should be noted that in the White Plains City School District, the school budget is routinely passed by over 60% of the voters.