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)

Overtime Necessary When Police Staffing/Fire Staffing Depleted: Jackson

Posted on October 6, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. Continued Questions & Answers With Department of Public Safety Deputy Commissioner Daniel Jackson continues. October 6,2009 UPDATED October 7 1:15 A.M.: With the confirmation that the city hiring freeze long said to be in effect by the Mayor’s Office, has been lifted to staff up the Police and Fire Departments due to both departments being down 10 in each department (as provided for in the current 2009-10 budget), WPCNR forwarded obvious follow-up questions to Deputy Commissioner Jackson late Monday evening.

According to that interview conducted Monday with Jackson via e-mail, it appears that the new work schedules the police and fire personnel have been working the last nine months: 12 consecutive hour tours for the police, and 24 consecutive hour tours for the fire fighters, have not succeeded in cutting down overtime as much as was expected. Commissioner Jackson attributes this to the staffs being down. The department also faces chronic personnel shortages every year.

Jackson stressed to WPCNR Tuesday evening in a clarification statement that the new schedules were not designed to “eliminate” overtime, as stated by WPCNR in the previous paragraph: Jackson stated in an e-mail:

You asked about eliminating overtime not reducing it with regard to the schedules. Your assumption and editorial statement is incorrect in saying that the schedules have not cut down on overtime. The schedules have, in fact, reduced the amount of overtime needed to keep apparatus and police posts manned, as predicted. However, the vacancies coupled with the reduced OT budget compound the issue. Please correct that erroneous statement.

Jackson explained the need for the hires Tuesday, answering these WPCNR questions:

WPCNR: Are there plans to hire the other 10 next year?

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER DANIEL JACKSON: We always attempt to maintain minimal vacancies. When we get too far behind, it impacts operations and overtime. It takes considerable time to train an officer and a firefighter which factors in (overtime expenses).

WPCNR: Are we always going to be potentially 10 firemen and 10 police short? How many police and fire do we lose next year?

JACKSON : There is a good portion of both bureaus that are eligible for retirement at any time. Its hard to predict who will retire at what point. We almost always operate with vacancies, generally 5-10

WPCNR: Since the fire department is on the new extended 24 hour shift, why is there a personnel shortage?

JACKSON: The 24 hour shift has definitely helped our staffing issues.

However we still have to put firefighters on the apparatus – no work chart will solve the problem of too few bodies. It is like baseball – you need a first baseman, 2nd baseman, etc. Doesn’t matter how short or long the game is.

WPCNR: Same question with the police who are on the 12-hour shift. These new shifts were sold as being ways to eliminate overtime.

JACKSON: That is incorrect, the nature of police and fire work is such that you can never “eliminate” overtime and we never represented that.

We stated that the shifts would greatly reduce some types of overtime, and they have.

However, our overtime budgets have been greatly reduced which makes maintaining adequate staffing levels even more important than previous years.

WPCNR;Does Commissioner of Public Safety Straub have a statement on the new hires, and a justification of it?

JACKSON: My previous responses as well as the above represent the views of the department and the Commissioner.

Hockley Bradley Steel Cage Death Match at CNA

Posted on October 6, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2009: October 6, 2009:

The Candidates for Mayor of White Plains — New York State Assemblyman Adam Bradley and White Plains Common Councilman Glen Hockley — will take part in a Debate at the next meeting of the White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations (WPCNA) on Tuesday, October 13, 2009. White Plains Times Publisher Pat Casey will moderate the Debate.

Lou Bruno Co-President of the CNA requests residents to e-mail questions to be asked of the candidates to [email protected].

The debate presents intriguing falling out of bedfellows:

Hockley first came to prominence in the city in 2001 when he was nominated for Common Council by the Democratic City Committee. Adam Bradley was the then chair of the City Democrats. In the election that year, Hockley and incumbent city Councilman Larry Delgado were in a close race as returns came in. Returns from District 18, a heavily Republican District, were running with Hockley slightly ahead. The Republican Party challenged the result, and in the subsequent court case the machine was opened and the machine was found to be jammed. Judge Francis Nicolai of New York Supreme Court ruled that there should be a new election in the jammed machine district. Bradley, acting as Hockley’s attorney appealed the decision.

The Appellate Court in Brooklyn upheld Nicolai’s decision, declaring only that the election should be citywide. Bradley carried the Hockley standard to the New York State Court of Appeals which threw out the Nicolai/Appellate Court rulings, on the grounds argued by Bradley that the courts do not, in election law, have the authority to call for new elections. Subsequently, Delgado filed a quo warranto action with the Attorney General (then the ill-fated Eliot Spitzer), which subsequently ruled in 2002 that Delgado had to be seated (based on affidavit evidence showing voters who voted would have voted for Delgado) on the Common Council and Hockley removed.

Hockley won reelection in 2005, ousting Delgado from the Council. Now, ironically Hockley and the Westchester County Board of Elections are embroiled in another case that is being appealed in Appellate Court. Hockley failed to return his Certificate of Acceptance after submitting 2,000 signatures to get on the ballot in November as an Independent, prompting the Board of Elections to deny him the ballot on a paperwork technicality.

Ironically, too, Judge Francis Nicolai, three weeks ago ruled Hockley should be put on the ballot because the Certificate of Acceptance was primarily, in the Judge’s written opinion, a vehicle to refuse an unwanted nomination. The Board of Elections is appealing the case to the Appellate Court which has the case at this time.

Hockley has accused Bradley of being afraid Hockley will beat him, and instrumental in puppeteering the Board of Elections to contest the Hockley placement on theNovember city ballot. Bradley has said he welcomes an opponent, and has denied any manipulation of the Board of Elections. Hockley has claimed the Board of Elections is part of the Democratic Party power structure which refused to renominate Hockley for his seat on the Common Council.

WPCNR Report Confirmed by Public Safety: 5 New Police, 5 New Firemen to Be Hired

Posted on October 6, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. October 6, 2009: Deputy Commissioners of Public Safety Daniel Jackson and John Cullen officially confirmed the WPCNR discovery Monday afternoon that the White Plains Department of Public Safety is hiring 10 new “replacement” personnel: 5 police officers and 5 firefighters. Here are the details from Deputy Commissioner Jackson, official spokesman for the Department of Public Safety in response to WPCNR questions asked him early Monday evening:

WPCNR: I would like to confirm the Department of Public Safety is hiring about 10 new police and new fire personnel.

Jackson: Yes, we are planning to hire 5 firefighters and 5 police officers.

WPCNR: Could you give me the details.

Jackson: The hiring date is currently set for October 19.

WPCNR: Are these replacements for officers who have left?

Jackson: Yes, these are replacements for police officers and firefighters that have retired during this fiscal year.

WPCNR: Are they replacing personnel who are funded in positions not filled?

Jackson: Yes these retirements have occurred this fiscal year, their positions are funded. There are additional vacancies that existed at the end of the 08-09 FY and those positions are not currently funded and remain vacant. The hiring is only to fill currently funded positions.

WPCNR: Are these hires bringing the two divisions of Public Safety up to full strength?
Jackson: No, we have over 10 vacancies in both the police and fire bureaus so this effort will fill half of our vacancies.

WPCNR: What is the reason for the hires, considering there is a supposed hiring freeze?

Jackson: The reason for the hires is that we are approaching vacancy levels that are going to impact our ability to deliver the level of service that the city requires. The drastic reductions in our 09-10 overtime budgets ensure that as the vacancies get to these levels, the safety of the public will be impacted. The Commissioner (Dr. Frank Straub) has been consistent in his message to the council and the Mayor, once we get to 10 vacancies, operations and overtime are impacted greatly.

WPCNR: What is the present level of the Department? Are police and fire at full-strength?
Jackson: Both the police and fire bureaus each will still have 5 vacancies after this hiring so we are still not at full strength.

At the Common Council meeting Monday evening, Mayor Delfino introduced city employees who have completed 25 years of service, but did not make any announcement of the new police and firefighter hirings.

City Unfreezes Hiring Ban — Hires 5 Firefighters, New Police. Council Unaware

Posted on October 5, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. October 5, 2009: WPCNR News has learned that the White Plains Department of Public Safety will be hiring 5 new firefighters, bringing the Department of Fire up to about 165 persons,4 short of what the department is budgeted. WPCNR has also learned that approximately 10 new police officers will be hired as well, paid for in the current 2009-10 budget.

WPCNR has asked the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Public Safety for confirmation of these hires which were agreed upon about one month ago, according to a highly reliable source. Neither the Mayor’s Office nor the Department of Public Safety has confirmed or denied the new hires –which apparently, according to WPCNR sources, are “replacement” hires.

Councilperson Rita Malmud told WPCNR today the first time she heard of the new Public Safety hires was when WPCNR asked her about it this afternoon. Malmud, asked how this could happen when the city was supposedly in a hiring freeze, said the 2009-10 budget was passed, and in that budget a certain number of positions are allowed for, and that it is the Mayor has the discretion to fill those positions if they are funded. Last fall Mayor Delfino instituted a hiring freeze, but did not say that budgeted positions not filled were exempt.

The news of the hires comes when the city is reported facing a $12 Million budget deficit in the current year.