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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. August 28, 2009: The Common Council convened this evening to take up the possible hiring of Lamb & Barnosky  for a fee of $108,000 a year as Labor Counsel for the city in among other matters the pending binding arbitration scheduled between the White Plains Firefighters and the city.

 

This binding arbitration process  is likely, once begun,  to set the potential pay raises for the other three major city  unions, the Teamsters, CSEA, and White Plains Patrolmans Benevolent Association. The matter was tabled August 3 at the request of Councilman Thomas Roach who wanted time to interview the law firm.

 

The council, without explanation voted to retable the consideration of the hiring until September 24, delaying the start of the arbitration indefinitely. That is not to say that negotiations may not be taking place, since Firefighter union head, Joe Carrier told WPCNR three weeks ago that negotiations could take place even while arbitration is going on.

 

The woes of the heretofore successful White Plains affordable housing program were brought into perspective by Commissioner of Planning, Susan Habel, who cited the lack of credit-stable applicants for affordable units, many of whom need credit counseling and restructuring of debt.

 

It has been speculated on the White Plains Week television program that an arbitration settlement could create a major budget problem for White Plains, locking the city into increases as much as 3% across all four unions (costing the city $2.2 Million, and necessitating an 8% property tax increase alone), )which the city most likely could not afford without looking at the possibility of major layoffs in the unions. The city is currently staring at a budget deficit of about $9 Million by WPCNR estimates based on the continued 13% decline in retail sales in the city..

 

Cappelli Enterprises to Seek Co-ops, Condo, affordable housing outside downtown. Council Does Not Object.

 

In another matter, Susan Habel, Commissioner of Planning told the Common Council that two Avalon Bay two-bedroom apartments were available to fill out two of the 13 units developer Louis Cappelli owes the city, (to persons she said with incomes 80% of the median income)  and that the city had two possible tenants for those two apartments.

 

Habel told the Council that the Cappelli organization is interviewing various other co-ops, condominiums and rentals elsewhere in the city outside the downtown area as possible affordable housing rental sites to persons whose income is 60% of the median income in the city. . She said that Bank Street Commons, the Gramercy, One City Place have all declined.

 

Affordable Housing Candidates Troubled with Low Credit Scores

 

Habel said that the city and the apartment complexes have had persons who qualify for the affordable housing stock, but who do not score a high enough credit score to be accepted by the building management. The score, she said sought is between 620 and 680. Many of the persons applying have severe credit record problems, she said.

 

Cappelli Enterpises: 13 months to build

 

Asked by Tom Roach when the  Cappelli organization would build his other owed units on Main Street, Habel said he had until October 2010 to get them started. These units WPCNR believes are located on Main Street where Cappelli Enterprises was intending to build a 12-story building of affordable housing, but is in dispute with the city on whether the building qualifies as a “high-rise building,” which requires more expensive accommodations according to the city code.

 

Habel said thecity has 4 affordable units now left, and that studio apartments would be opening at Avalon Bay in the spring with the opening of that complex’s townhouses.

 

She said the city is no longer getting the amount of feeder referrals it was getting two years ago  from corporations in the area, on the account of the current recession. The supply of persons interested in affordable housing units in White Plains is further aggravated by tightened credit requirements of the rental apartment complexes. Asked if affordable units would be rented at market rate, Habel said that the complexes were not allowed to do that, that the affordable units, once designated as affordable units had to remain empty and available.

 

Budget is not brought up

 

After those items were disposed of the Council went into Executive Session at 6:40 P.M. to look  at tax certiorari settlements, the sale of land and an environmental litigation issue.

 

No one on the Common Council brought up any discussion of the city’s current budget situation which was aggravated when the July sales tax collections were announced last week as being $500,000 off 2008 pace—indicating the fiscal year has begun with retail sales lagging behind 12.5%.

 

Should that continue the city would be facing a $6 Million shortfall in the expected collections in sales tax for2009-10. at the current spending pace.

 

WPCNR pointed out last week that the city has budgeted $47.3 Million in sales tax in 2009-10, has 400,000 square feet of retail space vacant, and should retail sales continue as they are – off 12.5% — that would only generate $41.3 Million in sales tax, not $47.3 Million, creating a $6 Million budget gap.

 

Meeting that gap at the end of the year, would wipe out the city fund balance and require, given a  3% union increase, an additional $2.2 Million in wages, and possible pension fund increases of millions more, the budget for 2010-11 is in serious condition already.

 

Yet, no one on the council brought the state of the budget up either before, or during the meeting.

WPCNR MILESTONES. By Peter Katz. Special to WPCNR. August 26,2009:  Upon hearing the news of the death of Senator Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy, happenings of a long time ago replayed themselves in my mind with such clarity that the events could have taken place yesterday.

 

Ted Kennedy, running for the U.S. Senate,1962

 

It was 1962, and I was majoring in Communication Arts (radio, t-v, journalism) at Boston University. Not content with just going to school, I also was reporting news for the school’s FM radio station, WBUR, while working on the news staff of commercial stations WHDH-TV and radio.

 

One of the biggest stories in Massachusetts politics was unfolding. John F. Kennedy had been elected President, and his former U.S. Senate seat was occupied by a friend of the family who was appointed by the Massachusetts Governor. The friend was going to step aside when Edward Moore Kennedy reached the age of 30, at which time  he would be eligible to run to fill the balance of JFK’s U.S. Senate term.

 

Ted would have to run in a primary against Edward McCormick, the Massachusetts Attorney General and a relative of House Speaker John W. McCormack, a sometimes Kennedy nemesis.

 

 On March 14, 1962, I went to the townhouse Ted and his wife Joan used while in Boston. That’s where he would be making his announcement that he would be running in a special election for the balance of John Kennedy’s unexpired Senate term. Believe me, going to this trumped going to classes any day.

 

They had moved all of the furniture out of the main floor, to make room for the reporters and cameramen. I remember sitting on the floor for part of the announcement and news conference. Back then, the camera equipment was quite bulky. Even the movie newsreels were there. I had one of the few portable tape recorders used on the streets by Boston radio reporters, and so sat up front since I didn’t have a long microphone cord. I‘ll bet I still have the original tape of that day somewhere in the basement.

 

Joan (Kennedy) was jaw-dropping gorgeous. At that time, I think I must have been convinced that only in a magazine could a woman be that beautiful. It was a rather friendly event, actually. Not as formal as you might have expected. Ted knew many of the reporters/cameramen. Joan was so personable that even if you wanted to sandbag Ted with a question about his allegedly cheating on exams at Harvard you forgot what you were going to ask.

 

I remember one of the questions I asked, since the question and answer were widely quoted in national wire stories and local newspaper coverage.  It was, paraphrasing, “Ted, you come from a very large family, have you lined up all of your family’s votes and do you think that will ensure your victory.” After the laughter subsided, he replied that he had managed to talk to most of the family and they assured him that he has their votes, but has had difficulty getting through to the President.

 

WHDH was owned by the Boston Herald Traveler newspaper, and the powers that be at the newspaper and broadcast stations had long ties to Joseph P. Kennedy, and were helpful in Kennedy politics. So, Ted was a frequent visitor to the studios and was always available for an interview when in town or via a trip to Hyannis Port.

 

On October 19, 1963, I was covering a special event at the Commonwealth Avenue Armory in Boston.  It was “New England’s Salute to The President,” a Democratic fund raising dinner. JFK was the principal speaker. Thousands attended.

 

While working the room with cameraman Jack Crowley and WHDH-TV anchorman Jack Hynes, son of the former Boston Mayor, we saw that Senator Kennedy was waiving furiously from the dais. He motioned us forward, and then got up and came to the front of the stage to ask us how everything was going, and tell us that the President wanted to say hello.

 

Were you ever on the receiving end of glaring, jealous looks from several thousand people? The President was in good form that night, making jokes about latching on to Teddy’s political coattails, and that Teddy didn’t want to win just because his name was Kennedy so he’s changing it to Teddy Roosevelt. We all know what happened just a month later.

 

In 1964, Kennedy had to run for a full six year term in the Senate. He was scheduled to address the State Democratic Convention in Springfield, Mass. WHDH-TV was covering the multi-day event with a live remote cameras, and I was working back at the studios putting together nightly special reports which preempted part of “The Tonight Show.” 

 

It was June 19, 1964, when Senator Kennedy and Senator Birch Bayh who was to be the keynote speaker for the convention, were flying to Barnes Airport near Springfield. The weather was bad, and the plane crashed. It took quite a while to confirm that the plane had crashed. The fate of the occupants was unknown for much of the night. It turned out that the pilot had been killed, and both Ted and Senator Bayh were seriously injured.

 

I spent most of the next day feeding CBS whatever facts and film we had. I then covered Ted’s months-long recovery, including interviews at the hospital with brother Robert Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson, who stopped in to visit Ted while campaigning through New England.

 

There were more encounters over the years, but what strikes me is that memories of the oldest ones, the ones I’ve related here, are still so vivid.