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)

Cappelli Enterprises Creates 24 Rooms for Ritz in 2nd Tower.Valhalla Move Delay

Posted on March 18, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. March 18, 2009. UPDATED 4:17 P.M. EDT: The Ritz Carlton Westchester and Cappelli Enterprises will soon expand the capacity of the Ritz luxury hotel on Main Street from 118 rooms to 146, beginning in two weeks. The additional Ritz accommodations have been built in the glass spire overlooking Hamilton Avenue, which previously was going to be occupied by Cappelli Enterprises.

Bruce Berg, Vice President of Cappelli Enterprises confirmed to WPCNR Wednesday that the Ritz will be expanding its capacity by 24 new luxury units which have been built for them by Cappelli Enterprises in the second Ritz complex building overlooking Hamilton Avenue. (seen in background beyond the entrance of the Ritz-Carlton)

Berg told WPCNR it is not a site plan or zoning change, but simply “moving the lot line, within the rights of the approved site plan.” Berg said the 24 additional rooms have already been built, He said they have received “Temporary Certificates of Occupancy” from the City of White Plains, but have not yet been turned over for the Ritz to manage.

In a statement issued to WPCNR moments ago, Geoffrey Thompson spokesperson for Cappelli Enterprises issued this statement:

The item before the Planning Board pertains to a lot line adjustment that results from the previously approved conversion of 20,000 square feet of office space on floors 4, 5, 6 and 7 in Tower 2 to create 24 additional hotel rooms (six per floor) for The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester. The additional rooms will be available beginning April 1. It will give the hotel 146 rooms. The added rooms will broaden the hotel’s market appeal and facilitate the booking of larger groups.

The move of the Cappelli Enterprises headquarters to Tower 2 has been put on hold to allow the company to stay focused on its largest project to date, The Concord in the Catskills.

Asked if this indicated the Ritz was operating at capacity, Berg said that Cappelli Enterprises and the Ritz agreed that adding the 24 rooms would give the hotel, currently at 200 rooms, “more flexibility in attracting the (corporate) meetings market.”

Cappelli Enterprises had previously indicated the firm, presently based in Valhalla , would be moving its headquarters to the Ritz complex second complex on Hamilton two years ago. Berg said this was not currently being planned.

Uncharted Live Line Fires Short. Blows WPHS Power. School ON. Puters Restored

Posted on March 17, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR THE POWER NEWS.By John F. Bailey. March 17, 2009 UPDATED March 18, 2009 9:30 A.M. E.D.T.: The Superintendent of Schools office reports this morning that School District computers are now up and running thorughout the district, and electric power has been restored to the high school after Tuesday’s power outage.

The North Street Community, owners of the 311 North Street property in a statement today attributed the cause of the White Plains High School power outage Tuesday morning to a mystery wire not shown on any Con Edison, Verizon or Cablevision utility maps. In a statement issued today to WPCNR from Geoffrey Thompson, spokesperson for the organization, North Street Community reports:

With regard to today’s electrical outage, the problem occurred when workers renovating the Westchester Medical Pavilion (311 North Street) were removing old, unused utility wiring where a new courtyard is being created. All utility lines on the property have been carefully traced by North Street’s engineers and by Con Edison, Verizon and Cablevision well in advance of the commencement of any construction work. The line that caused the problem dates back at least 50 years and was not shown on any utility maps of the property. When contact was made with the live line, it caused a short that ran back through the line to the street and resulted in the service interruption that affected surrounding properties. Ironically, power was not lost at the North Street site.

As of 4:30 P.M. yesterday, the high school power had been restored, according to informed sources, however the computer server which stages the complete City School District computer network has not been restored to service. This morning Wednesday the computers are back in service. Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors said Tuesday that the short circuit blew the transformers serving the high school, causing the power-out.

Persons experiencing the high school power down at 10:35 A.M. Tuesday told WPCNR “lights went on and off, then everything went dead.” They said there was no phone service, no e-mail, “nothing.”

Private Crew Severs Power Cable KO’s WPHS Electric-Kids Dismissed

Posted on March 17, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. March 17, 2009 UPDATED 2:35 P.M. E.D.T.: According to a Consolidated Edison spokesperson, Bob McGee, a private construction crew operating in the vicinity of the former St. Agnes Hospital facility severed one of Con Edison’s main underground power cables this morning at 10:35 A.M., Tuesday morning immediately cutting all power to White Plains High School and possibly part of New York Presbyterian Hospital, but McGee said they might have backup generator power.

All students at the school were dismissed for the day as of 11:30 A.M., Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors told WPCNR, when he was contacted at 2 P.M. North Street and Bryant Avenues were streaming with students as of noon today, walking home from school.

The Supertintendent told WPCNR as of 2 o’clock all power was still out, and that this had resulted in all school district computers being out of service. Mr. Connors told WPCNR Con Edision was working to get power back on and expected to have it restored by 4 P.M. this afternoon. Connors said the district server for all the computers at the district were at the high school and with lack of power, the system shut down.

Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Daniel Jackson told WPCNR the incident, which may have resulted in a fire was at the underground electrical vault at 311 North Street.

The Con Edison spokesperson said only the hospital and the high school were affected. The spokesperson confirmed that construction crews are supposed to contact Con Edison before working in the vicinity of their power facilities. The spokesperson said Con Edison was not notified in this instance.

Power is on in the Haviland Manor area slightly south of the high school.

MAYOR CALLS BUDGET & MANAGEMENT ADVISORY BOARD INTO EMERGENCY SESSION on CITY FI

Posted on March 17, 2009 by John Bailey

WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. March 17, 2009: The Mayor’s Office announced today that Mayor Joseph Delfino has called a meeting of the Mayor’s Budget and Management Advisory Committee for 7:30 P.M. Wednesday evening. The Committee currently is made up of Councilman Benjamin Boykin, Chairman, Larry Delgado, Timothy Sheehan, Eleanor McDonald, Patrick Austin, David J. Corcoran, Joseph Lenchner and Councilman Glen Hockley.

Speculation is that the current anticipated $9 Million or more “shortfall” in budget revenues due to soft sales tax, drop in mortgage tax, building and license fees, and declines in fines and forfeiture, and ways to deal with this year’s budget shortfall and how the revenue will be replaced in the 2009-2010 budget.