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)

Tigers Fall to Kingston, Ending Another Run at the States

Posted on March 4, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR COURTSIDE. February 4, 2008: Kingston defeated White Plains High’s Girls Basketball team today in New Paltz, 52-33 ending the Tigers’ fourth straight trip to the State Championships. White Plains ended the season with a record of 15-11, capturing their fourth consecutive Section 1 Class A Championship.

Yonkers Can’t Use Gestapo Tactics Against the Press, Judge Rules

Posted on March 4, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR PRESS ROOM. From Westchester Guardian. March 4, 2008: U.S District Court Judge Charles Brieant ruled that Yonkers and its Administration Practiced Content Based Discrimination when selectively targeting the Guardian Newspaper and confiscating their Newsracks and subjecting Sam Zherka the Publisher and his employees to criminal summonses and threats of arrest for distributing the Guardian in Yonkers NY.

Sam Zherka, says this is a great Victory for the Press and the First Amendment.

County Association Seeks Private Investors to Build a New Tappan Zee Bridge.

Posted on March 4, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR TAPPAN ZEE TIMES. From Westchester County Association. March 4, 2008: Citing the New York State Comptroller’s recent assertion that New York State literally cannot afford to pay for a replacement or even a major rehabilitation of the Tappan Zee Bridge—estimated at more than $14 billion—The Westchester County Association (WCA) today announced that it is aggressively exploring privatization of the bridge as perhaps the only practical way to resolve the bridge crisis. The Comptroller suggested a public/private partnership approach to the problem.

William Mooney, President of the Westchester County Association in January with Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, at the WCA Breakfast with Andy Spano event, when Mr. Spano called for private investment to take over infrastructure improvements.

William M. Mooney, Jr., President of the area’s preeminent business organization, said that the WCA has reached out to a number of Wall Street firms that have started ”infrastructure funds.” He said: “The burden of maintaining and repairing infrastructure elements such as the Tappan Zee Bridge that was built in the 1950s is becoming financially prohibitive for government entities. This arguably is the single most crucial element in our regional infrastructure, and it would be irresponsible to not explore all alternatives to financing reconstruction.”

”In Europe, a shift toward privatization has been underway for quite some time. Now, there is growing interest in the U.S. as evidenced by both states and cities exploring the sale of leases for the turnpikes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, a toll road in Texas and Chicago’s Midway Airport.”

Mooney added, “We believe that elected officials have the responsibility to explore all avenues to finance our infrastructure, both public and private, to find the best solutions to maintain and upgrade our infrastructure in a way that will not put an additional tax burden on the citizens of Westchester County.”

Last October, the WCA’s Property Tax Reform Commission recommended that privatization be considered to address the county’s infrastructure problems, notably the Tappan Zee Bridge “With state and local leaders scrambling for cash to solve fiscal problems, conditions are now ripe to put privatization on the table for our Commission members to probe further,” Mooney added.

He noted that Comptroller DiNapoli “provided a new sense of urgency. By laying it on the line as bluntly as he did, Comptroller DiNapoli has presented our business community and our elected officials with a challenge to seek a creative solution. The band-aid approach of repairing the Tappan Zee Bridge is only a stop-gap. Everyone agrees that the bridge is in dire need of replacement. The question, then, is how that will be funded.”

Added Welfare and Juvenile Detention Costs to Increase Cty Property Tax Burden

Posted on March 4, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR COUNTY TICKER From New York Association of Counties. March 4, 2008 (Edited): The 2008-09 Executive State Budget proposes two substantial cost shifts that will be added to county budgets and the local property tax burden. According to county calculations, the Executive Budget will require counties and the City of New York to pay at least $27.5 million in the current budget year and $50 million in the next from an increased share of welfare benefits and the full cost of local youth detention facilities.

Hudson Valley County officials convened in Westchester this morning to hold a press conference to discuss how the cost shifts proposed 2008-09 Executive State Budget would have an immediate and direct impact on New York’s counties and county property taxpayers. The press conference was one of a series of events being coordinated by counties across the state to voice opposition to the costs shifts in the proposed state budget budget.

“The state has traditionally viewed its counties as equal partners in sharing the costs of the public assistance and youth detention programs. But we have never been partners on policy decisions or how to best control costs,” said Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano. “George Steinbrenner and his family own more than 51 percent of the Yankees so they get to make all the spending decisions for the team. If the Governor’s proposed budget stands, it would change the historic state/county relationship by requiring counties to pay the majority share for state-mandated programs. There would be no partnership at all. We would be paying more than the state, but still lack control over management. Steinbrenner would never have allowed this and neither should we.”

Spano was joined by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who serves as the president of the New York State County Executives’ Association; Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef; Orange County Executive Ed Diana; Putnam County Deputy Executive John Tully; Westchester County Legislators Bill Burton, Peter Harckham and Vito Pinto; NYSAC President Lucille McKnight and NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario.

“These are unjustified and unacceptable cost shifts that will have a direct cost to county property taxpayers,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, the president of the New York State County Executives Association. “The property tax burden is already breaking the backs of our homeowners and businesses. The State cannot close the state budget gap by shifting more of the cost to county taxpayers. That burden is already a major cause of our economic stagnation and decreasing population.”

“This is a step in the wrong direction,” said Orange County Executive Ed Diana. “It makes no sense to balance the state budget on the backs of New York State property taxpayers, who are already paying the fourth highest property taxes in the nation.”

“This budget is a direct contradiction of promises the Governor made at the NYSAC conference last year. He said then, and I quote directly from his address – ‘Our commitment to reducing unfunded State mandates will be measured not in words, but in dollars.’ Either he was disingenuous then, or he doesn’t understand his own budget,” said Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef.

“There is a direct correlation between the decisions made in this state budget proposal to the local property tax burden in New York State. Even as we try to put the focus on our solving our property tax crisis, state leaders shift more of the burden on our homeowners and businesses,” said NYSAC President Lucille M. McKnight, an Albany County Legislator.

“Most of what we do—as high as 80 percent of our spending—is mandated by the state,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario. “When the state unilaterally alters traditional funding partnerships with its local governments, we at the local level have two choices—cut services or raise taxes.”