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)

Hockley Proposes SAT Academy for WP Where Students Would Be Paid to Attend

Posted on February 25, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. February 25, 2008: Councilman Glen Hockley, concerned about White Plains youths not getting all the Scholastic Aptitude Test preparation they need to be admitted to college because they have to work during the summers , is bringing community leaders from White Plains, the Town of Greenburgh and Westcester County tomorrow evening to discuss setting up an SAT Academy Summer program where teens would be paid $7 a hour to take courses in preparing for the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The meeting is at 7 PM at the Thomas Slater Center, South Lexington Avenue.

Councilman Glen Hockley of White Plains with Gregorio Malena, (left) Vice Consul of the Dominican Republic Mission to the United Nations. Mr. Hockley has worked closely with Mr. Malena to ship thousands of dollars of food and relief supplies donated by White Plains businesses to the flood-ravaged Dominican Republic

Hockley explained, “Currently, the one issue that this city, this county, this country is missing the ball on, is the future of our youth. We’re only as good as our youth as far as going forward obviously, and we must, we must stop only talking about our successes because we need to address the kids who are failing, failing themselves, failing their future. We need to help them get over the hump. Everyone doesn’t necessarily have to go to college…we need to do is to make a success out of kids so they have a future that is complimentary to who they are. Aside from that, the kids who are made for college which we need to give everybody a crack at, a lot of these young people are not doing well, especially those who are coming from low-income families. There’s a lot of stress in the household. Unfortunately, many of them are attracted by negative energy out there. We do have gangs, drugs, alcohol, and we have trouble out there after school. Some of these kids we can help. Hopefully many. Whether we have similar programs out there or not, it doesn’t matter. What you read is about affordable housing and open space. We need to have the headlines start to talk about our young people and the future. Because we won’t have one unless we start applying interest in that area.”

Hockley said that Councilwoman Sonia Brown of Greenburgh has introduced a growing program which has several dimensions to it. One is an SAT Camp that goes for two months in the summer.

“During the summer a lot of kids from low income families go out an get a summer job which is a noble thing but it takes up there time. But they need to prepare for college, for SATS and score better scores. One way to get them to be incentivized is to pay them to go to SAT Camp. I’ve talked to some families, some kids, they all seem to be excited by that. Maybe pay them in the area of $7 an hour for 20 hours of camp. They would also get college preparation training, apprenticeship opportunities and education and all the details of this kind of program tomorrow night.”

Hockley will be hosting the program at 7 for community leaders. Ms. Brown will be presenting a power point presentation on the concept. In attendance will be Frank Williams from the White Plains Youth Bureau, religious activists, organizational business people and Tracy Mitchell, the Director of African-American Affairs for Westchester County, and some young adults who have been directly involved with youth.

Hockley said he felt that private funding was available to fund the program.

Yonkers Team Image Wins 1st National Synchro Medal

Posted on February 22, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR RINKSIDE. February 22, 2008: Team Image Synchronized Skating Team of the Yonkers Figure Skating Club, last team to skate in the 12-team Intermediate Competition at the USFS Synchronized Skating Championships in Providence, Rhode Island today, skated a 58 to secure 4th Place and the Pewter Medal in the tough Intermediate Division. It was Coach Sylvia Muccio’s first national medal in synchronized skating, and capped a splendid season for the teens from Yonkers and Murrays Rink. The 4th Place 58.20 points posted in the 4 minute skate featured control, splendid pronounced edges, grace and power as they skated to tango themes and their finish was just 5 points away from the first team, the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Blades, Team Del Sol of San Diego and the Chicago Jazz. It was a glorious and historic afternoon for the Team Image girls!

Medal Land! Team Image performing at the Synchronized Skating National Championships in Providence, Rhode Island today.

The Scores Go Up! Team Image Medals!

Meanwhile at Camp Chill: Future USFS Champs Work on Axels, Wallys and Ducks

Posted on February 20, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR RINKSIDE. February 20, 2008: It’s vacation week for White Plains Schools and Kristen Fuerst’s Camp Chill in perfect skating weather at Ebersole Rink is goin on. Over thirty youngsters from tots to teens are skating from 8:30 in the morning to 12:30, working on power speed classes, in jump and spin clinics, Choreography and instruction in Moves in the Field the footwork patterns and edges required at the escalating United States Figure Skating levels. The day starts with complimentary donuts and juice, then the ice is theirs — with inside exercises — and plenty of ice time with the professional Ebersole Figure Skating School Staff.

Jump Class in Session, Chillin Out at Ebersole Rink Camp Chill Wednesday morning.

As the Big Skaters handle the big jumps, the younger skating apprentices practice choreography in side the Warming House.

Hey Mom! I landed it! Allison Fuerst, demonstates her new Axel for Ebersole Skating School director, Kristen, her mom. Allison landed her first clean Axel jump in Jump Class Wednesday – a great moment in a young skater’s life — that she will never forget.

The Camp Chill program complete with T-shirts and plenty of individual one-on-one instruction is much better than watching television, and the concentration on skills over an extended series of classes introduces skaters to the nuances of the sport, corrects, polishes, and moves them to “the next level.”

Chill runs every winter break at Ebersole, and has been going for at least fourteen years.

Skating School Director Kirsten Fuerst congratulates her daughter, Allison on landing her first Axel jump.

Revise State Aid Formula for Cities Towns, DiNapoli Says

Posted on February 20, 2008 by John Bailey

WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the State Comptroller’s Press Office. February 20, 2008: The 50-year-old formula New York State uses to provide aid to local governments needs a complete overhaul to ensure localities are getting their fair share, according a revenue sharing report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The report found that 279 small “urban” villages would receive millions in additional state aid if the revenue sharing formula took into account characteristics these villages share with small cities, such as population, rather than historical municipal labels.

The 50-year-old formula New York State uses to provide aid to local governments needs a complete overhaul to ensure localities are getting their fair share, according a revenue sharing report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The report found that 279 small “urban” villages would receive millions in additional state aid if the revenue sharing formula took into account characteristics these villages share with small cities, such as population, rather than historical municipal labels.

“The terms ‘city,’ ‘town,’ and ‘village’ have more to do with history than present day governmental functions,” DiNapoli said. “The current formula for state aid ignores the reality that many villages and towns have surpassed cities in size and provide similar services. In the interest of fairness, the state’s decades-old revenue sharing formula needs to change. But increased assistance for villages and towns shouldn’t come at the expense of cities.”

NYCOM Executive Director Peter Baynes said, “This report highlights what NYCOM has been saying for years that cities and villages are contending with many of the same fiscal challenges and therefore they all, regardless of class, deserve a predictable, equitable and adequate level of state assistance. Furthermore, our 2008 Legislative Program calls for a revenue sharing formula that not only reflects rising costs, but also considers the need demonstrated by each municipality, as well as the types and levels of services provided. We appreciate State Comptroller DiNapoli’s efforts to help bring these issues to light and, in turn, strengthen our case for increased state aid to local governments.”

The state’s revenue sharing program was once a stable revenue source for local governments, providing them with a predictable, flexible source of unrestricted state aid. But after the state’s fiscal crisis in the early 1990’s, local aid was dramatically cut and then future increases were primarily directed to cities. By 2005, more than half of all revenue sharing funds went to cities.

There are 553 villages and 61 cities (excluding New York City) in the state. There are 279 villages that are similar in structure, demography and financial condition to 52 cities. These smaller “urban” villages provide many of the same services as cities such as police, fire, libraries, water, sewer and garbage collection. In 2006, revenue sharing constituted 9.3 percent of total revenues for downstate cities and 5.4 percent for upstate cities. Revenue sharing for these villages on the other hand made up only one percent of their total revenue.

The report provides two scenarios of what state revenue sharing for these villages would look like if they had received more equitable aid distributions. Under one scenario, if aid had been distributed based on similar municipal characteristics rather than municipal labels they would have received $109 million in state funding in the 2007-08 fiscal year, compared to the $16.9 million they actually received. Under another model, these villages would have received $27.6 million as compared to $16.9 million had they benefited from similar increases in aid as cities over the past decade. While the report primarily focused on villages, a similar situation would apply to many urban towns.

To view the report, visit: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/research/researchbrief.pdf

For a copy of the 2006 report examining New York’s outdated classifications of local governments, visit: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/research/munistructures.pdf