WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From Westchester Jewish Community Services. February 12, 2005: WJCS, a respected provider of learning services in Westchester for nearly 40 years, is launching an SAT Prep Program to help students get ready for the newly designed SAT format. Offering both small-group (up to four students) and one-on-one instruction, the ten-week, two-hour sessions will cover reading, math and written language skills. An affordable, premium alternative to private instruction or large impersonal classroom programs, the WJCS modules will be held at the WJCS Headquarters at 845 N. Broadway in White Plains. Evening and weekend scheduling will be available.
“Our SAT Prep Program will offer small group or individualized instruction that can either tackle test-taking skills or focus on a student’s particular ‘problem areas,’ which will be identified through pre-testing,” explains Louise Albin, MA, Director of the WJCS Weinberg Learning Center, under whose auspices the course is offered. “The teaching, drilling and tutoring will be customized based on individual needs. Periodic testing will be used to assess each student’s progress and adjust the program. For instance, the number of sessions can be extended beyond ten weeks to meet student’s needs.”
According to Ms. Albin, the College Board will introduce a new SAT format in March 2005. Changes will include the requirement of a student essay, elimination of verbal analogies and quantitative comparisons, the addition of shorter reading passages and incorporation of new content from third-year college preparatory math.
The essay component, especially, has increased apprehension for both students and parents. “The changes are designed to better align the test with current curriculum and institutional practices in high school and college,” adds Ms. Albin. “However, because it is a new and unknown entity, the test is causing both parents and teens a high degree of stress. We can help alleviate anxiety by providing test-taking skills, strategies and experience with the test format, helping students to feel comfortable and confident.
“Our program is not a ‘cookie cutter’ course, but rather a customized approach to teaching which leverages students’ strengths while addressing identified target areas. The process will be directed so that each student can gain the techniques and information necessary for success – not only for this test but for future academic pursuits.”
The WJCS SAT PREP Program offers a high quality, affordable alternative to private tutoring and class-size sessions. For individuals a two-hour, 10-session program at $85 per hour for a total cost of $1,700 is suggested. For a small-group (up to 4 students), the two-hour, 10-session program costs $2,400 divided by the number of students in the group. To assure preferred start date and time students can arrange their own groups; WJCS will provide the learning specialists.
The WJCS Weinberg Learning Center has been providing evaluations and remedial services in Westchester since 1967.
For more information about the WJCS SAT Prep Program, call 949-7699, 596 or email [email protected].
Roberta Gratz, White Plains Urban Consultant Talks Cities at Purchase
WPCNR REPORTER ABOUT TOWN. From Anne Brady, Purchase College. February 11, 2005: Roberta Brandes Gratz, who visited with the City of White Plains when the city was considering the City Center project, well-known urban critic, award-winning journalist, observer of cities and author of two highly regarded books on urban development issues, will discuss “Cities Rebuilt, Cities Reborn: Is There a Difference?” at a Natural and Social Sciences Lecture at Purchase College on February 17 at 5:30 PM, Room 1001, Natural Sciences Building.
Ms. Gratz speaks in cities and towns across the country and often spotlights the development problems and prospects of local places. She will answer questions from the audience following her presentation.
A former award-winning reporter for the New York Post, Gratz is the author of The Living City: Thinking Small in a Big Way and Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown. In February 2003 Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed her to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. She serves as Trustee and former head of Public Policy of the New York State Preservation League; Vice President of the Salzburg Conference on Urban Planning and Development; founder and President Emeritus of the Eldridge Street Project, the effort to restore the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and to establish a Jewish Heritage Center on the site; a founder and current board member of the Writers Room, the first urban writers’ colony in the United States; and a board member of the Project for Public Spaces. She has served on the New York Governor’s and Mayor’s Task Force on Planning Manhattan’s West Side Highway and Waterfront, and as a trustee of the Village of Ocean Beach. She also founded the Fire Island Historical Society.
Her articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Magazine, The Nation, Tikkun, Planning Magazine, New York Newsday, the Daily News, and New York Magazine, among others.
Ms. Gratz travels frequently across the United States and to Central Europe and Great Britain to lecture and consult on urban revitalization issues.
Winnie the Pooh Returns to the City Center Cinema de Lux
WPCNR SCREEN GEMS. From National Amusements. February 11, 2005: Hitch, the new Will Smith picture, about the dating service game rolls this weekend at the City Center Cinema de Lux in White Plains. Winnie the Pooh, the bear without peer, arrives in Pooh: The Heffalump Movie. Here are the schedules for the White Plains Movie Weekend:
HITCH — Will Smith stars in this romantic comedy as a slick matchmaker and dating coach who helps those having difficulty finding and keeping a mate. The tables are turned once he falls head-over-heels for a woman (Eva Mendes) and shows that he also has some rough edges that need smoothing out. Rated PG-13
POOH’S HEFFALUMP MOVIE — Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and friends are back for their latest series of big screen adventures which features a giant purple elephant called a Heffalump! Rated G
Today, Friday February 11, 2005
Million Dollar Baby (PG-13) –12:15 pm. ;
Million Dollar Baby **(PG-13) –3:10; 6:30; 9:35 pm; 12:25 am. ;
IMAX – Aliens of the Deep (G) –10:00; 11:30 am; 1:00; 2:30; 4:00; 5:30; 7:00; 8:30 pm. ;
The Wedding Date (PG-13) –12:10; 2:25; 4:40; 6:55; 9:10; 11:20 pm. ;
Boogeyman (PG-13) –12:00; 2:10; 4:20; 7:35; 10:15 pm; 12:30 am. ;
Meet the Fockers (PG-13) –1:30; 4:15; 7:05; 9:40 pm; 12:30 am. ;
Hitch (PG-13) –1:30; 4:20; 7:10; 10:00 pm; 12:35 am. ;
Are We There Yet? (PG) –12:20; 2:40; 4:55; 7:20; 9:50 pm; 12:00 am. ;
Hide and Seek (R) –12:30; 3:00; 5:30; 8:00; 10:30 pm; 12:45 am. ;
Sideways (R) –12:10; 3:10; 6:25; 9:20 pm; 12:10 am. ;
Racing Stripes (PG) –12:00; 2:05 pm. ;
In Good Company (PG-13) –4:10; 6:50; 9:25; 11:50 pm. ;
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (G) –12:30; 2:30; 4:30; 6:30; 8:30; 10:15 pm. ;
Coach Carter (PG-13) –1:10; 4:10; 7:15; 10:20 pm. ;
The Aviator (PG-13) –12:00; 3:30; 7:00; 10:35 pm. ;
Uncle Nino (PG) –12:25; 2:55; 5:20; 7:45; 10:10 pm; 12:35 am. ;
Hitch **(PG-13) –1:00; 3:50; 6:40; 9:30 pm; 12:05 am. ;
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Hitch **(PG-13) –1:00; 3:50; 6:40; 9:30 pm; 12:05 am. ;
Meet the Fockers (PG-13) –1:30; 4:15; 7:05; 9:40 pm; 12:30 am. ;
Uncle Nino (PG) –12:25; 2:55; 5:20; 7:45; 10:10 pm; 12:35 am. ;
The Aviator (PG-13) –12:00; 3:30; 7:00; 10:35 pm. ;
Coach Carter (PG-13) –1:10; 4:10; 7:15; 10:20 pm. ;
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (G) –12:30; 2:30; 4:30; 6:30; 8:30; 10:15 pm. ;
In Good Company (PG-13) –4:10; 6:50; 9:25; 11:50 pm. ;
Racing Stripes (PG) –12:00; 2:05 pm. ;
Hide and Seek (R) –12:30; 3:00; 5:30; 8:00; 10:30 pm; 12:45 am. ;
Sideways (R) –12:10; 3:10; 6:25; 9:20 pm; 12:10 am. ;
Are We There Yet? (PG) –12:20; 2:40; 4:55; 7:20; 9:50 pm; 12:00 am. ;
Hitch (PG-13) –1:30; 4:20; 7:10; 10:00 pm; 12:35 am. ;
Boogeyman (PG-13) –12:00; 2:10; 4:20; 7:35; 10:15 pm; 12:30 am. ;
IMAX – Aliens of the Deep (G) –10:00; 11:30 am; 1:00; 2:30; 4:00; 5:30; 7:00; 8:30 pm. ;
The Wedding Date (PG-13) –12:10; 2:25; 4:40; 6:55; 9:10; 11:20 pm. ;
Million Dollar Baby **(PG-13) –12:15; 3:10; 6:30; 9:35 pm; 12:25 am. ;
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Million Dollar Baby **(PG-13) –12:15; 3:10; 6:30; 9:35 pm. ;
The Wedding Date (PG-13) –12:10; 2:25; 4:40; 6:55; 9:10 pm. ;
IMAX – Aliens of the Deep (G) –10:00; 11:30 am; 1:00; 2:30; 4:00; 5:30; 7:00; 8:30 pm. ;
Hitch (PG-13) –1:30; 4:20; 7:10; 10:00 pm. ;
Are We There Yet? (PG) –12:20; 2:40; 4:55; 7:20; 9:50 pm. ;
Hitch **(PG-13) –1:00; 3:50; 6:40; 9:30 pm. ;
Hide and Seek (R) –12:30; 3:00; 5:30; 8:00; 10:30 pm. ;
Boogeyman (PG-13) –12:00; 2:10; 4:20; 7:35; 10:15 pm. ;
Racing Stripes (PG) –12:00; 2:05 pm. ;
Sideways (R) –12:10; 3:10; 6:25; 9:20 pm. ;
In Good Company (PG-13) –4:10;
City “looking good,” Commishette Says. Meeting Moody’s Projection:
WPCNR QUILL AND EYESHADE. By John F. Bailey.
The city, as Mayor Joseph Delfino mentioned in his State of the City Message, is running 12% ahead of last year’s pace in sales taxes. However, the beeps, boops and blips of city store and restaurant scanners slowed their pace during the holiday season October, November, December from the First Quarter (July, August, September) when sales were running 15.6% ahead.
WHITE PLAINS OFFICIAL SCORECARD: Six Months in the Books. The above figures show the sales tax collections in the current fiscal year, 04-05, through the first six months. $10,117,695 was collected in the First Quarter (July, August, September), and $10,760,486 in the Second Quarter (October, November, December). The percentage spread over and under compred to 2003-04 is at far right hand column, by month and quarter. Photo by WPCNR News.
Commissioner of Finance, Gina Cuneo-Harwood, who personally turned over the finance report to this reporter, commented the city was “looking good.”
As the city started January, the report has the city taking in $20,878,181 in sales tax the first six months. The city projected $37,698,723 for the year. It is on pace to hit approximately $42 million in sales tax receipts, leaving some $4 Million more sales tax revenue to make settlements with the police and fire unions (which expire June 30), manage certioraris, replenish the fund balance, and plug unforeseen financial leaks.
That $42 Million figure should be hit if the city maintains its $10 Million a quarter pace. In January to June of 2004, the city collected $9,691,617 in sales tax in Jan-Feb-March, and $9,240,938 in April May June, to just make its $38 Million budgeted sales tax figure for 03-04.
This year’s holiday season did $642,791 more in sales taxes than the summer first quarter (10,117,695), WPCNR’s early projections of a $45 Million sales tax take (with a 15.6% increase in the Christmas Quarter or more, fall by the wayside, unless the Albany coffers find major sales tax “windfalls” in the fourth quarter coming in with White Plains’ dibs on it.
The $642,791 jump from first quarter to second quarter, though it may be dissappointing, is the largest First Quarter to Second Quarter increase in 10 years. The previous largest increase quarter to quarter was $700,000 in 1995 when The Westchester opened.
What Might Have Been.
Doing the math, had the city simply sustained the 15.6% pace during the holiday season, retaining the First Quarter fast start, it would have generated an $11.5 Million Second Quarter and had approximately $21.5 Million and heading towards a $42 Million-plus Sales Tax total by June 30.
More to the point if the city had attracted more
Sales were up 7.5% over the holiday season of last year. It is nice to dream what would have happened had
An 18% increase over last year’s holiday quarter (which beeped up $10,013,674 in sales tax revenues), would have generated $11.8 Million in sales this year, and the city would be breathing a sigh of relief. Instead we tacked up $10,760,486.
Reality is that the city only generated $642,791 more in the second quarter this year (with
The rosy scenario WPCNR painted in October, a pipe dream of an 18% second quarter increase when we reported on the first quarter results, would have the city earning $21.8 Million and with sustained quarters of $10 Million plus each in the upcoming third and fourth quarters, the city would be pushing $44 Million in Sales (close to the heady $45 Million). That would give them a shot at a balanced budget even with the 4% Police and Fire pay hikes expected. It still could happen.
If the city equals last years numbers in the third and fourth quarters coming up, they will come in at $18.9 Million or $39.8 Million, a mere $1 Million in sales tax receipts over fiscal 03-04.
THE TOTALS AFTER 4-1/2 INNINGS: Last year’s Sales Tax Numbers appear in the left hand column for January,February, March 2004, and April-May-June, 2004, showing what the city brought in to narrowly tie up their projection at the very last moment in June 2004, to make their $38 Million project. The city is currently running $10.3- $10.4 Million a quarter (as noted in right hand column). Can White Plains wallets open up and sustain the first half sales tax flow to bring us into the promised land? Photo by WPCNR News.
On Target. No Margin for Error.
The good news is that the present city economy seems to be sustaining a $10.1 Million handle every quarter in the city. The $10 Million trend is up and growing. This generates a $20.2 Million second half, combined with the $20.8, first half would have the city hit $41 Million in sales tax revenue on the nose – the figure the city told Moody’s it expected to generate in fiscal 04-05.