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)

Proton Accelerator Put on Hold by New York Presbyterian Hospital: Vendor.

Posted on January 28, 2005 by John Bailey

WPCNR EAST SIDE STORY. By John F. Bailey. January 28, 2005: New York Presbyterian Hospital is reported by Hitachi, USA as having pushed back plans for their proton accelerator project six months at least to midyear.

The reason given, according to Vito Cappello, Marketing Director for Hitachi North America is they are pursuing other matters, and that the proton accelerator project has been “back-burnered.”

NYPH DRIVING RANGE ON WARMER DAYS: Future site of proton accelerator-biomedical research facility, shown in 2002, now three years, four months from its approval in the making, and no earth has been moved. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

Cappello told WPCNR in an interview this week that there is no Director of Proton Therapy in place yet, to his knowledge, however Hitachi is still looking forward to building the proton accelerator when the New York Presbyterian Hospital decides to move forward.

New York Presbyterian Hospital received an extension of its site plan permit to build the proton accelerator-medical research facility on the old driving range portion of its property four months ago in September of 2004.

SITE OF THE PHANTOM PROTON ACCELERATOR, shown in the overhead map of the project, consisting of the two darker buildings and light green parking facility at the far left of the picture. Sites 4 and 5 to the right are not part of the construction. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

At that time the hospital talked about a ground-breaking in the spring. However, since the two buildings, the research facility and the proton accelerator are connected, it remains to be seen whether can start one, without starting the other, let alone find a research partner compatible with whomever builds the proton accelerator, whatever firm that may be.

Mr. Cappello said that from the time Hitachi signed a contract with the Hospital it would take 36 months for Hitachi to build the proton accelerator piece of the project. Cappello, when asked how Hitachi’s negotiations with the University of Pennsylvania will going to build the proton accelerator planned for Philadelphia, Cappello said that decision had not been made yet by the University of Pennsylvania.

WPCNR has asked for a statement from New York Presbyterian Hospital as to the reasons behind the delay, whether they be financial, or whether they plan to pursue the medical research portion of the proton accelerator first, but so far the Hospital has not clarified the situation for our readers.

The hospital has in the past, entertained a notion of requesting the Common Council to rezone portions of their property adjacent to Westchester Avenue “medical commercial,” and, in return the hospital would lease parkland of about 55 acres to the City of White Plains.

Mozartian Players play Purchase in February.

Posted on January 27, 2005 by John Bailey

WPCNR ORCHESTRA PIT. From Purchase College. January 28, 2005: The Purchase College Conservatory of Music Faculty Artist Series presents the internationally acclaimed Mozartean Players, featuring Professor Steven Lubin, in an early music concert February 25 at 8 PM in the Recital Hall of the Music Building. The concert is free and open to the public.

The evening’s program includes Mozart’s Sonata in E Minor, K.304, for violin and fortepiano, Beethoven’s Sonata in F, Op.5/1, for cello and piano, Haydn’s Trio in C, Hob.XV/27, and Mozart’s Trio in Bb, K.502.

Purchase College, State University of New York, is located at 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. For more information, call 914-251-6700.

The Mozartean Players, founded in 1979, is one of the oldest, continuously active, early music organizations in America. The group’s special focus is the idea of “historically informed” performance, involving the use of accurate period instruments and ways of approaching interpretation relevant to the period. In its initial decade from orchestral to varied chamber formats, the group reinterpreted the classical masterworks in period style in a long series of path-breaking and widely publicized concerts in major halls in New York City. The concerts and recordings of the Mozartean Players Classical Orchestra influenced other artists’ projects internationally, and led to Mr. Lubin’s monumental Beethoven-concerto cycle of recordings for Decca in London.

The current configuration of the group as a piano trio, unchanged since 1987, is comprised of Mr. Lubin, fortepiano, Stanley Ritchie, violin, and Myron Lutzke, cello. The group’s repertoire spans the era from Haydn through Schumann, the period during which the piano, starting as the delicate, five-octave, wooden-frame instrument of the Classics, changed gradually into the larger, early-Romantic piano. A large proportion of the group’s touring has involved Mr. Lubin’s readily transportable five-octave Walter fortepiano replica, performing trios of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven. The stringed instruments are accordingly in period disposition.

Steven Lubin, a founding member of the Mozartean Players, is one of the world’s premier fortepianists, sustaining a busy international career as a performer and recording artist. He is a professor of music at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase, and was the recipient of a Kempner Distinguished Professor Award in 2001. Mr. Lubin has served as soloist and conductor of The Mozartean Players Classical Orchestra in a five-year cycle of concerts at New York’s Metropolitan Museum and Alice Tully Hall, and in a series of Mozart-concerto recordings. His Decca recording of the five Beethoven concertos with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music was chosen as a Recording of the Year by The New York Times, Stereo Review and Gramophone, and was cited as the finest recorded Beethoven cycle available by the Penguin Guide.

Stanley Ritchie, an internationally recognized authority on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performance practice, joined The Mozartean Players in 1987. He has appeared as a soloist at festivals such as Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Lufthansa (in London). He has performed on modern violin in numerous tours and recordings as first violinist of the Philadelphia String Quartet, and concertmaster of the New York City Opera and Musica Aeterna Orchestras. He is currently on the faculty of the Early Music Institute and director of the Bloomington Baroque at Indiana University’s School of Music.

Myron Lutzke is one of the foremost American players of eighteenth-century cello. Equally active as a performer on both modern and period instruments, he is a member of the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Aulos Ensemble and the Bach Ensemble, and serves as principal cellist of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra. As a continuo player he has performed in the Metropolitan Opera production of Handel’s Julius Caesar and in Peter Sellars’ television production of the Mozart-DaPonte operas. Mr. Lutzke is a member of the Early Music faculty of the Mannes College of Music.

The concert is part of a residency the Mozartean Players are conducting at the Conservatory of Music on February 22 and 24, funded by the Chamber Music America Residency Grant Program. The residency focuses on the so-called Viennese classicism period, the era of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven (circa 1770-1800). Chamber Music America is a national non-profit service organization based in New York City that works toward promoting the art of chamber music in various ways.

Seven Puffs of White Smoke Emerge from City Hall. City Gov. Mum.

Posted on January 26, 2005 by John Bailey

WPCNR City Hall Circuit. By John F. Bailey. January 26, 2005: The announcement of the Mayor’s Comprehensive Plan Review Committee expected last Friday is now three days late, with no explanation forthcoming from the Mayor’s Office as to the causes of the delay. Meanwhile, WPCNR has learned that seven members have been chosen and agreed to serve.

They include John Martin (former chair of the 1997 Plan Committee), and Mary Cavallero(Chair of the White Plains Planning Board, as Co-Chairpersons, Anne Edwards (of the White Plains Beautification Committee, Ron Jackson (Community Advocate), Lewis Trippett (former member of the School Board), John Vorperian (Co-Chair of the Council of Neighborhood Associations) and Isabel Villar (Hispanic community activist). WPCNR attempts to elicit comment from City Hall as to how the list has been progressing and who is on it have not been returned, nor when the Committee is expected to be completed, have not been returned.

To date, three members of the Citizens Plan Committee whose own analysis of issues that require consideration prompted city hall to put together its own Review of how the 1997 Comprehensive Plan was achieved, have been placed on the comittee: Mr. Martin, Mr. Trippett and Mr. Vorperian.

Bradley Announces Assembly Passage of Election Reform Bill.

Posted on January 26, 2005 by John Bailey

WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. January 26, 2005: Assemblyman Adam Bradley (D-White Plains) announced Assembly passage of legislation to modernize the voting process and help New York comply with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002.

“We must do everything we can to ensure and restore faith in the integrity of our electoral process,” Bradley said. “This legislation will help New York comply with HAVA and improve the democratic process.”

The Assembly’s reform plan will implement the Help America Vote Act to make voting in New York easier and more accurate by:

· banning punch card ballots; requiring the adoption of a single type of voting machine with a voter-verified paper audit trail; and ensuring voting machines which are fully accessible to the disabled are present at every polling place (A.5);

· consolidating election operations at the county level – ensuring elections are run consistently and polling places are adequately staffed with well-trained workers (A.122);

· creating a statewide computerized voter registration list with proper privacy protections – helping to ensure voters get in and out of the polls quickly, record votes accurately and prevent voter fraud (A.121);

· establishing basic guidelines to ensure the disabled community has access to polling sites (A.120)

“In Westchester County where we have an undecided State Senate seat and a city council seat in White Plains, which has been at issue for years, we know firsthand the need for updated, accurate and verifiable election machinery,” Bradley concluded. “These measures will help ensure the integrity of our elections.”