Schwartz Shows at Grace, Spano No-Show. Ryan Got Money.

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. By John F. Bailey. December 9, 2004: As reported by WPCNR at noon yesterday, the County Executive officially is taking over to try and broker a deal on the Grace Church Samaritan House controversy by sending his Deputy County Executive Larry Schwartz to yesterday’s mystery meeting on Samaritan House, that was closed to the press. However the County Executive has not stated one way or another whether he feels Samaritan House should remain open or close, for want of $222,000. WPCNR has requested a statement from County Executive Spano on the matter.


 


Meanwhile, County Legislator William Ryan appears to have found that money, and then sum in the County Board of Legislators’ surplus budget.


 



 


SCHWARTZ HOLDS THE DOOR: WPCNR surveillance shows Larry Schwartz, Deputy County Executive, holding the door for D.S.S. Brass entering Grace Church Annex for the Mystery Meeting.  Photo by WPCNR News.


 


 





Tolchin denied the County Executive and Deputy County Executive were going to participate in the “Mystery Meeting” as reported by WPCNR three hours before the meeting was to take place yesterday,  when Reverend Janet Vincent of Grace Church revealed to WPCNR that the top two County Leaders were going to attend. Tolchin said yesterday at noon “it was not on the calendar.”


 



ENTER SCHWARTZ: Deputy County Executive, Larry Schwartz personally leading an entourage of Department of Social Services brass in a pedestrian procession from the County office building yesterday afternoon down Main Street and down Church Street,  arriving at 3:40 P.M., for the Mystery Meeting that County Executive Chief Advisor Susan Tolchin would not confirm Wednesday noon. Photo by WPCNR News.


 


 


Ms. Tolchin reported to WPCNR last night after the meeting that was “not on the calendar” that “The meeting was positive and productive, and will be followed up.”


 


 


 


However, no date for the next “Mystery Meeting” was set, according to Tolchin last night.


 


Ryan: County Legislators Have the Money to Save Samaritan House


 


Meanwhile the intrigue surrounding the closing of Samaritan House or the continuing of Samaritan House continues, but  County Legislator William Ryan has quite by accident isolated a source for funding the $237,000 needed to keep Samaritan House going.


 


 



 


County Legislator William Ryan. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.


 


Ryan and his spokesperson Gary Kriss have not returned WPCNR calls requesting details on his efforts to resolve the Samaritan House survival issue.


 


However, Mr. Ryan has the money. Mr. Ryan has reported to the media that the County Board is trimming its raises for each member of the County Board of Legislators, and that the County Board has under-spent its own budget by $312,000 – more than enough to fund the $222,000 give or take some thousands,  that Samaritan House says it needs from D.S.S. to continue operations.


 


The figure has been reported at various times by Grace Community Services Executive  Director Joseph D’Ambrosio to be $50,000, $300,000 or $222,000.


 


Mr. D’Ambrosio has not returned a WPCNR call to clarify the exact dollar amount, and why he was so confused over what his organization needed.


 


 However, the good news is the money is there, according to County Legislator Ryan’s statements to other media.


 


Ryan Says County has $27 Million Surplus.


 


To make matters more rosey for Samaritan House, the County Executive office is reporting the county will enjoy a $27 Million surplus at the end of this year, so the money to keep Samaritan House going, pending an examination in detail of its operations, if the Department of Social Services feels that is in order, is there.


 


Mr. Ryan reconfirmed that statement  about the $27 Million suplus in a media report out today. The county is also on record as providing a $30 Million bail out for the alleged mismanaged Westchester County Medical Center.


 


Why the Mystery? Is Cutting Staff O.K.?


 


WPCNR requested  last week through the Department of Communications an interview with Kevin Mahon, Commissioner of the Department of Social Services as to why the Department feels Samaritan House has to justify its price increases. Samaritan House has had its rent raised by $70,000 by Grace Church, which indirectly operates the House through its subsidiary, Grace Community Services.


 


WPCNR was told by staunch advocates of the wonderful work Samaritan House does,  that this was to make up the shortfall caused by staffing 9 persons to handle the 19-woman capacity of Samaritan House, when the shelter does not serve that capacity most of the year.


 


A request by WPCNR of Reverend Vincent for the number of clients it serves was met by the answer that she did not know.


 


Staff is Now Cut.


 


However, Samaritan House has been operating with three persons, 2 during the day and 1 at night, and a 4th person brought in from Open Arms, the Grace Community Services’ other homeless center for men.


 


Samaritan House is currently being allowed to continue operating with less than “required” staff. Apparently, the Department of Social Services is allowing them to operate the shelter at the level of three persons when they have 14 persons living there. Operating at reduced staff is apparently legal.


 


What does Department of Social Services Still Want?


 


The Mystery Meetings are mysterious because all the Department of Social Services wanted according to media reports, (D.S.S. has never returned WPCNR requests for comment), was for Samaritan House and Grace Community Church to justify the costs of their requested increases.


 


Grace Community Church has refused to do so.


 


The Department of Social Services has not accused Samaritan House and Grace Community Church of any wrong doing, though Grace Community Church has had significant bookkeeping problems in the past in their Day Care Program, as recent as 2002.


 


WPCNR asked the Department of Communications for details from the Department of Social Services on this Day Care Program problem and have not received any statements on those details, though the Day Care Director at the time, acknowledged to WPCNR that the errors happened and the over-billing was paid back.


 


Samaritan House Performance Numbers Requested.


 


WPCNR also asked the Department of Communications for details on the average stay of persons at Samaritan House. WPCNR asked how many persons had been rehabilitated and sent back into productive stable on-their-own living situations over the last several years. WPCNR has yet to receive those numbers from the Department of Communications.


 


 


The county’s new partner in placing the homeless back into productive, contributing lives, Pathways to Housing, an independent contractor with the Department of Social Services has had a great track record in placing homeless persons around the county and keeping them placed.


 


Requests by WPCNR with the Department of Communications  for Pathways to Housing numbers and placements of Samaritan House residents have also been requested, presuming Pathways to Housing has been given Samaritan House residents to place.


 


 


Residents Continue to Seek Warm Place for January 1. 14 Working Days Left.


 


Today’s date is December 9. Samaritan House has scattered its staff, having already fired six of its reported “required” staff for its mandated 19 capacity. Residents have 22 days, 14 working days to find new shelter before the cold fist of winter grips White Plains.


 


Residents of Samaritan House continue be assigned appointments to find them alternative housing as of January 1.  Residents are at this time scheduled for appointments with the county Intake Assessment Center. This would appear to mean that the Department of Social Services and the Samaritan House are in a decommissioning scenario.

Posted in Uncategorized

Fire, Police Make Two Rescues in smoke-filled fire scene at 23 Old Mamaroneck

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. December 8, 2004: The White Plains Department of Public Safety has confirmed in talking with firefighters who were first into the apartment fire at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road Tuesday night that two rescues were executed in the first smoke-filled minutes of the fire.


 


Fire Lieutenant  James Maganello felt the presence of a person collapsed on the stairway as he was groping his way up the stairway between the 4th and 5fh floors of 23 OMR as he was searching for residents of the building  in dense, zero visibility conditions.


 


 Maganello told Inspector Daniel Jackson, of the Public Safety Department that he was proceeding up the staircase in dense smoke, feeling his way up the stairwell when he felt a body with his fingers. He then proceeded to carry a woman, unconcious from the smoke,  down two flights of stairs where he handed her off to two other fire fighters. The woman, Inspector Jackson reports, is still hospitalized at White Plains Hospital Medical Center. Another person who was disabled was also found and placed on a fifth floor fire escape where Police Detective Wilhelm stayed with her until it was safe to evacuate her.  The fire was declared completely out at 5:50 P.M.


Jackson said that Deputy Commissioner David Chong was first on the scene within one minute of when the alarm was called in. Jackson reported the first apparatus arrived within 3 minutes and firefighters were into the building, deploying hose and into the building within 3 minutes of the 4:36 P.M. alarm He said he did not have a time when water was first poured on the fire. He said that within 3 minutes firefighters were into the building looking for occupants and attempting to make rescues in what Jackson described as a smoke-filled environment. Fire did go beyond the 3-C apartment where it began in a bedroom.


 


Have To Go at the Fire From the Inside.


 


Jackson explained that contrary to what observers might think, a fire of this sort cannot be attacked by water from the outside by pouring water into the windows,  because “you drive the fire into other apartments, and you would have more fire damage to other apartments.” 


 


He said the fire was contained within Apartment 3-C where it started. He described the building as sustaining extensive smoke and water damage on the other floors in another of other apartments. Jackson said of reports in other media that firefighters did not attack the fire fast enough, that  “it is a terrible thing to watch your  life’s belongings to go up in flames, and it never seems as if enough is being done.”


 


Jackson said that hose was deployed up the stairwell to the third floor and to the apartment where the blaze was situated and extinguished from the inside.


 


Investigation Continues.


 


Jackson said there is a question of whether smoke detectors were deployed within the building, and that is under investigation along with the cause of the fire. He said there were no sprinkler systems in the premises.  He had no knowledge of whether fire extinguishers were available in the building.


 


The spokesman for the Department of Public Safety said 50 White Plains Firefighters were actively involved in fighting the fire, representing 10 companies, 4 mutual aid departments were deployed.


 


 

Posted in Uncategorized

Andy to the Rescue: Spano, Schwartz, DSS, Grace to Meet Today


WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. December 8, 2004: The stakeholders in whether Samaritan House continues to serve homeless women after January 1, will convene at 3:30 at Grace Community Church reports The Reverend Janet Vincent of Grace Church. Among them will be County Executive Andy Spano and his Deputy, Larry Schwartzm according to Reverent Janet Vincent.


 


Mr. Spano’s expected attendance at the meeting was denied by the County Executive Chief Advisor, Susan Tolchin, when WPCNR asked to confirm that Mr. Spano would be at the meeting and was taking a personal interest. According to Reverend Vincent interviewed by WPCNR at 11:30 Wednesday morning, representatives from the Department of Social Services, the Grace Church Board, and Mr. Spano and Mr. Schwartz were going to attend. The meeting as originally described was for “a clearing of the air,” over who was responsible for the reported impending closing of Samaritan House. Now with Mr. Spano’s participation, if it happens, the meeting takes on new significance.



 


However, with the County Executive reported to be attending, perhaps a solution to the 37% increase sought by Grace Church Community Services, (the amount Grace Community Services claims they need to continue the shelter into 2005), may be a product of the high level gathering which has been kept hush-hush. Nobody seems to know when these meetings were being held. Ms. Tolchin told WPCNR Tuesday evening she had no idea when the two meetings, one between D.S.S. and the Grace Church Board of Directors, and one called by County Board of Legislators Chair, William Ryan, would take place. Today Gary Kriss told WPNCR, Mr. Ryan was “expediting” a meeting between Lois Bronz, the County Legislator and Reverend Vincent this afternoon, but Mr. Kriss did not have the specific time available.


 


The issue of Samaritan House surfaced November 18 as a result of a News 4 report that Samaritan House was closing. News 4 broke the story when they received an e-mail from Reverend George Sinzer, a minister with the Universal Life Church. Mr. Sinzer is presently on disability, and does not have a church of his own, however, he works with persons in need.


 


Sinzer’s e-mail to [email protected], dated Sunday, November 21, 2004, 6:34:50 P.M. read:


 


My name, The Reverend George Sinzer and I am a Minister with the Universal Life Church, I am writing to you on behalf of the women that are (for the time being) housed in the all women’s shelter at 33 Church Street, White Plains, N.Y.


 


The shelter is being closed due to “lack of funding by the County of Westchester”, this is what the Director of the Shelter (Joseph D’Ambrosio) told the women that are housed there, but the NY Journal News (who will print this story front page Tuesday) has talked to the Department of Social Services that they have been fighting to keep it open.


 


There is also the contribution to the Church from either the builders or the owners of the building going up, but it seems there is a lot going on, things that just do not add up. On top of this, some of the staff will lose their jobs and ten men will be brought into the shelter to work, some of these women have issues dealing with men, and this could do more harm than they could have realized.


 


And to add insult to injury, the shelter is set to close December 31, but the women must go six blocks or better to have lunch and dinner at the Men’s Shelter (Open Arms on East Post Road).


 


All this because of a Trump Tower being built directly behind the Shelter, of which the property lines are said to be on the shelter site as well.


 


Please someone call me so that I may tell these poor, scared women that you will help get to the bottom of this mystery, my contact number is XXX-XXX-XXXX and you may also e-mail me at this address.


 


Sincerely,


 


The Reverend George Sinzer.

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Smokey Fire OUT at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road. Residents of 22 Apts Temp Homeless

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. December 7, 2004, UPDATED December 8, 9:02 A.M. E.S.T.:  A number of families are evacuated from their apartments at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road, the scene of a third floor fire early Tuesday evening. Three families have been housed overnight by the American Red Cross and an undetermined number of other residents have found shelter with other family and friends.


Inspector Daniel Jackson of the White Plains Department of Public Safety told WPCNR this morning that the 22 apartments in the wing of 23 Old Mamaroneck Avenue were not inhabitable because the power and services had been cut to that part of the building. Jackson said the City of White Plains Building Department would be meeting with some of the residents at noon today to inform them on the status of the building and when they could return to their homes.. Inspector Jackson said he did not have information on the total residents left homeless by the fire.


Jackson said the alarm was phoned in at 4:36 P.M., and was fought  from the interior of the building. He said four residents were treated at White Plains Hospital Medical Center for smoke inhalation. No Fire Department personnel were injured Jackson said. No cause has been determined at this hour.



23 Old Mamaroneck Road on Shapham Place side, 8 A.M. Photo by WPCNR News


At about 5:15 P.M, WPCNR learned of a fire in progress in the vicinity of Mamaroneck Avenue School. Police Headquarters reported the fire is at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road. Police Scanner reports indicated the fire was on the third floor. A resident reported a very smokey atmosphere in the area, and as of 7 PM, a pungent acrid smokey odor could be smelled on the east side of the city. A motorist phoning in to WPCNR said traffic was  blocked off on Mamaroneck Avenue and in the Old Mamaroneck Road area, and that “the southend is in gridlock.” The building was at 23 Old Mamaroneck Road a short distance from Nosband Avenue



Shapham Place View. Photo by WPCNR News


As of 9 P.M., the fire was reported out by Bob Reggio, the Coordinator for the American Red Cross. He said a number of persons had been evacuated from the building, and could not return. He reported an undetermined number of residents were able to find shelter with “family and friends,” and that the Red Cross was housing three families they were “putting up for the night.” As of 9 P.M., Reggio said he had six Red Cross volunteers in the Mamaroneck Avenue School  handling inquiries. 



Fire began on Third Floor. Closer View of the damage as of Wednesday morning. Photo by WPCNR News

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