WPCNR ROVING PHOTOGRAPHER. November 13, 2004: Saturday’s Photograph of the Day captures the new skyline of White Plains, Trump Tower at City Center going up on the left, and the North Tower of City Center on Main Street looking West from Broadway. The Pinnacle, Ginsburg Development Corporation proposed building would sit in the middle of the two ziggurats.
WHITE PLAINS WEST. Photo by TheWPCNR Roving Photographer.
WPCNR East Ender. By John F. Bailey. November 12, 2004: The new Stop N Shop on Westchester Avenue confirmed to WPCNR today at they are monitoring occupants of their free parking structure on Westchester Avenue because a fair number of parkers have been using their lot to park and walking to The Westchester, Fortunoff and other retail and restaurant establishments in the vicinity.
A White Plains CitizeNetReporter advised WPCNR on Wednesday that Stop N Shop was issuing time slips to motorists parking in the lot. Friday, a spokesperson at the Stop N Shop Customer Service desk told WPCNR Stop N shop was issuing time receipts which customers had to have validated by the cashiers at checkout. The Scene Friday afternoon. The Booth Sign says “Traffic Study.” It is manned. Photo by WPCNR News.
Asked why, the spokesperson said that Stop N Shop was taking a survey to see how many visitors were actually shopping in Stop N Shop. “We want our lot for our customers,” the spokesperson said. Asked if a number of persons had been parking at S N S and not shopping there, but pedestrianing it to other stores in the area, the spokesperson said “Yes.” WPCNR queried as to whether a parking fee was being contemplated. The spokesperson said, “no, we’d never charge for parking for our customers.” Asked if this was being done on a widespread basis, parking at Stop N Shop, and shopping elsewhere, the spokespersons said yes. “We want our parking to be for our customers,” she said.
The revelation that motorists are parking free at one establishment to shop at others, raises the issue of whether Wal-Mart, which traditionally offers free parking will do so at their new headquarters on Main Street.
The free parking lot at The Container Store is another scene of free parking abuse, according to frequent Container Store devotees. Motorists park at the Container Store and stroll over to The Westchester, Fortunoff, or other points.
WPCNR’s correspondent notes that White Plains parking is becoming too expensive for the average citizen, saying her husband drops her off at Whole Foods Market when she only has to pick up a few items, does some errands himself, then swings by and picks her up.
WPCNR East Ender. By John F. Bailey. November 12, 2004: The Italian Hospital Society, the organized labor-supported health organization responsible for building the first Italian Hospital in Manhattan, catering to New York’s immigrant population in the late 1930s, held an organization meeting at Antonio Meucci Lodge Thursday evening to acquire community support throughout Westchester County for creation of an Italian Home for the Aged in White Plains on the St.Agnes Hospital property off North Street.
How Italian Home for the Aged would be placed on the St. Agnes Hospital Site: Architect’s rendering of facility is in left center of sketch. Existing hospital buildings at right would be renovated for various stages of aged care. (View is looking West.) Thomas Carvel Children’s Rehabilitation Unit would stay in service in the foreground (arrow bottom of picture). Under present Dormitory “Auction Package”, the Children’s Rehab Center built with a multi-million dollar gift from Tom Carvel, the Carvel soft ice cream founder, could be razed by real estate speculators, the Carvel Center perpetuity is not guaranteed by the Dormitory Authority auction arrangement, according to the Italian Hospital Society organizers, one of the advantages, they say of the Society acquiring the property. The Home for the Aged would be built on the site of the abandoned convent behind the Carvel building. (North Street runs along the bottom of the photo.) Photo by WPCNR News.
Carvel Children’s Unit Could be Torn Down, Not Protected by Dorm Authority.
Another benefit to their acquiring the St. Agnes site, would be to continue the existence of the Thomas Carvel Children’s
Mignone said a real estate developer acquiring the property for housing, for example, could simply tear down the Carvel center if they wished, because it is part and parcel of the Dormitory Authority offering of the property.
Grassroots Movement Begins Tentatively November 22
A group of fourteen persons met with Dr. Mignone, former Director of Juvenile Patient Services at
Italian Hospital Society and members of the Antonio Meucci Lodge meeting Thursday evening at the Lodge on Maple Avenue in White Plains. Photo by WPCNR News
Mattace said there would be widespread labor support for the home which he felt would also supply funds to build the project. Mignone said the facility would cost $100 Million to construct, including acquisition of the property from the Dormitory Authority, and construction of the residential facility, and renovation of existing hospital buildings for end-of-life care.
The committee organizing the effort decided to call a meeting with other Presidents of the Sons of Italy Chapters throughout the County tentatively scheduled for November 22 at the Meucci Lodge in
Will Not Get $38 Million for it.
Dr. Mignone said the St. Agnes property, currently scheduled to be auctioned off to the highest bidder by the State Dormitory Authority, which foreclosed on it six months ago, taking the property back from the Catholic Church, its former operators, is not worth the $38 Million the Dormitory is asking for it.
Dr. Domenico Mignone, Spearheading the Italian Home for the Aged last night. Photo by WPCNR News.
He said the Italian Hospital Society hoped to acquire it for actual real property value, (estimated at $10 Million, as presently zoned), and have it rezoned for hospital use. The special permit allowing St. Agnes Hosptial to operate as a hospital there expired when the hospital was foreclosed upon by the Dormitory, he said.
Mignone said Mayor Joseph Delfino of
Request to Put Off Auction.
Mignone said the Society is hopeful after generating grassroots support in the next two weeks, of convincing the Governor, and the Dormitory Authority, and state senators and assemblypersons to throw the site open for Requests for Proposals for use of the property, and postpone the auction, so the Society could acquire the property without getting into a competitive bidding war with other organizations. That failing, Mignone said the Society would attempt the bidding if necessary.
Dr. Mignone said there was not a date set for the auction of the property as yet, expecting the Society had about two months in which to gather state administration support for the project.
A Need for an Italian Heritage-sensitive home, open to all.
Mignone noted that a home catering to the special needs of aging Italians is needed, because as the Italian population ages, the earlier memories become more vivid to the elderly, who tend to lapse back into their native language, customs and traditions, which Mignone said would be incorporated into the home’s atmosphere, cuisine, and care.
Mignone and Mattace said that whether or not the Society was able to obtain the St. Agnes site, would not matter, that another site was already under consideration, should the St. Agnes property not be possible to obtain.
A dinner is being held this Sunday at the V.I.P. Country Club in New Rochelle to kick off fundraising for the project, which will honor John Ahern, Business Manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30; Stuart Applebaum, President, Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union; and Giannandrea Falchi, Bank of Italy representative in the United States. For information on the dinner, contact Dr. Mignone at 1-914-776-2778. The Italian Hospital Society website is at www.italianhospitalsociety.com.
WPCNR STARS AND STRIPES. November 11, 2004: The traditional Veterans Day ceremony at the White Plains Rural Cemetery were held this morning in the traditional somber gray skies poignantly swept by the bitter Northeast wind.
Adele Zucker set the tone of the day when she noted, “It is the veteran, not the politician, who guarantees our right to vote; It is the veteran, not the reporter, who guarantees freedom of the press, It is the veteran not the preacher, who guarantees freedom of religion.”
Ron Tocci, the New York Assemblyman, retiring after twenty years in the Assembly, and 82nd Airborne Paratrooper, gave the address emphasizing that the veterans and their care and their contributions must never be forgotten.
Mayor Joseph Delfino reminisced with deep feeling recalling watching his brothers go off to fight World War II, saying goodbye to his mother and dad, saying they’d be o.k., not to worry, and asked those in attendance how parents must feel when they are sending their children of today off to war.
American Legion Post #135 Salutes and remembers the fallen, as Middle School Student Jacob Paul, 14, plays “Taps” Photo by WPCNR News.