WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. December 28, 2019:

The Westchester County Health Department will receive an incentive grant that recognizes its partnership with healthcare providers and parents in protecting children from vaccine-preventable diseases.

“It is gratifying to me to see our staff acknowledged by the New York State Department of Health for their dedication to the important goal of increasing immunizations,” said Sherlita Amler, MD, Commissioner of Health. “We also owe our success to medical providers and parents, who partner with us to protect newborns and all children from vaccine-preventable diseases.”

The County Health Department will receive the maximum award of $87,095 for exceeding expectations in reporting by its Immunization Action Program and Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program.

Through outreach, follow-up and office visits with pediatric practices, the Immunization Action Program works to increase childhood immunization rates countywide, and to assure that healthcare providers administer the recommended vaccines in a timely fashion and record them in a state immunization registry. In pursuit of the program’s goals, a nurse visited more than 100 pediatric and family practitioners to share best practices during the year

The goal of the Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program is to prevent the transmission of hepatitis B from an infected mother to her child during childbirth.

Efforts include outreach to healthcare providers and to pregnant women with Hepatitis B. The purpose is to assure that these newborns receive post-exposure treatment immediately after birth as well as two or more vaccines by the time they reach six months of age, to protect the child from hepatitis B.

After assessing the pregnancy status of about 700 women with Hepatitis B each year, the program tracks an average of 50 pregnant women and their newborns each year to prevent Hepatitis B transmission.

Newborns infected with hepatitis B have a 90 percent chance of developing lifelong infection. Currently, there is no cure for hepatitis B, but completing the hepatitis B vaccine series provides more than a 95 percent chance of lifelong protection.

Hepatitis B is a highly contagious and series viral infection of the liver. Hepatitis B can lead to premature death from liver damage, liver cancer or failure. It can be spread through contact with an infected person’s blood, bodily fluids or through sexual contact.

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Went down to the station,Leaned against the door.Went down to the station,I…leaned against the door.I knew it was the Empire State,Can tell by the way she blows.

No. 999 preserved on static display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, photo from 2003.Asked the depot agent,“Please let me ride the blinds.”Asked the depot agent,“Please let me ride the blinds.”He said, “Son, I like to help you…you know,But the Empire State ain’t mine”.The Empire State…you know she,Rides on Eastern time.The Empire State,She rides on Eastern time,She’s the “rollingest” baby,On the New York Central line.

WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor’s Office. December 27, 2019:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced Thursday the 13th proposal of his 2020 State of the State agenda – convening outside experts to reexamine and rethink strategies to bring high-speed rail to New York.

The Governor will task a panel of engineers to reexamine past high-speed rail plans, question and rethink every assumption and method, and recommend a new plan for how to build faster, greener, more reliable high-speed rail in New York.

“High speed rail is transforming economies around the world. We’ve been told that bringing this technology to our state is too expensive, too difficult and would take too long – that’s not an acceptable attitude for New York,” Governor Cuomo said. “When we developed our plan to repair the L Train Tunnel, the team of experts we assembled questioned every assumption and brought new creativity to a seemingly intractable problem. We not only found a way to repair the tunnel without shutting down service, we are doing it ahead of schedule. This kind of outside-the-box thinking will help us determine how we could deliver high speed rail for New York.”

Most of the State’s population lives a short distance from the Empire Corridor, which connects the State through New York City, Albany, and Buffalo. However, these lines average 51 miles per hour, meaning it is often the slowest method available for New Yorkers.

Recommendations to implement high speed rail across the State, which have not changed much over the last two decades, have consistently estimated that projects would take decades and be unaffordable. This team of experts will review these past studies, and strategies that countries all over the world have used to build thousands of miles of high-speed rail, to ask every question and find the best way to build high-speed rail in New York.

No other state has demonstrated a stronger commitment to rebuilding its transportation infrastructure than New York under Governor Cuomo. The Governor’s latest five-year, $150 billion infrastructure plan builds upon his historic $100 billion infrastructure initiative that concluded last year.

The capital projects included in these plans rebuild transportation and mass transit systems, construct safe and secure affordable housing, drive economic and community development, build new and better school buildings for 21st century learning, create new environmental and park facilities, support our sustainable energy future, and generate 675,000 new jobs and expand opportunity for all New Yorkers.

New Yorkers are already benefiting from the capital assets funded through the initial $100 billion infrastructure plan, from the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, to the 2nd Avenue Subway, to rebuilding Upstate airports, to downtown revitalizations and water infrastructure projects all across the state.

These projects are supporting the creation of approximately 450,000 jobs and contribute to New York’s all-time high job count. Since the beginning of Governor Cuomo’s administration, New York State’s economy has experienced employment growth in 76 of the past 88 months.

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WPCNR LABOR WATCH. Special to WPCNR from the Service Employees International 32BJ. December 23, 2019:H

In a Stamford Marriott meeting room this afternoon, a union bargaining committee representing over 3,000 janitors in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and the lower Hudson Valley, New York, reached a tentative contract agreement with an industry group representing cleaning contractors and building owners, thereby averting a strike after December 31. 

“We are pleased and proud to have reached a strong tentative agreement today,” said Lenore Friedlaender, Assistant to the President of 32BJ SEIU and head of the union in the Hudson Valley. “This four-year deal gives 3,000 men and women a solid wage increase, maintains their high quality, employer-paid benefits, and makes important rule changes that will improve communication and respect on the job, including providing clear language on prohibiting sexual harassment.”

Friedlaender continued, “This agreement will make a real difference in the lives of our members and is reasonable for the employers in the region. Our members proudly work hard to make Fairfield County and the Hudson Valley a great place to work, study, shop, and live.” 

“Our efforts here confirm that we’re more than just vacuum pushers,” New York Medical College cleaner and bargaining committee member Claudia Rodriguez said. “We are full human beings, and with this accord, we have now made our needs felt and respected.”

Negotiations between 32BJ SEIU and the contractors began on October 30 in White Plains, NY, and progressed slowly for weeks.

Janitors then voted unanimously on December 12 in White Plains and on December 14 in Stamford to authorize the bargaining committee to call a strike after the December 31 contract termination if necessary.

The strike could have affected any of almost 90% of the large office buildings in the region, including landmarks like the Westchester Financial Center, IBM, and Pepsi Cola in the Hudson Valley, and 1 Landmark Square, the Stamford Government Center, and Sikorsky Aircraft in Fairfield County. The settlement is the last in of a series covering over 75,000 32BJ commercial cleaners on the East Coast this fall.

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COUNTY SALES TAX RECEIPTS UP 23% IN NOVEMBER ON TRACK FOR $607 MILLION  FOR THE YEAR  10.2% GAIN

SALES TAX TAKE UP STATEWIDE, TAX OFFICE SAYS.

 WHITE PLAINS SALES TAX UP 4.3% FROM LAST YEAR’S PACE.

WPCNR QUILL AND EYE SHADE. By John F. Bailey with Data from the NY DEPT OF TAXATION & FINANCE. UPDATED WITH NEW WHITE PLAINS FIGURES. December 23, 2019, Updated December 27, 2019:

Cash registers in Westchester County were Jingle Bells  again in November with the county collecting  23% more Sales Tax Dollars  in November year to year, ringing up a A $55.2 MILLION “handle” for the second month in a row,  to last year’s $42.1 MILLION.

And Yes, Virginia, the county sales tax receipts reflect internet sales, The New York State Department & Finance confirmed to WPCNR in this statement:

“Yes. All internet sales that were paid would be included in the Westchester County Sales Tax Figures. Internet Sales might be a portion of the increase but the increase is also due in part to 1- the new 1% increase in Westchester County Sales Tax rates that began in August 2019 and 2- total Sales Tax collections being up overall in NYS. Sales Tax Receipts is up compared to October 2018.”

The state did not have what the percentage of internet sales tax receipts were internet-generated.

This county bonanza was a bewildering contrast compared to White Plains White Plains was even in November sales tax receipts–$3,999,814 compared to $3,975,933 in November 2018.  

The county is awash in new lovely money.

Through the first 5 months of the White Plains fiscal year 2019-20, the city has collected $21,126,850 in contrast to $20, 258,107 last year at THIS time.

 (This corrects a WPCNR line error on the 2018 report, and now showing that White Plains is now ahead of last year’s pace of sales tax collections  by 4.3%. WPCNR gives a tip of the WPCNR fedora to Cliff Blau  for the tip.)

The White Plains economy is not experiencing the same prosperity the rest of the county is, even though White Plains collects the same sales tax as the county.

White Plains is UP 4.3%. A boffo December may get the city back on track. to meet the city’s conservative-by-law sales tax estimate.

The county predicts $747 MILLION in sales tax money will come in in their 2020 budget.

If the county gets another $59 MILLION in sales in December for the third month in a row, they clear $607 MILLION for the year, a 10.2% increase. But, if this pace continues in 2020, and the $607 Million grows 15% the county will add an  additional $91  million for a 2020 total of $698  million.

That leaves a possible $49 MILLION deficit from the predicted $747 Million in sales taxes.

The  figure of $747 Million is said to be a calculation by the county that has not been explained.

If  the $607 Million grows  12%, the deficit balloons to $67 MILLION.

If it hits 10% more sales taxes, the increase in sales taxes grows 61 Million, leaving a $73 million deficit off the projected $747,000,000