WHITE PLAINS WESTCHESTER DAILY NEWS SERVICE VISITS SINCE 2000 A.D. 25TH YEARl REPORTING THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW News Service Since 2000 A.D. 2026 WILL BE OUR 26TH YEAR OF COVERING WHITE PLAINS NEW YORK USA . John F. Bailey, Editor (914) 997-1607 wpcnr@aol.com Cell: 914-673-4054. News Politics Personalities Neighborhoods Schools Finance Real Estate Commentary Reviews Policy Correspondence Poetry Philosophy Photojournalism Arts. The WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER. TELEVISION: "White Plains Week" News Roundup, 7:30 EDT FRI, 7 EDT MON & the incisive "People to Be Heard" Interview Program 8PM EDT THURS, 7 PM EDT SAT on FIOS CH 45 THROUGHOUT WESTCHESTER AND, ALTICE OPTIMUM WHITE PLAINS CH 1300 Fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way. TOP 10 VISITORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD :1. USA. 2.BRAZIL3.VIET NAM 4. CHINA 5. JAPAN 6.UK. 7.CANADA. 8.INDIA. 9.AUSTRALIA 10.IRELAND 11.GERMANY 12..ARGENTINA 13.BANGLADESH 14.RUSSIA. 15.NEWZEALAND. 16. FRANCE. 17.MEXICO. 18.UKRAINE. 19.SOUTH AFVRICA. 20. IRAQ.
WHITE PLAINS 3% BELOW LAST YEAR’S SALES TAX PACE AFTER 6 MONTHS.
WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE.By John F. Bailey, Based on Figures from New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. January 19, 2019:
Westchester County set a sales tax receipts record in 2018.
In figures for December released today, the Department of Taxation and Finance reports the final figure for Westchester sales tax receipts for the fiscal year just ended is $550,562,481, a 4.8% increase over the 2017 sales tax handle of $525,513,104.
This is a $25 Million dollar gain from last year’s sales tax. How the sales tax windfall is being used in the 2019 budget is not clear at this time.
On the local city scene, the White Plains sales tax after
the first six months of the WP fiscal year 2018-19 is running 3% behind last year’s pace. At the
halfway mark the city has earned $24,787,997 the first six months this fiscal
year, compared to $25,497,198 the first half of 2017-18, a 2.8 % decline.
If White Plains equals the pace of the first six months of
2018, January through June in 2019, the city would receive $25,497,198 when
added to the $24,787,997 already in the till, at the halfway mark, the city
would equal last year’s handle by June, realizing $50.3 MILLION.
However, the city is down 3%, and the city handle declined
in December, something that is unusual.
If you a apply a 3% decline trend over the next six months
the city take would be $48,630,089, a
3.3% decline.
A figure that is sobering about what it says about the White
Plains economy is Westchester County was
up 9.2% in sales tax dollars Dec 2018 vs. Dec. 2017 while White Plains was down
about 1% — not even keeping pace with inflation.
The county 9.2% gain matched their biggest month to month gain of the year. However the overall tax receipts prediction the county made in early November was $578 Million, and they fell $28 Million.
WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From the Office of the Westchester County District Attorney. January 13, 2018:W
In a continuing effort to promote fairness in how crime is prosecuted, Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. is implementing changes in the handling of low-level marijuana offenses in Westchester County.
Under this new policy, the possession of small amounts (two ounces or less) of marijuana will no longer result in a criminal conviction negating the collateral damage such a conviction might impose.
The changes in prosecution of these current laws with take effect Monday, Jan. 14, 2019: • Unlawful Possession of Marijuana (Penal Law § 221.05, a Violation) • Criminal Possession of Marijuana in the Fifth Degree (Penal Law § 221.10, a Class B misdemeanor)
Specifically, the District Attorney’s Office will no longer prosecute (i) the violation offense in Penal Law §221.05, Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, and (ii) the B misdemeanor offense in Penal Law §221.10 (2), Criminal Possession of Marijuana in the Fifth Degree, based on the possession of an aggregate weight of more than 25 grams, provided the person is only charged with those offenses.
Regarding the second charge, the DA’s Office will prosecute the B misdemeanor offense in Penal Law §221.10 (1) only as a violation (under Penal Law §221.05 for the Unlawful Possession of Marijuana) when a person possesses, in a public place, burning or publicly viewable marijuana, provided the person is only charged with this offense.
This will avoid the stigma of a criminal record for many of our young people with long-lasting negative consequences disproportionate to the minor nature of the offense.
The District Attorney’s review of the prosecution of lower level marijuana offenses is ongoing and further changes will be announced as they are adopted.
DA Scarpino said,
“After a careful review of marijuana cases in Westchester, as well as discussions with police, community leaders and advocates, we have made the decision to change how we prosecute such offenses.
This decision not to prosecute specific cases will allow many people to move forward with their lives without the stigma attached to criminal records of any kind, records that cause discrimination in housing, job and school applications.
Much of this has burdened our minority communities and we believe it is time to rectify that.”
DA Scarpino added,
“This change in how low-level marijuana cases are handled is also aimed at a better use of public resources. What has been spent on arrests and prosecutions can now be used to focus on more serious crimes.”
Beyond this decision, DA Scarpino is urging Governor Cuomo and state legislators to create a uniform approach to prosecuting marijuana offenses and end the disparity currently in place from county to county.
This progressive action by the DA’s Office follows bail reform, which was announced last year at this time.
The DA’s Office no longer requests bail for defendants whose cases would not end in a sentence of incarceration, eliminating cash bail for most misdemeanors. The office found bail on non-violent low-level offenses where the defendant was not a flight risk weighed heavily on poorer defendants.
DA Scarpino said, “These reforms in the bail process and marijuana prosecution are illustrations of our commitment to a fairer system of justice that works for every member of our community, no matter where they live, the color of their skin or the amount in their wallets.”
The DA’s Office reserves the right to continue to prosecute all other marijuana-related offenses.
WPCNR DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS ADVISORY. From the Rosedale Residential Association. January 12, 2018:
Below is an informational email from Tracey Muhlfeld, Office of the Commissioner of Public Works for White Plains
Dear Respective Neighborhood Association Presidents and Co-Presidents:
On behalf of Commissioner Richard Hope, we would like to make you aware of work that will be taking place in various locations in your areas:
Beginning Monday, January 14th, the Department of Public Works will be conducting Smoke Testing in some of the public sanitary sewer lines in your neighborhoods. These tests will be done in one neighborhood at a time. I am attaching a list of streets, along with the test dates, for your convenience. The majority of these tests are for one day only.
The purpose of these smoke tests is to assure the integrity of our sewer lines and to determine if there are sources of water entering the lines either through direct connections (i.e. sump pumps or roof leaders) or through broken lines in the ground (i.e. the city’s sewer mains or homeowner service lines.) Defective or illicit connections overload the sanitary sewer system and threaten the environment, as well as the operation of the County’s sewage treatment operations.
Attached is a direct link to the City of White Plains DPW Website with information regarding the testing.
In addition, I am attaching to this e-mail a copy of the door hanger, which residents will be given prior to their street testing; a letter from the Commissioner of Public Works detailing the project and also a pdf of the names of streets and dates of testing. All of these documents are linked on the website as well.
WPCNR THE BUCHWALD REPORT. From Assemblyman David Buchwald. January 9, 2019:
The previous Congress passed and the President signed a new tax law at the end
of 2017 that punishes New Yorkers by severly limiting tax deductions for state
and local taxes (SALT). For many Westchester residents this means a large
federal tax hike. I championed efforts in the state legislature to establish
charitable donation programs to help fund local governments and school
districts, rescuing some of the tax deductions.
However, as expected, the Internal Revenue
Service says it won’t allow them. With my Assembly colleague Amy Paulin and
other elected officials, I am challenging that IRS position and our consortium
has retained expert legal counsel to assist us. This will be a long fight, but
I believe we must take on Washington to protect Westchester families and our
local economy.
Early Voting &
Election Reforms
ASSEMBLYMAN DAVID BUCHWALD at the WPTV Studios in White Plains New York USA
34 states (plus the District of Columbia) permit early voting in some form, sadly New York is still not one of them.
I am determined to change this and this fall the Assembly subcommittee I chair on Election Day Operations and Voter Disenfranchisement held a hearing in New York on ways to reform our antiquated election laws.
Elections experts and citizens
testifying said early voting and no excuse absentee ballots are a must and I
agree.
I
also support holding election primaries for federal and state offices on the
same day, saving taxpayers $50 million dollars each election.
I will also introduce legislation on
campaign finance reform regarding campaign contributions from vendors doing
business with the state.
$7 Million in Bridge NY Funds
I am pleased that Bridge NY Program
funds are coming to our area to spare local property taxpayers the full
cost of needed bridge repairs.
In White Plains $5 million was awarded to the
County of Westchester for major repairs to its Main Street bridge over the
Bronx River Parkway.
In the Village of Mount Kisco, $1.913 million
in Bridge NY funds will pay for repairs to the Preston Way bridge over
Metro-North Railroad.
WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the White Plains Board of Education. January 8, 2018:
Beginning with its January 14th Regular Meeting, the White Plains Board of Education will adopt new technology which will improve the process of Board governance.
Beginning this Saturday, School Board meeting agendas will available only by simply going to either of the following the sites: https://www.boarddocs.com/ny/wpcsd/Board.nsf/Public. Once the agenda is public at midnight Saturday morning it will automatically appear on your screen.
Meeting agendas will be posted 48 hours in advance of meetings andwill no longer be distributed via email, as previously done.
Regular Meeting dates for the balance of the 2018-19 school year are as follows: January 14th, February 11th, March 11th, April 8th, May 13th and June 10th.
“BoardDocs” is a paperless management tool, designed to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of board meetings with distribution of meeting agendas with unprecedented public access to related information.
All documents associated with a meeting are archived and can be accessed using the system’s search feature.
According to Michele Schoenfeld, Clerk to the Board of Education, press releases will continue to be issued to media and organizations.
Eventually the district will also use the system for online
policy management, accessible by the public.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph L. Ricca said, “This
is a win-win situation. We expect greater efficiency for our
staff and increased transparency for the public.”
Meeting agendas will be posted 48 hours in advance of meetings and will no longer be distributed via email, as previously done. Regular Meeting dates for the balance of the 2018-19 school year are as follows: January 14th, February 11th, March 11th, April 8th, May 13th and June 10th.
Further information is available from the District Clerk at 914-422-2071.
The City of White Plains has issued agendas for city Common Council meetings exclusively on its website within 72 hours of the day of the meetings for a number of years.
WPCNR REALTY REALITY.Special to WPCNR From Houlihan Lawrence. January 8, 2018 (Edited):
Home sales in Westchester County were down 4.6% from the prior year while sales in Putnam County were up slightly by 3%.
Locally, White Plains, Greenburgh and Valhalla home sales rose 4% and the median price went up 5%.
Dutchess County sales declined 6.6% for the year.
The real estate markets in the suburbs north of New York City finished 2018 with generally slower sales, higher inventory in most markets and a decline in pending sales, according to a report released today by Houlihan Lawrence.
Meanwhile, median sale prices were somewhat higher in all three counties: Westchester ($650,000, up 1.2%), Putnam ($350,000, up 4%) and Dutchess ($281,500, up 8.3%).
Number of homes for sale in Westchester grew by 9.5% with the New York City Gateway submarket (Mount Vernon, Yonkers, New Rochelle and Pelham) posting the highest increase in inventory of 35.2%.
Putnam’s inventory remained virtually unchanged from the prior year while inventory in Dutchess declined by 11.8 %.
The number of pending sales in Westchester and Putnam fell 10.9% and 11.4 %, respectively, while pending sales in Dutchess declined by 17.2%.
Here are some highlights from the year-end report:
Westchester communities reporting double-digit increases in total sales for the year included Peekskill (33%), Hastings (25%), Rye Neck (26%), Greenburgh (14%), Pleasantville (13%) and Somers (10%). Rivertown communities such as Peekskill and Hastings continue to attract buyers from New York City.
In Dutchess, the sales leaders were Clinton (27%), Beacon (20%) and East Fishkill (14%). Dutchess is enjoying an influx of residents from Brooklyn looking for a more relaxed country lifestyle, especially in the Village of Beacon which is undergoing a downtown revival.
In Putnam, Haldane, Mahopac and Brewster all posted double-digit sales gain for the year of 33%, 11% and 12%, respectively.
NYC Gateway
(Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Pelham and Yonkers)
Homes Sold: down 8%
Median Sale Price: up 5%
Lower Westchester
(Bronxville, Eastchester, Edgemont, Scarsdale and Tuckahoe)
WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey January 8, 2018:
The Common Council is going to put Citizens to Be Heard on television, possibly as soon as the next Common Council meeting, February 4.
Reacting to a group of citizens some 800 strong on the Citizens to Be Heard Facebook page promoting the televising of the Citizens to Be Heard, (the 30-minute citizen speaksession prelude to regular monthly Common Council meetings that has never been televised since its inception during the Delfino administration over 15 years ago), a consensus of councilmembers agreed to get behind the effort to make “CTBH” a televised part of regular Common Council monthly telecasts.
The legislation drawn up in the last 6 days by the city legal department was discussed during the last 8 minutes of the Common Council meeting.
The Council voted to table the legislation pending Mayor Tom Roach preparing a report on the best practices of televising such public input sessions around the area and in different cities in the state.
The cameras could be rolling during the next Citizens to be Heard session on February 4.
Here is the 8-minute sequence from last night’s Council meeting, where the Mayor explained the legislation; threw his support behind it, as did councilpersons Nadine Hunt-Robinson, Jason Barash, Milagros Lecuona, Dennis Krolian and John Kirkpatrick.
MAYOR TOM ROACH, closing out the Common Council explaining the legislation to televise Citizens to Be Heard, and explaining the report he is preparing for the Common Council. After Mayor Roach you will hear from councilpersons John Kirkpatrick, Milagros Lecuona, Dennis Krolian, Nadine Hunt-Robinson, and Jason Barasch on the Citizens To Heard telecasting. About 7:25. Click arrow to watch the action
WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER.By John F. Bailey. January 7, 2018 UPDATED 9:30 A.M. JANUARY 8:
The Common Council this evening approved the hire of a career Westchester County budgeting manager, JamesArnett, to fill the position of Budget Director, a position vacant since Michael Genito retired as Budget Director in July, 2017.
MAYOR ROACH INTRODUCES COUNCILMAN JOHN MARTIN WHO NOTES MR. ARNETT’S EXPERIENCE. THEN MAYOR ROACH NOTES EILEEN BRADLEY’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CITY AND HER ROLE AFTER MR. ARNETT COMES ABOARD.
Mr. Arnett is currently employed with the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities and according to a Common Councilmember, is currently responsible for a $231,000,000 budget for that department. He has held that position since 2007. (The City of White Plains budget is $196 Million.)
The councilmember told WPCNR this afternoon that Mr. Arnett has previously worked in the County budget department and has approximately almost three decades of budgeting positions for various departments in the county.
Since Michael Genito retired from the city, the city budget has been the responsibility of Eileen Earl as Acting Budget Director. The Mayor indicated that Ms. Earl would be contributing to the preparation of the 2019-2020 budget and be easing Mr. Arnett into the saddle.
Councilman John Martin commented Mr. Arnett had a long experience in County Government.
In a last minute addition to the council agenda, Mr. Martin added Items 102A and B were introduced as an effort to make televising the Citizens to Be Heard portion of the council meeting. The two additions were explained at the close of meeting, and the Council tabled it until February 4. The Mayor said he would have a report on practices as early as next week.
WPCNR observes this may be in response to a citizens group that has lobbied lately for televising the 30 minute session before the meeting that is held at the first Council meeting of the month.
Floating in the Fog: Romance Seethes, Blossoms, Ignites, Inflames Hearts in Spooky Paris Opera House(The WBT). Matthew Billman and Kayleen Seidl are Westchester’s Leading Couple. All Photos, Courtesy, WBT by John Vechiolla
WPCNR STAGE DOOR. Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey.
Come my elegant friends to enchantment, mystery, glorious music awaiting you at the Paris Opera House of La Belle Epoque at the turn of the 19th Century!
The mystique of its Corinthian gilded columns and elegant boxes, the ghostly secrets of its underground depths, magnificent, brooding atmosphere rendered lovingly by Westchester Broadway Theatre.
Meet the Phantom of your dreams the swashbuckling, trademark cape-swishing intense and dynamic phantom Matthew Billman, (of Brooklyn,NY,USA), he of the irresistible baritone that sets women aflutter, that fills the WBT space with his longing, charisma, commitment, and magnetism.
His Phantom is smitten with his femme fatale, the divine ingénue, Christine Daee’ pitch-perfectly played in femininity, looks and soprano by Kayleen Seidl, as the chestnut tressed diva-to-be determined to make it in opera.
Ms. Seidl’s soprano exquisite’ dazzles, glistens ripples tender feelings and swells in splender into breathtaking waves towering, cascading over you powefully lingering in frothy foam of joy, tears, regret — creating in duets with Mr. Billman the jagged edged diamonds of outspoken devotion, anxiety, frustration, raw heartbreak of a love that can never be.
Ms. Seidl will make you weep.
I have to say the electricity the leads deliver makes you root for them.
This is the Phantom that should have been, ladies and gentlemen. Were it not for a quirk of timing this would have been the Phantom that made the Phantom famous on Broadway.
This production holds the Westchester Broadway Theatre record for WBT’s longest run ever staged of all their 207 productions, nine months from 1992 to 1993. It lured people in because it is so good. Not a revival it is a survivor, hailed as a superior Phantom by critics including yours truly, Mr. and Mrs. White Plains.
That original WBT production launched a national tour of the Arthur Kopit (Book) and Maury Yeston(music & lyrics) show. Kopit and Yeston were working on this show in the early 1980s, trying to get financing for it when Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera secured financing first, and Kopit and Yeston abandoned the project in 1983.
Ironically, like the real Phantom, the K & Y musical was buried in the Yeston and Kopit vaults. It was produced out of town in Houston and Seattle and the public loved it.
Mr. Billman’s Phantom is more romantic and seductive, less dark in feel, and contains sensitive family matters, violence (gunshots, explosions) and action. The Phantom is not over-the-top deranged as the Phantoms of the movies.
If you want a Phantom to fall for, Mr. Billman is it. The Phantom is a composite of vampire, mystery man and Superman. Every woman wants a masked mystery man, (preferably in a cape)
If you want a Christine to take under your wing because you think she’s fabulous, well, sir, Ms. Seidl’s Christine is she.
You are familiar with the Webber songs of the Broadway hit, but this Phantom delivers fascinating new ballads and arias to charm you. The musical placed in an opera house plays like an operetta.
If you like opera and thrive on its high hysteria and over the top drama and splendid tragic endings that uplift and hold out hope, this is the stuff your dreams are made of. If you like romantic musicals with an ending building to the future, well you’re going to cry but you will want to know what the real Matthew Billman looks like under the mask. And the only way you can see that is in the Playbill.
It’s the gilded age in Paris.
Here’s the situation. Phantom begins with a “Thump Thump Thump” of the live orchestra trending with a doom beat the ill-fated romance of an overture as Parisians stream about the streets in front of the Paris Opera.
Ms. Seidl’s Christine is singing in the streets of Paris like so many young actors with her marvelous Melodies de Paris and is noticed by Count Philippe, a bon vivant (Larry Luck) a patron of the opera who gives her his card to introduce her to the new opera managers.
Cut to the opera house: the Phantom commands with his tall, broad-shouldered figure and his cape, which he uses like a sidekick and sings the ominous Paris Is a Tomb giving you an idea of the loneliness of this tortured young man who has lived his live in the catacombs of the Opera House for most of his 20-odd years. He is virile, isolated and all he knows is the opera.
Meanwhile, in the manager’s office, the wife of the new opera house manager, Carlotta (Sandy Rosenberg) has fired the long-time manager of the House, Gerard Carriere played stylishly and sensitively by James Van Treuren.
Carriere has for years helped Eric (The Phantom) to live in the depths of the Opera Building and the answer why he has helped him is not explained. Eric wears a mask. Ms. Rosenberg does a malicious delicious This Place is Mine a prelude to the conflict to come.
Carlotta who wants to sing lead in her own opera house listens to Christine sing who has used her card of introduction and confines her to wardrobe.
Eric, the Phantom watching from a place of concealment is smitten listening to her sing to herself. He is smitten. He offers Christine singing lessons.
Christine is equally intrigued with the tall,towering mystery man and especially his moody sensitive brown eyes. In the first of their duets, Home solidifies the audience’s equally smitten relationship with the two leads.
When the two sing the audience bravos every time they finish with a flourish.
The Phantom brings down the house with his ode to Christine’s talent, You are Music. This is a blockbuster where Mr. Billman just makes the audience soar with the spirit of his caring for Christine.
As the Phantom (who has learned to sing from his mother) teaches Christine her Fa-la-la’s stage left, their work is seamlessly staged by Director Tom Plum’s two scene-split with intrigue at the Opera House.
Nailing It! Eric prepares Christine for a singing competition at the Bistro which she (Ms. Seidel in white) of course, nails with her Christine Oligato and As You Would Love Paree.
Carlotta jealous of Christine’s talent has plans for her. She gives her a lead role, and after a suspenseful interlude in Christine’s dressing room, Christine makes a serious mistake.
The first act flies by with the mounting drama, glorious songs and downright lurkiness of it, ending in an opera opening disaster. The audience left with a cliff-hanger for Act Two.
It’s the Phantom to her rescue. Has she lost her voice? Will she live? What have they done to her?
Second Act: Plot deepens. The Phantom has carried Christine to safety with a marvelous boat drifting romantically across the lagoon beneath the opera house. The boat with the Phantom poling to a secret refuge, the elegant Phantom’s Bedroom. And who is the mysterious woman on the headboard of the bed?
Mr. Billman and Ms. Seidl sing to each other with a duet to hear, Without Your Music and Where in the World. The WBT orchestra never intrudes, and lays a bed of melody letting the Phantom and Christine just enchant the audience with splendors of lyrics you will hear for the first time.
As the bedroom scene continues we go back into Eric’s past.
Carriere comes down into the bedroom, warning Christine she must leave. Carriere tells of his past with the woman whose portrait appears on the bed. This backstory is elegantly rendered in a ballet of Carriere’s past with a young dancer,and it reveals the secret origin of The Phantom
Meanwhile the chase is on for Christine.
The drama heightens when Christine in her caring for Eric convinces him to reveal his mask.
What happens next will shatter you, uplift you and bring you to emotional empathy that you will take with you and always remember more than you know.
You will cry at the duet of the two lovers, where Billman and Siedl play off each other beautifully and bond together as they part. A triumphant ending worthy of Aida.
James Van Treuren as Carriere, does a meaningful dramatic turn when he reveals his emotions of a lifetime with Eric in stirring duet with the Phantom which unravels the mystery and explores the regret and satisfaction of caring and standing for someone else when no one else would.
I love this staging. The opera house lives!
Set Coordinator Steve Loftus, Set Coordinator/Scenic Artist Carl Tallent and Lighter Man, Andrew Gmoser capture the vaulting, haunting opera stage atmosphere. They especially have made a star in a leading role of the WBT stage transforming it into a bedroom, a boat that is believable visually and more fog than you’ll ever see in London.
Phantom is back at WBT after a December break, for its last three weeks and will be playing through January 27, 2019. On January 31, the Fats Waller musical (the king of ragtime) Ain’t Misbehavin’ premiers for another unique musical extravaganza.
Get on the phone now (914) 592-2222 for tickets. Or go to www.BroadwayTheatre.com.
If you’re fond of a caped mystery man in your life…If you’re enchanted by a wholesome soprano who’ll haunt your dreams, this is the real Phantom to die for.
