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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Con Ed Communications Improvements Expected by April 2019.

NYSEG Infrastructure upgrades by end of this year.

NYSEG Effort Not enough say Legislators Covill and Kaplowitz.

NY MUTUAL AID GROUP MULLS MUTUAL AID FIXES

WPCNR THE POWER STORY. By John F. Bailey. October 4, 2018:

Representatives of Con Edison and New York State Electric & Gas told the Westchester County Legislators Committee of the Whole Monday at the County Office the ways the two companies are gearing up to handle major storm damage to power supply to prevent the 10 Day outages that occurred during last spring March storms.

Con Edison announced they were committed to flying in 50 contract work crews in anticipation of major storms so restoration could restore faster, an increase of 100 lineworkers. Steven Parisi, the Con Ed spokesperson said Con Ed would also commit to a fleet of 50 more trucks ( whether by purchase, or refurbishing older trucks) for these workers to use, rather than waiting for trucks to drive from states and towns hundreds of miles away.

During last spring’s storms Con Edison had approximately 500 Con Ed workers and 1,500 contract workers from around the region and from Canada and southern states that took two weeks to restore all power.

Con Edision blamed communications chaos with towns and customers on defective software in its robocalls and communciations. Con Ed said it would have all this fixed, robocall chaos, confusion as to who was out of power and who was not by April of 2019.

They also promised continued tree trimming around power lines.

NYSEG, reported second to the committee on their efforts to prevent the widespread outages in the Westchester Towns of  Bedford, Lewisboro, North Salem, Pound Ridge and Yorktown, and when asked if they were contracting to bring in more contract workers as Con Ed was doing.

Trish Nelson of NYSEG, said they were not at this time, because the state committee on Mutual Aid is currently discussing how New York power companies are going to address the need for changes mutual aid based on last year’s and this year’s storms.

Nelson said “NYMAG (New York Mutual Aid Group) is looking at allocation of mutual aid. There are just so many (limited) utility contractors. We need to create a balanced, ongoing procedure.”

Nelson said the committee would have a report later this month.  Any solutions or conclusions would require a vote of the power utilities in the group.

Nelson said adding 1,000 line workers (as Con Edison is saying it is doing) “is not cost effective. That remains the biggest issue.”

Kitley Covill, the County Legislator from Katonah, took sharp issue with that, saying in the close of her remarks, “It’s very hard to carry water for NYSEG. Verify then we’ll trust.”

Michael Kaplowitz, the County Legislator, sharply criticized what appeared to be an 846 decline in the number of NYSEG  employed lineworkers since 2005 (13 Years ago), from 2,565 lineworkers then to 1,719 now. Chuck Eaves said this was incorrect because NYSEG has contracted workers “bringing them up to the approximate 2,500 level.

NYSEG said they were installing an automated switching system that would allow them to bypass invidual outages and thus keeping more customers in power. They also said they are going to cut 10 foot right of ways on either side of their powerlines by either felling trees or cutting back limbs along the tracks of their above ground lines. They said there is much resistance to this in the more affluent residences in Westchester County.

NYSEG said they were upgrading connections and substations for Heritage Hills in Somers, a major outage during last springs storms.

Questions will be furnished by the legislators to both companies.

Con Edison reported 163 outages as a result of Tuesday evening dangerous weather that were still out this morning, after approximately 2,000 outages reported Tuesday evening.

The complete hearing of the Committee of the Whole, (though badly out synch–no fault of the county we are assured), may be viewed at this link:

http://westchestercountyny.iqm2.com/Citizens/SplitView.aspx?Mode=Video&MeetingID=5145&Format=Agenda

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. Statement from the Gedney Association. October 3, 2018:

The Gedney Association announced Sunday that it intends to appeal the court decision dismissing its lawsuit challenging the approval of the French American School of New York (FASNY) plan for a regional school in the middle of Gedney Farms neighborhood.

The Association believes clear requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) were neglected and Judge Lefkowitz decision to be in conflict with her earlier findings.

The Judge mistakenly concluded that FASNY’s moratorium on any new development on the property satisfied laws governing segmentation which requires a development plan consider the entire property not only segments.   In fact, FASNY’s moratorium commitment related only to its plans and not to other developers.

The Gedney Association will also appeal the Judge’s dismissal of its lawsuit seeking enforcement of the private Deed Restriction prohibiting Institutional Use on the property.

The language of the Deed Restriction is perfectly clear: Institutional Use is prohibited.  Many home buyers in the surrounding neighborhood purchased their homes with the assurance of this long-standing covenant.

Despite the specific language in the Deed Restriction the Judge decided to define what an institution is.  As one incredulous member of the local press (WPCNR) stated Webster’s Dictionary defines an institution as a school.

Lastly, the Association finds the Judge’s statement implying that the Association is advocating a “slavish servitude” to the City’s Comprehensive Plan alarming.

This conflicts with established land use law in New York whereby governmental bodies must not only consider but, in fact, comply with its Comprehensive Plan in deciding land use matters.

Indeed, the City’s Comprehensive Plan was updated in recent years and clearly stipulated that the property in question should be developed at the lowest possible density given its environmental sensitivity.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Bord of Legislators. (Edited) October 2, 2018:

 Workers in Westchester County who don’t get sick days off at work will soon be entitled to earn sick time on their jobs, thanks to a measure passed Monday night by the County Board of Legislators.

Under the measure, workers can earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year.

Under the newly passed measure, sick time will be paid at businesses with five or more employees, but may be unpaid as smaller businesses.  Sick time may be taken for a workers’ own illness or to care for an ill family member. There are different thresholds for domestic workers who will earn a minimum of one hour of sick time for every seven days worked, in addition to the one day of rest provided for under state law.

There is also a procedure in the law for filing a complaint with the County’s Department of Consumer Protection.

The law doesn’t limit the amount of sick time an employer may offer employees, but will cover the more than one-third of workers in Westchester who currently lack any paid sick time, and who may face retribution on their jobs if they take time off for illness.

At a press event Monday afternoon, ahead of the evening vote, Sarah Leberstein, senior staff attorney and workplace justice coordinator for Make the Road New York, told the story of one woman who came to the group:

“[She] wasn’t allowed to take time off from her job at a dry cleaning business in Tarrytown either to go to pre-natal appointments when she was pregnant or medical appointments for any of her own kids and if she missed even a couple hours of work to go see a doctor, the owner of the business refused to pay her for the entire day of work,” Leberstein said.

The bill’s chief sponsor, Legislator Catherine Borgia (D – Briarcliff Manor, Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Ossining, Peekskill) said, “By passing this legislation we say loudly and proudly to workers everywhere in Westchester County: your health, your well-being, matters. The protections we’re enshrining into law today are good for public health, good for business, and essential to worker safety and dignity.”

Chairman of the Board Ben Boykin (D – White Plains, Harrison, Scarsdale) said, “Providing workers with earned sick time is important for human dignity and public health, but it’s also good for businesses. Research shows that when employees come to work sick or distracted by illnesses at home, their productivity drops off the table. And, of course, when workers come to work sick, there’s a good likelihood that other workers will become sick, exponentially increasing the cost in human and financial terms.”

Under the newly passed measure, sick time will be paid at businesses with five or more employees, but may be unpaid as smaller businesses.  Sick time may be taken for a workers’ own illness or to care for an ill family member. There are different thresholds for domestic workers who will earn a minimum of one hour of sick time for every seven days worked, in addition to the one day of rest provided for under state law.  There is also a procedure in the law for filing a complaint with the County’s Department of Consumer Protection.

The measure now goes to County Executive George Latimer for his signature.

Watch the press event here: https://bit.ly/2zKittJ

See vote here: https://bit.ly/2NWgpr6

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WPCNR WORK SHIFT. Special to WPCNR from the Service Employees International Union 32bj September 29, 2918 UPDATED 6:25 PM E.D.T.:

Strike Averted as Tentative Contract Agreement Reached for Residential Building Workers in the Hudson Valley

Frank Soults, spokesman for the SEIU 32BJ told WPCNR in a statement:

“The vote to ratify the new contract is at 5 PM on Thursday, October 4.

The package includes a pay increase of about 11% over the four years of the contract, with a continuation of the current health plan, pension contributions, and other benefits, and no arbitrary staff cuts. 

We settled because we reached an agreement that provides the benefits, wages and job protections that allows 1,400 superintendents, porters and other workers to continue providing the quality service that building residents depend on and deserve. “

A tentative labor agreement  was reached this evening between the Building & Realty Institute of Westchester & the Mid-Hudson Valley (BRI) and 32BJ SEIU, the union representing 1,400 residential building workers — superintendents, porters, handy-people and others —across  Westchester and Rockland counties.

The agreement averts a strike that could have taken place as early as October 1.

“The BRI is pleased that the negotiations have resulted in an agreement that works for the property owners and managers and continues our commitment to providing good jobs for the building maintenance staff,”  said Matt Persanis, Labor counsel and lead negotiator for the BRI.  “The agreement allows us to focus on providing the best service possible to apartment tenants, co-op shareholders, condo owners and tens of thousands of building residents in the Hudson Valley.”

“We’re happy to have reached an agreement for the 1,400 workers who clean, fix, and maintain 500 properties in the Hudson Valley,” said Lenore Friedlaender, Assistant to the President of 32BJ SEIU. “This agreement protects the healthcare and other benefits, and it will provide a fair pay increase, as well as maintain staffing levels at buildings.  It means workers can continue providing excellent service day in and day out at properties where 100,000 local residents live.”

The tentative agreement is scheduled to be ratified in the October 4 vote.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John F Bailey. September 27, 2018:

The Judge Joan Lefkowitz decision in August denying neighbors of the former Ridgeway Country Club, now eyed as a new campus for the French American School of New has been appealed to the New York State Appellate Court.

The appeal was filed Wednesday, and the plaintiffs have six months to perfect the appeal. This may delay movement on the French American School of New York project for possibly a year, considering when the Appellate Court takes up the appeal.