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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Big May and Big June Needed to Meet, Beat Last Year’s Sales Tax Numbers…Currently $800,000 Behind

WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. By John F. Bailey, based on data from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the City of White Plains Budget. May 31, 2017:

The April Sales Tax Revenues for White Plains continue soft down $375,129 from the same month a year ago ($3,521,122 in April 2017 compared to $3,896,251 in April, 2016.

April is the fourth straight month of slight declines in White Plains sales tax collections year to year. In the first four months of 2017 the City collected $15,748,892 in sales tax. In the first four months of 2016, it received $16,568,444. The $15,748,892 figure this April represents a decline of $819,592 or .049% (1/2%).

Westchester County in contrast is 1/2% ahead in its Sales Tax Collections.

According to the Department of Taxation and Finance monthly sales tax report, through April, the 10^th month of the city fiscal year ending in June the city has received $41,311,596 in sales taxes compared to $49,436 in 2015-16., a decline of .07%.

If the city collects the same sales tax revenues in May and June, the last two months of the fiscal year, ($8,124,636) the city will collect $49,436,232 in sales tax revenues to conclude the 2016-2017 fiscal year. That $49,436,232 is down from the $51,856,187 the city collected in 2013-14 (an all-time high).

Over the last 5 years, the city sales tax handle has eroded, not keeping pace with inflation:

2011-2012:   $50,972,671

2012-2013:   $49,913,997

2013-2014:   $51,856,187 (All-time High)

2014-2015:   $50,972,589

2015-2016:   $49,791,542

2016-2017:   $41,311,596 (10 Months),

                       $49,436,232 (Projected if May June Sales Tax Collections meet last year’s totals. 

Westchester County Sales Tax Collections for the first four months of 2017 are up $906,805 through April 2017, $163,231,109 to $162,324,304, a pace of ½ percent UP over last year.  This, despite being lower in the month of April Collections over last year by ½% (.04)

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Women Hold Majority of College Degrees and Debt — and Take Longer to Pay It Off

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. Special to WPCNR from the American Association of University Women. May 30, 2017:

(WPCNR’S John Bailey has often pointed out that student debt is one of the main reasons why the real estate market is not recovering as swiftly as expected, so it was with interest that Mr. Bailey received this report from the AAUW over the weekend which shows a little known fact about student loans, two thirds of all student debt is held by women.)

 A new American Association of University Women (AAUW) report, Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans, estimates that women hold almost two-thirds ($833 billion) of the country’s $1.3-trillion student debt while men hold $477 billion. The research shows that those with the scarcest resources bear the brunt of student debt in the United States.

“It’s encouraging that women are enrolling in college more than ever before, but at the same time they are taking on larger amounts of debt to pay for their dreams,” said Kevin Miller, Ph.D., the senior researcher for AAUW. “Because of factors like the gender pay gap, debt that could be manageable ends up becoming unmanageable, particularly for women.”

More than half of graduating U.S. college students have financed some or all of their education with student loans.

Women now earn 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees from U.S. colleges and universities, and AAUW estimates that women take on average two years longer to pay off their student debt than men do.

Black women take on more student debt than do members of any other group and ultimately struggle the most to pay it off.

“Women face a catch-22: go to college and take on student loan debt but get a higher paying job or, alternatively, forgo college and avoid the debt, but be locked out of higher-wage careers. We need to do better,” said Miller.

Following graduation, women repay their loans more slowly than do men, in part because of the gender pay gap.

Women with college degrees working full time make 26 percent less than their male peers, which leaves women with less income on average to devote to debt repayment.

And thanks to student debt, women are more likely than men to experience financial difficulties:

Thirty-four percent of all women, 42 percent of Hispanic women, and 57 percent of black women who were repaying student loans said they had been unable to meet essential expenses within the past year.

“This isn’t just a student problem, it’s a gender inequity problem and it impacts us all,” said Anne Hedgepeth, senior government relations manager at AAUW. “As a nation, we rely on women to add to and strengthen our economy. That can’t happen under mountains of student debt.”

AAUW advocates safeguarding and expanding Pell Grants for low-income students as well as providing nontraditional students with the resources they need, such as on-campus child care, to successfully complete college degrees. Solutions to the student debt problem should also include supporting income-driven repayment approaches that reflect borrowers’ realities.

And our support for students should address the additional costs students face beyond tuition: books, supplies, and housing, to name a few. Congress can take leaps toward closing the gender pay gap and bolstering women’s economic security by passing legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Pay Equity for All Act.

“The status quo is untenable for women with student debt,” said Hedgepeth.

“Imagine if there are cuts to Pell or to other financial aid programs. Women’s $833-billion problem could become even worse. The solutions are diverse, and they tackle the challenges students face before and after attending college.

It’s time for policy makers, institutions of higher education, and us as a nation to commit to fixing this problem for women and for all student borrowers.”

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WPCNR WATCH ON THE HIGHLANDS. Special to WPCNR from a WPCNR Correspondent. May 27, 2017:

An observer of the Highlands Civic Association Meet the Mayor night Wednesday evening sent this observation of Mayor Tom Roach’s remarks:

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Mayor Tom Roach and three of the nine students who each donated 480 hours of community service hours, (left to right), Emily Tumminia, Kelly Marx, Anna Tender. Ellen Doherty, Principal, WPHS, is third from right. Amy Geiger, Coordinator, Community Service Program is at far right.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. May 25, 2017:

The White Plains High School Community Service Program honored the White Plains students who have donated thousands of hours collectively to the community.

Program Coordinator Amy Geiger said the students were “volunteering their time in schools, hospitals, in libraries, in churches and other local organizations. You volunteer to help your fellow students, children, adults and senior citizens. You are amazing. I think you’re wonderful. And I’m very proud of you.”

Mayor Tom Roach, opened the program congratulating the students and remarking what struck him most about White Plains students, “I am so impressed how much you care about each other.”

Interim Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Howard Smith, reflecting on his decades in education, said that looking back “You’ll think back on these days of service as the most meaningful of your life.”

Students received certificates of recognition from White Plains High Principal Ellen Doherty and for their community service they received academic credits of 1 per year depending on their hours of service.

124 students were honored for donating 60 to 180 hours.

27 contributed 181 to 300 hours of service.

16 were recognized for serving the community for 301 to 480 hours.

9stud ents were given special credits for donating over 480 volunteer hours, each earning 4 academic credits over 4 years:

They were Kristen Cignarella, Eileen Escobedo, Sol Gastelu, Jennifer Lopez, Laura Maldonado Segura, Kelly Marx, Irina Nahuis Castro, Anna Tender and Emily Tumminia

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WPCNR WATCH ON THE HUDSON. From the New York  Congressional Delegation. May 24, 2017:

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and U.S. Representatives Sean Patrick Maloney, Paul Tonko, Nita Lowey, and Eliot Engel today wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calling on Administrator Scott Pruitt to incorporate data provided to the EPA as part of its Second Five-Year Review showing the continued presence of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminants in the Hudson River.  The members cited the Second Five-Year Review is an opportunity to provide for additional cleanup of the Hudson River.

“When EPA announced the Hudson River cleanup 15 years ago, it was a promise to New Yorkers that the long-damaged river would finally be on the path to a rapid recovery,” the members wrote in their joint letter to the EPA Administrator.

“However, after the cleanup plan was established, EPA discovered that at least 2-3 times more PCB contamination existed in Hudson River sediments than had been assumed; yet EPA did not modify the scope of the cleanup.  As a result, the Hudson River remains contaminated at levels far beyond the cleanup targets EPA established. Economic development on the Upper Hudson River has long been stifled by the dark cloud of toxic pollution; communities cannot wait decades longer for a clean and usable river.”

Earlier this year, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released a report, “Recommendations to EPA for the “Five Year Review Report” for Hudson River PCBs Site” to address the current conditions of the Hudson River and provide recommendations to the EPA moving forward with the Second Five-Year Review.

DEC recommendations to the EPA include:

1. Completing a detailed evaluation of the action plan, in addition to increasing the sampling of sediment and fish tissue to the scale and frequency necessary to optimize the remedy through further remedial work as necessary.
2. Expanding the investigation of the site to include performance of a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study for the portion of the site between the Federal Dam at Troy and the Battery in New York City.
3. Evaluating remedial alternatives to address the currently uncontrolled unacceptable risks to human health and the environment.

The full text of the members’ joint letter to the Environmental Protection Agency is included here and below:

Dear Administrator Pruitt:

We are writing to request that you ensure the ongoing Second Five Year Review of the Hudson River Superfund Site incorporate data collected and shared with EPA Region 2 that clearly shows the Hudson River remedy is not protective of human health and the environment.  The Five Year Review presents an opportunity to realize goals that you have articulated, including the importance of cleaning up the Hudson River pollution, ensuring the Superfund program succeeds in achieving both environmental outcomes and creating jobs. We ask for your help to securing additional clean-up in the Upper Hudson River.

When EPA announced the Hudson River cleanup 15 years ago, it was a promise to New Yorkers that the long-damaged river would finally be on the path to a rapid recovery. However, after the cleanup plan was established, EPA discovered that at least 2-3 times more PCB contamination existed in Hudson River sediments than had been assumed; yet EPA did not modify the scope of the cleanup.  As a result, the Hudson River remains contaminated at levels far beyond the cleanup targets EPA established. Economic development on the Upper Hudson River has long been stifled by the dark cloud of toxic pollution; communities cannot wait decades longer for a clean and usable river.  

Concerns regarding the efficacy of the EPA approved remedy resulted in a separate analysis of PCB levels in the Hudson River and the New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) to conclude more work needs to be done.   Long-term “natural attenuation” of PCBs is not a solution to this problem.  The PCBs in the Upper Hudson River are continuing to be transported down-river as far as New York harbor and beyond; in fact, scientists studying the New York/New Jersey Harbor have called the legacy of PCB contamination an “economic ball and chain.” PCB levels in fish in the lower Hudson River are not declining as expected, pointing to the need for investigation of downriver contamination and appropriate remedial action. New Yorkers must not be left holding the bag for contamination that will render the Hudson River a Superfund site for generations to come.

New York State has a long and proud history of conservation in conjunction with economic development, and the Hudson River is a national symbol as an American Heritage River. As New Yorkers who live, work and play along the Hudson River, we know that additional cleanup is needed to improve our economy, and health, and quality of life.

Finally, we emphasize that a credible Five Year Review is crucial to ensure the integrity of the federal Superfund program, given that the Hudson is one of the largest and most visible sites in the country.  We look forward to working with you to achieve this.