THE WHITE PLAINS GALLERIA WILL CLOSE IN MARCH, OWNERS SAY. WHITE PLAINS FIRST MALL WILL TURN INTO ANOTHER “MIXED USED” DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING BOARD MEETS ON 100-HOME FARRELL ESTATES RIDGEWAY PROJECT FOR 35 MINUTES, FARRELL SPOKESMAN ASSURES BOARD THEY HAVE CONSIDERED THE WATER ISSUES HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY.
WPCNR PLANNING PRESS. By John F. Bailey. December 21, 2022 Updated 3 PM EST with model home renderings proposed:
The White Plains Planning Board held a brief 35 minute question and answer period, on Farrell Estates, the new 100 luxury,upscale,home subdivision planned by Farrell Building Company of Bridgehampton .
Three members asked questions of a Farrell Estates spokesman last night .
The first question concerned the tour on the rain soaked property in response to concerns about heavy flooding last Friday on a part of the property. Diego Villareale, engineer speaking for Farrell Building Company, assured the Planning Board member that Farrell had taken tests on the property and in some instances allowed for placing some of the 100 homes planned for the site on higher ground, to wit:
Planning Commissioner Christopher Gomez at the close of the questioning period last night, encouraged White Plains citizens to send their views on the project to the Planning Department so the questions could be addressed in the next work session of the Planning Board January 9, when city staff and the Farrell representatives would again appear to answer questions on the site. No site plan was shown on the telecast of the meeting.
I do have this site plan that was shown at a Gedney Association meeting last spring. Note the faint outline of the homes within the white blocks below, those are where homes are planned to be positioned.
Mr. Gomez said the entire Farrell project application was on view at the Planning Department website on www.cityofwhiteplains.com
However, an overall color edition of the site plan showing the positioning of all the homes after it made a brief appearance when I first started to search to the site, could not be located for me to photograph it. It just seemed to disappear. That overall site plan showing positioning of the 100 new homes on the property could not be located by this reporter again. I am sure it is simply due to my novice ability to navigate the sophisticated city website. And citizens going to the site may fare better than I in finding the disappearing site plan.
The navigation and responsiveness of the loaded site plan on the Planning Department Projects and Proposals page is sluggish and for a tech-challenged reporter it is hard to know what key to press to view a page and response time is slow.
A comment by another Planning Board asked if minority contractors and Westchester contractors would be employed in the construction. The spokes person said Farrell Building has its own construction company, and he did not know the the answer to that question, saying the company hoped to complete the project in 2 years. (That would mean 50 homes a year.)
The Site Plan submission shows renderings of the styles of homes Farrell Building Company proposes to build on the site. These renderings are on the City of White Plains website.
RECORD HOMELESS IN NYC
Latest Data Show October Set New Dismal Record for the Number of New Yorkers in the Main Shelter System as City Fails to Provide Affordable Housing
WPCNR STREET COPY. From the Coalition for the Homeless. December 21, 2022:
Newly released data, published pursuant to Local Law 37, show that homelessness in New York City is setting new, tragic records: The average number of people sleeping each night in the City’s main shelter systems – a figure that has been tracked by the Coalition for the Homeless since 1983 – hit a new all-time high of 65,633 in October.
The number includes homeless families and single adults sleeping in shelters under the Department of Homeless Services and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
The true cause of this sad milestone is the City’s failure to create affordable housing for those who need it most, compounded by needless bureaucratic delays that prevent many shelter residents from accessing the precious little housing that does exist.
Mayor Adams has focused on sweeping unsheltered homeless people out of sight, but has failed to give those without homes the stable housing they need. This crisis is driven by one thing, pure and simple: the lack of affordable housing in New York City. The Mayor’s ‘goal’ is creating 500,000 units of housing over the next 10 years, but we anxiously await the details of how those units will be targeted to those most in need. Tens of thousands of homeless New Yorkers need housing right now.
If Mayor Adams is serious about bringing down the shelter census and reducing homelessness in our city, he will commit to financing at least 6,000 apartments per year for homeless households and 6,000 for those with extremely low incomes. It’s time to end this crisis once and for all,” said Jacquelyn Simone, Policy Director with the Coalition for the Homeless.
300 MOTORISTS “SNAPPED” IN THE ACT OF PASSING STOPPED SCHOOL BUSES IN SOMERS SCHOOL DISTRICT BY BUSPATROL CAMS.
Westchester only county in the New York region that has not approved such a program.
WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From BusPatrol. December 21, 2022:
BusPatrol and the Somers Central School District today released new data showing nearly 300 motorists that illegally passed a stopped school buses over a two-month period.
BusPatrol and the school district also released several videos of close encounters, providing the public a firsthand look into the dangerous driving behavior that routinely endangers young children when getting on and off a school bus. The footage was captured using cameras that were installed on stop-arms affixed to 59 school buses.
The school district obtained the data through a pilot program with BusPatrol, the leading stop-arm enforcement technology provider in North America.
Jean Souliere, CEO and Founder of BusPatrol, said: “These illegal passings are extremely dangerous and demonstrate the need for sensible photo enforcement on our roads. Westchester should follow the lead of other counties and pass a school bus safety program that gives schools and law enforcement the tools they need to keep our kids safe.”
“The BusPatrol program highlights a county-wide problem involving motorists running the red lights and stop arms on school buses,” said Somers schools Assistant Director of Transportation, Gerard Esposito. “In Somers we feel fortunate to have a program in place that deters motorists from putting our children in danger.”
From August through October, school buses equipped with AI-powered stop-arm cameras recorded a total of 280 illegal passings. This equates to 4.7 stop-arm violations per bus per day and 7.4 violations per weekday, or 0.1 violations per bus per weekday. The pilot data represents the clearest example to date that this type of illegally activity on the roads goes unreported and unenforced on a regular basis.
Westchester is the only county in the New York City region that has not authorized a school bus safety program. As a result, school districts and police departments across the county are denied the opportunity to utilize advanced photo enforcement technology to catch lawbreakers and issue citations to motorists who illegally pass a stopped school bus.
Meanwhile, neighboring suburban counties including Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, as well as Suffolk County and several municipalities in Nassau County on Long Island, have all approved bus safety programs.
According to the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, stopped school buses are passed illegally an estimated 50,000 times per school day.
In New York State, it is illegal to pass a stopped school bus when the large red visual sign is in operation. Flashing lights mean the bus is picking up or discharging students. All motorists are required to stop whether approaching a stopped school bus from the front or overtaking it from the rear. This applies whenever their visual signal is in operation on any public highway, street, or private road.
Effective August 19, 2019, the new school bus camera law in New York authorizes school districts and municipalities to use stop-arm cameras on school buses to hold vehicle owners responsible for their cars passing a stopped school bus. This program allows a school district to equip school buses with stop-arm cameras designed to capture images of vehicles illegally passing stopped buses. The images are then transmitted to the municipality and used to identify the owners of vehicles and to send notices of liability to the owners. Tickets given by these cameras can result in fines of $250 for a first violation up to $300 for each violation in an 18-month period. The owners may then pay a fine or contest their liability.