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The first hard frost gripped White Plains NY USA in its clutches overnight, frosting windshields and putting icing on lawns.
The Weather Station reading 32 degrees this morning at WPCNR World Headquarters told you that “It was great while it lasted (our mild autumn) but it was just one of those things.”
First fire of season warmed the hearth Wednesday evening as a sang froid of winter moved on in.
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Christopher C.Leggio
Christopher E. Leggio
Stephen Disalvo
WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. November 25, 2015:
Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced that Christopher C. Leggio (DOB 05/17/59) of 12 Quail Lane, Brewster, New York; Christopher E. Leggio (DOB 01/31/95) of 12 Quail Lane, Brewster, New York; Stephen DiSalvo (D.O.B. 12/13/56) of 1552 John Anderson Drive, Ormond Beach, Florida and the A.T.N.M. Corporation of 130 Woodside Avenue, Briarcliff Manor, New York were arraigned Tuesday on a Felony Complaint charging them with:
“As alleged in the Complaint, by altering the dump payment tickets, this scheme had real financial implications for both companies doing business in Westchester County and their customers, who ultimately paid higher prices because of the theft. Businesses have enough to deal with without the added costs and complications of the widespread and systematic fraud that was perpetrated by this company and these individuals solely for their personal gain,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore.
“Illegal conduct in the carting industry can result in increased costs to businesses, consumers and taxpayers. It will not be tolerated in Westchester County,” County Executive Rob Astorino said. “The Solid Waste Commission and its law enforcement partners are working to ensure that all companies operate within the bounds of the law.”
A.T.N.M Corporation of Briarcliff Manor, New York is a company licensed to haul solid waste in Westchester County and other adjoining areas. A.T.N.M. is owned and operated by defendant Christopher C. Leggio, along with the assistance of co-defendants Christopher E. Leggio and Stephen DiSalvo.
Over a more than a two and a half year period, from January 1st 2013 to November 24th 2015 the defendants systematically and falsely altered several hundreds of dump tickets so as to fraudulently reflect a higher tonnage of solid waste being transported.
These false dump tickets were then submitted to a solid waste hauling broker who contracted with A.T.N.M. As a result of this scam, the broker paid several hundreds of thousands of dollars to the defendants for work never performed based on these false tonnage entries on the fraudulently altered dump tickets.
The broker negotiated garbage hauling contracts with several different commercial establishments including the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (hereinafter A&P). The broker unknowingly passed along these falsely inflated invoices to A&P and other commercial customers, who then paid the false invoices.
Larger customers like A&P used defendant A.T.N.M. to haul solid waste for twenty-seven (27) A&P stores, twenty-four (24) of which were in Westchester County.
Over $500,000 was overcharged and stolen by the defendants as a result of this scheme.
A six month investigation was carried out by investigators from The D.A.’s office, the Westchester County Police and the Westchester County Solid Waste Commission.
Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino praised the investigative work done by the Department of Public Safety, the District Attorney’s Office and the Solid Waste Commission under the leadership of its Executive Director, the Hon. Daniel Angiolillo. Astorino appointed Angiolillo, a retired state Supreme Court justice, to head the commission in 2014 and also directed the county police to assign a detective to the commission full-time.
This investigation is ongoing.
The defendants were arrested by the Westchester County Police Tuesday morning.
Bail for Christopher C. Leggio was set at $50,000 cash or $500,000 bond. The bail for Stephan DiSalvo was set at $50,000 cash or $500,000 bond. The bail for Christopher E. Leggio was set at $10,000 cash or bond.
The defendant’s next court date is November 25th, 2015 in Briarcliff Manor Village Court.
They face a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison.
Assistant District Attorneys Lauren Abinanti and Robert Mayes of the Investigations Division are prosecuting the case.
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1
SEE THE BOYS ON YOUTUBE AT
15TH YEAR AS WESTCHESTER’S NUMBER ONE WEEKLY NEWS PROGRAM
PETER KATZ, JOHN BAILEY
ON
WHY WESTCHESTER COUNTY RAN UP A $25 MILLION SALES TAX DOLLAR DEFICIT–
WHILE WHITE PLAINS IS POISED FOR BIG RETAIL GAINS.
ISLAMIC STATE WORRY.
THE LIBRARY SALUTES A LOCAL BEST SELLING AUTHOR — AND THEY GAVE HIM HIS START–RAISES $80,000 FOR THE HUB.
WESTCHESTER BROADWAY THEATRE SALUTES WORLD WAR II VETS
55 BANK STREET IS INTO THE GROUND.
ABANDONED, DETERIORATING SOUNDVIEW MANOR DECISION ON PRESERVATION PUT ON HOLD.
OR DOWNLOAD THE SHOW
AT
www.whiteplainsweek.com
or see it on
www.wpcommunitymedia.org
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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. November 20, 2015:
NEW YORK STATE RELEASED OCTOBER SALES TAX RECEIPTS FIGURES TODAY AND WHITE PLAINS HAD A SOLID OCTOBER– RECEIPTS INCREASING 7.1% ($284,780 MORE THAN OCTOBER 2014).
THROUGH FIRST 4 MONTHS OF THE WHITE PLAINS FISCAL YEAR, THE CITY IS UP 1% OVER JULY THROUGH OCTOBER OF LAST YEAR. $16.7 MILLION TO 16.5 MILLION.
WESTCHESTER COUNTY IS DOWN .O4 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT AFTER COMPLETING 10 MONTHS OF ITS FISCAL YEAR, RECEIVING $412.1 MILLION IN SALES TAX RECEIPTS JANUARY THROUGH OCTOBER COMPARED TO $413,871,324 IN JANUARY THROUGH OCTOBER IN 2014
IF COUNTY COLLECTS THE $90 MILLION IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER THAT THEY EARNED LAST HOLIDAY SEASON THE COUNTY IS ON TARGET TO JUST ABOUT BREAK EVEN WITH WHAT THEY RECEIVED IN SALES TAX RECEIPTS IN 2014 ($503,802,272).
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WPCNR WESTCHESTER LAW JOURNAL. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. November 20, 2015:
Westchester won another victory involving the affordable housing settlement with the federal government when the U.S. Magistrate assigned to the case ruled today that the county had provided financing for enough units to meet its 2014 benchmark and that there was no basis for the county to be held in contempt.
For 2015, the county has already surpassed its 600-unit benchmark for financing with 635; and has 466 units with building permits, 59 short of the goal with 101 applications pending.
The latest ruling centers on 28 units of affordable housing being developed in New Castle under the name Chappaqua Station. The units are part of the 2009 affordable housing settlement reached between the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the administration of former County Executive Andrew Spano.
Under the terms of the agreement, the county must ensure the development of 750 units of affordable housing in 31 mostly white communities by the end of 2016.
The settlement also calls for the county to meet annual benchmarks. By the end of 2014, the county had to have 450 units with financing in place. In November of 2014, the Westchester County Board of Legislators approved financing for the Chappaqua Station project, putting the county over the benchmark by four units.
However, the federal monitor assigned to the case, James Johnson, who serves at the pleasure of HUD, and the Department of Justice claimed the units should not count because the financing was “subject to” the development receiving all the necessary approvals. Not counting the units would have left the county 24 units short.
However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein dismissed the federal government’s contention, saying the 28 units “should be counted.”
“The record is devoid of evidence that the inclusion of this [‘subject to’] provision makes the financing any less available for the Chappaqua Station development,” wrote Judge Gorenstein.
The magistrate also sided with the county on the contempt issue, saying the federal government had failed to meet the standard for showing such a charge was warranted. The county argued successfully that its behavior had to be measured against what the settlement actually says, not what the Monitor claimed it said in his report.
“We cannot conclude on the current record that the Settlement language was clear and unambiguous … such that the County could be held in contempt for not taking the additional actions stated in the Report.”
Astorino said the ruling was critically important for showing once again that the county has been complying with the terms of the settlement.
In September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gave Westchester a resounding victory when it declared that “there has been no finding, at any point, that Westchester actually engaged in housing discrimination.” That finding by the nation’s second highest court clearly repudiated the allegation that Westchester’s zoning laws are discriminatory and exclusionary.
“The federal government has tremendous power and can do tremendous damage to the reputations of people and institutions simply by throwing out charges like contempt even if they are later found to be baseless,” said Astorino. “The U.S. magistrate’s ruling corrects the false narrative by the federal government that Westchester County has done anything wrong with respect to implementing the housing settlement.”
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Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino, second from left, flanked by Jim Driscoll, Senior VP, LCOR, Mayor Tom Roach of White Plains, Louis Cappelli, Cappelli Enterprises, whose company will build the 55 Bank Street retail and residential apartments (pictured below) WP Council President John Martin, and Councilpersons Milagros Lecuona and John Kirkpatrick officially breaking ground on the project to be built on the grounds being prepared below. The project was approved in 2006, and was delayed almost 9 years by economic conditions. Photos by WPCNR
Remediation under way on the site today, (foreground).. The contaminants are expected to be removed by the end of this winter and construction expected to begin in the spring, Mr. Driscoll told WPCNR. As of now the total cost of removing the contaminants is not known and the amount of reimbursement from New York State is not known at this time.
Special to WPCNR from LCOR:
LCOR, a fully integrated real estate company specializing in property development, investment and management, has broken ground on their latest mixed-use project, 55 Bank Street in White Plains, New York. The transit-oriented development will provide the thriving community with an impressive mix of residential and retail space.
LCOR has started construction on the highly anticipated, $250 million project. Upon completion, the 55 Bank Street development will offer a total of 760,000 square feet to the White Plains community.
“The groundbreaking at 55 Bank Street serves as a pivotal moment in White Plains, as the first large-scale residential development since 2009,” said James Driscoll, Senior Vice President of LCOR. “LCOR is dedicated to creating a dynamic mixed-use development that will invigorate the neighborhood and complement the existing structures in the area.”
55 Bank Street will be developed in two phases. Phase 1 will include a 16-story, 288-unit residential building with 3,000 square feet of ground floor retail space and 381 parking spaces. Phase II will consist of a 16-story building, complete with 273 homes, 3,350 square feet of retail space and a mix of above and below ground parking, consisting of 189 parking spaces. The total 561 units will have 20 percent workforce designated housing.
The City of White Plains and the Westchester County IDA were crucial in bringing 55 Bank Street to fruition. Created by the City of White Plains, The Bank Street Redevelopment Area allowed LCOR to revitalize the northern portion of the designated area. Previously a municipal parking lot, LCOR purchased the land from the City, with the goal of repurposing the land into a flourishing development.
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IMMIGRATION LAWYER JEFFREY BINDER DISCUSSED IMMIGRATION DO’S, DON’TS AND HOW-TO’S IN THE TRICKY TASK OF IMMIGRATING TO THE U.S.A. LEGALLY WITH JIM BENEROFE RIGHT AND JOHN BAILEY IN FEBRUARY…HIS INFORMATION IS TIMELY, ENLIGHTENING AND SOBERING.
SEE HIS COMMENTS TONIGHT AT 8 PM ON WESTCHESTER COUNTY’S MOST RELEVANT INTERVIEW PROGRAM PEOPLE TO BE HEARD. WHERE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, HAVE THEIR SAY.
OR DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM at www.whiteplainsweek.com
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Bob Funking, Co-Owner of the Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford prsents a check for $15,000 to Beth Vought, Co-Director of Hudson Valley Honor Flight, and Bill Skennion, Vice Chairman, (2nd from right), while Steve Calleran, WBT Host far right looks on. Mr. Funking also presented a check for $1,000 for Honor Flight to donate to Fisher House, a group that contributes and arranges family visits to veterans undergoing treat. An additional $713 was raised by an in-house 50-50 raffel where some 350 person bought $1,450 worth of raffle tickets. Photo by WPCNR
WW II Vets see All Hands on Deck — Free– the show for veterans and Americans who love them!
ALL HANDS ON DECK turns back the hands of time: The “Bond Bombshell”, Betty Blake (Valerie Hill), the old smoothie, John Handley (Carter Lynch) Daisy Maxwell (Emily Peterson) and emcee of the Victory Tour, smooth-talking banterest and bon vivant Ted Crosley (Jody Madaras) thrilling 50 Westchester Veterans last night and over 300 more. Photo, All Hands on Deck website.
WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By John F. Bailey. November 18, 2015:
November 17 was my father’s birthday, and my father was in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1942 before I was born.
He was stationed in Charleston,S.C. and defending the coastline. His name was Charles Bailey. He grew up in Pleasantville, New York, USA. Tended soda fountain at Baldwin’s Pharmacy, and wanted to be a soda jerk. He never went to college. He and my mother adopted me. He played trombone in the Pleasantville High School Military Band. He served.
ALL HANDS ON DECK is for him and all who served and all who support them.
When the intrepid troup of the Hollywood Victory Tour broke into the Coast Guard Anthem at the close of ALL HANDS ON DECK, and Coast Guard Veterans, including two women, stood—I felt like standing up!
So did the over 350 in the audience last night which included 50 WWII veterans invited free as a salute in the Westchester Broadway Theatre sixth annual Honor Flight fund-raising event.
Bob Foster, left,Chairman of the Eastchester Chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (Mr. Foster served in the Vietnam War) organized the ALL HANDS ON DECK event, hosted by Westchester Broadway Theatre. Bob Funking, right WBT Impressario and Co-Owner with Bill Stutler, selected the ALL HANDS ON DECK SHOW. The two have gotten together on 6 straight fundraisers at WBT, Tuesday night was the most successful the WBT has put on. raising double the amount from last year. Photo by WPCNR
The matinee performance yesterday sold out. Both performances raised $16,713, the highest sum raised to date, by far.
ALL HANDS ON DECK is the best little musical no one knows about— written, directed, and choreographed and arranged by Jody Madaras, performing 42 songs from the heart of the World War II entertainment era who had this “idea for a musical” based on his childhood in Ohio, the son of a patriotic family. His grandfather immigrated to Ellis Island in 1911 and served as a naval officer in World War II
Mr. Madaras is a Broadway Star: Finian’s Rainbow with Lauren Bacall, The I Love Lucy Live On Stage first national tour, and Irving Berlin’s I Love a Piano – Japan Tour, and on television, As the World Turns – but he had this idea…and turned it into a musical of his own.
According to the All Hands on Deck website, Madaras says “We are reminded everyday our country has challenges. I wanted to write about patriotic unity, what’s right about our country, and thank our veterans in a musical way. I know how much these songs mean to them. I wanted audiences to leave feeling a little better and happier about our country.”
He had no idea it would be such a hit nationwide when he premiered it in Perryville, Ohio in 2011.
“It was a complete surprise that so many people came to the show in Perrysburg. I had a simple idea worth trying, and the audience’s response was overwhelming.”
The audience was overwhelmed last night in Elmsford, just as they were in Perryville.
ALL HANDS, in the last two weeks has just performed in Kalamazoo,MI, Toledo, Bransom,MO, Jacksonville, Morgantown, NC, and Sarasota. When the “mythical” Hollywood Victory Tour Train arrived in Elmsford last night memories were stirred, old romances kindled, the love of a different America in a different time, enthralled and set today’s hearts beating again to perhaps the greatest, most emotional songs of all time.
The show begins with Movietone Newsreel depicting actual film of the Pear Harbor Attack December 7, 1941; President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech, and footage of the original Hollywood Victory Tour—a cross country train caravan of Hollywood stars Hedy Lamar, Bob Hope, Martha Raye, Clark Gable,Lucille Ball,among others who crisscrossed the heartland, whistle-stop to whistle-stop, selling warbonds to fund the war effort.
Madaras on his website, says “When I got the idea to do the show, one of the things I found was no one had ever done a show based on the Caravan. It was a huge part of the war effort and no one had ever fully honored them.”
Ted Crosley (Jody Madaras), John Handley (Carter Lynch), Betty Blake (Valeriw Hill) and Daisy Maxwell (Emily Peterson) Photo, ALL HANDS ON DECK webtsite.
ALL HANDS ON DECK honors more than just the caravan. It honors the human sacrifices of the heart, the loneliness on the home front, the longing, the worry, and all Americans working as a team when they had to to win a two-front world war, producing military ordinance, planes, tanks, trucks, ships basically from a start-up position.
After the newsreel puts the audience right into the mindset of the nation in 1942, Jody Madaras playing Ted Crosley (the name he created for a very Bob Hope-like emcee with all “old ski nose” and Fred Astaire trademark steps and moves) breaks into the show theme “I’ve Heard that Song Before.” He greets “ Good evening, Elms FORD, New York” deliberately mispronouuncing , bringing laughs.
He introduces the sultry Betty Blake (played by seething Valerie Hill. They are joined by another old smoothie, John Hanley (Carter Lynch, Gaston in the Broadway Tour of Beauty and the Beast) and the “Bond Bombshell,” Daisy Maxwell (Emily Peterson).
They get you into the rhythm immediately with the famous “train songs” of the forties: Chattanooga Choo Choo, The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and Sentimental Journey—impeccably backed with the Victory Tour Orchestra behind trademark bandstands – creating the lost lovely music of that era when train travel moved recruits, soldiers and brought them back home to families who waited and longed for their guys and gals.
The second half recreates a radio show aired every week from Hollywood, transcribed and sent around the world. The group directs the audience with hand signals when to applaud and when to applaud loud. The radio hour really moves and with the audience enthusiastically responding on cue, and complete with Maxwell House Coffee commercials and Mercury automobile commercials…delivered live by these Broadway pros.
Highlights are the many love songs of the era: where the baby-talking muted trumpet, the mellow trombone of Tommy Dorsey are brought back by the fabulous onstage orchestra. This just filled the house with music you could tap your feet to, dream of an old romance, and remember just how it made you feel. Mr. Mandaras as Ted Crosley and Ms. Peterson as Daisy do a long intricate tap dance that they improvise as crowd keeps applauding — and you’d swear they were Fred (Astaire) and Ginger (Rogers).
The Victory Radio Show–performing South of the Border. Photo, ALL HANDS ON DECK website.
The ode to those strange places were recruits trained…Texas, California, and other sandy dusty places are laughingly recalled with the great Don’t Fence Me In (by Mr. Mandaras, who sounds just like Der Bingle on this one), and the Priceless Quartet combines on Deep In the Heart of Texas, and South of the Border
The Mailcall segment brings the ladies back to reprise The Andrews Sisters on Don’t Sit Under the Appletree. There is no lag-space—ALL HANDS is very tight.
The love songs are here: Embraceable You, I Can Dream Can’t I?, Long, Long Trail, and the two lovely ladies Ms. Hill and Ms. Peterson make them shimmer and strum the strings of memory, still sharp as ever in this audience. When Embraceable You was sung by Ms. Valerie Hill (Betty Blake), women in the audience started to sing the lyrics softly. It is one of the most touching sequences I have ever seen in theatre. The loving way these top-of-their-game entertainers treat the classics – straight with meaning and beauty brings the airwaves of the 40s right back.
Magic was turning back the hands of time and making them stand still for 2 hours. I and anyone who sees this show on their next stop will always remember, too.
ALL HANDS ON DECK is a postcard to what America was when it needed to stand up and step up together, and it never slows down.
The finale featuring stirring, brassy, get-up-out-of-your-seat-and-march themes of all the services is a great moment in show business. When they played The Caissons Go Rolling Along, about 40 army veterans stood up to applause and clapping and the vets moved to the march like old times. During Anchors Aweigh, former legislator Vito Pinto, Navy vet was standing waving his arms. Everyone loves this conclusion
Unfortunately, this was a one day stop for the Hands on Deck. They should make a stop here every year!
The All Hands on Deck VICTORY TOUR “Imaginary Train” left Elmsford for the last two stops on the 2015 tour this weekend in Ogdensburg NY at the George Hall Auditorium Saturday and Sunday in Oneida at the Oneida Performing Arts Center. Go to www.allhandsondeckshow.com to learn more about the show and all the songs.
ALL HANDS ON DECK is “must-see musical,” when it comes to a town near you, easily the best original patriotic production since Yankee Doodle Dandy
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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. November 18, 2015:
The telephone message began with these words:
“Hello.
This call is officially a final notice from IRS.
Internal Revenue Service.
The reason of this call is to inform you that IRS is filing a lawsuit against you
To get more information about this case file
Please call immediately on our department number
202-751-1163.
I repeat
202-751-1163
Thank you.”
When the IRS calls, people listen.
But this was not the IRS…it is a scam designed to ellicit important personal information or even a payment..and persons receiving this call should not answer any questions asked.
I called the number…and it just rang and rang.
I called the IRS Local Taxpayer Advocate Office in New York, and asked what they thought of this call, whether it was legitimate or not. The person who handled the call said they had not heard of this, but thought it was a scam.
I tried reaching the IRS numbers but simply got standard voice mail directions, no dial for a “live” representative.
Then I called the White Plains Police. The officer who handled the call said this IRS call was definitely a scam and warned that if one calls the number, and they are asked any questions…they should not under any circumstances answer them.
The IRS representative at the Advocate Office said the IRS will routinely send many letters regarding enforcement matters to you prefer instituting any legal action.
I also received this call again, Tuesday evening.
If you get a call like the one I described. Ignore it.
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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. From The Commissioner of Public Safety. November 14, 2015. 10:30 P.M. E.S.T.:
More details on the fire Saturday morning on Avenue were reported to WPCNR by David Chong, White Plains Commissioner of Public Safety. He sent this statement to WPCNR late this evening: