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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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor’s Press Office. October 16, 2015:

Today, the first official executive meeting of the Common Core Task Force was held in Manhattan at the CUNY Graduate Center. The meeting included planning for at least a dozen public sessions in the near future to engage New Yorkers and generate feedback, as well as the creation of an advisory committee to help guide the Task Force throughout its review. The Task Force also announced that Andreea Musteata, a junior at Tech Valley High School, will serve as the group’s first student ambassador and will lead an effort to encourage student involvement throughout the process.

The Common Core Task Force is chaired by Richard Parsons, Senior Advisor,Providence Equity Partners Inc. and former Chairman of the Board, Citigroup Inc.

Mr. Parsons said: “Today’s meeting was about setting the stage for a comprehensive review of common core – a review that will help us fix and strengthen the state’s learning standards and ensure that every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential. This was a productive meeting that will guide our efforts in the weeks and months to come, and I look forward to beginning the work ahead.”

Today’s preliminary discussion focused on the history and timeline of Common Core standards development and implementation in New York State, as well as the development of related assessments, and problems that have arisen as a result of that implementation. The Task Force also determined a preliminary schedule for future public sessions – exact dates will be announced in the coming days, but at least a dozen public sessions are being planned, including at least one local session in each of the State’s 10 regions.

Student Ambassador
Andreea Musteata, a junior at Tech Valley High School in Albany, will serve as the Task Force’s student ambassador. In this role, Ms. Musteata will lead efforts to engage students across New York State through social media. In addition to her digital outreach, roundtables with students will be held to discuss ideas. Ms. Musteata will later present that feedback to the Task Force.

Advisory Committee
The Task Force members also discussed the formation of an advisory committee that will include a variety of subject matter experts and stakeholders, including educators, administrators and parents, which will be regionally diverse, to help guide the State’s review. Additional details on the advisory committee will be announced next week.

The Task Force was created by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in late September and charged with performing a comprehensive review of the State’s learning standards, instructional guidance and curricula, and tests in order to improve the system’s implementation and reduce text anxiety. More information, as well as a video of the Governor discussing the Task Force is available here.

The members of the Task Force include: · Richard D. Parsons, Senior Advisor, Providence Equity Partners, LLC and Former Chairman of the Board of Citigroup, Inc.
· Heather Buskirk, Mohawk Valley Master Teacher; Science Teacher at Johnstown High School
· Geoffrey Canada, President, Harlem Children’s Zone
· Carol L. Conklin-Spillane, Principal, Sleepy Hollow High
· MaryEllen Elia, Commissioner of the New York State Education Department
· Constance Evelyn, Superintendent, Valley Stream School District
· Catalina R. Fortino, Vice President, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)
· Kishayna Hazlewood, 3rd Grade Teacher at P.S. 156 in Brooklyn
· Tim Kremer, Executive Director of the New York State School Boards Association
· Senator Carl Marcellino, Chair of the Senate Education Committee
· Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, Chair of the Assembly Education Committee
· Samuel Radford III, President, District Parent Coordinating Council of Buffalo
· Carrie Remis, Rochester Area Parent & Founder of the Parent Power Project
· Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), AFL-CIO
· Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor, State University of New York (SUNY)  

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. OCTOBER 6, 2015:

Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. was expected to be designated the firm “to provide professional planning, design and engineering services for the White Plains Multimodal Transportation Center Redevelopment Project last night at the regular White Plains Common Council meeting.

The object, the ordinance says is “to transform the existing Multimodal Transportation Center into a more functional and attractive regional transit hub that willmaximize the economic development potential of the both the station area and the downtown core.”

The area of development target is shown below and touches west to the Jefferson Avenue residential section of Battle Hill,  North to the County Center and up a portion of Ferris Avenue and east to Church  Street, south to the White Plains Post Office.

THE CHANGING FACE OF WHITE PLAINS–AREA TARGETED FOR DEVELOPMENT BY CITY IN TRANSPORTATION CENTER REBIRTH

The contract with Parsons is for $794,214, funded by the NYSERDA Cleaner,Greener Communities Program grant that will reimburse the city on the completion of prior steps prior to completion—a Strategic Plan  containing—

“goals and objectives, guiding principles, performance measures, issues and opportunities, alternative development and screening process, overall recommended vision (Editor’s Italics) with early-action, mid-term and long-term strategies, Implementation Plan with phasing/timeline and potential funding sources, stakeholder and public outreach efforts, and project next steps.”

Parsons will as part of the contract create a “Multi-Modal Transportation Center Stakeholder Task Force that will hold six meetings; Public Outreach-contribution of content for the project website hosted by the City of White Plains; two public meetings.

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The Cotton Blossom arrives! 
(Photos, Courtesy Westchester Broadway Theatre by John Vecchiola)

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. October 3, 2015:

Come on sleepy townspeople, everybody down to the wharf at Westchester Broadway Theatre on the Mighty Mississippi of the 1880s!  

The  classic Showboat! Pulled into the WBT wharf Opening Night Thursday and woke up the citizens with the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, Florenz Ziegfield-produced 1927  Broadway game changer! 

This is the show that turned Broadway from vaudeville to narrative musical theatre and integrated the Broadway stage. The musical melodrama recreates the Old South, raises awareness of prejudice and was the first integrated musical.

Starting without an overture, the townspeople flock down to the wharf in the opening sequence and the Showboat Cotton Blossom magnificently pulls into the wharf  right at the audience, in a majestic arrival that suspends disbelief. The grand entrance had the audience into the spirit of that once and distant time – the old South. Magnificently costumed dockhands and elegant  southern belles, beautiful showgirls burst into song– Cotton Blossom —  and you’re hooked.

John Preator and Bonnie Fraser,Ravenal and Magnolia the perfect leads, romantic, electric, affectionate, stirring sentimentality, loyalty all the things that make romance. Perfect Together!

When the ladies meet the debonair Southern Gentleman, Ravenal, (John Preator), the riverboat gambler looking for a new stake,  a mix of Rhett Butler and Bret Maverick, you have the essence of Old South Smoothie, but he laments Where’s the Mate for Me.

 But wouldn’t you know it?

Magnolia, the Captain’s daughter  played by Bonnie Fraser in her WBT debut, steps off the boat and in a coy introduction with Preator, crackling with electricity,  the two sing Only Make Believe. The audience just loves this couple whose ups and downs drive the plot as we follow their romance up the Mississippi.

I have rarely seen the edgy repressed attraction for one another so well created as this romantic pair acts it. Ms. Fraser and Mr. Preator team again for another charming duet, You Are Love. Really tugs on your heartstrings. 

 Ms. Fraser shows the full depth of her charming soprano on Why Do I love you? Another performance that touches the hardest heart. They work!

Michael James Leslie brings down the house in his singing of Ol’ Man River–stopping the show!

But there is another side to Showboat!, the freed slaves of the post Civil War South and the hopelessness that was their life. Michael James Leslie (above) as Joe a black dock worker belts the classic Ol Man River  as he and dock hands and bale handlers go about their monotonous hard work.

His silky, measured deep baritone evokes Paul Robeson. I cannot tell you how well he nails this— the audience tell you when they give up their ovation, as they did opening night, many standing – Leslie singing Ol Man River stopped the show.

Sarah Hanlon of the magnifcent cholerata as Julie Laverne  singing Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man, making it elegantly bluesy, haunting, sad and warm with her ringing clarity of truth she gets under your skin and in your mind.

The musical standards just keep on coming in this rolling along show. We meet Julie  played by Sarah Hanlon also debuting at the WBT who plays the lead in the Cotton Blossom showboat play. She’s in love with the white lead actor and laments the power of love, Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man.

She and Queenie, Joe’s long suffering wife rue the uselessness of the men they love in a funny bitter sweet lament wives and husbands will be all too familiar with. Queenie played by Inga Ballard is great in her comic exchanges with Joe (Mr. Leslie)

Sara Hanlon’s Julie and Eric Briarly as Steve are forced to leave the show because they are a mixed couple. In Act Two, Ms. Hanlon sings the touching tribute to Bill a sad moving song that her impeccable rendering paints a portrait of regret tinged with fond remembrance.

Ms. Hanlon leaves the action all too early, when a rebuffed suitor accuses her of being married to a white man. She and her husband, the lead actor are forced to leave the show, and the audience is left to wonder what became of them as a mixed couple in the Old South. She shows up later in Chicago  (This was such a gutsy musical to do in the 1920s, the time of lynchings, Jim Crow, segregation, forced labor for people of color).

In the search for a new lead, Capn Andy decides to make Magnolia, his daughter the new female lead, and Ravenal the male lead. You can see where this is going don’t you?

Romance and heartbreak ahead. As Magnolia’s mother,Parthy Hawks, played with deadpan comic sarcasm  by  Karen Murphy continues to try to prevent the inevitable romance. The electricity sizzles between Ravenal and Magnolia; they just glow! You know that the couple is going to get together, culminating in a raucous finale to Act I

The repartee of the two old married couples Captain Andy Hawks and Parthy Hawks and Joe and Queenie lighten up serious moments.  Both old married  teams played by  Jamie Ross and Karen Murphy (Capn Andy and Parthy) and Joe (Mr. Leslie) and Queenie (Inga Ballard)  are great comic relief – natural masters of comic timing with ability to temper insult with compassion as people who have been together a long time do. It’s not business, just personal.

Act Two follows Ravenal and Magnolia adventures and misadventures…childbirth, Ravenal’s run of bad luck at the gambling tables, eventually ending up in his leaving her and his daughter

We catch up with Julie (Sarah Hanlon) doing nightclub work in Chicago, when she sings Bill,  auditioning a new song, aa torchy number that she is low down and bluesy on.

Frank Schulz played by the zany Daniel Scott Watson and the comedic Ellie May Chipley (Amanda Pulcini) coach  Magnolia to win a nightclub job to support her family, and themselves deliver Goodbye My Lady Love. 

Foils throughout are the dance and comedy team of Amanda Pulcini as Ellie May Chipley and Daniel Scott Walton as Frank who aid Magnolia’s romance, and help her get back on her feet again as an entertainer. Here the duo perform  a snappy  Goodbye My Lady Love Ms. Pulcini is a natural wisecracking tough girl always fighting for a part — she also does a solid comic number “Life on the Wicked Stage” that is a hoot!

 Dance sequences segue the passage of decades — as the Ensemble above Charlestons in the 1920s.

The momentum of life and its choices and twists and turns in perspective executed by the marvelous ensemble assembled by Director Ryan Edward Wise –Malcolm Armwood, Eric Briarley, Michael Dauer, Jonathan Freeland, Alia Hodge, Justin R.G. Holcomb, Celeste Hudson, Paul-Jordan Jansen,Leisa Mather, Zoie Morris, Gabriella Perez, Kristyn Pope, Adam Richardson, Roger Preston Smith, Karen Webb.

How do the families end up?

The Cotton Blossom departs after 2 hours and 45 minutes with a reunion that sends the townsfolk home happy…cheering and waiting for Showboat!’s next landing.

Showboat! is docked at the Westchester Broadway Theatre through January  31, with a break for the WBT Holiday Show. Come on down, contact the box office at 914-592-2222, or visit www.BroadwayTheatre.com.

It’s a great show for children. No off-color language. No gunshots. No violence. Loving couples. Couples that respect each other. Feelings that matter. You cannot find a better  evening entertainment for all ages.

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TONIGHT

PETER KATZ AND JOHN BAILEY 

ON

INTERNATIONAL FIRM PICKED TO DESIGN, REDO WP TRANSIT HUB — “BIGGEST PROJECT IN WESTCHESTER EVER”–MAYOR

THE BLOODY MOON ECLIPSE — EXCLUSIVE SNAPS

THE REFVIK SENTENCING

THE PLOY TO BUY RIDGEWAY COUNTRY CLUB

THE WARBIRDS COME TO TOWN–EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

SHOWBOAT! DOCKS AT WESTCHESTER BROADWAY THEATRE –REVIEW!

 ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK–15TH YEAR COVERING WHITE PLAINS AND WESTCHESTER

SEE IT ANY TIME ON THE INTERNET — www.whiteplainsweek.com

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Office of Assemblyman David Buchwald. October 1, 2015:

As a direct result of the efforts of State Assemblyman David Buchwald (D-White Plains), Senator George Latimer (D-Rye), and White Plains Mayor Tom Roach (D), Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office of Storm Recovery has reimbursed the City of White Plains $205,989.49 it was owed for expenses incurred as a result of Superstorm Sandy. Together with FEMA aid, the city has been made whole.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) covered 90 percent of all Sandy-related expenses sustained by municipalities, while the individual municipalities were originally responsible for the remaining 10 percent. In June of 2014, Governor Cuomo announced that the state would cover that 10 percent, relieving local taxpayers of an added financial burden. Without the funding, the City of White Plains would have a significant budget gap, and residents would be forced to absorb a .74 percent increase in their property taxes to offset the Superstorm Sandy expenses.

“New York State has come through for the City of White Plains. Without this reimbursement, White Plains property taxpayers would have been hit with a sizeable bill for Superstorm Sandy expenses,” said Assemblyman Buchwald. “Sandy’s extensive damage and power outages hit many communities hard and municipal budgets were strained, so I am very pleased that the Governor Cuomo’s Office of Storm Recovery stepped up to relieve White Plains of its financial burden. I would like to thank Senator Latimer and Mayor Roach for their steadfast work to make sure that the City of White Plains was properly reimbursed.”

“The people of White Plains have demonstrated great strength and resiliency in recovering from Sandy,” said Senator Latimer. “For the city and its officials, this helps ensure financial stability and brings closure in the long battle back. The support of the state, and the fulfilled commitment on the part of Governor Cuomo is appreciated by so many of us.”

“I would like to thank our state delegation members, Assemblyman David Buchwald and Senator George Latimer, as well as the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, for working with the City to ensure it received this funding,” said Mayor Roach. “The City incurred significant expenses as a result of Superstorm Sandy and this last piece of reimbursement was needed to cover those expenses related to storm response and recovery.”

In total, the City of White Plains spent $2,059,894.85 in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. This includes $1,674,866 on over 17,000 hours of debris and organic waste removal by city workers, with nearly 7,000 of those hours counted as overtime.  The City also spent over $166,000 for law enforcement and the fire department to keep the public safe, respond to emergencies, and provide critical equipment and materials such as generators.