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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. By the WPCNR Roving Photographer. February 18, 2015:
Metro North Local proceeding across frozen Hudson River at Peekskill. The river is frozen about three quarts of its width to the channel.
Looking South from Peekskill boat landing. Temperatures in the teens and single digits have frozen the Hudson about three quarters the way across.
Metro North Local making its way into Peekskill Station
WPCNR VIRTUAL WARMTH
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Assemblyman David Buchwald of White Plains, 2nd from right, appearing on PEOPLE TO HEARD, the White Plains Television News Interview program (viewable at www.whiteplainsweek.com announced a local Public Forum on the State Budget to be held in Greenburgh Town Hall one week from today, February 23. 2 to 6 PM. Left to right: John Bailey, Peter Katz, Mr. Buchwald, Jim Benerofe.
WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From Assemblyman David Buchwald, 33rd Assembly District. February 16, 2015:
Assemblymembers
J. Gary Pretlow, Sandy Galef, Thomas Abinanti,
Amy Paulin, Shelley Mayer, Steven Otis,
and David Buchwald
invite you to an important forum on
Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget Proposals.
This forum will be divided into two parts. The first part (2-4PM) will focus on all
aspects of Governor Cuomo’s executive budget, and the second part (4-6PM) will
focus on Governor Cuomo’s proposals for educational funding and
reforms contained in his executive budget.
Monday, February 23rd
2:00-6:00 PM
Greenburgh Town Hall
177 Hillside Ave, Greenburgh (White Plains, if using GPS), NY 10607
You will have an opportunity to hear from your elected
Assemblymembers and express your opinion.
Questions: contact Assemblymember Shelley Mayer’s office
at 914-779-8805/mayers@assembly.state.ny.us
Persons who wish to testify are asked to contact Assemblymember Shelley Mayer’s
office: mayers@assembly.state.ny.us or 914-779-8805.
Those testifying are asked to limit their oral presentations to 3 minutes, to allow for as many speakers as possible.
Written testimony would be greatly appreciated. Please bring copies of your testimony to the public forum. It is important that you register to testify, so a schedule ofpresenters can be organized to make the most efficient use of time, and you can be notified in the event of postponement or cancellation of the forum.
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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County IDA. February 13, 2015:
County Executive Robert P. Astorino today announced that Westchester’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has approved a series of incentives that will help Flexjet relocate its fractional jet charter operations from Teterboro, NJ to Westchester County Airport in White Plains.
The move will bring an initial 38 high-wage permanent jobs to Westchester and create an additional 55 permanent jobs over the next five years. In addition, 20 construction jobs will be created during the four-month renovation of Flexjet’s new home at hangar “F.”
“We are thrilled that Flexjet has decided to move to Westchester,” said Astorino. “Flexjet is rolling out a red carpet runway to corporate executives and entrepreneurs from around the globe, which will encourage further investment and job creation in Westchester.”
The financing and tax-exemptions made available through the IDA help defray the cost of the move from Teterboro and support the $5 million renovation project. The construction project is expected to begin in May and transform the hangar into a state-of-the-art facility and convert the current office space into a modern, technologically-advanced passenger lounge.
“Westchester is an ideal location for Flexjet as we expand our programs and continue to deliver an exceptional, world-class customer experience,” said Kenneth Ricci, chairman of Flexjet. “County Executive Astorino’s team has been highly responsive and supportive. We are excited for our business to start taking off in Westchester.”
The highly-skilled and high-paid positions that Flexjet expects to create over the next two-to-five years range from pilots to maintenance technicians and supervisors to facility managers and inspectors.
Friedland Realty Advisors Expanding
Astorino also announced that Friedland Realty Advisors, a leading commercial brokerage firm, decided to keep their corporate headquarters in Westchester, thanks in part to incentives approved at today’s meeting. The company, having outgrown its current location in Yonkers, has chosen to relocate to a larger space at 440 Mamaroneck Avenue in Harrison.
The 45-year old firm chose staying in Westchester over moving to New York City, Stamford or New Jersey, because, “Location, location, location,” said Ayall Schanzer, Friedland Realty Advisors president and CEO. “Westchester positions us to be a dominant regional player with close proximity to our target customers and desirable inventory.”
The IDA incentives will finance the renovation of their new space as well as purchases that will upgrade the firm’s technological capabilities. The firm anticipates hiring four executive-level employees and contracting with seven real estate brokers over the next year, adding to its existing seven full-time employees and 26 brokers.
About the IDA
The IDA is a public benefit corporation created in 1976 for promoting and encouraging economic development in the county primarily through assisting in the creation or retention of jobs. The IDA is also empowered to issue taxable and tax-exempt bonds for organizations meeting federal and state guidelines. There is no financial risk to the county or to county taxpayers. The obligation for repaying the debt rests solely with the organizations.
Any corporation or small company looking to access the low-cost and tax-exempt project financing made available through the IDA should contact Jim Coleman, executive director of the IDA, at (914) 995-2963 or jcoleman@westchestergov.com.
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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From Our Lady of Good Counsel. February 12, 2015:
After a year of extensive efforts to find a new location, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion today advised the students, parents, faculty and staff that Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy High School in White Plains will cease operations in July at the conclusion of the current school year.
Working closely with the Archdiocese of New York, a concerted effort has begun to assist Good Counsel’s students in transitioning to other area Catholic high schools. The High School community was notified of the decision this afternoon. (see attached letter)
In a letter to the members of the Good Counsel High School community (attached), the Divine Compassion Leadership Team expressed “deep regret and sadness” in having reached the decision to close the school. Their letter emphasizes that “it has been a blessing, an honor and a privilege to sponsor and be involved” in the school’s mission.
“We know that that this decision is extremely painful for everyone affiliated with the school,” the letter states, but “after more than a year of due diligence, a suitable and affordable relocation site for the High School has not been found. Multiple properties were investigated and eliminated as possible sites.”
The relocation effort began as a result of the Sisters decision to sell the 16-acre campus at 52 North Broadway where they have been located for 125 years. The site includes 12 buildings and the annual operating costs have become financially unsustainable. With many of the 80 Sisters now in their late 70s, 80s and 90s, their needs for health care and health-oriented living accommodations have become necessary. Continuing to subsidize the High School and the Good Counsel Academy Elementary School, both of which are on the campus, was no longer feasible.
The Elementary School, which offers pre-k through eighth grade, was able to find a new home. In September it will open two miles north at the former Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School in Valhalla. Despite extensive efforts, a satisfactory new location for the High School could not be found.
Each of the schools has its own Board of Trustees and administration. However, as the sponsoring organization, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion have the ultimate responsibility for the schools. The schools are independent from the Archdiocese of New York. Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s letter to the Good Counsel school community is attached.
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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. February 12, 2015:
Marie and Ron Rhodes, two active opponents of the French American School of New York proposal to build a 5 Building Campus on the former Ridgeway Country Club which will be taken up some day by the Common Council maybe this year after almost 4 years of study and hearings by the Council and study and “tweaking” by city consultants have written a final report which they submitted to the Mayor and Common Council, February 5. WPCNR has received this report and will be putting out portions of it in the coming days.
Here is the Rhodes’ “Big Picture Concerns on the FASNY Project” urging the Council to reject the project:
Our Big Picture concerns on the FASNY project
February 5, 2015
Dear Mayor and Common Council,
As background for your upcoming (?) FASNY vote we prepared this report for you.
We have spent our business careers providing CEO’s due diligence on business plans, products and companies. . .so we felt an obligation to provide the same type of evaluation of FASNY’s plan to you and our other elected City Leaders.
We know you want what is best for White Plains going forward. . .so we went back and gathered together all the information we could find on FASNY for you. . .all of the details are in our attached report. In summary we ask you to reject FASNY as not being the right fit for the City and the citizens you serve. And we also ask you to. . .
√ protect WP School Children many of whom are minority. . .from FASNY’s Traffic and North Street Entrance. . .the same concerns as communicated to you by our WP Board of Education.
√ protect Hathaway Lane from Closure. . .from an outside private developer who wants to take over a City street without offering any Public benefits.
√ protect our current Fire and Emergency Response Times. . .the citizens you serve are interested in programs that reduce current Fire and Emergency Response Times. . .not ones that increase Response Times to residents by Closing Hathaway Lane to satisfy the wishes of a private outside developer.
√ protect residents and neighborhoods from FASNY Traffic. . .where FASNY’s 950 students and 250 staff will bring over 2,000 Vehicle Trips each day into the Southend residential areas of the City.
√ protect our Environment and Open Space. . .from an outside developer who wants to build a 53-acre regional school complex on current Open Space grassland. . .FASNY is not giving Open Space to the City.
√ protect our Neighborhoods from FASNY’s 10-year Construction. . .which will bring Noise, Pollution and Construction Vehicles. . .while damaging the Health, Safety and Welfare of residents.
√ protect our current Zoning and Rule of Law. . . FASNY’s regional school campus does not fit within the R1-30 Zoning, our Comprehensive Plan and other WP laws as written. . .and also does not fit with Character of the neighborhood while compromising the Health, Safety and Welfare of the community.
√ protect our homes from additional Water Problems. . .if FASNY is allowed to build foundations that disrupt underground streams and construct their 53-acre campus over Open Space grassland where rainwater is currently absorbed.
√ protect our Property Values from further declines. . .FASNY’s 10-year Construction along with the size of their 53-acre massive school campus and the impact of increased FASNY Traffic. . .according to real estate professionals will result in permanent reductions in Property Values.
√ protect us from misguided Mitigation. . .especially with Traffic attempts that do nothing to reduce the number of FASNY vehicles coming into the Southend of the City, recommending the North Street Entrance and even thinking about the Closure of Hathaway Lane. . .all of which do not help residents.
√ protect our historic and award winning neighborhood from destruction. . .if our Comprehensive Plan, Zoning and other WP Laws in place protect our property, homes and City streets. . .why aren’t our elected officials supporting residents by saying “if you like your neighborhood. . .you can keep your neighborhood”?
X there are no benefits with this FASNY project. . .compared to the alternative of 60 new residential houses that would be allowable under the current R1-30 Zoning. . .would provide additional property tax revenue. . .and bring in significantly less Traffic than FASNY.
Our list of FASNY negatives is significant and the citizens you serve are asking for your protection which is your fiduciary responsibility. Throughout this 4 year FASNY review process the focus of discussions has usually been on one FASNY negative at a time, for example Traffic. . .and rightfully so. Here in our list of Big Picture concerns you see all of the FASNY negatives together in one place. . . and find there are no benefits for FASNY building their school campus on the old golf course. This is really a dramatic indictment of FASNY’s project.
And you should keep in mind that all of the concerns and negatives we mentioned about this FASNY project. . .were first uncovered by your WP residents. . .not City staff. . .which should be a cause for concern to all Council members as you move forward and consider future proposals.
We have been encouraged by a recent quote we read in the Journal News regarding the study for redeveloping the train station area. . .”we want a project that’s resident-driven and city-driven rather than developer-driven.” (Mayor Tom Roach, January 16, 2015)
The only thing resident-driven on the FASNY project has been the opposition! Please vote “no” on FASNY.
Thank you for your support,
We report. . .you decide. Your Truth Police, Team Rhodes
Marie and Ron Rhodes
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WPCNR’s The Daily Bailey. By John F. Bailey. February 12, 2015 From the WPCNR ARCHIVES.
Today marks the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, whose Presidential performance during the Civil War (1861-1865) was perhaps the most admirable of any American President.
He had to create things as he went, dealing with a complex political issue: slavery, while deciding to fight a war to preserve a divided nation.
How did Abraham Lincoln handle pressure and political opportunists? He did not have press agents and spinmasters and talk show hosts and superior punditry critiquing his every move and loading him up with advice.
Though he did have the “crusading editors” and “editorial boards” of his day. Let’s take a look at the Big Guy from Illinois
In the days of Lincoln, media coverage was simply print media. However, the amount of reporting on the burning issues of the day was far more detailed than today with dozens of newspapers presenting the chronicles of burning issues. For Lincoln’s presidency was the presidency of the nation’s greatest crisis in its eighty-five year history:
The Civil War.
It is interesting to note how President Lincoln conducted himself in dealing with America’s interests, its factions, pulling him to free the slaves.
When Lincoln was running for the Presidency in 1860 at the Republican Convention in riproaring Chicago, he was up against James Seward, a powerful New York politician. However, the western states at the time were highly distrustful of the New York political machine. (Has anything really changed? They are still distrustful today!)
Lincoln won over support by taking a position of what was good for the nation as a whole.
Taking a Position and Working To it
Lincoln first gave notice of his potential for the Presidency when he impressed Horace Greeley, influential editor of the New York Tribune with a fiery speech at the Cooper Union in February, 1860, delivering a sharp criticism of the South, hard on the heels of South Carolina’s secession from the Union. The speech included these words,
You say you will not abide the election of a Republican President. In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! (The northern states) That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, “Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!”
Greeley printed the speech in his Tribune the next day, scooping the other New York papers, by simply asking Lincoln for a copy of the speech. The subsequent printing in the popular Trib, sent Mr. Lincoln on his way. As William Harlan Hale’s biography of Mr. Greeley (Horace Greeley: Voice of the People)describes the scene at “The original Trib’s” offices, as remembered by Amos Cummings, a young proofreader:
Amos Cummings, then a young proofreader, remembered the lanky westerner appearing over his shoulder amid the noise of the pressroom late at midnight, drawing up a chair, adjusting his spectacles, and in the glare of the gaslight reading each galley (of the Cooper Union speech) with scrupulous care and then rechecking his corrections, oblivious to his surroundings.
A Comeback President
Lincoln had been a highly successful politician from Illinois in the 1830s and 1840s. He was three times elected to the state legislature, and The Kunhardts’ The American Presidency reports he was “a recognized expert at forming coalitions…he learned how to keep secrets, how to trade favors, how to use the press to his advantage. And he cultivated his relationship with the party hierarchy.”
Graff’s book writes that Lincoln was described as “ruthless,” that he “handled men remotely like pieces on a chessboard.” Humor and frankness were character traits.
Lincoln was elected a congressman, only to serve just one term.
Lincoln had been practicing corporate law privately and had lost interest in politics by 1854, until the repeal of The Missouri Compromise, which had restricted slavery to the southern states. Lincoln felt stirred to come back. He spoke out against the spread of slavery, running for the senate in 1858 against William Douglas, unsuccessfully.
Saving the Union His Mantra
As the furor over slavery and the South’s threats to secede grew, a crisis of spirit and purpose in this nation which makes today’s concerns about terrorism as a threat to America, pale in comparison, Lincoln realized that the Union was the larger issue.
He expressed this in response to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, an influential figure at the Republican (Whig) Convention in Chicago in 1860. Greeley was the kingmaker at the 1860 Chicago convention who eventually swung the western states for Lincoln, giving the man from Illinois the nomination on the third ballot over William Seward, the candidate of the Thurlow Weed “New York Machine.”
Greeley then tried to influence the President-Elect to free the slaves. (Lincoln was being lobbied by the still-powerful Weed-Seward faction to compromise with the southern states on the issue of slavery).
Standing Tall Against Pressure.
Lincoln refused to free the slaves as one of the first acts of his presidency, standing firm to hold the union together, when he announced his attention not to do so, on his way to Washington after being elected. His words in this time of international tension, are worth remembering as America considers starting a war for the first time. Lincoln said:
I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy (the Union, he means), so long together. It was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the single people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance.
Seeing the Big Picture.
After Fort Sumter was fired upon, Lincoln was pressured harder to free the slaves. Still, Lincoln held firm. Mr. Greeley published a blistering open letter to the President, he called “The Letter of Twenty Millions,” meaning his readers (slightly exaggerated)in The New York Tribune.
Greeley’s letter took the President to task for not freeing the slaves now that the Civil War was on, writing, “all attempts to put down the rebellion and at the same time uphold its inciting cause are preposterous and futile.”
President Lincoln responded with an open letter which Greeley published in The Tribune. President Lincoln’s letter is instructive as to how a President moves in crisis, when a nation is ripped apart to calm and state his position. He begins with a conciliatory tone, calming Greeley’s bombast:
…If there be perceptible in it (Greeley’s letter) an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
As to the policy I “seem to be pursuing,” as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution.
The sooner the national authority can be restored the nearer the Union will be – the Union as it was.
If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them.
If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them.
If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it – if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it – and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.
What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.
I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause.
I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be new views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free, Yours
A. Lincoln
(Editor’s Note:That is Presidential! It leaves no doubt as to who is in charge and who is responsible and why. How refreshing!)
Wearied by War
Horace Greeley described the toll the Civil War had taken on Mr. Lincoln, seeing him in person shortly before General Robert E. Lee surrendered. Greeley wrote:
Lincoln’s face had nothing in it of the sunny, gladsome countenance he first brought from Illinois. It is now a face haggard with care and seamed with thought and trouble…tempest-tossed and weatherbeaten, as if he were some tough old mariner who had for years been beating up against the wind and tide, unable to make his port or find safe anchorage…The sunset of life was plainly looking out of his kindly eyes.”
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REMEMBER WHEN — 15 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, WHITE PLAINS WEEK BEGAN ON WHITE PLAINS TV–THE FIRST WEEKLY CITY NEWS ROUNDUP SHOW. IT FEATURED ALEX PHILIPPIDIS, THEN EDITOR OF THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL, JOHN BAILEY AND JIM BENEROFE. ALEX REMEMBERS WITH JOHN BAILEY AND JIM BENEROFE THE WAY IT WAS IN WHITE PLAINS AND THE WAY IT IS NOW. (Photo by Steve Morton)
WHITE PLAINS WEEK CELEBRATES 15TH YEAR ON THE AIR ACROSS THE GALAXY
ORIGINAL ANCHORMAN ALEX PHILIPPIDIS REMEMBERS WHERE WHITE PLAINS WAS AND TALKS ABOUT WHERE IT’S GOING
Alex Philippidis and Jim Benerofe reminiscing on White Plains TV’s PEOPLE TO BE HEARD about White Plains Yesterday and Where White Plains is Going Today
John Bailey and Alex share laughs and memories and predictions about White Plains future tonight on PEOPLE TO BE HEARD…The Program Where People with Something to Say, Have their say!
SEE THE YEARS GO BY…EXCLUSIVE CLIPS FROM THE PAST
PITHY PREDICTIONS ABOUT WHITE PLAINS TOMORROWS!
SEE IT NOW
AT
www.whiteplainsweek.com
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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Office of State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. February 9, 2015:
The Senate Democratic Conference today unveiled a major legislative package to deal with the ongoing ethics crisis in State Government.
This package of groundbreaking bills will cap legislators’ outside incomes, end the LLC loophole, bar elected officials from using campaign funds for criminal defense and personal use and end the practice of taxpayer funded reimbursements of legal fees.
The Senate Democrats also introduced measures to strip corrupt officials of taxpayer funded pensions and reform how campaigns are funded. Unfortunately, the Senate Republican Majority has consistently blocked all meaningful ethics reforms initiatives.
![IMG_0680[1]](http://whiteplainscnr.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/IMG_06801.jpg)
“These scandals have become too common and are something that we must deal with immediately. We are facing a crisis of mistrust in Albany,” Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said (shown above in a previous photograh). “The legislation offered by the Senate Democratic Conference will help rebuild the trust in our state government that has been rocked by repeated scandals. I urge the Senate Republicans to end their opposition to cleaning up Albany and finally join with the Senate Democratic Conference to pass these good government reforms.”
The Senate Democratic Conference ethics reforms initiatives are intended to return the public’s trust in state government by restricting outside income, closing loopholes and reforming how campaigns are funded and how campaign funds can be utilized. Bills introduced by the Senate Democratic Conference include legislation that will:
o This initiative will restrict the type and nature of outside income to mirror U.S. Congress’ cap of 15% of gross legislative salary.
o The bill will also establish the Commission on Legislative Compensation that will convene every four years to examine, evaluate, and make recommendations on adequate levels of compensation and non-salary benefits for state legislators.
o This initiative will close a loophole in current Election Law which does not adequately address the amount of political contributions that a limited liability company (LLC) may make to candidates, parties and political committees.
§ As a result, the State Board of Elections allows LLCs to be treated as individuals for purposes of a limit and, therefore, they can donate up to $150,000 in any one year.
o This legislation would close that loophole and reduce the contribution limit for both LLCs and corporations to $1,000.
o This bill will require state elected officials to disclose the source and nature of all income and report all clients of, or referrals to, a firm or practice the elected officials works at.
o Under this legislation, all reporting must include a clear and complete explanation of the services rendered in exchange for the income or fees earned by the reporting official, or by the firm or corporation with which the elected official practices.
o This initiative will prohibit any state reimbursement to a campaign account or legal defense account for attorneys fees and litigation expenses to a public official after an acquittal or dismissal.
o The current law only regulates officials that joined the pension system after 2011 when the last ethics package passed. This legislation will affect all members of the pension system.
o This resolution has been introduced as a constitutional amendment since it affects an official’s pension.
o This bill addresses a number of concerns with how campaign funds are raised and expended. Currently, New York’s election law, allowing candidates to spend campaign funds for “any lawful purpose,” is among the most lax in the nation
o This bill will outlaw campaign funds from being used for attorneys fees or any costs for defending against criminal or civil prosecution for alleged violations of any state or federal law.
o Current state campaign regulations allow donors to provide far greater amounts of contributions than are allowed in other states, or for federal candidates.
o These high limits threaten the integrity of elections in New York State by allowing small numbers of wealthy contributors to disproportionately affect their outcomes. This initiative will drastically reduce the limits on contributions to safeguard the integrity of New York’s elections.
o Currently, donors are able to provide unlimited contributions to soft money accounts. This legislation would reform the campaign finance system by capping donations to soft money accounts at $25,000.
o Under the current law, state campaigns are not required to disclose to the State Board of Election when “bundling” contributions are received. This bill would enhance state campaign finance disclosure reporting requirements by making it necessary for said reports to contain information about those who bundle contributions.
o This legislation will create a Class-C and Class-D felony for public servants who knowingly steer public contracts or grants to certain institutions or organizations in order to benefit themselves, their families or a person with whom a public servant has a business or other financial relationship with.
o Self-dealing in the first degree triggers when public contracts have a value in excess of ten thousand dollars.
o Self-dealing in the second degree triggers when public contracts have a value in excess of three thousand dollars.
o Under this legislation, eligible contributions to candidates for statewide office up to $250 would be matched at the rate of $6 for every $1.
o Participating candidates could only receive donations of $2,000
o Candidates who are unopposed in a general or special election may not receive public funds
o All unspent public funds must be returned 30 days after the election.
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WPCNR NEWS & COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. February 9, 2015:
I just received a letter from a friend of ours who just moved to Florida. Her very concerned letter highlights the reasons why the internet is the greatest aid to criminals, tyrants, thieves and revolutionaries to come along since the machine gun.
The internet cannot be trusted. I receive more sophisticated and clever scams each day that ask you to download a file. No one should ever download a thing from someone even if you do know them unless of course you have requested it from them.
Just last week we heard that millions of persons have had their medical records accessed because their medical insurance provider has been hacked. Millions now are at risk for having their social security numbers, bank accounts, personal illnesses…(you name it) tapped and used for identify theft, bank account access.
This is a huge problem whose implications should be duly noted.
Companies are doing a lousy job of protecting our data. Big name companies are getting hacked every week it seems.
Now as my friend notes in this letter, comes a threat far greater — the Crypto-virus
As my friend writes:
“You may have read the Times article, but there is a virus – the crypto-virus -that is very dangerous. You can pick it up by going to a site you don’t recognize or, even worse, the perpetrators can hijack your address book and then you’re really in the soup. They grab your files and will destroy them unless you ransom them! The ransom is several hundred dollars IF you pay on time. If you’re late with the payment they increase it immediately; and if you don’t pay it, they destroy everything that was on your computer. This is not a joke. Because they only accept bitcoins, , there is no way to trace them as yet and so far the Law has not made much of an attempt to locate these thieves. Please do be careful.
Now this raises a question–how long before this crypto-virus becomes a tool of terrorism and absolutely disrupts worldwide financial dealings, wipes out assets? You will see a crash like you will not believe — assets up in smoke overnight.
Our government appears to not be making the slightest effort to go after these hackers because the government appears not to be going after the giant server companies that allow their subscribers to mount hacking operations and put up websites advocating genocide and mayhem.
There is no reason terrorist websites should even be on the internet, especially considering the sophistication of the websites.The sites are like magazines. Servers are hosting these anarchic terrorists.
Does our government or the other governments of the so-called “civilized world,” as well as the “civilized esteemed banks of the world,” who launder the money for servers who enable “the outlaws” and “rebels.”
These outlaws and rebels and criminals are little more than organizations of psychaopths who start these organizations and offer a haven to juvenile delinquents with ouzzis, bombs and blades, and amoral hackers who steal data, and create identities for criminals.
Does the civilized instituions really want to stop these threats to the innocent people of the world?
It doesn’t seem like it to me they want to stop it.
Where’s Chuck Schumer (“Senator Concerned”)when you need him There’s an issue for you, Senators and Congresspersons.
Do our government and the financial interests of the world enjoy the blood money and blood services and the profits drenched in blood they make from these Huns and Mongols of the 21st century?
Does the power establishment see these “threats” and “acts of terror” as reasons to perpetuate their governments, financial institutions and corporations, by convincing us — those afflicted by the mayhem — that we need government, business leadership and experts to protect us?
Do our “esteemed leaders” of business, government and technology condone these renegade operations of crime, terror and twisted philosophy?
They seem to because they do nothing to stop the money and the services “propaganda and funding” that have enabled these outlaw organizations to grow.
The Roman Empire fell because it kept buying off the hordes at its gates for centuries. The Romans legitimized them and traders profited from supplying Huns, Visigoths, and the tribes from the edges of the Roman Empire. Roman Legions even accepted mercenaries and eventually were unable to hold back the empire from being overrun in the west.
If the interests of greed are not held accountable for the money laundering, service providing and arms supplies that make the terrorists, the cyber criminals of today threats, and what have you able to ply their evil, (and they are evil) the anarchists and amoralites will grow. They are growing.
Cyber crime, identity theft, hacking is not fun and it really is not very clever.
Data storage on computer has to be seriously looked at and changed by companies that store it.
The major server organizations accepting money from the scurrilous websites that purvey the human traffikicing trade, the terrorist propaganda sites; social media propaganda “statements,” well those servers and communications giants have to be gone at hard.
It is not a matter of freedom of speech.
There is no “Freedom of Service” guarantee.
Those who would abet and profit from the forces of evil (like the pharissees of old) aiding and condoning acts of theft, identity theft, fraud, and mass murder do not have the right to explain it and mask it as free speech and a “service.”
That is blood money.
The free world is being hoisted on its own pitard–freedom of speech– yes, but business and governments and financial institutions do not have a freedom of service when creates loss of life, exploits, and disintegrates societies.
Innocence of knowledge is no excuse.
Too often the arms dealers and evil-enablers of the world have made multi-fortunes of Midas proportions promoting, yes promoting revolutions, frauds, and terrorism and not held accountable.
But here in America, Great Britain,France, Germany, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the players of the world, they never turn down the opportunity to make blood money if the profit is right.
They do not care if the end result is wrongdoing of the highest most horrifying level.
They have to wash their hands a lot.
Like Pontius Pilate.
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View of the former Ridgeway Country Club looking south.
WPCNR SOUTH END TIMES. February 9, 2015:
The President of the Gedney Association John Sheehan has written the Mayor’s Office inquiring when the Common Council will take up the French American School of New York proposal to build a school campus on the former Ridgeway Country Club.
Mr. Sheehan has received a communication from Corporation Counsel John Callahan, writing for the Mayor which indicates the FASNY proposal is still under review and no timetable has been decided for a final decision.
Mr. Callahan writes:
The Mayor requested that I respond to your (Mr. Sheehan’s) e-mail. The FASNY application is undergoing review by city staff, including, but not limited to, the SWPPP (stormwater runoff proposed procedures) preview being conducted by the Department of Public Works. When all necessary reviews are complete, the Council will consider the applications at a public meeting. I cannot commit to a date by which the reviews will be completed, as it is important that they be thorough.