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.

Hits: 158

Photo (left to right): Franco Cabral, senior vice president, AdCorp Media Group; Shaun Asbury, vice president, TD Bank; Elias Mendoza, vice president, Siris Capital; Kim Jacobs, executive director, Community Capital New York; Stella Vida, CPA, principal, Hart Vida Raffo; Jim Coleman, Minority and Women Business Enterprise liaison officer; and County Executive Robert P. Astorino.

County Executive Robert P. Astorino in partnership with Latin Business Today, a national online publication dedicated to enabling the success and growth of Latino small businesses, hosted a Hispanic small business forum today titled “Crossroads to Customers, Capital and Contracts” at Westchester Community College’s Gateway Center last week..

The county executive kicked off the event by discussing how important small business is to our economy – both nationally and locally.

“You are the forefront of job creation and economic development for Westchester County,” said Astorino. “Thank you for your ideas, energy and hard work. Please know Westchester is here to help you in whatever way we can.”

The forum focused on Hispanic small business entrepreneurs since nearly 10 percent of all Westchester businesses are Hispanic-owned, and that number continues to grow each year.

“This is great news,” said Astorino. “It shows that the American dream is still possible, and small business is most definitely a gateway to prosperity.”

At the forum, which was free and open to the public, local business owners had the opportunity to listen and learn from a panel of experts that discussed topics based on three essentials for businesses:

• Customers: How to reach your customers and increase your business through targeted marketing and innovative solutions.
• Capital: How to gain access to capital through loans and financing programs.
• Contracts: How to secure government and private sector contracts and grow your business.

In addition, guests had the opportunity to ask questions and network with both public and private sector professionals that could help start or grow their business.

Barry Mittelman, publisher of Latin Business Today, chose to partner with the county on this forum because it was an opportunity to personally engage Latino small business owners with its mentor contributors in its home county.

“We were pleased to partner with Westchester County to help personally engage and enable the success and growth of Latino small business owners in this challenging economy,” said Barry Mittelman, publisher of Latin Business Today. “Having Senen Garcia, a member of our advisory board, leading the panel as well as other mentor contributors on the floor served our cause to support small businesses.”

The panel discussion was moderated by Garcia, an attorney, SCORE mentor, entrepreneur and Latin Business Today advisory board member.

Panelists included: Franco Cabral, senior vice president, AdCorp Media Group; Shaun Asbury, vice president, commercial lending with TD Bank in Purchase; Kim Jacobs, executive director, Community Capital New York; Elias Mendoza, vice president, Siris Capital; Jim Coleman, Minority and Women Business Enterprise liaison officer, Westchester County; and Stella Vida, CPA, principal Hart Vida Raffo.

Event sponsors included: TD Bank, platinum sponsor; PepsiCo, gold sponsor; Hart Vida Raffo, silver sponsor; Score, SBDC and Westchester Community College, contributing sponsors.

Hits: 618

16 Acres for sale: The Good Counsel property at 52 North Broadway in White Plains (within white border). North Broadway is the North-South road in left corner of picture. Road in upper right is the Cross Westchester Expressway

WPCNR NORTH END NEWS. Special to WPCNR from Our Sisters of Divine Compassion. (EDITED) May 30, 2014:

Following a ten-year, in-depth strategic planning process and a two-year review of the future of its 16-acre Good Counsel campus in White Plains, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion said today that they are exploring the sale of all or a portion of the property.

They have retained CBRE Group Inc., to determine interest in the property and to market it.

The campus at 52 North Broadway is adjacent to the White Plains commercial center and includes 12 buildings comprising 162,180 square feet.

Among the buildings are the Roman Catholic order’s Motherhouse, which today also serves as a convent, administrative offices, and a spirituality and conference center. The site also includes the Good Counsel Academy Elementary and High Schools, the RDC Counseling Center, and the Chapel of the Divine Compassion.

“We have been blessed to be the stewards of this wonderful property for 124 years,” said Sister Carol Wagner, RDC, President of the Sisters of the Divine Compassion, “and our mission and ministries throughout the region emanate from here. At the same time, to assure that we continue our mission and that we are able to provide for the Sisters particularly in their later years, upon careful reflection and thorough analysis we are actively researching and exploring the possible sale of the property.”

She said that the future of the Good Counsel Schools is a particular concern.  The schools have a long history of academic excellence, graduating young women and children who later in their careers serve in their professions locally and globally as leaders and agents of compassion and change in the world.

Both schools have outgrown the existing facilities on the campus. The Board of Trustees and administration of the schools, who report to the Sisters, are exploring various options and potential locations for the schools.  While the Sisters of the Divine Compassion serve within the Archdiocese of New York, the Good Counsel Schools are independent and are owned and operated by the Sisters.

Currently, there are 400 students attending Good Counsel High School, and 160 students enrolled at Good Counsel Elementary.

The Chapel

CBRE is serving as the exclusive real estate agent for the property. The CBRE team is headed by William Cuddy, Executive Vice President.  A resident of White Plains, he is fully familiar with the unique nature of the campus.

“This is a significant and iconic property,” Cuddy said.  “Because of its strategic location and its in-place infrastructure, it provides the perfect investment opportunity for a real estate investor or an academic institution.  Our initial marketing outreach will gauge the level and type of interest there is in the property, an essential step for the Sisters to be able to explore options and strategically plan for the future.”

Sister Carol said:  “We recognize that for us to continue to serve the needs of so many and to preserve our mission, we must explore paths that while difficult are necessary.” She said the Congregation has been working with a group of local planning, real estate and business professionals.  “We are very fortunate to have a team of expert professionals who understand our mission and are committed to our future, as we formulate strategies and plans to move forward.”

Hits: 373

=

Hits: 385

WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. From Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner. May 29, 2014:

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner and Town Clerk Judith Beville are overseeing a new student internship initiative —highlighting a problem that recent college graduates have: finding work.

Elizabeth Skovron, a resident of Tarrytown and an honors student at the University at Albany, SUNY said that many of her friends and peers (including recent Ivy League graduates) are scared – they can’t find employment.

“We aren’t be given a chance to use our knowledge and brainpower. Many of my friends dread graduating college. We go from being independent to dependent on our parents.  It’s not fair for our parents who never expected that they have to support us after spending as much as a quarter million dollars on our college degrees. “

Instead of sitting home and complaining and waiting to get responses from job prospects, Elizabeth will be heading up a summer internship initiative.  A meeting will be held on Tuesday evening June 10th at Greenburgh Town Hall at 177 Hillside Ave, White Plains. Current college students and graduates will meet to discuss action steps they could take to enhance their futures. Among the initiatives that will be explored: Providing students with ideas as to how they could start their own businesses.   During the summer we will meet with people who have had success stories starting their own businesses.

Elizabeth will be working at Greenburgh Town Hall during the summer months. If you know of any college student or graduate who might be interested in participating in this initiative or sharing their UNEMPLOYMENT HORROR STORIES please e mail

eskovron@albany.edu.   Please encourage those with horror stories to attend the meeting on Tuesday, June 10th at 7:30 PM (Greenburgh Town Hall).

Paul Feiner

Hits: 386

WPCNR NEWS & COMMENTARY. By John F. Bailey White Plains CitizeNetReporter. May 29, 2014:

I watched the Brian Williams interview with Edward Snowden Wednesday evening. I saw an interview that did not ask some basics:

1. How is he supporting himself in Russia? Whether he is living on personal savings or is a guest of the Russian government? Or is he being paid a salary by some organization?
2. Is he being funded in any way by the reporters and the organization he gave the information he continues to share with them. (He was not paid for the NBC interview, NBC reports.)
3. Is he planning to write a book or sell movie rights to his story?
4. Why did he feel it was necessary to remove documents from the NSA and give them away to dramatize his story?
5. Why couldn’t he have just resigned from the NSA and gone to a network to tell his story (probably confidentiality agreements) to raise questions?
6. How many persons were easedropped on by the NSA? Every phone call? Every text message reviewed? (Jeez, I hope not.)
7. What were the criteria that the NSA used to figure who would be subjected  to monitoring and computer-taps?
8. Were segments of the U.S.population profiled by race, profession, etc.,more than others?
9. Did he know of any prosecutions of U.S. citizens as a result of receiving from the NSA intelligence gathering, or more significantly, did the NSA share information with local organizations and law enforcement agencies.
10. Who is in charge of conducting all this surveillance…is there a hierarchy? (Probably Snowden could not talk about that.)
11. How can NSA files be so open to being just walked out of offices with a clearance? (as Snowden said)
12. Is Mr.Snowden, if he left the NSA without taking documents and distributing them to the media, prohibited from criticizing NSA practices by virtue of any departure agreement he might make with the NSA? That really should have been asked.
13. Another very sensitive question: are you the only NSA-intelligence operative who felt these practices were wrong, or did you sense many of your agents felt as you did? (i.e., is this a bigger problem?)

Now to be sure, a lot of those questions maybe Snowden did not want to talk about, or could not. Maybe they were left on the cutting room floor. Of course, maybe they are just dumb questions. But the dumb questions are sometimes the ones that get right to the point. The above areas go to the heart of the question: is the NSA competent? Can they protect their own information (no. We now know that.)? How is the NSA program used? Is it effective?

What intrigues me more is this developing into a Secret Police?:

Has NSA info at all shared on “a who would like to know basis” on child pornography, drug trafficking, psychiatric and medical records, bank money laundering, insider trading, political bribery,  prescription and illicit drug purchases, extramarital affairs, dating websites, pornographic websites, chatroom behavior, purchases with local political parties and law enforcement? If the NSA did share with authorities and political allies of the administration, that could be very alarming to the average citizen. Such information can be used to target political personalities and business and activist personalities who are inconvenient and a threat to political and lobbyist policies. That question was not asked.

This interview was all about Mr. Snowden’s feelings, motivations and justifications and missed the big picture that Snowden to his credit tried to bring out: You have lots of Big Brothers watching you in ways you have no idea. At times Mr. Williams appeared naïve and did not go down open highways of inquiry that quite frankly made my mouth water.

When are news reporters going to start delving for facts again – and not acting like sympathetic behavior therapists with their questioning. I have had it up to here with the “How do you feel questions.”

I felt Snowden came off very well in the interview and made some sympathetic, heart-string-pulling points. Snowden’s  signature line, Sometimes  to do what is right, you have to break the law, coming  at the end of the hour program was perfect.

I felt with some answers, NBC cut off Mr. Snowden in the editing, just when he was saying something really juicy, and attempting to expound on the spider tentacles the American Secret Police are extending into our every day behavior. This was particularly frustrating when Snowden talked about the eavesdropping computer that can tap into text messages and cellphone communications. He was starting to talk about that when the volume faded out and they went to break.

Mr. Snowden got his point across about how the surveillance practices of  the government had gotten very aggressive in his opinion and he felt it was wrong and against all this country stood for, and he wanted to expose it. This was his strong message. Snowden indicated he felt practices he observed were not in the best interests of the country and not the way the country he loved should behave toward its citizens.

The interview got lost in the question of whether he was a traitor or a patriot, and his motivation to expose so much information.  This labeling is beside the point. And misses the big story unfolding before the press’s collective eyes.

You have to be born yesterday not to realize when our feckless congress passed the Patriot Act that they were opening a new era of constitutionally compromising practices to combat terrorism. This was the worst thing congress could have done.

However, how efficient was U.S. Intelligence use of information before 9/11? Government agencies ignored the 9/11 perpetrators who attended flight school in Florida.

Intelligence has to get better now.

We have entered the new era of the substantially unstable Middle East, and the soon-to-be-considerably-more-volatile India, which will be a primary target of the Al Quaeda terrorism and subversion.  You don’t need the U.S. Intelligence establishment to tell you that.

What we do need to do is develop more competence in government:  This week, we find surprise the VA Hospitals can’t serve their veteran patients and cover it up; we learn the military cannot throw out morally corrupt officers; in the last five years we know the SEC ignores allegations of widespread fraud by investment firms and banks;  the congress wants to lower food standards in schools;  we have an Education Department that pays a national firm to develop achievement tests that are so amateurly written 75% of NY students can’t pass them,  and locally the government doesn’t inform the public or the press what it is doing.

No wonder the press has to leak.

So much incompetence to mop up.

And it just keeps on coming.