THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

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PETER KATZ, JOHN BAILEY BAND JIM BENEROFE REPORTING

PETER KATZ, JOHN BAILEY AND JIM BENEROFE

ON

 THE TAPPAN ZEE ACCIDENT

 THE CITY DRAGS FEET ON REVEALING THE REAL POLICE OVERTIME FIGURES SAYS POLICE JUST WANT A 3-DAY WORK WEEK. POLICE SAY $50,000 EXPENDED IN OT IN JULY ALONE.

MAIN STREET HOTEL BRINGS IN THE CRANES

CITY AUDITS CABLEVISION AND VERIZON.

PETER KATZ ON THE TELEVISION OF THE FUTURE.

ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK THE CITY NEWS ROUNDUP SHOW

 ON THE INTERNET

AT

www.whiteplainsweek.com

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From New York City Police Department. August 2, 2013:

The NYPD is asking the public to advise them if they know of the whereabouts of former Bleakley, Platt & Schmidt paralegal, Dana Lauren Bonanno, reported missing from her Greenpoint, Brooklyn apartment since July 22. The official information:

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey, July 31, 2013:

THE CITY OF WHITE PLAINS will audit cable franchise operators in the city, agreeing to authorize spending $35,000 to hire an independent audit firm with experience examingng cable operations, to audit Verizon Fios and Cablevision for the last five years of operations in the city. The new effort was presented to the Common Council at a Special Meeting Monday night.

John Callahan the city Corporation Counsel told WPCNR the effort is to confirm that Verizon and Cablevision are paying all the money they should on all the revenue streams they are supposed to be paying their franchise fees on.

 Callahan said that if the audit found Verizon and Cablevision are earning less, the city might have to pay a refund. However that is not likely. towns in the county have found in recent audits that they were owed amounts of approximately a million dollars by cable companies after similar audits.

The cable business has been losing share to new media.

Verizon has taken away about 4,000 subscribers from Verizon, which has 15,800, down about 4 to 5,000 from five years ago when Verizon came in. And the cable business is losing share to the new media. 

Callahan, asked about the Public Education Grants fees that cablevision has not paid in six years, told WPCNR  the city is negotiating with Cablevision on this matter. Estimates are the lack of an agreement on the PEG fee  has been costing the city cable television operation $220,000 a year for 9 years.

Establishing regular PEG payments again with Cablevision is critical for the city to pay for the $1.5 to $2 million move to the White Plains Public Library some day. They have no money to do that yet, unless other revenues are diverted to the reinvention of White Plains Public Access TV to the library.

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WPCNR LETTER TO THE EDITOR. July 28, 2013:

NOAM BRAMSON IN WHITE PLAINS LAST WEEK.

Noam Bramson, candidate for County Executive authored this commentary on the Trayvon Martin shooting and death, and the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial in Sanford Florida, after attending a memorial for Martin Friday evening:

Last night, I attended a vigil in Peekskill held in memory of Trayvon Martin. It was a good event, attended by an impressive cross section of the surrounding community, and featuring speeches from religious and civic leaders. This morning, I feel inspired to share a few thoughts, but I do so with caution and humility, because I can’t claim any special or original wisdom on such a difficult subject.

As a father, I can only imagine the pain that Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, must now feel. When a case is the topic of such extensive commentary and has such broad social significance, the person at its center can be reduced to an abstract symbol. It is important to remember that he was a human being, flesh and blood, loved and
now mourned.

As a policy-maker, I believe that so-called “Stand Your Ground” laws encourage a dangerous shoot-first mentality. Except in the rarest of circumstances, we are much better off working to deescalate conflict and leaving deadly force to public safety professionals. The success of the gun lobby in promoting these laws around the country offers a dispiriting parallel to the gun lobby’s equally harmful obstruction of common sense gun safety
standards in Congress and elsewhere. I genuinely respect the right of responsible citizens to keep and bear arms, but I will never comprehend the logic that says the answer to gun violence is more guns, with more firepower, in more hands.

Finally and most importantly, as a citizen, the verdict and the myriad discussions that followed remind me of how much race relations in America have advanced . . . and of how far we will still have to go.

Several years ago, as I was preparing to leave home to attend the annual  MLK breakfast in New Rochelle, I asked my boys, half-jokingly, what I should say to the crowd. Jeremy replied: “why don’t you talk about how people should be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.”

Jeremy had just learned about Dr. King in kindergarten and was simply repeating
the lesson, but, still, I was floored and moved. When a little white boy growing
up in the suburbs learns those words literally before learning how to add and
subtract, there is no doubt that something is going right.

But there is also a sort of false comfort in such little anecdotes. Knowing the words is
easier than living them. And celebrating equality in theory, although certainly a good thing, is no substitute for wrestling with the persistence of inequality, in all its uncomfortable complexity. Trayvon’s death and the disparate responses to the verdict, starkly divided by race, reveal a nation still struggling with its original sins. All of us need to try harder to reach beyond the confines of our own personal interests and experiences and better understand our neighbors and fellow Americans.

I am an optimist by nature, so I will close with another famous quote from King: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Good words to remember. Let’s also remember that the arc of justice bends with our help.

My thanks to the organizers of last night’s (Friday)vigil for giving us a chance to come together.

Noam Bramson, Mayor, City of New Rochelle

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. By John F. Bailey. July 23, 2013 UPDATED July 25, 2013:

Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino signed two contracts today (Asset Management Agreements) with the holding company, Sustainable Playland, and the Westchester Childrens Museum in a news conference at Playland, without disclosing terms of the agreements. Substantial changes to the park will not be made to the park in 2014, but will be delayed for a few years, Mr. Astorino said.

The Sustainable Playland contract  in Mr. Astorino’s view makes final the choice of Sustainable Playland, pending approval by the County Board of Legislators of the Sustainable Playland “Park Improvement Plan,” by January 1.

That is the deadline that Mr. Astorino set for the legislature to act on whether or not they approve of the  Sustainable Playland proposal. At that point, if the Sustainable plan, which  Kim Morque, president of SPI., was in the process of being finalized and submitted to the Board of Legislators.

Astorino said if the Board did not act and approve the Park Improvement Plan , Sustrainable Playland has the right to walk away from the agreement, after January 1.

Mr. Morque, the Sustainable head, (above, center) answering a question from WPCNR at the news conference as to whether Playland would be open next year and when construction would start indicated the public should not expect too much. He did say that Sustainable has commitments of major financing from  Playland Sports who will build the field house; American Skating who will run the ice casino, Central Amusements International (one of the original responders seeking to run the park, in addition to Sustainable Playland.) To his right is Corinne Zola, President of  Westchester Childrens Museum and, to Mr. Morque’s left, County Executive Robert P. Astorino.

Marque, responding to when work would start said,   “The plan will be submitted within 30 days. It’s a plan that will also evolve. I think there’s perception on the part of the public that on October 1 bulldozers would show up for work, and that’s not the case. We’re going to be very sensitive. We understand the importance of the amusement park components  and keeping a vibrant amusement park so that it’s a great amusement park on a seasonal basis and we think we can do that. We need more open space and a better integration. So we’re excited about it and will be submitting it within 30 days.”

Mr. Astorino, sounding pained, added, “I think that’s a good point. This is…come May of next year will not be a brand-new park This will evolve over several years. People will start to see the park being freshened up, new plantings, painting– all the historical aspect of this will stay. That was very important to all of us. Playland since 1928 has been an art deco feature and that’s what we want to continue. That’s what the public expects. But that doesn’t mean things can’t improve. And they must improve. The public will see some changes, but in the years to come you’ll start seeing bigger and better things happen here: The beginnings of the great lawn, moving things around a bit, maybe some of the oudoor fields. But things take time. I think the important thing is to get the management team in here the professionals in here where they can start making improvements and the county starts making some money so the taxpayers get some relief. That would be the first step. You’ll see some visible signs next year, but as we progress you’ll start to see more and more things, including restaurants being added, some new rides coming in, field house those are the kind of things that will take time.”

Astorino disclosed for the first time that the Playland Ice Casino repairs would not be completed until July of next year, meaning a another dark year for the rink. Astorino said bids for the repair would be opened this week. George Oros a member of the Astorino staff said it was due to the fact the funding was being reimbursed by federal disaster money that has taken months for the county to ascertain whether its availble. Last January the county had decided to go ahead with repairs and hope for reimbursement.

On Thursday, asked for a statement on why it has taken 7 months for the bid process to be completed and work not started, Deputy Communications Director, Donna Greene issued this statement:

“As far as why it took so long, this kind of process always takes time, the design, writing bid specs, advertising, etc.”

Greene said there was no decision on the winning bid as of late yesterday afternoon.

Kenneth Jenkins, the Chairman of the Board of Legislators, told WPCNR in an interview after the conference that the Board would not be rushed into a fast approval of the Park Improvement Plan by January 1. He vowed not to drop his lawsuit, a request for a summary judgment as to whether the County Executive entering into a 10 year licensing agreement was legal without Board of Legislators approval. He also said he was disturbed that today was the first time the administration had informed of the delay in the rink repair. Jenkins speculated the administration delayed the repairs so the skating vendor chosen by Sustainable Playland could execute the repairs the way they wanted.

He also said he liked that Central Amusements International was the Sustainable choice to do the amusement park portion of the park. Jenkins also said the Board had not received copies of the new contracts and had no idea of the financials as to how Sustainable sees their version of the park making money, what rides fees and attractions fees would be and the financial commitments of the backers.

Jenkins said Sustainable had no money of its own to invest, describing them as “a holding company” with the cost of the $34 Million coming from their “partners.” Jenkins said it was his understanding that if Sustainable does not make the money expected, the county gets nothing, and loses $15 Million a year in revenue which the park makes now.

The Children’s Museum Exective Director, Tracy Kay, told WPCNR The Childrens Museum whose contract was also signed today said the museum expected to financer some $10 Million in construction costs against fund-raising leverage to get construction started soon  Kay said the museum would install $6.1 Million of heating ventilation and air conditioning equipment plus $3.8 Million for interior attractions in the museum.