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 Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. March 31, 2012

 

 

 

The very LEGal Blonde  (impetuously athletic and beyond perky Kelly Felthous) presented her opening arguments at Westchester Broadway Theatre Opening Night Friday night  at Westchester Broadway Theatre Court representing WBT’S new Broadway 7-TONY revival, LEGALLY BLONDE. All Photos by John Vecchiolla, courtesy WBT

 

 

The WBT jury and enthusiastic gallery returned the intrepid barristerette-to-be and ingenuous cast a unanimous verdict of “Not Guilty of Impersonating a Lawyer,” with bravos and standing “O’s” for presenting an ambitious legal premise in Act One, followed by a hoot of a cross examination exposing a witness on the stand, worthy of Perry Mason in ACT II that returns a plea of Nolo Contendre from this critic and clears fitness icon Brooke in a most amusing manner.

 

In the process it skewers Harvard Law to the obvious delight of the audience. The delightful Ms. Felthous even has two hunk lawyers to choose from– believable Christopher deProphetis in the role of Emmet who persuades Elle Woods to stay with her legal career or Warner Huntington III.

 

LEGALLY BLONDE definitely passes the  bar!

 

Act One finds Elle deciding to follow her obnoxious boyfriend Warner Huntington III (played with impeccable superciliousity by faceman Robert Patrick Ryan –he has the pompous lawyer attitude precisely right) to Harvard Law School and when Elle is accepted her sorority girls of Delta Nu break into “Oh My God!” an ode to the anthem of surprise and joy typical of the high school/college girls of the last fifteen years. The rambunctious number with precise confusing joyous chaos (designed by choreographer Leisa Mather, (who dances in the ensemble) that is the big number of the first act. Any parent of a college coed of the 90s will go into hysterics at this parody of coed enthusiasm.

 

 

Lauren Blackman (left) as Vivienne, telling Robert Patrick Ryan as Warner Huntington III she no longer loves him after Professor Callahan fires Elle (Kelly Felthous), back left while Christopher DeProphetis (Emmett) works to convince her to stay on the case.

 

After this coup in Elle’s life, she shares the good news with Mr. Ryan tells Elle that he is breaking up with her for some woman more appropriate, the perfectly cast Lauren Blackman as the more appropriate woman, Vivienne, whose comedic sense of timing and a belting voice on Legally Blonde Remix in the second act recharges Elle. The believability of the supporting actors and interaction make you buy into this legal musical fairy tale for adults. Lawyers, law students will love it and those who hate lawyers should love it. It’s a hit.

 

Nevertheless Elle goes to Harvard anyway,  where she meets the imposing legal sage, Professor Callahan – (played with lurking menace, dripping with swarm, Aloysius Gigl, who carries the foil in this show). He transmits the mantra of the law school and its mission to dehumanize the idealistic law student, the wonderfully wicked Blood in the Water.

 

 

 

Along the way we meet Paulette  (Jacquelyn Piro Donovan above) of The Hair Affair salon who befriends Elle,and conducts a romance of her own with the extraordinary tall Timothy Hughes (above). His turn as a UPS delivery man just cracks the audience up—the funniest cameo bit I’ve seen in sometime. Hughes gets the biggest laughs in the show with his schtick. Stealing the show above is Paul Newman as the basset hound Rufus whose role is that he reminds Paulette of her former boyfriend who was Irish. (I can’t explain it either.)

 

 

The two canines in the show appear to be thrown into LEGALLY BLONDE sheerly for cuteness enhancement – Roxy the fox terrier and Paul Newman the basset hound romp through the proceedings as complete non-sequiturs. They endear themselves to the  gallery! But they have no actually protagonist role. I scratched my head figuring out how these two dogs drove the plot. But, hey it is a cute musical and the dogs raised the cuteness to dangerously high levels, jumping into arms, romping across the stage for no apparent reason. I think I’m going to bring a dog onto my newscast.

 

The stage is set for Act Two when Elle and her law class rivals are being considered for intern on a major case – defending a sexy fitness icon on a murder charge.

 

 

In Act Two the show cranks it up a notch with Brooke the fitness guruette and suspected murderer, played by Maria Logan  (foreground,above),performing Whipped Into Shape, a parody of fitness videos whetting the audience appetite as the musical moves into the drama of truth, justice and the American Way.

 

Elle and her Callahan interns are assigned to interview the very fit Ms. Logan to find out her  alibi. Brooke rejects the interrogations, but Elle discovers Brooke and she are Delta Nu sorority sisters. Elle swears on the Delta Nu oath not to reveal Ms. Logan’s alibi…seems she was having a — well I can’t reveal it.

 

Meanwhile, Professor Callahan says he wants to make Elle his intern, and busts a move on her. When she resists, he dismisses her.

 

CHEERLEADERS DEMONSTRATING THE BEND AND SNAP KEY to a Man’s Attention

 

 

Back at the Hair Affair, Paulette’s romance with Mr. UPS is not going well until the sorority girls former UCLA cheerleaders teach her the move cheerleaders use to attract the attention of the crowd, Bend and Snap – to attract and rivet his attention. And it does. (Side note: Lot of great actress watching is in this show.)

 

Into court we go, with Brook enlisting Elle as her defense attorney. Will the rookie lawyer without a law license in the pink suit and high heels (so high they should require a walker’s license) be allowed to defend in court? Will she breakdown the star witness against Brooke? Brooke and the cast stage a funny but politically incorrect interrogation set to music in Boston Municipal Court, Gay or European? In a cross examination as clever and funny as it is outrageous. You will laugh until you plotz.

 

 

Will Elle graduate with her law degree? Swing by to Westchester Broadway Theatre Court with the next 4 weeks to find out. LEGALLY BLONDE is so much more fun than Law and Order.

 

Steve Callaran, the most entertaining warmup man in show biz, reminded the audience to tell their friends LEGALLY BLONDE is playing only for three more weeks. Information on show dates is on www.broadwaytheatre.com or call the box office at 914-592-2222

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the jury has reached a verdict. The evidence is overwhelming. I find in favcr of LEGALLY BLONDE. Case Dismissed!

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WPCNR MR. AND MRS. AND MS. WHITE PLAINS POLL. MARCH 31, 2012: 

One way of assuring that the public has the opportunity to know about agreements or the potential for agreements between developers and the city is for the city to make all meetings with developers to discuss changes in properties that would affect neighborhoods, city blocks, etc., or grant special privileges for developers is for the city to make such meetings public or televised. No exceptions.

For years developers come in, charm commissioners see what their objections are and tailor plans accordingly, the public is the last to know, except for possibly some neighborhood association personalities. It is a clubby atmosphere with representatives interacting with city officials in a cooperative, “chummy” way and reasons not to do things not considered too carefully so as to block the project.

The public (as the city argument for private developer meetings goes), has its chance at public hearings.

But, sadly many proposals such as the 5-day  “accelerated” approval of  city $17 Million to rebuild the Lyon Place garage for the Esplanade at taxpayer expense, never get weighed in on by the public. Not once did the city even say this garage had an average of  x amount of spaces occupied when it was open, and generated this amount of dollars — to prove the garage was needed. Instead the city just decided to do it. l The garage has been closed two years. All the bars on Mamaroneck and merchants on East Post Road can easily use the Maple Garage. That’s what people have been doing. We do want a walkable city don’t we?

Perhaps the most hilarious aspect of this burning of $17 Million is the city is electing to pend $17 Million on a new garage it is leasing for 99 years and will have to be rebuilt in 25 years maybe. This is a leadership in the city that felt spending $9 Million to buy a country club (of 100 acres) and retaining control over what happens there was not a good idea.

The country club was resellable — no one is going to buy that garage. If the garage is such a profitable concern why doesn’t a major parking concession offer to put it up for the Esplanade? If the city is so concerned about parking, why not tell Esplanade to buy parking from the Westchester and the Westchester Pavilion or close?   Where is the whistle blower on this deal?

Well, too often lately we are just deciding to do things “for the good” of whomever without rational thought. How is the debt service going to be paid?

A way to get plans out from the cloak of secrecy before they slide on past a naive and lazy common council (who if they have knowledge beforehand are just not doing their due diligence), with careless Common Council review, if the council reviews them with a critical eye at all, is to make these developer “hey, we want to do this meetings” public. Ideally such meetings should be televised and made available on the website.

By the way, the $17 Million Esplanade bailout is going to be approved Monday evening,so FOILING for the garage numbers…would be too late.

What does Mr. and Mrs. White Plains think? Tell the city fathers what you think in the poll at the right.

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According to the evidence at trial and the superseding indictment originally filed in White Plains federal court:

Annabi was first elected to the Yonkers City Council in November 2001 to represent the Second District and was subsequently re-elected in 2003 and 2005. She served as the Democratic Majority Leader of the Council during the latter part of her third term in office. The Yonkers City Council’s primary function is to consider and vote on the city’s budget, zoning changes, and other legislation.

Zehy Jereis served as chairman of the Yonkers Republican Party from the fall of 2003 through the fall of 2007. As the party chairman, his duties were to promote the Republican Party in Yonkers and to advance the interests of Republican elected officials and candidates. Jereis used his considerable influence and contacts to assist Annabi with all three of her successful campaigns.

Since 2001, Annabi received nearly $200,000 in secret payments from Jereis and others in exchange for taking favorable actions in her official capacity on matters in which they had an interest and that were pending before the City Council. These matters included two real estate projects known as the Longfellow Project and the Ridge Hill Development project.

The Longfellow Project

In 2003, Yonkers developer Milio Management was seeking to redevelop an area of land, known as the Longfellow Project, that was partially located within the Council District represented by Annabi. During a City Council meeting on June 14, 2005, Annabi proclaimed her strong opposition to the project, stating, “Even if the entire community supported [it], I would be opposed.” She also said that the project was “outrageous” and a “slap in the face to the taxpayers of Yonkers.” Despite considerable effort, Milio Management was unable to move the project forward in the face of Annabi’s opposition.

In April 2006, Milio Management hired Westchester County attorney Anthony Mangone to assist in persuading Annabi to support the Longfellow Project. Shortly thereafter, Mangone arranged a meeting between a representative of Milio Management and Jereis. During the meeting, Jereis advised the representative that he could help persuade Annabi to support the project. Later, Mangone told Milio Management that in order for the project to proceed, the developer would have to pay Annabi $30,000 in exchange for her support. In the summer of 2006, Milio Management gave Mangone $30,000 in cash for Annabi. Mangone then gave $20,000 in cash to Jereis to give to Annabi. At a City Council meeting that September, Annabi reversed her long-held opposition to the Longfellow Project and voted in favor of awarding it to Milio Management. Shortly after receiving the $20,000, Annabi made several substantial cash and credit card purchases, including airline ticket upgrades, a Rolex watch, and a diamond necklace.

The Ridge Hill Project

The Ridge Hill Project was a proposal by developer Forest City Ratner to develop an 81-acre tract of land into retail, restaurant, and office space with hundreds of residential housing units, a hotel, and a conference center. Annabi was an outspoken critic of the proposed Ridge Hill Project and voted against both the project as well as legislation that would allow it to move forward over her opposition. Annabi and others also filed a civil lawsuit to effectively block the project. As the City Council was considering the Ridge Hill Project, Forest City Ratner made repeated and unsuccessful efforts to convince Annabi to vote in favor of the project.

On June 2, 2006, after being introduced to representatives of Forest City Ratner, Jereis advised them that he could arrange a meeting for them with Annabi. Jereis and representatives of Forest City Ratner also had an agreement in which the developer would give him a consulting job sometime after Annabi formally voted in favor of the Ridge Hill Project. After two meetings with Jereis and Forest City Renter’s representatives, which were held five days apart, Annabi reversed her opposition to the Ridge Hill Project. On June 15, 2006, she issued a press release—drafted by Jereis and representatives of Forest City Ratner—informing the public of her support for the project. One month later, at a City Council meeting on July 11, 2006, Annabi voted in favor of the zoning change necessary for the Ridge Hill Project. Shortly after Annabi changed her vote on the Ridge Hill Project, Jereis received the promised consulting contract from Forest City Ratner worth $60,000 over one year.

Other Secret Payments to Annabi and Efforts to Conceal These Payments

Jereis also secretly gave Annabi money and purported loans to finance the purchase of two residential properties located outside of her Council District. To obtain favorable financing, Annabi contemporaneously submitted applications to two different banks, advising both that she intended to occupy the house for which she was seeking financing and concealing that she was seeking to borrow money from the other bank for a second house. The closings for the two loans occurred only three days apart. Furthermore, Annabi lived in one of these houses, which was outside of her Council District, despite state and local laws that required her as a Councilmember to live within her District. Jereis then purchased a cooperative apartment for Annabi within her Council District so she could meet the residency requirement. Jereis paid the down payment on the apartment and made the monthly mortgage payments. In addition, in her loan applications for one of the houses and for the apartment she purchased, Annabi falsely inflated her income. Her loan applications also included fake pay stubs, W-2s, and bank statements.

From 2002 through 2007, Annabi affirmatively concealed the illegal benefits she received from Jereis and others by filing annual financial disclosure statements that intentionally omitted the illegal payments. Annabi also failed to report the illegal payments she received on federal income tax returns.

***

Annabi, 41, and Jereis, 40, both of Yonkers, New York, were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to make and accept corrupt payments, one count of conspiracy to deprive the city of Yonkers and its citizens of Annabi’s honest services, one count of receiving corrupt payments, and one count of extortion. Annabi was also convicted of one count of receiving corrupt payments, three counts of making false statements to a bank, and two counts of filing false tax returns. Jereis was also convicted of one count of making corrupt payments.

Annabi faces a maximum sentence of 161 years in prison, and Jereis faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.

Mangone was initially charged with Annabi and Jereis in January 2010. He pled guilty on November 29, 2010 to conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and tax evasion charges and is awaiting sentencing.

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2012. From the Republican Parties of Westchester and Rockland County. March 28, 2012:

 The Westchester and Rockland Republican Committees unanimously nominated Rye Town Supervisor and businessman Joe Carvin as their candidate in the 17^th congressional district at the convention held last night. Mr. Carvin will face 24-year career politician Nita Lowey in the newly-drawn district that encompasses parts of Westchester and all of Rockland County.

Mr. Carvin said, “I made the decision to get into this race because I could not stand idly by while I witnessed career politicians drive us to perilous debt levels that threaten our future as a nation. The voters of Westchester and Rockland will have a clear choice in this election between a political outsider (Mr. Carvin), who is laser-focused on addressing the considerable economic and fiscal challenges facing our nation, versus someone (Nita Lowey) who continues to kick the can down the road.”

 

 

Carvin continued, “Our nation cannot afford two more years of the same harmful policies if we are going to have any hope of getting the economy back on track and generate new jobs and economic growth. I am very much looking forward to having this dialogue with the voters over the next eight months.”

 

Westchester GOP Chairman Doug Colety said, “As a local town supervisor, Joe has earned enormous respect and popularity from people of all parties for his willingness to put what’s right ahead of political expediency. He will bring that same fresh approach to Washington, where party politics and special interests have for too long dominated the direction of our country. Joe is exactly what’s needed to shake things up in Congress.”

 

“These are serious times and we need serious leaders who have the expertise to fix the financial and economic problems facing our country right now,” said Rockland and New York State Vice Republican Chairman Vinny Reda. “We cannot continue sending the same people to Washington and expect a different result. Joe has the experience and courage to make the tough choices that will help our nation thrive again. I’m delighted that this district now encompasses all of Rockland and we’re proud to support him.”

 

Mr. Carvin, who announced his run for Congress on Monday, is an agricultural investor who has lived and worked on five continents. He speaks five languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Wolof) and holds a M.B.A. from New York University and a M.P.A. from Harvard University.

 

Mr. Carvin has refused to accept a salary as Rye Town Supervisor and he has reduced town spending by 25% under his tenure. He is currently working to dissolve the Town of Rye to reduce duplication of government services and help stop the dramatic rise of property taxes.  (Westchester County families pay the highest property taxes in America, according to the U.S. Census.) Town Supervisor Carvin was re-elected to his post last year with 62% of the vote in a Town that is overwhelmingly Democratic.

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From the Business Council of Westchester. March 27, 2012:

Upon news that the Senate and Assembly Majority Leaders have reached agreement with Governor Andrew Cuomo on the 2012-13 budget, the Business Council of Westchester issued this statement:

“The budget agreement reached today by Governor Cuomo, Majority Leader Skelos and
Speaker Silver will have positive implications for the Westchester business community.  With
2% or less growth in state spending, as well as a net reduction in All Funds spending for the
second year in a row, our leaders demonstrate they remain committed to fiscal responsibility.

 

The phased takeover of local government Medicaid administration expenses over the next
three years should result in direct savings to businesses and taxpayers. With this critical element
of mandate relief in place, the Business Council will work with the legislature and state
government to progress other priorities, including reform of the State Environmental Quality
Review (SEQR) process.

 

With the appointment of Lieutenant Governor Duffy as Chair of the Spending and Government 
Efficiency (SAGE) Commission, the Business Council will continue to forcefully advocate in
favor of structural and operational changes that will streamline the organizational structure of
state government, for creation of a shared services model that will help create savings for the
state, and development of metrics and targets to help improve performance and make
government more open, transparent and accountable.

 

These fiscal reform measures are only one piece of New York State’s recovery. It is our hope
that the launch of the New York Works Task Force, an initiative designed to develop a
coordinated capital infrastructure plan among agencies and authorities, will help refine the use of
resources and accelerate construction of critical infrastructure. $1.2 billion in new spending for
these projects will literally help pave the road to recovery.

 

Building on fiscal reform and progression of infrastructure projects including the Tappan Zee
Bridge, job creation is the core of our economic growth. The second round of funding to
implement regional strategic plans developed through the Regional Councils totals $150 million
in new capital funding. The Business Council will not only continue to serve on the Mid-Hudson
Regional Council, but collaborate with our partners to better prepare our constituents to apply
and compete for those funds, and ultimately create jobs in our region and county.

 

 

 The General Contractors Association of New York issued this statement on the budget agreement:

 

“Today’s announcement of an on time budget agreement shows that New York has regained its status as the Empire State.  Governor Cuomo, Majority Leader Skelos and Speaker Silver have put the dreary days of late budgets and legislative dysfunction firmly in the footnotes of history.” 

 

“From the establishment of the New York Works program to the funding of the MTA and DOT capital plans, this budget will provide the high octane fuel to fast track long overdue capital investments, create meaningful construction jobs, generate tax revenues and improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.”