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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DAY. From the WPCNR ROVING PHOTOGRAPHER ABOARD THE SOUTHERN CRESCENT. January 2, 2011:
Today’s photo is of the Birmingham Alabama yards, shot from the window of Amtrak’s Southern Crescent rolling to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl by a WPCNR correspondent.
A Southern Railways Switcher and Burlington Northern engine await duty in the Birmingham Alabama yards as The Crescent rolls on to New Orleans. Photo by Juliana Bailey
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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. By the WPCNR ROVING PHOTOGRAPHER. January 2,2012:
Our Digital Rover strolled down Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, once billed as the Fifth Avenue of Westchester County, on the first day of the year and noted 13 business establishments for rent for enterprising businesses to move into thriving White Plains. Check ’em out!
The former site of the old Gourmandise bakery.
Four Storefronts available opposite Macy’s on Court Street
Rennaissance Fountain shutdown for season.
Retail Space Next to the Seasons on Mamaroneck Ave.
2 on Martine Avenue
Temporary HQ of Kensington for Rent–prime location opposite City Center
Former Music Plus Movies storefront opposite Iron Tomato
Vacant Kinkos/Wallach’s corner on Post and Mamaroneck.
Former Headquarters of Demerjian.
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WPCNR MAMARONECK AVENUE AMBLER. January 1, 2012:
White Plains dropped its ninth consecutive New Year’s Eve Ball Drop at Court and Main Street to the delight of a large crowd of revellers of all ages Saturday evening complete with exploding confetti from a new Official White Plains ball that descended from a crane while onlookers counted down the seconds in the street below.
Meanwhile down in Times Square, New York, USA, Lady GaGa and Mr. New Year’s Eve, Dick Clark appeared as the official Times Aquare ball dropped from it’s traditional descent. The only personality missing of course, was the immortal Guy Lombardo, and his song, Auld Lang Syne, which no celebration we saw included. A big dissappointment. Here is how it looked:
Ball Begins its descent seconds before midnight.
Happy New Year Mr. and Mrs. White Plains!
Joy, Janet, Marsha and Susan Toast the New 2012 White Plains!
The Great Dick Clark hosted his 40th Rockin New Year’s Eve on ABC, showing continued recovery from his devastating stroke. An inspiration.
We still remember you, Guy — It’s not New Year’s Eve without his Auld Lang Syne
Since Auld Lang Syne was not played on the television coverage, we saw, I will give you the words and the originsof this disappearing tradition.
Number one the song is not German as I had originally thought, but Scottish, coming from the pen of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns in the late 18th century. It has been sung in English-speaking countries for over 200 years. Usually accompanied by a traditional dance, the song’s name, Auld Lang Syne, translates in Scots as “old long since” or “long ago” or “days gone by.” “Syne” is pronounced like the English word “sign.”
The melody – not from Guy Lombardo – is according to Wikipedia a pentatonic Scots folk melody, described as a dance in quicker tempo than today’s stately melancholy. The English composer William Shield uses the Auld Lang Syne melody at the end of the overature to his opera Rosina. Wikipedia suggests that Shield and Burns took their melody from Scottish folksongs The Miller’s Wedding or The Miller’s Daughter, while Burns biography claims he based it on Can Ye Labour Yea.
Anyway it has worked its way around the world, sung in
Here are Robert Burns original lyrics for Auld Lang Syne:
Should auld acquaintance be forget,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
CHORUS
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness
Yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a coup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary
Fit,
Sin’auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
And gies a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-
Waught
For auld lang syne
CHORUS
The English Translation:
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
CHORUS
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness
Yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint
Cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have run about the hills,
And pulled the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary
Foot,
Since auld lang syne
CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
From morning sun till dine (dinner time)
But seas between us broad have
Roared
Since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty
Friend
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will
Draught,
For auld lang syne.
CHORUS
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WAYNE BASS
ON THE OCCASION OF HIS APPROVAL AS NEW WHITE PLAINS COMMISSIONER OF RECREATION AND PARKS TUESDAY EVENING.
WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT.By John F. Bailey. December 30, 2011. UPDATED 4:40 P.M. E.S.T. UPDATED JANUARY 4, 2012 10:20 P.M. E.S.T.:
Wayne Bass, a former skate guard at Ebersole Ice Rink, and facilitator of youth programs throughout the county was installed as Commissioner of Recreation and Parks in White Plains, beginning January 17, replacing departed Commissioner Albert Moroni, WPCNR notes from the Common Council agenda.Fran Crogan had been operating as Acting Commissioner since Mr. Moroni’s abrupt departure in November.
Tom Roach, Mayor of White Plains, said he had worked with Mr. Bass when he was a recreation supervisor for White Plains from 2003-2007, and said he would do a fine job. Mr. Bass told WPCNR he was very excited about the opportunity but had no immediate plans he had in mind at this time for recreation, saying he would begin the job January 17. In other recreation news, Councilman John Martin was appointed Chairman of the city’s Recreation Committee.
John Callahan, Chief of Staff for Mayor Tom Roach,confirmed Saturday to WPCNR, that Mr. Bass,previously Assistant Superintendent of New Castle Recreation and Parks, had been selected to be the new Commissioner. He also runs Next Level Athletics, a high profile coaching clinic in the county, according Mr. Bass’s “Linked-In” profile.
He is in his mid-50s, has strong White Plains connections, and, coincidentally,was formerly a skate guard at Ebersole Ice Rink in White Plains. He worked for the White Plains Recreation and Parks department from 2003 to 2007, in the Delfino administration.
He is a graduate of City University of New York-Herbert H. Lehman College with a Master of Education degree in Recreation Management. He received his BBA degree from Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in Management.received his undergraduate degree from Pace University where he was a three year letterman in Basketball.
Mr. Bass’s background is basketball with extensive experience with a variety of youth recreational programs at all age levels.
According to his Next Level Athletics website, he is “recognized as a Certified Parks and Recreation Professional (CPRP) by the National Recreation and Parks Association and the New York State Recreation and Parks Society. His contributions to the Next Level Program include vast experience as an organizer of special events and programs for the Village of Elmsford, Town of Greenburgh, and the City of White Plains. Wayne (Mr. Bass) is the coordinator of such programs, as the: MPSL Basketball league, Pro-Am Michelob 3 on 3 Competition, Greenburgh Traveling All-stars Basketball Team, Elmsford Recreation Youth Basketball Program, Greenburgh Super 16 Invitational Basketball Tourney, and the Sport�s Authority Three Point Shootout. In addition, he is a former head coach at Alexander Hamilton High School.
Next Level Athletics specializes in basketball training and programs, and counts as its clients: The Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, the Mt. Vernon Family YMCA, the Tarrytown Family YMCA, Temple Beth Abraham-Robert Jacobson Fund, the Town of Greenburgh, the Urban Marketing Corporation of America, the Village of Elmsford, Westchester Wildfire, White Plains Recreation and Parks, and the City of New Rochelle School District, and the White Plains Family YMCA.
Mr. Bass will earn $137,484 a year in the post of Commissioner of Recreation and Parks. He is a resident of Elmsford.
Mayor Roach said that Fran Crogan, current Deputy Commissioner of Recreation and Parks, had not indicated she would be leaving the department. At this time, she is expected apparently to continue in her Deputy Commissionership at $118,406 a year.
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WPCNR CITY CIRCUIT. December 28, 2011:
Come one, come all to downtown White Plains this New Year’s Eve! Mayor Thomas M. Roach today announced that the City of White Plains, in cooperation with the White Plains Business Improvement District will ring in the New Year in the downtown corridor on Main Street between Court Street and Renaissance Square. This free outdoor event will be held on Saturday, December 31 and will feature: Celebration Entertainment DJ music from 10:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m., crowd countdown, illuminated ball drop, and a midnight fireworks display by the Zambelli Company.
City’s First Ever Ball Drop January 1, 2003 The WPCNR PHOTO NEWS ARCHIVE.
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WPCNR Greenburg Gazette. From the Greenburgh Library. December 28,2011:
The Greenburgh Town Board has released its 2012 adopted budget. The newly released budget includes a cut of $250,000 on top of the original $320,000 cut imposed on the Library in the tentative budget published on October 31, 2011. These drastic cost-cutting measures translate to an 18% reduction in the Town’s 2012 appropriation to the Greenburgh Public Library, as compared to the 2011 appropriation.
The Greenburgh Public Library Board of Trustees has decided to maintain a schedule of six days per week. Consequently the budget for books, DVDs, music CDs, audio books, newspapers, and magazines was eliminated. In addition, three part-time employees were laid off. The very popular online service used by students, Tutor.com, was cancelled. These painful decisions were based on the Trustees’ commitment to maintaining the current schedule of providing six-days per week service rather than further reducing our schedule to five days per week.
The Greenburgh Public Library Trustees are working with the Friends of the Greenburgh Library and the Greenburgh Public Library Foundation to establish a book-buying campaign in order to fill the library shelves with new materials.
The adopted budget as published by the Town does not reflect the changes to the particular budget lines mentioned in this press release. Contact the Library for a copy of the revised Library budget.
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WPCNR NEWS & COMMENT. By Westchester County Roving Correspondent Nancy King. December 28, 2011:
Nancy King
Crikey, I hadn’t heard that one since my own child was in the first grade, but, in the past week or so we’ve watched the defriending of Nicole Katz, wife of Assemblyman Steve Katz by State Senator Greg Ball wind its way from social media to mainstreammedia .The crux of the story revoloves around Senator Ball defriending Nicole Katz on Facebook for a critical comment that Mrs. Katz posted to the Senator’s wall.
Senator Ball who has always presented himself as a conservative Republican has moved to a more centrist point of view even supporting Mitt Romney for President, a view that has not made his Tea Party supporters very happy. Instead of answering their criticisms, Ball has chosen to not only defriend Mrs. Katz and her allies, he’s also blocked others who have questioned his actions.
The pinnacle of this disagreement however came last week, when political activists Robin and Gary Murphy made a short video spoofing the situation.
The video which has been viewed over 1700 times on YouTube and can be found under the header of “Delete this Greg Ball”, depicts Nicole Katz complaining to Robin Murphy that she only likes green olives in her salad and not the black ones. Of course as quick as a wink, Mrs. Murphy has her daughter rip off a piece of duct tape that is promptly taped across Katz’s mouth.
Murphy is heard asking Katz how she likes her salad now and the video ends with the sentence: To silence criticism is to silence freedom”. Strong words from this side of the encampment but as of today there has been no comment from the Senator’s office.
Several questions arise from this dispute. One must wonder if the Senator has forgotten the First Amendment Rights of all Americans. If he has trouble remembering, he may want to ring up outgoing Mayor Phil Amicone to find out how he fared when he ordered the newspaper bins of a local weekly trashed.
To refresh the Senator’s memory, the Federal Court ruled that removing those bins certainly did infringe upon that publisher’s right to free speech. Ball who spends and enormous amount of time twittering and posting on FB about the comings and goings on in Albany has also spent the better part of the last week deleting comments on his FB page that have supported Mrs. Katz.
This now leads us to wonder just who is maintaining the Senator’s page. If the Senator is making all of these deletions, then who is carrying on his constituent relations. If it is indeed a staffer, then I’m not so sure that most tax-strapped New Yorkers are going to support having a staff member who is getting paid all day to dally around on Facebook reading comments and deleting people on that all too dear taxpayer dime.
Alas we may never know these answers since the Senator’s office staff has declined to speak to the media concerning this situation. And, you’ve just got to wonder how this disagreement will play into the relationship between Assemblyman Katz and Senator Ball.
Katz himself hasn’t commented on the situation as an elected official but he has stated that his wife’s or anyone’s opinion shouldn’t be stifled whether they agree or not. As for Greg Ball, it appears he has moved onto his next target and this time it is Congresswoman Nan Hayworth. Because she was actually trying to work on a bipartisan agreement to the payroll tax in Washington, Ball has been openly critical of her and her seeming centrist movement.
Social networking is a great tool for both campaigners and elected officials but you just can’t have it one way. Ball has always used social media to his advantage both on the campaign trail and while in office. No doubt, it’s a great tool for addressing a large number of constituents who may be unable to visit an office or attend an event.
But all elected officials should realize that once in office, they’ve got to take the good comments along with the bad ones no matter how hard it is to take. I too will probably find myself defriended after this column as well. That’s OK I’ll take it as an adult; after all; we’re not infirst grade any
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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Karen Pecora, President, Civil Service Employees Association. responds to County Executive Rob Astorino news release(http://wpcnr.com/article8938.html) December 27, 2011 (EDITED):
The County Executive seemingly continues a campaign of divide and conquer, class warfare, if you will, by continuing to imply in his words, that we are not deserving of our salaries. He continues to cite salary figures for society as a whole and does not state that a very large percentage of our membership has earned their current salaries by virtue of qualifying for, passing, and being selected, after real interviews, for our responsible positions that most times require college degrees and valuable experience in our chosen fields.
CSEA Unit 9200 made an offer to Westchester County, prior to the announcement of the Board of Legislators budget, to take 3 days off without pay in 2012, which would have saved the county approximately 2.7 million dollars and avoided layoffs. The administration refused.
Again, contrary to what County Executive Astorino has stated in the past, he is not interested in savings, only layoffs, including the CSEA Unit 9200 president and another officer.
This seemingly is to make room on the payroll for all of his appointees. Last year and this year, 45 real working employees were laid off with a salary of approximately $62,000 or less
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Many of these appointees do not have to take civil service tests for their positions; many get an instant parking space avoiding the 600-name waiting list to avoid the $105 monthly White Plains Parking Authority garage costs. Some other perks are invitations to lunches and parties with contractors.
Some of the (Astorino) political appointees attend overnight conferences paid for by Westchester County, receive County take home cars and therefore avoid car insurance and gasoline costs since they fill up at County motorpool gas pumps paid for by taxpayers.
We know that our positions in CSEA (and other unions) ARE NOT politically appointed positions.
Those political positions are occupied by friends of the administration, or given out for political favors, who enjoy special perks, rules, benefits, and favored status as to travel, hours worked, office accommodations, parking spaces, office equipment, assistants, personal printers, personal fax machines, and little supervision or accountability.
By the way, many of the politically appointed friends of the administration who have been placed in Westchester County positions are exempt from civil service rules and are paid many pegs above the average salary of CSEA workers.
Our current (CSEA) salaries are a result of starting at vastly lower positions, taking exams, achieving a college degree by attending classes at night, and getting promoted per the civil service rules, after passing exams along the years.
As opposed to certain political appointees, the vast majority of our members DO NOT come into County government making the high level salaries; some of us start as hourly or part time employees to get our start. Four of the current Unit 9200 Executive Board officers have that proud history in their resumes.
The civil service positions in CSEA, and in most of the other unions representing County workers, are competitive and as such are based on real merit, education, experience, and qualified credentials after passing a rigorous civil service exam.
Statements on Specifics:
Collective bargaining provides workers a chance to have a voice in the workplace. It meansnboth labor and management go to the bargaining table in good faith to find common ground.” This important reminder was in the Feb 2011 letter our statewide President Danny Donohue wrote to the newspapers.
The CSEA Unit 9200 leadership needed time to prepare for negotiations. Please remember this negotiation concerns the livelihood of 3,300 members and their families. Experience has shown us that negotiations are very difficult; we have many Articles, Sections, Subsectionsn and clauses in our contract that we know need to be negotiated. One main purpose of a union is to negotiate a strong contract with language that best serves our members and this task is not taken lightly. We also sent out and had to review surveys from our membership to ascertain their opinions about many facets of our contract as part of our preparation for negotiation. CSEA is a democratic union that abides by the wishes and priorities of the membership.
Negotiations have always been done during working hours, and while we did not schedule any meetings to commence after the work day, we would have stayed after the workday if we were making any progress with the County to come to an agreement. The Union’s Negotiating team spent long hours on nights, weekends, and during lunch hours to prepare for negotiations.
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The County claims the Canadian drugs prescription plans are illegal. If that is true, how is it that some senior citizens in Westchester County are using them now? Why are 40 municipalities in New York State using the Canadian drug plans? Using Canadian drugs would save Westchester County many millions of dollars over the life of the union contracts.
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Contrary to what the County Executive alludes to that we have free health care, we all know we have substantial co-payments, prescription costs and doctor and hospital deductibles. The median salary for a CSEA member is $62,000 per year, and 55% of CSEA members make less than the median salary.
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CSEA finds it almost childish that the official press release from the County Executive, (See revious WPCNR publication of the Astorino news release http://wpcnr.com/article8938.html), worked on by several highly paid staffers in the County Executive’s Press Office, during County work hours, wastes so much time and effort to speak about the meeting room. Our previous negotiations, during many previous administrations, have always been held in the quiet and spacious CSEA Local 860 offices. The current County negotiator, Vincent Toomey, has also stated he likes the Local 860 offices.
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In another tactic, the full negotiation team was initially denied release time for important preparation. This release time is a contractually negotiated clause. The County attempted to prevent the full negotiation team from meeting and involved the Dept of Law as a middle man to communicate to the CSEA leadership.
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CSEA has not refused to discuss the proposal made by the County; we asked for the County to also discuss the other 30 proposals the Union brought to the table, which by the way, could be negotiated to save the County money.
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CSEA has never received any “Jobs for Savings” plan; the plan was presented to the media, to the public and at a “Town Hall” meeting, but never given to the CSEA Unit 9200 President. The 2011 “Town Hall” meeting announcement was given less than 24 hours notice on a week when the Administration knew the CSEA leadership was not in Westchester. Understandably, the membership of all unions realized that another year of the same scare tactics was upon us and smartly chose to ignore attending the “Town Hall” meeting. By professional counts (from our members) approximately 75 employees from a workforce of 5,000 employees attended. (Fool me Once, Shame on You. Fool me Twice,
Shame on Me re the “Town Hall” meeting).
Obviously our membership is smart to understand scare tactics and divide and conquer tactics when they see and hear it.
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The Administration has been in the press asking CSEA to make concessions to our existing legally binding contract 22 months before expiration. CSEA statewide policy is that no contract is broken early or opened early when in effect. Another important purpose of a union is to vigorously enforce the existing contract and as such CSEA would not accede to the demands of the administration to forego any provisions of our 2006-2011 contract.
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CSEA has asked for a commitment from the County to avoid additional layoffs if there is an agreement reached regarding Health Insurance and other proposals. The County response was that it was illegal.
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The CSEA Unit 9200 Negotiations Team has continuously asked for the county to discuss the proposals that were introduced from the onset of negotiations; the only thing that was agreed to by the county was changing the wording “vacation time” to “annual time”. We have only asked that the county consider the entire contract, and not just one issue, although we do agree Health Insurance is one of the major issues.
The CSEA Unit 9200 negotiating team has never refused to meet with the county to negotiate a contract that is fair to the members, the county and the taxpayers. We are all middle class taxpayers in Westchester County. We strive to pay for shelter, food, and school taxes just as all working taxpayers in Westchester do.
CSEA has a long and proud tradition of service to all the localities in New York for over 100 years. Civil Service Employees Association members are those highway workers, mental health workers, park attendants, surveyors, construction inspectors, restaurant inspectors, and lab techs you know and trust. We’ve been around for more than 100 years now — we didn’t survive for a century by being selfish and impractical.
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WPCNR MR. AND MRS. AND MS. WHITE PLAINS POLL. December 27, 2011:
The new White Plains adminstration that took office in April, now has to leading the city. WPCNR looked around, and isolated some key issues listed at the right that the city government might want to consider as priorities in the year to come.
In his coming State of the City address, Mayor Thomas Roach should take into account some of these ongoing problems and let us know what he will do to address them.
He has the opportunity to end the labor war started by the Bradley administration with the unions, which the city has continued to pursue,
However, pursuing arbitration is not going to result in a great police and fire contract for the city because inflation is running 3.5% in the metropolitan area according to the Department of Labor. The CSEA contract nimbly negotiated to hold salaries at 0% is a looming time bomb down the road. You’re going to have to make up the damage.
The administration needs to dump the adverserial attitude and stop going to court, making lawyers rich and treat city workers like human beings instead of taking away. I do not have an exact figure but I believe (if FASNY legal and consulting work is included), the city has committed close to a million dollars in legal and consulting fees to outsiders to fight policies long in place. A million dollars is a 3% tax increase.
The city is now stagnant. There is no development going on except the Main Steet retail/hotel complex starting to go up. By my recollection, there are four site plans approved that have not been started, and another plan that construction is proceeding at a snail’s pace. The city has to saber-rattle to get these projects started or threaten revocation of the site plans. Otherwise the city cannot grow. The city has to sell itself and attract small businesses as well as big ones. That has not been done since Joseph Delfino departed the Mayor’s office.
The sales tax is on the upswing creating a nice pot of gold. Should it be used to help the school district which is looking at a property tax disaster this year if they want to keep the district at the same level. Should the sales tax be increased to pay for keep city government the size it is? Lots of questions the city has to question itself about. Or should it be used to make a tax cut for both city and school district. That’ll be the day.
The French American School of New York purchase of the Ridgeway property is an insoluble dilemma, as long as the Common Council and the administration continue to listen to a minority and fight this thing, the more money will be burned. Should the city attempt to buy back the land? I think that should be explored. What do you think?
Tax certioraris — big ones — from the businesses that got them three years ago are heading our way again. Should the city make all businesses in the city replenish these losses with a tax certiorari surcharge on all? It is the only way out, since the city seems unable and unwilling to do forensic audits of the books of businesses applying for certioraris.
Anyway it makes no difference what I think. What does Mr, and Mrs. White Plains think? It is your money. Give us your thoughts in the poll at the right.
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WPCNR ROVING PHOTOGRAPHER From Christmases Past: These photographs of Christmas night and Christmas Days of the Past feature the some of the festive lights of the city, an American parlor, a typical family dinner setting, complete with kids’ table, and a Christmas Hearth. SANTA’S WORKSHOP and Reindeer, White Plains. Photo by The WPCNR Roving Photographer. A Holiday Parlor. Photo by the WPCNR Roving Photographer. A Holiday Hearth. Photo by the WPCNR Roving Photographer. A HOLIDAY TABLE, Complete with “Kids’ Table” Photo by the WPCNR Roving Photographer For more Photographs, click Read More… Christmas Morning, 2005. Photo by the WPCNR Roving Photographer The Yule Log from White Plains Bake Shoppe. Photo, WPCNR Roving Photographer. Christmas Treats. Photo by WPCNR Roving Photographer. Kitten’s First Christmas. Bela The Christmas Kitten. Photo, WPCNR Roving Photographer.
