WHITE PLAINS WESTCHESTER DAILY NEWS SERVICE VISITS SINCE 2000 A.D. 25TH YEARl REPORTING THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW News Service Since 2000 A.D. 2026 WILL BE OUR 26TH YEAR OF COVERING WHITE PLAINS NEW YORK USA . John F. Bailey, Editor (914) 997-1607 wpcnr@aol.com Cell: 914-673-4054. News Politics Personalities Neighborhoods Schools Finance Real Estate Commentary Reviews Policy Correspondence Poetry Philosophy Photojournalism Arts. The WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER. TELEVISION: "White Plains Week" News Roundup, 7:30 EDT FRI, 7 EDT MON & the incisive "People to Be Heard" Interview Program 8PM EDT THURS, 7 PM EDT SAT on FIOS CH 45 THROUGHOUT WESTCHESTER AND, ALTICE OPTIMUM WHITE PLAINS CH 1300 Fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way. TOP 10 VISITORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD :1. USA. 2.BRAZIL3.VIET NAM 4. CHINA 5. JAPAN 6.UK. 7.CANADA. 8.INDIA. 9.AUSTRALIA 10.IRELAND 11.GERMANY 12..ARGENTINA 13.BANGLADESH 14.RUSSIA. 15.NEWZEALAND. 16. FRANCE. 17.MEXICO. 18.UKRAINE. 19.SOUTH AFVRICA. 20. IRAQ.
WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. September 6, 2011 UPDATED September 7:
The Assistant Superintendent for Business for the White Plains schools confirmed to WPCNR Monday morning that the “wrinkles” making Loucks Field unplayable were first noticed Sunday, August 28, when Hurricane Irene was leaving the area.
Fred Seiler told WPCNR the district’s insurance company, New York State Insurance Reciprocal (which underwriters school districts exclusively) is sending their expert Tuesday to review the wrinkles with the Acting Director of Facilities, Bob May.
The wrinkles, still in place after 7 days presently make the three year old Loucks Field unfit for athletic competition due to the possibility of athlete injury.
Seiler attributed the “wrinkles” to “the excessive amount of water coming down the hill there, and there’s a lot of ways the water can come down the hill.”
Seiler said he expected the insurance company would pay the cost of the repairs to the field that would be made by LandTek, the company that installed the field. Seiler also reported there were several other artificial turf fields in the area damaged by the rains, but was unable to name them.
Seiler said the field carried a warranty from LandTek, the installer, for only one year, and the New York State Insurance Reciprocal was the only insurer resource available to pay any repair costs.
According to news reports in Ridgewood, New Jersey, LandTek repaired wrinkles in the Ridgewood field by ironing out the wrinkles at a cost of $21,000. (See WPCNR previous report.)
According to the WestchesterCountyAirport observations, 6.2 inches of rainfall fell on White Plains during the 48 hours of Hurricane Irene weekend.
Asked if there was still water under the field surface and under the wrinkles, Seiler said he did not know. Asked if the field had to be dry in order for LandTek to repair the wrinkles, Seiler was also did not know the answer either.
A synthetic turf expert contacted by WPCNR today, speaking under the condition of anonymity, told WPCNR to repair the field adequately, in his opinion, you would have “to open the field,remove thebase and repair the base underneath the area of the wrinkles” to assure that the condition would not repeat in the next heavy rainstorm. He had no estimate of how long or how extensive a refilling this would take not having seen the project in person.
The expert with 25 years of experience in building synthetic surface fields, said the wrinkles appearing in the middle of the field, instead of “on the sides” are unusual and could indicate there is a problem with the drainage system installed under the field.
The expert suggested the school district might want to undertake a “forensic” analysis of the wrinkles, that was not connected to the installer to determine the cause of the wrinkles.
He said that synthetic turf fields around the country have been known to withstand “4 to 5 inches of rain in an hour” and be playable the same day.
Seiler said if the insurance company approved paying for the repair today, he thought the field could be ready by the first home game September 16.
He said no wrinkles had occurred at the Highlands synthetic turf football field also built by LandTek and that the high school football team could play there September 16, if needed.
WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. September 6, 2011 :
The six inches of rain Hurricane Irene dumped on White Plains August 27-28 ending 8 days ago, has made30 yards of the southend of the Loucks Field at White PlainsHigh School unplayable eight days later.
Loucks Field Looking to South Goal Sunday afternoon. Wrinkles heaving up have made surface unplayable.
District has Closed the Turf portion of the field to the public.
Sunday, bunched up “wrinkles” averaging an inch and a half to 2 inches in height in the middle of the field south turf were observed by this reporter. The high stepping wrinkles could cause players to trip in game action. The field showed evidence of saturation Sunday and again this morning.
Wrinkles up tohalf a finger’s height exist as of Labor Day morning.
A sign was placed at the field declaring the field unusable to the public Sunday. However unauthorized play was being conducted on the field on 50 yards of the north end of the field.
From Saturday, August 27 through Sunday August 28, Hurricane Irene resulted in 6.12 inches of rain according to the Westchester County Airport observations.
On Monday, Labor Day, the wrinkles had not diminished eight days after the rains had stopped.
The high school football team which normally practices on the Loucks playing surface was using the natural grass fields for their Monday morning practice.
The field opened three years ago, and this is the first instance of “wrinkle” damage happening on the field.
Loucks Leaks for first time, August,2009.
WPCNR NEWS ARCHIVE FILE PHOTO
There were drainage issues when the field first opened from stormwater spilling out onto the track from under the bleachers.
However, a field built by Landtek, the installers of Loucks Field, developed wrinkles in April of this year at a field in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
This happened 5 months ago April 11, due to a rain event causing the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook to flood the field.
News reports on the Ridgewood field event did not give a cause for the wrinkles,whether it was rising watertable or absorption from the surface flooding. To be fair the flooding of the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook was the worst in 56 years. However the White Plains storm resulted in only 6 inches of rain.
The Ridgewood News article did report that the wrinkles at the Ridgewood field were going to have to be fixed by the Landtek company.
A later dispatch from the Ridgewood News said that Landtek was paid a minimum of $21,000 to “iron out” the wrinkles in the Ridgewood High Field.
Cause of the wrinkles was not reported, but apparently the field could not hold the rains. The flooding in Ridgewood along the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook was the worst since 1954.
As of midnight August 31, Consolidated Edison website reports 8,747 customers in Westchester County still are without power of 348,000 customers. The utility is promising that all in Westchester will be restored to electric service by midnight this evening.
A total of 264 customers are still without power in White Plains.
Consolidated Edison has restored with the help of utilities from around the country, about 56,000 customers (62% of their customers) to full power in the 88 hours since Hurricane Irene left the area 8 A.M.on Sunday morning. Con Edison is calling Irene the worst above ground damage storm the company has ever had to deal with.
New Castle and North Castle remain the hardest hit with 3,266 still out.
THE POWER NUMBERS TOWN BY TOWN AT 12:45 A.M.E.D.T.
A Con Edison spokesperson, Christopher Olert, told WPCNR the majority of White Plains customers still without power were concentrated in “pockets” of the following neighborhoods hard hit by burning wires and multiple downed wires:
West Street, Cedarwood, Redwood, West Street, West Post Road and Prospect Street. He said about 144 customers were without power in those areas, and predicted they would be restored by Thursday. Olert said that as of Sunday evening 4,000 customers had been without power in White Plains, all about 319 were restored as of 10 A.M. this morning. The remainer of customers without electricity were scattered, isolated locations in the city.
Olert said Con Edison is receiving help from crews from Mississisippi, and also from crews from the Hurricane Katrina disaster, who came up here to help the metropolitan area, as New York area crews had helped them in New Orleans and Mississippi. Olert said delays in White Plains were due to the procedure Con Edison uses. “First we have to assess the damange,” Olert said, “then develop a plan to fix it, thensend in crews to fix it.”
Olert characterized the Irene storm as being “The worst overhead damage storm ever” in the damage done to Con Edison’s overhead transmission wires.
WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. From the Office of New York State Assemblyman Robert Castelli (89th A.D.) and County Legislators Harckham and Kaplowitz August 31, 2011 UPDATED 12:50 P.M. E.D.T.:
Following Hurricane Irene, Con Edison has been able to restore power to 73% of the 14,500 customers in the 89th Assembly District in forty eight hours, and expects to have a 100% restoration by Thursday. This has made Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli (R, C – Goldens Bridge) wonder why New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) has only been able to restore power to 16% of their 50,900 customers in Bedford, Lewisboro, and Pound Ridge.
(Editor’s Note: As of 10 A.M. Wednesday morning, NYSE&G reports on their website they still have 14,926 customers without power in Westchester County out of 32,445 the company powers.The website does not breakdown the outages by community.)
As of 12:45 P.M., Assemblyman Castelli’s Office has issued the following detail on New York State Electric & Gas outages, compared with Con Edison performance:
CONED
Area
Customers Out
Customers Served
Bedford
549
1018
Harrison
387
9470
Mount Kisco
527
5075
New Castle
2108
6574
North Castle
3036
4894
White Plains
317
23854
Total CONED
6924
50885
13.61%
NYSEG
Area
Customers Out
Customers Served
Bedford
3028
6629
Bedford (Put)
1
3
Lewisboro
4057
5454
Lewisboro (Put)
2
3
Pound Ridge
993
2364
Total NYSEG
8081
14453
55.91%
Total BOTH UTILITIES
15005
65338
22.97%
“Thus far, the response by NYSEG has left much to be desired,” Castelli said. “While we all understand that this is an unprecedented situation, in the months ahead, a Task Force should look into why NYSEG was not adequately prepared for this situation, their protocols and procedures, and measure their response and efforts to restore their transmission and distribution lines following the storm.”
Westchester County Legislators Peter B. Harckham (D-Katonah) and Michael B. Kaplowitz (D-Somers), expressed their frustration Tuesday with the lack of information and the less-than-impressive restoration efforts coming from New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG), who, along with Con Edison, provide power to tens of thousands of homes in Northern Westchester.
.
Following the 2006 Queens Power Outage, and the 2003 Northeast Blackout, the State Assembly convened a Power Outage Task Force consisting of members of the Government Operations Committee, upon which Castelli serves, and other Assembly committees. “I believe it is time for a 2011 Power Outage Task Force to look into the appropriateness of NYSEG’s response, and I also believe immediate investigation and analysis by both Attorney General Schneiderman and the Public Service Commission are necessary,” Castelli said.
Some previous Task Force members have included current and former Commissioners from the New York State Department of Public Service (also known as the Public Service Commission, or PSC), the State Department of Energy, as well as the Public Utility Law Project, the Pace Energy Project, and other academic and industry representatives. Legislative representatives have included members of the Assembly Government Operations Committee, who are responsible for homeland security and oversight of state agencies including the Department of Public Service/PSC, and the State Emergency Management Office.
“This is not only about accountability, this is about improving public communication, and preventing future occurrences like we are currently experiencing,” Castelli said. “This is more than just an annoyance. While the situation could have been much worse, the response by NYSEG thus far has been inadequate. As the company responsible for the transmission and distribution system, these long-term outages must be fixed. They are a grave risk to public safety and the public health and well being at-large.”
Upon the order of the Governor or Assembly Speaker convening a task force, public hearings would be held, and recommendations could be issued for new regulations, legislation, or further analysis and investigation by the legislature, the PSC, and even the Attorney General.
HARCKHAM AND KAPLOWITZ, COUNTY LEGISLATORS PRAISE CON ED, FUME AT NYSEG
“I understand the magnitude of the disaster we are dealing with,” said Harckham, the Legislature’s Majority Leader. “However, I am disappointed with the lack of communication between NYSEG and the municipalities. Con Edison has at least provided ‘municipal liaisons’ to work on-site with the Supervisors and their key personnel, which facilitates necessary communication.”
Kaplowitz, who chairs the County Board’s Environment & Energy Committee, agreed with Harckham and added, ”there is no reason that two days after the storm NYSEG cannot properly communicate with elected officials, and provide some real information such as how many crews they have in each town and why it could take until next week to restore some residents,” Kaplowitz stated.
Both Kaplowitz’ and Harckham’s office have been fielding dozens of calls from residents and local officials complaining of downed polls, lack of dry ice, no power and no answers. The two county lawmakers have spent the last two days at various sites in their respective districts, including senior citizen apartment complexes and local Town Halls, in attempts to facilitate some relief and answers
Castelli’s Bill
Since current law relating to electric utility emergency plans is only applicable to “storm plans” and does not provide standards for the contents of such plans, Castelli voted for Assembly Bill A4980 this year, a bill drafted by a previous Power Outage Task Force which strengthens requirements for emergency plans currently set forth in regulations of the PSC.
The requirements for such plans, as delineated in the bill, include:
training exercises, planning, and other preparatory actions to be undertaken in anticipation of major storms, other adverse weather conditions or other events that may result in service outages;
procedures to be followed for accurately determining the extent of an outage, including the location of affected areas and the overall number of people affected by loss of power or by voltage reductions;
procedures for estimating the time required for restoration of service;
policies for implementing load relief and load control programs; and
procedures for execution of management responsibilities.
The legislation annually requires electric corporations to file emergency plans and a verification of the ability to implement such plan, and a requirement that electric corporations issue a report to the PSC within 60 days of an outage which lasts more than 48 hours.
The bill also provides for public comment on the emergency plans filed by utilities, and requires the PSC to review the adequacy of any reimbursement policies for spoilage, damages to electrical equipment, lost business or other losses attributable to outages, voltage reductions or inadvertent shutoffs. It was not acted upon by the State Senate.
WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. August 31, 2011:
The failure of a tour operator to inform his Muslim-American customers of the county’s longstanding headgear policy for some of the rides at Playland Park resulted in several altercations Tuesday afternoon. The park was never closed, but entry was suspended between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in order to restore order at the front entrance after the incident. Over 6,000 patrons attended the park Tuesday, roughly 3,000 of whom were part of the Muslim tour group.
The tour operator, The Muslim American Society of New York, had been notified well in advance of today’s event—numerous times both in writing and verbally—the county’s policy on headgear for certain rides at the amusement park. The incident erupted when some of the women tried to gain entry on rides that prohibit any kind of headwear, such as hats, scarves and flowing material, which would include Hijabs, the traditional head-covering for Muslim women.
Patrons were offered refunds at the front of the park. It was at that point that several male and female patrons started arguing with one another to the point where park security had to intervene. In the course of restoring calm, two park rangers suffered injuries and had to be taken to a nearby hospital.
A total of 15 patrons were arrested and charged. The suspects were mostly from New York City, primary Brooklyn. They were arraigned and released Tuesday evening before the Ramadan holiday. Following the arrests, park officials met with the tour operator to ensure that all members of his group understood the headgear policy. Park gates were reopened to all patrons at approximately 6 p.m.
“This misunderstanding was very unfortunate,” said Peter Tartaglia, Deputy Parks Commissioner. “Our headgear policy is designed to protect the safety of patrons and safety is our first concern. This policy was repeatedly articulated to the tour operator, but unfortunately the message did not reach some of the members of his group.”
WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. By WPCNR FLYING PHOTOGRAPHER, ANDY SEALFON. AUGUST 30, 2011:
While many roads have been reopened as floodwaters recede in many communities, aerial views of the Orange County landscape after Hurricane Irene are dramatic. These photos were taken Monday afternoon by Andy Sealfon, flying over Orange County, NY.
The extent of upstate flooding damage is just becoming known today and continues to unfold in its devastation.
The New York State Thruway has been reopened between Sloatsburg and the Harriman tolls, but late yesterday provided an unusual sight with no traffic at all!
Farmland in the community of Florida, NY, was innundated by flood waters.Extensive Farmlands further upstate are reported ruined by the floods caused by Hurricane Irene’s western side.
Flood waters accumulated Monday afternoon in the downtown area of Warwick, NY…
WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. UPDATED 10 A.M. AUGUST 31, 2011:
Con Edison reports 18,343 Westchester County customers without power as of this hour, with 319 White Plains customers affected.
North Castle and New Castle have the most customers affected this morning, 5,149, followed by Yorktown, 1,403, and Yonkers, 1,188.
The company is targeting Thursday for a full reconnect for the entire Con Edision customer roster in ther county the latest Numbers by community from Con Edison:
WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER from the Westchester County Department of Communications. August 29, 2011. 5 P.M. E.D.T.
County Executive Robert P. Astorino continued to inspect the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Irene on Monday, as the county began coordinating efforts to obtain federal disaster aid.
“The damage is significant,” Astorino said. “We are now in the process of documenting the financial cost so that we can obtain any available federal aid.”
As of 3 p.m., approximately 67,400 Westchester residents were still without power; 35,000 supplied by Con Ed (down from 52,000 as of 2 P.M.) and 32,400 by NYSEG.
That 67,400 figure is down from 82,000 on Monday morning.
On the roads, the Bronx River Parkway has reopened in some sections. The only section still closed is between the Sprain Brook Parkway split (Bronxville) and the CountyCenter in both directions. Crews continue to work on the closed sections.
Three shelters will remain open Monday night. They are in Armonk, Mamaroneck and North Salem. That’s down from more than 24 over the weekend, as many residents have now returned home. All the evacuation orders across the county were rescinded on Monday.
This effort to assess a dollar amount in damage to the county will be coordinated by the county’s Department of Emergency Services. The department is now working with local municipalities to collect the damage information needed to request federal aid.
President Obama declared New York a disaster area even before Hurricane Irene struck. To qualify for aid, the region has to meet a damage threshold of $3 million. Typically, local communities receive a reimbursement of 75 percent of approved claims.
To help commuters deal with disruptions on the Metro North Railroad, Astorino on Monday ordered six additional buses added to the BxM4C line, which runs between the CountyCenter and Manhattan. On Tuesday morning, there will be five additional Manhattan-bound BxM4C buses.
“We are now in the clean up phase and the county is working tirelessly to help return things to normal,”Astorino said. “We are assisting municipalities, utilities and transportation partners in whatever way we can to restore service as quickly as possible.”
On Monday morning, Astorino was in Rye as he continued to assess damage from the storm. He was joined by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Congresswoman Nita Lowey, Rye City Mayor Doug French, and other officials, who together toured the downtown shopping district and discussed recovery efforts with merchants and residents.
On Sunday, Astorino was in Elmsford, Mamaroneck, Ossining and Croton among other hard-hit communities. In the evening, he met with Larchmont Mayor Josh Mandell, Mamaroneck Village Mayor Norm Rosenblum, Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe and residents at the evacuation center being run by the American Red Cross of Greater New York out of MamaroneckHigh School.Earlier in the day, he viewed the entire county by helicopter to get a damage assessment.
The countyWeb site will continue to post updates regularly. You may also follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/westchestergov.
All relevant county departments put together response plans. County departments involved include: Emergency Services, Public Safety, Communications, Health, Public Works, Transportation, Information Technology, Senior Programs, Environmental Facilities Social Services and Parks and Recreation.
WPCNR THE WATER STORY. From the Department of Health. August 29,2011:
Due to the excessive rainfall associated with Hurricane Irene, the Department of Environmental Facilities has reported a sewage discharge into the Hudson River from the North Yonkers Pump Station.
The volume of water coming into the North Yonkers Pump Station was too much for the system to handle, causing a manhole cover to dislodge resulting in a sewage discharge into the Hudson.The Department of Environmental Facilities has been working to remediate the issue.
The Westchester County Department of Health is advising people who use the Hudson River waters for recreational purposes, namely swimmers, boaters, windsurfers and kayakers, to avoid direct contact with the Hudson River from points south of Tarrytown in Westchester until further notice.
The Department of Environmental Facilities will be collecting samples from the surcharging sewer manhole this evening and the Health Department will issue an updated advisory based on the sample results.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Department of Health have been notified.
