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 CITY HALL CIRCUIT. By John F. Bailey. July 14, 2010:

John Callahan, City Hall Chief of Staff, told WPCNR Wednesday that entire block of East Post Road from the Bengal Tiger to Court Street will be demolished before an investigation into the cause of last week’s fire will begin. Callahan said the building was unstable.  He also said that the owners of the property, Boston Post Properties, would be handling the demolition, but would be closely monitored by police.

Callahan said the insurance companies, the owner,  and city officials had come to agreement to demolish the property today. Callahan said the upper portions of the building were unstable and in danger of collapsing.

Callahan said  after the cause or causes of the fire were determined, t”in a couple of weeks,” the city would also conduct a review of fire inspection procedures with  the police and the fire bureaus in how older buildings, “grand-fathered” in  to out of date less safe fire codes, and therefore not subject to the improved White Plains building and fire codes over the years are handled to prevent such possible conditions in the future.

Callahan said demolition would begin in earnest Thursday morning.

Discussing the future of the Post Road block, Callahan said the block would be returned to being a lot at grade, then the city and the owner, Bost Post Properties would consider how the property might be redeveloped.

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE.  By John F. Bailey with the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance. July 12, 2010 UPDATED JULY 12, 2010 3:45 P.M. E.D.T.UPDATED JULY 14, 2010:

Westchester County-wide sales receipts (which include White Plains figures, of course) were up 25% year to year in the June period, reports Susan Burns of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, and has experienced a 6.7% increase in sales tax receipts the first six months of its fiscal year.

White Plains did not keep pace with the county. City June tax receipts are up 5%, nearly 4% of that comes from the 1/4% tax  rate increase that went into effect in June. The sales tax was raised proportionately 12%, resulting in only 5% more revenue.

The county sales tax dollar handle, though rose approximately $10 Million in June alone, generating $48,046,635.36 in June ’10 compared to $38,386,277 in June 09.

Based on comparison of year to year records supplied by the Department of Taxation and Finance,the county has generated $219,830,772 in Sales Tax Receipts compared to $206 Million (rounded off to nearest million) in the first six months of 2009, a year to year gain in 2010 over 2009 of 6.7% over the first six months of the current fiscal year.

If Westchester County (on a January to December fiscal year) maintains last year’s sales tax pace the last six months of their fiscal year (in which it received $209 Million from July to December, the county will get $429 Million in sales tax receipts.

The county has budgeted for $432,600,000 in sales tax.

A sustained 7% growth rate in sales tax receipts could generate an $11 Million surplus in County Sales Tax Receipts over budget, if June is a bellwether that the county economy is turning around.

If the county continues to keep this 6.7% gain the rest of the year, the county would realize $444 Million in sales tax receipts easily making the county budget with a surplus of $12 Million.

According to Susan Burns of the Department of Taxation and finance, “Westchester showed many sectors with growth,  including but not limited to: Auto dealers, Telephone and Utilities, Finance and Insurance, and Retail.”

The city of White Plains, by contrast, with a 1/4% sales tax increase going into effect June 1, generated $4,073,768 and 47 cents in sales tax in June, finishing the 2009-10 Fiscal Year ending June 30 with $43,533,908 in sales tax receipts, approximately $200,000 over Commissioner of Finance Michael Genito’s projection.

Nevertheless, this is $3,8 Million in the red below what the Delfino administration had projected for 09-10.

The $4.1 Million city  June handle is up only 5% (4.89%) in sales tax receipts over last June’s take of $3.9 Million.

The rebound in Westchester sales tax receipts in June, and the White Plains slight rebound is good news going into the Budget and Management Committee meeting at City Hall July 19.

This trend, if I were in charge of the city would concern me because if White Plains, the leading retail and entertainment center in the county (and easiest place to travel to), is up only 5% in sales tax receipts in a month while the county is up 25%, then people are going elsewhere in the county to shop, instead of White Plains.

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WPCNR MR. AND MRS. AND MS. WHITE PLAINS POLL. July 12,2010 UPDATED 8:40 A.M. E.D.T.: 

 What was a disaster for 13 businesses last week: The Bengal Tiger fire, now presents an opportunity for White Plains, if the city has imagination to revitalize the moribund East Post Road corridor with something either completely different or the lack of imagination and deliver more of the same.

THE BENGAL TIGER BLOCK TODAY. DEMOLITION WAS IN FULL SWING OVER WEEKEND

 As demolition proceeded on the site over the weekend, WPCNR thought of just a few possibilities for the block which of course could be reconstructed the way it was or turn into something completely different and dynamic.

WPCNR thought of just a few possibilities (at the right in our brand-new poll) which the city might consider seriously to counter the economic stagnatio of pay-and-keep-out parking policies, a rowdy drinking district and a deteriorated West Side.  The city has been talking for years about revitalizing the West Side and even still has yet to tell specifics of the Lexington Avenue plan even though the developer has already been picked. Now, there is an opportunity to key note it as the Bengal Tiger block has to be rebuilt.

Here is Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. White Plains opportunity in the survey at the right to tell the city how to plan and what it needs on the burned-out block. If any of the choices appeal to you at the right, vote early and often:

New Bengal Tiger/Restaurant Mall:  Rebuild the block similar to before with a new improved (sprinklered) Bengal Tiger, and shops as before.

Bi-level Retail Shopping Mall: A two-or-three story mall with parking deck, with shops, restaurants and  retail, creating a dynamic upscale presence complimenting the Downtown Drinking District on Mamaroneck Avenue.

Multi-story Office/Mixed Use Building: A 10 or 20 story combination residential/office/with retail at the street level, bringing new residentialites, professional office space and a cosmopolitan mix of retail to the street.

New Performing Arts Center: The White Plains Performing Arts Center in the City Center has failed to ignite the imagination of the public. It lacks funding or street presence. How about building a Lincoln Center for White Plains on the Bengal Tiger block and Municipal Parking lot behind it, which would be a regional draw for concerts, theatre, a home for the Westchester Philharmonic, theatre groups and more – something the White Plains Performing Arts Center management has failed to do thanks to high rents and failed programming over the last 7 years.

City of White Plains Museum: White Plains played a significant role in New York State history but you would never know it because there is no museum in the city. The site could be transformed into a Revolutionary War history, a history of the four White Plainses: 19^th century, turn-of-the-century, the 1950s, urban Renewal, and of course, the just-ended Renaissance. The museum could serve as a base for a freedom trail through the city, and much more. Such a White Plains facility is long overdue.

Permanent Farmers Market/Food Court – Take the Bengal Tiger block, combine it with the Municipal lot behind it – acquire the office building behind the BT Block and create a Faneuil Hall International Food Court, a permanent destination with parking underneath.

Chain Food or Entertainment Complex: This would envision White Plains and the Bengal Tiger owners who own the block, again removing the office building behind the BT Block and attracting some destination chain such as SHAKE SHACK, HARD ROCK Cage, ESPN ZONE, SCORES (a neat fit with the Drinking District a weaving stroll away),

Sports Arena Convention Center Complex: Sports Arenas are a mainstay of communities I’ve visited: Charlotte, Providence, Grand Rapids. Westchester needs an intermediate facility and White Plains would benefit from a 10,000 seat facility for hockey, basketball, and big concerts. You’d fill it up with state tournaments which now are held in places like Albany, Lake Placid and Buffalo. It would also attract conventions which White Plains cannot do now.

RETAIL CHAIN BIG BOX:  Think Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond.

Transit Center:  White Plains needs a center city hub. Take out the office building behind the Bengal Tiger block, and combine the Municipal Parking lot with the Bengal Tiger block and you create a retail/transit center hub which could be a center for the Department of Transportation Bus Rapid Transit station, a taxi station, and a hub for the Ben Boykin Trolley System (coming someday to White Plains). What do you think?

New City Hall: The City again could acquire the Bengal Tiger Block and the office building behind it and combine it with the Municipal Parking lot and build a new City Hall (right across from the county office complex. Makes great sense – and opens the very attractive old city hall site for development.  The new City Hall could combine all city offices in one place. Call it the Adam T. Bradley City Hall.

New Public School; The block could be swapped out to the School District for a new public school to handle the growing elementary school population that is exceeding district estimates. Growing at a 100 kids a year, the district will need a new elementary in five years.

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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. By the WPCNR Roving Photographer. July 9, 2010:

Today’s shots to remember are the aftermath of Wednesday’s amazing 11-hour fire on Post Road that left 13 businesses affected, 7 of them destroyed after the fire raged too soon and too hot for firefighters to attack it inside the building. The Roving Photographer shows the implacable, remorseless damage. A pungent, sharp acrid smell of smoke lingered in the air throughout the day Thursday in the vicinity of the White Plains downtown.

At 7:15 Thursday evening. Fireman were still putting out hot spots at the Bengal Tiger. Photo by Patti Cantu.

For more photos, CLICK READ MORE…BELOW

The  Street –Noon Thursday

OVERHEAD VIEW OF BLOCK FROM CHESTER & MAPLE GARAGE.

Court Street–what once was a beauty salon.

Behind the Bengal Tiger. Firefighters pump out water at noon Thursday.

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WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. By John F. Bailey. July 8, 2010:

When the Bengal Tiger  Restaurant caught fire Wednesday afternoon, at an undetermined time, there was no sprinkler system in the restaurant to slow the spread of the blaze, White Plains Fire Chief, Richard Lyman told a press conference at city hall this afternoon.

The Bengal Tiger Fire Scene (center) seen from the Chester & Maple Garage at noon today.

 When firefighters arrived at the Bengal Tiger,  they were responding to a report of smoke coming from the Tiger area. Lyman answering a question from White Plains Week’s Peter Katz, said police officers quickly cleared the buildings on the Post Road block, and firefighters entered the Tiger premises finding heavy smoke coming up the stairs from the basement, flames on the stairwell, and the stairwell had collapsed and high heat conditions.

Aftermath News Conference, City Hall: Damon Amadio, Building Commissioner, Police Chief James Bradley, Mayor Adam Bradley, Fire Chief Richard Lyman.

 Lyman said firemen attempted get water on the blaze in the interior of the restaurant, but were called them back outside because of the rapid spread of the fire, and the lack of ventilation. In the rapidly deteriorating conditions, Lyman said, the strategy was to bring the firefighters out and conduct a containment strategy to prevent the spread to other buildings on the block and the two story office building on Court Street. Lyman said fire went up the columns from the basement and got into the cockloft(roof of the building)that was wood construction.

It is not known who phoned in the alarm which was received by the fire bureau at 2:29 P.M., Lyman said.

Lyman said the Latin American Café restaurant next door, did have a sprinkler system installed, but he did not indicate that it had activated.  Lyman also said he had learned that there were explosions in the building according to what persons on the scene had told him.(Two other uniformed personnel have told WPCNR they had heard explosions, and a third had confirmed that he had been told there were explosions.) 

Mayor Adam Bradley said he had been told by persons from the restaurant the fire had started in the basement of the Bengal Tiger and that the search for what started the devastating destruction was now under way.

A matter that will be determined as part of the investigation will be– how long the fire was going before it was phoned in,or in the case at this time, when smoke was reported; what activities were going on at the time in the Bengal Tiger that might have lead to the fire starting.

Chief Lyman said that Bengal Tiger did not have a sprinkler system because it was not required to conform to the new city code because the restaurant opened before the sprinkler systems were required by the  city fire code. Building Commissioner Damon Amadio told WPCNR that new restaurants opening  now, depending on occupancy expected are required to have sprinkler systems.

WPCNR asked Mayor Adam Bradley if he was going to direct the city to look into how many restaurants in buildings similar to the block that was gutted yesterday existed without sprinkling systems, and whether code could be legislated to equip non-fire retardant equipped establishments and buildings with sprinblers.  

Bradley said they would look into it but that it was a legal issue as to whether non-conforming properties could be forced to upgrade. Asked if the city would supply a list of restaurants and buildings in the downtown that were non-conforming, Bradley said WPCNR would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request. Amadio, the Commissioner of Building, told WPCNR “there were a great number of (non-conforming) buildings.”

Adam Bradley said the 11-hour fire fight was “a devastating fire to the citizens.” The Mayor said 13 stores were affected by the fire, and 7 were destroyed from The Bengal Tiger to the beauty salon around the corner on Court Street. He praised the White Plains Fire Bureau who “performed amazingly in adverse conditions,” and they were fortunate there were no serious injuries. He said 24 White Plains fire fighters were treated for heat exhaustion and 7 from other fire companies and 2 civilians treated. All but one firefighter had been released from the hospital as of 2 P.M.

“It was a fabulous joint effort,” the Mayor said.

He thanked White Plains Hospital Medical Center for supplying oxygen, restaurants for supplying water, and aid from the Westchester Department of Emergency Services.

Chief Lyman said 60 firefighters in total worked on the sweeping blaze which alternate blackened the city streets with thick dark smoke and white foggy acrid smoke for 10 hours,  including 9 companies.

Bradley said the transformer explosion that took place about 7:30 P.M. resulting in the closing of Mamaroneck Avenue to traffic was unrelated to the fire then still going on. He said it was the result of a cover being placed on a transformer, creating an overheating condition which caused the transformer to blow. No one was hurt in that incident.

Chief Lyman said that a fire at the Con Edison substation on New Street, phoned in at 1:39 P.M. and hour earlier took up one White Plains unit, and this complicated the response to the Post Scene phoned in 50 minutes later. Mayor Bradley said they were very concerned about the Con Ed fire because that would have produced a strain on the electric grid, and the fire fighters at that scene were able to contain that.