Today Partly sunny, with a high near 62. North wind 6 to 8 mph.
Tonight Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Wednesday A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 65. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. (National Weather Service Forecast)
WPCNR PLAYLAND GO-ROUND. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. April 12, 2021:
The Board of Legislators, by a vote of 13-4, approved a bankruptcy court settlement with Standard Amusements regarding the management of Playland.
The settlement was negotiated by the County and Standard, the terms of which were previously approved by the bankruptcy court.
The agreement gives the County significantly improved terms compared with the 2016 agreement, which had become the subject of the dispute in Standard’s bankruptcy reorganization filing.
Under the settlement, Standard will invest millions more in rides and food and other improvements at Playland than under the 2016 agreement. (Editor’s Note: The County will invest approximately $120 Million in restoration of Playland infrastructure: the collonades, swimming pool, bathouse, upgrades to operating systems, more than double the County’s original Standard-County deal, rejected by the present administration as not paying the county enough of the profits.)
The settlement also gives the County significant new oversight over Standard’s operation of the park — controls that were not in the 2016 agreement. These new oversight powers include the power to review and approve Standard’s construction plans, approval of new rides, new and more specific financial reporting requirements for Standard, and County approval of an annual operating plan for the park, among others.
The settlement contains new terms under which Standard can assign the contract to another company.
The County will now have the ability to object to an assignment, and there are new requirements that any company that might take on the contract must have years of amusement park management experience and demonstrated financial wherewithal.
There are also improved financial terms for the County. Under the 2016 agreement, the County shared only in Standard’s net profit and only after Standard recouped its capital investment. Under the settlement, the County will be paid from the beginning out of gross revenue over $12 million. The County also will receive an annual fee starting at $300,000 in 2022, increasing to $400,000 in 2023 with annual adjustments thereafter.
In addition, under the settlement, if Standard fails to generate at least $12 million in gross revenue per year for four straight years, the County may terminate the contract.
The settlement also heads off expensive litigation in the future by hiring a commercial arbitrator, to be agreed to and paid for by both parties, to resolve disputes.
The settlement preserves crucial protections for workers. Any County workers at Playland now, not hired by Standard, or who do not want to work for Standard, will continue to be employed elsewhere by the Parks Department. Standard is committing to continuing to hire a diverse slate of young seasonal workers during the summer as well as older workers.
Chairman Ben Boykin (D- White Plains, Scarsdale, Harrison) said,
“The choice we faced in this vote was not between our theoretical best agreement or no agreement at all. Our choice was between voting to approve this settlement, or voting not to approve this settlement and allowing Standard to assume the original contract in bankruptcy court. In approving this settlement, we are voting to give the County much better financial terms, more oversight over Standard’s work and operations at Playland, and more outside investment from Standard in this park which is a jewel in the crown of our Parks Department. Thanks are due to County Attorney John Nonna and his staff, our outside attorneys, Parks Department Commissioner Kathy O’Connor and First Deputy Commissioner Peter Tartaglia, and the chairs of our committees, especially Law and Major Contracts Chair Nancy Barr, and Budget and Appropriations Chair Catherine Borgia for their outstanding work in getting us to this improved place for County taxpayers and residents.”
” There are currently an estimated 301 active cases in our City, down 46 from a week ago. Over the last 7 days we are averaging 20 new cases per day. The state has estimated that 28.4% of Westchester County residents are now fully vaccinated, 42.8% have received at least one shot. Progress!
Individuals 18 and over are eligible for any one of the three authorized vaccines. 16 and 17 year olds can only receive the Pfizer vaccine at this time. Younger children are not yet eligible, although Pfizer has applied for authorization to vaccinate children at age 12 and above. All three vaccines authorized for use in the United States are safe and effective.
There are a number of ways to obtain a vaccination appointment.
● Check vaccinefinder.org for local pharmacies, clinics, and other locations that have received doses of the vaccine and schedule your appointment online or call the provider directly for an appointment. VaccineFinder was developed by Boston Children’s Hospital with support from the CDC.
● Check the State website, ny.gov/GetVaccinated for appointments at state–run vaccination sites. Check the site regularly, as new appointments become available throughout the day.
● Go to Health.Westchestergov.com, to check availability and schedule an appointment at the County-run vaccine clinic located at Westchester Community College.
● For those who need assistance securing an appointment, call our White Plains COVID Angels at (914) 422-1378 between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm.
It remains critical that we all double down on the common sense safety measures that have proven effective: Continue to wear a mask when you are within 6 ft. of others and practice social distancing. It is vital that we continue to take these precautions to give the vaccines a chance to get ahead of the virus.
We are at the turning point, now is not the time to slip backwards!
Our next call is on Monday, April 19th. Until then remember, we’re standing together by staying apart.
Actualmente hay un estimado de 301 casos activos en nuestra ciudad, 46 menos que hace una semana. Durante los últimos 7 días, hemos tenido un promedio de 20 casos nuevos por día. El estado estima que el 28,4% de los residentes del condado de Westchester ya están vacunados y el 42,8% ha recibido al menos una inyección. ¡Qué gran progreso!
Las personas mayores de 18 años ya llenan los requisitos para recibir cualquiera de las tres vacunas autorizadas. Los jóvenes de 16 y 17 años solo pueden recibir la vacuna Pfizer en este momento. Los niños más pequeños aún no pueden ser vacunados, aunque Pfizer ha solicitado autorización para vacunar a niños a partir de los 12 años. Las tres vacunas autorizadas para su uso en los Estados Unidos son seguras y eficaces.
Hay varias formas de obtener una cita de vacunación.
● Visite vaccinefinder.org para averiguar que farmacias, clínicas y otros lugares locales han recibido dosis de la vacuna y haga su cita en línea o llame al proveedor directamente para programar una cita. VaccineFinder fue desarrollado por el hospital de niños de Boston con el apoyo de la CDC.
● Visite el sitio web del estado, ny.gov/GetVaccinated para hacer una cita en los sitios de vacunación administrados por el estado. Visite el sitio con regularidad, ya que se añaden nuevas citas regularmente.
● Visite Health.Westchestergov.com para ver si hay citas disponibles en el Westchester Community College.
Aquellos que necesitan ayuda para hacer una cita, pueden llamar a nuestros Ángeles COVID de White Plains al (914) 422-1378 entre las 8:00 am y las 6:00 pm.
Aun es fundamental que pongamos en práctica las medidas de seguridad de sentido común que han demostrado ser efectivas: continúe usando una mascarilla cuando esté a 6 pies de otras personas y practique el distanciamiento social. Es vital que sigamos tomando estas precauciones para que las vacunas tengan tiempo de adelantarse al virus. Estamos en el punto de inflexión, ¡ahora no es el momento de retroceder!
Nuestra próxima llamada es el lunes 19 de abril. Hasta entonces, y recuerde que estamos más juntos manteniéndonos más se
WPCNR CORONAVIRUS MONITOR. By John F. Bailey. April 12, 2021:
Westchester vaccinations of the covid vaccine may be having a impact on number of new Covid cases per day in Westchester County.
As more vaccinations are given every day, new covid infections in the county through Saturday are down a full percentage from the close-to-over 4% infection rate averaged the last two months.
Westchester’s consistently close to 4% Covid has lowered five straight days pending reconciled Saturday and Sunday figures by both the New York State Covid Tracker Workbook and the Westchester County County Covid-19 Tracker.
The state Saturday figures comparison of positive cases to number tested has the Westchester infection rate lowering to .02 % (2/10ths of 1% — of those tested, 123,838.) The Westchester chart reported only 10,200 tested with 290 testing positive or 2.8% Today the state corrected the number of tests its Covid Tracker reported Saturday (128,838) to reflect the Westchester numbers of 10,200 tested with 290 testing positive, 2.8%. The original Westchester County computer-linked Covid Tracker was correct.
This is still big time turnaround despite Sunday Westchester tests showing 3.7% infections (on 6,944 tests administered, 254 infections.
The dramatic sustained decline in infection rate is significant.
Westchester had 4 straight days of 3% on the nose infection rates going into Saturday.
The county infection is now averaging under 3% through Saturday sitting on 2.8%. If the state really did 123,838 tests Saturday bravo because the 290 infections in Westchester Saturday that the state reported lowers the county infection rate to just about zero. But that would mean the state did ten times the usual number of tests (12,000) the are the average number of high end testing figures when tests are ramped up. But the trend is still down.
In today’s Covid briefing by County Executive George Latimer, said hospitalizations were dropping.
In a week the hospitalizations dropped from 230 2 weeks ago to 209 and now are at 192 hospitalized, down 28 in 2 weeks .
WPCNR thinks that new infections numbers that could (with a 4.3% hospitalization rate) be averaging close to a hundred hospitalizations or more a week, are not being hospitalized near that 4.3% rate or suffering as seriously from Covid to require hospitalization.
Mr. Latimer said the vaccinations records from the state show 280,207 Westchester citizens have had both shots and 418,642 (43%) have yet to get their second. (The vaccination figures updated from the state vaccine tracker.)
Mr. Latimer said “We are closing in on 50% of the county population being fully vaccinated.”
WPCNR estimates that the county could hit that number by the first week in May and be 75% vaccinated by the middle of May, or possibly sooner.
If the county facilitiees continued to vaccinate the 418, 642 who had already had one shot at 13,000 a day rate over the next 33 days that would get all 418,642 with one shot fully vaccinated. The bottom line at that pace is 698,849 completely vaccinated by May 15, working out to 72% of the county population (967,912).
The greater number of people vaccinated is having the expected effect of protecting more of Westchester from the disease and the new variant B-1-1-1-7.