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 NEWS & COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. March 5, 2010. (The following is adapted from a public appearance and presentation at the White Plains Downtown Neighborhood Association February 27.):

 

What was White Plains  like ten years ago?

 

Tishman Speyer was Mayor Delfino’s first choice to reinvigorate the shell left by Macy’s closing, but they had pulled out after Tishman Speyer’s movie tenant, Leows had departed due in part to a mysterious lawsuit filed by clothing merchant and horse racing enthusiast who filed a lawsuit which threatened to delay Tishman development of the empty Macy’s site. This mysterious suit was dismissed, but not before the movie tenant, Leow’s, condition had deteriorated financially and withdrew.

 

 

 

Mr. Cappelli would show an enthusiasm to move ahead similar to that of Robert Moses’ philosophy of “getting that first stake in” when attempting  to get a project approved. That City Center plan was approved by the Common Council in fall of 2001 after considerable architectural change, engineered by intense lobbying of the Common Council by the populace.

 

During that first year of WPCNR – Bank Street Commons, the first effort of the Delfino Administration was approved—the first to include required affordable housing component.  It was the beginning of the Renaissance.The approval of the City Center in 2001 eventually brought Fortunoff to town in 2003.

 

The Renaissance was in full bloom.

 

What was not approved — significantly — was a Delfino administration plan with New York Presbyterian Hospital in which the city would receive 60 acres of hospital property for a “central park” for White Plains, if the city would allow more commercial development of the Bloomingdale’s area. WPCNR covered this extensively, and here the forces against the commercial development prevailed.

 

An unfortunate trespass incident by a mysterious person WPCNR dubbed  “The Toxic Avenger” while this plan was being debated forced the hospital to close its grounds to the public for good to the people of White Plains. 

 

Eight years later those grounds are still closed.

 

As a result of that turn down of the 60 acres not even to refer it out,  the city bowed to a threatened subsequent lawsuit by the hospital and was forced eventually to consider and approve a proton accelerator project for the park property, however the New York Presbyterian Hospital never received committed funding for the technology and that project was never built.

 

The significance of that New York Presbyterian Hospital saga was that it demonstrated the vulnerability  the council exposes itself to, when it makes decisions based on politics, friendships and popular misconceptions. It creates precedents that threaten zoning and the city standards.

 

 Threats of lawsuits and creation of precedent setting zoning decisions followed as a result of this attitude by the common council, they consistently set themselves up in weak legal positions, to the extent that now site plans go on for years without starting. Land is banked by developers who don’t start projects crying poverty.

 

Also on the conservation front, a direct result of the hospital decision was the concept of buying land for conservation of open space which the city spent money on. Land was acquired for Liberty Park, with the county buying part of the land in return for a housing development.

 

The city spent $600,000 to create Liberty Park which has now due to an unforeseen algae growth problem in the lake created a park no one uses. The algae was thought by some experts to be caused by the fertilizer run off from the park grass. 

 

Land was acquired adjacent the Greenway for city money which also stopped possibility of development.

 

However, the council also sold off land to favored developers adjacent the Greenway in what amounted to a very mixed message.

 

Now the city has a net result of the hospital property still not accessable by residents, and virtually no plans yet to work out a way the city could again access that New York Presbyterian Property.

 

With the opening of the City Center in 2003 – White Plains entered a brief renaissance, culminating in 2005-2006 when the City Center was at its most successful – but still the sales tax did not reach the levels expected of it though they did hit a high of  $44 Million last year up from $34 Million before the City Center opened.

 

New condominium and retail projects were approved on Maple Avenue, and the Church and Barker Avalon Bay complex approved  and built. The JPI townhouse and condominium project was approved and has proved successful as has Avalon Bay on Barker Avenue, but as I write, the two Maple Avenue  projects, the Church and Barker condo  have yet to be started.  Site plans are consistently being extended by the Common Council and even for unprecedented lengths of time, creating precedents that may come home to roost in the future.

 

The idea of the PILOT, payments in lieu of taxes, has come under fire. The city used PILOTS to offer carrots to developers like Mr. Cappelli to make developing attractive. Whether Mr. Cappelli would have developed with higher PILOT payments is moot.

 

The city also drew another project from Louis Cappelli the 221 Main Project that the city approved in 2004, with a zoning change that allowed extension of zoning to adjacent lots, a key change that facilitated the 40 story now Ritz-Carlton and Condominium towers. Also approved is the Venue near Fortunoff . That stands stalled out at this point.

 

The city thanks in part to WPCNR reporting eventually convinced Cappelli Enterprises to line the sewer line to accommodate City Center and 221 Main future sewage at the suggestion of the Commissioner of Public Works to prevent an overflow problem, and construct a supplementary “Nicoletti bypass sewer line to take the effluent load off the Main Street sewer.

 

A tip of that hat goes to Susan Elan, former Journal News White Plains reporter for her routine FOIA of city records and communications, involving the sewer line which revealed the “stinking memo” (as opposed to “smoking gun,”) from Commissioner Joseph Nicoletti where Mr. Nicoletti predicted catastrophic overflows if the Main Street sewer alone served both 221 Main and the City Center.

 

An interesting aside on the Nicoletti memo: the comments were in the original legislation approving the the project, but the Common Council apparently missed it, as did the media, including yours truly.

 

Initial sales for the condominiums at the Ritz Carlton  were remarkably strong in 2005-6, but now 38 of those units are being offered for sale in a package at about $600,000 apiece, the project is perhaps victimized by the burst of the real estate speculation that collapsed in the last two years. Planned condominium projects are not being started because no market is available to buy the condos.

 

Even 55 Bank Street another model affordable housing, retail apartment complex is stalled at this time due to the paralysis of the financial markets – but not before the city granted them a PILOT, and sold the land for the building to them without putting it up for auction first – now that project is stalled.

 

The affordable housing restriction in which developers have to devote 10% of their units to affordable housing is another good-intentioned council policy that evolved because it was popular and “the right thing to do.”

 

Whether this will be a roadblock to future development remains to be seen. My guess is it will be. Who wants to build affordable housing in this economy?

 

The city government also changed primarily in union contracts that routinely followed the steady 3 to 4% inflation rate. That has now come back to haunt the city as inflation has ground to a zero rate. But soft negotiating with municipal unions is a pattern you see across the state. Politicians in power have no stomach for negotiating hard with unions and inflation rarely dictates the union settlements.

 

Sales Tax receipts have declined thanks to the economy, and perhaps White Plains parking policies possibly keeping customers out of White Plains, and city revenues have fallen from the real estate bust too. 

 

The government also, to fund those union contracts went to raise sales taxes and also created the Department of Parking to access the Parking Authority surplus to handle general fund expenses. I can not speak for the thinking behind this, but they were confident that the money used to pay for spending on increases in public safety, fire, and city expenses, would eventually come in as the economy expanded ever onward, driving up the sales tax.This is a simplification of what happened.

 

It has not worked out that way.

 

My friend Peter Katz whom  I do the WHITE PLAINS WEEK television show with – told me just today real estate values in White Plains have fallen to prices of fifteen years ago.

 

What White Plains faces as  a result of the national financial debacle, is a shattering of the upward mobility concept where people believe in the future, will extend their own personal risk to buy a better standard of living, confident they will be able to grow in their income and handle the debt of acquiring better places to live.

 

When the consumer loses that belief in the future, economic stagnation sets in. It has happened in just three years. From the soaring real estate values of 2005-6 we now see a  10% reduction in the value of the typical White Plains home – and that is a home priced in the $650,000 range. Condominiums are worth much less and are simply not selling.

  

Where does White Plains stand today: we are better off obviously for having executed the development of the Delfino years, (otherwise we would be in truly sad shape), but the tools used to execute the short-lived Renaissance may not have guaranteed a successful result, consequently the city is at another crossroads. Is this due to the economy? In part, yes. However, even before that, the sales taxes coming in were lagging, and not keeping pace with inflation.

 

 

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. March 5, 2010: At a public forum on the 2010-11 School Budget Wednesday, the school district announced it was planning at this time a budget of $184.7 Million, about $1 Million less than this year’s budget.

WPCNR predicted in January, that based on present revenue projections on the new city assessment roll coming in at $3.7 Million less, and the 5.5% salary increases next year for teaching staff,  that the district would either have to cut 100 teaching assistants or a combination of fulltime teachers and teaching assistants (between 40 teachers and 40 teaching assistants, which would total $6,000,000 in salary) to avoid about a 9 to 10% tax increase. WPCNR was told that “we are not firing 100 teaching assistants.”  “Support staff” apparent is going.

WPCNR’s prediction was right on the money. Last night, the district said at this time they were cutting 41 fulltime teachers and 39 “support” staff to bring the budget in at $184.7 Million. The cuts come to $6.5 Million.

WPCNR also reported last Saturday that  the District had unbeknownst to the public negotiated a one year contract extension with the teachers for the 2011-2012 year adding up to a 2-1/4% merit raise in salary in additon to the standard 2% step raise, meaning the teaching staff will receive a 4-1/4% increase in February 2012. This raise was negotiated without the district knowing what their 2012-12 revenue projects could possibly be (considering the very shaky state of the White Plains Assessment Roll.

Last night the district announced this extension, as reported by WPCNR last weekend.

Monday, the district is supposed to discuss their revenue projection for this year. Some 41 teachers are expected to retire, taking advantage of incentives approved by the Teachers union as part of the new contract extension.

WPCNR expects to hear more on Monday.

The district has also set up a similar situation to last when they presented a budget to the public lower or close to what a contingency budget would be if the district voters rejected the 2009-10 budget. WPCNR attempted to get the inflation rate the State Department of Education will use to figure contingency budgets but the press office has not delivered it yet. It has been a week and a half since WPCNR asked.

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WPCNR  FOR THE RECORD. From The Mayor’s Office. March 1, 2010: The following is the text of the statement read by Mayor Adam Bradley to the media Sunday evening in the rotunda at City Hall, commenting on his being charged with Third Degree Assault for allegedly injuring his wife in an incident reported by police to have occurred “on or about” 9:30 A.M. Sunday morning:

STATEMENT


EARLIER TODAY I WAS ARRAIGNED IN WHITE PLAINS CITY COURT BASED ON A COMPLAINT MY WIFE FILED AGAINST ME.

I FEEL COMPELLED TO COME OUT HERE TONIGHT TO LET THE CITIZENS OF WHITE PLAINS KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST 12 HOURS.

THIS IS A DEEPLY PERSONAL MATTER, AND SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED WITHIN MY FAMILY.

I AM NOT GOING TO DISCUSS THESE CHARGES IN DETAIL, OTHER THAN TO SAY THAT I AM INNOCENT AND THAT I WILL CONTEST THE CHARGES.

BUT I HAVE TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT, I DID NOT IN ANY WAY MISTREAT MY WIFE

THERE HAVE BEEN PROBLEMS IN MY MARRIAGE FOR SOME TIME AND I HAVE MADE MANY EFFORTS TO DEAL WITH THEM.

AT THIS TIME, MY THOUGHTS ARE WITH MY FAMILY AND OUR TWO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS.

I WILL NOT TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PUBLICALLY ARGUE WITH MY WIFE IN A MANNER THAT WOULD EXPOSE OUR CHILDREN TO IT.

THIS UNFORTUNATE MATTER WILL IN NO WAY AFFECT MY COMMITMENT AND THE IMPORTANT WORK I AM DOING FOR THIS GREAT CITY

AS AN ATTORNEY WITH MANY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS A LAW GUARDIAN REPRESENTING CHILDREN I DEEPLY BELIEVE THAT PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN IS MY FIRST AND PARAMOUNT OBLIGATION.

THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING AND I HOPE YOU WILL ALL RESPECT MY FAMILY’S PRIVACY AT THIS TIME

THANK YOU

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WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. From The Mayor’s Office. March 1,2010: Mayor Adam Bradley issued a written statement to the media Monday morning clarifying stories appearing in the press about his past in relation to his being charged with Assault in the Third Degree Sunday in an incident involving his wife.

Mr.Bradley’s statement:

” I want to address a couple of issues being raised in the media.

First, there have been no prior allegations of spousal abuse made against me.

Second, questions have been raised about an incident that occurred 10 years ago, prior to my marriage. In that instance, Fumiko (his present wife) and I were harassed by a former girlfriend of mine.

It resulted in an order of protection being issued, barring the woman from contacting me.”

The surprise Bradley statement was issued after a news conference that reported the city, school and community organizations has raised $32,000 for Haitian Earthquake Relief which was being donated to Doctors Without Borders. Mayor Bradley did not chair the news conference. Antoinette Biordi, City Communications Director, said Mr. Bradley would not be handling the news conference because he “was dealing with personal issues.” Councilman Dennis Power represented the City.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. February 27, 2010: White Plains Public School Teachers have agreed to accept a 2-1/4% pay increase in 2012 in exchange for money-saving adjustments to pay.

 

The budget-friendly changes will pay teachers for pursuing advanced degrees at a slower (only one academically achieved increase a year may be approved), and a more tightly monitored pace for pursuing M.A. and Ph.D degrees.

 

The teachers have also accepted changes in working conditions, productivity adjustments,  and approval of retirement incentives that are available in the current budget year.

 

The White Plains Teachers Association membership approved the one year contract extension with the City School District through 2011-2012, two weeks ago, WPCNR has learned.  

 

Peter Bassano, a member of the Board of Education confirmed the contract extension to WPCNR Saturday afternoon. He said the District and Dr. Christopher Clouet had started negotiations with the teachers three months ago.

 

The contract extension has yet to be voted on by the Board of Education, Bassano said.

 

The 2-1/4% salary increase in February, 2012 increases up to 4% to 5% when longevity raises (automatic over the first fifteen years of service in the current 2010-11 step schedule for the majority of the current 651 teachers), are factored in. 

 

Here are the sketchy details of the suprise extension so far:

 

Pay

The new  contract extension finds the teachers agreeing to significant contract givebacks in 2011-12 and new teacher retirement incentives effective this current budget year in exchange for a 2-1/4% salary increase in the 2011-12 year, in addition to the 2-1/2% % increase agreed to last June and scheduled to go into effect February 2011.

 

Bassano said the 2-1/2% they receive  in 2012 actually is equivalent to 1-1/4% since it is only in effect for 5 months of the year. It should be noted though that the next year it constitutes a full 2-1/4%.

 

Readers should note the raise is supplemented by the standard salary raises guaranteed for each year of service that roughly gives the vast majority of full-time teachers up to salary increase total taking effect in February of 2012. This means that a 2-1/4% increase translates to an actual total salary increase over 4% for the vast majority of teachers entering 2012-2013, when a new contract will have to be negotiated.

 

Additional pay for Pursuing Advanced Degrees Slowed

 

Mr. Bassano said savings in the Teachers Earning Schedule in  2011-12 will also make adjustments to how soon teachers can earn more salary in making progress in advanced degrees. He said the district will also closely monitor the courses that are accepted for advance degree salary increases.

 

Retirement Incentives to lower Payroll.

 

 The financial details of the retirement incentives were not revealed by Mr. Bassano, but they will be offered to eligible teachers this year. The district, Bassano told WPCNR,  hopes this will induce approximately 40 higher paid full-time teachers accepting incentives to retire at the end of this school year.

 

Bassano said the incentives will only be available if a minimum of 30 teachers eligible to retire opt to take the district offer.

 

 Inducing the higher paid  teachers to retire could enable the School District to keep the 2010-11 School Budget at approximately the present $186 Million high water mark,

 

Asked if this meant  30 to 40 full-time experienced teachers eligible to retire would not be replaced, Bassano said that has yet to be determined. He said this weekend was the deadline for retirement declarations by the teachers.

 

Paying more of Their Share of Medical

 

The School District and the White Plains Teachers Association also agreed that teachers would pay “another full point” on their medical benefits. WPCNR was told by a reliable source the teachers’ share of paying for their medical benefits from 9 to 12%. WPCNR awaits confirmation.

 

The contribution that retirees pay for their medical benefits will also be raised in the new contract extension in 2011-12.

 

Work Schedule changes

 

Teachers also agree effective in the new budget year that they will teach 5 periods a day five days a week. This, Bassano said, enables the White Plains High School to go to an 8-period day and offer more personnel savings across the board. “Teachers will be working harder,” Bassano said, and “Class sizes will increase.”

 

District follows WPCNR Observations

 

WPCNR predicted previously that in order to stay at the $186 Million level the school district would have to trim some 50 full-time teachers or  remove 100 Teaching Assistants (who average $50,000 in salary and benefits) in order to keep the school budget for 2010-11 at the current level.

 

Should 40 teachers making an average of $100,000 a year or more take the district’s incentives, that would mean a salary savings of approximately $4 Million to $5 Million in salary. But it depends on how many teachers the district decides to replace after retirements are totaled up. This should become clearer March 8 when the District unveils its revenue budget and final Instructional Budget.

 

Clouet Began Negotiations in December.

 

Bassano said the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher Clouet approached teachers association to seek adjustments to the teachers’ contract about three months ago. WPCNR has contacted the President of the White Plains Teachers Association, Kerry Broderick, for specific details on the contract.