P.R. Person Nixed. Mamaroneck Ave. School Contracts Approved.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From Michele Schoenfeld. (EDITED) February 19, 2008: The regular Board of Education met last week and approved contracts for the renovation of Mamaroneck Avenue School totaling $4.4 Million. The Board also heard recommendations from Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors on the implementation of the first parts of the Strategic Plan, in which Mr. Connors recommended not hiring a full-time professional public relations person for the district, one of the recommendations of the Action Committees regarding communications.



Moving Forward: Timothy Connors, Superintendent of Schools  presents Strategic Plan last week.


 



 The Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors recommended implementation of recommendations of the District Action Teams in each off the five areas derived from Strategies developed by the Core Planning  Committee, as follows:


 



  • Insuring that every employee understands the vision, goals and implications of the mission and strategic objectives. This will be coordinated by Mr. Connors with Teresa Niss.
  • Implementing a systematic process to insure that all programs and projects reflect the mission  and are cost effective.  Assistant Superintendent Fred Seiler will direct this activity.
  • Achieving the goal that at least 90% of all students are reading on grade level by the end of second grade.  This will be led by Assistant Superintendent Margaret Dwyer and Board President Donna McLaughlin, who will focus on the community commitment to the importance of  reading.

In discussion of this goal, WPCNR noted that Ms. Dwyer said that 81% of White Plains Kindergarten Students leaving Kindergarten in June are performing at grade level, and that 68% of White Plains First and Second Graders as of June 2007 were performing at Grade Level.


 


Superintendent of Connors emphasized that there were no increased costs expected from this goal since programs are already in place to address this issue


.



  • Developing proficiency in the essential characteristics of effective leadership in all district admin- istrators.  Assistant Superintendent Lenora Boehlert and others will be responsible for this.
  • Instituting a process for a coordinated and integrated approach to disseminate information about the district.  Mr. Connors plans to convene a steering committee to provide direction. He recommended against hiring a full-time public relations person, because he expected such a person would cost the district at least $100,000 a year and that it would not be good public relations for the district to do this at this time.

 CAPITAL PROJECT ON MAMARONECK AVENUE SCHOOL FORGES AHEAD


 


 


     Contracts totaling about $4.4 million were awarded for the renovation and construction work at Mamaroneck Avenue School. This is the third set of bids for capital projects that has come in under budget — this one by 20%.   Bids for the new Post Road School will follow in a  few weeks and the tracks (at Highlands Parker Stadium and the High School Loucks Field)  should be completed once the warmer weather arrives.


 


            Board Member Bill Pollak commented that because the Wicks Law is still in effect, separate contractors are required, at a greater cost to the district. 


 


The contracts, Russell Davidson of Keyer Garment & Davidson, the architects overseeing the project went to contractors that KG & D has worked with on prior projects, all of whom were low bidders on the Mamaroneck Avenue School.. Construction Services, LLC was designated the General Contractor on the project for $2,459,000.


 


The HVAC contractor is Mengler Mechanical with a bid of $767,000; the Plumber is Beneway Incorporated for $169,148, and the Electrical Contractor is Talt Electric on a bid of $607,000.


 



 


 


     RECOGNITION OF INTEL SEMIFINALIST:  Timothy Selg, teacher of the High School’s Science Research Program, proudly presented Adam Lanman, (above) White Plains High School’s 14th Semifinalist in the prestigious National Intel Science Talent Search. 


 



 


Mr. Lanham’s study observing video tapes of White Plains High School Hall activity (made with permission), showed that the denseness of WPHS hall traffic did not result in bottlenecks created by students grouping to converse. He said the opposite was true, that though two students might stop to talk, groups of 2 or more did not linger long due to being pulled in opposite directions by their classroom destinations. This was contrary to preconceived perceptions. There were no comparative studies available conducted on street encounters.


 


 



 


 One of only 300 students chosen nationwide,  Adam made a presentation on his topic entitled:  “A Physical Model for the Grouping Behavior of Adolescent Pedestrians.”   The program is in its tenth anniversary year and Mr. Selg expressed appreciation to everyone who has provided support — the Board, administration, Principal Ivan Toper, Science Coordinator Margaret Doty, mentors of the students and particularly the parents. 


 


     RETIREMENTS:  The Board accepted resignations for the purpose of retirement from 12 staff


     members and Mr. Connors and Board members thanked them for their services and wished them


     well.  Retirees are:  Joan Kass, Coordinator of LOTE and ESOL, 6-12; Allyson Alfano, Teaching


     Assistant at George Washington School; Mary Jane Hoag, Teaching Assistant at New York Hos-


     pital; Joseph Thigpen, Custodian, High School; William DeFeo, English Teacher High School;


     Catherine Gruder, Reading Teacher, Middle School-Highlands; Karen Jenkins, Reading Teacher,   Middle School-Eastview; Lidia Lyman, School Counselor, High School; Elaine Norelli, Mathe matics Teacher, High School; Thomas O’Connell, Special Education Teacher, High School; Susan Rosenzweig, Speech Teacher, Middle School-Eastview & High School; and Marian Steinberg, Special Education Teacher, New York Presbyterian Hospital Program.


            Mrs. Kass was thanked for her many initiatives, the special programs she has led, and for


     establishing a strong foundation for the district in the area of languages.


 


 


     PERSONNEL:  Eva Cieloszyk was given a probationary appointment as a Latin Teacher at the


     Highlands Middle School and the High School.


            Two Teaching Assistants were awarded tenure:  Michele Bellantoni at Post Road School, and


     Henry Burford at the Middle School-Highlands.


 


     DONATIONS:  The Board accepted the following donations:  $100 from Laurie Bass and David Fine for High School Orchestra instruments and for the High School Choir trip to the Penn State University Choral Festival; $500 from Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hollahan for the High School Choir Penn State trip; $2,000 from an anonymous donor for the High School Choir Penn State trip; Sample fabric books from Joyce Duffy for use by the High School Art Department; and $600 from the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church for the Manhattanville/Centro Hispano Hispanic Outreach Tutorial Program.   Mr. Connors thanked these donors for their generosity.



 


MEETINGS:                             


 


March 3:         Special Meeting, Education House 7:30 P.M. (Expected to include discussion on the 2008-2009 School Budget — is described as being a “Budget Workshop.”


                                                  


March 5:         Second Meeting with Annual Budget Committee, Education House, 7:30 P.M. to include presentation of a potentially lower Preliminary  School Budget Presentation


                                                  


March 10:       Regular Meeting, High School, 7:30 P.M.


                                                                                    Scholar-Athlete Recognition


 


     MOMENT OF SILENCE:  Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors asked for a moment of


     silence in memory of Bernice Banker, an elementary Music Teacher who had been with the district


     for 32 years prior to her retirement.  

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Local Girls Skate for their Colleges at Synchro Nationals in Little Rhodey

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WPCNR RINKSIDE. February 18, 2008: The best “teams” in the country, the synchronized skating elite are coming together from all over the country in Providence, Rhode Island this week.  Five  college teams feature skaters from Westchester County, four from White Plains’ Good Ol’ Ebersole Rink. Juliana Bailey, Amy Reinthaler and  Aly Salonger of White Plains who all learned to skate at Ebersole, Mary  Halling of Yonkers  and Nikki Wylan of Valhalla  skated with The Skyliners and Team Image, two local synchronized skating club teams with national reputations  will be competing for their collegiate synchronized skating teams at the United States Figure Skating Synchronized Skating Championship at the big time vene, the Dunkin Donuts Arena. All girls have fitted in nicely with their college synchronized skating teams.



The University of Michigan Senior Synchronized Skating Team performing and winning the Gold Medal at the MidWestern Synchronized Skating Regionals in Nashville last week.  They’re performing a rotating lift on skates their folks at medium speed! (And No pads or helmets)



Juliana Bailey Graduate of White Plains High, left and Nikki Wylan, Graduate of Valhalla High School after Michigan eased past the spirited and talented Western Michigan Broncos for the Midwest Synchronized Skating Championship and a very close and tension taut finale Free Skate. The two freshman have fit right in with a group of young and talented freshman, sophomores and juniors and steadying senior leaders as synchronized skating grows at U of M.



Irish on Ice: Amy Reinthaler, a Senior at Notre Dame has pioneered synchronized skating at the Golden Dome for the last four years. She is the last skater on the left. She choreographs the team’s routines and this year the Irish skated the best we have seen them skate over the four years.



Two for the Ice: Juliana Bailey, left with White Plains’ Amy Reinthaler, right, pioneer of Synchronized Skating at the University of Notre Dame in Nashville last week. Ms. Reinthaler was a mentor whom Ms. Bailey looked up to for leadership and guidance at Ebersole Rink when they both skated there. Once you skate together, you’re friends for life — and you get all those great college skating warmup jackets, too! 



 





Monday Ms. Bailey and Ms. Wylan of the University of Michigan flew to Providence  to take part with the University of Michigan Synchronized Skating team Senior and Collegiate teams in skates Thursday and Saturday at the U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championship. The two have joined a group of talented veteran skaters and freshman and sophomore skaters to help elevate University of Michigan Synchro to the first Collegiate medal finish  and a first place in the Midwest Regional Senior Division in Nashville Tennessee last week.



Michigan Coach, Brooke Sloan, right, shown here coaching in one of the six practices held in Nashville prior to their three performances, said  had great admiration and respect for her skaters’ abilities to balance their fearsome academic schedules with their commitment and love for synchronized skating. 


 Sloan’s two teams improved significantly in each succeeding competition this season ( the Porter in Ann Arbor, the Fraser Qualifier Outside of Detroit, and the Midwestern Regional in Nashville). The team practices five times a week two hours at a time at The Ice Cube outside Ann Arbor and Yost Arena.)


Sloan adapts a very upbeat  “expect to be the leaders and best” coaching style in her practices consistently massaging the Wolverine programs, expecting her edgers to step up and execute the subtleties demanded by today’s exquisite balance of grace, technicality and showmanship rewarded by synchro’s  International Judging System to move on up.   The Woverines have responded to Sloane’s expectations of excellence.  Sloan has coached six National Championship Teams and two Junior World Qualifying Teams. She has 19 years experience in synchronized skating coaching, including coaching on Preliminary through Juvenile Levels for Team Elan.


The team’s belief in their coach and the coach’s approach to and their ability to execute the Sloan way and the heart of the team to skate strong with poise in a big spot,  has brought the skating Wolverines to their greatest achievements in synchronized skating to date.



The College Team Skates to a 4th Place Pewter Medal in the 9-team Collegiate Competition in Nashville.


 



The Michigan College Division Team Skating to their first medal  ever in December at the Ann Arbor Dr. Porter where they finished third.


The College Team earned their first Fourth Place medal in the Collegiate Midwestern skate this year and the Michigan Senior Team captured their First Place medal in the Senior Division, where their best skate of ‘Stairway to Heaven” to Led Zeppelin, skated in competition for only the second time, nosed out the strong, stylish and athletic Western Michigan Broncos for First Place.  


 



Champs! The University of Michigan Senior Midwest Regional Champions 2008 pose for their official portrait.


 



Michigan Senior Team Elegance performing Stairway to Heaven in Nashville



The Leaders: Seniors Hillary Dauffenbach-Tabb of Green Bay, Wiconsin left, President of Michigan’s Synchronized Skating Teams and  Jennifer Cleary, Treasurer, of Ogdenagen, Michigan, who cross-skates on both Collegeiate and Senior teams celebrate the team’s first Midwest Synchronized Skating Championship. Hillary has skated with the Wolverine Synchronized Skating team for her four years at U of M, and this year is the first time the team has medaled. This year has been very meaningful to her.  


The U of M team is a Club, meaning they are not a Varsity Sport. They are run entirely by the students, led by Hillary and Jennifer  who organize the plane flights to their farflung rinks; arrange the hotels; purchase the dresses, and pay the coaches, and the team practice dresses and coveted warmup jackets. The team’s communication, run entirely by the students is infinitely better than any other travel-team organization we have experienced.


The significance of the  Michigan Senior win is their skate was equal to that of the 4th place national finalist last year,  California Gold who skated just before them. The Wolverines summoning the will, skated Stairway to Heaven elegantly outskating the Gold by less than half a point.  It was a landmark skate for the team.


The Senior Team and Collegiate Team and their other competitors in the two Divisions are stronger, skating greater, and closing the gap on the perennial leaders, The Haydenettes, Miami University, Chicago Jazz, The Colonials, and the elegant Team Braemar and California Gold. In collegiate the U of M, Michigan State (which has an immaculate, sophisticated sensational program to the James Bond Theme), Western Michigan, Wisconsin, University of Ilinois, and Indiana have raised their skating levels superbly in just a year.


 



 


White Plains Ally Salonger (center, foreground), spinning for the University of Delaware Synchronized Skating Team at the Dr. Porter Classic in Ann Arbor in December. Ally,  like Juliana Bailey and Amy Reinthaler is a former member of the White Plains Figure Skating Club at Ebersole Rink. She tried out for the University of Delaware Synchro team and has been a stalwart anchor of the synchro program there. Her team will be competing with the University of Michigan Collegiate team this week. 


 



Mary Halling, of Yonkers, another Skyliner, and Mollie Barr of last year’s Skyliners and Team Image Synchro Teams Alumna who were teammates of Ms. Bailey and Ms. Wylan,  won a slot as  Freshmen on the magnificent University of Miami Synchronized Skating Team. (Mary Halling is the first skater on the first line on the right, in the foreground.) The local synchro teams in the Tri-State Area — including the New Jersey Superettes are producing skaters who are growing the sport. Mary and the RedHawks are shown skating in the Junior Qualifier at Fraser Michigan in January.

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How to Be a Better Sports Parent

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WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. From John Vorperian February 18, 2008: On Monday, March 3, 2008 at 7:00 PM, the Center for Ethics in Sports at Manhattanville (CESAM) will hold a lively panel discussion with a question and answer session, “ABCs of Better Sports Parenting” in Reid Castle. Manhattanville College is located at 2900 Purchase Street, Purchase, NY and CESAM is housed as a function of the Sport Business Management program.

      CESAM’s 2ND Annual Best Practices in the Sports World event . Panelists include WFANs Rick Wolff, Host, The Sports Edge and author of numerous articles about Youth and Sports; Rod Mergardt, Manhattanville Professor and past Interscholastic Athletics Director; and Fred Cambria, 1970 Pittsburgh Pirate and youth baseball coach. CESAM director, John Vorperian said, “In the tri-state area, youth sports play an important role in our children’s lives. Parents, coaches, school administrators, and all interested persons will enjoy this free event.”

      This is a free event and open to the public. RSVP to Program Director Dave Torromeo at 914.323.5301, torromeod@mville.edu or CESAM director John Vorperian at 914.523-6951, jvorperian@yahoo.com.




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Chinese Usher In The Year of the Rat at Aberdeen’s

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WPCNR SNAPSHOTS. FEBRUARY 18, 2008: The Chinese New Year was celebrated at Aberdeen’s Chinese Restaurant Saturday, commemorating The Year of the Rat. The rat is revered because, as Councilman Glen Hockley told WPCNR, “the Rat is relentless in its need to sustain itself.”


Mr. Hockley is a tireless supporter of causes in White Plains promoting respect for all cultures. He has supported efforts to do away with hunger in Westchester. He has worked quietly to keep the memory of The Holocaust and what it represents in the conciences of today.  He has lead the ongoing White Plains effort to supply the homeless flood victims of the Dominican Republic this year and has distinguished himself as an organizer for good in the city. More than any other city official, Glen Hockley can be counted on to help.



The event was hosted as it is every year by Aberdeen’s proprietor and host Ricky Ho. A martial arts school entertained all patrons with the traditional dragon dance. Children of all ages, and White Plains Councilman Glen Hockley fed the dragon for good luck.Dummers below create the music for the Dragon Dance.


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The Outside Steak Beats The Inside Steak Even When its Cold Outside.

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WPCNR SOUTHEND LIFE. By The Grillin Gourmet. February 18, 2008: It was a holiday weekend in White Plains and the temperature was in the 20s, but thanks to the chimney charcoal starter and its glowing orange coals, the backyard American barbeque DNA macho in the amateur chef proved once again the equal of the overpriced steak cooked indoors. Steak was raised outside, it was born to be cooked outside, and the barbequed steak puts the Cartier priced Steakhouse in its place!  In this griller’s opinion, ourdoor grilling proves once again to be the equal and superior to the overpriced artificial-tasting steak that sleek decor and atmosphere cannot duplicate backyard orgins. To do real steak right , you have to do it outside on charcoal.


 



Grillin in the 20s: The instinct of generations of the American backyard barbeque tradition passed up from  the cave, enjoyed at Valley Forge, sunk into around chuck wagons on the prairie and up from the Southland  barbeque inbred and passed on from American father to American son – cutting across nationality and station – gives you real steak – not $100 technology enhanced cuts. Flaming charcoal makes steak a living thing in your mouth!



Why pay $100 for a  steak dinner unless your company is paying for it, when you can tap your inner griller and say I can cook steak better?  The difference is the air, the smoke, the way marinade just drips down into the coals and gets into the meat. It’s chemistry! 


 What is it about the American Grillman that’s so special that his or hers backyard cuts beat the insider  professionals’ inflation-friendly ostentatious steaks?


It’s the unique chemistry of being American and charcoal flame. There’s just something about the searing intensity of glowing charcoal combining mystically with the testosterone and instinctual synergy between red meat and the dedicated outdoor griller —  it beats in taste, juiciness and texture the contrived technology of the most expensive restaurant equipment.


No matter how tasty the megabuck meat is in the swank sticker shock steak palaces, there’s always that articificialness packaged taste that marks the indoor steak. The butteryness. The soft crust of the black topped surface of the indoor steak just does not have the nubile grizzled roughhewn flamed yield of the outdoor one-on-one grilled steak.


Only one whose money is easily parted would pay $50 and up for a buttery indoor steak dinner when you can do it yourself in the backyard even in 20 degree weather – the steaks done to perfection with the juices sealed  in.



The chimney starter – the secret to the hot start. No more charcoal fluid needed. Take a copy of The Journal News and scrunch up the news section or the sports section in the bottom of the Chimney Starter. (Experience shows that copies of the Journal News — any Gannett paper — burn better than the New York Times which is very slow-starting)


Pour in a helping of those ultimate black beauties, Kingsford charcoal briquettes into the chimney top. Fifteen minutes before the wife has the sides ready, take a wooden match to the aperatures in the base of the starter and light up the edges of the newsprint. Within 10-15 minutes you’ve got coals a firey orange red. You’re ready to outcook the pros.


 



Eat Your Heart Out, Mr. or Ms. Professional Food Designer!  After the Griller’s wife has marinated the meat –  these Stop and Shop trimmed New York Strips sizzling in the caressing deep searing heat of glowing orange briquettes – 3 minutes a side and deft turning and surgical rareness checks – the seasoned grillista simply has a feel for the meat – passed genetically down from generations of American grillers. The combination of cauldron, flavored steel grill rods and pefect flames creates the branded grillmarks that deliver the natural taste of the backyard steak – impossible to achieve for any price in the tehnologically nuanced, high tech steam tables of today.  No one can do a great cut like you can!


As any redblooded American Grillman will tell you when doing a steak – you can’t deliver a steak by manual or instructions. You have to feel the meat. Feel it cook. You just know its time.


 Every cut is not the same. The American Grilman becomes one with the meat. With eye and knowledge of the hue of red – you just  know  by instinct when she’s done. Cooking is slowed down by moving the meats to the side off the heat to keep the American beauties warm 


With the wife’s deft presentation, sweet potato fries, corn pudding, fresh beans and mushrooms without the sog of infrared glare, the Grillman’s natural art relegates the indoor steak out of the taste sweepstakes.


So next time its cold — keep that grill handy and ready to fire up to get that taste of summer you cannot get in any indoor steakhouse no matter how much you pay.

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Candidates for School Board Sought. Two Seats Up for Election.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. February 17, 2008: The Annual White Plains Board of Education Budget Vote and Election will take place on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008, Noon to 9 P.M., at six voting districts.  Two Board seats will be up for  election, each with a three-year term of office, beginning July 1, 2008. The terms of Bill Pollak and Rosemarie Eller are expiring. It is not known at this time whether Mr. Pollak, a Board member since 2002, and Ms. Eller a member since 2005 will be seeking third and second terms respectively.


 



Rosemarie Eller, left, and Bill Pollak, Board Members at their election in 2005 with Superintendent of Schools, Timothy Connors.



 


Candidates must be United States citizens, 18 years of age or more and residents of White


 


Plains for at least one year.  Petitions are available from Michele Schoenfeld, District Clerk, at


 


5 Homeside Lane.  They must be signed by 100 qualified voters and returned by April 30th.


 


Registration, for qualified voters new to the City, or those who are not registered to vote in


 


general elections, will take place on Saturday, May 3rd, Noon to 5 P.M., at Mamaroneck Avenue


 


School, Nosband Avenue.  A resident who has moved within White Plains during the last year may


 


also change his/her voting address at that time.


 


Absentee ballots are available by application to the District Clerk, for any voter who will not be


 


in White Plains during the time of the election.


 


For further information, please call 422-2071.

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The Real Deal: Real Weddings — An Autumn Bohemian Soiree

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WPCNR’S THE REAL DEAL. By The Wedding Genie, Jeannie Uyanik, of C&GWeddings. Valentines Day February 14, 2008: February being the month of love and romance, we continue on Valentine’s Day with number two in our series of “Real Weddings.”  It is fitting we feature a few success stories, so to speak, of those who made it through the wedding and now really enjoy the perks of Valentine’s Day stress free!  Each week this month, we will bring you a different couple, at a different time of year, in a different setting, further demonstrating that the only limit to an amazing event is your own imagination. This weekend it’s “A Bohemian Soiree” held this past fall. 


 



The Setting for the Ceremony of


A Bohemian Soiree


 


The Stats:


Date:  September 15, 2007


Location:  632 on Hudson (an old sausage factory turned event space)


Guests: 95


The Bride:  a singer/songwriter and music teacher


The Groom:  a rocker to the core


 




 


 


The entertainment:  Ceremony:  acoustic guitar; Reception:  one of Manhattan’s best DJ’s:  Jason Fioto


 



The Vows


 


The Scene: Candle light took the place of heavy floral arrangements in this intimate and unique venue.  From large aubergine pillars to small tea lights placed in Moroccan tea glasses, almost every square inch was covered in a warm glow.  The non traditional space was made up of several different rooms that allowed guests to sneak off and engage in deep conversations in its many nooks.  Looking up from the ground floor, guests could see straight through to the roof because of the room’s hollow center. 


 



 


The roof deck was a Mecca for relaxation (read: smokers) with its many trellises and a huge Buddha.  The interior design of the space alone made for an easy installation of décor.  Magnificently rich colors and lush draperies, rugs and detailing left the guests supremely impressed. 



 



 


The food:  Immediately following an intimate ceremony, guests were treated to passed cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres.  The built-in art deco-inspired bar served as the bartender’s post all evening.  After a one hour cocktail, a large buffet displayed on an antique farmer’s table was opened to the guests.  Traditional cuisine was offered which reflected this relaxed bride and groom’s wish for everyone to find something they would enjoy.  The elaborate spread of cheeses, fruits, meats, breads and spreads filled the bellies of this dancing crowd. 


 



Jamie and Tony


 


Around 10pm, the table was magically converted into a dessert buffet fit for a king.  Along the entire edge of the table was a never ending tiramisu which was flanked by cream puffs and chocolate fondue.  For guests that were starting to fade, there was an espresso bar and chocolate covered espresso beans.  When it came time for the cake cutting, it was no surprise that this non-traditional bride chose to have her cake iced in chocolate frosting adorned in gold painted leaves. 


 


The Favor:  As guests left the space, tiny paper pyramids filled with the bride’s favorite loose tea were arranged on a table.  The favor reflected the relaxed mood and feel of both the couple and their wedding.  


 



Jeannie Uyanik, Planner to the World writes The Real Deal for WPCNR


The Wedding Genie may be reached  by e-mail with your questions at


 weddinggenie@candgweddings.com


 


 


 

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County Office Building Out of Juice, then Back On Again. BRP Closed

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WPCNR WEATHER SCOOP. From a White Plains CitizeNetReporter. February 13, 2008 UPDATED: An all day rain preceeded by a snow and ice storm created extensive flooding around Westchester County today. In White Plains, observers report the Bronx River Parkway is closed due to flooding as of late Wednesday evening.


At the Michaelian Office Building electricity was cut to the building by a short circuit which occurred underground causing a minor fire. This occurred approximately midday. The WPCNR correspondent reports the County Office Building will be open tomorrow. The cause of the short was waters seeping into a Con Edison vault and touching the transformers supplying electricity to the building according to a Westchester County spokeperson. Employees were evacuated and sent home.


Our correspondent also reports Con Edison noted some trees down along Soundview Avenue today causing scattered outages.

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Big Oil Keeps Gouging. Cars Keep Polluting But the Air Car is in India.

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WPCNR HOT ROD NEWS. By John F. Bailey.  February 13, 2008: Picking up the BBC World


 News telecast last night, I was stunned to see a  BBC report on the MDI Air Car.  The MDI Air Car has


been developed for the Luxembourg-based firm, MDI  by Guy Negre, the former designer of Formula


One race cars. (Talk about a man using his powers for good?)


 



   


While General Motors has been  developing a vehicle based on hydrogen that they


cannot get to market yet for at least four years (it is being tested in White Plains), MDI is


scheduled to  put 6,000 Air Cars into use in India this August, to be manufactured by


India’s leading automobile  manufacturer, Tata Motors. 


 


 


 


Have you filled up this week?


 


If you have a Toyota Corolla gas-efficient vehicle you pay $3.31 a gallon  up to $3.49. If  you’re using


 high test, $3.95.  The cost of filling up an Air Car is $2. Popular Mechanics reports that the


 fiberglass construction of the Air Car would not survive crash tests hereso it will probably


not each the U.S. Market. How convenient!


 


How utterly outrageous that the Air Car has been not developed by American auto


manufacturers.  An American body on the MDI Technology would certainly take care


of the crash problem. If I am the next President, I get Guy Negre on the phone on Day


One of my administration and  move these babies.


 


Ominously,  for an American motorcar manufacturers, their foreign partners and their


“traditional  dirty” vehicles is  that MDI has signed up twelve more countries to  bring


in their Air Car, including Germany, Israel and South Africa. If the Air Car with its


economy of  operation and n evironment-protective fuel source delights the foreign


markets,  the internal  combustion gasoline engine could become a thing of the past.


 


Goodbye Oil. So long, Shieks.


 


The statistics on the Air Car if it ever gets to the United States would mean the end


of oil  as we know  it.  The Air Car  “CitiCat” model pictured in this article  – a typical


SUV design can go 68 miles an hour and has a range of 125 miles. An electric


compressor inside the car allows you to  re-air the car. Now, 125 miles is not the


typical 330 miles I get in my Toyota Corolla, but  wait. Mr. Negri is working on a


hybrid version that puts a gasoline-fueled compressor  into the car you plug in an


electrical outlet that re-airs your tanks within 4 hours.


Sort of like recharging your cellphone.


 


Dramatic Reduction in Accidents.


 


Another exciting thing about an Air Car is that it does not exceed 70 miles per hour.


This  would mean substantially increased safety on the roads. As this reporter has


observed in the past, American motorists exceed the speed limit substantially even


when sober, or when the roads are ice-slick (like this morning) is what makes 


driving a car the most dangerous legal thing you can do in America as a cause of


death particularly among young people.


 


But it is not new folks. That’s the Crime.


 


The MDI site presents a history of compressed air vehicles  showing 


(www.theaircar.com) a sorry story of  the bias towards big oil and internal combustion


pollution tradition.


 


Safety, Emissions-Free and Economy — so naturally American ignores it.


This Air Car fascinates me. The BBC report notes it can go 75 miles an hour, run on


compressed air to drive the pistons and apparently could serve as an excellent


commuter car that would dramatically reduce carbon emissions. This is certainly the


major problem America has today if we want to preserve the planet for the future


and protect the ozone layer. One roadtrip across America will showl you how utterly


daunting the task of cutting down on auto emissions is going to be.


 


It is a comment on the selfish aspect of capitalism that the oil companies and the


automobile manufacturers have fought limiting emissions for decades, and now,


when it may be too late for the planet,  they are touting hydrogen cars, hybrids, and


the like.


 


But America’s motor car answers are not ready for market. They are not ready folks.


 


We need them now.


I’d like to see the anchors handling the next debate ask each candidate: Mr. McCain,


Mr. Huckabee,  Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton, precisely what they are going to do to cut down


emissions at least 50% in the next decade. How are they going to slap the auto makers


and oil companies upside the head and save the world?


As the MDI website points out, air combustion powered vehicles are not new.


Air combustion was first introduced in 1687.


 


Pneumatic locomotives were introduced at the end of the 1800s!


 


The first urban transport locomotive run on compressed air debuted in 1898 from


Hoadley and Knight.


 


The H. K. Porter company of Pittsburgh sold hundreds of Charles Hodges’


compressed air car. The mining industry in the eastern United States bought them


and used them extensively.


 


In 1930, the first hybrid diesel and compressed air locomotive was introduced in


Germany. The website notes, “The pressures brought to bear by the oil industry on


the transport sector were ever greater and the truth of the matter is they managed


to block investigation into this field.”


 


To view this page go to http://www.theaircar.com/acf/air-cars/compressed-air-history.html

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Super Developer Still Loves White Plains; Catskills Beckon. 240 Main at Impasse

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WPCNR THE DEVELOPER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. February 13, 2008: Louis Cappelli, builder of the Ritz-Carlton Westchester has reached an agreement with Empire Resorts  to build a $700 Million  harness racing track, resort hotel/casino golf club  and convention center  on the grounds of the historic Concord hotel in Sullivan County. Cappelli told WPCNR he hopes to bring his friend Donald Trump in as a partner on the project.   Mr. Cappelli sold the Concord property to Empire Resorts in exchange for Empire Resorts stock in November,  2004. Zoning approvals and final site plan have already been approved, according to Empire Resorts.



The Concord Resort and Golf Club from Satellite: Louis Cappelli, “The Super Developer”  (below) announced plans to build with Empire Resorts a racetrack, resort hotel and convention center, and golf club on the historic Concord property Monday.  He still loves White Plains though. Photo (c) by Google, used with permission.



Louis Cappelli,  with Mayor Joseph Delfino of White Plains on the Ritz-Carlton Opening Night, December 16, 2007. The Super Developer plans to build a world-class resort/casino/racetrack on the Concord Country Club Resort in Sullivan County



In addition to the new 5/8 of a mile racetrack to be created beside the new hotel,  the 1,500 slot-machine attraction at the “Racino” currently housed at the Monticello Raceway will he moved into the  new hotel creating the first step towards a real resort casino in the region.  Empire Resorts reported the agreement in a news release Monday that the agreement is contingent on approvals and closing conditions and that construction is expected to begin later this year.  The release remarked that zoning and final site plan approvals have already been obtained, and they expect to open the facility in 2010. For the official  news release, go to  http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=111350&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1106743&highlight=



A Closer Look at present Concord Resort Compound.


 Photo (c) by Google, used with permission.


 


The new resort-raceway and golf course will include a 100,000 square foot gaming area located within the hotel,  that will also feature a convention center, a golf course, retail and restaurants. The Super Developer spoke to WPCNR about it Tuesday afternoon: “We’re moving the harness track from the Monticello Raceway 2.5 miles away to the Concord Hotel site, and the gambling terminals with it, eventually it will be a resort hotel.”


Capelli said he was thinking of partnering with Donald Trump on the $700 Million project: “Donald and I have been talking about it. I’d love to bring Donald in and be a partner and get the beautiful Trump name on to it. We’ll have nice amenities, a water park, a nice hotel.”


Cappelli said he would demolish the present hotel building, and was eager to get started: “I got my financing in place for $350 to $400 Million in place from my same bank group. We’re having good conversations about that. I’m not worried about my financing being in place. I don’t know what’s going to hold it up. I’m eager to get started. Interest rates are low. All sorts of commodities have come down like sheetrock and materials used in the jobs because the residential market has shut down. So all of those factories producing sheetrock, carpet and stuff they use in homes,  the prices have declined tremendously. Now is the time to build, Mr. Bailey. Now is the time to build. If you believe there’s light at the end of the tunnel in two years and the economy’s going to be great, you take that leap of faith. Do you have it?”


Cappelli said he was not expecting the Mohawk Indian Tribe that had had a deal previously with Empire Resorts to build a casino at the present Monticello Raceway to create legal problems that could halt the project.  


 



White Plains and The Super Developer: Louis Cappelli at City Hall, May, 2007


WPCNR asked if the Concord deal meant that he was no longer interested in developing in White Plains:


Mr. Cappelli said “I’m signing up another project tomorrow, Louis Cappelli’s company loves being in White Plains, Louis Cappelli’s company is moving its headquarters in about six weeks or so to the City of White Plains, and I now have an apartment that I live in a few days a week with my wife in the City of White Plains, so I think its pretty clear my headquarters being there, my home being there, that my parents live there and my sister lives there, that the Cappelli family loves White Plains.


Regardless of love of white Plains, I think that the White Plains City Council wants a breather. White Plains wants to sit back and relax for awhile.  While everybody’s sitting back and relaxing, the world goes on, and other municipalities are eager to get done what White Plains admirably has gotten done. There’s nothing more or less than that. I’m disappointed. But, life goes on.”


 



The 240 Main Street Impasse — Some Unfinished Business: The proposed 240 Main Street Affordable Housing Building at a standstill.


 


Last week it came to light that the City of White Plains has advised Cappelli that the 240 Main Street affordable housing project Mr. Cappelli was poised to build, now qualified as a high rise because it was 12 stories, according to White Plains Building Code. As a result, Mr. Cappelli, informed of this has suspended plans to build because of the expense of installing high rise fire protections, such as purge systems required by the state making it cost prohibitive for him to build the project.


I asked Mr. Cappelli if White Plains allowed him to build the currently stalled 240 Main Street “affordable housing” building to 50 stories, making it profitable for him to build, Cappelli said,


“I’m glad you brought that up. I saw an editorial today in the newspaper. The editorial was a bit misinformed. It is not that I do not want to build affordable housing at 240 Main Street because of the high rise interpretation. I cannot build anything at 240 Main Street, because the (city) interpretation of high rise has added such costs to a 74-foot building that it is cost-prohibitive to build anything there, market-rate or affordable.”


“The misunderstanding is this is not something that’s holding up the affordable, it’s holding up the building.


“Here’s the point, Louis Cappelli would never ever compromise safety. That’s like motherhood and apple pie, except that the White Plains Building Code has a conflict. The conflict is that they are following the New York State Building Code as it relates to structures under 75 feet. New York State says that’s not a high rise,  there’s a reason, there’s a travel distance that firemen can get up, hooks and ladders from a fire truck can get up and there’s a reason it’s 75 feet.


“How many stories are inside of that cube that goes up 75 is immaterial to it requiring generators and smoke purge and things. It’s silly because if it’s one story inside the building under 75 feet, if there’s 6 stories inside the building 75 feet, if there’s 7 stories or 8 stories and to exaggerate  if there were 100 stories inside the building  under 75 feet, it’s still 75 feet off the ground. It’s not a function of stories, which is why the state building code has no mention of stories. Stories are irrelevant, are meaningless. Think about 75 feet, every story one foot apart, so there’s 75 stories in it, it doesn’t affect  the firemen going up the building 75 feet; it doesn’t affect a firetruck with a hook and ladder going up 75 feet, and it doesn’t affect water going up 75 feet to put it up. What in God’s name does the number of stories have to do with something being deemed a high rise.


“It’s from the old code. It was missed. What it does is, it makes it seems like there’s a compromise on safety. That is just silly. Because the operative issue is, is the building under 75 feet? It isn’t how many stories it is. It’s just math. The City of White Plains regardless of affordable housing, market rate housing, one story or 75 stories should look at that code and come to the conclusion that why somebody is saying it is a high rise, it doesn’t say high story. It says high rise. We designed the building to be exactly to be 74.87 feet for a reason, so we didn’t have to qualify BY LAW you don’t have to qualify for high rise construction.


“Why would you do that? If you weren’t able to get 50 stories,  if you weren’t able to go 400 feet in the air, why would you want to build a building 76 feet in the air and go for high rise construction because it costs a fortune.”


I asked Mr. Cappelli if anyone from the city pointed this out to him.


Cappelli said, “Well, no. The White Plains Building Department has been fabulous. They’ve been fabulous with the Ritz-Carlton. The improvement in the White Plains Building Department since the Commissioner Amadio took over, has been incredible. The Ritz got built because of the proficiency of the White Plains entire Building Department and the White Plains Fire Department, Public Safety Department. This has nothing to do with that.


This has to do with there’s a code that’s antiquated that’s conflicting. The point is, regardless of me, I’m just a sideshow here because of some things going on.


The issue is  somebody needs to look at the definition of high rise and not mix it up with stories, because one has nothing to do with the other.”


I asked him if the city caught it: “Yes of course, the city’s right on top of these things. We didn’t catch it, the city caught it. Nobody knew. Our people here assumed that high rise meant 74.87 feet. Nobody here assumed it really had to do with the number of stories because it doesn’t make any sense.”


I asked him if the solution would to be build a bigger, taller complex on the 240 Mains Street site. Cappelli said, “No, it’s not about a profit. “


Asked how if he and the city were near to a resolution allowing the building to go ahead, Cappelli  said “I can’t do anything about it. I’m stuck here. I’ve paid my building permit fee. I’ve underpinned the building. When talking to the building department, I told them how can this be, it’s impossible.”


 


 


 


 

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