2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)
I am deeply saddened by the passing of Larry Kramer, a great New Yorker who helped galvanize the nation’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
At a time when the federal government sat paralyzed in denial of a disease that was ravaging an entire generation of LGBTQ people, Larry Kramer was fearless, uncompromising, relentless and loud — characteristics that ruffled feathers but that forced a response to a public health crisis.
He was “one of the men who fought the war” – the epitome, in the midst of a different plague, of New York Tough. He demanded action, and countless people are alive today because of his work, and the work of so many others who refused to accept indifference.
On behalf of the family of New York, my thoughts are with Larry’s loved ones today, especially his husband David. We will miss him, and we will remember him.
WPCNR WEDNESDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING. By John F. Bailey. May 27, 2020:
President Donald Trump, meeting with Governor Andrew Cuomo
this morning in Washington, listened to the Governor’s case for starting major
infrastructure projects to bring jobs back to New York sooner rather than
later.
Governor Cuomo said he and the President “had a good discussion” about building new railroad tunnels across the Hudson River that link AMTRAK to the Northeast, to replace tunnels now in dilapidated condition. He said the President was aggressive about getting these projects done on time.
The two also discussed expediting Washington environmental approval of the Second Avenue Subway extension to 125th Street, Manhattan, that has already been approved by New York State awaits Washington Department of Transportation approval. Governor Cuomo said President Trump listened to the proposals and said he would discuss the two projects with “his people,” and he and governor would “talk next week.”
The Governor said the other projects the Governor had
mentioned yesterday, an Airtran to Laguardia Airport; speeding construction of
LaGuardia Airport and building a new Penn Station (“Empire Station”) were not
discussed. T
The governor focused on the positive, saying he thought the President wanted to see the economy recover and believed in the projects: “He’s a builder, he’s a developer. He gets it. It’s been his career. ”
Mr. Cuomo ended the “Question & Answer” part of the briefing, saying “ It was about what we could do to supercharge the opening and getting up and running and we need jobs now more than ever. When is there a better moment to do it (infrastructure), at least building these we have something we can leave our children.”
The governor strongly pleaded with the U.S. Senate to give the states that have suffered the most in the coronavirus pandemic, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Delaware the funds needed to get them back contributing to the U.S. economy.
He predicted that there will be no recovery if the U.S. Senate does not want to send aid to relieve the deficits the states face:
“There cannot be any national recovery if states and local governments are not funded, because those states contribute 1/3 of the nation’s Gross National Product. State and local spending is essential to the health of the economy. Act accordingly. This partisanship is toxic for the country. You represent the United States. Can’t there be one moment of good government? Over partisan politics? Politics 365 days a year is poison. It is not red and blue, it is red, white and blue.”
Finally, the Governor confirmed 1,129 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 364,965 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 364,965 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows (MIDHUDSON COUNTIES IN BOLD FACE. THE GOVERNOR ALSO CONFIRMED YESTERDAY THERE ARE 170 CASES OF PEDIATRIC MULTISYSTEM INFLAMMATORY SYNDROME (AFFECTED CHILDREN 1 TO 25, WHO HAVE HAD CORONAVIRUS AND ANTIBODIES IN THE STATE, CONTINUING TO RISE BY 10 CASES A DAY.:
BIG PLANS AHEAD: GOVERNOR CUOMO OFF TO SEE THE PRESIDENT TOMORROW TO DISCUSS BRINGING NEW YORK BACK WITH ACCELERATED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
WPCNR TUESDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING.By John F. Bailey. May 26, 2020:
Today was Opening Day.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced Westchester County and the rest of the Midhudson region is starting Phase 1 of Reopening. (Details on the reopening are provided in the story below from County Legislator Benjamin Boykin.)
He said New York City still has too many infections in poor
neighborhoods rising and not enough tracers signed on yet to open.
He said New York City would be concentrating on getting the
high rate of infections in the poor minority districts of New York in Brooklyn,
Queens and the Bronx by zip code, and meeting the number of tracers needed for
New York City to follow and get the new
infections (occurring at rates up to double the infection rates in the rest of
the city). There was no target date of when NYC could expect to do that. Long
Island is expected to open tomorrow.
The Governor said he has been in touch with County
Executives across the state allowed to reopen, to watch their infection rates and when they
see numbers of corona virus infections rise steadily to “jump on it.”
Moving ahead the Governor said he wanted to accelerate major projects now under way that by acceleration would create 8,000 jobs. The projects are the Empire Station complex at old Penn Station, speed completion of LaGuardia Airport, build an Airtrain to LaGuardia; construct an extension of the new 2nd Avenue Subway to 125th Street; refurbish the AMTRAK TUNNELS under Manhattan.
The Governor’s Daughter, Michaelia Kennedy Cuomo introduced the winning Public Service Commericals for the state “Wear a Mask Campaign.” Ms. Kennedy Cuomo said 186, 117 people voted in the contest among 5 productions. Governor Cuomo said the top two spots split 96,000 votes between them and were separated by only 500 votes, so he made an “Executive Order” to run both “Wear the Mask” spots alternately in the upcoming public service campaign
In the Question and Answer session, the Governor was asked
if he would consider borrowing to finance the state budget deficit. The
Governor said the state had to be “fiscally responsible…we don’t want to create
more debt than the state can repay it—now
we’re in a downward spiral. Decisions call for hard choices
He said the subways would continue to cleaned every night because
the Center for Disease Control did say the coronavirus could not be caught from
hard surfaces, only that hard surfaces were not the primary source of
infection. (Air droplets are.)
Asked about enforcement of wearing a mask on public transportation, the governor appeared to indicate there were no penalties or enforcement measures at this time planned. He recommended “polite, curious” reminders to persons not wearing a mask, to wear one.
On the matter of the
budget deficit the state faces, the Governor said he wanted the federal
government to own this issue. “Tell me what the Federal Government does, and I
will tell you what the New York State budget is. Congress has to deliver. Federal government
it’s your turn to deliver.”
WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Chairman of the County Board of Legislators, Benjamin Boykin. May 26, 2020:
New York’s Mid-Hudson Region — which includes Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties — has met Governor Andrew Cuomo’s criteria to begin Phase 1 re-opening.Re-opening refers to non-essential businesses and business activities.
Essential businesses and business activities that are open will remain open.Businesses that are seeking to re-open must develop a written Safety Plan outlining how its workplace will prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This plan does not need to be submitted to a state agency for approval but must be retained on the premises of the business and must be made available to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) or local health or safety authorities in the event of an inspection.
Detailed industry-by-industry specifics, summary guidelines for how to reopen and business safety plan templates are available online from New York State at https://forward.ny.gov/industries-reopening-phase.Here is a breakdown of industries that are eligible to re-open in Phase 1:Construction
Building Equipment Contractors
Building Finishing Contractors
Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors
Highway, Street and Bridge Construction
Land Subdivision
Nonresidential Building Construction
Residential Building Construction
Non-Food Related Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
Animal Production
Crop Production
Support Activities for Animal Production
Support Activities for Crop Production
Support Activities for Forestry
Retail – (Limited to curbside or in-store pickup or drop off)
Clothing Stores
Direct Selling Establishments
Electronics and Appliance Stores
Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses
Furniture and Home Furnishing Stores
Florists
General Merchandise Stores
Health and Personal Care Stores
Jewelry, Luggage, and Leather Goods Stores
Lawn and Garden Equipment and Supplies Stores
Office Supplies, Stationery, and Gift Stores
Used Merchandise Stores
Shoe Stores
Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument and Book Stores
Other Miscellaneous Store Retailers
Manufacturing
Apparel Manufacturing
Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing
Electric Lighting Equipment Manufacturing
Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing
Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing
Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing
Machinery Manufacturing
Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing
Paper Manufacturing
Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing
Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing
Printing and Related Support Activities
Textile Mills
Textile Product Mills
Wood Product Manufacturing
Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing
Wholesale Trade
Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers
Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers
Furniture and Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
Household Appliances and Electrical and Electronic Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Metal and Mineral (except Petroleum) Merchant Wholesalers
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers
Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents and Brokers
