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’S The Real Deal by The Wedding Jeannie. September 2, 2007: Labor Day weekend signals, among other things, the faux conclusion to summer, the return to real work and full time school, the closeting of most things white, the slow end to parties that revolve around paper plates and ice chests and the close of the wedding season.  Yeah, and if you believe the last one, it’s a good thing that you are reading this. 

 

Jeannie Uyanik,

The Wedding Jeannie

 

This is the first column of The Real Deal; a weekly feature that will give readers the actual scoop, inside details, true stories and substantiated facts on weddings and entertaining.  As the owner of a wedding planning firm in New York City, which plans weddings throughout the world, this writer’s emphasis will of course be on all things matrimonial, from ceremony to reception and rings to honeymoon travel; but it’s impossible to be fully versed on weddings without delving into the art, cost and trends of entertaining in general.

 

 

And there is no better place to start a tutorial on weddings and events than with a few commonly disputed and widely disparate facts and figures on weddings and entertaining.  CNN reported in 2002 that if the wedding industry were a company, it would be the 5^th largest company in the world.  The statistics of how much are spent on weddings in the US every year vary wildly, but we estimate that it’s roughly $50-60 billion per year.  Overall, throughout the world, that figure is closer to $200 billion. 

 

  It’s also important to note that it’s never clear – in any study – what the statistics include.  For instance, would a rehearsal dinner, brunches and showers be included in most of those calculations?  That’s a question we have been asking for 7 years.  Would these figures include the $4 billion in furniture, $3 billion in house wares or $400 million in tableware that is purchased by engaged couples.  And do these statistics include registry information which are amounts not included in wedding statistics because its not money spent by the couple.  We will have a separate column on gifts and registries later in the fall, but it’s important to note that gifts from registries these days are often in line or greater than the price per person paid by the couple – would these figures therefore warrant separate tabulation?

 

What is certainly clear is that the wedding industry is a financial force with which to be reckoned and it’s only going to grow.  Next week’s column will provide greater insight into the day to day statistics of weddings, national averages and the danger of following these figures too closely.   And we would be remiss in discussing weddings and entertaining if we did not talk about the astronomical rise in first birthday party fees, home catered events and the sky rocketing costs of holiday events. 

 

So while Labor Day is not the end of the wedding season – a common misconception (in the north east, September and October are the most popular months of the year to get married) – it is the start of The Real Deal and over time, we hope to provide you with a full arsenal of tools and knowledge to always be prepared regardless of the season. 

 

 

 

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WPCNR DAILY BAILEY. News & Comment By John F. Bailey. August 31, 2007: There have been a rash of traffic accidents around Westchester County due to high speed in recent months. I have also remarked on how often I get my doors blown off by drivers flooring it way beyond the speed limits on the New York State Thruway and especially I-287, and the Sprain Brook Parkway.

Rolling Across the Heart of America on The Ohio Turnpike.

I almost never see speeders hauled over by a New York State Trooper or a Westchester County Police vehicle. At traffic work zones there are rarely any troopers disciplining traffic merges – this includes county police (responsible for the “International Speedway” – the Sprain Brook Parkway and the Taconic Parkway).  Coming into the holiday weekend, I want to share with you what it is like driving in other states

Other states are very serious about enforcing the speed limits. Why are they successful? They put more troopers out there on the road and they watch very closely. Motorists are highly aware of state police presence, and subconsciously keep their speed within 10 miles of the limit.

The Ohio Turnpike (the Ohio segment of Interstate 80) is an example. On this road which begins at the Pennsyvania Border and courses across the Buckeye State to Michigan and Indiana, the speed limit is 65 – and good buddy, you better go within five miles of it. The Ohio State Highway Patrol in their white-and-blues hawk this road, stationing two patrol vehicles, one perpendicular to the Westbound lanes, the other perpendicular facing the Eastbound lanes – in close-together segments — and these two-car teams are stationed every 20 miles or so. If you’re over the limit they get you. You also never see them until they see you.

This frequent presence of patrol vehicles inhibits speed. I kid you not, no one was going over 70 the entire length and those that did they were bagged. You become so paranoid about getting a ticket, that even the truckers obey the limit. In New York State, and New Jersey, there seems to be a real reluctance to give high speeding truckers tickets since they haul their loads past me routinely—and I do 5 over the limit.

Now when I roll up the New York State Thruway, if I see two  State Police cars between the Tappan Zee Bridge and Albany, that’s a lot. If I see two trooper cars on the Taconic Parkway, that’s a lot. And above Albany, forget about it.  Sure it’s a big state. But  Ohio is a big state too and they manage to patrol the Turnpike so tightly that 95% of the cars on it drive the limit within 5 miles.

Pennsylvania is the same way. There are not as many of the gray-and-blues in Pennsylvania on I-80, but they are there. What I like about the Pennsylvania roads is that the work zones are well marked and supervised, so the mergers are better.(With one glaring exception on I-78, midway between Allentown and Harrisburg).

 In New York State the setups for the road workers are not very well-marked and the mergers non-supervised. (When was the last time you had a trooper out of his or her car supervising a merge in New York State? You never see it. Wednesday night the only traffic delay I had on a 630 mile drive from Michigan was on the idiotic repaving on you guessed the New York State Thruway about 5 miles before the Tappan Zee Bridge – a three lane into one that was not supervised or watched by a uniformed officer). The state police come in very handy on manhunts, but I seriously think their speeding enforcement and deployment at workzones could use a little more energy thought and creativity.

 

In Westchester County the County Police rarely corral speeders in my experience based on the frequent near-rear-enders I am nearly whacked by at least once a week on I-287, the Sprain Brook and the Cross County.  Sedans, SUVs, motorcyclists routinely blow down those highways at a solid 20 miles over the limit. Could the County Police use a little creativity to start stopping this dangerous activity?

You do not have to do much: putting more trooper cars out there is the answer. You can station dummy cars without a patrolperson, but with dummy police officer dolls holding a radar gun on the traffic at certain points. (The phony owls keep pigeons away from public buildings. Let’s apply that concept.) Heaven knows we have three empty County Police Cars parked in front of the Michaelian Building doing nothing every day of the week.  Those could be parked on the Sprain, the Taconic as dummy cars.

But the real answer is the Ohio Turnpike technique. You know I was on that road for 5 hours Wednesday and there was not one accident the entire length? Everyone was going the speed limit and was wary  Ohio’s finest  was watching them. There is a valuable lesson there.

Contrast that with what we see in New York State.

Here are some suggestions. Overpasses should have radar installed to highlight speeders to patrol cars stationed ahead to intercept speeders. Closed circuit TV mounted on overpasses could sweep highways to identify aggressive high speed drivers with troopers positioning themselves based on the television coverage.  Message Boards could have written messages warning “will the black Corolla License CPC 449 slow down and pull off at Exit 29, you are speeding, and await the presence of an officer.”  That would put a lot of feet on the brakes real fast.

The lesson I learned in traveling the interstates outside New York this week is that their highway patrols tackle speeding very aggressively and creatively. I do not think the New York State Troopers or the Westchester County Police are creative enough or resourceful enough in the efforts they make to enforce the limits on the big roads I mentioned – the Sprain, I-287, I-684, I-84, the Taconic, I-87. In addition, speeding tickets on New York City roads, let alone moving violations and reckless driving, I rarely see strong traffic enforcement within New York City.

Take some notes from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan – they take traffic enforcement to new level – that our local county and state police should take note of.

If you’re on the Ohio Turnpike this weekend, a word to the wise — Keep it at 65 — you’ll be glad you did. And, just when you expect that there are no more Ohio Highway Patrol cars stationed, well they’ll pick you up. Take it from yours truly it is a very tightly patrolled interstate.

No, I did not get stopped for speeding, Mr. and Mrs. White Plains, but it struck me how simple a concept was being used by the Ohio Highway Patrol to enforce the limit: presence!

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2007. By John F. Bailey. August 28, 2007: WPCNR has learned Tim James and Elizabeth Schollenberger, leaders of the Democratic City Committee will not file specific objections to the petitions of Robert Stackpole and Robert Levine to appear on the November ballot for Common Council.

Robert Levine said he has been told by informed sources the Democrats will drop their challenge filed with the Board of Elections last week.

This clears the way for a Levine Stackpole appearance on the November city elections ballot as independent candidates for Common Council challening Democrats Benjamin Boykin, Milagros Lecuoa and Dennis Power, and Republicans Cass Cibelli, Anthony Pilla and Augie Zicca and Conservative candidate Candyce Corcoran. It remains to be seen whether or not Corcorcan and incumbent councilman Arnold Bernstein will oust two of the three Democrat candidates in the Democratic Primary coming up September 18. Boykin, Lecuona and Power will still appear on the Working Families ballot in November, even if  two of them lose the Democratic Primary. 

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WPCNR THE SUNDAY BAILEY. News & Comment By John F. Bailey. August 26, 2007: The Common Council received another Thursday surprise play this week from the ever resourceful, creative Delfino Administration Coaching Staff.

The Playbook: The Council was presented with an RFQ– a 15-page Request for Qualifications plus 25 pages of appendices —  reportedly after it had been sent to potential developers The purpose: to attract resumes from various development firms demonstrating their qualifications – read experience, connections, expertise, and capital resources – to develop the Urban Renewal Agency Property around the Metro-North Railroad Station.

The RFQ indicates that “upon designation of the Designated Redeveloper…within 30 days” the city would enter into an “Exclusivity Agreement,” and also requires on that designation, a Letter of Credit of $3 Million to “draw down on” to pay for a planning and technical studies and the legal costs for preparing those studies.

This would be a step towards figuring out what to do with the rest of the downtown if the administration had not already sent it out to prospective developers without consulting the Common Council.

Prospective Developers for the Station Area are asked to supply the above “criteria” in the RFQ to be considered to be exclusive Designated Redeveloper for the station.

Seems like any referee might throw a yellow flag because the city seems to have once again jumped offside.

What can the council do now that this RFQ  is already out?  What developers  has it been sent to? They were not told at the Thursday meeting.

High in the Press Box, our play analyst can see what is happening, that the Council linemen cannot see from field level:

The administration is running the same play they ran last May.

 It’s a slightly different offensive alignment into the Common Council line than the city coaching geniuses ran last spring. It may look like a straight play into the line, using familiar plays but it’s really just another pass to isolate  a Jerry Rice all star developer-receiver behind the secondary after suckering the Common Council in for a routine running play to a Dwight Clark-type short receiver.

It’s the old reliable RFQ –the city’s version of the Statue of Liberty play.

The RFQ play is the play the city ran very successfully to isolate LCOR one on one as the developer of the 10 Bank Street affordable housing/apartment complex  WPCNR dubbed “The Bank Street Job.” You remember, that is the  $200 Million baby where LCOR is getting $39 Million in tax abatements, plus the city municipal parking lot for a steal? The city sent out an RFQ and rejected developers out of hand without telling the council and used the RFQ as an excuse not to offer the land on the general market, even though national firms whom the city did not contact, were interested in it.

Not only that but LCOR is getting that PILOT over 15 years based on the land value only.

How did that sweetheart deal start?  The city sent out an RFQ, decided they did not like the other proposals, but liked LCOR’s qualifications, and picked them then sold it to the Common Council as a wonderful affordable housing project – first with no pilot, then with a PILOT – with possibly the city even financing it.  Of course, the council all felt this was soooo politically correct to approve, remember?

Now the wily old quarterback, Joe Delfino, the Joe Montana of development, is calling the RFQ play again.

But much more is at stake than just $39 Million in change in tax abatements for a routine apartment complex and some politically correct affordable housing.

Billions and Billions of Dollars are at stake.

To refresh the Common Council collective memory so they pick up this offensive “set” guys – remember how  you were embarrassed into rejecting  the Exclusivity Agreement you had no trouble agreeing to when you were first told about it in the weeks prior to May 10 when the plan was officially unveiled to you?

 How when the citizenry learned you all (except Dennis Power)  knew about the plan to develop Station Plaza before it was presented allegedly for the first time May 10 —  you faced outcry and political ramifications and you indicated you would not abide with the Exclusivity Agreement with that developer, which resulted in the developer withdrawing his request for the Exclusivity Agreement on television?

One of the Top Ten Council Most Embarrassing Moments of 2007 wasn’t it?

The play, the Common Council granting an exclusivity agreement is being run again.

 But now Joe D is running the RFQ with a twist – designate a Redeveloper  before you see what other developers might do with the same area. This takes the LCOR RFQ play to a new dimension.

The new Request for Qualifications sets up an Exclusivity Agreement with a Designated Redeveloper. Will the Council  pick this up? They seemed befuddled by this last Thursday

See guys, it starts very subtly. Looks like a normal procedure, but it’s a sucker play.

Shouldn’t the city have asked the Council whether they wanted to go this RFQ route first – before sending out the RFQ?

The sucker play fools the council “secondary” by justifying the designating of a redeveloper because  if we designate a redeveloper the redeveloper will pay for the feasibility and planning studies. Doesn’t this sound familiar, Common Council?

The Letter of Transmittal with the RFQ  states selection of the Designated Redeveloper will not be based on what that developer might do in the station downtown: to wit “The selection of the Designated Redeveloper will not be based on a predetermined development proposal.”

Will some one explain to me exactly why you would not want to just throw open the possibilities to anyone with the wherewithal? Wasn’t this why the Common Council tossed the Exclusivity Agreement last June 5?

Without knowing what someone else might have in mind how can you possibly make a decent decision on who to redevelop and what? A lot of money does not necessarily translate into a great project.

Is the council serious? Or just saving face? Is this madness?

When the Common Council knew about the proposal in the spring, which is now being repromoted  around town, they appeared to like it enough to go along with the Exclusivity Agreement up until it became politically incorrect to do so.

Now, WPCNR also were told by a representative of SL Green/Reckson they are coming in with an office proposal to develop the same area.

Does the fact that the council will already know what one or two developers might do compromise the selection of the Designated Redeveloper?

The RFQ puts other developers at a distinct disadvantage.

The RFQ also gives developers only 30 days to submit their qualifications.

Sounds like a quickie, doesn’t it?

Looks  like the same play all over again as last spring, doesn’t it?

The city said last spring they would not put out a request for a proposal because they would have to do studies first costing $1.5 Million.

Instead, now they are putting out an RFQ, to prepick a developer to do their study for them.

Now ostensibly the city administration offensive masterminds will say this RFQ is standard procedure and that it is being done so the city does not have to pay for the studies to develop the area.

 

The RFP Schedule for the study and community approval takes “the project” out to December, 2009 when it would finally be expected to be approved,  after the November 2009 Mayoral election.

Well the city should pay for those studies.

They should select several different consultants to prepare different versions.  If we were not so busy burning cash on affordable housing projects, open space no one uses, and parks we let become goose feces farms,  maybe the city would have the money right now to pay for those studies.

What about the School District role?

The city school district has a much fatter budget than the city — $174.1 Million to $155 Million.

The city should have the school district pay half of that study money, anyway, because what goes down at the railroad station will affect the schools, too. The study should be a split with the school district, since the district is always asking more cooperation between city and school district. Even the Common Council has said they want the school district included.

Here is the ideal chance to start a new era. The District and the city should jointly fund the study and keep any developer out of it.

Conflict?

Otherwise, if the Designated Redeveloper does the studies there is an obvious conflict of interest in that the studies will tend to reflect what the Designated Redeveloper wants to do in the area. Sure, the city selects the study consultants, but it is always amazing how the consultants tailor things so as not to make waves.

I have yet to see feasibility studies paid for by a developer for a project that recommend the project the developer envisions does not work. We happen to recall one study that said the Main Street sewer  could handle the effluent from a development and apartment towers effluent, however, the Commissioner of Public Works fought for a relining of the sewers based on his experience, holding out heroically to prevent “catastrophic” overflows he envisioned, which he saw would happen.

But good news, Common Council and Mr. and Mrs. White Plains!

According to the Budget and Management Committee meeting  Wednesday evening of last week, they all think the city is in great shape financially.

So what’s $3 Million out of pocket, with the cash from the LCOR project, the city has that money – if it has not already been spent it to balance our budget that “is in great shape.”

Besides, we would not want any expense spared in preparing a definitive study of the area, would we?

What do you think, Council? Is it time to drop back into man-to-man and doubleteam this isolation play – the RFQ – which obviously favors any Redeveloper who already has a plan you might know about and are familiar with – and that you liked in the first place? (At least until we caught you at it.)

Let’s pay for that study ourselves and keep the developer out of it – then ask for Requests for Proposals.

Advantages to deep-sixing the RFQ

You would know what the area can support and not be beholden to a tailored study to support a project that is already out there. The RFQ actually has one project it envisions at various sizes:

The RFQ calls for six versions of projects to study, varying from 600,000 square feet of development of office and retail/restaurant to 1.5 Million square feet of office and retail space and residential in various mixes. It is essentially calling for a analysis of impact of various sizes of the same project.

It would appear that the RFQ is geared to one kind of project a combination of office space and retail or residential use and doubling parking. It raises the question of whether the RFP is broad enough in the project scope it details. Perhaps you might want a more loose definition of the project.

Advantages of Rewriting the RFQ.

You’re not locked into to a project upfront:

In the present RFQ, upon conclusion of the studies and the Community Review Process when the Council is then expected to amend the Comprehensive and Zoning Ordinances, if it does decide to do so, the Redeveloper then gets to submit a proposal. No one else can – according to this agreement, to wit:

“The Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance, whether amended or not, and the applicable urban renewal plans, as amended or adopted, shall provide the regulatory framework within which an application for a Redevelopment Project for the Property shall be submitted by the Designated Redeveloper.”

The above page in the RFQ shows that after the studies and the community approves the project the study arrives at as most feasible, (one of the six projects listed in the previous photograph), the city is obligated to let the designated redeveloper submit an exclusive project proposal.

 

Perhaps the Council might want to take a look at that and find some way that competing proposals could be solicited.

The Pre-Approval?

The RFQ and designating a redeveloper essentially is approving a project that the redeveloper studies which oddly enough has already been defined by the city, to wit the picture above.

The question is why this kind of project, why not a sports arena and hotel, forget office space. This RFQ may already be obsolete.

What would a thoughtful observant Common Council do?

Recall the RFQ and do the study themselves.

Otherwise, they are locking themselves into one vision which is what they said last spring they did not want.

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WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By Fastpitch Johnny. August 25, 2007: The New York Times,  The Associated Press and ESPN won’t tell you about it, but WPCNR will. The National Pro Fastpitch Champions are being contested between the First Place Washington Glory, the Akron Racers, Rockford Thunder and defending Champion New England Riptide this weekend in a double-elimination format in Kimberly, Wisconsin. The first round was rained out Friday and a double round will be played today, weather permitting.

Action at the NPF Championships in 2006 in Stratford Connecticut.

Riptide 2006 Defending Champs: Jocelyn Forest, left and Lyndsey Angus after their 1-0 win over Chicago. “JFo” and Lyndsey teamed up again Monday night to takeout the Brakettes for the Cowles Cup, 2-0. Photo, WPCNR Sports.

To read about the NPF Tournament, go the Green Bay Press Gazette — a Gannett newspaper at  www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070821/APC02/708210626 –

Because of the amazing amount of stories in White Plains this summer, yours truly was unable to give NPF the coverage I usually do. And I regret that. Because it was another stalwart season of balanced competition and growth for the NPF league — despite USA Softball’s and the national media’s continued efforts to thwart the growth of the fastpitch game.

What do I mean by thwart?

It is unconscionable on telecasts of the World Cup softball championships in Oklahoma City, not for USA Softball to cross promote the National Pro Fastpitch League. USA Softball’s preoccupation with the collegiate game and the international success of its one team to the detriment of the thousands of girls who play fastpitch softball is a disgrace, in this reporter’s opinion.

One of the absolute media atrocities continued this season with the national sports media ignoring women’s pro fast pitch professional softball for the fourth straight year. How can the national media continue to tacitly refuse to cover pro fastpitch when they cover such nuanced sports as bicycling (how much drugs can one winner take? Anybody can be a star if you take enough), poker (what a wonderful thing to promote to youth, ESPN), and that force-fed sport, soccer (admittedly a lot of people play it), golf (which really is not a sport but a recreation), tennis (another recreation), neither of which require the all around athleticism of baseball and softball.

But hey, we know — the nation’s sports pages like promoting the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, soccer, tennis, golf, — even curling — and the occasional mention of the NCAA Fastpitch Championships — very peripherally.

This is a sin.

I had someone write me recently, saying they are only interested in seeing sports and reading about sports on the highest level and that is football, baseball, nba, etc.

Highest level? Excuse me. The pitching in the major leagues is from hunger! Six innings is considered a good start these days. The fastpitch pitcher fires 120 pitches a game without wincing, five times in a week. That would have most major league pitchers’ arms falling off. 

Highest level? When some games are fixed? The NBA is being shown by the FBI, to have a serious game-altering problem by one official. Does anyone really believe that only one referee was calling more fouls on one team than another in a pattern-like manner? If other officials weren’t doing it too, don’t you think this might have been reported by other officials? If they did not report it they all should go.

Highest level? Has anyone noticed how the NFL officials just seem to toss flags at inopportune times in the last few minutes of a game that just conveniently meets the point spread? Perhaps the FBI should take a look at that league’s officiating, too, especially since NFL officials are not salaried full-time officials. I would.

Highest level? I think they should do a comparison to see how many NFL and NBA players have run afoul of the authorities compared to how many fastpitch pro softball players have been arrested and found to be drug users, dealers, and gun-toters (other than their great arms).

Highest level? The Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles the other day 30-3, and funny, no one in the press referred to it as “a softball score,” which they used to do. Why? Because runaway games happen a lot in the major leagues now because of the lousy pitching, the short fences and the steroid abuse “by a handful of players.”

 “Softball scores” don’t happen often in the National Pro Fastpitch league. The games are tight, taut and tense in the NPF, and very serious.

Softball Organizations Ignore the NPF, too.

But, the media coverage aside, the attitude towards National Pro Fastpitch softball shown by USA Softball, the American Softball Association and the National Softball Association is the worst. They simply fear professional softball will interfere with their academic and amateur game.

They do not realize that helping the NPF will help them too.

The worst attitude is shown by USA Softball.

On the recent World Cup telecasts, not one NPF league official was interviewed. Not one mention was made of the NPF by name, although one commentator did mention “the professional league.” No NPF players were interviewed. I want to know why? 

Come on. USA Softball should wake up and smell the coffee: the Olympic committee has killed them by taking softball out of the Olympics. Why? Because the U.S. always wins. Simple as that. Until the world became competitive in basketball, the Olympics never cared about basketball, either.

Now USA and the International softball community is attempting to pump up an international competition, the World Cup of Softball. Forget about it. It is a pompous attempt by USA Softball to perpetuate its own existence for one set of games a year. It does not work.

The National Pro Fastpitch league is attempting to work within the USA Softball confines, releasing their best players to participate in boring world cup games during the NPF season – hurting the NPF fan base by taking away the NPF team drawing cards.

USA Softball is orientated toward the academic sporting year, where most high level softball players who participate in the NPF coach. All, well and good, the women have to make a living. But far too many name softball players are promoting themselves at the expense of growing the sport.

It is not up to major league baseball to make professional fastpitch softball successful. But if major league teams promoted an NPF team seriously, it would help. I had hopes when the Juggernaut were catching on in Maplewood New Jersey that George Steinbrenner and the Yankees…or even the Mets would take a serious financial interest in them. For what the Yankees were paying A-Rod and what they Roger the Prima Donna, they could have made the Juggernaut a rousing success. To their shame the Yankees and Mets did not take the lead for fast pitch softball when it was here. 

The NPF has to realize they are not being helped by USA Softball, and players, too, have to realize that USA Softball is all about USA Softball and not the players.  USA Softball makes an activity for about 36 players a year. The players are given a living allowance — but not paid a salary.

The NPF makes a season for  72 players on six teams, paying about minor league wages. Young players in the six NPF areas: Akron, Rockford, Ill, Chicago, Washington (in Loudoun Valley, Virginia), and Philadelphia (Allentown, Pa), and New England (Lowell, Mass), are inspired by these players in a wholesome environment. The young women who are playing on these six professional teams are like the players in the old Negro Leagues, they are playing their game because they love it and are pioneering it.

It is to the ever lasting shame of USA Softball, the ASA and the NSA – and Major League Baseball – and ultimately the national media that they are not supporting and reporting on this league.

The hope is the NPF can continue to carry on — and it is to their credit they do — despite all efforts by supposed friends of fastpitch softball  to kill it.