I received this message:
Your attitude towards the sections of White Plains that pay the lions share of the taxes that support the downtown infrastructure in nothing short of abysmal. The whole blog reeks of misplaced resentment. I might have been sympathetic until I read the bulk of your posts - by the time I was done the steam was coming out of my ears. My taxes have tripled thanks to all the downtown development and you guys want MORE. Pay for it yourselves and carry your own water for a change. The downtown is a huge drain on the suburban end financially.
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Response:
I checked the city web site tax records and found two people with the last name Hicks. One lives in a house. The other in a two bed, two bath condo. Their taxes (school, city, county):
house: $7,680.36
apartment: $6,684.54
Only $1,000 more for an entire house. With private outdoor space. Probably a private garage.
On my physical block there are about 300 apartment homes. How much is spent by the city to maintain, let's say, the public streets? We'll call them four blocks, even though two are short.
How many blocks of houses would comprise 300 houses and what is the cost to the city? That money is not reflected in individual property tax.
In my complex of 282 homes, there are 70 children, including toddlers. How many children would live in 282 houses and what's the school tax distribution per adult?
Oh, and my individual apartment has meters for water, which I pay as an individual.
Finally, whatever subsidies were given by the city were given to the developers, not to apartment residents.
The house owners who think that their taxes are too high should simply move to Scarsdale.
In which of the CNA groups does the resentful house owner live? How many homes are represented by that entity? How many people?
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
White Plains needs a Pedestrian Commissioner.
It's obvious that neither the Traffic nor Public Safety Commissioners give a damn how pedestrian hostile White Plains becomes, so how about a Pedestrian Commissioner, someone who represents the interests of pedestrians?
The WP Police do not enforce traffic laws, except for an occasional speed trap near a school, such as the private high school on Mamaroneck Avenue, protecting 14-18 year-olds from strolling across four lanes of traffic. Oh, and of course, parking violations. Have you ever seen a summons issued for:
- car across stop line
- car in cross walk
- car not making full stop
- car making illegal right on red
- car running red light
- car failing to yield to pedestrian in cross walk
- cars nudging pedestrians in cross walk out of the way?
The Traffic Commissioner has established non-intuitive rules such as cars being allowed to turn from other than the immediate lane, such as Main Street turning right onto Lexington Avenue where cars from the TWO right lanes may turn. The Public Safety Commissioner allows cars to get away with this trick even where it is not permitted, such as Main Street turning left onto Grove Street where cars in the second lane from the left lane have routinely made illegal turn for YEARS!
Saturday afternoon at about 4PM I tried to walk across Hamilton Avenue at Church Street from the northwest corner to the southwest corner. Couldn't do it. A long line of cars in the left turn lane failed to yield. Worse, and what prevented me from attempting to wade into the oncoming traffic, was another line of cars turning illegally from the middle go straight only lane. When the light changed again I crossed and looked to see if the Traffic Commissioner had made yet another dangerous intersection even more dangerous in the never ending effort to move cars through WP. Nope. The cars simply did it anyway. Why? Because the Public Safety Commissioner does not enforce the laws and because neither the mayor nor the common council members do anything to make WP less pedestrian hostile.
The WP Police do not enforce traffic laws, except for an occasional speed trap near a school, such as the private high school on Mamaroneck Avenue, protecting 14-18 year-olds from strolling across four lanes of traffic. Oh, and of course, parking violations. Have you ever seen a summons issued for:
- car across stop line
- car in cross walk
- car not making full stop
- car making illegal right on red
- car running red light
- car failing to yield to pedestrian in cross walk
- cars nudging pedestrians in cross walk out of the way?
The Traffic Commissioner has established non-intuitive rules such as cars being allowed to turn from other than the immediate lane, such as Main Street turning right onto Lexington Avenue where cars from the TWO right lanes may turn. The Public Safety Commissioner allows cars to get away with this trick even where it is not permitted, such as Main Street turning left onto Grove Street where cars in the second lane from the left lane have routinely made illegal turn for YEARS!
Saturday afternoon at about 4PM I tried to walk across Hamilton Avenue at Church Street from the northwest corner to the southwest corner. Couldn't do it. A long line of cars in the left turn lane failed to yield. Worse, and what prevented me from attempting to wade into the oncoming traffic, was another line of cars turning illegally from the middle go straight only lane. When the light changed again I crossed and looked to see if the Traffic Commissioner had made yet another dangerous intersection even more dangerous in the never ending effort to move cars through WP. Nope. The cars simply did it anyway. Why? Because the Public Safety Commissioner does not enforce the laws and because neither the mayor nor the common council members do anything to make WP less pedestrian hostile.
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