Downtown White Plains Transit District website

wptransitdistrict.com

... includes the Metro-North Station, the Westchester County Bee-Line Bus Station, a regional bus station, and the surrounding area. This district is a major transportation hub for the City, the County, and the region.

... email us directly at transitdistrict@whiteplainsny.gov


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Downtown White Plains Transit District meeting

http://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=292

Posted on: January 20, 2016

wptransitdistrict.com

The first public engagement session will be held Thursday, February 11th, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, at the White Plains Public Library.

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This post contains additional info and links:

TransCenter revitalization task force: first public meeting Feb. 11? Friday, January 29, 2016

Open space on roofs of apartment buildings and municipal garages.

With just a little imagination we can substantially expand the amount of open space in urban downtown White Plains.

14 Nosband Avenue

The City of White Plains should require all new residential apartment buildings to have green and recreational roofs.  Any existing regulations that might inhibit such addition of this to existing buildings should be reviewed and reconsidered.

If there are no inhibiting regulations, the City should start a long term program to encourage decision makers for existing residential apartment buildings to make the necessary changes where possible and use all that open space for their own residents.

The Trump residential apartment condominium at the City Center has on its roof space atop the public parking garage: tennis and basketball courts and what appears to be a small golf hole.  Use Google Earth to check for yourself.

Renderings of the new residential apartment project at 60 South Broadway, the old Westchester Pavilion, suggest that the roof will contain multiple recreational items, including swimming pools.  The buildings will be 24 stories high and contain about 700 apartments.  Views from the roof should be spectacular.  Hopefully the City has plans to get the residents to the train station rather than have each of them drive.

The City has many municipal parking garages scattered around town to serve the many multiple lane roads that slash through downtown.  Obviously each garage has an open top level, which could be made into a green roof at the very least or more imaginatively into a public open space, some with recreational elements.

Yes, the City would lose parking spaces but it cannot sustain continual increase in cars driven and parked.  There can never be enough roads and never enough parking.  People need to move around in different ways.  And, no, the Bee Line is not the answer.  That county bus system is a ridiculous option for people moving around White Plains.  The City needs to step up its efforts on this.

Downtown White Plains will not magically have any real increase in ground level open space at this late stage of its irregular development.  It can, however, start to transform its abundant top level space from something forgotten into something to remember.

TransCenter revitalization task force: first public meeting Feb. 11?

Yesterday I heard that the meeting is scheduled for the evening of Feb. 11, 2016 in the library.  I could not find any corroboration on the city website or the library calendar.  Maybe it's supposed to be a secret.

TransCenter revitalization: information and some initial thoughts. Monday, December 7, 2015

Mayor Roach named 13 members to his TransCenter revitalization task force in October 2015 but they will not meet until February 2016.  Supposedly the task force will seek public opinion...

Local "mass" transit will be more necessary than ever.  Everyone cannot expect to drive to the train station...

Alternatives could include the owners of buildings (rental, condo, co-op) forming a group that hires smaller vehicles to transport residents to and from the train station.  Or maybe some cutesy trolley system. .. Some open space is essential.
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Transcenter plans. Tuesday, December 8, 2015

If people who live in apartments in downtown do not exert some influence, then the people who live in the houses in the suburbs of White Plains will, as usual, make the decisions.  And that means only one thing: more parking garages.  And anything else that makes it more convenient for them to drive to and from downtown in their cars.
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City does its usual good job removing snow from streets.

Comments to government tend to be negative.  The City of White Plains tends to be lenient with private entities who do not properly remove snow from their sidewalks.  The City, however, consistently does a very good job removing snow from the streets, probably due to its devotion to cars.

In the past the City has neglected the corners of sidewalks where snow tends to pile up after the streets have been plowed.  Today, Monday, however, City workers were addressing that and removing that extra snow.

The City is also to be commended for continuing its common sense practice of allowing residents to park for free in a couple of municipal garages from 9:00 PM Friday until noon Sunday, by which time streets had already been cleared.

For this very big snow storm the City of White Plains did its best job.

Pepe Cadillac NEVER removes snow on its Water Street sidewalk as well as adjacent office buildings do.

pepecadillac.com

Go to their website and express your opinion.  I did a couple of years ago.  No reply.

For years it's the same thing.  The Water Street sidewalk on each side of the Pepe Cadillac dealership has all the snow removed by the owners of those office buildings but Pepe Cadillac ALWAYS leaves an inch or so, which, of course, turns into ice and then slush.  It's dangerous and messy.

Apparently the City of White Plains has a policy to ignore this.  Pepe Cadillac is not the only one.  In fact the City of White Plains does not remove any snow from the short sidewalk at its sad little parking lot between Pepe Cadillac and the next office building towards the train station.

Residents who live in apartments on Barker Avenue, North Broadway and Lake Street must walk through this needless dangerous mess throughout the winter, year after year.

Who is the top City official who decides to allow these violations?

Advice to downtown condo or co-op owners about dealing with the CNA.

Read this if you live in a downtown condo or co-op.

http://www.wpcna.org/associations.html

​Some CNA associations, such as North Broadway, do not have contact information.  Bryant Gardens is a co-op.  Some of the five Gedneys may be condos.  ​North Broadway is probably the closest thing to an entity that represents some downtown co-ops and condos.

Consider joining a CNA association that seems to represent you.  Each association gets one vote, so they are very disproportional.  I think many downtown condos and maybe some co-ops have more homes than many of these associations.

Or ...

Since forming a condo and co-op group to counter the CNA is going nowhere, maybe you should consider having your condo or co-op join CNA as an independent association.  You'd have one vote.  There probably would be some push back, but give it a try.  Otherwise, the house owners will continue to have the only voice that the Common Council hears.