Main Post Office has not cleared snow from this morning's storm.

Main PO at 100 Fisher Ave.
White Plains, NY 10606

Did not clear snow from any of it's public sidewalks. That's all along Fisher Avenue, wrapping around and well onto Bank Street. This is inexcusable.

_____________________

That message was sent to:

from:		Ken
to:		whiteplainscityhall@whiteplainsny.gov
date:		Dec 17, 2020, 4:37 PM
subject:		Snow removal: United States Postal Service

Same as last year: Galleria parking garage sidewalk not cleared of snow.

The same violators year after year. See the businesses on Martine Avenue adjacent to the recently defunct Tighe's Tavern, established 1935.

Galleria parking garage sidewalk not cleared of snow. Wednesday, February 7, 2018

And it's right across the street from the Public Safety building. Some workers in that building park in the Galleria parking garage and then jaywalk across Martine Avenue into their office. They must see that snow was ignored on the Galleria parking garage sidewalk well after the snow had been cleared from the sidewalks of the municipal buildings along Martine across the street. And the Public Safety building has windows.

Photos taken at 11:40 AM, Wednesday, February 7, 2018:

(Click link above to view photos taken last year.)

Notice in the second photo that the snow was cleared half way down the block on South Lexington but snow was left on the sidewalk adjacent to the Galleria parking garage. It couldn't be more obvious that whatever entity is responsible for snow removal of the Galleria parking garage sidewalk is negligent. But enforcement people directly across the street are oblivious.

You would think that whoever cleared the snow from the Galleria retail sidewalk along Main Street might be responsible enough to continue and do it along Martine Avenue. But no common sense there either.

Saturday, December 16, 2017
Snow removal: does the city ever enforce sidewalk clearing without complaints?

Apparently not. White Plains is a one horse town. Always was. Always will be.
_________________________________

Galleria parking garage sidewalk not cleared of snow.

And it's right across the street from the Public Safety building. Some workers in that building park in the Galleria parking garage and then jaywalk across Martine Avenue into their office. They must see that snow was ignored on the Galleria parking garage sidewalk well after the snow had been cleared from the sidewalks of the municipal buildings along Martine across the street. And the Public Safety building has windows.

Photos taken at 11:40 AM, Wednesday, February 7, 2018:

Notice in the second photo that the snow was cleared half way down the block on South Lexington but snow was left on the sidewalk adjacent to the Galleria parking garage. It couldn't be more obvious that whatever entity is responsible for snow removal of the Galleria parking garage sidewalk is negligent. But enforcement people directly across the street are oblivious.

You would think that whoever cleared the snow from the Galleria retail sidewalk along Main Street might be responsible enough to continue and do it along Martine Avenue. But no common sense there either.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Snow removal: does the city ever enforce sidewalk clearing without complaints?

Apparently not. White Plains is a one horse town. Always was. Always will be.

Chateau condo on North Broadway did not remove a flake of snow.

81, 83, 85, 87 North Broadway. You know, that vaguely charming walk up (no elevators) condominium with laundry in the cellar. Yes, that one.

Yesterday, the day after the big snow storm, starting about noon I walked down Barker Avenue to the train station and back up to North Broadway, then north almost to Interstate 287. That's a small sample of downtown sidewalks that should have had the snow cleared. Many had done so. Here are some that did not:

- Cadillac car dealership (15 Water Street): an long time offender, now even after an exchange of email messages last winter with the manager, who obviously, is oblivious. And why not? There is no indication that the City of White Plains enforces its own regulations.

- Presbyterian Church at the corner of Barker and North Broadway. Some snow removed but a significant layer always remains along its significantly long sidewalk.

YWCA: corner left a mess.

- Chateau condo North Broadway: ZERO snow flakes removed. WORST OFFENDER. Its half circle of a driveway had much of the snow removed but the sidewalk, not a flake was disturbed.

- Pinehollow condo: adjacent to the Chateau: bad job.

- 89 North Broadway condo: hardly touched.

- Vibes (Delaurentis Management) new modular rental: weirdest. One side of the center driveway not cleared at all but the other side cleared completely.

Co-ops Village Green and Longacre Gardens left most of the snow intact.

There were other offenders but I cannot recall all. As asked in previous posts: does the city ever enforce its own regulations? The question is rhetorical. The answer obvious: Common Council members do not live downtown in apartments and therefor do not give a damn. They only care about snow being removed from the streets, so that they and their natural constituents can drive downtown, which exists for their convenience and amusement.

Snow removal "laws" in White Plains. But are they enforced?

Stumbled onto these:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/HAPPY-NEW-YEAR-----White-Plains-News-You-Can-Use---JANUARY-2018-NEWSLETTER.html?soid=1109296406078&aid=UYd48gvixko

The City & You: Partners in Snow Removal
____________________

http://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/index.aspx?nid=503
Sidewalks and crosswalks are to be kept clear of snow and ice.

Sidewalks should be shoveled the entire width of the sidewalk as prescribed by the said ordinance Section 160 of the Municipal Code. Curb cuts must be kept clear of snow and ice.
When a storm ends at night
Businesses and multi family residences must clear sidewalks by 10 a.m.
Single family residences must clear sidewalks within 10 hours.
When a storm ends during the day
Businesses and multi family residences must clear sidewalks within 2 hours.
Single family residences must clear sidewalks within 10 hours.
Private contractors - guidelines
If you have a private contractor who plows your private driveway or parking lot, please be advised that snow may NOT be pushed into or across public streets. Snow should be plowed to the rear of your property.

City Charter: Snow Removal Section 7-2-1
Call 422-1202 with any questions or concerns regarding snow removal.
We take great pride in our snow removal efforts. Please help us to help you!

___________________

Pride? Say what?

https://library.municode.com/ny/white_plains/codes/code_of_ordinances?searchRequest=%7B%22searchText%22:%22Section%20160%22,%22pageNum%22:1,%22resultsPerPage%22:25,%22booleanSearch%22:false,%22stemming%22:true,%22fuzzy%22:false,%22synonym%22:false,%22contentTypes%22:%5B%22CODES%22%5D,%22productIds%22:%5B%5D%7D&nodeId=CH_ARTVIIDEPUWOCOPUWOSTSISEPAWA_S160CLSNICWA

Sec. 160. - Cleaning snow and ice from walks.
____________________

So what's the enforcement record?

Senior building at 41 Barker Avenue, again, did not have its snow removed.

41 Barker Avenue is the tall building on the left. It's the only one on that side of the street that did not have its snow removed. The church on the corner of North Broadway, of course, did not remove snow either. If you can't tell from the distant photo, go the heck out there and check in person.

Previous post:

Snow removal: does the city ever enforce sidewalk clearing without complaints? Saturday, December 16, 2017

The sidewalk at 41 Barker Avenue still has its snow. That's a Westchester County apartment building for seniors.
______________________

The message above was sent, as is this one, to Common Council members, all of whom do backflips to display their credentials as humanitarians on all sorts of junk but not on meat and potatoes stuff like this. Why? It doesn't impact them or their natural constituents, who like them, live in houses away from downtown.

Snow removal: does the city ever enforce sidewalk clearing without complaints?

Corner of Barker Avenue and Church Street:

The public sidewalk diagonally across has been closed for weeks for the new construction. Basic common sense should have led city officials to ensure that the sidewalks near there were properly cleared of snow as required by city ordinances. Obviously, the white Cottage Place condo responsible for that snow covered sidewalk has not done so. A worker was just observed spreading salt on the sidewalk. Salt is no substitute for removing the snow.

The sidewalk at 41 Barker Avenue still has its snow. That's a Westchester County apartment building for seniors. Along Church Street just north of the intersection owners of some private homes have not cleared the snow.

Why does this seem like an eternal problem in White Plains? It's a simple municipal responsibility and yet one administration after another has proven incapable of even grasping the concept.

What the heck?

If the property owner does not do it, the city should promptly remove the snow and then bill and fine the property owner. If city ordinances do not provide for all that, create some that do. Most importantly, responsible city officials should be held accountable for fundamental things like this.

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?

What, there's still snow on public sidewalks?

New York hospital (Bloomingdale Lane and Bryant Ave.) - Of course.  As of 11AM yesterday: while a plow apparently cruised over its public sidewalks, New York hospital managed to leave a layer of ice on most of it while all others nearby had clean public sidewalks.


And the reigning and all time champ: the corner of the south side of Maple Avenue and Hale Avenue!  Yeah!  The city never enforces its own rules at that site, which virtually never has snow and ice removed by either the owner or the city.  You can imagine the buildup this winter.


This is the monument to the disdain that the City of White Plains has for its downtown residents.  City workers removed snow from sidewalk curbs on Mamaroneck Avenue where the walking side of the sidewalk was clean but the city felt compelled to make it even easier to drive and park downtown ... that for WP residents who live in the houses, mostly to the suburban south.


The house owners are the only constituents who matter to the mayor and common council.  Until downtown residents take control of White Plains by electing people who will represent them, this will continue.

Do White Plains city officials face criminal liability for failure to have snow/ice from public sidewalks?

This message will be sent to White Plains city officials through the form on the city website.


Obviously White Plains city officials face civil liability for their failure and/or refusal to perform a basic municipal function: keep the public sidewalks cleared of snow and ice.


White Plains city officials have repeatedly been notified of its performance failure, both in this public blog and in e-mail messages sent to the mayors and Common Council members.  Their conduct constitutes depraved indifference to human life, which would be homicide should someone die because of the snow and ice on public sidewalks.


It's been a few days since the most recent snow storm and one of the public sidewalks not cleared of snow and ice is one of the repeat offenders: empty lot on the southeast corner of Hale and Maple Avenues, both streets.  Also, the lot on the south side of Maple Avenue between Waller Avenue and South Broadway.


The snow has melted and New York Hospital sidewalks on Bloomingdale Lane and Bryant Avenue are finally clear after another lousy job of snow removal, which when done at all, leaves an inch of snow/ice.  They need to use person used by Bloomingdales.  New York Hospital continues to do a much worse job of snow removal than Bloomingdales, with which it shares the public sidewalk along Bloomingdale Lane.


A couple of days ago while walking on Bryant Avenue on the New York Hospital public sidewalk I asked its workers who were dispensing a meager amount of salt onto the sidewalk why New York Hospital did such an inferior job compared to Bloomingdales, which always does a very good job.  They said that the city cleans New York Hospital public sidewalk.


Say what?  The City of White Plains cleans snow from the New York Hospital public sidewalk?  Can this be?  If so, why?  Also, why doesn't the City of White Plains clean all public sidewalks or at least those that are not properly cleaned by their owners and bill and fine the owners?

Sidewalk snow removal in White Plains: inadequate as usual.

Why bother?  Why do I even bother to write about this again when it's obvious that nothing will improve?  Why not?  Why let the bums (euphemism for city officials) off the hook?  Why let them pretend that nothing is wrong.  If at least one person points out a problem then those responsible in White Plains city government cannot pretend that they did not know.  The link for this post will be sent to the mayor White Plains.

I did a search of my posts on "new york hospital" and found the three hits below.  As you can see the two leading sidewalk snow removal offenders have been and with the snow storm of Sunday Dec. 26, 2010 continue to be:

1. New York hospital (Bloomingdale Lane and Bryant Ave.)

2. City of White Plains (Mamaroneck Ave and Bryant Ave.) - you know, that secret park the city owns.

In addition there are the usual and continuing offenders: owners of  empty lots, including: SE corner of Barker Ave. and Church St. and those along the south side of Maple Ave. between Mamaroneck Ave. and Bloomingdale Lane

White Plains, NY: Snow on Sidewalks

Dec 21, 2008

Comments intended to improve the quality of life in the city of White Plains in Westchester county New York. ... I think WP keeps the park land a secret so that the city can attempt to shake down the hospital for more land in exchange for allowing thehospital to develop other parts of its property but that's just a guess. 1. Why does the City of White Plains not at least clear the sidewalk adjacent to its own land? That's pretty basic stuff. Does the city issue summonses ...

http://white-plains-ny.blogspot.com/

Roads cleared, sidewalks not.

Jan 20, 2009

Meanwhile, the sidewalk of the New York Hospital grounds along Bloomingdale RD and Bryant Ave. was cleared this morning but the worker left a half inch of snow. Compare that to the stretch of Bloomingdale RD sidewalk cleared by the ...

http://white-plains-ny.blogspot.com/

Parks, soccer fields and common sense.

May 29, 2008

Consider this the next time you try to negotiate to obtain property from New York hospital. Soccer fields do not make a park. 2. WP already has park land at the southeast corner of Mamaroneck and Bryant Avenues. ...

http://white-plains-ny.blogspot.com/

Snow removal: inadequate even before winter actually begins.

The City of White Plains is up to its old tricks: prizing the movement of cars over the safe movement of pedestrians.

I walk to Whole Foods along Maple Avenue between Mamaroneck Avenue and Bloomingdale Lane.  The usual scoff law properties were allowed by the City of White Plains to leave dangerous snow/ice on the public sidewalks after the recent snowfall.  Maple Avenue was, of course, cleared of snow for the movement of cars.

The City of White Plains has been notified about this for years and has failed to remedy the situation.  Anyone who is injured can easily bolster a law suit against the City of White Plains by referencing these public notifications on this blog, all of which have been sent to the city and its officials via e-mail.

City of White Plains, do the right thing.  And failing that, do the practical thing.  Stop waisting taxpayer dollars by exposing residents to dangerous conditions that could cost them dearly in law suits that could easily have been avoided.

Note: Link for this post sent to the mayor's office through his web form and to the CC members by individual e-mail IDs.

Budget cuts: eliminate the library and schools.

OK, enough with the small stuff like snow removal from sidewalks.  The city budget is front and center.  Here are bold ideas that will have an impact.

1. Eliminate the library.  The web makes it a dieing relic at best.  Sell the building if possible or turn it into a free Internet center.

2. Phase out public schools.  Hey, might as well be the first kid on the municipal block to do it.  They're mainly warehouses anyway and could be put to better use.  I am guessing that most households do not use the public schools.  Smart kids will go to private schools.  The rest aren't learning anyway and are often wandering around town during class hours, especially those assigned to the high school.  You can see them slow walking west on Bryant Ave. starting about 10:30AM.  Do their parents know that?  Do school administrators know where they are?

We need firefighters and police officers.  We do not need librarians and teachers.  Cut to the essentials.

Get that federal stimulus money to provide universal access to the Internet.  People can find what they need on their own.

Snow on sidewalks: Hale Ave., a church and Republicans

Despite a message from the mayor to the responsible commissioner, the sidewalk adjacent to the  vacant lot at Maple and Hale Avenues has yet to be cleared of snow any time this winter.  Or last.

The sidewalk adjacent to the church on Hamilton Ave. was not cleared of snow.  That's the same church where WPPD assists church goers in breaking the parking rules every Sunday.

The sidewalk adjacent to the Republican county building on the corner of Mamaroneck Ave. and Maple Ave. was not cleared of snow.  The mayor is a Republican.

Roads cleared, sidewalks not.

Snow removal.  It's a simple task.  If a municipality cannot handle that how can it deal with much more complex issues.

Maple Ave. between Haller and Bloomingdale RD on the south side: most of the sidewalks have snow/ice.

Even a message from the mayor to the commissioner of public works, the best employee the city has, does not result in action.

Meanwhile, the sidewalk of the New York Hospital grounds along Bloomingdale RD and Bryant Ave. was cleared this morning but the worker left a half inch of snow.  Compare that to the stretch of Bloomingdale RD sidewalk cleared by the Bloomingdale department store: it's clean as a whistle.  Same location, different entities responsible.  Same poor job done at the secret city park at the southeast corner of Bryant Ave. and Mamaroneck Ave.

Even some businesses along Mamaroneck Ave. do not properly clean their sidewalks.  We should boycott such places.

Snow and what is says about White Plains.

from Joseph Delfino

to Ken Matinale 

date Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 10:45 AM

subject Re: Snow on sidewalk: again and still.

"I have forwarded your e-mail to the Commissioner of Pub. Works."

________________________________

I responded by thanking the mayor.  Unfortunately, many of the neglected sidewalks mentioned in posts here remain neglected.

I am sure that the mayor and Commissioner of Pub. Works mean well and that they have more important matters to address.  The problem is that priorities in  White Plains do not include pedestrians.  Considering its size White Plains may be the nation's car capital.  Cars rule.  Does any other city of 50,000 have so many parking spaces in public garages?  Does any have so many lanes in such a concentrated area as downtown White Plains?

Quality of life is an alien concept in White Plains.  White Plains is a convenient compromise.  It is not quaint.  It is not charming.  It lacks vision and purpose and parks.  Not soccer fields.  Parks.  Places with lawns where people can relax in a quiet tranquil setting.

The original downtown mistake was the Galleria, an ill considered indoor mall that is poorly maintained.  That land should have been developed into a downtown central park.

The area on the east side of the train station is an urban demilitarized zone (DMZ).  It is barren, cold, wind swept and deserted after dark.  No one wants to walk there.  It has been this way for decades.  What must people think who see this from the train windows?

Snow on sidewalk: again and still.

South side of Maple Ave. east of Hale Ave.: hard packed snow/ice.

It's easy to find.  It's the empty lot along Maple Ave. east of Mamaroneck Ave. that NEVER removes snow/ice from the sidewalk.

Take action against the property owner!

There are also a couple of islands along there that are not cleaned.  I am guessing that the city owns them.  Take action against that property owner, too.

More snow to be removed from city sidewalks.

Blah, blah, blah.

How about the City of White Plains just performs this simple basic task without constant prodding, especially when it occurs right under the noses of those who use and manage the city's equipment? New year's day I received this message:

It (snow) wasn't cleared along South Kensico by the Eastview track, either (or by Stop and Shop, which is the store's responsibility.)

I also observed the usual while walking along Maple Ave. between Mamaroneck Ave. and Bloomingdale RD: vacant lots, which do not remove snow, the worst of which is the one east of Hale Ave., which NEVER removes snow - for YEARS.  Where are pedestrians to walk?  In the street with cars speeding downhill in all lanes?

Isn't there anyone in city government who is embarassed by this?

More snow left on sidewalk.

At the city owned parking lot on Bank Street near the train station, the sidewalk is again not cleared as was reported recently after the previous snow fall.

The City of White Plains, in addition to being incompetent, puts us all in jeopardy in terms of safety and liability.