White Plains: dog city? Do they have more rights than people?

Pets, especially dogs, should be banned from apartment buildings. Saturday, October 12, 2024

Random thoughts:

If you want to live with animals, buy a farm and sleep in the barn.

What city official monitors any of this? License? Breeds? Size? Number per apartment? ???  How can a resident complain?

Percent of apartment building units that may have dogs? 100%?

Dog free (dogs prohibited) elevators, entry, floors, ... anything that makes sense? Is there even one limitation?

Are there 10,000 apartments in downtown White Plains that have dogs? Where do they piss and shit? Where? This is the disgusting issue that "planners" never address. And where does the waste go?

Environmental impact of dogs in apartment buildings?

Prohibit dogs from retail stores, including and especially food stores like supermarkets. People handle their dog and then touch food that they may not buy. Yuck.

Apartment buildings are difficult enough for so many people to get along. The Avalon on Barker Avenue has about 400 units. The only three elevators are all in the same location.

Pets, especially dogs, should be banned from apartment buildings.

In downtown White Plains pretty much every apartment building is "pet friendly", which means that humans cohabitate with animals.

Yuck.

1. It's unsanitary. Dogs are taken out to piss and shit three times a day. Each time a plastic bag is used to capture the shit and dispose of it. That's about 1,000 plastic bags per year per dog. How does that impact the environment? Suppose we managed human waste that way? If a human did what the dog does, the human would get a summons and eventually be arrested. What the heck?

2. It's dangerous. Dogs can become aggressive in apartment buildings, especially in or entering an elevator. Dog owners are oblivious. They congregate at the entrance to buildings and in the lobby. Dogs are not restricted to certain elevators. There are no rules about letting people complete their elevator ride without dogs entering.

Dog owners react to someone being apprehensive about the proximity of their dog with: oh, my dog is friendly. Yeah, to you, its source of food and shelter. The rest of us are a threat and/or a meal.

"Curb your dog" is a long lost concept for dog owners. Almost universally, they walk their dog in the middle of the sidewalk, path, etc. And often on one of those expandable leashes so that the owner has minimal, if any, control.

I recently read a thread on Reddit about this and was surprised that many people think as I do that dogs should be banned from apartment buildings:

Dogs should not be allowed to live in ANY apartment

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogfree/comments/158y8aq/dogs_should_not_be_allowed_to_live_in_any/

Oct. 3 2024 I sent that to commoncouncil@whiteplainsny.gov

No reply. The Common Council is and has always been dominated by people who live in houses in the suburbs of White Plains. They are elected at large, not by geographic area. That helps perpetuate their power. Downtown exists for their amusement and to subsidize the property tax.

A couple of weeks ago I sent email to White Plains Public Safety (wppublicsafety@whiteplainsny.gov) about a dog safety issue in my rental building but I have not received a reply.

Thousands of new downtown apartments have been created in recent years and thousands more are being created now. None have even common sense restrictions on dogs. "Pet friendly" makes money for the developers. White Plains Common Council wants the extra sales and property tax generated.

Turnure Park between Lake Street and Main Street is the only real downtown park. It just erected a new sign at the Lake Street entrance reiterating the rules, which include no smoking and no dogs. No dogs? Has anyone ever seen that enforced?

I don't expect the building owners or government to do anything but maybe you dog owners can reevaluate your attitudes and be more considerate.

White Plains: dog city? Do they have more rights than people? Sunday, October 13, 2024

Pedestrian killed by car today. White Plains is pedestrian hostile.

This morning walking to the supermarket in the City Center along Church Street I saw that Main Street was closed and there were several police cars. I asked an officer what had happened and he told me that a pedestrian had been struck and killed by a car.

In the middle of Main there was stuff, including a bag, on the ground suggesting that the accident was near Church Street rather than the T intersection of Main and Mamaroneck Avenue.

It's one of many messy intersections. Pedestrians often cross against the traffic light there. Cars on Mamaroneck Avenue must make a right onto one way Main and then a quick left to go onto Church Street.

Those usually/mostly empty and useless Hudsonlink buses on Main make a left onto narrow Church Street often with cars parked on the right side of Church, something allowed in recent years.

Could this death have been prevented with different policies? I don't know but walking in downtown White Plains should not be nearly as dangerous as it has been for decades.

Just yesterday a friend told me how different it was on her recent trip to seven countries in Europe. Cars cannot go everywhere and they go slowly. There are real bike lanes, not dangerous nonsensical ones that satisfy do-gooders.

Many Europeans take public transportation according to my friend. Here even the county Bee Line buses are rarely even half full. We can't all drive whenever we want, wherever we want. And we need to slow down.

New speed limit in White Plains? There was an old speed limit? Tuesday, April 30, 2024

New speed limit in White Plains? There was an old speed limit?

There are two priorities in White Plains:

- Let cars speed through during rush hour with no benefit to the city. It's sort of like letting strangers use your bathroom. Apparently it's a benefit to businesses in the area.

- Let house owners speed through downtown to get to/from their houses quickly.

https://patch.com/new-york/whiteplains/white-plains-reduces-speed-limits-city-streets

White Plains Reduces Speed Limits On City Streets

The mayor said the lower speed limit will make White Plains streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

Michael Woyton, Patch Staff
Posted Fri, Apr 26, 2024

In February, the White Plains Common Council determined that making roadways safer in the city is a top priority and approved an ordinance reducing the speed limit throughout White Plains from 30 to 25 mph.

Starting in May, the White Plains Transportation Department will begin the process of installing new signs indicating the new citywide 25 mph speed limit.

All city streets except for the following will see the changes:

Bryant Avenue
Central Avenue
Central Westchester Parkway
Mamaroneck Avenue
North Broadway
North Street
Old Mamaroneck Road
Tarrytown Road
Westchester Avenue
White Plains Avenue

___________________________

The speed limit has been 30 miles per hour (mph)? How could you tell? Today I walked along Bloomingdale Road, Mamaroneck Avenue, then Bryant Avenue. My guess is that pretty much every car was going way faster than 30 mph.

Not mentioned, so limited to 25 mph starting in May 2024:
Main Street
Hamilton Avenue
Martine Avenue
Maple Avenue
Post Road (south of North Broadway),
South Lexington
Bank Street
Lake Street.

I probably missed some other motor speedways.

White Plains needs a Pedestrian Commissioner. Sunday, June 13, 2010

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 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 ...

... neither the mayor nor the common council members do anything to make WP less pedestrian hostile.

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Affordable Housing: #1 issue. Really? REALLY!?

 You can't make up stuff like this. I received in the mail:

Five numbered issues are prominently listed and number one is

"Expand Affordable Housing".

Question for Candidates Forum for White Plains Common Council 10/25/2023. Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Of the seven (including the mayor) current Common Council members, I think only John Martin and Rich Payne live in apartments. White Plains is generally controlled by house owners outnumbering apartment dwellers by an even larger proportion on the council. It's been that way for at least the last half century.
_______________________________________

I may be paraphrasing but I recall candidate Jeremiah Frei-Pearson said at the "Candidates Forum" that Affordable Housing is a national crisis. At this Democratic party link: "He lives in the Gedney Farms neighborhood of White Plains."

The other two candidates above also live in single family houses away from downtown.

Affordable housing hypocrisy expands. Saturday, April 13, 2019

Common Council members should send us a Candygram when they implement affordable housing policy which actually puts their skin in the game: "affordable people" live near them and CC members actually subsidize affordable housing policy themselves...

The Common Council members all live in houses in the suburbs of White Plains and so are not directly affected. The last thing they want is an affordable person moving into the house next to theirs...

First of all, it's affordable apartments...

House owners do not have 10% of the houses on their block occupied by "affordable housing" people. Nor are they paying more in property taxes to make up for "affordable housing" people paying less...

The "market rate" renters in the other 90% of apartments are making up the difference.

________________________________________

It's my understanding that 12 percent is now the top requirement for the number of apartments in a new development that must be "affordable".

At the "Candidates Forum" they expressed concern that police officers and fire fighters cannot afford to live in White Plains. There's an obvious common sense solution: pay them more money. But then residents living in houses would have their taxes increased and nothing about Affordable Housing policy ever does anything to do that. Only residents renting in apartment buildings pay the difference to subsidize Affordable Housing. Plus, maybe some recent condominiums but the newest condo was built around 2006. Everything since then are rental buildings, most of which are expensive.

Question for Candidates Forum for White Plains Common Council 10/25/2023.

At the Library.

Candidates Forum for White Plains Common Council Election Fall 2023

Share: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 7:00pm

NO QUESTIONS WILL BE TAKEN FROM THE FLOOR
How You can Submit Questions for the candidates:

• Email your question(s) to Alan Cass, alancass3@gmail.com

____________________

from: Kenneth Matinale
to: alancass3@gmail.com
date: Oct 24, 2023, 4:17 PM
subject: Forum Question

To:

Alan Cass

88 GRANDVIEW AVE.

WHITE PLAINS NY 10605

1 FAMILY RES

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/DocumentCenter/View/8200/2023-Final-Assessment-Roll?bidId= 

From:

Kenneth Matinale

*********

White Plains, NY 10601

My question is in bold below.

Of the five candidates, four live in a one family house. Enrique Jinite was not found in the 2023 Final-Assessment-Roll. See below.

Of the seven (including the mayor) current Common Council members, I think only John Martin and Rich Payne live in apartments. White Plains is generally controlled by house owners outnumbering apartment dwellers by an even larger proportion on the council. It's been that way for at least the last half century.

Would you favor districts for each of the six council members to ensure that the majority of resident citizens who live in apartments are represented?

Currently council members are elected at large, unlike the legislatures of New York State and the United States of America.

Jeremiah Frei-Pearson (D)
17 Seymour Place 10605 house

Enrique Jinite (R) not found

Charles Lederman (R)
9 WILLOWBROOK RD 10605 house

Victoria Presser* (D)
112 ALEXANDER AVE 10606 house

Jennifer Puja* (D)
11 SAMMIS LANE 10605 house
_______________

Note: I stopped by the library this afternoon to look at the flyer about tomorrow's Candidates Forum. None had been posted. The person at the front desk had to look at the library website to get some idea of what I was talking about. I facetiously said it must be a private meeting.

Apparently that's the case. Those who need to know are aware of it and will show up for their periodic reinforcement of their control of the City of White Plains, which is out of any proportion to their numbers based on type of residence. Fleecing apartment dwellers and shaking down developers over affordable housing, not to be confused with what it actually is: affordable apartments, away from the houses of those who run White Plains.

Is the 554 page 2015 Transit District Report typical of what's to come?

ONE White Plains documents - hidden on the city website. Monday, June 12, 2023

2015 Transit District Report 554 pages ...

CONSOLIDATED PLAN 2020-2024 148 pages

____________________

The document is a bloated and pretentious mess. Worst of all is that, aside from a new apartment building under construction, the train station and its surrounding area remain the same dysfunctional mess they've been for decades.

The changes to the train station:

1. Corrected bad original design.

2. Made up for three decades of neglect.

Try walking down Barker Avenue, which turns into Water Street for some reason, to the train station. It gets worse the closer you get. You're faced with the same ridiculous array of confusing entry and exit lanes. It's dangerous to walk cross Ferris Avenue. It's the same as before.

There's still no plan for the surface parking lots. Does anyone know who owns the air rights above the train station?

There was a Planning Department event for citizens at the library:

One White Plains Comprehensive Plan Public Workshop - June 12th at 7PM

Was it another "Transit District" caliber attempt to get things organized? It was standing room only.

The Consolidated Plan 2020-2024 referenced above is about housing. Really. It should include other issues.

________________________

Public street made semi private while Barker Avenue is subjected to HUGE buses, trucks and eventually hundreds more cars. Friday, December 24, 2021

One White Plains or a Tale of Two Cities? Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Pedestrian Safety is administered by the Parking Department. Tuesday, February 7, 2023

ONE White Plains documents - hidden on the city website.

Click the links below. 

ONE White Plains: documents 

Demographics, land use and zoning. Booklet.

CONSOLIDATED PLAN 2020-2024 148 pages

2015 Transit District Report 554 pages

2006 Comprehensive Plan (revision of 1997 Comprehensive Plan) 269 pages

2001 Recreation Master Plan 359 pages

1997 Comprehensive Plan 231 pages

1977 Comprehensive Plan 266 pages

1962 Comprehensive Plan 259 pages

1928 Comprehensive Plan 48 pages

______________________

To find them on your own:

1. https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/

2. Put the cursor over City Departments.

3. Slide  the cursor to Planning but don't click yet. Cruise down to:

4. ONE White Plains - Comprehensive Plans. Click that:

https://one-white-plains-comprehensive-plan-1-wp-planning.hub.arcgis.com/

5. Upper left:

Imagine Participate Plan Elements Map Gallery Documents

6. Click the little down arrow on the right side of Documents.

There they are!

Electric Vehicle Charging: White Plains, NY - Official Website

Email:

from: Kenneth Matinale
to: commoncouncil@whiteplainsny.gov
cc: parking@whiteplainsny.gov

date: May 14, 2023, 7:59 PM
subject: Electric Vehicle Charging | White Plains, NY - Official Website

https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/368/Electric-Vehicle-Charging-Stations

When was this updated? I think they add up to 31. Five years ago I counted 28.

Is the number increasing to about 90? What's the schedule?

In addition to the Mitchell apartment complex and Continuum II and its nearby office to resident conversion, Barker and Hamilton have three new residential complexes under construction that will add 2,300 parking spaces. Barker Avenue is one lane in each direction and already has giant buses roaring down to the train station because you won't route them on Hamilton Avenue. Barker will become a traffic mess.

What are you planning to do about ensuring that these vehicles, gas and electric, can get fuel?

White Plains needs way more Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations, both public and private. The city needs to do some mandating.

Stop staring at those ridiculous giant buses with few, if any, passengers. Stop congratulating yourselves over them. Make some useful decisions on transportation.

Kenneth Matinale

White Plains resident

_________________________

EV charging stations for residents of apartment buildings: electrify White Plains. Thursday, March 2, 2023

Showing posts with label Electric Vehicle (EV).

Electric Vehicle (EV) label just created for posts on that subject.

Showing posts with label Electric Vehicle (EV).