Progressive: is that what White Plains needs to be? That's what Milagros Lecuona thinks.

Seven. That's the number of times Common Council member and candidate for mayor in 2017 Milagros Lecuona uses the word progressive in a short email message soliciting funds for her campaign.

It suggests too much of a tactical approach to a campaign in this city of only 50,000 when the most fundamental issue, as always, is that Common Council members are selected at large and not by geographic districts. This odd form of representation exaggerates a natural tendency for people who live in downtown apartments to be less involved in municipal government and the more entrenched residents in houses away from downtown dominate policy and procedure to their quite different interests.

Candidate Lecuona seems to want to replace one mayor who does not live downtown in an apartment with another, perhaps relying on her gender and ability to speak Spanish to suggest more of a difference with Mayor Tom Roach than actually exists.

French school, German school, Railside: who cares? Fix downtown.

March 31 Common Council member Milagros Lecuona sent a message announcing that she is asking for contributions to challenge incumbent Mayor Tom Roach in a September primary. At this point it's not at all clear what would be different by a change from one local member of the Democratic party to another.

ALL CC members live in houses and do not really understand downtown. The real solution is district voting but we in the apartments must force that change and it won't happen until thousands more apartments are created occupied by younger people, which will take forever because the City of White Plains loves to jerk developers around.

So instead, the CC is again consumed with stuff that impacts their base constituents, people living in houses outside downtown. Current example:

http://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/civicalerts.aspx?AID=466

Posted on: March 31, 2017

French American School of New York (FASNY) Public Hearing April 5, 2017
Public hearings in relation to 1) the application submitted by the French American School of New York (FASNY) for a Special Permit for a "private secondary school" at 336 Ridgeway, an environmentally sensitive site as defined by Chapter 3-5 of the White Plains Municipal Code ...

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French school. German school. Railside. What the heck does any of this got to do with 95% of White Plains residents? What?

Ignored by the City of White Plains are the HUGE regional buses that roar down North Broadway, then onto Barker Avenue barreling towards the Transmania bus depot at the train station. Apparently, the residents along those streets are not in an "environmentally sensitive site as defined by Chapter 3-5 of the White Plains Municipal Code". The number of residents living along the bus routes probably far exceeds the number impacted by French school, German school, Railside combined.

Where are the priorities?

White Plains should create a tech startup and education presence.

How about White Plains getting a piece of this?

Roosevelt Island: New York City's Next Startup Hub?
BY ROB MARVIN OCTOBER 20, 2016 PC Magazine

Set to open its first phase in 2017, the state-of-the-art Cornell Tech campus is a fusion of academia and business for a program already churning out Silicon Alley tech startups.
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Oh, and get control of all those ridiculous buses in downtown.

Washington could have won the Battle of White Plains if more roads had been two way.

George Washington was born February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

http://www.whiteplainshistory.org/flyers/2017/Washington's%20B'day%202017_pdf.pdf

White Plains Historical Society invites you to celebrate the birth of George Washington ... Sunday February 26, 2017, 1:00PM - 3:00PM ... 60 Park Avenue, White Plains.
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OK, the date is close enough. Remember, White Plains never celebrates St. Patrick's day on St. Patrick's day: March 11, 2017.

Despite mayoral mocking, the one way mega streets in White Plains remain so. That's because their two wayness precedes modern urban renewal but traces to pre-revolutionary times. Had Washington been able to maneuver around town in his Studebaker, the British in their silly red coats would never have defeated him. But Washington, who never told a lie, observed the traffic laws.

Those attending the birthday festivities at Purdy House (Washington's headquarters) will no doubt travel from their houses, no wimpy apartment dwellers they, without use of their ubiquitous cars, on Bee-Line county buses to the Transmania 8th Avenue like bus depot or, maybe, hail a taxi. Oh, wait. Has ride hailing been legalized?

Once atop the hill, they will observe the construction of the new 550 unit rental building on Water Street to the south. The project should be completed after a mere decade of jerking around over stuff like parking spaces and, of course, the obligatory municipal shakedown of affordable housing (no houses, just apartments), which provides  the shaker downers with moral superiority.

During the construction, 200 surface parking spaces were temporarily displaced. The Common Council members obeyed their Hill Associations and forced the developer to pay for adding 200 visitor parking spaces to the ones provided for the renting millennials, who will not even own cars. So what have the people who demanded those 200 parking spaces been doing with their cars for the last year? And why couldn't they simply continue doing it?

White Plains is a one horse town. Always was, always will be. Just look to George Washington's experience here.

Milagros Lecuona challenges Mayor Tom Roach.

White Plains Democrat to challenge incumbent mayor

Christopher J. Eberhart , ceberhart@lohud.com Published 8:23 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2017 Updated 2:08 p.m. ET Feb. 1, 2017

from: Ken
to: Milagros Lecuona ,

"Thomas M. Roach"
date: Sun, Feb 5, 2017 at 6:19 PMsubject: White Plains Democrat to challenge incumbent mayor

It's good to have two strong candidates. I think you both have worked hard and smart. Unfortunately, there is little to show, especially in downtown where I live. If anything, the quality of life has gotten worse, especially with all that ridiculous BUS traffic.​

I hope that specific goals will be set, which means things that can be measured and attained. That LCOR project (on Bank Street) took 8 years to start. Wasn't approval for 60 South Broadway done in the summer of 2015? The mall's been emptied out with no development in sight.

That's been a trademark of White Plains, going back at least to the silly hole in the ground created by the demolition of the train station (in the 1970s), best known for the police arresting "perverts" in the men's room. Trees started growing there before, finally, the twin towers, now known as 15 Bank Street, went up.

White Plains needs to do better. A lot better. Don't promise what you cannot deliver. Good luck to you both.

Adirondack Trailways buses continue to ROAR down Barker Avenue rather than Hamilton.

To: Common Council members

Why is it good for White Plains to have these huge regional buses go into downtown?

Why let them move on residential streets rather than restrict them to Hamilton Avenue from North Broadway to the train station?

2000-2016: what's the most imaginative thing done by White Plains city government?

Trick question. The answer obviously is nothing imaginative has been done by White Plains city government since it's inception.

White Plains lacks charm. This would be OK if it provided really efficient administration but it doesn't. It's both dull and charmless. Ugh.

So why live here? Manhattan is ridiculously expensive and most of us cannot afford Bronxville, Scarsdale, Armonk, etc. So here we are at the mercy of dull elected officials who are stuck with even duller city employees who are frozen in place.

Supposedly one substantive change was to be implemented this year in conjunction with the Transit Task Force. If anything happened, it's still a mystery. The obvious objective seemed to be finally changing the absurd one way mega streets into two way and to slow down traffic so that it felt less like pedestrians were walking on the side of an interstate highway. The only thing that slows down traffic are all those buses with a very low percentage of passenger seats occupied. What the heck is that about?

Online Form Submittal: Downtown White Plains Transit District Study

Comments?	Why have so many more buses been moving through downtown White Plains in 2016? How is that good for residents, especially regional buses, when there are no local buses to get around WP?
Ideas?	Get rid of the buses. WP train station has become the functional equivalent of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Concerns?	2000-2016: what's the most imaginative thing done by WP city government? If nothing, fire commissioners like traffic and public safety.

Not so strategic is the Downtown Task Force plan.

Mayor Roach and planning commissioner Gomez led tonight's presentation. Both are energetic, intelligent and sincere. Unfortunately, the entire activity is weighed down with traditional White Plains junk, namely adhering to the wishes of the existing sources of influence: people who live in houses outside of downtown. Especially influential are the hill associations, Battle and Fisher, especially Battle.

Blah, blah, blah.

That was pretty much the comments by all of tonight's speakers. But without realizing it, Roach and Gomez represented the narrow wishes of the geographically isolated and small number of people living on Battle Hill on the wrong side of the tracks. The city already has detailed plans for new street crossings for that constituency. Does any other neighborhood have that?

They think they got input from all sources but they only got Battle Hill, Fisher Hill and, of course, CNA, which Roach and Gomez will placate in yet another meeting tomorrow. I don't think they visited or heard from any condo, co-op or rental apartment building.

Typical telling point by Gomez: Battle Hill wants new downtown buildings angled so that Hill people can look through openings between them. No regard for the view of the new people who will be living in them; Gomez was oblivious to that. He thought he was showing open mindedness but what he actually showed was the silly undue influence of the very few people on Battle Hill who might actually have a view across the tracks of downtown White Plains. Most people on Battle Hill have no such view.

The MTA guy, who represents an entity that continues to embarrass itself and White Plains with that ridiculous clock tower with the wrong time, babbled about White Plains having all these regional buses coming into downtown. Neither he nor any of the others have ever seemed to wonder how the heck that benefits White Plains. You think someone hops off a Connecticut Transit bus and shops in White Plains or simply takes the Metro North train into Manhattan?

And those reverse commuters the mayor and MTA guy like to emphasize: are they actually coming to White Plains from Manhattan as implied or are they coming from elsewhere, both north and south? Many are leaving the train station around 11AM and walking up Hamilton Avenue or Main Street. I'm guessing that they are headed to jobs in retail sales or service, not some law office. I doubt they can afford the rents that new buildings will charge.

I walked past the dreary bus terminal at the White Plains train station today at about 4:30 PM. Many Westchester county Bee-Line buses, including doubles, were pulling in, all with almost no passengers. Who wants to live at the functional equivalent of Port Authority Bus Terminal?

These are just a few of the obvious contradictions and absurdities in the primitive plan. The mayor and planning commissioner want to dictate to developers all manner of detail. A fundamental problem is that they are way too influenced by narrow old line perspectives and worse, they don't realize it.

Comments to Downtown White Plains Transit District Task Force on new Port Authority Bus Terminal.

from: Ken
to: Downtown White Plains Transit District <transitdistrict@whiteplainsny.gov>
cc: Rob Astorino <ce@westchestergov.com>,
news12wc@news12.com
date: Wed, Dec 7, 2016 at 5:55 AM
subject: NYTimes: Battle Over New Bus Terminal Threatens to Paralyze Port Authority’s Board

Battle Over New Bus Terminal Threatens to Paralyze Port Authority’s Board

Imagine if the buses in White Plains had more than a few passengers. Like the private ones to places like Babylon Long Island.

How can Westchester county continue to claim thirty million passengers when there are so few riding it's Bee-Line buses in White Plains? Private buses have inundated downtown for people making more than minimum wage.

Have any of you ridden a Bee-Line bus this millennium? It's for poor people providing services to rich people. The massive influx of private buses into downtown White Plains is just more of decision makers in houses abusing people who live in apartments.

And you think millennials want that type of downtown? Living in the path of buses ... to Babylon? And countless near empty Bee-Line buses, including those ridiculous double buses?