school budget cut suggestion

from Ken Matinale

to micheleschoenfeld@wpcsd.k12.ny.us

date Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 2:41 PM

subject school budget cut suggestion

mailed-by gmail.com

Make full use of the facilities.   Keep schools open full days, all year including the summer.  No other activity sends capital money then closes the buildings so much of the time.  You would never use a

factory or office building that way.

Kids no longer need the summer off to work on the farms.

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.

Condo and Coop owners unite: take over city government.

I have written consistently about the structural problem with the government of White Plains.  Rather than function like all our other legislatures (county, state, federal), which have district representation, White Plains clings to the delusional fantasy that its form is somehow special, that having Common Council members elected at large they magically represent all citizens, rather than a constituency of a geographical district.  Baloney.  It ain't working.

As has been documented here, including with a map showing where they live, Common Council members represent themselves and their suburban neighbors.  Their only issue is driving into and out of downtown White Plains as fast as they can, diminishing any hint of quality of life for those who actually live in White Plains in apartment buildings and who, I am guessing, pay most of the taxes for most of the school kids who live in the suburban houses.

There are two ways that this can be corrected:

1. Change the form of government so that Common Council members are elected by geographic district.  This will have the immediate impact of eliminating most of the incumbents since they live so close to one another.  That also removes the spin the bottle dynamic of their choosing one of themselves to become the next mayor and continuing the same beat that has been heard for far too long.

2. Just take over.  Apartment dwellers have the numbers and the organizational structure to get the word out.  Board presidents should meet on a regular basis, outside of the house dominated Council of Neighborhood Association (CNA) and form their own organization and force the city to reckon with it.

Better yet, develop a platform and slate of candidates unaligned with the two national political parties and use the existing at large system to the advantage of apartment dwellers and to the disadvantage of house dwellers who have long dominated city government to the extreme disadvantage of apartment dwellers.

Condo and coop owners unite.  It is the only way that White Plains will ever change for the better.

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.

Cell phone death rays or mindless panic?

WP Times, Dec. 26, 2008: Citizens Group Topples Big Cell.

The article states "a State Supreme Court judge ruled on Dec. 10 that the Board of Managers of the Biltmore Towers Condominium Association acted outside of their authority when they entered into a lease agreement with MetroPCS to install cell antennas on the roof of the building, at 30 Lake St."

A couple of condo owners there formed a group, "Safe Cell",  to oppose their own board.

It seems to me that the board members acted in good faith to generate revenue for the condo.  That is a good thing.  They did something a little different that required a bit of creativity.  That's another good thing.

This appears to be a Pyrrhic victory, one that will cause good board members to leave the board and result in too much caution and lack of imagination.  Condo/coop organizations have enough trouble getting energetic owners to become members of their boards.  The Biltmore board president "did not return a call seeking comment".  Who could blame that person?  This type of action undermines progressive policy.  Boards should pursue anything that generates revenue or cuts costs for owners.

I am neither a lawyer, nor a scientist.  I do not know whether the decision has merit, nor whether it can survive appeal.  I do not know whether the cell equipment is a safety hazard.

The condo renegades also have a "case in federal court against the city's Planning Board ... to prevent cell antennas from being installed near" a couple of public schools.  Oh,  boy.  They are playing the kid card: the last refuge of the scoundrel to paraphrase Samuel Johnson.  And there are a lot better things on which to attack the Planning Board.

The final words in the article are "RF emissions".  RF.  That means radio frequency.  Don't they have to do with broadcast radio transmission, which has been pretty big since the 1920s?  And television broadcasting, pretty big since at least the 1950s?  How come the insurgents have not been concerned about that all along?  How about taking away broadcast television from people who do not have cable or phone company TV service?  Do you suppose that kind of RF threatens the kiddies?

And what about the AT&T microwave tower atop its building at 400 Hamilton Avenue since 1954?  It has line of sight to AT&T facilities in Manhattan?  Shouln't that concern the "Safe Cell" duo?

Finally, in another article in that same issue of WP Times, right next to the cell article, about the fire at 20 North Broadway:

Many families learned about the blaze through phone calls left with parents warning that school buses could be delayed.

It does not specify whether some of those calls were made to or from cell phones.  Maybe the condo renegades should have considered the value of communication before taking the actions they did.

Uh, oh. Another sidewalk neglected by WP.

The City of White Plains has a large parking lot on Bank St., just south of the train station. Commuters must walk on the adjacent sidewalk to reach the station. The city did not clear the snow form this long stretch of sidewalk.

Another: what the heck!

What a tedious municipality, to have yet another such obvious example of neglect and mismanagement.

City employee litters.

This is one of those matters that you simply wish had not occurred but that cannot be ignored.

After fixing a minor problem at the intersection of South Lexington and Fisher/Quarroppas a white City of White Plains truck (L86626) proceeded to Mamaroneck Ave., turned left, then right onto Mitchell Place.  I know.  I was driving behind it.

12/24/08 at 1:43 PM about half way down Mitchell Place the driver threw a paper cup out of the window onto the street.

Not a big deal but my friend and I both had the same reaction: what the heck is that?  Small stuff matters.  Stuff like this should not happen and when it happens it should not be tolerated.

No, do not fire the worker but certainly speak to the individual and make a policy statement to all city workers that such behavior is unacceptable and could result in a city worker being fired.  City workers should set a good example.  That should be part of the job description.