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?

Irony: City asks State for money for pedestrians and cyclists! To protect them from all the HUGE buses?

Irony abounds, as do HUGE buses, many on regional routes that now slash through downtown White Plains for no apparent reason. But wait. White Plains decision makers want to protect its most vulnerable residents.

Email message received:

from:		WP Transit District <transitdistrict@whiteplainsny.gov>via mail148.suw12.mcsv.net
reply-to:		WP Transit District
to:		ken
date:		Tue, Oct 11, 2016 at 10:54 AM
subject:		Support Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements in the White Plains Transit District

Pledge your support for proposed bicyclist and pedestrian improvements in the White Plains Transit District by clicking here.

The City of White Plains is applying for a New York State Transportation Alternatives Program Grant that proposes to fund:

• Sidewalk Improvements
• Crosswalk Improvements
• A protected bike lane on Martine Avenue
• Cycle tracks on Hamilton Avenue and Main Street
• Expanded & secure bike parking in the Transit District

Your support will strengthen the City's application and further the goals of a vibrant and welcoming Transit District. You can pledge your support below. 

For more information about the City's grant application click here.
 _______________________

You can't make up stuff like this. The current bike lanes are a joke. I've challenged the task force and Common Council to have group bike rides on the bike lanes, especially through the train station area ... without police escort. That has not occurred.

In addition to the many decades of high speed traffic on the dozen or so roads of at least four lanes that slash through downtown White Plains, there are now buses that park where bike lanes would be and drive, especially during evening rush hour, when, apparently, no Common Council member would dare to observe.

But, the current initiative can't hurt. At least it's lip service in the right direction, maybe intended to attract those thousands of millennials upon whom the City is counting to fill its coffers for decades to come but not proportionately burden its school system with, you know, children. Many of the new apartments to be built are too small for families and some are mere crash pads for transients.

Transit District scenarios A, B, C. Two demolish parking garage! Yippie!

Transmania unchained!

An interpretation of public presentation by White Plains planning commissioner Chris Gomez Sept. 28, 2016. Derived from video at transitdistrict.com

There is also PowerPoint stuff: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByAWC5bf9-kYRVNoWXNWN056QzA/view

Four WP city owned parcels east of train station:
- firehouse
- parking garage
- station lot (drop off/pick up)
- Bronx Street lot

Long Term Scenarios:
A:
- firehouse: no change
- parking garage: no change
- station lot (drop off/pick up): buildings
- Bronx Street lot: park

B:
- firehouse: building on south edge?
- parking garage: demolish garage; buildings
- station lot (drop off/pick up): park
- Bronx Street lot: buildings

Babbling about new "bus rapid transit" something. Argh.

C:
- firehouse: building on south edge?
- parking garage: demolish garage; buildings
- station lot (drop off/pick up): park and building
- Bronx Street lot: buildings
______________

Add parking on firehouse lot in B and C?

There are two private things immediately east, which were not mentioned:
- parking garage with the infamous county Bee-Line bus terminal on street level
- surface level parking lot north of Hamilton Avenue.

East of the private surface parking is church property that could be developed.

Demolition of the train station parking garage has been recommended here previously, so it's encouraging that demolition is being considered.

Also welcome was there was no mention of a new train station building. Wasting valuable space on such a relic would be foolish.

Pedestrian zone, like Paris along the Seine River.

Range Is All the Rage in Paris, as Electric Cars Steal the Show

By JERRY GARRETT OCT. 6, 2016 nytimes.com

Diesel’s inherently dirtier emissions are not welcome in Paris these days. To address the city’s notoriously bad air quality, the municipal government has since July 1 prohibited cars that were registered before 1997 from operating on the streets on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. By 2020, environmental activists predict, all diesels might be banned in Paris.

And the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has proposed expanding car-free areas. One just approved will transform a major thoroughfare along the Seine into a pedestrian zone.
_____________________

Downtown White Plains Transit District Public Meeting 9/28

Arrived 6:30 when the meeting was supposed to start. Sat last row center right in order to beat a hasty retreat.

The usual suspects were licking themselves and adjustments continued on projector. Amateur hour. Left 6:50.

Did anything meaningful occur?

White Plains is perpetually mediocre and disappointing. It can't help bumping into itself.

The invitation:

from: WP Transit District <transitdistrict@whiteplainsny.gov>
reply-to: WP Transit District <transitdistrict@whiteplainsny.gov>
to: ken
date: Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 2:02 PM
subject: Downtown White Plains Transit District Public Meeting 9/28

Where:
ArtsWestchester
31 Mamaroneck Ave, White Plains, NY 10601

When:
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
6:30-8:30 PM

72 foot long bus coming to White Plains?

Why not? Just about every other bus monstrosity already has. With no apparent oversight or control, downtown White Plains in recent months has been overrun with all manner of buses, in addition to the Westchester county Bee-Line, which supposedly will have even more of those ridiculous double buses.

The one thing that all these buses, both public and private, have in common: few, if any, passengers. Which makes the entire situation even more bizarre.

Oh, that 72 foot long bus. Just imagine it leaving the Transmania and cruising up Main Street onto Mamaroneck Avenue.

Hail a bus. Hey, they have plenty of empty seats.

Has White Plains finally gotten around to letting taxi cabs cruise and be hailed by passengers?

Maybe the idle buses should do that. Let pedestrians flag them for local rides. The number of buses in downtown White Plains seems to increase every day. There are more and more buses pounding through the Transmania bus depot area and more parked illegally, especially on Hamilton Avenue outside Walmart.