wtt091406_vol1_issue_2

Houses of Worship
Hosting Teenage Parties
Blaming God Is Alway The
Easy Thing.....Page 10
The WesFoodie’s
Eating in the Burbs..... Page 11
Janet DiFiore,
District Attorney.....Page 3
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
LLC
Two Dollars
September 14, 2006
Volume 1 • Number 2
BRIEFING
Tenets of the
Yonkers
Industrial
Development
Agency
ELMSFORD
Fire Company #1 Open House
P g. 4
GREENBURGH
Feiner Report
P g. 4
LARCHMONT
Additional Child Care Funding
By Sid G. Sloves
P g. 4
By Jack 8. Kirby
PLEASANTVILLE, NY -- Dining in
the Burbs has unquestionably improved
over the past few years. Gone are the
days when eating in Westchester meant
grey meat and potatoes, sub-gummy
Chinese, greasy diners, family style Italian, or unthinkable Japanese. Now, we
don’t want to jinx our good fortune, but
it is interesting to look at what’s driving
the rise in culinary possibilities.
Well, there are many suspect factors:
an influx of immigrant food entrepreneurs bringing culinary traditions to
the county’s kitchens and a maturing
of the movement for organic, local and
seasonal ingredients chief among them.
Chef Daniel Petrilli of Frodo’s restaurant in Pleasantville has another explanation. Petrilli sees new restaurants in
Westchester serving a higher level of
cuisine in response to diners’ heightened desire to be close to home while
experiencing the pleasures once found
only on forays into the City; a desire
YONKERS, NY -- Many years ago,
we were told that YIDA projects would
provide the City of Yonkers, not only
new or expanded business and industry,
but additional sales and property tax
revenue.
YIDA Board of Directors told us
that they do not provide financing for
a project unless a company can certify
that without YIDA assistance, a specific
project would not be economically feasible. That might be true were it not for
the fact that more than half of all projects involved companies extremely financially sound and successful; in fact,
among the richest in the nation.
Financial wherewithal not withstanding, YIDA often told anyone who would
listen that specific projects demanded
YIDA assistance, lest they not occur.
This self-serving excuse would often be
a rationale believed by the ignorant for
the alleged taking of hundreds of thousands of potential tax revenue dollars
off the books.
The YIDA would further advise that
although they had the capability to establish Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) arrangements for their tax exempt properties, they had a policy in
which such PILOTs would be based
upon the assessments, determined for
the said property by the Office of the
Yonkers City Assessor, yet often at the
alleged direction and discretion of City
Hall. Was this the formula incorporated
for the Ridge Hill Village Development
project?
Since the early days of YIDA activity in Yonkers (1983), no project ever
became tax exempt. It may be inferred
that the City Assessor, were he left to
properly implement the formulae’s
pertinent to his job, has been properly
assessing property upon which YIDA
projects will be located, beginning with
land use. Yet, nothing in New York
State Law or by local statues affects a
City Assessor’s ability to establish assessed values for YIDA projects. Oh, if
only this was true!
Though NYS Law provides that
YIDA projects are fully tax exempt, it is
YIDA’s alleged stated policy to provide
PILOTs in recognition of the perpetual
dire fiscal needs of this city. With very
few exceptions, property taxes decline
every year as they have this past year.
YIDA projects should result in increased property tax revenue through
The WesFoodie’s pg.11
Tenets of YIDA pg.8
MAMARONECK
Home Sweet Home Rule
P g. 4
MOUNT VERNON
Reflections On My City
Pg.5
NEW ROCHELLE
Mayor Bramson’s
Message
P g. 5
WHITE PLAINS
PSC Oversight Challenged By
Kaplowitz and Abinanti
P g. 6
YONKERS
Vote ‘Yes’ for Propositions
1, 2, & 3
P g. 6
AUTOMOTIVE
Shifting Gears with Roger
Witherspoon
HARTSDALE, NY -- Miracle Field at Ridge Road Park in Hartsdale, the county’s first baseball field designed specifically for kids with disabilities, had Westchester
County Executive Andy Spano throw out the first pitch. “This is a chance to help a child experience a wonderful pastime they may never have had a chance to do before.
Middle school and high school students could find this a great way to fulfill service requirements and serve their community,” said Spano. J. Stephen Madey, executive
director of the Miracle League of Westchester, said “buddies,” also known as “angels in the outfield,” are volunteers who assist players one-on-one during games. They
can range in age from elementary school students to senior citizens. “I urge county residents of all ages to step forward as volunteers and help make the ‘Miracle’ a reality,” concluded CEO Andy Spano. Miracle Field on page 8
Same Cast of Characters: Do We Need Another Choice? The WesFoodie’s:
By Vox Populi
Pg. 10
BUSINESS
Capelli-Trump Topping Off
Ceremony
P g. 7
COMPUTER GAMING
Civilization IV
P g. 8
HARNESS RACING
Sire Stakes Win for Beckwith
P g. 7
HEALTH
Are You Taking the Right Blood
Pressure Medication?
P g. 9
THE HEZITORIAL
P g. 2
LEGAL
A Better Supreme Court
P g. 3
LETTERS TO THE
EDITOR
P g. 2
SPORTS
America’s Longest Running
Relay Race
P g. 4
Tennis Player James Blake
Pg. 11
THE SPOOF
Brits Beat Americans in Amazing Race for the 60-Plus Set
P g. 8
WEIR ONLY HUMAN
P g. 3
YONKERS, NY – As the political races
enter the final lap, professional pollsters,
political pundits, and an engaged public
attempt to discern the nature of this year’s
races. On the state level, Democrats like
Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo seem
almost assured of winning their respective
primaries, while all Democrats who will
be on the slate in November, from Hillary
Clinton on down will overwhelm the
Republicans contenders.
There really are no surprises here. After
12 years of lackluster governorship by
George E. Pataki, he now dons the guise
of a presidential candidate. This is a sorry
state of affairs for the Republican Party in
New York State. It may be the rationale
behind permitting New York State Senator
Nick Spano to promote former Mayor
John Spencer and former Westchester
County District Attorney Jeannine Pirro
out of the Westchester “backwoods,” along
with Senator Spano’s other good friend
gubernatorial candidate John Faso. Just the
fact that Senator Nick Spano selected them
should have given reason for pause. It was
Senator Nick Spano who was responsible
for destroying the Westchester County
Republican Party. Doesn’t anyone pay
attention?
This leads us to the self-destructing
Republican Senatorial Primary where
Hillary’s choice K.T. McFarland, as some
would say is “scratching” it out with
“I’ve been lucky so far,” John D. Spencer.
While John D. Spencer may well go
on to win the Republican Primary, he
will also certainly go on even further,
that is, to lose the election to Hillary
Clinton. As he crashes to the ground,
he will be plotting his Yonkers Mayoral
comeback… so he thinks.
Senator Nick Spano, on the other hand,
is desperately trying to buy his way
back into office. Only now the price is
much higher. His state senate war chest,
read Senator Bruno – is bottomless.
His ability to give back to the people
of Yonkers their own tax dollars is just
amazing. He gets to secretly select
the causes of his choice. He hasn’t
stopped spending since January of
this year. Need a grant… call Senator
Nick Spano. He now sports a check in
each hand for any and all occasions,
with photo opportunities to prove it.
Meanwhile, expect to be inundated
with his simplistic brochures and letters
telling us how he’s giving away our
tax dollars. Be assured, his literature,
as always, will say absolutely nothing.
see Vox Populi pg.8
What Have We Done?
By Jason Gooljar
HARTSDALE, NY – September 8, 2006
-- Last year, I had one of those moments
of reality that shake you like lighting
striking just merely a few feet away from
where you stand, the intensity enforced
and reinforced only by the crackling
sound of the thunder claps that follow;
the decibels range just shy of bursting
your eardrums. The unforgiving dark
plague of poverty that infects society,
scampering about like a cockroach
hard to exterminate, was the force
that shook me from my daily routine.
It snapped me out of my “comfort
zone,” that well-known environment of
bliss that I too often take for granted.
Walking past a building in the City
of White Plains I heard a voice calling
from a distance. The figure looked like a
wounded animal ensnared in a hunter’s
trap, alone in the wilderness, alone in
a concrete jungle left to his own vices
and self-torment. I focused sufficiently
to recognize a figure that I knew more
than a decade ago. He was a shell of a
human being. His presence before me
betrayed my memory of him. He was
an imposter to the clarity of my mind,
and yet he was standing before me.
Upon further examination I saw that his
What Have We Done? pg.11
Quid Pro Quo Pierorazio
Dr. Ed U. Cator
YONKERS, NY -- Have you heard
about the new Yonkers Board of
Education (BoE)? It is said to sport
a “new” vision and a “new” way of
conducting business. This is that quiet
Yonkers Board of Trustees and their
national-search-firm anointed Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio, who as
Deputy Superintendent in the previous
five-years, claims to not be responsible
for anything that transpired in the
Yonkers Public Schools District during
his watch. All who view Cable News
12 Westchester are familiar with how
Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio
is Mayor Phil Amicone’s “choice;”
someone Yonkers Mayor Amicone
can work with. Mayor Amicone and
Superintendent Pierorazio are said to
simply “understand” each other; in the
same manner, Mayor Amicone likes
the Board of Trustees, because they,
too understand one another and work
well together. Surely everyone understands why that is. Don’t you? If not, it
is extrapolated by recognizing that we
have as much information coming out
of the Yonkers BoE as we do from the
Mayor’s Office. The operative term is
“secret” – all style, and no substance.
Yet, as we all have learned to recognize, actions speak louder than words,
especially when doing things “differently” is just a catch word.
After the departure of former Yonkers
Quid Pro Quo Pierorazio pg.3
YPS Superintendent
Bernard Pierorazio
Eating in the Burbs
By Tom Bock
Remembrance
ELMSFORD, NY – September
8, 2006 – It was on September
11, 1786, that James Madison,
representing Virginia, requested a
conference to discuss our fledgling
nations problems with commerce.
Two hundred and fifteen years later,
Muslim extremists, claiming the tenets
of Islam as the legitimacy for their
treachery, attacked and succeeded
in demolishing the
symbolism of our
commercial prowess by
the felling of the twin
World Trade Center
towers.
Along with countless
others, I responded to the tragedy that
had befallen New York City by assisting
in any emergency services capacity
needed. Five years hence, my feelings
still scramble in incredulity and pain
as I relive the scenes broadcast around
the world which depicted airplanes
striking the World Trade Center in real
time. That first gash of metal piercing
metal, flooding the upper floors with
more than enough fuel to melt the
skeletal support structure into jelly are
indelibly imprinted upon my mind;
always accessible, too often retrieved
- so visceral, so gut wrenching.
When James Madison called for a
conference among the 13 colonies in 1786,
I don’t believe he could have ever
envisioned the successful commercial
strides and achievement recognized
and symbolized by the Twin Towers.
My team didn’t deployed into
Ground Zero. No one can honestly
fathom the excruciating, agonizing, or
horrific environment
in which men and
women would find
themselves confronting
unimaginable demons
of
hate,
death,
destruction, and still,
that glimmer of hope. Whether in life
or in death, those that perished, and
those that survived carry with them
a knowledge that no one need learn,
yet too often do. To remember, as best
we can recollect or piece together, is
an honorable task of empathy, on the
road to healing of self, and of nation.
In time, it will lead to understanding
and accommodation, but only if we
remember. If we forget, we will not
teach our children the necessity of
Remembrance pg.3
PAGE 2
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
September 14, 2006
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By Hezi Aris
From its very inception, Westchester
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Today’s changing paradigms have
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Letters To The Editor
Yonkers Should Not
Impose Deadlines for
Development Reviews
By Debra S. Cohen, Esq. An August 26, 2006, Journal News
editorial supports an amendment
proposed by the Yonkers Charter
Revision Commission that would
impose a 210-day deadline to complete
environmental reviews for future
development proposals. The rationale
given is that such a deadline “might
prevent a project’s opponent from
dragging a review out endlessly in
hope of killing it”. Requiring such a deadline should be
rejected for several important reasons.
First, its legality is questionable since
it may be inconsistent with New
York State’s Environmental Quality
Review Act (SEQRA) which has no
such restriction. Second, the rationale
given for this artificial deadline
means buying into a favorite negative
stereotype perpetuated by impatient
developers and City officials who try to
paint people who raise concerns about
development proposals as irrational
obstructionists. Third, it is simply not
true that development projects can
be “killed” during the environmental
review process unless the proposal
is seriously flawed and legitimate
concerns have not been adequately
addressed. Finally, it is unfair and
bad public policy to restrict the time
available for the public and the lead
agency to investigate and review
development proposals without first
imposing requirements on developers
and public officials to provide
complete and accurate information
about the project in a timely fashion. There are many examples where
public input and pressure saved
Yonkers from approving faulty projects
and has exposed government waste
and improprieties. This could not have
happened if the projects had undergone
a legally mandated 210-day approval
process.
As one example, it took more
than 210 days of FOIL requests and
lawsuits to overcome the purposeful
efforts of some public officials and
their attorneys to thwart access
to information about the original
Yonkers ballpark proposal. Only
after a lengthy legal process pried
free relevant information were the
project’s economic, environmental and
legal flaws revealed. As a result, an
economic development disaster was
averted and a more comprehensive
downtown development plan
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introduced. (Not to mention that a
recent audit by the New York State
Comptroller revealed that the first
ballpark environmental review should
never have taken place because the
applicant was an illegal corporation
created by Yonkers officials who
funded it with an illegal loan from
diverted school district funds.)
Similarly, the public had to fight
tooth and nail during the Ridge Hill
review process to uncover the truth
about the project’s environmental
impacts and financial structure. If that
proposal had been approved within
a 210-day deadline, the Ridge Hill
Development Corporation, a private
corporation controlled by a handful of
development insiders immune from
public oversight, would have been the
beneficiary of the millions of dollars
in revenues anticipated from the
$600 million dollar project and traffic
concerns ignored.
The timing of this Charter
amendment proposal is disconcerting
given it comes on the heels of the
contentious Ridge Hill review and on
the eve of the environmental review
of the first phase of the new Yonkers
downtown re-development plan. This
raises the question of who is the engine
driving the train on this issue -- those
truly concerned with the integrity of
the review process or those who want
to “fast track” future approvals? It
has the appearance of a thinly veiled
attempt to wrestle back control of
the development process from an
invigorated and informed public.
Better for developers and City
officials to make sure the development
process embraces, not restricts, public
input. Although there have been some
recent and well-publicized steps to
better involve the community and
improve public access to information
it is too soon to tell whether these
changes will be meaningful or lasting. If well conceived developments
are proposed, and the planning and
review process is undertaken openly
and honestly, no deadline should be
necessary to expedite approvals. To the
contrary, most people in Yonkers will
be happy to put the contentiousness of
the past behind them and work together
for a better future for their City. it was both frustrating and chaotic. I
thought about it for minute, and began
to contemplate the horror, if ever a
terrorist attack succeeded in blowing
up a bridge or a tunnel; it would be
catastrophic.
During Clinton’s years in the
White House, the U.S. had suffered
and endured four attacks; the
1993 bombing of the World Trade
Center; the 1996 Khobar Towers in
Saudia Arabia, which housed U.S.
Servicemen; the 1998 bombings of
two U.S. Embassies in Africa; and
the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole
in the Yemen. Each of these incidents
occurred under the Democratic
President Bill Clinton’s watch.
President George Bush inherited
the “War on Terror,” and since 9/11
there has not been an attack on U.S.
soil. What led up to 9/11 was a weak
Democratic policy lead by Clinton and
company. The fact of the matter is
when it comes to safety and security
Democrats can’t be trusted. If you
take a look into the voting record
of Democrats like Congresswoman
Nita Lowey and U.S. Senator Chuck
Schumer, it becomes crystal clear.
Republicans have the courage and
the ability to keep us safe and secure.
Let’s not change the course.
The author is Chairman of the Yonkers
Republican City Committee.
Democrats Can’t Be
Trusted
By Zehi Jereis
As I was driving along on Central
Avenue in Yonkers, over the weekend,
traffic was backed up for miles heading
southbound. Storm conditions were the
reason behind the closure of Jackson
Avenue was closed due to the storm;
So what’s on your mind? Tell us. We
listen!
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
PAGE 3
September 14, 2006
Westchester County District Attorney • Westchester County Clerk • New York Civic • Weir Only Human
Hosting Teenage Parties
Yes, You Will Need a Passport
By Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore
WHITE PLAINS, NY – With incidents
of underage drinking and driving as well
as underage drinking at house parties
occurring all too frequently, parents
should be aware of their responsibilities
as they relate to appropriate behavior of
both children and adults. Like every other community throughout
the nation, Westchester County is not
immune to underage drinking. We are
working aggressively on every level
to address this serious issue. Police
conduct alcohol compliance checks
at local stores respond to complaints
involving underage drinking and effect
arrests when appropriate. The District
Attorney’s Office prosecutes those who
supply alcohol to children and takes
every opportunity to educate teens and
parents about the dangers of underage
drinking. As a parent, I understand the
importance of communicating with
our children about this very important
issue. We know the value of a teenager’s
hearty social life and that parties are a
way for our children to socialize and
relax. But an unsupervised or poorly
planned party can result in unwanted or
even tragic consequences. Parent accountability is the key in the
fight against underage drinking. Today, many teenagers drink alcohol
to “ease stress and help them forget
their problems”, while others use
alcohol because they “enjoy the feeling
of being drunk”. The number one place
adolescents report they get their alcohol
from is their own homes and the number
one place where they consume alcohol
is at other people’s homes. Children need positive role models in
their lives. Communication and honesty
practiced in your home is a positive
step to your child’s safety. Teens whose
parents talk to them regularly about
drugs and alcohol are forty two percent
less likely to use those substances than
those students whose parents don’t
communicate on these issues. Parent networking is the best
prevention tool we have to combat
underage drinking. Get to know your
teen’s friends and their parents. Make
sure their parents share the same beliefs
that you do as far as allowing their teen
to drink alcohol. And articulate clear,
unequivocal rules for your children to
abide by. We have developed a few guidelines
to follow if you choose to host a teen
party:
• Set ground rules before the party. Tell
your teen your expectations and why
you are setting rules.
• You and your teen should understand
local laws about alcohol and other
drugs.
• Decide what part of the house will
be used for the party. Choose an area
where you can maintain supervision.
• Limit party attendance and times.
• Make it very clear that party crashing
will not be permitted.
• Have plenty of food and non-alcoholic
drinks available.
• Make sure at least one and preferably
several parents-adults are present for
the entire party.
• Do not allow party guests to come
and go. This will discourage teens from
leaving the party to drink.
• Avoid easy access to alcohol in
your home. If necessary, lock up your
liquor.
• Be prepared to ask guests to leave if
they try to bring alcohol and refuse to
cooperate with your rules.
• Notify the parent of any teen who
arrives drunk.
• Do not allow anyone under the
influence of alcohol to drive. If
necessary, take away their car keys
and
call
their
parent/guardian. You should also be aware of the
potential liabilities for hosting a teenage
party where alcohol is present: CRIMINAL: If a parent hosting a party
allows a teen to bring alcohol into their
home or provides alcohol to a teen,
that parent has committed the crime
of unlawfully dealing with a child, a
class A misdemeanor. If convicted,
the sentence ranges from one year in
county jail to a three-year probationary
sentence or conditional release. CIVIL: While a criminal conviction
can place restrictions on your freedom
and give you a permanent record, the
consequences of your actions do not end
there. Your civil liability of hosting an
underage drinking party can be costly.
Under civil law, you can be held liable
for any damage caused by a teen who
has become intoxicated at the party you
are hosting, if you know alcohol is being
served, or if you provide alcohol at the
party. If an individual dies as a result of
an intoxicated minor, you could face a
wrongful death cause of action. Being acutely aware of what is going
on in your house during a teen party
may not make you popular, but it will
save everyone involved from a tragedy
that need not occur. A Better Supreme Court
By Henry J. Stern
Reducing the Role of
County Leaders
NEW YORK, NY -- Wednesday’s [end
of August] unanimous decision by the
United States Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit is a blow to the power
of political bosses. The case, about how
Supreme Court justices are selected, is
important. But it also creates a serious
problem for the state legislature, which
has the opportunity to come up with a
new way to select judicial nominees
that will pass Constitutional scrutiny.
New York State has a completely
mixed bag with regard to selection of
judges. The highest court in the state,
the Court of Appeals, consists of seven
judges. Each is appointed by the governor when a term expires, or when a
judge resigns or turns 70. The governor
must choose from a list of seven lawyers selected by a screening panel. The
governor’s selection of a judge goes to
the state senate for confirmation.
The appointive system was approved
by the voters in 1977, replacing the direct election of Court of Appeals judges,
who ran on the ballot lines of political
parties. The change was triggered when
a wealthy negligence lawyer spent millions of dollars (a large sum at the time)
on his own campaigns. He lost his first
race but was elected the second time he
ran. The intention of the change was to
take the judiciary out of partisan politics, and it generally succeeded.
In New York State, the Supreme Court
is not supreme. It is the highest of trial
courts, but its judges’ decision are subject to two levels of appellate review.
Primary elections are used to select
party nominees to the civil court, while
judges of the criminal court and the
family court are appointed by the mayor of the City of New York, who uses a
judicial screening panel to recommend
candidates.
Supreme Court justices, however,
Remembrance from pg.1
remembrance.
I remember watching the second
airplane inflicting its death blow wound
onto the second tower. Reliving that
moment, as I so often do, still finds
words difficult, leaving me with an
aching feeling that lays dormant in my
soul, not readily sated. Only the touch
of a loved one; perhaps a radiant smile,
or the warmth of a hug will rekindle
a momentary relief. And yet, it never
seems to go away.
The day after the collapse of the Twin
Towers, I joined countless others staged
for deployment. I watched as U.S. Air
Force vehicles arrive at our location;
Seventy-seven of them pulled in. I
remember calling out to my colleague,
have been selected by an odd mechanism called a judicial convention. This
institution began in 1846, was superseded by primary elections in 1911,
was restored in 1921, and has been the
mechanism of choice ever since. The
conventions are assemblies of faithful
followers of political leaders. Although
theoretically elected by the public, they
are elected en masse and hardly anyone
knows who they are. If there is no primary contest, which is usually the case,
no election is needed. These insiders get
together at a meeting, usually in a hotel
room, where they ratify the choices previously made by party leaders.
This system was ruled unconstitutional in January 2006 by Federal Judge
John Gleason, and on August 29, his
ruling was upheld by a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit. The decision
will stand unless reversed by the United
States Supreme Court, which is considered unlikely.
The New York State legislature must
now find a constitutional way to select
judges, replacing the judicial convention. An obvious alternative is direct
primary elections, but this method too
has problems. First is the issue of massive spending by candidates.
Since candidates for the bench are
usually relatively unknown to the public before they run, the money they
spend will bear heavily on their chances
of election. Second is the fact that most
voters have no idea who the candidates
are or what they have done, and many
votes are cast on the basis of ethnicity
and gender, since all the voters know
are the names which are printed on the
ballot. Judicial primaries thus face the
twin challenges of excessive influence
and public ignorance.
One possible way to pick judges would
be for an impartial screening panel to
prepare a list of well qualified candidates (not limited by number) and for
the new judges to be chosen either by
direct election, proportional representation or a lottery. This would reinforce
the concept that justice is blind. It also
recalls the words of William F. Buckley, Jr., candidate for mayor of New
York City in 1965 (he received 341,226
votes), who wrote that he would rather
be governed by the first two hundred
names in the Boston phone book than
by the faculty of Harvard University.
Although Buckley was a member of the
class of 1950 at Yale, his remark would
apply equally to the New Haven phone
book vis a vis his alma mater.
The architect of the judicial effort
is Jeremy Creelan, an alumnus of the
Brennan Institute for Justice. He said:
“Under the current system, judges are
beholden to party leaders and many
well-qualified lawyers are never even
considered for judgeships because they
have no ties to party leaders. Allowing
all well-qualified candidates to compete
for their party’s nomination will help
restore confidence in our courts.”
To the surprise of many politicians,
a rotten system has been knocked out
by a wholesome judicial intervention.
Building a better system of judicial selection will be more difficult to accomplish, particularly if the task devolves
on our self-serving boss-ridden legislature. But attention must be paid; progress has been made.
New York’s youngest good government organization was founded in 2002
by Alumni of City of New York/Parks
& Recreation. Henry J. Stern, President
of New York Civic, accessible at the
http://www.nycivic.org Weblink, is
known to many people in the metropolitan area for his efforts as New York
City Parks Commissioner for fifteen
years under New York Mayors Koch
and Giuliani. Before that, he served two
terms on the New York City Council,
elected from Manhattan on the Liberal
party line.
Al, a retired military soldier, of the U.S.
Air Force’s arrival. “Alright!” said Al,
“Now the good guys are here.” I still
get choked up just thinking about it.
It also causes me to be concerned for
the safety of my family and friends. A
recent
visit
to
the
Vietnam
Memorial in Washington D.C.,
recalled those feelings of loss,
as I heard a former soldier share with his
wife with seemingly great difficulty, the
pain and loss he felt when he recollects
the many friends felled in Viet Nam.
On May 14, 1788, the Constitutional
Convention was postponed because of
the lack of a voting quorum. It seems
too few delegates attended. Still,
fifty-five average citizens convened,
discussed, and argued over the breadth
of 127 days; many of them hot, and
sweat-soaked. In the end, some of the
“good guys” in attendance, developed
one of mankind’s most eloquent and
fortuitous documents, the Constitution
of the United States of America.
I found myself mentally able to visit
Ground Zero several weeks ago, for
the first time since the hard-to-imagine
attacks. As I meditated behind concrete,
metal fencing, and distance, I tried to
visualize what took place at the same
spot I stood so many times. I could
only hear the sound of bodies recoil
upon landing on concrete surfaces
unforgiving to the “no choice” option
they desperately took when jumping
from up high to escape the horror in a
final act devoid of pain. What would I
Mr. Stern is president of New York Civic
and a blogger on public issues. He was
New York City’s Parks Commissioner
for fifteen years under Mayors Koch
and Giuliani.
By Westchester County ClerkTim Idoni
WHITE PLAINS, NY- Among the
dozens of functions performed by the
County Clerk’s Office on behalf of the
citizens of Westchester County is the
handling of passport applications on behalf of the United States Government.
In fact, our office handles more passport applications than any other agent
in this federal region. There are a number of reasons for this but I believe the
main reason is that we are experienced
and, most importantly, thoughtful with
our customers. giving a maximized service through a staff that really knows
the ropes. We are also full service and
open from 8
am to 5:45
pm , Monday
through Friday
at 110 Martin
Luther King Jr.
Boulevard in
White Plains.
Passports
have always
been the most
important document when
it comes to planning your vacation or
business trip overseas. Obviously, you
could not enter another country or reenter the States without one when
traveling outside the North American
continent. But at the end of this year,
traveling between countries in North,
Central or South America, Bermuda or
the Caribbean will require a passport.
Here are the changes:
• You will need a passport for air and sea
travel to fly to Canada, Mexico, Central
and South America or anywhere in the
Caribbean or Bermuda, effective December 31, 2006.
• You will need a passport to all land
border crossings as well as sea and air
travel, effective December 31, 2007.
In other words, leaving the country?
Get a passport. You can be sure the lines
will be longer the closer to the deadline,
especially with students heading off to
fulfill their intersession travel plans. So
we are recommending applying NOW.
One of the first things I did upon entering office was to take a drive up the
federal passport regional office in Norwalk, Connecticut. (It used to be located in Stamford.) The incredibly knowledgeable and friendly staff gave us a
complete background on the operations
and what we
needed to do
to remain consistent with
federal changes and the
ever-changing world of
international
travel.
One
point I was really surprised
to hear was
that, for all practical purposes, the passport would someday soon become the
main identification document for most
Americans, surpassing the driver’s license.
Simply put, you have a background
check done when applying for passports
that give further assurances of who you
actually are, far greater than a driver’s
test. It’s another sign of the loss of innocence for the nation but a practical
reality of life in our modern world.
Our office has the ability to take passport photos on site, eliminating your
need to have photos taken beforehand.
We also “specialize” in families, a
place where a family of three to sixteen
can come by and have all your passport
needs taken care of right on the spot.
A common question is “How fast can I
have my passport in my hands?” Generally the federal government guarantees
return in six weeks. In reality, it gets to
you in three to four weeks. However, for
an additional fee, you can request expedited service and receive your passport
within fourteen days.
In an emergency, such as a death in
the family, where you needed it faster,
you must make contact with the Norwalk passport office for an appointment
to discuss faster service. Remember, an
adult passport is good for ten years, so
it makes no sense to wait until the last
minute to apply.
Our office also operates a mobile office which travels around the county
on an average of twice a week, where
you may also apply for a passport and
receive information on a myriad of services provided by our staff. Photo service is also available. Please check our
website, Westchesterclerk.com, or your
local paper for the times of the mobile
office in your area or other pertinent information regarding all our services.
As you can see, we care about our customers, you the general public. Government service is exactly that, a service
that we perform as efficiently and effectively as possible. I encourage public
input and reaction to these services to
insure maximum productivity. Feel free
to contact me at tci2@westchestergov.
com with your comments.
I intend to be a regular contributor
to this fine new publication. I offer my
congratulations to Hezi and Mary Jo
and look forward to working with them
to insure your government is working
well for you.
Weir Only Human: A Taste For Destruction
By Bob Weir
Eddie Kelly was
one of those
seasoned
cops
who had learned
policing from his
father, who had
also been “on
the job.” He was
about 48 when
I first met him,
working as his partner one night during
a 4pm to midnight shift. For many
years, Eddie had worked a steady sector
that covered JFK airport as well as a
portion of southern Queens, New York.
His regular partner had recently retired,
so he was working with different guys
each night. I was about 26 and fresh
from 5 years in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn,
one of the most crime-ridden areas of
the city. Figuring I could always learn
something from the “old-timers,” I was
eager to work patrol with this ruggedlooking vet. After the usual handshake
greeting and small talk, he took the
wheel and we were on our way. We
handled a couple of assignments given
to us at the station house and then Eddie
made a beeline to his favorite watering
hole, a place bordering the airport,
called the Du Drop Inn. “I’m gonna wet
my whistle, Bob,” he said. “Put the roof
light on if we get a job.” That was not
what I expected, but I figured he knew
what he was doing.
It wasn’t long before the dispatcher had
an assignment for us, so I wrote it down
and flipped the switch that illuminated
the bubble gum machine on top of the
blue and white. Eddie came out of the
bar, cigarette dangling from his lips
and laughing as he waved to someone
inside and slid onto the driver’s seat.
To my surprise, he was holding a glass
filled with ice and amber liquid. He
placed it atop the dashboard and put the
car in gear. “Whatta we got, Bob?” he
said, pulling away and reaching for the
glass again. He reeked of Scotch and
cigarette smoke. “Er, we have a violent
family dispute on Bellerose Avenue,”
I said, watching him drain the last of
the Johnny Walker Black in a couple
of large gulps. When we pulled up to
the ramshackle house we could hear
glass breaking and people screaming.
I ran toward the slightly ajar door and
pushed it wide open. A man was pulling
a woman around the room by her hair
trying to keep from being slashed by the
broken bottle she was swinging at him.
I managed to get the two of them apart
without any blood loss and without
any help from Eddie. He had not yet
reached the door and his gait was slow
and staggering. The couple calmed
down after deciding they didn’t want to
go for a ride to the station house and
didn’t want to make out a complaint.
When we got back in the car, I asked
him if he was feeling okay. “I’m fine; I
just need a refill,” he laughed, holding
up the empty glass. “Yunno, Bob,
you handled that very well,” he said,
beginning to slur his words. “I need
a guy like you for my steady partner
because, as you can see, I’m not always
very steady.” A few minutes later, we
were back at the Du Drop Inn. I soon
learned that this was the way it would
be as long as I worked with Eddie. Yet,
there was something about the guy that
made me feel needed. He was closing
in on 50, but, because of the alcohol
and smoking, he looked a lot older. In
his younger days, he had earned several
commendations for excellent police
work and was highly thought of by
other officers.
I had already learned that the job had
many pitfalls and alcohol was high on
the list of dangers. You see, generally,
cops didn’t pay for drinks, making it
seem that much more attractive. To
Eddie, it was ravishingly beautiful.
Another thing I had learned is that the
NYPD took care of its drunks. You could
get away with almost anything if you
were known as an “oiler.” Undoubtedly,
there were a lot of boozers in the higher
ranks because rules could be broken
and incidents could be covered up if
you could show you were “looped” at
the time. However, I decided to work
with Eddie on the condition that he
didn’t drive while under the influence,
either on or off the job. I made sure he
began drinking coffee the second half
of our shift and very little the first half.
Soon, I had him doing all his drinking
at home. With only 6 months to go
before his retirement, I felt he, and the
public, needed someone to watch over
him. Eddie died about 6 months after he
retired. You guessed it, sclerosis of the
liver. Ultimately, the free booze turned
out to be very costly indeed.
have done had I been there?
To this day, politicians,
property
developers,
and
insurance
companies
are
still
discussing how this area at Ground
Zero should be used. Five years later!
A memorial, a cemetery, a parking lot,
a new tower, two towers, Building 7,
conspiracy theories, anti-war, prowar, the list goes on. I’m tired of the
discussions, the bickering, posturing,
backbiting, wrangling, pomposity,
and mostly the bipartisan litany. We
are Americans, “the good guys.”
We have to start acting the part, and
proving it.
Most communities are planning to have
9-11 ceremonies to honor the victims of
the attacks and the heroes who valiantly
tried to save them. I’m an average guy,
who, when asked to go help, did just
that. Now I ask you to help.
Support the relatives of those who
perished from your community’s circle
when they hold their ceremony by
standing at their side. If it’s a parade,
line the streets. If it’s a service in a
church you don’t belong to, go in and
belong, at least for that little while. If
it’s an open house at a firehouse, stop
in and shake somebody’s hand. If you
see someone working with a patient
at an ambulance or if you see a cop
directing traffic, just say, “Thanks!”
September 11 services aren’t about
George Bush, the war in Iraq, a couple
of acres of land in New York City,
Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein.
It’s about us. It’s about our history
and it’s about our legacy. It is about
remembering what happened to us. It is
about celebrating the inherent good in
all of us.
God bless America. God bless us all.
pushed along. The principal appointed
to School 26, a former administrator
of parochial schools is new to the Yonkers Public Schools system. No need
to fret, School 26 Principal Steven
Murphy is one of Dunne’s protégés.
Not to be outDunne, Yonkers Board
of Trustees Vice-President Debra Martinez is following in the same tracks as
President Dunne. Ms. Martinez pushed
to have Principal Ilene Rivera Shapiro appointed to Mark Twain Middle
School. To do this, Pierorazio had to
rehire her from her position beyond
the Tappan Zee Bridge where she went
after she originally left Yonkers. And
why did she leave Yonkers? Do these
two women have quotas of their own
to phil?
So what happened to School 29? Another former administrator taken out
of a building principalship years before in Yonkers is now the replacement
– her name is, Carol David Blakney.
Not to feel alone, Mr. Pierorazio, in
Quid Pro Quo from pg.1
Principal of School 23.
Not to be outdone, President Bernadette Dunne revs up her underground
Manhattan College railroad employment agency. She is employed by
Manhattan College to do administrative training and has her “students”
Bob Weir is an accomplished writer
having penned seven novels: “Murder
in Black and White,” “City To Die For,”
“Powers That Be,” “Ruthie’s Kids,”
“Deadly To Love,” “Short Stories of
Life and Death” and “Out of Sight.”
Bob Weir is a contributing columnist to
Yonkers Tribune.
Quid Pro Quo pg.11
PAGE 4
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
September 14, 2006
Elmsford • Greenburgh • Larchmont • Mamaroneck
View From Albany: Home Sweet Home Rule
Elmsford Fire Co. Open House
By Assemblyman George Latimer
By Tom Bock
Judging of Apparatus begins at
ELMSFORD, NY -- The Elmsford
9:00 am at the Teamster’s
Fire Company No. 1 is
Building, located at 160
celebrating 100 years of
South Central Avenue (Rt.
service and commitment.
9A), Elmsford, NY.
In honor of the 100th
Anniversary event, it will
Lineup: Knollwood
host the 2006 County
Country Club, located
Volunteer Firemen’s Parade
at 200 Knollwood Road
on Saturday, September
Extension, in Elmsford,
16, 2006, at 1:00 pm. An
NY.
Open House will take place
Friday, September 15th at
The Parade Route will
the Elmsford Fire Company
travel from Knollwood
No.1 Firehouse, located at
Road to Rt. 119 (West)
Co-Grand Marshal
144 East Main Street (Rt.
to South Stone Avenue,
Deputy Chief
119), in Elmsford, NY,
ending at the Teamster’s
Armand D’Amour
from 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm.
Building, located at South
Central Avenue (Rt. 9A), in
Westchester Convention
Elmsford, NY.
Parade: Saturday, September 16, 2006
(rain date ~ Sunday September 17th)
Elmsford Recreation in Search
of Volunteer Soccer Coach
ELMSFORD, NY – Know anyone
who can help? Maybe you? The pay
isn’t very good but the experience is
extremely rewarding.
Elmsford Recreation needs a Volunteer
Coach for a 2nd grade co-ed recreation
soccer team. Practice 1 to 2 days a
week in the evening hours. Games on
Saturdays.
All games played locally.
No prior experience necessary though
thorough knowledge of the game is
crucial.
For further
inquiry, contact
Wayne Bass
at 1-914 /
263.2584.
The Feiner Report
By Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner
anytime I may be of help or service. My
office phone is 914-993-1540. My home
phone is 914-478-1219. My cell phone
is 914-438-1343. My e-mail address is:
pfeiner@greenburghny.com.
I will always get back to you.
GREENBURGH, NY – I would like to
congratulate Hezi Aris on the publication
of Westchester Times Tribune. Although
traditional newspapers and magazines
seem so 20th century – there are still
people out there who are not as addicted
to the Internet as I and others are – and
who depend on the newspapers for their
news. I hope that this new publication
will be as successful as the Yonkers
Tribune. I’m a Yonkers Tribune addict
– take a look at the web site a few times
a day, and feel that I get a good chunk
of my local news from your Web site.
I thank you for providing me with
the opportunity to communicate with
you via this newspaper and encourage
readers to always feel free to call me
Dog Parade – October 15th
The Rotary Club is sponsoring a
fundraiser for Student Advocacy on
October 15th at Webb Park, Central
Avenue, in Hartsdale. Dogs should be
dressed up in their favorite Halloween
costume. We expect hundreds of dogs
to participate. Bring your kids and dogs
to this fun event.
The Rotary Club of Hartsdale is
sponsoring Student Advocacy, a non
profit organization in Elmsford.
Greenburgh Town; The Pet Parade
at Webb Park Field will be held on
Sunday, October 15, 2006 from 12:00
pm to 4:00 pm
Thanks for your interest. Hope to
see you at swim—at our Town Board
meeting—and at the parade.
Sincerely,
Paul Feiner
Greenburgh Town Supervisor
Fourth Annual Larchmont
Art Festival
LARCHMONT, NY -- The fourth annual Larchmont Arts Festival will be
held on Saturday, September 16 from
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm at Constitution
Park, next to Larchmont Village Hall
on Larchmont Avenue, in Larchmont,
NY. Rain dates are September 17 and,
if necessary, September 30.
More than forty local artists are expected to display their work at the festival.
In addition to paintings, drawings and
photography, there will be crafts such
as jewelry, pottery and quilts on display.
work and to provide local residents a
chance to see the beautiful creations of
their neighbors,” said Palmer Davis, cochairman of the Larchmont Village Arts
Committee.
The festival offerings include food
from local eateries, live musical performances and activities for children.
Longford’s will once again be serving
free ice cream and Children’s entertainment will be provided by Leslie Barovick of Music for Aardvarks. The event
is free and open to the public; many of
MAMARONECK, NY – September
8, 2006 -- As people go to the polls
in every other city, town or village to
elect local officials, they do so to select
the people they want to direct the
future and fortunes of their hometown.
After the ballots are counted, someone
wins - and gets to exercise authority
for the set term of 2 years, or 4 years.
They will be held accountable for
the success, or lack of success, in the
community during their tenure. That is
good, old-fashioned responsibility at
work. But there is an exception: when
“home rule” isn’t in the hands of the
hometown elected.
New York State - and its 49 sister
states - hold tremendous power, confirmed in the 10th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution, in essence stating
that all powers not specifically granted
to the Federal government devolve
back to the states themselves. Those
powers do not rest with the counties,
the towns, cities or villages, the school
boards, or library boards...but resides
with the <i>state</i> government.
Accordingly, as charters and codes
were drafted to cover the incorporation
of a village, a town, a city, a county,
etc., it is the state that makes the final
determination on what powers can be
granted these jurisdictions. In New
York, Home Rule does not allow, for
example, a locality to un-dedicate
parkland and use it for other uses without a granting of home rule authority
by the state; state roadways that traverse through a community cannot be
restricted with traffic devices without
state approvals; the list goes on and on.
Thus, one of my jobs as the Assemblyman for the communities I represent,
is to sponsor home rule legislative requests on behalf of those governments
when they wish to accomplish what
they see as a needed end result.
Here’s where it gets tricky. Requests
for local laws come in all shapes and
sizes: in 2005, the Village of Mamaroneck sought - and got - the ability to
readjust the widows pensions
for deceased
police officers;
Port Chester
got the right
to reconfigure
Summerfield
Park to improve
traffic flow
at a difficult
and confusing
intersection.
On the other
hand, Rye City’s
request for a
hotel occupancy
tax did not pass
the State Senate
in 2005; Rye
Brook’s request
for on-street
parking permits
near the Port
Chester High
School failed in the Assembly. As the
Rolling Stones sang, “You can’t always
get what you want”. Most importantly,
is the Assembly member or Senator
from that district morally obliged to
submit that request, regardless of his or
her personal or political evaluation of
the request?
If you oppose a certain act, you
might say that the Town or City Council is wrong to ask for such-and-so, and
you expect your elected State representative to fight for what is “right”, not
merely rubber-stamp what the local of-
Legislator Myers Announces
Additional Funding for Westchester County Child Care
Scholarship Program
By Judy Myers in Larchmont
LARCHMONT, NY – September 8,
2006 -- County Legislator Judy Myers
(D,I,WF- Larchmont), Chair of the
Family, Health and Human Services
Committee, last week announced that
the new Westchester County Child
Care Scholarship Program, which is
being administered by The Child Care
Council of Westchester, was so wellreceived by families
who fall just above
the income cut-off
for existing child
care funding assistance, that an
additional $150,000
will be added to the
$250,000 already
allocated for the
program.
“I must commend The Child
Care Council of
Westchester on the
incredible job they
have done in such
a short time frame.
Fifty-five households have already
received award letters which will help seventy children in
Westchester County receive the child
care that they need. This additional
$150,000 will be awarded to an additional 25 families, covering a total of
30 more children. The Family, Health,
and Human Services Committee and I
are proud to be able to help make quality, licensed child care a reality for 100
more Westchester children this year -100 children who would not have been
served without this special scholarship
program.”
According to the Westchester County
Child Care Supply and Demand Survey from 2000, a single mother, with
an infant in licensed child care, earning
$7.50 an hour ($15,600 a year), would
pay 67% of her income in child care
costs. This would leave her with $433
a month to pay for rent, food, utilities,
transportation, clothing, and any other
expenses she may have.
“Families are spending up to $1,000
a month, per child, in child care costs.
This program will help ease that
burden each month
for 80 families,”
explained Legislator Myers. “We
hope to be able to
continue to help the
families of Westchester County
with their child
care needs as we
move forward.”
The awards will
be paid directly to
the regulated child
care provider for
each child on a
monthly basis for
one year beginning September 1st
assuming the child
remains enrolled in
a regulated child care setting.
To be eligible for the
scholarship, parents must reside in
Westchester County, be working
full-time with an income too high to
receive public subsidies, and enroll
their children in full-time child care at
a program regulated by the NYS Office
of Children and Family Services.
For further information about this
and other child care programs please
contact The Child Care Council of
Westchester through their website at
www.ChildCareWestchester.org or by
phone 1-914 / 761.3456.
Sound Shore Debuts Team in
Longest Running Relay Race
The featured artist this year is Larchmont resident Patricia Horing. A raffle
of donated arts pieces will also be held
with proceeds going to the Larchmont
Village Arts Committee.
The festival highlights the interest
in and commitment to the arts among
Larchmont residents. “We are so pleased
to be able to continue to provide local
artists an arena in which to display their
the works of art will be for sale.
Artists can also download applications
to exhibit from the Larchmont Village
web site at www.villageoflarchmont.
org.
To learn more, direct e-mail inquiry to
Becky Salko at dblm@yahoo.com. This
email address is being protected from
spam bots, you need to set your browser
to Javascript enabled to view it.
12 Local Runners To Run 200-Mile Race Across New
Hampshire September 15 & 16
race across the state of New
MAMARONECK, NY -- Hampshire, club president Lisa
Twelve members of the Sound Hamm-Greenawalt announced
Shore Runners and Multisport last week.
Club are preparing to run the
Each member of the nine-man,
Reach the Beach Relay today, three-woman team – going by the
a 200-mile running adventure moniker “the Sound Shore Sand
ficials want. On the other hand, if you
favor the same act, you might argue
that the people have spoken through
their elected local officials and the
State legislator should not hold an idea
hostage to their own personal wishes
or politics. And
of course, the
two-party system virtually assures that much
of the time, one
party will be in
power, and the
other party will
be in opposition, building
in a nearlyautomatic
countervoice
to everything
said by the local
electeds.
My basic
philosophy,
drawn over past
experience as
a Councilman
myself for four
years in Rye, is
that for better
or worse, at every election the voters
speak. The people they elect - whether
I like them or don’t; support them in
the party political structure or not;
have full confidence in them or not
- represent the will of the people. They
are accountable, ultimately, for the
policies they’re asking me to sponsor in Albany. So when they ask for
home rule consideration, it will take an
extraordinary set of circumstances for
me to refuse them. The voters of each
locale, elects its own leaders; those
leaders ask for something that they
must defend. It is my job is to help
them advance the request.
That means if member of my own
political party asks me to deny a home
rule request simply because the local
government majority is “across the
aisle”, the answer is “No”. My job
isn’t to advance my party’s interests
first, though everyone in this business must remain loyal to their team
to some degree. My job is to assist the
people and the community as a whole,
and in so doing to make the massive
State structure respond to a local need.
Similarly, opponents of a controversial
issue cannot expect an elected State
official to thwart the will of the local
board’s majority merely to satisfy a
minority point of view. The core decision belongs to the board that does the
asking; I am a conduit only to help
the community - via its duly elected
officials - accomplish what it deems
necessary and proper.
There may be exceptions, but few
and far between. When you vote on
Election Day, you’re empowering
those candidates elected to run the
community well. My task is to make
Home Rule reflect the wishes of the
people to whom you’ve entrusted
Home Sweet Home.
Seekers” -- will run three legs of
4-8 miles apiece in the longest
running relay race in the United
States. The team will start at the
Bretton Woods Ski Area on the
afternoon of September 15 and
finish in Hampton Beach midafternoon Saturday, September
16.
While a number of team
members have raced multiple
marathons and half-marathons,
others are experiencing longdistance racing for the first time.
Sound Shore Multisport Club in
November 2005. “I’m still leery
that I need a sleeping bag -- it
sounds a lot like camping to me
-- but I am anxious to experience
24-hours of running with the
team!”
“Training this summer has
been great and everyone on the
team has been enthusiastic!”
said Tom O’Brien, captain of the
Reach the Beach (RTB) squad,
who first presented the idea to
the club. “Collectively, we have
run over 5,000 miles preparing
for the RTB! On weekends we
meet for group runs -- in Flint
Park on Saturdays, and again for
longer trail runs on Sunday along
the Colonial Greenbelt — The
Leatherstocking Trail, Saxon
Woods, and the Hutchinson
Trail.
“The hardest part of the
RTB preparation has not been
the training, but instead the
logistics -- from van rentals to
accommodations to meals and
more,” O’Brien explained. “All
of the preparation and training
will certainly pay off as our team
watches anchorwoman, Lisa
Hamm-Greenawalt cross the
finish line sometime Saturday
afternoon!”
The Larchmont/Mamaroneckbased Sound Shore Runners &
Multisport Club was founded
in summer 2002 to fill a need
in lower Westchester County
for a group that brought people
together who pursue a healthy,
active lifestyle through running,
cycling and other sports. The list
of club activities has grown from
running and riding to embrace
biathlons, triathlons, kayaking,
swimming, skiing, mountain
biking, yoga, weight training and
more. Anyone seeking a healthy
lifestyle is encouraged to join.
The roster includes:
• Pierre-Antoine Boulat, 46, of
Larchmont
• Dave Burgess, 37, of
Mamaroneck
• Jerri-Lynn Fields, 40, of
Mamaroneck
• Joe Garland, 49, of
Mount Vernon
• Guillermo Gutierrez, 46, of
Paris, France
(formerly Larchmont)
• Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt, 46, of
Mamaroneck
• Erin Haugh, 27, of
Larchmont
• Patrick Kaufer, 40, of
Larchmont
• Joe Moore, 39, of
Mamaroneck
• Tom O’Brien, 36, of
Mamaroneck
• Gregg Rubin, 48, of
Mamaroneck.
• Greg Stern, 28, of
Harrison
The team will spend the race
traveling in two vans of six
members each, drinking donated
Poland Spring water and Power
Bars, and grabbing sleep on the
fly in sleeping bags at parks
and race rest stops along the
route. At night, runners will
wear headlamps and reflective
vests on dark country roads.
V-Day, a global movement to
stop violence against women
and girls, has donated blinking
lights to illuminate the runners at
night.
“It’s been such a great way to
meet fellow running and cycling
enthusiasts in the community
and an even better way to train,”
said Jerri Lynn Fields, executive
director of V-Day, who joined the
Assemblyman George Latimer serves
the 91st A.D. He sits on the following
committees: Environmental & Conservation; Transportation; Labor; Government Operations; Local Governments; Insurance. Further information
is available from Assemblyman George
Latimer (D-Westchester, 91st A.D.) by
directing e-mail to: latimeg@assembly.
state.ny.us, or by calling his Albany
office at 1-518 / 455.4897, or the Mamaroneck office at 1-914 / 777.3832.
More info is available at
www.soundshorerun.com.
More information about the
Reach the Beach Relay may be
found online at
www.rtbrelay.com
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
PAGE 5
September 14, 2006
Mount Vernon • New Rochelle • Riverdale
Protecting out Children from Underaged
A Message from New Rochelle
Drinking
Mayor Noam Bramson
Dear Neighbors,
By New York State Senator Jeff Klein
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY - One of the most solemn oaths I have
taken as a State Senator is to protect
our children from harm. On average
in the State of New York, 21 percent
of young adults aged 16 to 20, drive
while under the influence of alcohol
or illicit drugs. More alarming, is that
over 8,000 young adults in the same
age group are admitted for alcohol
treatment each year, accounting for 8%
of all treatment admissions for alcohol
abuse in the state. The time has come
for the New York State Legislature to
address this issue and adopt legislation
that safeguards our children. During
this next legislative session, I plan to
introduce legislation that will strengthen
existing laws and require merchants
who sell alcohol or tobacco products to use advanced ID verification
technology to validate driver licenses
and non-driver ID cards presented as proof of the buyer’s legal age.
The original law, which I wrote while
in the Assembly in 1999, encouraged
the use of electronic ID verification
devices, however did not require them.
The new legislation will make these
devices mandatory, and make it easier
for merchants to identify counterfeit IDs
– which will reduce the occurrence of
both underage drinking and tobacco sales
to minors. In addition to the emotional
By Mayor Ernie Davis
trauma associated with underage
drinking, the fiscal impact to the state
is also quite significant. According to
the International Institute for Alcohol
Awareness (IIAA), underage drinking
alone cost the citizens of New York $3.6
to protect our children from the
malignancies associated with underage
drinking. Each year 5,000 of our
sons, daughters, nieces and nephews
under the age of 21, die as a result of
underage drinking. This legislation will
provide the necessary resources for
businesses to prevent many of these
senseless deaths. New York ranks 34th
highest among the 50 states for the
cost per youth of underage drinking.
In addition to keeping young people
safe, this legislation will also protect
merchants by providing an affirmative
defense if they are faced with allegations
of illegally selling alcohol or tobacco
to a minor. While merchants would not be relieved of their duty to use reasonable diligence, the use of scanners will be accepted as proof
that the establishment has the proper procedures in place to prevent sales to
underage customers. For more information, contact Senator
Klein’s Office at 1-800 / 718.2039 or
1-718 / 590.2766. billion in 2001. These costs include
medical care, lost productivity, and the
pain & suffering associated with the
multiple problems and injuries resulting
from the use of alcohol by minors.
As a society, we have an obligation
Reflections On My City
MOUNT VERNON, NY -- Mount Vernon is the greatest city in the world…
except for maybe your own.
Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, White Plains are all energized by
a new recognition of energy – opportunity and culture provided best by each
city’s aura. The City of Mount Vernon
is joining the ranks or cities to watch in
the future.
The city is joining this trek by understanding its history and the spirit of
its founders. Finding a common thread,
the common spirit that united a community for over 150 years was essential to
our resurgence.
For years Mount Vernon was the city
that Westchester looked to for entertainment, shopping and all sorts of recreational activities. Housing was also
found in the city with close proximity to
New York. The city had a booming industrial base, presented many activities
that saw people travel from throughout
the region and was host to many visitors
through the course of every day. The
many restaurants that thrived here reflected that reality.
Even now world famous residents having connections to Mount Vernon are
contributors to the arts, politics, business and many other areas. The city’s
influence is embedded in their DNA
and influences countless decisions on
the national and world stage.
The late 1940’s ushered in a new period for the city. Many people left lower
suburbs for less robust communities
within the county. Gradually, divestment from federal and state resources
played out in this predictable instability for some cities. Funds for essential
support services – police, fire, schools
– and infrastructures were further weakened by the fleeing of middle income
families. Their spaces were soon filled
with struggling and less economically
endowed newcomers.
To make things worse, the lechers of
society, the drug dealers and gun runners
sensed the growing reign of despair and
pounced on the opportunity. Leaders
were unprepared for the sudden turn of
events and the city’s slide became what
others saw as permanent. A vulnerable
housing stock became home to public
assistance occupants who struggled
to support themselves with basic services. Jobs also left the city, swelling
the unemployment rolls. Social Service
saw Mount Vernon as an ideal place to
house clients as the city had the most
affordable housing that could be found
in the county.
The press, titillated by the City’s turn
of events, became intoxicated by increasing negative events that found a
home in the failures of the city. Many
people began to accept Mount Vernon’s
fate as dismal and the future of the city
was branded for mediocrity at best, and
a place to avoid at most.
Little by little successive Mayors contributed to Mount Vernon’s resurgence
to prominence. Work had to be done to
move from perception to reality.
Plans for the future success of Mount
Vernon were master planned and laid
out by first charting areas of the city
where success would be most rewarding and contributory to the tax base.
Businesses were inventoried, business
leaders were consulted and a conclusion
was reached that changes in the city’s
zoning laws were critical to achieving success. Sandford Boulevard was
charted as an area where change could
and would occur.
The next few years proved to be the
most crucial for the future of the city.
We faced the drama and challenges laid
before us with a great deal of confidence
and, in truth, the spirit of our founders
guiding us.
Today -15 lawsuits later - the old Pepsi site and San empty parking lot now
houses the 285,000 square foot Target
retail space. Best Buy, Munrod, CVS,
Staples, Restaurant Depot and Stop and
Shop also grace the Sandford Boulevard corridor – and are responsible for
millions of dollars in sales taxes and
over 1,000 jobs.
It was clear from the start of this administration’s journey that we had to
overcome the attitude of low expectations. We had to convince the business
community that Mount Vernon wanted
to do business. We additionally had
to understand that significant change
would require time and focus that had to
be matched with tenacity and patience
in the right doses. To change perception we had to get the trust and support of the community by being open
and honest with people, even when we
made mistakes.
Mount Vernon is a city with 98 different countries in representation. We
embrace and respect each nation. To
underscore our commitment we established a unique International Festival
and Parade of Flags that is participated
by many of the groups residing in the
city. This administration has taken responsibility to reach out to the various
ethnic communities within its borders.
Over the last year we have established
relationships with Brazil, Africa and
China, and are actively establishing
new ones.
We embraced other activities with
zeal. We use music, arts and culture to
provide the necessary cohesiveness to
help bridge international exchange and
cultural appreciation.
Over the past eleven years we have
stopped the decline of Mount Vernon
and the process is being reversed. Our
expectations are high and the future is
bright. Before it is over the motto that
we started with will be emulated by cities that face similar situations. Mount
Vernon is “The City That Believes”.
I am so pleased to be able to offer
greetings from the City of New Rochelle on the occasion of this inaugural
issue of the Westchester Times Tribune.
This is an exciting moment for New
Rochelle. New investment is energizing our downtown. We are working
to reclaim our shoreline for public use
and enjoyment. We are adopting policies aimed at protecting our neighborhoods and environment. And we are
placing a new focus on the arts and
historic preservation. There is every
reason to feel confident and optimistic
about New Rochelle’s future.
Whether you live right here in New
Rochelle, or live elsewhere in Westchester, here are just a few of the exciting things you should know about
our City:
Historic Storefronts Emerge Along
Main Street: By restoring the historic
charm and architecture of Main Street,
we strengthen our local economy and
improve our quality of life. That is
why the City has been an enthusiastic
supporter of the BID’s Model Block
program, which is spearheading the
renovation of several downtown facades, many of which had been covered with blank stucco facing. Earlier this summer, the Curtain Shop,
Diamond Glass, and 542 Main Street
were officially unveiled. In the months
ahead, other facades will be restored
and several dozen businesses will install new signs and awnings with attractive, historically-appropriate design
standards. The results are dramatic and
I invite you to stroll through our downtown and take a look.
Development In Our Downtown:
New Rochelle’s downtown is undergoing a dramatic physical transformation.
Trump Plaza, home to almost 200 condominium units and 140,000 square feet
of retail, topped off just last month and
Avalon’s second tower, with 588 rental
Vote No To Amy Paulin’s And Sheldon Silver’s Outrageous Secret Plan To Raise Their Own Pay!
November election to pass a pay disclose how and why member
By Jim Coleman
item appropriations were made.
SCARSDALE, NY -- The job increase for themselves. We must put an end to this • Governor George Pataki and
of an Assemblyman is to make
sure that not one penny of the type of corruption in our state Gubernatorial Candidates Eliot
public’s money is spent without Assembly now before it is too Spitzer, Tom Suozzi and John
the public’s consent and to pass late. Our elected officials must Faso pledge to veto any pay
laws that improve the quality of be held accountable for what increase passed during a lame
life for their constituents. For the they do and more importantly for duck session of the Legislature.
NYU’s Brennan Center has
last five and a half years, Amy what they fail to do. Currently
Paulin has failed miserably as our we are gathering signatures on a given New York the dishonorable
representative in the Assembly. citizen’s petition demanding to distinction of being the most
At a time when working do just that. This petition urges dysfunctional state legislature in
the country. The Assembly which
families in New York are paying that: the highest property taxes in the • No lame duck session of the is the legislative heart of New
country, dealing with 17 quarters Legislature will be held after York is run by the simple rule of
of interest rate hikes, paying the election to act upon a pay “Sheldon Says.” It is clogged
the highest price for gas in the increase for members of the State with more than 20,000 bills and
follows the agenda of one man
county, and trying to survive in Assembly and Senate.
one of the slowest growing job • A public explanation as to why at the expense of the people. The
markets in the country, Amy Amy Paulin and Sheldon Silver backlog makes it impossible to
Paulin and Sheldon Silver, who have chosen to act on a pay raise even get legislation passed to
are both financially well off, after the November election protect our schools, hospitals and
have a plan to secretly reward instead of doing it as they ask churches from sexual predators. Because Sheldon Silver enjoys
themselves and their colleagues people for their vote.
in the Assembly with a pay raise • All candidates for office the blind unquestioned support
for being the most dysfunctional publicly state if they approve of of Assembly members like Amy
assembly in the county. On a post election lame duck session Paulin, he spends the people’s
August 28th The New York Post of the Legislature to consider money with disdain. More than
20 news organizations throughout
reported, Assembly Speaker legislative pay raises.
Sheldon Silver, Assemblywoman • Amy Paulin, Sheldon Silver and the State have filed a law suit to
Amy Paulin and the rest of the all members of the Legislature force him to disclose how and why
Assembly Democrats are planning
Peoples’ Petition Pg. 6
to call a special session after the
Performance to feature actor Paul Hecht and soprano Jacqueline Horner
the precursor of today’s string quartet. Parthenia has been hailed by The
New Yorker as “one of the
brightest lights in New
York’s early music scene.” The New York Times says
it’s “a first-rate consort
of
viols.” Parthenia
collaborates regularly with
other ensembles, such
as Piffaro and Lionheart
and
has
performed
at
the
Regensburg
Tage Alter Musik Festival, among
other acclaimed music events. Rosamund Morley is Parthenia’s
treble viol player, and Lawrence Lipnik
is the tenor viol. Beverly Au and Lisa
Terry are the bass viol players for
Parthenia, which is devoted to playing
passionate viol consort programs
for the contemporary listener. The
members are well known individually,
as well for their engaging performances
with some of the best early
music ensembles in America. Hecht, who served as New
York branch president of the
Screen Actors Guild from
1991-95, made his Broadway
acting debut nearly 40 years
ago and earned a Tony
nomination for his role as the
Player in Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead. He has
also appeared on such television shows
as Law and Order and Remington Steele. A native of Northern Ireland,
Horner is a member of the worldrenowned ensemble Anonymous 4
and has a career as a soloist, singing
the music of composers such as
Bach and Babbitt. She also teaches
singing and ensemble vocal technique. Council recently conducted public hearings on various aspects of the Lecount
Square project, which proposes roughly
900,000 square feet of retail, residential, office, and hotel space on the block
currently bounded by North Avenue,
Anderson Street, LeCount Place and
Huguenot Street. Each of these projects
are part of a unified vision that places a
resurgent downtown at the heart of New
Rochelle, while respecting our history
and enhancing the quality of life in surrounding neighborhoods.
For more
information on each of these projects,
please view the most recent City Newsletter on our website, www.newrochelleny.com/newsletter.pdf.
New Rochelle’s Skate Park Open:
New Rochelle, home to 300 acres of
open space, 10 ball fields and 20 playgrounds, is always working to meet
the recreational needs of our residents.
Made possible through the generous
contributions of the Sidney Frank Foundation and volunteer efforts of many local residents, the Skate Park, located on
Fifth Avenue, just west of City Park, is
an outstanding recreational resource for
skateboarders of all ages. Those wishing to use the park must first obtain a
permit and fill out a waiver form. Complete information and the forms themselves can be found on our city website
at www.newrochelleny.com.
Echo Bay Waterfront Plans Unveiled:
As our downtown is poised to experience the most significant transformation in its history, the City is working to
reclaim the Echo Bay waterfront for the
public’s benefit. During the next few
years, existing industrial and storage
uses will be relocated to make way for
an attractive new shoreline featuring a
waterfront promenade, green space,
appropriately-scaled housing, and
shops. Earlier this summer, the City
Council heard presentations from four
developers and since that time our City
planning staff has been reviewing the
proposals to assist the City Council in
selecting a single finalist who will work
to improve our waterfront. I encourage
you to view the proposals which can be
found on the city’s website at www.newrochelleny.com.
I look forward to continuing to share
New Rochelle news with the readers of the Westchester Times Tribune
and invite you to contact me at 1-914
/ 654.2150 or nbramson@optonline.net
with your ideas and suggestions, or for
assistance with city services.
Sincerely,
Noam Bramson, Mayor
The Peoples’ Petition
Parthenia, Consort of Viols, to Perform at Manhattan College
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Parthenia,
the much-praised consort of viols,
will perform at Manhattan College
on Tuesday, September 26, at 8:15
p.m., in the Chapel of De La Salle
and His Brothers. The program
is free and open to the public. The performance at Manhattan College
is entitled “When Music and Sweet Poetry
Agree: Shakespeare, Donne and their
Elizabethan Musical Contemporaries.” The performance will feature actor Paul
Hecht and soprano Jacqueline Horner. A New York-based quartet,
Parthenia has thrilled audiences
across the United States and Europe
since 1989 with its extraordinary
repertoire for viols of the 16th, 17th
and 18th centuries, from Elizabethan
England to the court of Versailles. The consort of viols, much loved by
musicians in Renaissance Europe, is
apartments, has just reached half of its
final height. Looking ahead, the City is
reviewing plans for a major mixed-used
development on the site of the existing
Church-Division municipal parking garage. The project is proposed to include
some 438 luxury condominium apartments, 44,000 square feet of new retail
space, and approximately an acre of
parkland and plazas. Further, our City
For more information about this
concert, please contact Liam Mulligan,
Manhattan College’s director of
performing arts, at 1-718 / 862.7254.
More information about Parthenia
can be found at www.parthenia.org.
Manhattan College is located at West
242nd Street near Broadway in the
Riverdale section of The Bronx, one
mile from the Westchester County line.
Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is
an independent, Catholic, coeducational
institution of higher learning offering
more than 40 major programs of
undergraduate study in the areas of arts,
business, education, engineering and
science, along with graduate programs
in education and engineering. For more
information about Manhattan College,
visit www.manhattan.org $ONT*OIN5S)&9/5!2%(!009).9/5239.!'/'5%
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WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
September 14, 2006
PAGE 6
Scarsdale • White Plains • Yonkers • Epiphany Park
Adam in Albany
The Westchester Chorale Seeks
Vote “YES” for Propositions
Bradley Legislation Creating Statewide Standards for
1, 2, and 3 on Election Day
Experienced Singers
Child Abuse Investigations Becomes Law
SCARSDALE, NY – September 8,
2006 -- The Westchester Chorale
invites experienced singers interested
in membership in an exceptional
and warmly collegial choral
society to attend its series of three
Open Rehearsals, on Tuesday,
September 12th, September 19th, and
September 26th, at 7:45 p.m. at its
choral home: Greenville Community
Church, 270 Ardsley Road, Scarsdale,
New York. The Westchester
Chorale rehearses in Hessler Hall, a
spacious rehearsal hall at Greenville
Community Church.
Singers will be warmly greeted,
introduced to other Chorale members,
and invited to sit in and sing with
members of their own voice part as
we rehearse music for our winter
concert. Those who are interested in
membership will be invited to meet
with and audition with the Music
Director, in a welcoming and musically
supportive environment.
The Westchester Chorale, a critically
acclaimed choral society, 60 singers
strong, is now commencing its 42nd
season of outstanding performances
of masterworks of the choral
repertory. Under the direction
of Daniel Paget, Music Director, the
Westchester Chorale has distinguished
itself for its dedication to the
highest standards of musicianship in
performance with soloists, exceptional
instrumentalists and orchestra of the
exceptional caliber.
Concerts had featured outstanding
vocal soloists from the Metropolitan
Opera, New York City Opera,
and elsewhere. Well known
instrumentalists have included flutist
Carol Wincenc, harpsichordist Kenneth
Cooper, and organist Walter Hilse.
Members of that Westchester Chorale
are eligible to participate in Capriol,
the Chorale’s chamber ensemble,
which performs both a cappella and
accompanied works for small ensemble
from a varied repertory, ranging from
Renaissance to the present.
Interested singers are invited to
contact the Membership Chair, Marge
Manber, at 914-725-7507 or by email at mmanber281@optonline.net
. Information about the Westchester
Chorale, Music Director, Daniel
Paget, and excerpts of recordings of
performances, are available online
at www.westchesterchorale.org.
Greenville Community Church is
located conveniently just east of the
intersection with Central Avenue,
only minutes away form the Scarsdale
Metro North train station.
Friends of the Yonkers
Public Library
YONKERS, NY -- ‘And the Winner Is…..Songs that Won An Oscar’, a
musicale featuring songstress Bettina
Paley will be presented on Sunday,
September 17, 2006 at 2:00PM at the
Grinton Will Library branch of the
Yonkers Public Library, 1500 Central
Park Avenue in Yonkers. This program
is sponsored by the Friends of the Yonkers Public Library. Admission is free
of charge, no tickets are required, and
seating will take place in the 325-seat
auditorium at the library.
Motion pictures have been a rich
source of American popular music,
created by outstanding songwriters.
Ms. Paley’s program includes songs
such as Moon River (from Breakfast
at Tiffany’s), You Light Up My Life
(from You Light Up My Life), The
Way We Were (from The Way We
Were), New York, New York (from
New York, New York), Maybe This
Time (from Cabaret), The Night They
Invented Champagne (from Gigi) and
many other wonderful songs.
Ms. Paley is a charming performer
who concertizes throughout the world
appearing in theaters and supper clubs
in the United States, Europe, Hong
Kong and the Caribbean.
Please call the library at 914-3371500 for further information and
directions.
Kaplowitz; Abinanti Challenge
Public Service Commission’s
Oversight
Intend to Take Public Service Commission
to Task
at Upcoming Hearing
WHITE PLAINS, NY – Westchester
County Legislators Michael B.
Kaplowitz (D-I-WF, Somers), Chair
of the Budget & Appropriations
Committee, and Thomas J. Abinanti
(D-I-WF, Greenburgh), Chair of the
Environment & Energy Committee
last week announced that they would
hold another hearing within the week
on the failures of Consolidated Edison
and The New York State Public Service
Commission (PSC) to service the needs
of Westchester residents.
The hearing will be held in about a
weeks time. Along with Con Edison,
New York State Electric & Gas
(NYSEG), and the PSC, the two
lawmakers will be inviting emergency
service personnel, municipal officals
and members of the public who have
suffered from yet another failure by the
utility companies.
“Con Edison has failed. What’s worse,
the PSC has failed,” said Abinanti.
“The PSC is no longer the ‘watchdog’
for Westchester’s residents; they’ve
now become the ‘lap dog’ of the utility
industry.”
“It is obvious that the Public Service
Commission is not servicing the public,”
Kaplowitz said. “They continue to
ignore calls to mandate power companies
to make changes that would improve
their procedures and make investments
in their infrastructures such as burying
lines, allowing ‘Smart Meters’, boosting
their workforces and stepping up their
tree trimming programs. These are
the things that would put the emphasis
on public service instead of corporate
profit.”
Kaplowitz and Abinanti have
teamed up to become the watchdogs
for Westchester residents, holding
local power companies accountable
to the public. This will be their fourth
in what has become a series of public
hearings on power issues held by the
two lawmakers this year.
Both Legislators agreed that Con Ed’s
most recent and still ongoing failure
to deal with the aftermath of a storm
highlights their disdain for the public it
is supposed to serve.
“Clearly it has placed the interests of
the stockholders over the safety of the
workers and the public,” Abinanti said.
“More importantly, these frequent
and elongated outages emphasize the
failure of the PSC to properly regulate
the power industry,” Kaplowitz stated.
Abinanti and Kaplowitz both said
their offices have been flooded with
calls and e-mails from county residents
complaining about the lengthy outages,
downed trees and power lines, and lack
of response by Con Edison.
The two Legislators ask that residents
continue to report their experiences to
them either by calling or by directing
e-mail correspondence to
Kaplowitz@westchesterlegislators.com
or
Abinanti@westchesterlegislators.com.
By Assemblyman Adam Bradley
WHITE PLAINS, NY -- The governor
has signed another important piece of
legislation which I authored into law.
The latest measure will improve response procedures to child abuse reports (Ch. 494 of 2006).
The law will foster a collaborative
inter-agency response to cases of child
abuse and maltreatment. I authored this
legislation in response
to recent public hearings regarding loopholes in the oversight
and accountability
of the child welfare
system. This law establishes statewide
reporting standards
that will ultimately
lead to a collaborative investigation between child protective services and law
enforcement, without
such standards, children will continue to
be at risk. It will create multi-disciplinary
investigative teams
consisting of trained child protective
workers and specially trained law enforcement officers.
Specific provisions of the new law,
include:
• Adding information that the State
Central Registry (SCR) must provide
the local child protective services including any previous reports of child
abuse from within the same household
• Requiring that when local protective
services receives a report of child abuse
that alleges physical injury, sexual
abuse or child fatality, a telephone notice and a copy of the report must be
forwarded to local law enforcement and
the investigation must be conduced by a
multidisciplinary investigative team
• Requiring that when local child pro-
Peoples’ Petition from pg. 5
individual member items were
given to Assemblywoman Paulin
and other members of the State
Legislature. Because the state
budget was never intended to be
used as a political slush fund, I
sent a letter to Ms. Paulin asking
her for full disclosure about the
nature of these expenditures. Today, Albany’s speeding is
growing at 10% while personal
income in our state is only
growing at 6%, now that is
pitiful! If any of us operated
our lives like this, we would
be bankrupt in less than a year. Here are some of the ways we
are feeling the consequences of
this irresponsibility right here in
the 88th Assembly district. • Working families using their
home equity lines of credit to pay
their taxes
• Week long power outages and
finger pointing
• Schools in need of repair
• Crumbling Parks and Roads
• Senior Citizens not able to fill
their prescriptions
• No civil confinement for sex
offenders
• 20 years of flooding on the
Bronx River Parkway
I grew up on a dirt farm in
Kentucky, and my father, Sam
would say “New York is hustling
backwards, because of what we
are allowing our politicians to do
to us. “How can you let them out
spend what people are making
that’s crazy!,” “That’s ignorant”, that’s exactly
what my mother would say if she
were here. She would say, “It
doesn’t make sense for elected
representatives to follow one man
on a mission that is wrecking our
state!” She would say “it’s outrageous
that to remain in office our elected
representatives have become
hooked to Sheldon Silver’s hand
outs of over $200 million a year
in high-fat high-cholesterol pork
spending which they give to
their constituents during election
tective services receives any report
from a mandated reporter of child abuse
within six months of two other reports
from within the same household, local
law enforcement must be notified via
a telephone call, a copy of report and
the investigation must be conduced by a
multidisciplinary investigative team.
In recent hearings, individuals testified to inconsistent and sometimes hostile relationships between local child
protective
services
and law enforcement.
It is essential that local districts be able
to effectively coordinate the resources of
both agencies. This
legislation
creates
statewide standards
and expectations and
provides for training
of law enforcement
and child protective
officers (members of
the multi-disciplinary team) on the intricacies of child neglect and abuse. This
will help ensure that
they work together in
accomplishing the mutual goal of protecting our children.
It is perhaps the most important role
of society to foster and protect its truly
innocent members, its children. That’s
why working to keep our families safe
has been one of my top priorities in the
Assembly. As a member of the Assembly’s Children and Families committee,
I am committed to continuing this fight
on behalf of our children.
For more information from Assemblyman Adam Bradley, direct inquiries by
e-mail to Assemblyman Adam Bradley ,
send snail mail to his Westchester County office located at 4 New King Street,
Town of North Castle, White Plains, NY
10604, or call 1-914 / 686.7335.
time. Our Asse• mbly needs a
legislative quadruple bypass and
it needs it NOW. Let’s start right
at the top!! We need to… • Enact Term Limits on all
Leadership Positions
• Enact the 90 / 90 Rule
• Act on all Bill in 90 Days; Give
Them an Up or Down Vote
• Restore the Peoples’ Voice in
the Assembly
Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
said “The time is always right, to
do what is right!” Lame Duck Sessions allows
politicians to hide behind the
shadows and thwart the people’s
will. We can’t afford to let them
do this anymore.
Learn more by visiting the Jim
Coleman for NY State Assembly.
campaign Website, or by calling
campaign headquarters at 1-914
/ 380.6349.
By Mayor Phil Amicone
YONKERS, NY --When Yonkers
voters enter the ballot booth on
November 7, electing public officials
won’t be the only important decision
they make. On the ballot are three
proposals that, if adopted, will
significantly improve the operations of
city government and its accountability
to the people.
In January, I reconvened the Yonkers
Charter Revision Commission—a
diverse group of 10 professionals
representing a cross section of city
residents—to thoughtfully propose
ways we could improve and update our
governing document, the Yonkers City
Charter.
The Commission was successful
last year in drafting a tough new
Code of Ethics for public employees
and officials that was approved
overwhelmingly by voters on Election
Day. This year, the Commission has
recommended three proposals of equal
significance
Proposition 1 would establish direct
election of city councilmembers should
a vacancy occur more than two years
before the end of
an existing term, a
measure designed
to ensure greater
accountability to
the people.
Presently, if a
vacancy occurs
for any reason—
resignation,
abdication for
higher office, or
even death—the
City Charter calls
for a mayoral
appointment to fill
the remainder of
the unexpired term
This process
worked well when City Council terms
were only two years. However, now
that terms have been lengthened to four
years—a measure approved by voters
via a similar ballot proposition in
2002—this process should be revised.
Proposition 1 would change this
process by filling unusually long
City Council vacancies (longer than
two years) through special elections
that would take place during the
next general election. Vacancies two
years or shorter would still be filled
by mayoral appointment, as the City
Charter originally prescribed.
I fully support this proposal, even
though would diminish the powers of
my office, because I believe strongly
in government accountability to those
it serves.
Proposition 2 is designed to ensure
the progression of important projects
by holding bureaucratic studies to a
reasonable timetable. If approved,
it would make city planning more
efficient by speeding up the time
during which projects are either
approved or rejected.
State law requires local governments
to conduct a thorough review of
the economic, environmental and
social impacts of all development
projects, a process known as the
State Environmental Quality Review
(SEQR).
SEQR is important because it
allows government to make good
decisions based on a complete set
of facts. However, in Yonkers it has
been manipulated to drag on for years
because there is no time limit, resulting
in costly delays and uncertainly that
adversely affects progress
A perfect example is the Ridge Hill
Village SEQR, which lasted nearly
three years, costing taxpayers millions
and almost resulting in the demise of
the project.
Other cities have addressed this
problem by placing a reasonable
time limit on the SEQR process.
Accordingly, Proposition 2 establishes
a 12-month timetable for city
government to conduct its SEQR
reviews. This measure is enormously
important as we continue to redevelop
downtown Yonkers and the waterfront
Finally, Proposition 3 would
modernize the way the city procures
goods and services through its Board
of Contract and Supply (BOCS), and
is equally important to improving
government efficiency.
Presently, any
good or service
worth $2,000 or
more is subject
to a cumbersome
public bidding
process. $2,000
may be significant
in the context of a
household budget
but is miniscule
in the context of
an $800 million
municipal budget.
Increasing
these thresholds
and streamlining
BOCS procedures
would improve
efficiency and actually save taxpayers
money
For instance, suppose a piece of
heavy equipment breaks and the repair
is estimated at $2,500. This routine
repair would be subject to a bidding
procedure that requires multiple paperintensive steps that take weeks to
complete.
Government should adhere to a
public bidding process in order to
ensure the best use of tax dollars
and the fair distribution of contracts. However, public contract regulations
established many decades ago need be
updated to reflect today’s dollar values.
Proposition 3 would update contract
thresholds to $20,000 for public works
and $10,000 for general purchase
contracts. This would put the Yonkers
procurement process in line with those
of other cities around the country.
I commend the Charter Revision
Commission for once again doing
an outstanding job of formulating
thoughtful proposals that will make
government work better for the people.
Yonkers voters should take comfort
knowing that these proposals came
from an independent group of their
peers, not politicians. Another reason
I strongly encourage a “yes” vote for
Propositions 1, 2 and 3 on Election
Day.
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
September 14, 2006
PAGE 7
Business
Sire Stakes Win for Beckwith
Cappelli - Trump Topping Off Ceremony
Trotter Naughty Nunu in 2:02 3/5
By Christopher Sarro
by Paul-John Ramos
NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Louis R.
Cappelli and Donald J. Trump hosted,
in grand style, the “TOPPING OFF”
celebration of the tallest tower in
Westchester County - the 435 foot tall,
40-story Tower at TRUMP PLAZA, in
New Rochelle, New York. Trump Plaza
is a 352,600 square foot project, with
141,500
square
feet of retail space
on two levels at
the base of the
building. The 187
one-, two-, and
three-bedroom
luxury residences
are
priced
between the low
$500’s to $1.5
million. Cappelli
and Trump are
the
developers
and
Lessard
Architecture
is
the Architect. The
General Contractor
is George A. Fuller
Construction
Company,
with
the
anticipated
completion to be
the Fall of 2007. The Marketing and
Sales Agent is The Marketing Directors,
Inc. and the Trump Plaza Sales Center
is located at 145 Huguenot Street, New
Rochelle. The
Dynamic
Duo
Cappelli-Trump, Westchester’s Real
Estate “Dynamic Duo,” with charm and
panache, traded quips and compliments
with a Who’s Who list from the
County of Westchester and City of
New Rochelle. On the viewing stand,
flanked by a gigantic mural of CappelliTrump’s upcoming LeCount Square, a
redevelopment of the entire city block
opposite of Trump Plaza, the dignitaries
included the current Westchester County
Clerk and former New Rochelle Mayor
Timothy Idoni, Westchester County
Executive Andrew Spano, current New
Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson, Louis
Cappelli and Donald Trump, as City
Council Members, other VIP’s, the press,
invited guests, construction workers and
members of the public listened intently.
Former Mayor Idoni is credited
with starting the Renaissance in New
Rochelle, with the creation of the $250
of the tallest Tower in Westchester. He
graciously acknowledged the foresight
of Former Mayor Timothy Idoni and his
role in the rebirth of New Rochelle.
Cappelli.” With Thanks to Mariano Rivera
According to Trump there has not
been any slowdown with Trump Plaza
and that they have received 1,800
applications and sales prices have risen
5% with continued demand. Trump
claimed that he
received a personal
phone call from
the legendary New
York Yankee Relief
Pitcher
Mariano
Rivera who wanted
to
purchase
a
residence
from
Trump.
Donald
Trump said when he
offered his various
locations in New
York City, Mariano
said, “No! I want
to see Trump Plaza
in New Rochelle.”
The 6 foot 2, soft
spoken,
Yankee
“Phenom”
has
recently opened a
trendy restaurant
in New Rochelle,
as he looked over his shoulder, with simply named “Mo’s New York Grill.”
pride, to his previous personal crowning After the Topping Off ceremony,
achievement, from ten years ago, in Mariano Rivera personally hosted a
the background, the public-private sumptuous luncheon, at his restaurant,
partnership known as “New Roc City.” just a few blocks away. According to Cappelli, approximately
40%, of the new project, Trump Plaza, With “Trump” and Circumstance or a total of 70 of the 187 one-, two- and
It was only after Donald Trump made
three-bedroom residences had already
his dramatic entrance, flying in by his
been sold by the time of the Topping
personal helicopter that the festivities
Off celebration. He claims that many
could begin. With confetti canons
purchasers are from Manhattan, who
booming and streams of papers bursting
see Trump Plaza as an alternative to
in the air and a gigantic American
Manhattan or as additional residence or
flag being hoisted by an overarching
investment by or for their children. The
crane, up the 435 foot Tower at
“urban, chic” clientele are willing to
Trump Plaza, in New Rochelle, the
take a train to Manhattan for work and
Topping Off Ceremony began with a
“love the shoreline, beach clubs and
flourish and a ceremonial TRUMPeter
other unique jewels of living in New
sounding
his
trumpet
below.
Rochelle.” With deference and a smile,
Later, the open air construction
Cappelli acknowledged that Trump has
lifts ascended the 40-story Tower
convinced him over the years of their
to commemorate the erection of the
friendship and partnership that Cappelli
final story of the luxury condominium
needs the Trump name to sell his
complex, revealing to the dignitaries
innovative and dynamic projects and
and press, the panoramic “penthouse”
that he is proud to work with Donald
views of the Long Island Sound and
Trump. Lower Hudson Valley. With
Thanks
to
Mom
Louis Cappelli acknowledged and
thanked his mother, Concetta Cappelli,
who was in attendance, in the front row,
Veteran driver Mark Beckwith earned
a trotting victory in the New York
Sire Stakes at Monticello Raceway on
Tuesday, August 29th, collecting half
of a $44,522 purse with Jan Johnsontrained Naughty Nunu. The sophomore
Conway Hall colt avoided five
breakers to defeat Electronic Chip by
one length in 2:02 3/5 (track condition
‘good’), pulling a 9-1 upset.
Beckwith, the 2002 Yonkers
driving champion and winner
of more than 3,600 races,
continues to earn a steady
living at Monticello and
Tioga Downs while awaiting
the premiere of VLTs in
Westchester. Naughty Nunu
was another horse to benefit
from his impeccable pocket
skills, obtaining a helpful
two-hole trip amidst steady
rain. Only Naughty Nunu
and Electronic Chip (Howard
Okusko Jr.) remained on
stride throughout, with ‘Chip’
drawing ahead of initial leader
Paradise Rocky (Bill Parker Jr.)
at the half (:30 4/5, 1:01 1/5). ‘Nunu’
and Electronic Chip stood one-two
with a quarter-mile remaining before
Naughty Nunu struck the lead.
Windsun Bellagio (Stephane
Bouchard) recovered from a half-mile
break to finish third, beaten 14 lengths.
Felony Hall (Connor Jr.), Paradise
Rocky, 4-to-5 favorite Matchstick Man
(Schnittker), and Toro Bravo (Allen)
completed the order of finish, while
Bigger Hit was a judges’ scratch.
Naughty Nunu, owned by Arden
Homestead Stable, Tomas Bertmark,
and Atos Lombardini, earned his first
victory in seven calendar appearances
for just over $40,000.
Four other New York Sire Stakes
Quid Pro Quo from pg.1
Left To Right: Louis Cappelli, New Rochelle Mayor Noam
Bramson, Westchester County Executive Andy Spano, and Donald
Trump. Image courtesy of Mary Jo Sarro
Attention Writers!
The Westchester Times Tribune needs your help!
We are seeking Freelance writers to cover local news and
sporting events.
Call 1-914 / 378.1433, ext 235
or fax your resume to 1-914 / 378.0008
for an interview.
By Susan Labate
million entertainment complex and
mixed-use development, New Roc
City, by Cappelli Enterprises. Mayor
Idoni and the City of New Rochelle
forged a public-private partnership that
has become a redevelopment model
in Westchester County. Westchester
County Executive Andrew Spano said
that there was a time in Westchester
that he calls “B.C.” that is “Before
Cappelli.” He refers to Louis Cappelli
as, “a person of vision and courage.”
Spano claimed that the combination
of Cappelli and Trump in Westchester
has made it possible for municipalities
to be vital partners, embracing the
development of distinctive buildings
and fostering a “friendly competition”
for new projects. He told the crowd,
“if you like New York City, then you
are going to love New Rochelle and
Westchester.”
New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson
welcomed the City Council Members
and other public officials in attendance
and thanked Louis Cappelli and Donald
Trump for making possible the creation
“We Were Friends First” According to Donald Trump, the
secret to the success of his partnership
with Louis Cappelli is that the dynamic
duo were “friends first.” Trump said,
“Louis is a good golfer and a natural
talent. He has to have talent because
ordinarily in golf to be good you have
to play or practice all the time. But
Louis is great, even though he is so
busy that he rarely has the time to get
on the golf course.” Trump called
Cappelli, “a total professional and
a pioneer in White Plains and New
Rochelle. Louis has the vision when no
one else does. Louis is there first and
then the others follow.” Trump then
reminisced, “Remember, Louis that
our partnership originally ‘was written
on the back of an envelope.’” Trump
humbly acknowledged that had it not
been for working with Cappelli, his only
real estate involvement in Westchester
would have been his magnificent golf
course. “It’s true that I would not have
been involved with any buildings in
Westchester had it not been for Louis
divisions for three-year-old male
trotters were held on the program, led
by a record-breaking performance
from Rc Royalty, the highly-regarded
asset of owner Raymond Campbell Jr.
The Credit Winner colt out of mare
Stockholm Image broke Monticello’s
three-year-old trotting record for all
sexes by outclassing an eight-horse
field in 1:57 4/5 under Dan Dailey,
also his trainer. Rc Destiny, who won
the $472,162 Valley Victory Trot
Final at Woodbine last season,
breezed home by 16 lengths over The
Winner (Jack Rice) and 18 lengths
over Algiers Hall (John Stark Jr.). It
was the fastest race by a three-yearold trotter of any sex in Monticello
history, outrunning Armbro Trick
(colt, 1:58 3/5), Armbro Vanquish
(filly, 1:58 4/5), and Maximum
Return (gelding, 1:59 3/5).
Mark Beckwith also picked up an
overnight victory with eight-year-old
Mr Bill Hanover (trained by Brian
Horlacher) against $12,500 optional
claimers. Michael Forte won twice
with Rich Camelot and Four Starz
Dlivery, both schooled by Art Green.
Paul-John Ramos is a writer based
at Yonkers Raceway, editing Harness
Weekend , contributing a column
to Offstride , Yonkers Tribune , and
Westchester Times Tribune.
some respects not unlike Petrone before him, helps his close friend, the
Superintendent of Tuckahoe, and the
former principal of Roosevelt High
School, by promoting his daughter to
assistant principal. Quid pro Yazurlo.
Let’s not forget Mayor Amicone here.
After all, both he and Superintendent
Pierorazio understand each other. He
had his friend, John Carr, a City Hall engineer, confirmed as a department head
with a raise. Mayor Amicone’s choice
to replace Joe Galimi is John Carr. [Editor’s note: Galimi was John Spencer’s
guy; Carr is Amicone’s guy – same deal!]
James Grasso’s point man, Bill Flower, retired for over a decade, has been
brought back as a consultant under
John Carr. [Editor’s note: Grasso preceded Joe Galimi; Grasso was Deputy
Superintendent, who served along
with Deputy Superintendent Pierorazio. The circle is now complete.
Flower worked under Grasso.] Is this
Pierarozio’s concept of a new team?
Was everyone not paying attention
when all the requisite interviews for
these jobs took place? Is this the “new
system,” where it is conducted in secret?
Just watch all of them smile when they
tell you how much better it is now. Why?
They don’t think we know, but you do.
Ladies and gentlemen – It isn’t over.
Are we any better off now than when
under the faux leadership of former
Robert Ferrito?
The Real Estate Corner
SHRUB OAK, NY – Real Story:
“Saving the Day”. I have been
working with the Carter’s (not their
real name) for about 5 months. The
Carter’s lived in a two bedroom condo
and have two kids. They decided that
it was time to sell the condo and buy
a house for their growing family. I
was the Realtor who brought in the
buyers for their condo. One day when
my buyers were doing their final
walk-thru before the closing, I was
chatting with Mr. Carter. He told me
that they had decided to move north
to another county and would probably
start looking in the spring. It just so
From Tower to Tower
happened that I was acquiring my
MLS from that same county and told
The breathtaking views spanned the him that when he was ready, I would
distance from the Tower at Trump Plaza help them search for their new home.
in New Rochelle to the Trump Tower
Well, long story short, I contacted
at City Center, in White Plains. “The Mr. Carter a couple of months later,
Donald” mingled enthusiastically with looked at over a hundred houses with
the construction workers on the 40th floor them which took about 5 months of
and he shook their hands as they clamored going out one or two times each week. around him and he gladly chatted with (This was serious house shopping!) them at length and thanked them for The kids came each time also, since
“the terrific job that you are all doing.” the oldest boy was very involved in the
process.
“Height” Really Does Matter
Finally, finally, we found a house. Donald Trump mused with the group This was it. This was what they were
that the height of the Tower “really looking for. As soon as we saw the
does matter. Height matters,” he said. house, which by the way, had an
“It is really important that the building awesome in ground pool in the back
have the height to be distinctive in yard, the son said, “Welcome home! Westchester and to be of high quality This is our new home!” The house had
so that the demand for Trump Plaza everything they wanted. Everything
remains high, even if other types of was clean and freshly painted. It had
real estate ever slow. The height is an updated kitchen, two new baths,
really important to creating the unique a beautiful deck, central air, and a
views and to generating the excitement fireplace. The home was move-in
that people are experiencing with our condition.
residences in Westchester.”
The house was only on the market
2 days. We made an offer. It was a
good, reasonable offer. Then I got that
dreaded phone call every Realtor hates. “Another offer came in the same day
as yours. The owners are going for
highest and best”. OH, NO! Well,
okay, we weren’t sweating it yet. The
Carters would come up in their offer. They came up a good amount and their
terms were decent. We waited again
for the listing agent to call back. “The
sellers accepted the other offer.” NO! Now, I had to tell the Carters. I never
dreaded a phone call more, but I had to
make it. I told the Carters not to lose
hope yet because deals fall through
all the time and they still may have a
chance. I also told the listing agent to
please call me if things don’t work out
with the other buyers.
The next day, I received an email
from Mr. Carter saying they were in
mourning. All I kept envisioning was
that little boy jumping for joy when
they finally found their house, and now
I pictured him down in the dumps. Mr.
Carter said he felt like he got dumped
by an old girlfriend. His wife cried. I
had to do something. For the Carter’s
sake, I couldn’t let this go
Eventually, a light bulb went off
in my head…something about deals
falling through. Previously, I had a
similar deal fall through, and I was not
going to let that happen again. I just
had a gnawing feeling. I called the
listing agent and asked him if we came
up a little higher in our offer, did he
think the sellers would reconsider? I
told him we would get an inspection
done within two days, even if that
meant I had to call every inspector
in the county. Of course, I called
Mr. Carter and told him what I was
planning to do. He said to go for it. It worked! The sellers decided that
the other people were dragging their
feet, since they didn’t schedule an
inspection yet and my felt buyers were
more motivated. Two days later we
did an inspection and now the Carters
are on their way to owning their new
home!
To me, this was one of my most
rewarding experiences so far. It’s what
keeps me motivated to do a good job
for my clients. My main goal is to see
things through and keep going until I
help my clients achieve their desired
results. Making people happy makes
this job more than worth it. Susan is an independent real estate
agent with Prudential Rand Realty in
Shrub Oak, NY. Direct your e-mail to:
susan.labate@prudentialrand.com
PAGE 8
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
September 14, 2006
The Spoof • Computer Gaming • Reading • College
Brits Beat Americans in Amazing Race for the
Fun Diversions: Civilization IV
United Nations building; all the nations
Have you ever dreamed about ruling an be very hot, cold, wet, or dry; there is
60-Plus Set
will vote for it’s leader. If you win, you
entire civilization? Well, you can make even a setting that makes your maps
By Cam Bock
By Gail and Rita Farrelly
In a jubilant conclusion to a special
edition of The Amazing Race, three
Brits (leader Prince Philip and team
members Dame Maggie Smith and
Sir Paul McCartney) parachuted into
Central Park yesterday, startling late
afternoon visitors. In the race from
San Francisco to New York City,
the Brits emerged victorious over
the American team (leader, Sixty
Minutes commentator Andy Rooney,
and team members Barbara Walters
and Mother Angelica), still trying
to find its way out of Cleveland.
Sadie Sunbather thought she had died
and gone to heaven. “There I am taking
a nice little nap on the great lawn. I wake
up and there’s a prince in a parachute
lying on top of me and a couple of
yards away a fellow singing ‘I wanna
hold your hand.’” Brian Booklover,
who is visiting from London and had
been relaxing in a beach chair reading
“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,”
expressed similar sentiments. “I heard
a big whoosh right in front of me. Then
all of a sudden I saw her. Miss Jean
Brodie in the flesh, trying to climb out
of an entangled parachute. Blimey!”
When this edition of The Amazing
Race is aired on CBS, it’s expected
to break all viewer records, a feather
in the cap of executives who set up
this unique race, designed to increase
interest among older viewers. They
personally chose Prince Philip and
Andy Rooney, each of whom was
asked to choose two team members,
but only from the over-60 population.
Prince Philip confided to friends that
he had decided to limit his selection
to those with titles. Andy Rooney was
mum on the rationale for his choices.
Some have speculated that choosing
ABC journalist Barbara Walters was
a direct slap in the face of his CBS
colleagues. One onlooker commented,
“Look, he passed over all those old
fogeys on Sixty Minutes. He was clearly
sending a message.” Most are clueless
as to why he chose Mother Angelica,
founder of the Eternal Word Television
Network, although some suggest he may
have felt that his team needed divine
intercession and a direct line to the Lord.
Rooney has told friends that his
fruitless quest to win the competition
was a nightmare. The night in Cleveland
was the worst, he confided. Because
of budget constraints, the three team
members were forced to share a hotel
room with only one king-sized bed.
It was impossible to get much sleep,
he said. Mother Angelica insisted on
going to bed in her full religious habit;
Rooney described her starched collar
as “prickly” and her rosary beads as
“little nails” against his back. Barbara
Walters drove him crazy with her
constant yakking and primping. “She
thought this was The View,” he fumed.
The final straw was when he awoke in
the middle of the night to find Walters
standing over him. Tweezers in hand,
she was about to pluck his eyebrows!
Prince Philip was ecstatic in victory.
“I always wanted to lead someone or
something,” he said. He graciously
thanked his teammates and called the
efforts of the opposing teammates
“valiant.” Privately he mocked the
opposition, telling friends that, “As
commoners, they never had a chance.”
The story as represented above
is written as a satire or parody. It is
fictitious.
Visit the Farrelly Sisters
at
their
virtual
address:
http://farrellysistersonline.com
College Bound?
By Mary Jo Sarro
YORKTOWN, NY -- In my workshops,
conferences and seminars, I continue to
emphasize the importance for students
to begin preparing for their future as
soon as they enter high school, and
not waiting for junior year to roll
around. As a high school freshman
be aware of your choices of classes,
electives, clubs, sports, and other
school and community activities. Ask
your guidance counselor, advisor,
teachers and parents for assistance. Organization and early preparation
are two critical aspects to success.
Class selection, consistency in high
school activities, and community
interaction is important in reaching
your goals. If you enjoy a particular
language, participating in sports, playing
an instrument, student government, or
extra-curricular clubs, continue your
involvement throughout high school. Genuine community involvement
is highly regarded. If you are truly
motivated, consider volunteering for
something in your community that you
would want to support and stick with it. Helping others in an organized fashion
is important for inner growth and there
are always people who need assistance,
so support your community. Take
responsibility for your actions, in and
out of school. Colleges are looking for
that extra effort on your part and how
you have made a positive difference
with others during these four years.
Applying to college can be stressful
and overwhelming, but planning ahead
will make the process much easier. After
speaking with numerous high school
and college students, parents, college
placement and admissions counselors,
high school guidance counselors and
advisors, and having gone through
the process myself, I have created a
way to relieve the stress and anxiety.
Let’s work through this together.
Direct your inquiries by e-mail to
sarromj@optonline.net
Mary Jo Sarro, M.Ed., is the author of
COLLEGE P.R.O. (Planner/Resource/
Organizer), “Simplifying the College
Process for High School Students.” She
is the Founder and President of Threan
Communications, a woman-owned
media company that empowers teens
to make positive life choices, with Teen
Reporters dedicated to Giving Teens a
Voice. For further information, go to
http://www.Bodykids.com businesses and realtors,” said Betsy
Cadel, co-author. “We were delighted
to receive many emails and letters
from parents thanking us for making
their lives easier—since, of course, that
was the whole idea.”
KidSavvy Westchester includes
hundreds of listings, including
activities and events; kids’ classes;
parks, playgrounds and indoor
playspaces; and information and
advice on the best
specialty stores
and the most
helpful services.
“From North
Salem to Pelham
Manor, KidSavvy
Westchester
covers everything
from cultural
outings like
children’s
museums and
theaters to family
excursions
like miniature
golf and apple
picking,” said
Laura E. Wilker,
co-author.
“It even has
information about
finding child care
and throwing
birthday bashes.” KidSavvy includes listings in nearby
areas of Connecticut, Manhattan, The
Bronx, and New Jersey, as well as the
surrounding counties of Rockland,
Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, and Ulster.
It will be available in independent
and chain bookstores, as well as
other locations frequented by parents
and children, as well as online at the
KidSavvy Westchester Web site:
http://www.kidsavvy.net. climate the same as our planet Earth’s.
You can set how rocky your map will
be, whether it is a flat plain, has small
hills, or has large mountain ranges that
span the continent.
Finally you can choose for your world
to be an archipelago, have a few very
large continents, have
one large continent with numerous
giant lakes in it, or have one giant
landmass with only a small amount of
water.
Once set, you must choose what type
of leader you want to
be. You may choose between many
other nations, whether they are ancient
or modern. You can play as the Romans and continue playing until 2050,
and you can be the U.S. and begin with
everyone else in the year
4000B.C., instead of in the year 1776.
There are a total of 18 different nations, with about two rulers each. Each
ruler has different views on religion,
economics, and type of government.
When you start the game, it begins in
the year 4000B.C. and will continue,
unless someone beats the game, to the
year 2050A.D. There are six different
ways to achieve victory. There is:
Conquest: When you totally wipe out
all neighboring countries.
Diplomatic: Once you establish the
will have accomplished a Diplomatic
Victory. Space Race: Be the first to
build a space shuttle and
send it to space.
Cultural: Having a very, very, very
high culture (around 50,000 points)
Domination: When you control 75%
of both the world’s population AND
land area.
Time: When the game ends in the year
2050, the player
with the most points is
the winner.
If you ever wanted to fight in the
American Revolution or World War II,
you can with Civ4. There are scenarios
that allow you to play the game as if
you were George Washington or
Dwight Eisenhower. The map is set up
to accommodate the time and place of
the real battle, and
technology is the
same as it was in real
life, so you can’t use
tanks in the American Revolution nor
could you use musket
men in WWII.
The graphics in
Civilization IV are
excellent. You can
see details of your
units and the land.
Plus, a
really cool feature is
that you can zoom
out as far as you
want, even as far as
if you were in outer
space.
But the visual
fighting and moving of the units is
not that good. When
fighting, the offensive unit will walk
up to the defensive
and start hitting or
shooting the enemy.
Of course, the enemy
will fight back. Then,
whoever loses dies.
If your unit dies, he
will just fall backwards and disappear.
If the enemy dies, he just disappears
into thin air.
Next, when a unit is walking along
the roads, it seems to zip across them
as if he were on a plane. You would expect a unit on foot to just walk normally along a road. But despite these few
flaws, Civilization IV is a great buy
and will keep you inside this summer.
Cam enters high school as a freshman this year. He is the computer gaming reviewer for YonkersTribune.com
and the Westchester Times Tribune.
Host Your Own
Radio Show!
Kid Savvy Westchester
Hartsdale, NY -- September
8, 2006 -- The second edition of
KidSavvy Westchester — updated and
expanded so readers can be “savvy” on
everything from newborns to tweens—
will hit stores in September. KidSavvy
Westchester
(a parents’ guide of information and
inspiration) is a comprehensive, central
resource for all things kid-friendly in
Westchester, written and self-published
by Betsy Cadel
and Laura E.
Wilker (Suburban
Goddess Press,
Inc.).
KidSavvy’s
second edition
includes
additional topics
that parents will
appreciate – such
as pregnancy
resources,
finding the right
preschool, ways
to donate and
sell the things
your kids have
outgrown, daytrip and weekend
getaway ideas,
and how to
choose a summer
camp. In
addition, many sections—including
classes, activities, and shopping—have
been expanded to include listings
for older kids. And, KidSavvy still
includes comprehensive listings of
classes, indoor playspaces, parks,
museums, services, invaluable
websites and more, as well as ’’Savvy
Suggestions’’ with advice and ideas.
“When we self-published the first
edition of KidSavvy in 2003, it was
well-received by long-time residents
and newcomers alike, as well as by
your dream a reality with Sid Meier’s
Civilization IV (4). Civ4 allows you
to choose the government that runs
your nation, what its religion is, and
whether you choose to have peace or
war with your neighbors.
Being the fourth game in the
Civilization series, you would expect
Civilization IV to be good, and it IS.
Civilization IV is a game where you
rule every aspect of a civilization.
You may create cities to expand your
empire’s borders, build roads and railroads to make traveling easier for your
people, and build some
of the greatest monuments in the
world. You may choose to be peaceful
with your neighboring nations, or you
may choose to go to war with them.
Set up trade routes with other nations
to strengthen your
economy and
build colonies all
around the world. Increase science funding
to learn technologies,
or use that money to
build up your armed
forces. Improve your
land by
building farms to
produce food or mines
to dig for natural resources.
Sound like a lot of
work? Civ4 makes all
this very easy to do.
First off, they have a
great tutorial where
you don’t have to read
anything! Sid Meier’s
voice reads it to you!
The tutorial will show
you where to establish
your cities so they will
make lots of money
and where to build
farms, mines, quarries,
towns, or prairies. The
tutorial will also teach
you how to protect
your cities from invaders and how to build up
your army. The tutorial
also tells you how to
increase or decrease science funding
and how its importance to learning
new technologies.
But before you start ruling your nation, you must set up your map. Your
“map” is like the world. During the
set up, you can choose the size of your
world (or map, whichever you prefer to
call it.); it can be huge, large, standard,
small, tiny, and duel. Duel is if you
want to play against only one other
civilization and there is no need for a
gigantic world. You can set the map to
New prime times available on both
Whitney stations!
WVOX
Westchester
1460AM
WRTN
ReturnRadio
93.5FM
• Better signal! Now more coverage via powerful new transmitters!
• Full hour and half hour time slots available on both WVOX and WRTN.
• New Special Rates:
for Educational … Religious … Public Affairs …Discussion
Programs … Music Shows …
Multicultural (English language and
Others).
Contact: David O’Shaughnessy 914-636-1460
Miracle Field from Pg. 1
Chris “The Magician” Connelly, entertains Westchester Times Tribune
Computer Gaming Review Columnist Cameron Bock and
Westchester County Executive Andy Spano at the Miracle Field at
Ridge Road Park in Hartsdale, which is a custom-designed field with
a cushioned, rubberized turf to help prevent injuries, wheelchair-accessible dugouts and a completely flat, barrier-free surface to ease
access for visually impaired players or players in wheelchairs.
Vox Populi from pg.1
Stay tuned… Its sure to be a repeat of
the same old tired dog tricks.
Just to show you how desperate
Senator Nick Spano really is, he brought
his brother Mike out of his recent selfimposed retirement to bolster the local
Republican ticket, but more so to boost
Nick’s chances. The premise still held
dearly is that the public is unsuspecting
and unaware. Still, one can hear on the
“street” that Mike has no “juice” in the
Democratic controlled New York State
Assembly. But will the Democrats feel
obliged to give something to Shelley
Mayer? Even that is suspect.
Some say that Senator Nick Spano
is probably running neck and neck with
County Legislator Andrea Stewart
Tenets of YIDA from pg.1
the PILOT payments generated by
those specific projects, increasing the
value of the sites resulting from YIDA
development projects, as opposed to the
revenues being received by the City of
Yonkers from such sites prior to YIDA
involvement. All well and good, if
true, but the facts remain that property
tax revenue continues to decline, and
PILOT payments over these last four
years have been erratic and below expectations; factoring in costs to the city,
are we making money by way of YIDA
involvement?
It seems appropriate and pertinent to
ask City Hall to divulge the figures that
have allegedly embellished Yonkers’
coffers due to the insinuation of the
YIDA on the scene. Can YIDA make a
case for its very existence?
September 14, 2006
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
PAGE 9
Health
Real Medicine
Are You Taking the Right Blood Pressure Medication?
By Dr. Evan Levine, M.D.
There is little question that the
most cost effective treatment for
most patients with hypertension is a
simple diuretic. Sure, some experts
would argue that other medications
work better - possibly because they
believe they do but perhaps because
they are paid handsomely by the huge
pharmaceutical companies to say
so. But, in my opinion there remain
too many patients who take, and of
course pay for, far more expensive
medications that may not work as well.
Part of the reason I suspect this
is true is because some physicians
are naïve to the most recent and
compelling studies that show diuretics
to be as good or even superior to
other medications. The other reason,
unfortunately, is the huge marketing
budget (including as many as 50,000
sales reps, television and radio
commercials, free dinners and lunches,
and free samples) that the makers of
the more expensive, and non-generic
medications, spend to make sure their
drug is prescribed by doctors.
So I am asking all of you to question
your doctor whether (if you are
not) you should be taking a diuretic
(many patients require more than
a single medication to lower their
blood pressure) as part of your blood
pressure regimen.
But it’s not that simple! There is
a very recent and possibly larger
question about the equivalent benefits
of the most commonly prescribed
diuretic, hyrdrochlorothiazide
(HCTZ), and the most studied diuretic
, chlorothalidone ( no one really
understands why this happened). Are
millions of patients then taking the
wrong diuretic? This very disturbing
problem is just beginning to be
noticed – this author was not even
aware of this problem until this year.
However, recent albeit incomplete,
evidence suggests that the diuretic
chlorthalidone works better (gets your
blood pressure down better) and may
significantly reduce the risk of death
when compared to HCTZ.
And here is what we know so far:
• The largest blood pressure trial ever
conducted that showed diuretics to
be the best drug to lower pressure,
known as the ALLHAT trial, used only
chlorthalidone as the diuretic.
• In a landmark trial – Multiple Risk
Factor Intervention Trial - conducted
over 20 years ago (also known as
MRFIT trial) only those patients who
were given chlorthalidone (not HCTZ)
had significant reductions in cardiac
events. The results were so compelling
that patients taking HCTZ were
switched to chlorthalidone before the
end of the study.
• A trial presented this year at the
American College of Cardiology
convention showed that patients
who were switched from HCTZ to
chlorthalidone had a further lowering
of their blood pressure.
• In a study on ambulatory blood
pressure monitoring (Journal
of Hypertension, March 2006)
chlorthalidone was found to work
White Plains Hospital Center Graduation
Ceremony for Nurse Apprentice Program
Rep. Nita Lowey is shown with graduating class (standing l-r): Deborah Correnti, RN, MS, Student Liaison, Healthcare
Careers; Anesha Hines; Katherine Palacio; Alexandra Sarmiento; Nathalie Gonzalez; Annie Norris, MA, Program Counselor, Healthcare Careers and Jon B. Schandler, Hospital President and CEO. Seated l-r are Jennifer Colon, Yicele Garces,
Samantha Farmer, Patty Swayne and Jenifer Susana. Students Sarmiento, Hines, Foster, Palacio, Gonzalez and Swayne
reside in White Plains. Misses Colon, Susana and Farmer live in the Bronx and Ms. Garces hails from Brooklyn.
Free Prostate Cancer Screenings at WPHC
WHITE PLAINS, NY -- The White
Plains Hospital Center Section of
because during its early stages, it
has no noticeable symptoms. “Early
states Dr. Seth Lerner, Director of
the Prostate Program at the Dickstein
Cancer Treatment Center. “Now
those treated in the early stages of
prostate cancer have a survival rate
approaching 100% after five years.
Therefore, screening is absolutely
critical, especially for those men who
are at a higher risk of developing the
disease.” Who should be screened for prostate
cancer? Doctors recommend that every
man over the age of 50 should be
screened annually. Screenings should
begin at age 40 for those at high risk,
which include men who have a father
or brother with prostate cancer and
African-American men. To accomplish an appointment for a
FREE prostate cancer screening, call
1-914 / 681.2701. Urology, along with The Dickstein
Cancer Treatment Center, will provide
FREE Prostate Cancer Screenings on: Tuesday, September 19th from 1:00 pm
– 3:00 pm
Wednesday, September 20th from 9:00
am – 12:00 noon
Screenings will be given by
appointment at the Dickstein Cancer
Treatment Center, 2-4 Longview
Avenue, White Plains. The screening
includes a blood test and a digital
rectal examination. The impact of prostate cancer cannot
be ignored. According to the American
Cancer Society, about one out of
every six men will be diagnosed with
prostate cancer in their lifetime. And
according to the National Prostate
Cancer Coalition, it is the secondleading cause of male cancer-related
death in the United States. Prostate cancer is even more dangerous
detection through routine screening
and effective curative therapies,
whether it be minimally invasive
robotic surgery or radiation, has
increased the survival rate for men,”
White Plains Hospital Center is an
affiliate of the New York-Presbyterian
Healthcare System and a member of
the Stellaris Health Network, Inc.
better than HCTZ.
•Chlorthalidone is metabolized and
eliminated at a much slower rate than
HCTZ so it stays in your body longer.
Unfortunately doctors, including
myself, have been prescribing HCTZ
instead of the possibly more effective
chlorthalidone. And drug makers may
have made a similar mistake: most of
the combination pressure pills that use
a diuretic have HCTZ as the second
drug and not chlorthalidone- Tenoretic
and Combipress are the exception. So
most of you on combination blood
pressure medications may be taking
the less effective diuretic: they include
medications whose names often end in
“ide or/HCTZ”.
I’m not suggesting that every patient
taking HCTZ should immediately
call their doctor and have the diuretic
changed to chlorthalidone – there is
not enough published information for
anyone to say that. I would, however,
encourage physicians and doctors to
consider using chlorthalidone more
often, especially when beginning
therapy for hypertension and when
a patient’s blood pressure is not
controlled by HCTZ. And, I hope
that some of the pharmaceuticals will
begin to produce combination blood
pressure pills with chlorthalidone
and not HCTZ. Finally since both
of these drugs are generic, and there
is little financial interest in the big
pharmaceuticals to conduct a large
and expensive study to determine
if substituting chlorthalidone for
HCTZ would prevent thousands of
cardiovascular events, we may never
know the answer.
If you have any questions about this
article or require further references to
the studies I mentioned please drop me
an e-mail or talk to your physician or
pharmacist.
About Dr. Evan S. Levine
Dr. Evan S. Levine, a practicing
cardiologist and internist in the state of
New York for the past fourteen years,
and a clinical assistant professor in
Medicine at Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, and a practice in Yonkers,
New York, will never be the most
popular guy at the hospital where he
works, and that’s just fine with him. In
fact, he freely admits he drives some
administrators and colleagues to the
edge and beyond. That’s because he
defiantly refuses to deliver substandard
care to patients. He believes they
deserve better, and he won’t keep his
mouth shut when he witnesses bad
care being administered by others – no
matter what the cost. Evan Levine puts
patients first, an old fashioned idea in a
world where profit often reigns as king.
Dr. Evan S. Levine is the author of
“What Your Doctor Won’t (or Can’t)
Tell You,” available on the www.
evanlevinemd.com Web site. In the
introduction to his first book, he writes:
“I am an insider. Like many troubled
insiders in other professions, I could
just keep my mouth shut and look the
other way. But it is high time someone
blew the whistle. I want to tell you
what you may have suspected for
years. We doctors have been silent for
too long. Too many of us are scared;
scared to rock the boat, scared of
retribution, scared of doing damage
to our livelihoods. Some are more
interested in getting rich than they are
in helping their patients get well…But
not all of them. There are still many
brilliant and caring physicians,
yearning to make people healthy and
happy. You just have to know how and
where to find them.”
If you have any questions about your
prescription drugs, please direct your
inquiries by e-mail to VANLEV@aol.
com.
Telehealth: New Options in Healthcare Bring
Relief to Caregivers and Independence to the
By James Mault, MD
Medical studies show that two out of
three Americans – approximately 150
million people – have one or more
chronic health conditions. Diseases
such as diabetes, high blood pressure
and others threaten the quality of daily
life and independence for millions
of Americans and account for a
significant portion of the $1 trillion
health care market in the US, according
to the Center for Disease Control and
American Diabetes Association.
Disease management is a concern for
patients and their families, as well as
for disparate health care organizations
across
the
spectrum
including
caregivers, hospitals, home health care
agencies and veteran associations.
Upfront healthcare costs continue to
confound medical organizations as they
search for ways to incorporate disease
management in the care of chronically
ill patients. In an attempt to offset these
costs, many private companies are
working together to make “telehealth”
home health monitoring a reality in
today’s world.
Telehealth combines electronic
information
and
communication
technology
to
deliver
medical
information and services over large
and small distances. While it may
sound complicated, it uses a standard
telephone line.
Systems often use small electronic
devices to track vital signs and
personal intake of medicine. Some
even communicate the results directly
to an association of nurses, health
care providers or other designated
respondents. This system allows the
patient’s current health status, symptoms,
and activities to be monitored on a daily
basis.
A new player in the telehealth field
offering affordable care with reliable
services is Colorado-based iCare Home
Health Monitoring. iCare offers all
parties peace of mind by proactively
monitoring subscribers’ health and
communicating
their
information
to family caregivers and healthcare
providers.
Backed by Clinical Studies
Clinical studies show iCare Home
Health Monitoring can significantly
reduce visits to the emergency room,
hospitalizations, hospital bed days of
care, and nursing home admissions.
iCare Home Health Monitoring is
designed to help those with chronic
diseases by providing daily monitoring
of symptoms, vital signs and medication
use by health professionals. Clinical
studies show that patients using this type
of monitoring for disease management
have reaped the following benefits:
•
•
•
72%
reduction
in
rehospitalization
for
heart
failure
63% reduction in all cardiacrelated hospitalizations
Reduced
healthcare
expenditures by more than
$300 per patient
iCare Home Health Monitoring
combines the iCare Health Buddy
appliance, a small intuitive device,
with a proactive home health
monitoring service uniquely designed
to keep individuals connected to
health professionals between doctor
visits. Specifically, iCare Home Health
Monitoring is optimal for:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hypertension
Adult asthma
Diabetes
Emphysema
Coronary artery disease
Congestive heart failure
Post-operative patients who may
need ongoing evaluation or who are
concerned about their ability to maintain
independence also benefit greatly from
iCare Home Health Monitoring.
The iCare Health Buddy appliance
collects critical information through a
series of personalized questions. The
data is transmitted through a phone line
to the iCare Home Health Monitoring
Center where health professionals
monitor the responses and identify
health issues -- before they become a
more serious problem.
iCare Home Health Monitoring
also offers a secure and confidential
website, making it easily accessible for
caregivers, yet requiring no computer
skills or Internet connection on the part
of the subscriber, to view the health data
of their loved one or patient. Extensive
clinical trials support iCare Home
Health Monitoring’s valuable impact
on disease management.
The unit can be purchased at local
CVS/pharmacies in Westchester County
for $99.00, with a mail-in rebate of $75
with a yearly subscription, and requires
a nominal monthly monitoring service
fee of $49.95. CVS/pharmacy and iCare
Home Health Monitoring are dedicated
to presenting CVS customers with an
affordable option to improve quality
of life for people affected by chronic
disease.
iCare Home Health Monitoring offers
peace of mind:
•
•
•
•
Daily check-in from the
comfort of your home
Ideal for post-hospitalization
and for continuing health
conditions
Prompts
you
to
take
medications and follow your
physician's recommendations
Educates users about specific
•
health conditions
Helps identify potential health
problems
Provides
ongoing
communication and connection
between family, caregivers and
patients
Simple to use, requires only
a basic phone line and power
supply; does not require a
home computer or Internetaccess
Physicians, pharmacists, and
family caregivers can check
health status anytime through
iCare's secure, automated
website
Conclusion
Telehealth programs, like iCare Home
Health Monitoring, were developed
to enable patients to maintain their
quality of life, and reduce healthcare
costs. With iCare, patients receive the
support they need to stay healthy, while
family caregivers are provided with the
daily reassurance that a professional is
looking out for the health of their loved
ones. iCare’s affordable telehealth
service is the first direct-to-consumer
system that imparts the confidence that
can only come from knowing you are in
good hands.
For more information visit www.
icarehealthmonitoring.com.
Based in Golden, Colorado, iCare was
founded in March 2004 by Dr. James
Mault, a cardiothoracic surgeon and
medical device executive with more
than 25 years of medical experience.
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
September 14, 2006
PAGE 10
Houses of Worship • Automotive
Blaming God is Always the Easy Thing
Rosh HaShana
By Rev. Anthony J. Iovine, Pastor of St. Matthews, in New Milford, New Jersey
During
t h e
coming
weeks,
t h e
nation’s
eyes will
be once
again
focused
on
the
Gulf region in remembrance to the
disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina
one year ago. It will be a sad time as
we recall the impact of thousands of
residents of the Gulf Coast who lost
everything. The one area that our
media will direct plenty of attention
on will be on the failure of government
to deal with the hurricane prior to
hitting land and then afterwards.
Tears will well up in our eyes again as
we remember the pain and the suffering
that the stranded residents of New
Orleans faced in those days following
the breaching of the levees that were
supposed to protect the city from
flooding. The failure of government at the
local level to ensure that their residents
would be evacuated and that the levees
were built and maintained properly
will not be a focus of media attention;
instead the federal government will take
all of the blame for a failed response. Of
course, President George Bush will be
the center of the media attack machine.
There was another person getting a
lot of the blame in the days and weeks
following the disaster: God. Yes, God
was being accused of doing nothing
to steer the hurricane out to sea where
it could fizzle out. It was God’s fault
that the levees were poorly built and
it flooded New Orleans, especially the
poorer section of town. God was accused
of being heartless for letting the elderly
and the sick suffer in hospitals without
food or water for days. It was God who
prevented the local officials from acting
on any plan to get the city evacuated.
Somehow, it was all God’s fault.
When I heard those cries, I
couldn’t help but shake my head.
God didn’t build poor levees; people
did. God didn’t come up with a plan to
evacuate New Orleans and then never
acted on it; it was the people who failed
to act. And it surely wasn’t God who let
the sick and dying suffer in hospitals;
it was poor planning and execution
of any plan to evacuate that made life
even more miserable for the suffering.
Yet, God got blamed…and, of course,
President George W. Bush. But the
“blame God first” crowd didn’t end there.
Almost immediately, some in the
evangelical community shouted that the
hurricane was God’s way of destroying
the sinful; it was his Almighty
punishment heaped upon humanity
for its deeds. “America needs to turn
away from its sinful behavior. That’s
the message of Hurricane Katrina,”
people were told in evangelical
churches. And when I heard this, tears
once again welled up in my eyes.
Why? There seems to be a failure
from within the family of God to fully
understand that bad things happen. God
doesn’t create bad things. He doesn’t sit
behind his heavenly computer (which
would be an Apple) and think of ways
to smite His creation or to punish.
For Christians, we have an
answer to this ‘blame God first’
mantra:
look
in
the
mirror.
The central tenet of Christianity
hinges on the forgiveness of sins won
by Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary.
The punishment of God for our sins
was taken by Christ Himself as He
suffered and died for the sins of the
world. And that punishment for sin is
the punishment for OUR sin. God isn’t
gearing up to punish us for the sins we
commit today. He isn’t planning on
having a car hit us while we wait at the
stop light or poison us when we eat.
Our God is a God of love, one
who gave up His Son for the life of
the world. The forgiveness that is
ours by faith alone in Christ is not
some phony forgiveness: it is real.
God does sit around waiting to
destroy us by making a hurricane
spin the Gulf of Mexico. Instead,
He showers us with His love and
His promises to rescue us from sin, a
sin that He didn’t cause, but we did.
Humanity is a sinful race and our
world is a sinful place because of
it. God created the world perfect,
but we messed it up when our fore
parents thought they were smarter
than God. The failure of humanity to
trust God is what caused the world to
fall – and today, we sinful people live
under the sinful effects of our failures
But we are not punished for our
failures; Christ has already taken
that punishment for us. We just live
in a fallen world that is hurting.
What we must think of during this
time is the impact that the faithful had
on New Orleans following the disaster.
It was good people who donated
untold amounts of money and goods
to help rebuild the Gulf Coast. It was
people of all faiths and all backgrounds
who put aside differences in order to
shine the light of goodness on people
who were surrounded by darkness.
Churches, like mine, raised money
and sent people to the area to help in the
clean up and rebuilding. Church bodies,
like my Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod, became partners with others
in rebuilding efforts. This is how we
children of God let our light shine – we
love our neighbor as our Lord Jesus
Christ loved us. By Rabbi M. Hoffman of The Free Flame Service Synagogue, in New Rochelle, New York
I
am
afraid, truly afraid.
And, with
all due respect, you
should be
too.
On Rosh
HaShana,
G-d sits in judgment over each of us.
G_d looks at each thing you did, and I
did. G_d scrutinizes each motivation.
G_d examines how you and I spent each
moment. No rationalizations work. This
is a time for the absolute truth.
Were you a perfect parent, child, spouse,
friend, grandparent, grandchild, employer, employee? Were you great? Just
good enough; perhaps, just adequate?
And how about G_d? Were you perfect with Him? Did you pray enough?
Thank Him enough?
We are all judged on Rosh HaShana, we
are judged by a just G_d; a G_d who
will decide in the end, who will live and
who will die; not just in this world. Remember, Judaism believes in a world to
come; a world of infinite time; a world
of infinite reward and punishment, all
based on what we do here. So, you can
understand, I am scared.
It gets worse. Our Rabbi’s tell us that
G_d is not like a man who would accept a bribe. So our good behavior cannot wipe away our bad. If you are a
really good person, and you do lots of
good deeds, that’s great, and you will
get rewarded for that. But that does not
change the fact that we get punished for
the bad things we do. If we are good at
one thing, and bad with another, then
we will get rewarded for our good,
though G_d forbid, we get punished for
any bad.
I am scared of this world and the next,
and I frankly hope you are too.
The International Day of Peace; September 21
peoples.”
The International Day of Peace
provides an opportunity for individuals,
organizations and nations to create
practical acts of Peace on a shared date.
This day can annually highlight the
practice of peace and non-violence.
The Experience of Peace, a program
in Yonkers, New York will be held at
the Riverfront Library Auditorium, 1
Larkin Plaza on the 21st beginning at
6:00 PM to commemorate this day and
its intent in our community.
Key presenters will include Mr. Bob
Stauf, a community leader, Dr Kala
Iyengar, a member of the Brahma
Kumaris World Spiritual Organization.
Also in the evening will be various
musicians including Michael Londra
and Jim Keefe.
YONKERS, NY -- The International
Day of Peace, established by a United
Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide
with the opening of the General
Assembly, was first inaugurated on
the third Tuesday of September, 1982.
Beginning on the 20th anniversary in
2002, the UN General Assembly set 21
September as the now permanent date
for the International Day of Peace.
In establishing the International Day
of Peace, the United Nations General
Assembly decided that it would be
appropriate “to devote a specific time
to concentrate the efforts of the United
Nations and its Member States, as well
as of the whole of mankind. Their
commitment to peace in all viable
ways…(The International Day of Peace)
should be devoted to commemorating
and strengthening the ideals of peace
both within and among all nations and
Imagine yourself standing before G_d.
The book is opened. The time has come
to defend your life. You would deservedly feel uneasy. We all would feel
scared.
But fear can depress us; fear can paralyze us.
So notwithstanding that we need a good
dose of fear, we need more. But what do
we need; and how to get there?
There is a technique suggested by Rabbi
Dr. Abraham Twerski, one of the country’s leading psychiatrists and rabbis.
Imagine, suggests Dr. Twerski that a
businessman has racked up huge bills
for raw materials. He can’t pay. He can
declare bankruptcy, but bankruptcy will
be the death of his business. He calls
up his creditors and he says honestly,
“I don’t have the money, Advance me
more money. If you do, I promise, I
have a plan. I will be able to earn back
not only what you are loaning me now,
but what you lent me before.” In other
words, the debtor argues that the loan
be extended.
Similarly, on Rosh HaShana, we say
to G_d perhaps, G_d forbid, when we
stand in judgment, we are not worthy.
Perhaps, when we stand in judgment,
our sins outweigh our merits. Perhaps,
when we stand in judgment, we do not
deserve another year of life, G_d forbid. But the only way we can do better
and fix ourselves is with more. We need
more time. We need more money. We
need more happiness. In short, we need
more life.
Well, G_d may be more merciful than
many creditors, but I still think that
there is a similarity. Because you know
what any reasonable creditor would say.
In fact, you know what G_d would say.
“Why should I believe you? Why
should this year be any different than
last? How do I know that you are not
going to take what I give you and just
do all the same wrong things again?”
This is the essence of “T’Shuva,” of
returning to G_d. We must say, and we
must mean, that we will be different
people!
Yet the goal seems so far away. When
I measure myself against the Jewish
greats, and even the Jewish, not so
greats, I know I have so far to go.
And I know that I have tried before, yet
somehow my weaknesses are still within me. The same things I do wrong now
are really the same things I did wrong
the year before. How can things be different?
Well, first I have to believe that they
can be different. All too often people
tell us that change is not possible.
Well that is all a bunch of garbage.
We believe that change is possible. We
believe that change has to be possible.
Now I am not saying that change is natural. Obviously, there is a huge amount
of resistance to change. We all seem to
like things the way they are, even if the
way they are is not so good.
We are used to our lives. We are used to
the devils we know. In fact, that’s an old
and foolish statement: ‘The devil you
know is better than the devil you don’t.’
People are afraid of change.
But as Jews, we believe that change is
possible. We believe in radical free will.
We believe that people can and must
change, and do so all the time.
After all, among our greatest rabbis was
Resh Lakish. Resh Lakish was, in his
early years a robber.
One day, as he was about to rob Rabbi
(Rav) Yochanan, a great Talmudic sage,
Rabbi Yochanan told Resh Lakish how
much he admired Lakish’s strength.
Resh Lakish, apparently wanting to return the favor, told Rabbi Yochanan how
much he admired the Rabbi’s looks.
Rabbi (Rav) Yochanan, sensing an
opening, told Resh Lakish that it was
his sister was by far the most beautiful.Teh Rav promised Resh Lakish that
if repented and learned Torah, that he
could marry his beautiful sister.
So, believe it or not, Resh Lakish repented from being a highwayman and
became one of the greatest Torah scholars of all time. All for the passion he
had for a woman he never saw.
Now, if radical change of that type is
accessible to us merely because of the
passion we can have for a person of the
opposite sex, obviously change is possible. Indeed, Rosh HaShana recognizes
that change is both possible and a miracle from G_D. After all, it was on Rosh
HaShana, that Sara, wife of Abraham,
finally conceived the child they had
both yearned for, over so many years.
According to the Torah, Sara was 90
years old when she conceived. Further,
according to rabbinic legend, Sara did
not have a uterus.
So, a woman who is 90 years old, who
did not even have an uterus, was capable of conceiving a child. And when did
she do so? On Rosh HaShana!
Do we need any greater proof that Rosh
HaShana is a time of miracles than the
Torah reading which we read today?
So whether you think, as do so many
psychologists, that change is something
that we all have to do, and that we may
achieve change by reasoning our way to
it; or whether you think that change requires a miracle - either course is open
to you on Rosh HaShana.
We know that change is possible. We
know that even if change requires a
miracle, it is possible. Therefore, there
are no excuses.
We can change. We must change. And
upon resolving to change, we can ask
G_d for a good year.
Rabbi M. Hoffman conducts services
at The Free Flame Service, in New Rochelle, New York. For further inquiry,
call 1-914 / 636.7084.
Running With the Big Dogs: Going Everywhere in an FJ Cruiser
By Roger Witherspoon
BEDFORD, NY -- The woman stood
in the door of her Mercedes SL-500
and stared for a long time, arrested by
the sight of the car in front of her.
Perhaps it was the useless silver
fringe, sticking out on each side of
the black bumper and looking like a
glittering mustache. Maybe it was
the matching silver fringe around the
black radiator grill, which gave the
appearance of a smiling face, or the
long, flat air scoop which resembled a
backwards cap on a teenage forehead
– an image aided by the wide, silver
rear-view mirrors which stuck out like
ears.
The combination led her to say,
“Excuse me. What is that? And can I
sit in it?”
It is the Toyota FJ Cruiser, a
whimsical looking, extremely well
engineered, thoughtfully designed,
eye-catching, comfortable, goanywhere, do anything, on or off-road
SUV which poses a serious challenge
to the reigning monarchs of the offroad world. If cars could marry, the
FJ Cruiser would be the rambunctious
offspring of the Hummer H3 and a
Jeep, with a few stray genes from
Uncle Nissan Xterra. And like a typical
teen, the FJ has more exuberance
than its elders, though not all of their
capabilities.
The FJ is an arresting sight, starting
with its electric, two-tone paint coating
and bright silver accents. Those ear-
like rear-view mirrors have round
reflecting lights in them, which extends
the smiley-face look when you appear
in someone else’s rear-view mirror at
night. You can’t go anywhere in the FJ
without drawing a crowd. People want
to look at it, talk about it, and sit in it.
It is a high riding vehicle, providing
off-road clearance for both rocks and
streams. Its ground clearance, at 9.6
inches, is actually a half inch higher
than that of the H3, though both
vehicles are rated capable of rolling
through 30 inches of water and easily
traversing rocky terrain. Both the
Cruiser and Hummer are about 74.6
inches wide, but the H3 has a slightly
wider stance with 65-inches separating
the front wheels as opposed to 63
inches for the FJ. The H3, at 74.5
inches, is about four inches taller.
The FJ Cruiser will comfortably seat
four NBA-sized adults on its wide,
cloth seats, and it actually has more
cargo room than the H3, though the
Hummer is three inches longer. The
passenger doors on the FJ are halfdoors which open from the center
post – a feature which makes it easy
to access the interior of the cargo area
when the rear seats are laid down.
There is also a built-in tow hitch, and
the FJ is capable of hauling 5,000
pounds behind it – 500 pounds more
than the H3.
Inside, the décor combines the
exuberant, youthful theme with the
practicality expected in a serious offroad vehicle. The floor mats have
the rubber, tire-tread design like that
found in the Xterra, and there is a lot
of rubber padding and rounded edges.
But the black plastic and rubber is
highlighted by electric colored plastic
panels in the center of the dash and
the door inlays, and accented by more
silver to make the FJ as lively inside as
it is outside.
For noise, the FJ has AM/FM radio
and is wired for Satellite, though the
test car did not have it. It also features
a six-disc, in-dash CD player. There
are two speakers built into the top of
the dash, another, larger pair in the
doors and another set in the rear. A
sub-woofer—literally a huge boombox, is built into the side of the cargo
bay, and when cranked up, the FJ can
provide more than enough volume for
the average city block party
On top of the dash are a compass,
thermometer, and attitude gauge so you
can tell if the vertical or horizontal,
off-road slope is exceeding the 30degree recommended limit for the car.
That is half the design climbing limit
for the H3,
though
Toyota
says the
Cruiser can
be rolled
along a
side slope
of 41
degrees
without
rolling
over.
In a
state park
in the Hudson Highlands just south of
West Point is a glittering Silver Mine
Lake sitting in the shadows of a 1,200foot ski run which, in the summer,
is festooned with scrub brush, New
York Astor, and assorted wildflowers.
The bottom two thirds of the hill is a
40-degree, undulating slope. It then
steepens to 60-degrees to the summit. I drove the FJ in a lazy line up the
lower portion of the hill, and then
turned figure eights – reaching out the
window to touch the flowers – before
heading back down to the lake as the
built-in boom-box in the rear bounced
echoes of the Temptations’ “Runaway
Child off the surrounding mountains.
The Land Rover LR3 also roams
in this 40-degree range, while the
Hummer, Xterra, and Jeep Wrangler
can all trek the steep upper slope to the
summit.
Further in the park, the FJ cruised
through a wetland with shallow water
and patches of roof-level grasses
flanked by mud, and then forded a slow
moving stream about two feet deep.
For good
measure,
after
climbing
out the
opposite
side of the
stream,
I went
through
it again
backwards.
The H3, Nissan Xterra, and LR3 could
do the same trick, though it is a bit
deep for a Jeep.
The Cruiser was made for woodlands
riding – rain and mud, snow and ice, or
summer sun and wildflowers. And even
if the intervening decades have made it
difficult to remember what it was to be
a teenager, the FJ Cruiser makes you
want to crank up the box, make a sharp
turn off the paved byways, and just go. 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser
4X4MSRP: $30,983EPA
Mileage:17 MPG City - 21 MPG
Highway Performance / Safety: 4.0-Liter V6 engine with aluminum alloy block
producing 239 horsepower and 278
pound-feet of torque; four-wheel Antilock brake system with brake assist,
electronic brake-force distribution; on
and off-road traction control; vehicle
skid control; back sonar system;17inch aluminum alloy wheels; part
time 4-wheel drive; 5-speed automatic
transmission; high mounted, double
wishbone front suspension and
stabilizer bar; 4-link rear suspension
with lateral and coil springs; power
assisted rack and pinion steering; tow
hooks, front and rear; skid plates; front
and passenger curtain airbags. Interior/ Comfort:AM/FM radio,
6-disc in-dash CD changer with 6
speakers and rear 400-watt subwoofer;
tilt steering wheel; fingertip audio
controls; side running boards; 8-way
adjustable driver’s seat; fold down rear
seats; 4 cup holders and bottle holders.
Roger Witherspoon is automotive
columnist to the Dallas Examiner,
Westchester Times Tribune, and
Yonkers Tribune, among other media.
WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE
September 14, 2006
PAGE 11
Weir Only Human • Harness Racing
The WesFoodie’s: Eating in the Burbs
Frodo’s Restaurant
Yvonne’s Southern Cuisine Restaurant
By Jack 8. Kirby
PELHAM, NY -- Every place has a
story; a history that runs deep and allows
it to become itself. In America some of
that history always comes borrowed
from other places in other times. It
is a particularly American irony that
the soul of each place, what makes it
uniquely what it is, so often starts with
a some other place’s history, a story
carried with the people who came to
it. And so it is here; Westchester is
made of borrowed histories and
things brought to it by transplants
from the City and places more distant.
We are fortunate that Yvonne
Parker has brought to Westchester
the authentic food of the American
South. At Yvonne’s Southern Cuisine
Restaurant in Pelham, Ms. Parker
serves traditional African American and
Southern dishes with warmth and style. Yvonne’s has become a Westchester
institution – but don’t let that fool you;
the food is alive with its tradition (not
resting on it) and the true generosity of
a cook welcoming guests to her table
One dish borrowed from one place to
another, and that is never quite the same
in any two places, is Jerk Chicken. The
Jerk at Yvonne’s is profound. This
chicken, rubbed deeply in spices and
brushed in a dark sauce of heat and
juices, is an all consuming sensation of
Island flavor. The ordinary bird is utterly
transformed into a new creation of tang,
brown, fire and succulence. The pieces
are moist and plentiful but no matter
how many you eat you will still be
longing for just another taste tomorrow.
Bathed in a sweet and smokey tomato
sauce, the Barbequed pork ribs are the
taste of Southern que.The fat rippled
meat easily slides off the bone with the
pull of a fork or a gentle toothy bite. There are many types of barbequed ribs
and people can get rather, well, testy
over which is the “True Que.” There
are great arguments and brawls over St.
Louis Style versus Carolina Que. If you
want to slug it out with Bobby Flay, by all
m e a n s … . I’m
not
getting in
the middle
of all that
here. Let’s
just
say,
if
you
like them
tender,
sweet and
saucy these
ribs will
s a t i s f y . The dark
browned ox
tails, slow
cooked
and served
in the rich sauce from the stew pot,
please with a meaty and full textured
straight on taste of beef. These are
thick cuts of meat with big flavor.
Now, I love canned string beans.
They remind me of dinner at my
grandmother’s. I know, I know. I’ve
had green beans fresh from the field
prepared by some renowned chefs
and I don’t confuse masterful cooking
with the Green Giant – but hidden
between the taste molecules in the salty
faded kind, cut and canned, are ghosts
whispering of meals had on sleepy
nights, in soft pajamas on pillowed
couches at my Nana’s house. So I’m
gonna keep on loving those beans - and
the green beans at Yvonne’s. Only,
Across The Pond: James Blake
By Cicely Greaves-Vega
QUEENS, NY -- James Blake was
being photographed at the National
Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens,
New York, for an Evian commercial
when I arrived. The sun was
scorchingly hot. I sat in a row with
fifteen other members of the press
corps for the opportunity to interview
America’s “number one” tennis
star. Evian President Eric Leventhal
addressed all of us when he divulged
that Evian® Spring Water, a worldrenowned sponsor of exemplary tennis
players for 21-years had chosen James
Blake to be their on and off-court
ambassador.
James Blake is a tall handsome
young man who exuded
a calm, and humble
demeanor; exhibiting nary a
cocky or arrogant approach.
His gentle and mild manner
was very appealing and
quite disarming. When I
asked him how he felt about
being portrayed as a sex
symbol, he blushed, and
the crowd laughed. He said,
“That’s a tough question. I
don’t see myself that way
at all. When people tell me
to approach young ladies,
I don’t always find the
confidence to do so.”
Blake posed in a four-footed, white
antique porcelain bath tub with a
tennis racket draping the side of the
tub, while Evian® Spring Water was
poured over his body for an Evian
Detox.
( http://evian.com/us/ ) Blake was
glistening in a tantalizing array of
patterns designed by the intensity of
the sunlight. He drank the Evian elixir
while simultaneously, the Evian staff
members poured more water all over
his body. He took it all in stride. It was
simply too much for any young, hotblooded woman to take.
He said that he feels great. He’s
confident. “It feels great holding a
trophy. When I was small, I watched
other tennis players; I appreciated their
talent. I never thought that I would
actually be a winner at the U.S. Open
one day. He fell very lucky and very
humble about everything,” Blake
continued.
“I miss having my father by my side,
especially at these moments in my life.
I wish he could have been here to see
me win the U.S. Open,” said Blake.
“Tennis is my passion, but my family
and friends are very important in my
life. I know I can count on my family
and friends to be supportive of me
during the bad times, as well as when
they are good.”
To get in shape, Blake undergoes a
battery of running and defense drills.
Training is vital to strengthen the
legs. “My second serve has been my
weakness,” said Blake, “Training,
and training hard is the only road to
continued success.”
James Blake’s final words were, “I
want kids to know that tennis is fun.
Keep at it; don’t burn yourself out.
Enjoy your childhood; go out and
play,… enjoy life.”
Cicely Greaves-Vega heads the
London, England office for Westchester
Times Tribune LLC, and Yonkers
Tribune Ltd.
with asparagus and apples. The light
tender pasta arrived under a slightly
sweet warm yellow sauce of apples that
worked well with the mild vegetable
flavor of the asparagus filling. The
dish was heightened by the richness of
included some touched in the décor
(such as the stone paneled walls and
mountainscape images on the wall) that
recall the fantasy series. That’s the kind
of idiosyncratic and passionate sensibility that comes through at Frodo’s.
Frodo’s is one of a kind. It’s serious
about good food but it doesn’t take itself too seriously – a casual neighborhood place that happens to have a fine
chef with big dreams as its owner. Chef
Petrilli has a contagious warmth and
big ambitions but with a common touch
that brings it all back home.
the beans at Yvonne’s have a multilayered flavor from cooking along
side some smokey ham. So even if
you don’t associate salty boiled beans
with love and comfort (yet) you can
enjoy Yvonne’s side of green beans.
The candied yams are alone worth
the trip to Pelham. These small orange
boulders of soft sweet tubers burst with
earthy flavor and subterranean sugars. Rice and beans come with pieces of
sausage tumbled in the mix. The black
eyed peas are delicate to the bite and
drenched in a brothy sauce that nudges
the beans a couple of degrees up in flavor.
There are many dishes to discover
or re-discover at Yvonne’s. And there
is no comparing Yvonne’s to any other
food in the Burbs. It stands alone as a
source for great cuisine in the Southern
tradition. A tradition carried here has
become our own. In borrowing the
history of the smoke, sauce, sweet and
stewed comforts of the South, Yvonne’s
enriches the borrowed soul of the
Burbs. How American. How delicious. Yvonne’s Southern Cuisine Restaurant
is located at 503 Fifth Avenue, in
Pelham, New York 10803. Telephone:
1-914
/
738.2005.
T h e
restaurant
is
open
for private
parties on
Monday;
Tuesday to
Thursday,
from 11:00
am to 10
:00
pm;
Friday,
from 11:00
am
to
11:00 pm;
S a t u r d a y,
f r o m
8:30 am to 11:00 pm; and Sunday,
from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm. Learn
more
by
visiting
the
http://
yvonnesoutherncuisine.com Yvonne’s
Southern Cuisine Restaurant Website.
Jack 8. Kirby is editor of http://www.
wesfoodie.com
The
WesFoodie’s
Eating in the Burbs Website, and
a writer living in Larchmont, NY. When not eating his way round the
Burbs, Kirby can be found bemoaning
the exponential growth of waistlines in
direct proportion to sleepless nights of
childrearing and other immutable laws
of mid-life in the suburbs. to remain close born of the events on
and following September 11, 2001. It’s
a keen insight from a close observer of
the Westchester food scene. Our appreciation of home has strengthened but
our drive to experience the good things
in life has been undiminished.
With more Burbanites seeking well prepared food in a local setting, Petrilli and
his staff at Frodo’s deliver the goods.
Frodo’s serves new American cuisine
with an emphasis on deeply flavored
sauces and eye pleasing presentations.
The restaurant is a curious blend of a
comfortable neighborhood joint with
affordable prices but with a menu that
aspires to greater heights and a name
and aspects of its decor that suggest the
fantastical.
Frodo’s has the laid back feel of a local
place with a reliable clientele; a place to
come for a meal after work among regular folks. The door is left open and the
staff is attentive while remaining entirely casual and unaffected. It’s a friendly
place. A
small restaurant
that houses bigger
ambitions;
one would
never expect this
storefront
space to
offer dishes with the
level of artistic presentation
and sophistication in pairing of ingredients that chef Petrilli offers at Frodo’s.
One recent dish offered as both an appetizer and entrée was a ravioli filled
the nutty warm butter surrounding the
doughy pockets. A duck breast was
served in a generous offering of thick
rare slices of meat over a bed of red and
purple wine infused cabbage. Browned
pan fried cubed potatoes were scattered
across a rich brown sauce tasting deeply
of smokey pancetta. In each dish chef
Petrilli uses color as intentionally as he
does flavors. He has a natural and artful
approach to each.
You may have noticed from the restaurant’s name that Frodo’s is quite
curiously named. Interestingly, when
Petrilli set out to open a restaurant of his
own after many years working in three
star Manhattan venues and at Strega’s,
he sought to make a bold beginning
with a grand restaurant he planned to
call Rivendale after
the elaborate castle
of
the
fairy king
in Lord of
the Rings.
W h e n
the initial
space and
plans were
scaled
back a bit,
Petrilli aptly named
his new venue after the small but beloved hobbit character from the J.R.R.
Tolkien series. Why? Simple, Petrilli
loves the Lord of the Rings. He’s also
472
Bedford
Road
Pleasantville,
N.Y.
10570
Phone:
(914)
747-4646
Fax:
(914)
747-4660
e-mail: frodos-restaurant@verizon.net
What Have We Done? from pg.1
eyes were no longer his own. They now
reflected an empty bottomless soul that
was torn and battered. Then he called
out to me. I had to look closely at this
man, past the wear and tear that hardship
had inflicted upon his body. I had to
look past the face that now appeared
desolate and defiled by something. I
had to look past the mustache which
was overgrown, unkempt, and out of
place on his lip. He now looked frail
and thin. He had an unique aura; a look
unlike those of the people moving all
about him, hustling to the daily rat race.
I was taken aback, when I realized
it was someone I knew from my
adolescent days. He was someone from
my old neighborhood. We all hung out
together on our block, he was one of the
neighborhood kids. He was like me. We
were young city kids growing up in the
Wakefield section of The Bronx. He is
younger than I, yet he looked so much
older now. He looked older than someone
of any age should have to appear.
I said, “Hey, it’s Brian right?” In
response, he acknowledged me. Since I
had moved out of the old neighborhood,
I would infrequently run into Brian in
Westchester County. He too, had since
moved into Yonkers. Brian was always
a little hyper and some would seem a
little off. But he seemed to be doing
alright all those years. The last time I
saw him, about two years ago, he spoke
of God and the church he was attending.
Now, as I looked at him, I did not know
what to say. I can’t imagine knowing
what could have happened to him.
He asked me what I had been up to
all these years. I said I was aiming to
go back to college, which I am, though
I fight against student loan debt, high
tuition costs and shrinking financial
assistance. Brian listened intently and
said, “Oh, that’s good. I’m trying to
get into this homeless shelter.” We
were, after all, standing across from the
Westchester County, Martine Avenue,
office building which is where you
are most likely to meet the homeless
population. But the contrast between
us couldn’t be clearer than the disparity
between night and day. All I could
express was my shock, concern and
sorrow. I could see the pain, suffering,
and embarrassment in his eyes. He then
walked away and said he would see
me around. I said it was good to see
him. My heart ached in my wishing
I had not had to see him like this.
Poverty is ugly, it is the ugliest thing
I have ever come into contact with.
From my days as a teen in New York
City, and now all the way up here in
Westchester County, it won’t go away,
and it continues to hurt everyone.
We have homeless people dropped
off at the shelters in White Plains.
They are the forgotten people in our
society. They are only paid attention
to when we let them roam free and
unsupervised. And then, something
horrible happens, and it’s too late.
What has happened to our county,
state and country? We have lost focus
on the issues that really matter the most.
We don’t put emphasis on the domestic
issues any longer. People are really
hurting out here. Employment, housing,
education, crime, and healthcare
are all things we have allowed our
governments to put on the back burner.
We talk about securing the homeland,
but what kind of homeland will this be
if we allow these injustices to go on?
Too few politicians are heard addressing
these issues. It took a hurricane to
actually bring the discussion to the
forefront, and then, only somewhat. But,
what will be done about it? I’m waiting
for the politician whose grounding is
delineated by a moral compass and
engenders the intestinal fortitude to
bring up the “Two Americas” divide
again. Things are getting worse; and
too few people are realizing it. They
are fooled by the circuses og the
modern age; television shows that
titillate with desperate housewives
and other mundane “reality” shows!
I have never been introduced to such
women, I don’t even belief there are
many in real life like them, but I now
know of desperate homeless people
and an ever shrinking middle class.
Behold the feudal state; it is upon us.
Jason Gooljar, 27, is a native New
Yorker born in The Bronx, now residing
in Westchester County. He first started
getting involved with political and
civic issues during his senior year in
high school when he was an intern and
learned about the workings of county
government. He has since become
involved with the Dean presidential
campaign at the grassroots level, worked
as paid staff on two New York State
senate campaigns and one gubernatorial
campaign. He most recently completed
the inaugural training of the New
Organizing Institute in Washington,
D.C., and is a proud member of New
York’s Working Families Party. Visit
Jason Gooljar, at www.jasongooljar.
com the progressive liberal on a
crusade! online.
acquired knowledge qualified him
now, other than the urgency of his
approaching retirement years, now
enhanced by a $250,000 plus contract. It is style over substance. You
might have it on “paper,” but is that
good enough? Look at the recently
indicted former YPS Superintendent
Andre J. Hornsby.
That being said let us scrutinize
what all can agree to, that is Mr.
Pierarozio’s 2006-2007 baseline year.
He has to at least claim credit for
2006-2007.
As 2005-2006 ended, it was
“discovered” that there might be
“test tampering” at Schools 26 and
29, respectively. What did he do? He
unceremoniously removed the principals from their respective buildings
and held them in “limbo” – Central
Office. Rumors persisted over School
28 but Mr. Pierorazio assured parents
everything was fine. They did not
believe him. To add insult to injury,
parents took to ask Mayor Amicone,
who has no legal control, as opposed
to the absent and invisible Yonkers
Board of Trustees, to assure them
their school would not close.
Lunch: Wednesday - Friday
11:30 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.
Dinner: Wednesday - Thursday
5:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.
Friday - Saturday
5:00 P.M. - 11:00 P.M.
Sunday
4:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.
Frodo’s Restaurant
Quid Pro Quo from pg.1
Public Schools Superintendent Angelo
Petrone, who incidentally was vigorously supported by Mayor Amicone to
the end, all subsequent appointments
to the Yonkers Board of Trustees were
to be completely detached from “real
contact” with Yonkers Public Schools
(YPS) issues, instead becoming more
impressed with themselves, and rationalizing the spending of thousands
of dollars on the national search for
a YPS superintendent. Voila! Mayor
Amicone announced that the national
search had found the person most fit
for the position, as none other than
Deputy Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio. Was anyone surprised?
Mayor Amicone expressed elation
and glee upon hearing of the national
search firm having picked Mr. Pierorazio from among other contenders.
The search firm said Mr. Pierorazio
fit the criteria. Mayor Amicone would
say, “Wow!” The Mayor would second
the “choice.” Only months prior to
the search, Mr. Pierorazio divulged
he wasn’t quite ready to take on the
responsibility of the superintendency.
Taking Mr. Pierorazio at his word, and
acknowledging that no one else but
he would know himself so well, and
further accepting that he was not ready
for the position, despite his five-years
as YPS Deputy Superintendent, having
further professed to knowing nothing
about anything during the tenure of
former YPS Superintendents Joe Farmer and Angelo Petrone, what recently
The week of September 18-22 and
25-29, Frodo’s will participate in
S.Pelligrino’s Dine Out Program. A
three course prixe fixe lunch will be
offered for $20 and a dinner for $35.
A complimentary bottle of Pelligrino
water will accompany each meal. One
dollar from each meal will be donated
to Share Our Strength to end childhood
hunger.
Over the summer, Superintendent
Pierorazio “disposed” of Museum
Middle School Principal Christine
Wagner, a Petrone appointment, and
replaced her with, guess who, Dr.
Catherine Mayus, Principal of School
28. After voluminous complaints,
and a near faculty riot at Principal
Sharon Reis’ School 23, Mr. Pierorazio sent Principal Reis to Dr. Mayus’
former School 28. It won’t be too
long a wait for this situation to be
scrutinized and burst wide open. Mr.
Pierorazio also “disposed” of Principal John DiFiore from Mark Twain
Middle School, another Petrone
appointment. After the dismissal of
DiFiore, does Superintendent Pierorazio appoint Mark Twain Middle
School’s Assistant Principal Christine
Montero, who is most familiar with
the school, to the position of principal? No! Instead, he plans to appoint
Principal Ilene Rivera Shapiro to
Mark Twain and appoints Montero,
PAGE 12
September 14, 2006
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