Toast of the Town. Letters to the Editor.  November 19, 2008:

Hey, Anti-County Government-nots, Some Issues to Think About...

November 19, 2008

To the founders of “Rethinking Westchester”:

 Having spent a bit of time on your website, I would urge you to address some issues much more specifically than you have.  These suggestions…

The majority of Westchester County government functions could be handled by already existing institutions and even some new ones.

Some duties could be absorbed by the State of New York.

Many other county functions could be assumed by local village, town, city or other municipal governments.

Some services could be performed by public/private partnerships, independent boards like the MTA and the New York State Transportation Authority, and even private businesses.

…leave a good deal to the imagination.  There is quite a long list of County functions.  Imagining some of these parceled out to city, town and village officials leads one to interesting scenarios, which at the very least involve redundancy and waste.  Worse, one could envision wholesale inequalities or total absence of services in some cases.

An ABC of such a list might be:  Airport, Board of Elections, Corrections.  But the list would be quite long.  What about Disability, Environment, Human Rights, Parks, Social Services, Transportation?  One could write at some length on the dangers of attempting to decentralize any of these.

And how would this group propose to make Westchester’s form of government different from that of the dozens of other counties in the state?

To cite a specific anonymous case, Mr. Feiner recently forwarded to me, at an independent not-for-profit, a request for assistance which had been addressed to his office in Greenburgh.  He had no idea how to help this elderly woman, whose financial problems were apparently one result of ongoing elder abuse.  In a few days we had the appropriate contacts and services in place and a case was opened to get her the assistance she needed.  This was done, as you may have guessed, not by our office, but through an office of the Westchester County Government.  (Greenburgh apparently has no such program.) 

You’ve indicated that your website is just a start.  So is this.  Good luck –

Paul Schwarz

Remember the Veterans

November 10, 2008

Tomorrow is our nations day of honor and recognition for the pride and defenders of our great nation of democracy, our American Veterans.

From our historical freedom heroes, of our own White Plains Revolutionary Veterans, to every other White Plains Veteran who served our country in every United States campaign both during a time of war and peace. Who gave their lives for the freedoms and ideals we have all come to enjoy and appreciate for our democracy, freedom and our nations security and sovereignty.

We must never forget and always remember these individuals, men, woman, families for their service, dedication and honor to our great nation we call the United States of America.

Tomorrow we honor them across America. Let us all unite together here in White Plains and pay tribute to our Veterans by honoring our Veterans. Wave an American Flag, hang the colors on your home, attend the Veteran Day Services at the White Plains Rural Cemetery in the morning on November 11, 2008

Veterans Day, honoring our Veterans.

Carl Albanese

Comments on The Coach (Kurachek)

Dear JF,

Enjoyed reading your recent editorial on the passing of Coach  Kurachek. I graduated PHS (Pleasantville High School) in '68, played football and he had a very  strong impact on my life, still appreciated today.

Thanks also for reminding me of the ropes in  (Pleasantville) Jr. High!!! I remember
climbing them as a way to prove my boyhood and impress the ladies
(girls) : )

Thanks,
Steve

Steven Caruso, PhD 

Menlo Park, California    

Sign Petition to Demand Washington Put the Wall Street Bandits in Jail for a Long Time...

Friends,

The following deviates from my normal format where I just try to provide
information without taking sides.  I apologize in advance if you don't share my
concern.

Some of the greatest damage to the fabric of our nation in our nation's history
was not accomplished by terrorists with guns, but by financial manipulators with
false promises.  If they thought about us at all, it was with disdain.  Amongst
themselves they mocked us, and congratulated each other on their own
cleverness.  Our money was just another resource to be harvested; and they felt
that if we were stupid enough to trust them, then we deserved to loose our
savings.  

They are still laughing at us, because they have gotten away with it.  Outside of
a handful of people who have been questioned by congressional committees,
the rest of them are still living the good life - on our money.  Personally, I would
be more than willing to suffer through a tough congressional grilling if you paid
me a couple of $100 million for the bother.

We must let our government know that this is untenable.  I want the crooks to go
to jail - for a long time.  To that end, I have created an on-line petition where you
can add your voice to what I hope is a major uprising.  The petition is at:
www.CEOsBehindBars.info

I have tried to keep it simple, but since there are no sign-up requirements, I have
limited you to a single name from any one IP address.  If that is a problem, there
is a link to a .pdf file that can be printed and then mailed back, or you can e-mail
me your name and zip-code to petition@CEOsBehindBars.info

Feel free to pass on this e-mail - please.

Don Hughes

Excuse me? Why not hold the council meeting at 7 PM instead of 9 AM? Why hold a meeting when others cannot attend?

John:   Why is it that the Mayor and Common Council insist on meeting when others cannot attend?  I sure get the funny feeling that they are trying to pull a fast one on us.  Last month, the Council rightly put off voting on rolling stock due to financial concerns.  Here we are now a week later ready to pull the trigger?  Has the Council received some sort of magical financial projection during that time?    I don't buy it that prices are going to increase 12%.  I think the Council is being told stories to scare them.  If a piece of equipment is needed that badly, there are many other options.  One of them is to rent it as needed or buy a used piece of equipment (off lease).  Its time the Council ask some tough questions and call some bluffs.  This resident is getting tired of the same sky is falling story told by the Mayor.   Also, why not hold the meeting at 7pm tomorrow night instead of 9am.  Oh that's right, the goal seems to be less citizen involvement.   White Plains Voter

DEMAND JAILTIME FOR THE SUBPRIME GANG...

October 14, 2008

John,

Criminologists have long known that we do a poor job of estimating
personal risk and that punishments are driven more by emotion than
actual harm.  Consider:

If over the last couple of months a roving gang had broken into every
residence in White Plains and stolen $5,000 in easily hocked
possessions from each.  Consider further that our police department
said that they could not catch the gang because that had been directed
to focus most of their forces on eliminating graffiti.  And finally,
consider that the Commissioner of Public Safety said they that might
be able to make some progress if we would invest in a police boat,
repaint their offices, and double the uniform allowance.

If that were ever to happen,  there would be nightly angry
demonstrations, the papers would be flooded with letters demanding a
solution - now, and we would expect a number of people to lose their
jobs.

Yet, the recent bailout will cost you at least that much, and the
market slide has cost everyone of us about $40,000 each.  And don't
believe that this could not have been anticipated.  As early as 2004
the FBI was reporting that over 40% of all sub-prime mortgages
involved some type of  fraud.  A subsequent study of loan documents by
Fitch showed that at least 40% of them were over assessed, or were
written for property incorrectly claimed to be primary residences. 
The FBI later claimed that 80% of the frauds were lender induced. 
This information was available over four years ago.

But despite the millions of fraudulent loans leading to trillions of
dollars in loss - part of which has come out of your wallet -  there
has been less than a handful of prosecutions.

This is unacceptable.  Write your legislators and demand that the
people responsible for this crisis GO TO JAIL.

Senator (Dem)
Charles Schumer
757 Third Avenue, Rm. 17-02
New York, NY 10017

Phone: (212) 486-4430
e-mail: senator@schumer.senate.gov
web-mail: http://Schumer.Senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/contact/webform.cfm
Fax: (212) 468-7693

Senator (Dem)
Hilary Rodham Clinton
P.O. Box 617
Hartsdale, NY 10530

Phone: (914) 725-9294
e-mail: senator@clinton.senate.gov
Fax: (914) 472-5073

Congress District: 37 (Dem)
Nita Lowey
222 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605

Phone: (914) 428-1707
Fax: (914) 328-1505

Don Hughes