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The Port Chester Blog Of Record

The Port Chester Blog Of Record - Brain Harrod Editor / Publisher
Showing posts with label Port Chester Village Manager. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Port Chester Village Manager. Show all posts

Monday, March 21, 2011

03/21/11 Where The Hell Is The Westmore News? Port Chester Village Manager Chris Russo’s budget Has A 3.72 Tax Levy Increase For 2011-12

It's That Time Of The Year

The Port Chester Budget Process Has Begun


It's Time For The Port Chester Board Of Trustee's And Concerned Village Citizen's To Pull Out Their Pocket Calculators And Go Over The Number's

Increases in Port Chester employee health and retirement costs, combined with a huge 9 percent drop in the village tax base put an initial $1.85 million gap in the proposed budget.

The Port Chester Board Of Trustees scheduled a public hearing tonight to review the village manager's plan.

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Monday, March 7, 2011

03/07/11 PORT CHESTER PATCH: Board Will Convene Tonight for Last Meeting Before Mayoral Election

Along with discussions on pawn shops and the marina sea wall, residents will likely address next week's mayoral election during public comments

Trustees are expected to talk about pawn shops, noise and the ongoing sea wall problem when they meet tonight at the village courthouse.
The former issue was tabled after the last meeting, when consultant Patrick Cleary answered questions about how Port Chester can regulate pawn shops and similar businesses. After two moratoriums and a study, Cleary's recommended course of action involves using existing case law and methods that have worked in other towns to limit – rather than ban – pawn shops.
That would be accomplished through zoning, avoiding an outright ban that would be unlikely to hold up if a licensed pawn broker sought to open shop in Port Chester. Although the village has fielded two inquiries from pawn brokers over the past year, there are no current applications to open pawn shops in Port Chester. Tonight, residents will get a chance to weigh in on the issue before trustees vote.
Also on the agenda: a resolution to authorize Village Manager Christopher Russo to hire Ocean and Coastal Consultants to study alternative solutions to the ongoing collapsed sea wall problem. The bulkhead, which remains closed off to the public, was built as part of the same construction project that brought the $100 million waterfront complex to Port Chester. Engineers have pointed to faulty construction practices, use of inappropriate materials, and improvised work-arounds employed by the original contractors as the main factors leading to the collapse.
In a move to avoid a crippling, multi-million-dollar repair bill, Mayor Dennis Pilla announced last month a tentative agreement with G&S Investors that would cover most of the costs; the details of that plan are still being worked out, but would involve sectioning off the bulkhead and parking lot as a special zoning district that would tie together the resources of G&S and local businesses that benefit from the lot and marina.
As usual, the meeting will include two designated public comment periods; the first is the third item on the agenda, and the second is scheduled for the end of the meeting. With barely more than a week before voters head to the polls to choose Port Chester's next mayor, the election will likely become a central issue during comments tonight.
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Sunday, November 18, 2007

11/14/07 - Stop The Censorship In Port Chester Goverment


True Blue Conservative Complains To Port Chester Board Of Trustees About No Longer Receiving Press Releases And Board Meeting Press Kit.


Port Chester used to layout press kits for all members of the press at each Port Chester Board Of Trustees Meeting. The press kits were placed next to the government access camera.


For nearly two years The True Blue Conservative received the press kit and used it to keep the single family homeowners of Port Chester informed about what is occurring in at Board Of Trustee Meetings.


Further, The True Blue Conservative has shared items in the press kit with members of the public that attend Port Chester Board Of Trustee Meetings to get their reactions to pending governmental actions.


However, the True Blue Conservative stopped receiving the press kit, when he shared the contents with Port Chester citizens opposed to a client of Bruno "Spot Zone" Gioffre's request to create two flag lots.


It appears that the True Blue Conservative is being punished by Port Chester Village Manager and Clerk Bill Williams for sharing information with concerned single family homeowners in Port Chester.


Several times during the last two years the True Blue Conservative has spoke at Port Chester Board Of Trustee meetings that the Port Chester press kit, all individual press releases, and all documents related to public hearings should be put on the Port Chester Village web site.


Moreover, the True Blue Conservative has repeatedly requested that copies of the Port Chester Press Kit and all Public Hearing documents be made available to all citizens at a table at each Port Chester Board Of Trustee Meeting.


To date a only hand full of press releases have been put up on the

Port Chester web site.


Former Village Clerk Kieth Rang had put a couple of links to Public Hearing documents, but once the public started accessing these documents and cumming to the public hearings well prepared the practice was quickly stopped.


This censorship in Port Chester has to stop.


The County Of Westchester provides press kits to small publishers and web sites, such as Westchester.com.


The City Of White Plains provide press releases to small publishers and to web sites such as White Plains CitizeNetReporter.


The City Of Yonkers provide press releases to small publishers and to websites such as The Yonkers Insider .


Many other Westchester Cities, Towns and Villages provide press releases to small publishers and websites. In fact, we are not aware of any governmental body in all of Westchester County that has curtailed or refused to provide press releases to small publishers or web sites, except for Port Chester.


Port Chester Trustee Dan Brakewood used his trustee comments time to expressed that he thought the newspaper coverage of how the two new Port Chester Trustees were selected was one sided and very negative.


Port Chester Trustee John Crane also used his trustee comments time to echo Trustee Brakewood's Comments that the newspaper coverage of how the two new Port Chester Trustees were selected was one sided and very negative.


Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla concurred with Trustee's Brakewood and Crane and use his mayo rial comments time to say that he was going to battle the negative newspaper coverage by increasing the number of media outlets that received press kits.


In fact, Mayor Pilla said that he had already doubled the list of television and cable media outlets that received a press kit for the last Port Chester Board Of Trustees Meeting.


Guess what happened?


When the new Cable and Media outlets were added to the press release list and made aware of the Port Chester Board Of Trustees Meeting they showed up and covered the meeting.


The last Port Chester Board Of Trustees Meeting had television cameras from Channel 75 -The Cablevision Government Access Channel, News 12 and RNN - The Regional News Channel.


Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla has promised that Port Chester Village Manager And Clerk Bill Williams will once again have Press Kits available to all members of the media who show up at the next Port Chester Board Of Trustee's Meeting.


Hopefully, the press kits will be made available so that the single family homeowners will be kept fully informed about how their tax dollars are being spent in Port Chester.


Let's face it their has not been one article in the hopelessly biased rag known as the Westmore News about how Port Chester Development Consultant Gary Gianfrancesco has pocketed close to one and a half million dollars on the bottomless money pit known as the old Horton School.


At the last Port Chester Board Of Trustees meeting their were several resolutions about the bottomless money pit known as the old Horton School. The Abel's who own the hopelessly biased rag known as the Westmore News were given a press kit showing how Port Chester Development Consultant Gary "I Made Over A Million At Horton School" Gianfrancesco marks up contracts and change orders by an outrageous 21%.


However, the True Blue Conservative is not allowed to see or have access to the press kit that the biased Abel's are just sitting on.


Port Chester Development Consultant Gary "I Made Over A Million At Horton School" Gianfrancesco gets away with murder, because not all media outlets get access to the Port Chester Board Of Trustees Press Kit.


The True Blue Conservative can only help inform the single family homeowners of Port Chester if Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla makes sure that Port Chester Village Manager and Clerk Bill Williams has press kits available at the next Port Chester Board Of Trustees Meeting for all the media outlets that wants and needs one.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

11/13/07 - Edirorial - The Port Chester Village Manager Is Dishonoring The Sacrafices Of Veterans By Illegally Denying Freedom Of Information Requests


Yesterday Americans honored all the brave men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States military, and the over 1.4 million men and women who wear the uniform today and defend us around the world.


As you read this editorial, a soldier climbs a dusty road in northern Afghanistan. Another soldier is on his hands and knees, somewhere in an alley in Baghdad. A sailor is below decks working on air craft so that they may fly over the sky. Another sailor is in a submarine underneath the polar ice caps, as we speak. A marine is on a bitterly cold hill in the DMZ, facing the enemy in North Korea. And why do they do it?


Why does that young marine recruit get off the bus this afternoon at Parris Island, to the rigors of boot camp?


He does it to protect our rights and freedoms.


He takes an oath to obey and defend and obey Constitution and the laws of land with his very life if necessary.


The Port Chester Village Manager recently should have taken yet another government oath of office now that he has assumed the role of Port Chester Village Clerk.


But all of these oaths that Mr. Williams has taken to follow the laws of the land mean nothing, because at Port Chester Board Of Trustee Meeting After Port Chester Board Of Trustee Meeting he has ignored and refused to fill a Freedom Of Information Request for access to Public Documents.
The Freedom Of Information Request for access to public records is now over five months old.


What would a a soldier huddled in Valley Forge think of Port Chester Village Manager Bill Williams refusing to see that a freedom of information request was not filled for five months?


What would a soldier defending the White House as it burns in the War of 1812 think of Port Chester Village Manager Bill Williams refusing to see that a freedom of information request was not filled for five months?


What would thousands who died in one day in the Gettysburg battlefield think of Port Chester Village Manager Bill Williams refusing to see that a freedom of information request was not filled for five months?


What would the brave men who lie beneath the crosses on Flanders fields think of Port Chester Village Manager Bill Williams refusing to see that a freedom of information request was not filled for five months?


What would a soldier getting off and wading through with the cold surf behind him and the machine guns ahead of him on the beaches of Normandy think of Port Chester Village Manager Bill Williams refusing to see that a freedom of information request was not filled for five months?


What would the brave men that suffered the bitterness of a Korean winter, the steaming jungles of Vietnam, or the hot sands of the Middle East think of Port Chester Village Manager Bill Williams refusing to see that a freedom of information request was not filled for five months?

What would the men and women who are exceptionally brave and incredibly bold as they complete missions in the darkness of a Baghdad night think of Port Chester Village Manager Bill Williams refusing to see that a freedom of information request was not filled for five months?


Perhaps, I should ask my son who suffered through three IED attacks and recently returned from a tour in Iraq come to a future Board Of Trustees Meeting and tell Mr. Williams what he thinks of someone who denies a citizens constitutional rights by refusing to fill a Freedom Of Information request for access to Public Documents.

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