Bedford NY School District Status Report  |   Pound Ridge Real Estate

This is a Sunday, 4:00 p.m. update from the Bedford Central School District. 

As of this announcement, Bedford Hills, Bedford Village, Mt. Kisco and Pound Ridge Elementary Schools will be open on Monday, November 5th. Transportation will be provided to those schools if buses can reach your bus stop.  Central office staff, technology staff, all custodial staff, and school building staff for buildings currently open, are to report to work.  Currently, Fox Lane High School, Fox Lane Middle School and West Patent Elementary School do not have electrical power.  If these other schools receive power later this evening we will change this announcement.

On Monday, November 5th there will be no Out-of District transportation for private or parochial schools or for Out-of-District Special Education class locations.  Out-of-District transportation will resume on Tuesday for schools that are open. 

In-district private & parochial transportation will be available if your school is open.

Just a reminder that Tuesday, November 6th has been changed to a student attendance day, not a Superintendent’s Conference Day as was originally scheduled.

You can continue to follow updates:

By calling our telephone message machine at 241-6000

By checking our website at www.bcsd.org

By checking Twitter @bcsdnotes

An update from the City of White Plains:

Power Restoration – Approximately 1,000 Con Edison customers in White Plains had their power restored last night. Con Edison has advised the City that multiple out of state crews have been assigned towork on White Plains outages today.

Throughout Westchester County, Con Edison is transitioning to power restoration after concentrating onstreet openings and safety concerns. City of White Plains crews have removed all trees blocking roads that do not have wires involved. If a wire is involved, Con Edison must participate in the removal.

As restoration progresses, outage numbers may increase temporarily, as service will sometimes be shutdown in order to make a repair.

Con Edison has advised the City that their restoration effort will be prioritized based on:

1. The nature of the site involved (i.e. – schools, hospitals, nursing homes)
2. Repairs that will restore the most customers as quickly as possible

Dry Ice – Dry ice is being distributed by Con Edison today at the Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue in White Plains, until 4:00 p.m. or until supplies run out.

Availability of Gasoline – The City has been advised by Federal, State and County officials that the gasoline supply chain remains intact and that gasoline deliveries will continue to be made. Many stations are currently low on fuel or have run out due to high demand. Deliveries are expected today and this weekend. Residents are being asked to be patient.

Gasoline Price Gouging – Westchester County Department of Consumer Protection is monitoring gasoline prices throughout the County. Consumers may report potential price gouging to County Department of Consumer Protection at (914) 995-2155.

City of White Plains Emergency Shelter – The City of White Plains emergency shelter remains open for White Plains residents who need shelter. The shelter is now located at the Community Center, 65 Mitchell Place in downtown White Plains. Cots and blankets will be provided. However, residents should bring with them personal care items, medications and a flashlight.

Residents may also want to bring a battery operated radio, books and/or magazines, non-perishable snacks and items to entertain children.

Showers – The following community facilities have generously opened their doors for White Plains residents without power to enjoy a hot shower. Please bring your own supplies, including towels, soap and shampoo. Also bring personal identification for registration and security purposes. Showers are available for those who need them at the following locations:

• White Plains YMCA, 250 Mamaroneck Avenue. Hours: Mon-Fri 5:15 am – 10:00 pm, Sat 7:00 am – 6:00 pm, Sun 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
• White Plains YWCA, 515 North Street. Hours: Mon-Sun 8:00 am – 12:00 noon
• New York Sports Club City Center. Hours: Mon-Sun 5:00 am – 11:00 pm
• Planet Fitness, 33 South Broadway. Hours: Mon-Fri 5:00 am – 11:00 pm, Weekends 7:00 am – 7:00 pm

Hot Lunch for Seniors @ the Community Center – The City of White Plains Community Center, located at 65 Mitchell Place, will be serving hot lunches through its Nutrition Program this weekend, from 11:30 – 12:30 p.m.

Transportation to and from the Community Center is also available between 10:30 – 2:00 p.m. Reservations are required. Please call 422-1424 to make reservations.

Library – The White Plains Public Library will be open this weekend with extended hours on Sunday. Additional power strips will once again be made available to patrons to charge their electronic devices. Library Hours: Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.Sunday, 1:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Disaster Assistance to Individuals & Households – President Obama’s Major Disaster Declaration for the State of New York, issued on October 30, 2012, has been amended to include Westchester County. The disaster declaration triggers the release of Federal funds to help individuals and communities recover from Hurricane Sandy. This means that Westchester residents can register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and apply for disaster assistance. To learn more about the types of assistance available and eligibility, register with FEMA via any one of the following methods:

• Apply online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov.
• Apply via smartphone at m.fema.gov.
• Call the registration phone number at 1-800-621-3362; those who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362.

Recreation & Parks Programs – All Recreation & Parks programs for this weekend are on as scheduled. Ebersole Ice Rink is open for public skating: Saturday – 12:15 – 3:00 p.m. and 7:45 – 9:30 p.m. Sunday – 10:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. (adults only) & 1:15 – 4:00 p.m. (general session).

Please check the City of White Plains website, www.cityofwhiteplains.com, or call the Storm Hotline at (914) 422-5150 (English) / (914) 422-5160 (Spanish) for additional information

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. – Gov. Andrew Cuomo is urging Westchester residents to remain patient as the state begins a return to normalcy.

Though power outages around the state have dropped from 2.1 million to 730,000 in the days after Hurricane Sandy swept through the region, Cuomo said at a press conference Sunday morning, he knows these numbers mean nothing if power is not on at home.

Fuel shortages have added insult to injury for many area residents, who are facing long lines and gas limits at the pump. While more fuel tankers and barges are coming into the New York Harbor in the coming days, Cuomo said panic among consumers has only served to further the state’s continuing issues with fuel delivery and distribution.

“We do believe it’s a short-term problem – a number of days we anticipate this to continue. [We’re] not 100 percent sure when the system will be up and running where you won’t feel any effect whatsoever,” said Cuomo. “Patience is required … now is not the time to be using the car if you don’t need to, now is not the time to be hoarding fuel.”

Though 80 percent of subway service has been restored to New York City, Cuomo said service will not be entirely normal for mass transit commuters come Monday. He recommends visiting the MTA’s website for subway service changes.   

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said service would be hampered in the near future, but added, “I plan to take the subways tomorrow.”

Cuomo, Bloomberg, and Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke to the spirit of New Yorkers coming together, once again, in a time of crisis.

“People have cried in my arms … you get on the ground and you see the depth of it, how people’s lives have been ripped apart by this force of nature,” Schumer said at the conference. “The best resource we have to fight this is by being New Yorkers.”

Cuomo said he plans to join County Executive Robert Astorino in Westchester Sunday.

Town of Bedford Report for Sunday 3pm  |   Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

Recovery efforts continue. The Town of Bedford is working at reopening roads and most are passable. The Town is heavily dependent on the electric utilities to neutralize fallen wires so trees can be removed and roads can be reopened.  A state of emergency still exists and unnecessary travel is prohibited.
Do not panic about gas, there are gas stations open in Bedford Hills and Katonah and they have gas. 
Come to the Town House at 321 Bedford Road to warm up – charge your phones – we have Wi-Fi In addition we have dry ice and water.  We are open today Sunday till 6PM and 9 to 6PM all week.  
Day warming shelter and charging stations are also available at all 3 fire houses 
— Bedford Fire Department — 34 Village Green, Bedford, NY 10506 (914) 234-3133 
— Bedford Hills Fire Department — 332 Bedford Road, Bedford Hills, NY 10507 (914) 666-8253 
— Katonah Fire Department — 65 Bedford Road, Katonah, NY 10536 (914) 232-4570  
Readers Digest is open as an overnight Emergency Shelter, contact them at 845-825-7395. 
NYSEG is currently estimating that all power will be restored in Bedford by 11pm Wednesday, November 7th.  We realize this is VERY frustrating but please know that we are working very hard to try and get more accurate information.  Although the National Guard is here to work with our DPW crews, NYSEG has only dedicated 1 crew to our municipality.  We know there are many more crews here but they are not communicating with the Town.  Con Ed currently has 670 homes without power in Bedford.
VOTING will carry on as always – 6AM to 9PM at your normal polling location.  Any questions, call the Town Clerk’s Office, 666-4534.
STOP lights are out on Route 35 and Rt. 22 intersection and the on and off ramps to 684 – SLOW down and use extreme caution.
Bedford Court will be in session on Monday, November 5th at 6pm. 
The Town Board will hold there first monthly meeting as scheduled on Wednesday November 7, 2012 at 8PM.
Contact the Town House at 666-4534 if we can help you in any way.

by Tim Cameron

For the last six years homeowners have felt the pain of one of the most widespread and sustained downturns in the housing market in our history. Hundreds of thousands have lost their homes to foreclosure, and the federal government has implemented numerous programs to help families make their mortgage payments.

While progress has been slower than anyone would like, and the frustration of those who desire faster progress is understandable, home prices have stabilized and in many areas begun to rise. Indeed, millions of homeowners have received loan modifications or been able to refinance. 

Slow progress is not an excuse to impose bad policy that will result in immediate and lasting damage to Main Street investors and current and future homeowners. Yet that is exactly what is being proposed by certain speculators as a “tonic” to local government officials eager to aid their constituencies.

When someone proposes a supposedly risk-free scheme to help homeowners, one must ask if it is too good to be true. In this instance, a group of speculators have proposed that they would fund a local government’s exercise of its power of eminent domain to seize mortgage loans from investors at below market value, write down the principal owed on those loans, and re-securitize them with government guarantees.  There would be no cost or risk to the municipality, only benefits, according to these speculators.

Did we mention that the speculators, in return for their generosity, would walk away with a 20% to 30% profit and leave municipalities with the risk if something goes wrong?

As the old saying goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

LONG-TERM IMPACTS

It is wholly unacceptable to line the pockets of speculators at the expense of main street investors and the local governments and taxpayers who will likely be on the hook should this scheme fail in any phase of its execution. Worse yet, undermining the sanctity of a mortgage contract will have a significant deleterious and long-term impact on all homeowners and prospective homebuyers in the very community the speculators are purporting to rescue. The costs of this scheme clearly exceed any benefits.

Let’s be clear, the idea of using eminent domain has three fundamental flaws.

First, it has the potential to severely damage mortgage markets and mortgage investors. The use of eminent domain in this manner will confront lenders and investors with an unquantifiable new risk — the unpredictable use of eminent domain condemnation to seize their loans at a significant loss. As a result, these proposals would reduce the sources of funding for mortgage originators, and cause originators to underwrite in a defensive manner, therefore increasing prices and reducing credit availability. Future credit borrowers would be harmed as it would most certainly result in increased costs for credit and reduced credit availability.

Second, we have grave concerns regarding the valuation and the profit motivation that underlies the proposed schemes. The proposals would impose severe losses on mortgage investors, including the retirement and savings accounts of thousands of individual investors (think teachers, police officers, firefighters) in order to extract profits that would be delivered to a small group of opportunistic speculators, with the added value of guarantees given by Ginnie Mae.

How can the plan be fair to holders of seized loans when the scheme’s backers stand to extract vast profits from them? This plan is a veiled short-term, deceptive and opportunistic scheme that utilizes taxpayer backed guarantees to fleece holders of mortgage loans. 

Lastly, we seriously question the legality of the eminent domain proposals under the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions and other federal and state laws. The U.S. Constitution permits government seizures of private property only if such takings are made for a public purpose in exchange for just compensation. State constitutions and laws governing eminent domain are often equally or even more demanding. As discussed above, the likelihood of any material public benefit coming from these proposals is very low, and the fact that the proposals would transfer profits from one private party to another renders the exercise of eminent domain in this instance constitutionally defective. Furthermore, the “takings” by design will not satisfy the requirement of just compensation, both by underpaying for the seized mortgages in order to provide new investors with substantial profits, failing to account for the secondary effect on the value of the mortgage trusts and securities affected, and other factors.

Local government officials are correct to be trying to help their constituents in need, but they should look carefully under the hood of these too-good-to-be-true schemes.

Tim Cameron is a managing director and the principal staff adviser to SIFMA’s asset management group. He is responsible for developing and managing a wide array of policy perspectives on issues that directly affect AMG members.

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Sir Roger Moore Speaks Out Against Pig Farm

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by China DeSpain Freeman October 31, 2012
Categories: Animals, Causes
Tags: roger moore.
Photo: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

There’s a new James Bond film just around the corner, but former 007 Roger Moore has moved on from the models and martinis.

Instead Moore is making headlines for openly denouncing the development of a giant pig farm in the Foston, Derbyshire area of England. Debates about the development have been going on for more than a year, with residents expressing concern about the smell, noise pollution, traffic, health implications and pig welfare.

Now Moore has stepped into the ring, describing the potential 25,000-sow operation (and other factory farms in general) as “concentration camps for animals.” Moore also said that he believes meat produced on such farms to be “unhealthy.”

Midland Pig Producers, the company behind the project, waved away his concerns, with a spokesman saying that “the farm would be focused on high welfare and said there was a need to produce more meat in the country.”

Or maybe there’s just a need for more vegetarians.

Either way, we’re happy to see all the public outcry against this mega pork producer. Here’s hoping Moore has a license to kill…the project.

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About China DeSpain Freeman

China DeSpain Freeman is an Atlanta and San Antonio based writer and blogger. She loves pop culture, animal rights, health and fitness, international travel, books and wigs. You can find more of her work at themodernista.com and writefork.com. Follow China on Twitter: @ChinaDeSpain

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Rescue Workers Help Swan Back to Water After Hurricane Sandy

NY Aquarium Considers Evacuating Animals Due to Power Loss

http://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=84384“>1

by Ali Berman November 2, 2012
Categories: Animals, Causes.
Photo: Coney Island Aquarium

If you live in an area hit by Hurricane Sandy, you’ve probably noticed the gas shortage. Without power, or gas to run generators, hospitals have been sending their patients to other facilities. Seems like the NY Aquarium at Coney Island is now facing a similar issue.

Ecorazzi isn’t really a friend to aquariums. Keeping large animals in small tanks is hardly a kindness. But, in this situation, the animals are facing a greater threat. New York’s Coney Island aquarium may have to relocate 12,000 animals including walruses, sea turtles, sharks, penguins and a giant octopus.

According to USA Today, the staff is working hard to restore filtration and other necessary life-support systems, but the area was hit hard by the storm. And they don’t know when power will be restored. The flooded aquarium does not know if any resident animals have died yet. They did release photos of the damage.

These creatures are powerless to help themselves. We hope others can help rescue them and that the stress of the ordeal isn’t too much to handle.

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About Ali Berman

Ali Berman is a writer, teacher and activist. She works as a humane educator for HEART teaching kids about issues affecting people, animals and the environment. Ali is also a fiction writer. Her published work can be found on her website at aliberman.com. In early 2012 Ali co-founded flipmeover, a production company with the mission to use media to raise awareness of social issues.

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Hurricane Sandy Telethon Benefit to Air Tonight

Hurricane Sandy swept through 12 U.S. states, causing floods and fires, and an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion in potential losses, research firm Capital Economics estimated Tuesday. 

Mortgage Bankers Association CEO David Stevens said the trade group remained closed Tuesday and he expects loan application numbers and rates to be affected for the period that includes Hurricane Sandy.

But overall, Stevens views the storm as a “temporary blip” that will have no significant impact on the mortgage finance system. And some industries, including home construction and repair, will see a boost in the aftermath, he noted. “Post storm activity will be somewhat stimulative to the construction trades.”

Last year’s Hurricane Irene, which was less severe, ended up costing the Northeast region $10 billion while 2005’s Hurricane Katrina led to $100 billion in cleanup expenses around the Gulf Coast, according to data from Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics. CoreLogic ($23.22 -0.52%) estimated that 284,000 properties with a value of $87 billion could be impacted by the storm.

Despite the negative impact of the hurricane, Capital Economics contends Sandy’s overall effect on economic output “is likely to be small,” although the economy will take a hit early on.

The states impacted by Sandy represent 23% of the nation’s gross domestic product, with the New York metropolitan area alone accounting for 10% of GDP.

The financial impact will be short-term and over before the end of this quarter, Capital Economics said. When factoring in the expected boost to GDP on cleanup activity, the overall impact is modest, the research firm said. 

Sales leading up to the storm will have boosted economic activity, and in many parts of the East Coast individuals will be working from home or returning to their offices as soon as they can.

“At this point we’re contractually obliged as economists to bring up the infamous parable of the broken window,” Capital Economics said. “Fixing a broken window may generate income for the glazier but, since this is just the replacement of damage to the existing capital stock, it doesn’t add to the nation’s net wealth. That may be so, but it does add to GDP.”

Much of the clean up spending will be born by insurers and large global reinsurance firms, many of which are based in Europe, the research firm indicated.  

Jim Vogel with FTN Financial said a return to fully operating financial markets is contingent on logistical factors in New York and the functioning of government agencies in Washington.

“Decisions will have to balance the demands of keeping the markets open regardless of circumstances — no small matter of pride — with deference to area officials responsible for repairing and clearing the impact of floods and other damage that more than lived up to the hype and warnings about Sandy,” said Vogel.

Megan Hopkins contributed to this report.

kpanchuk@housingwire.com

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