White Plains CitizeNetReporter

WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. From Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner July 7, 2020:

County Board of Legislators:

Thank you  for reviewing the primary day fiasco.  These are some of the concerns residents highlighted to me on primary day. I hope that the Board of Elections will give priority attention to correcting the many problems that took place. Our democracy depends on voter confidence of the integrity of our elections. 

The Greenburgh Town Board is meeting on Wednesday night so I will be unable to attend your meeting. I appreciate the fact that these comments will be included in the record.  Complaints I heard:

1) People did not receive absentee ballots; 

2)long lines -some people waited for more than two hours to vote (some  people voted after 11 PM);

3)Machines malfunctioned- one of registration machines that printed ballots kept shutting down because of inadequate power; 

4) lack of air conditioning at some polls; 5)malfunctioning machines; 

6)reduction in polling places. 81 election districts–5 polling locations. Confusion since people didn’t vote at the polling location they always vote at. Polling locations should not be reduced -voters should always vote at the same location; 

7)unsure if absentee ballots that were sent in the ballot would be counted since postal service is not reliable (I had suggested that the Board of Elections send voters a confirmation that they received the ballot or provide voters with an identification number enabling voters to confirm if the ballot was received).  It would be interesting if the county would analyze -after votes are counted – how many ballots were invalidated because they arrived too late. 

8) Elderly and disabled residents with canes had to wait for up to two hours to vote and not afforded any accomodations 

9) people who were dehydrated and with temperature waited on lines  –some left before voting;

 10) lack of adequate help at polling places to control crowds. 
PAUL FEINER

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York City will enter Phase Three of reopening tomorrow, but that indoor dining will not reopen there. The governor also updated New Yorkers on the state’s progress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The number of new cases, percentage of tests that were positive and many other helpful data points are always available at forward.ny.gov.

“New York City is a crowded, dense urban area and — until recently — was the global epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis,” Governor Cuomo said.  “Out of an abundance of caution and after seeing other states’ experiences with indoor dining, we will wait to reopen it as the city moves to Phase Three tomorrow.   As we end this holiday weekend, I urge everyone to be New York Tough: wear a mask, socially distance, use hand sanitizer and continue the smart practices that have made our state a national leader in combatting this virus.  I also remind local governments of their duty to enforce the standards that have made NY’s reopening safe and successful.”

Today’s data is summarized briefly below:

• Patient Hospitalization – 832 (-12)
• Patients Newly Admitted – 54 (-9)
• Hospital Counties – 28
• Number ICU – 178 (-12)
• Number ICU with Intubation – 116 (-3)
• Total Discharges – 70,968 (+91)
• Deaths – 8
• Total Deaths – 24,904

Of the 63,415 tests conducted in New York State yesterday, 533, or 0.84 percent, were positive. Each region’s percentage of positive tests over the last three days is as follows:

REGION	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
Capital Region	1.10%	0.90%	0.60%
Central New York	0.90%	1.40%	1.50%
Finger Lakes	1.80%	0.70%	0.90%
Long Island	0.90%	1.00%	0.80%
Mid-Hudson	1.40%	1.10%	0.80%
Mohawk Valley	2.90%	1.20%	1.10%
New York City	1.50%	1.40%	0.90%
North Country	1.20%	0.30%	0.60%
Southern Tier	0.50%	0.90%	0.30%
Western New York	1.70%	1.40%	0.70%

The Governor also confirmed 533 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 397,131 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 397,131 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	2,152	7
Allegany	63	0
Broome	753	1
Cattaraugus	127	0
Cayuga	120	0
Chautauqua	132	1
Chemung	146	0
Chenango	150	1
Clinton	103	2
Columbia	475	1
Cortland	51	1
Delaware	91	0
Dutchess	4,243	5
Erie	7,475	13
Essex	48	1
Franklin	33	0
Fulton	261	0
Genesee	239	0
Greene	263	0
Hamilton	6	0
Herkimer	173	1
Jefferson	94	1
Lewis	31	0
Livingston	132	1
Madison	363	0
Monroe	3953	31
Montgomery	119	0
Nassau	42,031	43
Niagara	1,284	7
NYC	216,969	239
Oneida	1,742	17
Onondaga	2,949	21
Ontario	280	2
Orange	10,775	9
Orleans	282	0
Oswego	206	0
Otsego	86	0
Putnam	1,336	1
Rensselaer	565	2
Rockland	13,648	19
Saratoga	566	4
Schenectady	834	3
Schoharie	59	1
Schuyler	13	0
Seneca	71	1
St. Lawrence	224	1
Steuben	270	1
Suffolk	41,642	57
Sullivan	1,456	0
Tioga	146	1
Tompkins	179	1
Ulster	1,834	9
Warren	269	1
Washington	246	0
Wayne	185	2
Westchester	35,043	23
Wyoming	97	1
Yates	48	0

In Congress, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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Declaration of Independence

The condition of the parchment Declaration of Independence is a sign of the place it has held in the hearts of many Americans. Years of public display have faded and worn this treasured document. Today it is maintained under the most exacting archival conditions possible.

WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2020. By Benjamin Boykin, Chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. July 3, 2020: I have established a new Election Information Gathering Task Force. The Task Force will obtain public input about the June 23 Primary Election and about pro-active steps that can be taken for the November 3 General Election.  It will provide a report to the Board of Legislators by August 7, 2020. The Task Force will hold a public input session on Wednesday, July 8 at 7 p.m.  In order to ensure public health safety, the session will be conducted remotely, rather than in-person, pursuant to Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.1 as extended. The public will have multiple ways to participate: Online:  To register to speak via the Board’s Webex online teleconferencing system, please click this link: https://westchestergov.webex.com/westchestergov/onstage/g.php?MTID=e544cf7dd60ae8922a643c64a2ea73444.  Speakers will be called in the order of registration.   By Telephone: Participants who wish to speak by phone should register by 3 p.m. July 8. To register, members of the public may call (914) 995-2800. Please leave a name and a callback number where we can reach you when the comment session begins.   In writing: Comments can be submitted in writing by emailing BOLPublicComments@westchesterlegislators.com or mailing them to the Clerk of the Board of Legislators, 148 Martine Ave., 8th Floor, White Plains, NY 1060.  Written comments must be received by 5 p.m. on July 15, 2020. Speakers shall be limited to three (3) minutes. The session will be streamed live and archived on the Board’s website, http://www.westchesterlegislators.com The Board of Legislators members of the Task Force are: Vice Chairwoman Alfreda Williams Majority Leader MaryJane Shimsky Legislator Catherine Borgia, Chairwoman of the Budget & Appropriations Committee, Task Force Co-Chair Legislator Vedat Gashi, Chairman of the Public Works & Transportation Committee, Task Force Co-Chair Please forward this e-news to family and friends who may be interested in this information.

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. (EDITED) July 1, 2010:

Due to the societal shutdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the County estimates revenue loss as great as $250 million from sales tax, hotel occupancy tax and other revenues for Fiscal Year 2020.

The County is exploring the following avenues to close the budget gap: the CARES Act resulted in the County receiving an additional $30 million in federal transit aid, the federal government will contribute 50% of the cost of the Medicaid program, the US Marshal service is anticipated to increase its contributions by $3.8 million, and the Department of Correction is expected to accrue $2.8 million in salary savings resulting from a significantly reduced inmate population.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt in Westchester for years to come, County Executive George Latimer proposed the Voluntary Separation Program.

The Program will allow Westchester County employees to voluntarily leave County service in exchange of a $1,000 payment for every year of service to the County. The move will amount to one to two million dollars in savings in 2020, and will save the County six to ten million dollars in 2021.

Latimer said: “In light of the impact of COVID-19 on the County’s budget, and the impact it is likely to continue to have, creating a voluntary separation incentive is a fiscally prudent step the County can take to mitigate the revenue shortfalls created by the virus. This is one more thing we can do to assist with getting, and keeping, the County’s finances on track.”

Elected officials, members of the County’s Police, Correction and District Attorney Investigator Unions, employees facing disciplinary proceedings, and employees of Westchester County Community College are not eligible to participate. Additionally, cognizant of the State’s budgetary concerns, the program contains a provision that, if the State also enacts some form of separation incentive, an individual cannot take advantage of both the State incentive and the County incentive, and must choose one.

Westchester County employees who wish to participate in the program must notify the County by July 24, 2020. Payments will be made to participating employees within 75 days of their voluntary separation from County service, which must occur on or before August 1, 2020.