White Plains and Valhalla region

Students at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains are trying to fight hunger and get a day off of school by collecting 50,000 cans of food to be donated to charity.

If they can come up with the cans by Feb. 1, they’ll be rewarded with a day off of school on Feb. 6 – the day after the Super Bowl.

The effort is part of the “Souper Bowl of Caring,” an annual event when youth across the nation join together to fight hunger in their communities. Food collected by the Stepinac students will be donated to the Grace Church Community Center in White Plains and the Don Bosco Community Center in Port Chester.

Each of the 625 students has a goal of collecting 100 cans and boxes of food. To help reach the goal, some students will be at the White Plains Stop & Shop, 154 Westchester Ave.,  between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 28) and at the ShopRight at the White Plains City Center between noon and 4 p.m.,  asking shoppers to join the effort by purchasing and donating food.

The YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester will host a roundtable discussion Feb. 1 aimed at helping women learn strategies for finding and securing sponsors and mentors that can help them achieve career goals.

Panelists, including senior managers and young professionals,  will provide practical advice applicable to all working professionals, although the discussion will focus primarily on young women.

The event, scheduled for 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.,  is open to the public and is free for students and $20 for non-students. Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited, so contact events@ywcawpcw.org or call 914-949-6227 ext. 147 to confirm your place. The YWCA is located at 515 North St.

 

Each year GCC awards eight to 10 scholarships to students from its After School Mentoring Program for homeless and disadvanated teens who are heading to college. The awards, from $500 to $4,000 are given to first-generation college attendees to help with the cost of books and tuition. For 2011-12, awards were made to Eshondra McLendon, Bryan Amaya, Denilette Jimenez, Maria Elena Perez, Tasha Escobar, Donald Tomlinson, Laura Paula and Adriana Marte.

Four of the students were able to attend the luncheon, along with major supporters Bill Doty of Rye and Joan Schectman of White Plains.

For more information on the mentoring program or the scholarship fund, contact Chris Schwartz at CSchwartz@gracecommunity.org or call him at 914-949-3098 ext. 135.

White Plains showed its generosity over the holidays, donating coats, books, toys and furniture for a number of charitable efforts sponsored by the White Plains Youth Bureau.

Director Frank Williams reports that 622 children received toys this year, up from the normal average of about 100.

While most were donated by residents, the New York Life Foundation contributed 100 toys to the effort. The Disney Corporation and Daniel Katz each chipped donated 1,000 books, while the Ritz Carlton staff adopted a family and provided them with furniture, including a new bed. Also, 183 children received new winter coats thanks to donations by Webster Bank, the Holiday Children’s Fund and the Hillair Circle Neighborhood Association.

 

The Greenburgh Town Board has postponed a public hearing on NextG Networks request to install wireless antennas on top of utility poles throughout the town, including near homes.

The meeting originally scheduled for tomorrow night will now be held on Feb 7. at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The postponement will allow time for a town consultant to evaluate the feasibility of relocating three of NextG’s planned antenna sites to non-residential or mixed-use areas. NextG has said switching sites would be problematic and will provide the town with additional documentation.

Greenburgh’s Antenna Review Board has asked that NextG’s application be returned to the board for additional review. A decision on that request was to be made at the now-canceled hearing.

 

Bar porter Joseph Cuatt of Pleasantville, center, sprinkles salt on the sidewalk in front of Tighe’s Tavern on Martine Avenue in downtown White Plains during steady snowfall Jan. 21, 2012. ( Xavier Mascareñas / The Journal News )

See more photos from the regions first significant snowfall of the year in a gallery online, and go to LoHud.com for related news.

Editor’s note: Westchester Community College Professor Richard Hyland sent us this write-up about a recent trip a group of WCC students took to Wall Street:

Members of WCC’s Global Business Club visited the NY Stock Exchange recently at the invitation of WCC Alumnus and former NYSE Trader Marc Ruppenstein.  Ruppenstein, who is currently a studying at Columbia University, invited the small group to a private guided tour of the floor of the venerable exchange known for its raucous “open cry” system of buying and selling stocks.  The exchange, which traces its roots back to the late 1700’s, was known for its high-energy activity in which stock traders would shove each other around on the floor, use hand signals, and shout out orders.  This system has since been replaced by a more mild mannered approach that increasingly relies on computer systems to conduct stock trades.

Students were treated to an in-depth explanation of the intricacies of a securities transaction by Bank of America Market Maker, John McNierney.  “The exchange has undergone tremendous changes in the past decade with the advent of computerized trading systems.  It is really a different world these days.” Said McNierney.  “In the past, I used to have more leeway in terms of what trades happened and when they were executed – I could come in and react to what was happening.  Things happen so quickly now, that I have to come in with some ideas on what I want to do that day.  I have to be more proactive than before.”

The Club, which includes students Omari Byfield, Karine Pitton, James Kane, Beltino Goncalves, Elma Kurtovic, Sarah Winston, Di Tang, Kwame Duodu, and David Kwon, were accompanied by Mamaroneck HS student Steven Hyland, and Business Professor Richard Hyland.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo kicked off the next leg of his government reform and economic revival tour in Westchester’s largest city and touted over 75 road, bridge, park and flood projects aimed at growing the economy.

The visit came a day after the Democrat from New Castle released his $132.5 billion budget proposal in Albany and the governor on Wednesday repeated his goals of growing the economy, repairing a broken government and creating a new state that is the nation’s envy.

In announcing $426 million in infrastructure projects across the Hudson Valley—including $24.2 million for a bridge along the Sprain Brook Parkway, nearly $8 million for wastewater treatment plants in Yonkers, Scarsdale, North Salem and Southeast and dozens of other parks and flood control projects in the region, Cuomo said it about fixing New York’s ailing infrastructure and putting thousands of people to work.

 “We need jobs,” the governor said before an auditorium at Yonkers’ Riverfront Library filled with public officials, civic leaders, union members and Yonkers public school students. “We need to do the work. Let’s do it now.”

Here’s a link to the local projects.

These projects are part of a broader $25 billion economic development agenda throughout the state that include a new convention center in Queens,  a billion to rebuild Buffalo and a power system that delivers energy all across the state. These projects will leverage private dollars and won’t cost the taxpayers, he said.

Though Cuomo set aside $5 billion for a new Tappan Zee bridge, he did not mention it in his remarks, instead focusing on other projects in the region that include:

• $148 million for Stewart Airport runways.


• $5 million to improve sewer systems at Bear Mountain State Park.


• $2.6 million to fix failing bridges at the Old Croton Aqueduct trail


• $1.15 million for FDR State Park in Yorktown


• $106 million to rehabilitate the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge


• Millions for various road repairs along Routes 9, 22, 119 and 172.


• Millions for dam repairs and flood control in Ardsley, Chappaqua, Mount Pleasant and Yonkers.

The stop was a mix of his budget message and State of the State address earlier this month and included talk of pension, mandate and campaign finance reforms; improving education and implementing better teacher evaluation systems; betting on casino gambling and getting the state’s finances in order.

Susan Riley has been named the new director of the Mamaroneck Library, the board announced Wednesday. Riley replaces Susan Benton, who retired at the end of December.

Riley was most recently the Director of the Mount Kisco Library where she oversaw the planning, construction, and move into the newly built facility in 2009. She has previously worked in the Greenburgh Library, the White Plains Public Library, the Ardsley Library, the Chappaqua Library, and the Ossining Public Library, according to the library board’s announcement.  She received her Masters in Library Science from Queens College and the Advanced Certificate for Public Library Administration from LIU.

“My primary goals for the Mamaroneck Library are to maximize efficiency of operations, to increase open communications with local residents, to update technology, and to identify and offer more programs of community interest,” Riley said in a statement. “Most importantly, it’s clear to me that Mamaroneck Library is a centerpiece of the community and I will do all in my power to position the Library into the future as an exciting and broad-reaching community center…a warm, welcoming place for children of all ages to learn, have access to information, entertainment, meet & grow together, and more. Libraries today are so much more than just books,” she added.

According to the announcement, Riley “is a self-described technology geek … (who) loves to read, work out at the gym and run trails, hike with her husband and dogs, travel, take yoga classes, and spoil her two grandchildren. … As a well-known professional book reviewer for more than 22 years, she specializes in writing reviews for both fiction and nonfiction titles for teens as well as reviews on books dealing with pets.”

The Greenburgh Board of Education is seeking community input in its search for a new superintendent.

Local residents can share their thoughts in a survey on the district’s website at www.greenburgh7.com. Those without Internet access, can use computers at their local schools to fill out the survey, which will run from Jan. 18 until Jan. 31.

Two forums will also be held to solicit input: 7 p.m. on Jan. 23 at Woodlands High School, 475 W. Hartsdale Ave. and p.m. Jan. 24 at Theodore D. Young Community Center, 32 Manhattan Ave.

Ronald Ross, principal of Woodlands High School, is serving as the district’s interim superintendent. Read previous coverage of the districts interim officials here.

UPDATE (1/18): You can take the survey by clicking here.