John,   
           Apparently, I failed to express my point of view properly at the comprehensive plan meeting at the Ridgeway School on Friday evening.

 It was meant to be more than a "history lesson." What I wanted to explain was that any review of a comprehensive plan cannot set goals in a vacuum. Implementation of any comprehensive plan depends on the assessment of existing conditions and a constant evaluation of the changes that are taking place with the passage of time.

As the implementation of the plan is taking place, new directions could emerge to alter direction of the plan to improve the quality of life of the residents of this city. This, to steal a phrase from Adlai Stevenson, "requires intellectual independence, impenitent speculation, and freedom from political pressure."

As I said at the Ridgeway School, while the review of the compresensive plan is important, we must remember that White Plains did not emerge as a great legal and retail city as a sole result of its comprehensive plans. Once again we are asking ourselves, Quo Vadis? " Where do we go from here?

That question is being asked as a result of the Ridgeway meeting, and for that the organizes of the meeting should be thanked.

Alfred Del Vecchio