WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2005. From Dennis Power, Candidate for Mayor of White Plains. July 25, 2005: In a statement this afternoon released to the media, Dennis Power charge the City Administration had ignored its own water quality report, and has been too busy approving projects and not paying attention to the city's infrastructure.

Dennis Power Campaigns! Dennis Power of Doyer Avenue, accepting the Democratic Party nomination for Mayor in June. Power issued a statement on the rain storm that flooded White Plains one week ago, saying it showed the city infrastructure had been neglected. Photo, WPCNR News.

Mr. Power said in his statement:

“Last week’s thunderstorm brought problems to people across the city, with dramatic impact to homes and businesses small and large.  Residents of single-family, multi-family and high-rise buildings were all affected, as were shoppers and visitors who bring revenue to White Plains.

That raises a key question for the citizens of White Plains: Has the city administration been paying enough attention to the implementation of Federal- and State-requirements to mitigate the results?

The evidence seems unlikely.

The White Plains Spring 2005 Water Quality Report describes a Stormwater Management Program, but reveals that no real progress has been made since the filing of the city’s application more than two years ago.

Increased development and areas of impervious surface means water does not soak into the ground. Stormwater runoff —possibly polluted— floods basements, garages and roadways in addition to our streams, rivers and reservoirs. This poses a public health threat to local residents and to the area’s drinking water supplies.

One example: The 221 Main Street construction site, appearing to be under 6 feet of water after the storm, is a "brownfield site" and may have contained oil and gas contaminants, antifreeze and transmission fluids. If that water were contaminated, did it find its way down a city drain and into the Bronx River? Did the city have a code enforcement officer on site to monitor? 

Given this, the people have a right to know if the city administration’s focus on downtown development has left other important infrastructure planning for another day.

There are several ways White Plains can take advantage of modern techniques to channel and reduce the flow of the stormwater. To name a just a few: By building roads that allow percolation instead of sheet run-off and ‘road rivers.’  Also, retrofitting the stormwater drain system to "slow the flow." Sidewalks can be made semi-permeable in places.

In December 2004, Westchester County Dept. of Planning gave the city a detailed analysis of shortcomings concerning stormwater management. It is my hope that these model ordinances and zoning regulations, which represent the current best practices in the field, will be incorporated into White Plains ordinances and zoning regulations to help us control flooding and erosion problems.

If we do not make the proper provisions for successful stormwater control, as we are now mandated to do, we will continue to see uplifted pavement, construction site debris and other materials picked up and swept away by the force of the stormwater.

Toughening our stance, especially with new development, is vital. Critical to that success is a higher level of cooperation with other government partners, developers and informed, concerned citizens. The city needs to tighten regulations, enact new codes, and most importantly, enforce existing codes in order to enhance environmental quality. Our government needs to reorder priorities. “

That concludes Mr. Power's statement.

City Hall has released no official statement on how the Department of Public Safety handled the storm, nor has it had a comment on the rainstorm/flood which burst a pipe at Target, due to a two foot over flow above the storm drains on Martine Avenue; damaged the ground floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel; flooded The Westchester lower parking level; burst 15 to 20 manhole covers in the heart of the downtown; flooded the Bronx River Parkway, the North White Plains Railroad Station and turned Bloomingdale Road into a river.

Privately, city officials have been fuming about the uproar over the storm, and claiming last Monday's weather event (unpredicted by the National Weather Service) is a 100 years' storm and any infrastructure would have been overrun.

Five days before the storm the Commissioner of Public Works. in a detailed power point presentation made a report to the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee that all was well with the infrastructure, the stormwater drains and the sewers.