WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL-CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. December 10, 2007: The Common Council with Councilman Arnold Bernstein absent granted a 6-0 consensus approval to house an additional 17 non-Department of Social Services registered homeless at the Open Arms (13) and Samaritan House (4) locations. 

The council responded with their opinion  allowing the opening of 17 additional beds at  the written request of Deputy County Executive Larry Schwartz’s through a letter delivered Monday at 2 PM to the White Plains Mayor’s Office asking “if the County can receive in writing which members of the White Plains Common Council either supports or has no objections to the use of cots at either Open Arms or Samaritan House during their operation as a warming center.”

Schwartz's letter was in responde to Mayor Delfino's letter to the County Executive (published by WPCNR) Friday afternoon.

The council upon hearing of  Schwartz request and that the county was willing to sign a contract with Grace Church Community Services to pay for two warming centers in White Plains, agreed unanimously to allow cots at the facilities. Councilperson Rita Malmud cautioned that this was not an official vote because Councilman Arnold Bernstein was not present Monday evening. The Schwartz request though did not stipulate it had to be an official council vote.

Paul Anderson-Winchell, Executive Director of Grace Church Community Services said the 17 cots would be available, 13 for men at Open Arms Shelter and 4 for women at Samaritan House beginning Tuesday evening. He said they were already filled, and when asked if this filled the need for drop-in beds, he said “no.” WPCNR has been advised there are possibly 40 or more persons still without shelter.

Paul Wood, City Executive Officer told WPCNR 17 appeared to be the amount of homeless the White Plains Police had been consistently contending with in their patrols for homeless without shelter throughout the city streets.

Rabbi Lester Bronstein of Bet Am Shalom Synague who with Reverend Carter Via of the Presbyterian Church of White Plains spearheaded the White Plains clergy reaction to the county plan said this meant that the plan to house the non-D.S.S. participating undomicled at church Warming Centers was dead and would no longer be pursued because cots had been the church issue all along. Rabbi Bernstein told WPCNR he and possibly Via would urge other clergy to call for cots at other warming centers throughout the county as the humane thing to do.

The Mayor told WPCNR in his office afterwards that the issue was not over that the county and the other cities had to get together and find a common solution to the homeless  not affiliated with the Department of Social Services programs for the homeless, housing.

Susan Habel City Commissioner of Planning clarified for the council, the issue of whether churches were subject to zoning restrictions, saying that they were but the rulings for specific projects had to be “fact-based” and judged on individual church circumstances and conditions. Habel said that only the Central Parking District by zoning allowed emergency shelters (such as warming shelters). She said that the Central Parking District only contained three churches, Grace Church, St. John’s and Mount Carmel where such Warming Centers could be located. If churches or places outside the Central Parking District wished to start such a shelter or Warming Center it would require an amendment to the zoning code.