On Sunday July 19 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, more than 40 agents representing 18 real estate brokerages located throughout Westchester and Putnam counties will host a “Day of the Open Door” community open house event for antique houses. The houses which were built between 1750 and 1929 are all currently on the market. Prices range from $175,000 to $1,939,000.

81 Glendale Road, Ossining, listed at $1,939,000, is one of the homes being shown during “Day  of the Open Door,” Sunday, July 19, 2015, from 1 pm to 4 pm. Listing agent: Bill Primavera,  William Raveis Real Estate, 914-522-2076.

81 Glendale Road, Ossining, listed at $1,939,000, is one of the homes being shown during “Day
of the Open Door,” Sunday, July 19, 2015, from 1 pm to 4 pm. Listing agent: Bill Primavera,
William Raveis Real Estate, 914-522-2076.

This open house event is significant in that Westchester and Putnam agents – regardless of broker affiliation – have come together to achieve a common strategic objective. “We know that selling an antique house can be problematic.” said Vicki Jimpson-Fludd, the creator and organizer of the event, as well as agent with Better Homes & Garden Rand Realty’s Briarcliff Manor office. “It not only requires a special buyer, but also special marketing.”

“With the advent of the internet, we know that, in general, buyers are not always local. We also know that the majority of buyers, even those who are local, use the internet to conduct their searches 24/7. When they find a house they like, they drive-by; and, if the curb appeal meets their expectations, they attend an open house to view the interior, usually without an agent.

“This process works well if the buyer is planning to buy a contemporary, suburban house.

However, because there are few antique houses in any given location, finding the right house can be a tedious process, even using the best internet search techniques. “The real estate business has changed dramatically; and, in response, we agents have to change the way we do business. The antique house market gives us the opportunity to study a small market segment and develop a workable approach to it. We have to engage the buyer much earlier in the purchase decision process.

“Similar to the internet, we have to find a convenient way to present an array of houses at a single point in time so that buyers can compare and contrast interesting properties – in real time. More importantly, we need to respect the buyers’ independence.

“Our ‘Day of the Open Door’ event does just that. Potential buyers can visit as many houses as they wish in a single afternoon. During their visit they can talk directly to the listing agent – the person who knows almost as much about the house as the owner. Most importantly, during the open house event, buyers can change their purchase criteria on a whim, and explore other locations and price points, all while being served by a knowledgeable real estate professional.”

To know all participating listings, visit: http://www.rivertownscountryhomes.com/day-of-the-open-door/

and on Facebook, visit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Day-of-the-Open-Door

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY (June 29, 2015) – In announcing the opening of a full service video production studio here called HD Media/Primavera Productions, co-founder Donald Kelly says, “As the demand for web content increases, so does the need for quality video production, and I am delighted to partner with Bill Primavera of Primavera Public Relations to service businesses and individuals in the Hudson Valley region.

 

Bill Primavera, founder of Primavera Public Relations, the longest running marketing company in Westchester, says, “That television production course I took long ago in college haunted me throughout my professional career and whenever I had the opportunity to produce video for a client, it was always one of my favorite activities. However, I always had to outsource the service. Now it will be wonderful to produce everything in-house. How lucky I was to find Don Kelly who has built this professional studio under the roof of Primavera PR and to have his vast experience and technical skill to run it, while our creative team scripts the videos and coaches our clients to appear in front of the camera.”

 

The HD Media/Primavera Studio is located in Yorktown Heights at 2718 Hickory Street at the corner of Granite Springs Road in the historic Ebenezer White House. The studio features seven cameras, nine audio recording tools, 15 pieces of studio lighting, three settings, three backdrops, including green screen, and a variety of formats from which clients can choose, including voiceovers, video profiles, “elevator pitches,” and professional editing.

 

“Don is the technician and my PR team does the creative,” says Primavera, “the scripting and coaching primarily.” Kelly, who has done many videos in the real estate field with agents, recognized the need for coaching to put his subjects at ease in front of the camera. “It’s amazing. These are natural born salespeople but much too often, I’ve seen a great video concept suffer because someone is nervous on camera. But Bill has experience on Madison Avenue, coaching for television appearances, and that experience will be put to good use with our work here.”

 

Primavera added, “Over the years, I’ve learned how to break down those walls between who a person is and the camera lens. Video is so important today for search engine optimization, so I think we’ll have a good market waiting for our services.”

 

Prior to his entry into video production, Kelly enjoyed a successful career as a mortgage banker for over 30 years, and therefore speaks the language of the real estate industry thoroughly, one area of concentration for the new enterprise. In that regard, he is a good match to Primavera whose resume includes being a realtor with William Raveis Real Estate and is known as “The Home Guru,” a branded weekly columnist for The Examiner and a blogger on the subject of home improvement and lifestyles.

 

Don Kelly also is involved with producing video of the Honor Flight of the Hudson Valley which flies veterans of World War II to Washington, D.C. four times a year for a whirlwind tour of the monuments and memorials there.

 

To discuss video concepts, call Bill Primavera at: 914-245-5390. Or email: Bill@PrimaveraPR.com

Bill James almost wishes he had been in charge of transportation at MetLife Stadium when thousands of Super Bowl fans were stuck for hours last February, waiting for trains to take them back to Secaucus Junction.

The Minneapolis inventor figures he could have emptied the big East Rutherford stadium at least three times faster by using his patented solar-powered JPod monorail system, sometimes called personal rapid transit.

“Trains are inefficient, especially in stadiums,” he said in an interview last week, noting that big venues usually provide only two portals per train — one in, one out — which can make boarding large groups on big passenger cars exceptionally time consuming. These waits can be especially annoying for return trips and re-boarding, particularly when trains make local stops.

As James tells it, his privately financed system of small, high-speed cars — or pods — cruising high above traditional traffic, could revolutionize mass transportation. This argument is especially compelling in densely populated places like North Jersey, where thoroughfares become clogged at the slightest provocation near a mall, an industrial park, an airport, a university, a hotel or a big stadium on Route 3. If these locations could be adapted to include dozens of portals for easy entry and exit, he said, a solar-powered network carrying hundreds of pods could quickly and inexpensively transport hundreds of small groups of four or five passengers from major thoroughfares to specific destinations and back again.

bJames

Bill James holding a model of the solar system that will power his monorail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“For example, instead of long waits for a train at the stadium,” James estimated, “you could enter a pod at various locations, punch in your destination and be transported out of the building and onto Route 3 where you’d be taken almost anywhere you want along our network.”

If that sounds far-fetched or cost-prohibitive or just plain crazy, keep your eyes on the Secaucus side of Route 3 at Meadowland Parkway opposite the stadium and the big American Dream Meadowlands complex now under construction. Three miles of busy Meadowland Parkway is where James plans to begin building his own dream — a $120 million, solar-powered monorail system — that’s expected to get under way by early next year at the latest.

“It won’t cross Route 3 to the stadium,” he said, “but I think it will make our point.”

His point is that correctly designed personal-rapid-transit systems might well be, according to James, the fastest, safest, most energy-efficient, most convenient, most cost-effective, most environmentally sound way for people to get around in the 21st century.

This claim is open to strenuous debate, of course, among experts who have researched mass-transit alternatives for decades. For example, Princeton University Professor Alain Kornhauser, once a strong advocate of personal rapid transit, has shifted his research emphasis to Internet-based driverless cars — formally called autonomous vehicles — that require little, if any, alteration of existing roadways.

“There are real advantages for building personal-rapid-transit systems in places where they’re needed, so I support it,” said Kornhauser, who heads Princeton’s transportation research program. “But once you build it there, how do you move it out to residential neighborhoods? Will people accept infrastructure they can see just outside their windows?”

James believes his Secaucus pilot project will become the first part of a network that will continue another three miles east on Routes 3 and 495 to the Lincoln Tunnel at Weehawken, assuming he can get the necessary state approvals. But as with nearly every start-up, nothing is certain.

Nevertheless, hardly anyone disputes the main advantages offered by his JPod system, which is named for the J-like hook that attaches each pod to an overhead rail called a guideway:

  • Low-cost solar power that drives the system.
  • Lightweight pods that help cut operating costs to a tenth of the cost of cars and an eighth of the cost of trains.
  • Driverless computerized routing with an onboard keypad that allows passengers to determine each stop along the network.
  • Private ownership and investment of the system that eliminates the need for government financing.
  • Inexpensive fares in the $5 range, including a 5 percent fee for the municipality.

“The benefits are obvious,” said Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli. “It’s energy efficient, solar-powered, environmentally friendly, and it’s not going to cost the town a penny. So we’re all for it.”

Although Secaucus hasn’t awarded JPods Inc. a building permit yet, approvals seem all but assured. Last June, the mayor and council adopted energy-efficiency standards for building personal-rapid-transit systems over its rights of way that fall well within JPod’s parameters.

James, a West Point-trained engineer who once built computer systems to manage just-in-time manufacturing products, had been scouring the nation for 16 years to find a government entity willing to accept his ideas. When asked about jurisdictions that ignored or rejected his proposals, he began reciting a long, long list.

“San Jose; Atlanta; Minneapolis; St. Paul; Rochester, N.Y.; Rochester Minn.; Seattle; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the New Jersey Department of Transportation. There are at least a couple of hundred,” he said.

The reasons?

“Bureaucrats and consultants think and talk, but they’re not doers,” he declared. “If the idea doesn’t fit the way they currently do things, they have a hard time accepting it.”

No prototype

Part of James’ problem is his lack of a prototype — a small working model that shows his concept is valid. Without it, he found it difficult, for example, to sell the Port Authority on a system for Newark Liberty and La Guardia airports. The state Department of Transportation also refused to give right-of-way authorization for a system that crosses state highways.

Early in his quest, James realized his ideas would never attract public financing. He said he has found backers to raise the $120 million needed to build the project.

“The transcontinental railroad was built with private funds in the 19th century,” he said. “This is no different: Government is better off governing and regulating, not running things.”

JPODS, Breakthrough Solar-Powered Transportation System, Introduced to the World with Demonstration in Secaucus

“The biggest news in transportation since the Wright Brothers.” Bill James, JPODS Inventor

 

Secaucus, NJ – Nov. 6, 2014 – “The Wright Brothers traveled 120 feet and changed the world; JPODS will demonstrate a 120 foot solar-powered transportation network that will solve congestion in cities,” says Bill James of his pioneer transportation system, JPODS.

 

James, who has spent 16 years developing JPODS, will launch the revolutionary travel system on November 10, 2014 in Secaucus, New Jersey. The temporary version, Rescue-Rail, will be built and demonstrated for the press to show its efficacy.

 

JPODS is a fully solar-powered monorail system with “10x” efficiency, utilizing 85 percent less energy than most personal transportation vehicles with absolutely no carbon emissions. Factors like the light-weight vehicle design, lack of startup and shutdown procedures and absence of fossil fuels also make JPODS cost-effective to build and maintain.

 

At a press conference scheduled at 11:00 am, James will talk about how the system will operate and its social, historical and economic implications in revolutionizing transportation. The network will then be moved to other cities interested in understanding how congestion and dependence on foreign oil can be solved by the Physical-Internet®, which combines roller coaster mechanics with computer networks.

 

The government of Secaucus is leading the world by governing sustainable infrastructure by performance standards. A law was passed in June allowing the use of rights of way over city streets based on efficiency exceeding 120 passenger-miles per gallon. JPODS networks move people and cargo at about 260 passenger-miles per gallon, 1/10th the energy of highway network. Solar collectors over the rails gather the energy to power the networks. JPODS expects to use this law to build the world’s first solar-powered mobility network in the three miles from Secaucus Junction train station to just across the river from MetLife Stadium.

 

James asks, “Are you unhappy with congestion, unhappy with gasoline prices? Life requires energy. Why are we wasting energy moving a ton to move a person? Why not strive to move only the person? Cleaner, faster, safer and more affordable mobility is possible by the Physical-Internet®.”

 

For further information about the JPODS system, visit http://www.jpods.com/. For more information or directions to attend the press conference, call Bill Primavera at 914-522-2076.

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY – October 28, 2014 – Physicians Against World Hunger (PAWH) is embracing the spirit of generosity this holiday season by presenting “Giving Thanks: A Food and Wine Spectacular.” Sponsored by William Raveis Real Estate, “Giving Thanks” is the latest effort by PAWH to raise money for the hungry and homeless here in the region and abroad.

“Giving Thanks” will be held at Villa Barone Hilltop Manor in Mahopac, NY on Sunday, November 23rd and will feature a cornucopia of food and wine vendors from around Westchester and Putnam Counties. Thyme Restaurant, Savannah’s Southern House, Gaudio’s Italian Family Restaurant, Chutney Masala, Via Vanti!, Peter Pratt’s Inn, The Travelers Rest, and The Winery at St. George are just a few of the restaurants participating.

The event will also feature a silent auction and live entertainment throughout the evening. Yorktown’s own country music star, Jessica Lynn will perform in addition the Lakeland Senior High School Chamber Orchestra. Also, Noel Carlson, a 16-year-old student at the Cortland School of Performing Arts, will sing the National Anthem. Tickets are available online at www.givingthanksspectacular.com

Dr. Michael Altamura, who founded Physicians Against World Hunger 25 years ago, said “We are extremely grateful for the sponsorship from William Raveis Real Estate which will take this event to a whole new level and help us address the needy both here and in developing countries abroad.”

William Raveis Sr. Vice President, General Manager, NY & Affiliates, Glenn Felson responded, “It is our great pleasure to be associated with so noble an organization as Physicians Against World Hunger. In particular we want to thank all of our agents throughout the Hudson Valley who have performed above and beyond the call of duty to enlist food and wine vendors and find participants of the silent auction.”

The primary mission of Physicians Against World Hunger is to help some of the most impoverished families in the world become self-reliant. It benefits the Westchester Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless here and the Credit with Education Program abroad. The program aids women in developing countries where they are trained to be self-sufficient through the use of repayment and micro loans as well as receiving health and business education. PAWH is a registered 501-c3 organization.

William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance is the No. 1 family-owned real estate company in the Northeast and the No. 8 real estate company in the country, according to REAL Trends. For five consecutive years, William Raveis’ Real Estate, Mortgage and Insurance divisions have been awarded the Gold Medal distinction by the Commercial Record and have been similarly recognized by Banker & Tradesman.

The company was named the Most Innovative Brokerage by Inman News, and has consistently been ranked the best place to work by Fox CT, Hearst Connecticut and the Boston Business Journal. William Raveis has 3,500 highly trained sales professionals in 108 offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine and Vermont.

For more information, visit the best website in real estate, raveis.com, or blog.raveis.com.

For a complete list of participating restaurants and vendors and to learn more about ‘Giving Thanks’ visit www.givingthanksspectacular.com

JPODS, Breakthrough Solar-Powered Transportation System, To Be Introduced at Yorktown Festival by Bill James & Primavera PR

Yorktown Heights, NY – Oct 12, 2014 – “The Wright Brothers traveled 120 feet and changed the world; JPODS will travel 100 meters and revolutionize transportation from this point forward,” says Bill James of his pioneer transportation system, JPODS. James, who has spent 16 years developing JPODS, will be welcomed today by Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace and Chamber of Commerce President Joseph Visconti in order to provide a “tease” of his solar-powered transportation system, to be introduced officially and demonstrated November 10, 2014 in Secaucus, New Jersey.

 

At a press conference just prior to the kick-off of the annual Yorktown Fall Festival & Street Fair, James will talk about how the system will operate and its social, historical and economic implications in revolutionizing transportation. At the end of the day, starting at 5 pm, James will be offering free rides around Yorktown on his ELF, a three-wheeled, solar powered passenger vehicle. Rides will be available upon signing up at the booth of Bill Primavera, president of Primavera Public Relations and local realtor known and branded as “The Home Guru.”

 

“I chose to Yorktown Heights as my kick-off point for JPODS because Bill Primavera is my friend and his agency, Primavera PR, headquartered here, will be communicating JPODS to the world,” James said. In response, Primavera said, “What an incredible honor to have my company attached to history in this way.”

 

According to James, JPODS is a fully solar-powered monorail system that is designed to eliminate congestion in urban areas with “10x” efficiency, utilizing 85 percent less energy than most personal transportation vehicles with absolutely no carbon emissions. Factors like the light-weight vehicle design, lack of startup and shutdown procedures and absence of fossil fuels also make JPODS cost-effective to build and maintain. “Combatting ‘civilization killers’ like global climate change, highway fatalities and resource wars,” James says, “the JPODS system will not only appeal to the public for its cost benefits, but for its ideological factors as well.

 

“Transportation is the catalyst to bring change to energy sources,” he continued, “which is just a hint at how groundbreaking the JPODS system is for our global community as a whole.”

 

The press conference in Yorktown Heights today acts as a preview for the main event on November 10, 2014, in Secaucus, NJ, the first city in the world to approve the installation of JPODS. There, a rescue installation will be built and demonstrated for the world press to show its efficacy, then disassembled for reassembly in other communities throughout the nation for demonstration purposes.

 

James promises that Yorktown Heights, NY, will be the first town to have its own JPODS demonstration where citizens can enjoy a free ride on the world’s first solar-powered monorail. (“That ride can be just like ‘the 12 second ride in Kitty Hawk, NC, that changed the world,’” James said, smiling.)

 

For further information about the JPODS system, visit http://www.jpods.com/, or call Primavera Public Relations at 914-245-5390. To speak to Bill Primavera directly, call his cell at 914-522-2076.

October 6, 2014 (Westchester, NY) — Primavera Public Relations, a full-service marketing firm serving a diverse portfolio of clients from small businesses to international organizations, is growing its practice in the food and beverage industry.

 

Bill Primavera, founder and president of the firm, announced today that Charles Pizzo of Dallas, Texas, is once again affiliated with the firm as director of food and beverage accounts.  Pizzo, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (1983), was one of the first culinarians to join the firm over 25 years ago.  Primavera Public Relations is a leading agency serving the foodservice industry.

 

According to Primavera, “Charles recently contacted me to say he was visiting Manhattan in search of a decent pastrami sandwich. Lo and behold, we discovered we had much the same philosophy and goals almost three decades later, at a time when the agency is experiencing explosive growth. We need someone with deep expertise in food and recipes to help attract and serve clients.”

 

Pizzo is the former owner of the award–winning P.R. PR, Inc. of New Orleans, and a past international chairman of the board of both the 13,500 member International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and its Research Foundation.

 

He has nearly 30 years experience in PR. His agency, at one time an affiliate for Edelman Public Relations in New Orleans, represented Bayou Steel Corporation during a 42-month strike.  Client projects have included Best Foods for the introduction of Dijonnaise, McCormick Spices, the American Culinary Federation, la Madeleine French Bakery & Café, and Mother’s Restaurant.

"Paintographer" Craig Alexander, left and Bill Primavera, The Home Guru, announce Landmark Paintography, the first venture of The Home Guru's new online home decor business, to be introduced in October. Until then, the art can be purchased at The Big White Art & Rug Tent at the Jefferson Valley Mall.

“Paintographer” Craig Alexander, left and Bill Primavera, The Home Guru, announce Landmark Paintography, the first venture of The Home Guru’s new online home decor business, to be introduced in October. Until then, the art can be purchased at The Big White Art & Rug Tent at the Jefferson Valley Mall.

The Home Guru, aka Bill Primavera, is introducing a new business: an online home decor store whose first product will be “Landmark Paintography,” art on canvas where you can’t tell whether it’s a painting or a photograph because of its artistry and lighting (hence the combined word), personally signed by  “paintographer” Craig Alexander, a world-traveled young man (not yet 22) whose penchant is for landmarks in major cities.  Alexander is poised to be branded by Primavera’s PR firm, Primavera Public Relations, Inc., Westchester’s longest running marketing firm.

“The very basis of the appeal for our product is that our world is more nostalgic now about our landmarks, having lost The Twin Towers,” Primavera said in making the announcement. “We freeze when we learn that the American flags have been compromised on the Brooklyn Bridge.  We are greatly alarmed when we find that an adventurer has breached security and taken a selfie at the top of the Freedom Tower. Our landmarks are infinitely more precious to us now and citizens of the world want remembrances of them more than ever.”

Craig Alexander, who is also a rug expert based out of The Big White Rug & Art Tent Sale at the Jefferson Valley Mall, says, “I had a customer stop by who is moving to California and had to bring some of New York with him, so he bought images of the New York skyline, one facing East, one West, North and South. He also brought the Brooklyn Bridge and Times Square with him.”

Primavera says that the official introduction of the online store business will be made at a press conference at the Yorktown Fall Festival & Street Fair on October 12, but in the meantime, there will be preview sales of Craig Alexander’s New York Paintography Collection at the Rug & Art Tent at the Jefferson Valley Mall at 650 Lee Boulevard in Jefferson Valley, NY. For more information about the canvasses, call Craig Alexander at 727-871-6671.
For more information about The Home Guru, its products and services, visit:www.TheHomeGuru.com or call Bill Primavera at 914-522-2076.

Yorktown Heights, NY, June 6, 2014 – William Raveis Real Estate, the largest family-owned real estate company in the Northeast, announced that it has appointed Primavera Public Relations, Inc. (PPR) as its agency of record to represent its Hudson Valley operations.

 

At the same time, it was announced that Primavera PR will be launching a major year-long project designed to engage the New York William Raveis offices further into its communities. That program involves the sponsorship of a program organized by Physicians Against World Hunger which benefits organizations dedicated to alleviating hunger and homelessness in Westchester County as well as in developing counties.

 

“We are honored to be selected to be associated with so distinctive a real estate company as William Raveis,” said Bill Primavera, Founder of PPR, the longest running public relations firm in the Hudson Valley, established in 1980. “And to have the opportunity to marry Raveis to such a good cause is very gratifying.”

 

Primavera’s firm will be guiding Raveis’ efforts in each area where the company’s offices are located, to organize and produce a major event in which the region’s best restaurants and wine suppliers will participate along with merchants who will contribute to a fine quality silent auction.

 

The local Raveis realtors will act as ambassadors for the program from each of the Raveis offices, 13 of them currently – Armonk, Briarcliff  Manor, Chappaqua, Rye, Harrison Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington, Katonah, Nyack, Piermont, Tarrytown, Warwick, and Yorktown Heights – and several more to come on line before the event on November 23, the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

 

Called “Giving Thanks: A Food & Wine Spectacular,” the climactic event takes place at Villa Barone Hilltop Manor in Mahopac, NY. For more information, contact: Bill Primavera, Primavera Public Relations at: 914-245-5390

 

 

About William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance

 

William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance is the No. 1 family-owned real estate company in the Northeast and the No. 8 real estate company in the country, according to REAL Trends. For five consecutive years, William Raveis’ Real Estate, Mortgage and Insurance divisions have been awarded the Gold Medal distinction by the Commercial Record and have been similarly recognized by Banker & Tradesman. The firm was named the Most Innovative Brokerage by Inman News, and has consistently been ranked the best place to work by Fox CT, Hearst Connecticut and the Boston Business Journal. William Raveis has 3,000 highly trained sales professionals in 100 company-owned and affiliate offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Maine.  For more information, visit the best website in real estate, raveis.com, or blog.raveis.com.