If the Town “Bored” meetings were an indication of the efficiency of the operations of the Town, we’d be in even more trouble than we’re currently in. Each Board meeting is predicated on what group(s) or individual(s) Supervisor Feiner wants to recognize, give an award to, or single out, in effect padding his campaign strategy with yet another prospective vote at the expense of Town and the public’s time. It’s a seemingly innocuous gesture that he’s concocted and mastered during his twenty-year tenure.
In the beginning of our time in Greenburgh, ABG recalls Greenburgh Supervisor Anthony Veteran, guiding the Town through its formative years as a growing and evolving town. But eventually, as we are currently witnessing with Supervisor Feiner, the proverbial absolute power corrupted him, opening the door for the then-young Feiner. But those who don’t study history, as another saying goes, are doomed to repeat it.
His pet projects aside, various iterations of his Town Boards have slowly increased his monarchy, foisting him to an elevated position where he believes he can get away with whatever he wants. He is so detached at Board meetings that he reads his emails, text-messages, and occasionally even doses off. In the March 2010 Town Board meeting, he was certainly paying attention while Councilwoman Sonya Brown “ripped him a new one”. You should go back to that early March meeting and watch the archive. Her tirade is just after the two-hour mark.
The revelation by Councilwoman Brown was an eye-opening event for some. It wasn’t a surprise to those who regularly follow our Town government, but because the Town has been imploding for some time now, with Councilwoman Brown becoming the first public “chink in the armor” of the previously impenetrable Feiner Fiefdom. ABG's sure she won't last long with that bulls-eye now on her back. And that's too bad because the public might do better now that she's seen the light.
Each yearly budget release for which there are two different budgets referred to as the “A and B” budgets, apply to the unincorporated areas of the Town and the incorporated areas. Simply, the incorporated areas are the Villages within the Town. The Villages have individual mayors and boards, elected independently without including the residents of the unincorporated areas. Their mayors and boards serve as the administrators of the Villages, looking out for the best interests of their respective Villages. The unincorporated areas have the supervisor and his board, who seem to only be looking out for themselves, and the developers who fund them.
Witness the debacle that the supervisor and his last two boards created with the guilty verdict from Federal court over their discrimination toward the Fortress Bible Church property and their illegal unwillingness to allow them to build on the property they purchased. After following the rules, regulations, and hoops the Church was required to, the supervisor and his previous board killed the church's proposal. A board member from the previous board that was found guilty, presently sit on the current board: Diana Juettner. Coincidence? We don’t think so. Learn how to stare at the tabletop when things get uncomfortable with the public and let “The Paul” handle it. The alternative if they take initiative? They’ll be jettisoned, as were their predecessors and as he's now plotting against Brown. Are you wondering what the cost of these guilty judgments to us is? A cool $8m. That’s a lot of church. Maybe we should light a candle and hope for divine intervention.
Witness another gem with Fulton Park, and the ill-fated Westhab project that shouldn’t have gotten off the ground except for the “done-deal” by the supervisor. With a handshake and a wink, Westhab, “leaders” in managing facilities with homeless, transient and transitional peoples purchased the property they had previously managed. The problems that perverted this project were evident to all once the residents of Fulton Park, their civic association and others got wind of it. The project moved steadily behind the scenes with the maneuverings of the supervisor. Then the board jumped on the bandwagon. After all, its The Paul’s hottest pet project.
Witness yet again the questionable operations of the Theodore Young Community Center (TYC). For a while, swim coaches from one of the two swim teams that operate there were paying different rates and being slighted by what appeared to us in the bleachers as preferential treatment. After an exhaustive attempt to have the Board get to the bottom of this, the coaches were told that once the new director was hired, they could be sure this issue would be addressed. As far as ABG knows, it has not be addressed or remedied. And the swim coach has ceased participating in Town Board meetings.
Witness a further Theodore Young Center issue with sponsoring field trips for a range of groups. One was for our Senior Citizens and a cruise to the Bahamas. While the price is important and a factor, the ticket price isn’t the primary point of discussion. According to a regular critic of the Board, there were hidden costs being paid for by the taxpayers, mysterious fees being charged to the participants, some questionable participation by TYC staffers and a less expensive price available by not participating through the TYC. There should be oversight for the TYC, but there is none provided by the Board.
There are about ten legal actions currently pending against the Town. This is an unacceptable amount. It’s lower now because several suits were either settled or the litigants have passed away from old age. The Town is well known to be fraught with rules, mazes of regulations, paperwork. Applicants with seemingly endless endurance never really know when they’ve succeeded because there is always one more "gotchya". It is one reason many contractors refuse to work in the Town. It’s also why many homeowners don’t do additions, renovations and improvements to their homes. They leave. That costs the Town in lost revenue over an extended period of time. It also forces our better citizens to relocate and add to other communities. Ouch! We need to have better people involved. We can start with having the supervisor retire.
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