NIMBY - But Yours Is Okay!

The Paul has publicly bragged about proving how much he’s going to do for the Fulton Park neighborhood in Greenburgh. He sent letters, broadcast it on News 12, Town Board Meetings and to any Paul-leaning media representative nearby. The Feiner Media Group was in high gear.  Originally built in the late 1930s, the single family homes in the Town’s Fulton Park neighborhood have been part of the established base from entry to retirement level homes. But with twenty years of mostly double-digit tax increases, severe flooding, burdensomely excessive and speeding traffic, massive surrounding growth without corresponding infrastructure changes, this little jewel of an area is literally and figuratively drowning.

The Town has given the Green(burgh) light to Westhab to build an oversized, poorly designed, contestable apartment building at the gateway to an otherwise beautiful, albeit abused, little neighborhood, Fulton Park. There’s not enough votes for The Paul or his servile lackeys on the Town Board to worry about losing, so they’ve sold them down the river (pun intended). Interestingly, when the Ridge Hill proposal saw first light, The Paul was against it, citing an increase of traffic in the surrounding area - where he lives. When the Fulton Park Neighborhood Association decried the already horrendous traffic conditions with their one road in and out, The Paul referenced the flawed traffic study, provided by Westhab, and how the increase to an already F-rated area would have little impact to traffic in the surrounding area. How bad is it? If you’ve you ever been stuck on Rt 119 on a Friday or after an accident happens on the Tappan Zee bridge, you know! And The Paul brags about helping them.

When the neighborhood petitioned the Town, citing the traffic backing up around their traffic circle and down Old Kensico Road, Westhab with the Town’s Planning Department and others, aptly referred to the Towns flawed engineering maps, citing there was no traffic circle where the residents claim it is. Can you say Dromore Road? If this were an affluent neighborhood they might be able to challenge the decision. Unfortunately, they’re not - the neighborhood lost that argument! Take a look below. It certainly seems to be a traffic circle to ABG.

If this was a discussion about moving a stop sign or installing a traffic light, ABG is sure the area would be recognized as the traffic circle. So why does Westhab get to ignore this? What’s really in it for The Paul? Incorrectly maintained zoning maps throughout the Town are allowing collusive decisions to be made all the while developers are personally wined and dined by The Paul and his Stepford Board. And The Paul brags on.

When the FPCA sought relief from then New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, they found that the incestuous relationship of The Paul went farther than even they knew. The Paul’s wife works for the Attorney General’s office, short-curcuiting any attempts for justice against her husband. And The Paul bragged on that he would prove to this neighborhood that he would change their opinion of him.

When the FPCA and the Greenburgh Council of Civic Associations all stated opposition to the Westhab project, The Paul pushed on, actually shouting at a resident who challenged him at a Town Board meeting who begged for an answer as to why he would support this project, which will fundamentally change the neighborhood by bringing the homeless population back into the neighborhood. His response? Because he wants to! Residents be damned! This is really about pandering and catering to developers.

When hurricane Irene, downgraded to a Tropical Storm, blasted our region, the otherwise ignored neighborhood was ravaged. The police department sent cars, they looked at the water and left. Some time later the fire department arrived and blocked the south side of Old Kensico Road. The residents on Old Kensico Road were literally underwater - again. They had previously gone to Town Board meetings decrying the increased flooding they were suffering from with all the added homes and condominiums that had been built in the area, the renovations and rerouting of runoff water from I-287 and the Bronx River Parkway, not to mention the need to dredge the river. The Paul and his Stepford Board didn’t even respond to their pleas. And The Paul is going to prove to this neighborhood how much he cares. He’s going to change their opinion of him. Really?

While the media was nearby filming and talking to flooded residents during and after Irene, The Paul made sure he arrivied in time to get on the air or in the interview. He said the Town would work with the Village of Elmsford, whose Village Board initiated a cleanup effort of the Saw Mill River. And, amid much media hype, The Paul inserted himself into an event he had nothing to do with creating, making it sound like he came up with the idea, when it was actually Elmsford Village Trustee William Zimkin. Once the media left, The Paul went back to his Ridge Hill McMansion in Hastings and forgot about helping Fulton Park.

The Paul’s latest battle cry is to save the Tappan Zee Bridge from demolition and create a park out of it, similar to what NYC has with the Highline Park. First, he should be dealing with Greenburgh issues, not NYS issues in the Hudson River. He acts like they will just blow up the bridge and dump it in the Hudson River. Second, he should be dealing with Greenburgh issues and leave the bridge to people in the know about bridges. The Highline Park in NYC works because it was an overbuilt, on-land system designed to support trains on dry land. It doesn’t have water related rusting, maintenance and cost issues. How will all the people get to this park? Where will they park their cars if they drive to it? How much additional traffic congestion will it create? Ironically, it may be the only space left in Greenburgh for a park as The Paul has personnally taken to developing every square foot of unoccupied space in Greenburgh. None of this really matters, if The Paul wants it, the media machine will endorse it.

Greenburgh is long overdue for a change in our government. Illegal actions, yearly double-digit tax increases, outdated records and maps, theft, poor management, missing funds, anti-business decisions, fees, taxes and rules are causing the decline of a once beautiful and prosperous Town. The social experiment The Paul has undertaken is failing. The Paul has to go! We can only hope.