It’s Right Under Your Nose

Most people live in the moment; surrounded with their families and friends, usually in their own neighborhood. They rarely see what goes on in other parts of the community, municipality or even at the meetings of their elected politicians. ABG knows there is a lot going on throughout the Town of Greenburgh, and will touch on some in no particular order or importance. Actually, they’re all important because somebody always wins and somebody always loses. Traditionally, in Greenburgh, it’s the residents of the Unincorporated portion of the Town who always lose to developers, special interests and The Paul’s pet projects – which are often the same thing.

Greystone Developers has a project in the works to build 20 - 8,000 square foot homes on Route 9, across from the Kraft Foods site. There is already a small development adjacent to the location with some fairly large homes. In actuality, 8 of the new homes to be built will be in the Village of Tarrytown and 12 will be in the Town of Greenburgh. These new homes will make McMansions seem like bungalows. ABG is concerned about a couple of issues: increased flooding, subdivisions when the homes don’t sell, and an increase in traffic congestion. Before you say it’s only 20 homes and maybe 40 cars, each time we add to an already congested roadway, regardless of the negative impact comments the developer will make based on their traffic study, which is usually mythical to begin with, it only adds to the congestion problems our neighborhoods are currently overwhelmed with. The good news? These homeowners will cumulatively pay about a million dollars a year in taxes – until the certiorari adjustments.

The Dromore Road lawsuit case, which the Town just lost, allows a developer to take a parcel of land near the Greenburgh Nature Center that was thought to be residentially zoned for single family homes, and build 41 units of housing. The Edgemont Community, understandably, is against this. The developer contends the zoning map allows them to build a large development. A judge agreed and awarded the victory to the developer. The Edgemont community disagrees and has the financial resources and talent to challenge the decision. While it is no surprise for the Town to lose a court case with The Paul at the helm, ABG believes Greenburgh might have won if the judge evaluated the whole picture and not just a technicality. Unfortunately, the Town’s loss was based on outdated and faulty zoning maps. Another developer, Westhab, was able to succeed with their oversized project in Fulton Park through similarly faulted mapping. Only that community doesn’t have the resources to fight back.

Homeland Towers, a cell tower company, intends to erect two 108 foot cell towers in the Town. The proposed locations are one on Taxter Road and one on Tarrytown Road. If you want to know what it might look like, look near the service station going southbound on the Hutchinson River Parkway from Westchester Avenue eastbound. ABG understands that there will be at least three companies utilizing these towers. There was another company, looking to put cell towers on existing utility poles. The Stepford Board, will not make a decision on the company's request to install these cell towers. We believe they are hesitant to do any real work and make any kind of decision as it might go against The Paul’s wishes or offend a developer; especially a developer that may donate to The Paul’s campaign fund! It’s actually one of The Paul’s most clever tactics being artfully executed by his Stepford Board.

The well-publicized screw-up of The Paul with the WestHelp organization and the County has cost the Town $1.2 million per year. When WestHelp finally closed down because their services to house the homeless was no longer necessary or needed, his incompetence not only became glaringly apparent, but he reacted as he always does. He began to throw spaghetti (ideas) against the wall in hopes that something might stick and get him out from under his fiasco. Not only did that not work, but two residents sued Valhalla to get money returned to the Town that the Town had illegally paid to the Valhalla School District as a payoff deal to let the WestHelp residents’ kids attend the Valhalla schools. Their lawsuit was successful. The Town’s legal department still refuses to recognize or understand the illegality – probably because The Paul instructed them not to. There is now a plan on the table by The Paul to lease the property to a handicap school for 50 years for $900k per year. However, they wish to demolish the three buildings on the property to proceed. The biggest problem with this offer is that the Town doesn’t own this property, the County does! Consequently, The Paul cannot make any contractual deals regarding it.

There’s a new dance studio looking to open in the site of a former gas station on Central Avenue. It’s tough enough being a gas station in Greenburgh but simply purchasing the gas station property will invariably require contaminated soil remediation along with other cleanup costs. It could be thousands of dollars before the first pirouette is performed.

The Town has also proposed that we do away with leaf collection and either mulch our leaves or bag them for pickup. ABG doesn’t mind doing away with the pickup since the only time the leaves were removed were after the first snowfall by the snowplows clearing more than just the snow from our streets. So, the reality of this move will allow The Paul to tout how he reduced our highway department costs by eliminating leaf pickups. Are they going to sell the vacuum equipment? ABG doubts it. That would actually save us money.

The Theodore Young Center was a victim of Tropical Storm Irene. The difference between the TYC and our neighbors that were also flooded was that The Paul sprung into action to get the TYC monies to make repairs caused by the flood. If you go into the gymnasium at the TYC, you’re see the damaged wood floor as it undulates throughout the large room. Many neighborhoods were severely inundated and overwhelmed with water from Irene. What did The Paul do for them? He contacted every other politician and asked them to do something and then amazingly told flooded homeowners that he would contact FEMA to have them buy these same homeowners’ homes from them. Research proved that there were many steps the Town, County, State and Federal governments would have to perform before any offer of purchase would be made. Is this a sincere offer or more of The Paul’s snake oil doublespeak?

Assisted Living Centers are all the rage across the country as our baby-boomer society ages. And, while the cost of real estate is extremely prohibitive to many throughout Westchester, it is not a problem to secure and develop in Greenburgh if you “know someone”. ABG is all for assisted living and knows of one facility in Valhalla near Westchester Community College that does quite well. There is a small parcel of land, roughly where Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue intersect, immediately behind the gas station at the beginning of Benedict Avenue that is planning (still unofficial) to appear before an upcoming Town Board meeting to expose the proposal. We’re sure The Paul will make the Stepford Board the lead agency, ignore the traffic studies, SEQR, etc., and most importantly, the neighborhoods’ concerns as they fast track this project through the Towns normal maze of regulations.

Another recent court decision against the Town happened with little fanfare in the media. While we understand what happened, it’s a pretty involved case that affects one family, their neighborhood and us, The Paul’s personal ATM resource. Dominick Caratozzolo approached the Town Board in 2005 and explained how he and his neighborhood were being overcharged on their sewer tax. He and his family had paid under protest all the while pleading with the Board to address this travesty. They would not, following The Paul’s mantra, “Sue me”. While there are a lot more details to this, we’ve elected to skirt those and focus on the outcome. Mr. Caratozzolo did sue, and won the lawsuit against The Paul and the Town Board, proving the Town was in fact overcharging everyone in the neighborhood. The judge also found that while the Town was guilty, he refused to refund the difference back to the homeowners. While we believe this is mostly because of some sort of sympathy from the judge toward The Paul, it still vindicates Mr. Caratozzolo and the others. Unfortunately, we pay for The Paul’s arrogance and non-existing management skills.

The “happenings” in the Town of Greenburgh suggests a never-ending stream of ill-conceived concepts, projects fraught with collusion, campaign donations, coercion, back room deals, payback and more dark venues than a proctologist will ever see. We have suggested the NYS Attorney General investigate the shady events happening in the Town, but The Paul has a spousal lock to keep that from happening. Someday we may see an investigation happen, exposing more under one overturned rock than even ABG cares to believe. We can only hope.

He Will Be Missed

The viewing of Tyler Rush took place last evening at the Hawthorne Funeral Home in Hawthorne, NY. Traffic control was performed by the Elmsford Police department members, ably controlling what could have become a chaotic scene. The small facility had a line that encircled the building for hours, forcing an extension of the viewing hours to allow all to pay their respects. The sea of Fire Department members, police and even politicians was overwhelming as area departments came to pay their respects. The Elmsford Fire Department and Village seemed to have every member in attendance. The Fire Department participated in a special prayer service about 7PM.


Tyler Rush lost his life in a motorcycle accident on Thursday night of last week. He was an accomplished sports enthusiast who played well and with a passion. It was that same passion he brought to every undertaking and an open and honest persona that made him such a well-liked person. He was a student at the Mt. Carmel School, Archbishop Stepinac High School and SUNY-Rockland Community College. He began working for the Village of Elmsford during school and following in his grandfather and father’s footsteps with membership in the Elmsford Fire Department, rising to the rank of First Lieutenant. He was the Live Oak Engine Company’s Firefighter of the Year three times. Well known and well liked, he will be missed.


A funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday at 10AM at the Mt Carmel Church. A private ceremony will follow.  In lieu of flowers, donations in Tyler's memory may be made to either Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, 59 East Main Street, Elmsford, NY 10523 or Burn Care Everywhere, 283 Tarrytown Road, White Plains, NY 10607.

In Memorium

There was a fatal motor vehicle accident last evening in Hawthorne, NY on Route 9A at about 8PM. The motorcyclist, Tyler Rush, of Elmsford died of his injuries. He lived in Elmsford, NY, was a member of the Elmsford Fire Department and Live Oak Engine Company No. 1, and employed by the Village of Elmsford. He is survived by his parents, Lauren and Edward Rush and siblings Francesca, Luke and Connor. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family. No further information is available at this time.

“Drowning” in Taxes

We’ve previously posted* about the proposed and now voted upon water rate increase for the Unincorporated Town residents. At Tuesday’s work session, The Paul’s newest tax sailed right through, pretending the process is painful but necessary. The Paul has the chutzpah to actually say, “We have to bite the bullet and be responsible”. Responsible? Really, Paul? The audacity exhibited by The Paul never ceases to amaze the entire staff at ABG. We’d like to see The Paul follow the law so we don’t have a dozen or so lawsuits pending against the Town? We’d like him to not lie under oath or destroy evidence (Fortress Bible). The list seems endless.

While claims to increase the water bills for the average Greenburgh residents by 24% is a significant one, it must be said that his false statement of achieving the NYS 2% tax cap simply doesn’t hold water. Yes, it’s a bad play on words but ABG staffer Christina insisted on using it. At the end of the day, between last years 72% increase and now this 24% increase, it’s impossible for The Paul to say he adhered to the tax cap! ABG understands there are numerous ways to “achieve” compliance and still have a significant tax increase. He’s come up with another.

The Paul has been making the residents “bite” many bullets repeatedly during his twenty-plus years in office. Seniors who supported him when he first ran for Town Supervisor are finding they are unable to continue living in their homes within the Town under his administrations. One widow told an ABG staffer that her social security benefits check totalled $14k a year. Having raised her family in the house she was born in, she was forced to finally sell her home once her taxes reached the same amount. Eventually, she wound up in a (DSS) subsidized apartment on Manhattan Avenue. She used to enjoy sitting outside on summer evenings but can no longer do that as she fears for her safety and feels alone with no family nearby. What a far cry from how she had planned to spend her final years.

“Rising expenses, repayment of past obligations and future projects demand the board act immediately, Feiner said. “If we don’t raise rates today the water district will see its debt increase and it’s going to be worse,” Worse? Again, really? We sincerely wonder what new projects there are that warrant this high an increase? It cannot be to repair or increase the infrastructure as that hasn’t happened since he’s taken office. The flooding caused by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee proved throughout the Town that we are inadequately served, in disrepair or frankly, in an almost hopeless condition. In typical form, he fired off letters to every legislator he could find requesting something be done by everyone but himself. Former Elmsford Trustee William Zimkin proffered a marginal solution for the Saw Mill River flooding along the 9A corridor. The Paul latched onto this stopgap as if it were his own panacea. Ideas abound, just not the The Paul or his administration.

The Paul promises another increase of at least 10% in 2013. The undeniable issue is that he doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s doing at the helm of this rudderless ship. The Stepford Board just goes along with what he instructs them to do, occasionally offering a rebuke when there’s the unwritten guarantee of passage or he’s prearranged their objections with them. They stay in line to ensure being reelected, lest they suffer the fate of the last casualty, Sonya Brown. While we had high hopes for Ken Jones, he’s fallen in lockstep with the Board faster than water floods into Babbitt Court. Greenburgh needs a change. We can only hope.

*http://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2012/02/Unconscionable-102-Rate-Increase.html

Stop and Shop or Stop and Steal?

The new 67,500 square foot Stop and Shop Super Center store will be opening this week. The location of the new supermarket is actually where the old Premier Theater had been located many years ago. The difference today is when the theater had been there, with the amount of impervious space it had, there weren't any other buildings in the area. Water drainage was not a problem back then! According to The Paul, and we quote, “Unlike many development application projects that experience significant opposition from the community - this supermarket had an enthusiastic group of immediate residents behind it from day one. I received many calls and e mails from residents expressing a desire for a quality new supermarket.” It's only a true statement when you study how the question of the new Stop and Shop was posed. 


When asked if people would favor a new supermarket offering? The answer was usually yes. Would you be in favor of a new super center style supermarket with a larger variety? Larger variety? The answer was yes. So, as people were polled about a new supermarket, the carefully asked questions guaranteed certain positive answers. No one was asked if closing the existing Stop and Shop would impact the neighborhood negatively. No one was asked about the amount of impervious space that would be created, affecting the water runoff in the already saturated and heavily flooded areas – except the Glenville Community Association, the Babbitt Court Residents and the business and home owners along the 9A and Rt 9 flood zones along with the G-8. 


Many in Tarrytown’s Rt 9 and surrounding area who were able to walk or bike or take a bus  to the existing Stop and Shop (formerly First National, and then Finast) were vociferously against the new Stop and Shop! The Paul prefers to ignore this in his post. Once the existing Stop and Shop closes, the space will be used for yet another CVS. Apparently, we don't have enough drug stores in the area. We have nothing against CVS, but there is a claim that they will have an “expanded convenience food department”. What, more Twinkies?


Also in the mix, as part of Thomas Madden’s job security initiative, are plans to create an assisted living facility nearby. This effort, along with The Paul’s devaluing of the Unincorporated Town space, has been proposed to create multiple apartment buildings, actually twelve, along the Rt 119 corridor. This all dovetails into the proposed train, bus, car corridor they plan to develop Rt 119 into with the expansion of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement.


An issue ABG has with this expansion is not to utilize mass transit in the area, but we are a suburban area they are trying to develop into a more urban setting. There will condemnations and eminent domain utilized to take over homes and businesses properties to make this happen. The goal of the  separate elevated bus route is to have a bus stop for pickup/drop offs at all of the bus stops every five minutes and then have the buses all exit (near exit five of I-287) onto Rt 119 and proceed to the White Plains Transit Center. After this visit, it starts all over again. If you think there’s congestion on Route 119 now, just wait!


The Paul has assisted in closing two major supermarket outlets. While we recognize he didn’t do it alone, the soon-to-open HMart in the old Pathmark location will serve a limited clientele. That’s okay. But the A&P that closed in the Crossroads Shopping Center is continuing to devalue that neighborhood. As the store stands vacant, and falls into disrepair, fewer new tenants will be interested in revitalizing this store or the neighborhood. Unfortunately, it’s the neighborhood’s residents that suffer. Since The Paul and his Stepford Board have declared the Manhattan Avenue area low income in perpetuity, ABG believes little will be done by the Town to improve this area - stealing it’s future. We can only hope!

Few Solutions at Under-Attended Flood Presentation

A meeting about flooding was held at Greenburgh Town Hall by Westchester County Legislator MaryJane Shimsky, who represents the Town of Greenburgh’s District 12. Sadly, Alfreda Williams, the (non)representative for District 8, was not present nor is involved with the flooding work Shimsky has been doing. Her portion of the district covers the Bronx River area, which Shimsky has inspected and admitted this evening is worse off than the Saw Mill River area. The meeting had maybe twenty people in the audience, including the media.


This presentation rehashed information that had been offered previously by many politicians, including Shimsky. Although, there was a portion of the presentation that was done by Emily Vail, an estuary watershed outreach specialist with the NYS Department of Conservation, who focused on solutions being used more in underdeveloped areas upstate and at school campus’ than in developed areas such as Westchester. Surely a recent, albeit perky, college graduate, who annoyingly started every sentence with, “So…”, she had her own Powerpoint presentation with various green initiatives information in it. We applaud her concern for environmental issues. Ostensibly well indoctrinated in college, she alluded to the need to legislate green compliance and of course, threw in climate change as a verifiable cause for our flooding! Her message was acknowledged primarily by the representatives of the Greenburgh Nature Center when she queried who in the audience knew of the points she was discussing. 


While ABG believes in supporting and utilizing green solutions, which are typically more costly than “less” green solutions, we also feel they should be performed voluntarily rather than by legal mandate. With the tenuous economic fragility of our economy, do we really want to be mandating more requirements for business, possibly leading them into closure? ABG believes not and would welcome incentives as a better way to achieve compliance.

Shimsky’s slide presentation detailed some of the problems we’re facing and what can be done in the short and long term. Highlighting both low impact and high impact solutions seemed to be a positive part of her presentation. We’ve heard some of this from her and others before. She discussed the severe economic impact due to the loss of not being able to get to work in the flooded areas, and discussed water runoff due to the overdevelopment of the area without a corresponding upgrade of the infrastructure! Kudos to her for stating what residents have been critical of from The Paul and his Stepford Board - overdevelopment in Greenburgh! While she did state the obvious, she also detailed how the small rivers and streams in the area and their contribution of increased water levels to the area and the cumulative affect it is having on the real estate market as well as the taxables in the area. 

She continued to stress our infrastructure is overwhelmed and under-maintained, causing water to backup in the two main focal points, the Saw Mill River and the Bronx River, again, with the Bronx River being worse off than the Saw Mill. She also stated that all communities in the paths of these rivers must participate in trying to maintain the existing infrastructure. She gave an example of a storm drain that was completely covered and not recognized as being known. When she questioned Greenburgh’s Public Works Commissioner, Victor Carosi, he stated it wasn’t a Greenburgh drain. She did some more research and found it was a neglected drain owned by the county, and said if there is one unknown and unmaintained drain, how many more might there be? She continued that the County is currently doing an infrastructure inventory. ABG wonders how they “might” not know about it! To Shimksy’s credit though, she is pursuing the issue.

ABG recognized portions of the information and photos in her presentation that were taken by a resident in a quest to show The Paul where the problem areas were that affected he and his neighbors. Regardless, we applaud Shimsky for using them and not shying from touching on many of the issues that seem to ignored by other politicians. There is much more that needs to be done to alleviate the flooding issues in both sides of the Town. Since The Paul prefers to only talk about it, and Williams remains in the shadows, at least some residents of Greenburgh have an advocate working on their behalf. 

ABG sympathizes with the residents and businesses that were assaulted by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee and hope we can at least see the proper cleanup and maintenance of our existing, if failing, infrastructure. We can only hope.

Some related information touched upon during the evenings presentation can be had at:

www.nrdc.org and www. dec.ny.gov/lands/42053.html/58930

No Hope For The Tappan Zee

There was another meeting of the Obama, Cuomo, Abinanti and Feiner Campaign committee this week in Tarrytown’s Marriott Hotel. Under the guise of area concern for jobs, growth, economic stimulation, blah, blah, blah, the players were all available for free media coverage. At issue is the need or not, to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge. The free-media prostitutes were out in force. In fact, we wonder if the entire project, doomed from the start, will ever happen? ABG doubts it is much more than an election cycle campaign strategy for the incumbents. And this isn’t a rant against the democratic party as republicans were there also. It’s just that the democrats are in control and pulling most, if not all, of the proverbial strings.


We’ve been told for years that the Tappan Zee Bridge needs to be replaced. We’ve been told through our myopic local media with various reporters and news crews near the bridge, under the bridge and on the bridge, as well as every politicians who could get there when the live feeds were running, that the bridge is in desperate and dangerous need of being replaced. It has evolved into one of the largest sound byte campaigns since the Scarsdale Diet Doctor was murdered! We're repeatedly told it could collapse at any time! People are risking their lives each time they drive over it! Followed by more hysteria that collapse was imminent and this was an emergency! And then nothing happened. Was this a Chicken Little scenario? It certainly seems so. Yet through all of this, none would detail how it would be paid for, offer a final design, nor was there a consensus of how many displaced homes and businesses would be victims of this campaign.


We’ve been told a new bridge will create jobs, growth in the area, economic stimulation and all the usual campaign lies of what benefits this project will bring to any area, but not the disruption. Can anyone say Ridge Hill? They’re touting it must be a private and public partnership, will create thousands of jobs and infuse all kinds of money into the area. It’s the same campaign platitudes we hear at every election cycle about the topic du jour. The skilled jobs, while important, won’t be in the thousands. They may be in the hundreds, but it will be the low hundreds and go to the usual players, such as Yonkers Contracting, Petrillo Contracting, etc. They in turn will hire temporary workers which does help them and the temporary workers. They will hire unskilled workers as well at a much lower rate of pay, but, it still is good for them both. Will they be required to use union workers and businesses? Will they follow the Wick’s law? Doubtful.


We’ve been told building the bridge requires slight, negligible easements to promote the growth of the area. ABG’s feeling is tell that to the people who will be losing their homes and businesses and see what’s negligible? But our politicos don’t really care about them, only themselves. And right now they are onboard this campaign boondoggle lock, stock and barrel.  While the growth in the area will pale compared to what we’re being fed, consider the devastation building this bridge will bring to the local communities. We will witness small business whither and residents leave, ultimately lose out to the election campaign.


It’s been suggested to preserve the old bridge as a park. This latest idea from The Paul, another let’s see what sticks to the wall idea, is nothing more than an attempt to pander to the environmentalist special interest groups. Tom Abinanti, the king of campaigning on the cheap, has calculated that being in favor of another Feiner Fiasco won't hurt his reelection and he may actually gain a hundred or so green votes. He doesn’t care either way as long as he doesn’t have to vote on it. In fact, since the burden of paying for the bridge/park/jumping ramp is on the feds shoulders, they can all get in on this media bonanza. It’s why Cuomo changed his tune and is now interested in possibly keeping the existing TZ as a park.


They will auction off the name of the bridge to the highest bidder for enough money to ultimately pay for one underwater piling; and the name will become the Trump Towers Bridge. Historical significance be damned! There’s the extent of your private-public partnership. The park will be dedicated in fifty-foot sections, such as Martin Luther King Lane, Christa McAuliffe Sky View, Rob Astorino Ramp, Sarge (K9) Street Memorial, HiDeHo (Cab Calloway) Highway, Jumpers Ridge View and so on. ABG means no disrespect to the aforementioned deceased contributors to our heritages. But the opportunity to have even more repeated press conferences on this new park/bridge is really the primary justification for keeping this bridge. It’s probably why Abinanti jumped in after The Paul told him why he was pushing it. They've got at least three miles worth of press conferences and dedications.  The new bridge will have bike and walking lanes. Will it have benches and grass? Probably not, after all, it is a bridge. It’s design is to move vehicles. Anything after that is unrealistic.


And what of the necessary and difficult maintenance which was the primary reason we needed to replace this bridge? Magically, it’s no longer an issue in Feiner World. The master deflector has shifted the conversation from his incompetence in Greenburgh to something he has no responsibility or purview over for more media coverage! He has every right to be involved in other issues. But while his main issue should be running the Town of Greenburgh, his primary focus has only been to run it into the ground. The bridge is merely another of his deflections.


ABG doesn’t have a problem with a new bridge. The existing bridge will be dismantled and recycled as much as possible. It’s not like the entire structure will be “dropped” in place, cluttering the underwater area where it currently stands. The aesthetics of having two superstructures cluttering an otherwise gorgeous area is absurd! Do we want to see a mass transit capability incorporated into the bridge? Absolutely. But there is no infrastructure currently in place on both sides of the proposed bridge. So it will be another bridge to nowhere. Finally, how will it all be paid for? Let’s see a final design with concrete plans that actually show what will be done. Let’s not build a bridge that’s being designed as they go, as many politicos have suggested. And once we have the final plans, and a final estimate, triple that to have what the actual costs will wind up being. Most importantly, let’s listen to the area residents and businesses’ concerns, not The Paul, and do the right thing. We can only hope.

Deflection “Squared”

We’ve written before about The Paul’s ability to deflect attention from himself to something, no anything, else. The media is complicit with this because he keeps saying he believes in open government, so they feign all over him. It’s actually pseudo open government. Don’t believe us? Just look at the decline of the Journal News. It continues to lose readership because they have stopped doing their job as the public’s watchdog of challenging our politicians actions, especially in the Town of Greenburgh. The Paul’s version of open government is when it’s convenient for him for you to know something, or it doesn’t hurt his developer friends, he’ll disclose the information. If it’s something he wants, and more importantly, wants to hide, that information will never see the light of day. Unless, of course, you somehow can catch him doing something wrong and expose him. Most residents know his take, “Sue me if you don’t like what I’m doing?” And they do!

His latest blog headline, followed by even more text saying the same, proves our deflection-squared headline. His headline, “ADVISORY COMMITTEE WANTED TO PREPARE FOR TZ BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION--TO INCLUDE RESIDENTS CLOSEST TO BRIDGE.” The Stop & Shop construction didn’t warrant an advisory committee. Hmm, so how sincere is this “idea”? The maintenance-free Tappan Zee Bridge should now be turned into a park rather than take it apart and recycle its components. The new bridge will have a walkway, bike lane and ultimately, a rail component. Why keep the old bridge if the new one will be accommodating the features the old bridge is being saved for? At what point will The Paul agree to have the Unincorporated Town finance the bridge maintenance?

The Paul and his developer-friends are pretty busy over-building what used to be green space in the unincorporated areas of the Town. Therein lies his dilemma. How can he appear to be green while assisting his friends’ blacktopping what precious little porous ground is left in Greenburgh? It’s an easy answer. Deflection Squared! If he talks about keeping the bridge he always begged to have replaced just a few short years ago, eventually the media will pick up his convoluted story. The Journal News’ Phil Reisman got it right about The Paul in one of his rants, while the rest of his colleagues from the Bird Cage Liner Company endorsed the lunacy. Do we really want to have two superstructures marring the view of an otherwise gorgeous river? ABG thinks not.

One day in America, and maybe Westchester, there will be a media of the people, actually reporting the news instead of creating it. Until that time comes, ABG believes we may be the only ones pointing out the real problems in Greenburgh without the spin. If the fish stinks from the head down, that would indicate its time to get rid of the fish. The Town administration stinks. It’s time for The Paul to go. We can only hope.