Will The County Stop The Madness?

Like most of The Paul’s illegal actions, this story is moving too fast for anyone’s good. ABG has previously posted that Greenburgh did not have the rights to repurpose the WestHelp property on the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla. ABG believes The Paul’s desire to quickly do this is ultimately not up to him. He said he’d move quickly to have the Greenburgh Housing Authority rent the 108 affordable apartments if Westchester wouldn’t approve the plan for the Ferncliff Manor residential school for the developmentally disabled. Finally, the County has stopped The Paul’s rampant disregard for the law and his unabashed chicanery regarding what he wants – without a lawsuit.

It was premature for The Paul to enter into negotiations with Ferncliff Manor to build a residential school at the former WestHELP complex in Valhalla as there is a lease with the County still in effect! At stake is the existing 108 available apartments which can be utilized immediately for housing relief for people currently on a waiting list for housing. According to statements made by Greenburgh Housing Authority Chairman Bishop Wilbert Preston, there is a 200-person waiting list for people seeking housing in Greenburgh that cannot be placed for a lack of apartments. But The Paul's desire to have the GHA as a sub-tenant may also be illegal - which has never stopped the master of deflection with proceeding with a bad idea. Obviously, we could reduce the waiting list of people in need of housing by half just by utilizing the facility. It's a no-brainer!

If The Paul were a true proponent of affordable/subsidized/low-income/senior subsidized/veteran subsidized/special needs subsidized housing and Section 8 housing, why wouldn’t he have jumped at the opportunity to use what’s already there? In fact, why was there even any question as to what to do with these apartments once WestHelp closed? ABG is convinced it doesn’t fit his agenda for reelection. Nor does it bring in the money the Town desperately needs to pay off all the guilty verdicts against him and the Town. It’s apparent to many of us that The Paul is only interested in helping others with housing if and when it’s convenient for him or there’s a reporter nearby. He is plowing through the little open space left in the Unincorporated portions of the Town, giving his developer “friends” and “wannabe-friends” copious rule-bending access to Town resources. Homeowners struggle to just get by, and are stonewalled by most of these same Town resources or simply ignored by them.

Fortunately for those in Greenburgh, the County legislators, who have given their democratic colleague as pass thus far, are not fond of The Paul’s plan and have expressed resistance to The Paul’s proposal to raze the buildings and build a school. Changing the property from low income housing to a school during their own desegregation verdict debacle would be extremely unwise and counter-productive for at least two reasons. First, it would certainly send the wrong message and second, Astorino's own senior advisor and communications director Ned McCormack fought this as President of the Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association. ABG is hopeful they may be slowing or putting a stop to The Paul’s maddening behavior. Like taking the keys from a drunken driver, so to speak, the County Legislators could be stopping more accidents/lawsuits from happening down the line. We can imagine the Stepford Board saying to each other with rapid head movements like chickens on speed, “What just happened? What does this mean? We went along with him like he told us. What’ll we do? Where is he? We need him! Daddy, daddy, we’re scared. Where are you?” Well, you get the idea…

Since the County Legislators are against The Paul’s demolition and change of venue plan, ABG is hopeful that the property will be used as intended: for much needed low cost housing. Regardless of the 20 year lease, ABG understands that the property has been reasonably maintained and in need of little. Greenburgh stands to lose an estimated $1.2 million if The Paul continues to leave the apartments vacant. It’s disturbing that the real motives of The Paul are being exposed toward the same people he purports to care about. Now that his promises to yet another developer are falling through, it’s become apparent he can no longer contain “those people” to Fairview proper. His old model is failing, just like his administration. 


It would be nice to see the County rein in our uncontrolled, inept and bungling supervisor from continuing this charade. It would also be nice to see the media investigate The Paul instead of printing and publishing his phony, fake, and fraudulent press releases and challenge his lies. They'd actually sell more if the public saw this. Perhaps they don’t have a large enough staff for all the work that might generate? Don't worry, we do. Still, we can only hope.