There were many issues touched upon during the evening. To Loftus’ detriment, he started the meeting about fifteen minutes late, claiming some of his officers were missing. The residents would have benefitted from the lost time. To his credit, he detailed what he believed a personal attack would consist of and that it would not be allowed. ABG believes this is directly a result of the slanderous comments The Paul and his Stepford Board have made toward ECC’s Past President Robert Bernstein as well as the administration’s consistent critic, Hal Samis. Loftus added he would interrupt any “speech making” during the course of an answer, which he did numerous times to The Paul during the event.
Loftus, working from pre-screened questions began the questioning with the Dromore Road decision. The Dromore Road zoning issue was shuffled about with Town Attorney Tim Lewis doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, giving The Paul a momentary respite. As in the past, Lewis insisted on not divulging the Town’s strategy to be used in appealing the same verdict that four Edgemont attorneys have challenged in court. ABG finds that tact a bit preposterous as we're sure they are going with, “Uh, because we didn’t know what we were doing when Paul told us to do it.” Loftus followed up with The Paul seeking an admission of whom the mysterious author of posts on the Town website supporting the Dromore developer was? The Paul continued to deny knowing who wrote the post in his name. ABG is relatively sure it was The Paul. After all, it was a developer, his favorite kind of people. But now caught with his cookie hand in the jar, he is feigning ignorance. That's no surprise.
Because of the Dromore case, correcting the zoning maps has now been foisted upon the Comprehensive Planning Committee’s shoulders, absolving The Paul, his administration the Zoning Board, Building Department and the Town of any responsibility (for errors). The unanswered question remains, why them? The projected date from The Paul for this latest delay is to be completed and presented to the Board for approval is June. Arriving late, Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden would state it was underway but would be some time before it is completed. Didn’t he study the script? Another contradiction to The Paul from within.
The Fortress Bible settlement was brought up and again Town Attorney Tim Lewis did the heavy lifting. This is the most activity we’ve ever witnessed from him! He stated the Town did not plan to settle the lawsuit it lost for violating this church’s constitutional rights. ABG has posted about this issue previously. Greenburgh stands to be fined upwards of $8 million. Many question the logic of not settling?
The ever-present tennis bubble on Town property was again met by The Paul with the statement, “This will generate millions of dollars for the Town.” However, it’s a number that The Paul pulled from his favorite dark place and still cannot substantiate. He actually managed to twist this piece of fiction into part of his web-weaving to say that with all the revaluations, infrastructure renovations, salaries, and expenses, the Town must find ways to increase income for the Town by making tough decisions. He didn’t comment on the assorted guilty verdicts and fines levied against them and how damaging they had been toward the finances of the Town. He also didn’t mention that his choice of discontinuing of the Westhelp contract, which brought in $1.2 million dollars a year and the subsequent corresponding payoff to the Mayfair Civic Association, is hammering the Town’s finances!
When Loftus brought up the NextG cell tower installations, The Paul insisted that the Town was trying to get the “best deal” it could and why they hired outside council. Raising his voice, Loftus exclaimed they don’t want a deal at all with NextG! Let the Antenna Review Board and the laws already in place address these issues. When Town Attorney Tim Lewis attempted to fall on the sword again for The Paul, claiming there wasn't enough substantial evidence to prove the Towns case, attorney and former ECC President Bob Bernstein politely, but forcefully ripped apart Lewis’ argument, finishing by saying it was the same evidence the Edgemont attorneys used to file their case against the Town!
Loftus asked about the 90% water rate increases and the audience was told Town officials are addressing the $4 million debt and that millions of dollars were still needed for capital improvements. That's called infrastructure. The Paul has blatantly ignored the Town’s infrastructure during his entire 20+ years he has been in office. Here is where a AAA Bond rating might be helpful if the Town were to work toward upgrading and improving the infrastructure. But since we never issue bonds, the AAA rating is worthless! Translation: another water tax increase!
Loftus asked if and when revaluation in Greenburgh would happen? The Paul said the Town was moving forward with revaluation, and would defer to Edye McCarthy, Town Assessor, for specifics - and then proceeded to discuss it for at least two more minutes while McCarthy had to bite her tongue. It's no secret ABG is not a fan of McCarthy and weren't surprised when she claimed Greenburgh couldn't do a revaluation because they are still inputting the information into “the system”. County Legislator Ken Jenkins had said the County has provided 75% of the information necessary to perform a revaluation and McCarthy shrugged and said it just wasn't true. It was much less. Even so, since the information is in digital format, the Town cannot utilize it. She added that they are extremely busy just dealing with tax certiorari adjustments and complaints. No surprise there. McCarthy also stated that she has college interns helping her office input into the system. ABG must have missed that press release. She didn't say anything about their summer vacation, the need to work and earn money or what progress they’ve made.
The Paul added he and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano had agreed to look into the possibility of the two municipalities sharing the cost of any reassessment. Why? The Paul stated the Town had not yet decided how much it would to spend on revaluation while Yonkers has pledged $6 million toward their reassessment. The Paul then said he was seeking participation from other municipalities to bring the costs down. Again, why? Not surprisingly, The Paul said one thing, McCarthy another and we're no closer to a reval than before. ABG’s translation: revaluations will not be happening anytime soon in Greenburgh and certiorari claims will continue to rise. Hence our taxes will continue to rise as well!
The newest elimination of services to taxpayers was the leaf pickup, which The Paul defended as a money-saver for the Town. Loftus twice asked The Paul for the corroborating information he had promised after an Edgemont resident had done a bit of math and proven the increased costs shifted onto the residents would be as high as $600 per year. The Paul danced around the subject as only he can do, exasperating the crowd and Loftus, who finally said in frustration you are obviously not going to answer the question or supply the numbers you promised, so lets move on!
A major concern to Edgemont residents specifically was the apparent increase of home burglaries happening in their neighborhoods. Chief DeCarlo began by stating that the crime statistics, specifically robberies in Edgemont have not increased from the previous years. He detailed some of the arrests that have been made as well as answering a question as to why a police officer was patrolling in an ambulance? Chief DeCarlo stated it was being driven by a civilian. ABG would like to know why an ambulance is on patrol at all, regardless of where it is happening and who is driving it?
When Loftus questioned the running of two recreation departments, The Paul defended the duplication of two commissioners, two staffs, two day camps, two programs for adults and separate but equal facilities. It has been said publicly at Town Board meetings that these are racially divided and motivated. The Paul then touted the money donated by the Lanza Foundation, which seems to continually bail out The Paul’s horrific administrative mismanagement. There are after school programs that the Town pays for that are run at no charge in other communities. And, if not paid for one way, they are usually funded by the Unincorporated portion of the Town. ABG agains questions why?
In the end, while the meeting was a good attempt to get answers, it was another futile night of listening to The Paul drone on and say very little. His attempts at humor fell flat as the crowd was not there for a stand-up routine. The impressive looking dais of dutiful commissioners sat silent, with looks of boredom or distain on their faces throughout the two hour session. We came hoping for real answers and got solid doses of The Paul’s deflection, misdirection and rambling. The ECC tried, but we left still seeking answers to the questions we have. Maybe we’ll get answers at some point. We can only hope.
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