There’s No Community, Only The Paul

All seats were taken and it was standing room only as the Town Board meeting was chocked with a full agenda.  Last evenings Town Board meeting was sold out! It’s also how most of the residents and participants felt-sold out! The G8 must have been in “watchdog heaven” as they are the stalwarts who question almost everything The Paul and his Stepford Board does at Town Board meetings with little fanfare and few outside participants. Most in the audience were there to either discuss or learn more about the GameOn 365, 15-year contract for a sports “bubble” at the former Frank’s Nursery site. After getting his campaigning out of the way (see previous post for an explanation), the early starting (6:30PM) meeting really got underway for Town business at about 7:45PM or so.

The GameOn 365 representatives spoke and made their case. And not to single out any one particular person, one Ardsley woman spoke and said the bubble is good for the area because “its for the children”. ABG has posted before how everything comes down to the children. Several other people also commented and directly or indirectly discussed how this would be “for the children”, a great catch-all phrase when no tangible argument comes to mind. Is it really “for the children” and are we really acting in our chirlden’s best interest?

People try to buy homes with several qualifiers in mind. Cost is certainly significant and probably paramount. One is to be near family members, the quality of the school systems and a very important point is the relationship and proximity to one’s employer. In general, Greenburgh is centrally located to all directions. Likewise, a sports bubble offering whatever games and activities they have will be easily accessible from any direction. It may wind up being a very busy area, regardless of the spin we heard from Mr Hewitt of GameOn 365 and The Paul or Mr. Lewis, on Thursday night.

Many residents spoke of the environmental issues and the soil remediation that the site requires, as well as the overhead high power transmission lines and their affect on “the children?” Another resident questioned why the site was left to languish after the Town acquired it through foreclosure? He also mentioned with the AAA Bond Rating The Paul is constantly touting, why didn’t we fix the property and then market it for sale? The Town would easily make that money back and then some. If the Town sold the property after fixing it up, they would receive the sale money and whomever the purchaser was, would probably build and generate tax revenue in perpetuity. Many people we spoke with said that would not be bad direction to go. But The Paul says he doesn’t want to sell the property because “someday”, after say fifteen years or so, we may want to do something with it. Will we even remember that sentiment?

When one woman got up and asked, “If it’s for the children, what are you doing to remove any contaminated soil? What of the high tension wires to the east of the property? There are all kinds of studies indicating illnesses that may be caused by them. If this is truly for the children, you shouldn’t be acting as quickly and haphazardly as you are!” If the property is good for GameOn 365, and they really want to be at this location, won’t they wait until the Town has solved these issues? Probably not. You see, The Paul, the Stepford’s and ultimately the Town has marketed and is trying to push through this deal for contaminated property and GameOn 365 knows it is undervalued as such! They know that the Town will be responsible for cleaning up the property after they’ve inked the deal, and they will be sitting on a veritable gold mine in what will be undervalued property. Besides, the GameOn 365  contract, which is weighted for them to have every possible advantage, allows them the opportunity to “walk” at any point there’s even a hint of something they don’t like. The Paul isn’t a shrewd businessman and this deal exemplifies it.

Here’s what ABG believes should happen. Put this entire process on hold. Bring in an environmental company to evaluate what is there, what needs to be done to rectify it and bid the cleanup out. Once the property is market ready, hire a real estate marketer, an appraiser, and see what the property is worth. Once the Town has a tangible value and real numbers, provide a referendum for the community to decide what happens to the property. At the Wednesday night Town Board meeting, one of the Recreation Commissioners said we need more parks in Greenburgh. Several suggestions are to keep the property and use it for a Town park where people can use it for free. Another idea would certainly be the sports bubble that GameOn 365 wants to install. The difference now is the property has a real value and we stand to make more in rent and taxes if The Paul doesn’t cut this deal. A third idea is to just sell the property. It is zoned residential and can be developed for whatever type of residential housing the new owner(s) would like to build, generating more money to the Town for fees and permits, as well as real estate taxes.

There are probably more ideas that will appropriately fit this property which ABG hasn’t listed. Until the decision is put back into the communities hands, there is no community, just The Paul and what he wants. These hurry up and deal, deals must stop. We can only hope.