Residents Lose Playing By The Rules!

There was a meeting held by The Paul on Thursday night at the old Frank’s Nursery sight on Dobbs Ferry Road at 7PM. A dozen or so children wearing “Build The Bubble” t-shirts were playing soccer in the north west corner of the lot. Cars were parked in the formerly over-grown and recently cleared parking lot. Now that The Paul is anxious to ink a deal with GameOn 365, he decided the Town should spend some money and make the lot presentable for this meeting. Otherwise, it has sat untouched and ignored by the Town since they received it through foreclosure for non-payment of taxes by Frank’s Nursery. Why hasn’t the Town given any attention or remediation to make this property viable for sale?

About a hundred or so people were in attendance on and off throughout the evening at a meeting hosted by The Paul or possibly GameOn 365, to discuss and answer questions about the deal between GameOn 365 and the Town. The Paul had originally arranged for this meeting to be held on Wednesday night but cancelled it without notice, upsetting many people. ABG was told there were about 100 or so people who showed up on Wednesday night only to find the “official” meeting had been cancelled! According to what ABG was told, The Paul, the Town employees, and the GameOn 365 people said they would stay anyway and answer questions even though the meeting had been cancelled.


The Town Board is already “on board” with this project because The Paul told them to be or risk losing their next election. Yet they weren’t there. It was The Paul, Town Attorney Tim Lewis, Town Planning Commissioner Tom Madden, Town Assessor Edie McCarthy and late to the party was Town Clerk Judith Beville, as well as about half a dozen GameOn 365 employees. Also in attendance were employees and owners from the newly created Ardsley-based family business, House of Sports. In fact, one protestor, Simon, had his hand up throughout the entire two hours and was only recognized to speak once. Greenburgh resident and Feiner-foe Hal Samis made a number of salient points but was mostly ignored by those holding the microphone. ABG assumed that since The Paul and the other Town employees already knew who were sympathetic toward this project and who were not, they only focused on hearing from sympathetic attendees.

Many have complained that holding a meeting at the Frank’s Nursery location was pointless and nothing more than another of The Paul’s gimmicks to appear to care about what the residents feel and wanting to provide answers – without actually doing so. It turns out those people were correct! In fact, The Paul, Tim Lewis and Thomas Madden all stated separately when they had the microphone, that they would stay there and answer any and all questions for as long as it took. Contrary to what they promised, the Thursday evening meeting was officially ended at about 9PM when darkness set in, with many questions still unanswered! Several Town employees remained a short time to speak to individuals one-on-one.  Most of the residents who had their hands up to either ask questions or make statements left with the bitter taste of frustration that many of us are used to from this administration. But these were the uninitiated, new people if you will, who haven’t dealt with The Paul and his minions from Town Hall, finally feeling the cold shoulder of government.

An interesting twist to the evening was the police presence. Apparently things got a bit heated the night before and the hosts of the “non-meeting” meeting felt threatened enough to request a few more officers. Things did get heated this evening as well and several officers walked closer to the crowd when this happened, temporarily calming tensions. Those in opposition with proceeding at the breakneck speed this project is traveling were mostly residents armed with questions, searching for information. Others in favor of proceeding with building the 80 foot high bubble, wearing tee shirts that said “Build The Bubble” were quite vociferous. Few people seemed to ride the fence on this issue.

According to several speakers, the property is zoned for residential and should be maintained as such. Bubble supporters kept shouting over the residents saying they should shut up or that they had no right speaking. The residents let them speak, why wouldn’t they allow them the same right? Every time a resident spoke, many of the GameOn 365 supporters would yell at them, some yelling obscenities, continuing to try to over-shout them and insist they not be allowed to speak. When residents asked the GameOn 365 supporters where they lived and they would simply say, “Here.” This was a very sad turn and a poor example of the representative crowd for GameOn 365. To add insult to injury, the GameOn 365 senior representative by the name of Hewitt talked down to the crowd, insisting he had two rules to proceed. You’re coming into our Town, want us to accept you and you have rules for us to participate? His arrogance and condescension did not endear him with the crowd. In fact, several people booed him!

The Paul took to the microphone numerous times and said that this was a great deal for the Town because GameOn 365 would be paying taxes on the now vacant property, but stumbled and stammered when pushed for a dollar amount. Town Attorney Lewis stated the taxes would be included in their $260k per year rent. That was, until Mr. Samis shouted out the numbers and exposed what was really going to be happening with the various dollar amounts. According to Town Assessor Edie McCarthy, the current cost of the property in taxes is about $60k a year.

Apparently, GameOn 365 will be paying $260,000 per year, increasing slightly each year, in rent for a fifteen year lease, combined with the taxes. They get rent credits if they have to pay more than $125k in environmental cleanup costs. So while they are paying $260k on paper in rent the first year, they really aren’t. After the $60k in taxes and the $125k soil remediation fee is deducted from their yearly rent, their rent will be preposterously low. If the cleanup costs go beyond $125k, to say, $1 million, the Unincorporated residents get to pick up that expense and GameOn 365 gets to just pick up and leave. They maintain the opportunity at every step to walk away and get reimbursed by the Town for any money they’ve spent. The Paul is certainly a top negotiator. As the TV ads say, “But wait, there’s more.”

The Town wants to quickly vote at the upcoming Board meeting to enter into the recently rewritten 15 year lease that no one has yet seen with GameOn 365. The Paul is insisting the Town move quickly on this before a SECR study is done, which is illegal. His being anxious to hastily initiate this contract is typical of a deal that is not a good one for the Town. Those familiar with The Paul knows that if he doesn’t like a law, he simply ignores it/them. The SECR study is the environmental study that is required for any project to move forward, before it goes to the Zoning and Planning committees for review and a determination.

In one breath, The Paul, Tim Lewis and others from the Town claim this is prime real estate. In the next, they say how depressed the market is and we’re lucky to have someone willing to invest in a business here. Since the Town acquired the property through foreclosure, they a) have done nothing to remediate the soil contamination they insist is there due to the pesticides from both Frank’s Nursery and the previous Flower Time Nursery; b) never sought to market and sell the property which would have yielded more income for the Town and easily covered the taxes owed by Frank’s Nursery and then some; c) offered this property to any other company and in particular, the Ferncliff Manor residential school for the developmentally disabled, that according to The Paul must only be located at the former WestHelp facility on the Westchester Community Campus. Had The Paul chosen to renew the now-expired contract with Westchester County with then County Executive Andy Spano, for $1.2 million dollars a year, his desperation to abandon all rules and regulations with the Frank’s Nursery property wouldn’t be as seemingly necessary or blatantly obvious. The Paul and his Stepford Board have created this financial, ethical and managerial nightmare!

The House of Sports, still under final construction at 1 Elm St., in Ardsley, is in a commercial area next to a small hotel just off of Rt 9A west of the thruway where the old Selecto warehouse building used to be. They appear to be in the finishing stages with the construction of their facility, which they own, have paid all the requisite fees, insurances, bonds, taxes and created jobs in construction for building the facility. As they install gear, equipment and operational necessities and soon move toward opening their facility, they will employ many people. ABG learned they will also be holding a job fair in the near future for staffing. They have played by the rules. Isn’t that what sports is supposed to teach? It’s evident in Greenburgh, if you play by the rules and The Paul doesn’t favor your needs, you lose.

The GameOn 365 project requires a major zoning change to change from its current residential zoning to be used as commercial property. The Planning and Zoning Committees will need to look at GameOn 365’s site plan submission. GameOn 365 has the unconditional option to walk away and incur no cost if the Planning and/or Zoning committees vote ‘no’ to their plans. All of this must be done after the SEQR study. And again, the residents will be on the hook for the cleanup and still have the property that The Paul refuses to sell. GameOn 365 will also employ construction people to install their bubble. They should also be paying the requisite fees, insurances, bonds and taxes. Regardless, if the Planning and Zoning committees vote separately or in unison to not allow the project’s requests, The Paul and the Stepford Board will simply vote to make the changes GameOn 365 requires to proceed. It’s the same thing they did in other locations thoughout the Town, such as for Westhab in Fulton Park. Ignoring their rulings, The Paul and the Stepfords voted to change the zoning from M-22 (22 units per acre) to M-174 (similar to the apartment buildings in Hartsdale on Hartsdale Ave.) for a .7 acre parcel. Shameful!

Overall, ABG was disappointed with this faux-meeting. The microphone’s amplifier was too small for the venue, not projecting the sound into the crowd. There was no order for asking questions and more importantly receiving answers. Many people asked questions and the microphone was handed off to the “appropriate” responder, only to have their questions not be answered or deflected to another subject. The property has been under-assessed by the Town for the benefit of a private corporation who will probably seek a certiorari refund upon the start of their business. A 15-year lease has been proposed for the Stepford Board to sign before the SECR study is done. Why isn’t there a 5-year lease with a preference to GameOn 365 to renew for another 5 years or have the right of first refusal? There hasn’t been a traffic study performed. If a traffic study yields an unfavorable finding, and the Town has signed a contract, what is the Towns recourse? If the environmental remediation is too costly for GameOn 365's liking, why should the Town have to reimburse them for money spent toward it? Why has there not been a public hearing about this project? Why is the Town entering into a landlord-tenant relationship? What will happen with increased traffic when the Fortress Bible Church, who sued and won against The Paul and the Town for discrimination among other issues, builds their church and school right down the street? And to the point, why has The Paul and the Town openly partnered with GameOn 365?

The Paul, vis-à-vis the Town, repeatedly acts like a beggar when it comes to dealing with developers instead of dealing from a position of strength. This needs to change. A new portion of the public got a taste this evening with The Paul’s shenanigans of how the Town’s business is being “run” and didn’t like what they saw! It needs to change. We can only hope.