No Disaster Management, We Offer Three Ideas

Disaster management is typically relegated to emergency responders as a quasi-military event in most communities. Greenburgh isn’t much different. We have a very well paid police department and three very well paid fire departments that provide coverage to most of the Unincorporated portions of the Town. Each Village has it’s own police department. Where there is no paid fire service coverage in the Town, the Town contracts with the Village’s all volunteer fire departments for fire protection coverage. Those residents pay a significantly lower fire tax for the assessed value of their homes than the areas with a paid department, roughly $11/thousand versus $130/thousand). It is the most cost-effective use of our fire protection dollars. As with any police or fire department, they are reactive and respond to emergencies as they arise. This is no different for hurricanes, other weather-related events or their “normal calls” and requests for assistance. They are not in the disaster management business although they may be called into it at a moments notice. You call 911, they respond.

The field of disaster management originated during the Cold War, when planning for nuclear attacks and the need for building bomb shelters was developed. Once the threat of nuclear war waned, concern turned towards responding to natural disasters. Not surprisingly, there appears to be a relationship between the degree to which communities accept disaster management planning and the degree to which they experience disasters: the greater the exposure to disasters, the greater the interest in disaster management. Ironically, in Greenburgh, we’ve always been relatively insulated from major storm event damage. However, The Paul tasked Police Chief Joe DeCarlo to work with Disaster Planning consultant Jonathan Raser to develop a Town Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Developing a Town Hazard Mitigation plan was a seemingly good idea and the two men worked independent of the Town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee, with it’s sole goal to allow the Town to apply for grant funding. While not a terrible idea, Raser was subsequently contracted by the Town to assist residents that were affected by flooding damage during Hurricane Irene. Conflict of interest? Perhaps. But the end result was a Hazards Mitigation plan that proved deficient and ineffective during Hurricane Sandy, no funds secured for any residents suffering from Hurricane Irene, and a hefty paycheck for Mr. Raser, who has returned to his home state of New Jersey. No doubt he’ll be billing Governor Christie for similar “planning”.

Community members are becoming increasingly frustrated not only with being excluded from the decision-making processes involved in community planning, but also with being excluded from those involved in disaster management planning. During all of the three-card monty-like shuffles, we still haven’t received any solutions from our leaders. Fortunately, public participation is gradually becoming an accepted part of the disaster management process – except perhaps in Greenburgh – so things may improve. The Paul rarely has a problem forming a committee for anything and everything with his convict-buddy, Alan Hochberg. He has no issue corralling interns to do the work our regular employees would normally be doing and being paid to do. Could it be because the interns are too naïve to realize they’re being used and abused or that they simply seek the community service hours and could care less how bad The Paul is at doing his job?

ABG can and will continue to critique the actions of the Town and The Paul and the waste of money to get us no closer to any solutions. Additionally, rather than only being critical, ABG is offering a few suggestions to follow and hope they make their way to The Paul’s yet to be formed Emergency Management Committee (EMC), not chaired by Alan Hochberg. While these are our ideas, they by no means are the panacea for all that is wrong in our Town: spot zoning, over-development, antiquated and ignored infrastructure, lack of flood mitigation, lack of impervious space and so on. So here’s just a few of ABG’s ideas that can be done with little or no money and stay under the 2% Tax Cap.

Solution Number 1:

We’d like to see the Town develop a program we’ve tentatively named: HEROS, for Home Emergency Response Operation System. This would entail having a leader and volunteers from every neighborhood throughout the Town to provide information to the Town as well as get information from the Town and back to its residents.

The HEROS’ tasks could include but not be limited:

1) to complete a neighborhood inventory of available equipment (e.g. chainsaws, pumps, generators) and skills (e.g. nursing, plumbers) that could be useful during and after a disaster.

2) to develop a list of special-needs situations (e.g. elderly people living alone) and follow up with them after an event to ensure they’re okay.

3) to arrange for local stockpiling of supplies, such as medical (ice packs, bandages), food (snack bars) and water.

4) to have community members become CERT members and provide basic emergency interaction prior, during and immediately after an event.

5) to provide basic search and accountability, first-aid training.

6) to assess needs required from the Town within their jurisdiction and forward that to the appropriate designee before and/or after an event.

Solution Number 2:

We’d like to see the Civic Associations develop a HEROS-like squad within their individual civic associations that would assign key personnel:

1) to complete a neighborhood inventory of available equipment (e.g. chainsaws, pumps, generators) and skills (e.g. nursing, plumbers) that could be useful during and after a disaster.

2) to assess needs required from the Town within their jurisdiction and forward that to the appropriate designee before and/or after an event.

3) to develop a list of special-needs situations (e.g. elderly people living alone) and follow up with them after an event to make sure they are okay.

Solution Number 3:

We’d like to see the Town develop a liaison with each neighborhood via their civic associations to be the neighborhoods point of contact. This liaison could be a Police Department Constable or a Fire Department Volunteer (no additional costs to the Town) that reports back through their chain of command about the status of each neighborhood they are assigned to liaise.

ABG recognizes that while a top-down policy is needed, it’s really the local-level bottom-up policy that provides the impetus for the implementation of mitigation strategies and a successful disaster management process. When we looked at his blog, The Paul touts and is “thankful” for the work done to alleviate flooding along the Saw Mill River praising the work that’s been done. This work happened due to the efforts of business owners along the 9A corridor, former Village of Elmsford Trustee William Zimkin and the Village of Elmsford. The Paul offered nothing nor initiated any of that cleanup work. Furthermore, after repeatedly promising to show the Fulton Park area how much he thinks of them and is going to help their neighborhood, he has done nothing to help alleviate flooding for Town residents along the Bronx River. That screams volumes of how he feels about them! Their next storm with the subsequent flooding and losses will be their problem, not his. We’re sure The Paul will be emails home sending to those without power, suggesting they call FEMA to keep busy.

State and federal governments and agencies have a role to play in establishing mitigation policies, but it is up to local communities to formulate, initiate and implement those policies that will lead to the adoption of mitigation strategies. Given the obvious links between sustainable hazard mitigation and community planning, it behooves the Town to address the links between hazard mitigation and disaster management planning. In short, it is obvious The Paul has no solutions, nor can we rely on The Paul’s administration for bona fide help, just more finger pointing, emails, letters and rhetoric. We need action – even if we must provide it ourselves. We can only hope. 

Mission Accomplished!

When The Paul started the Citizens Committee meeting Monday night, there were the usual faces in the audience. Also in attendance were those The Paul can count on to lob him softballs and non-question questions. This fact was reiterated throughout the meeting and highlighted by one woman who claimed, “We have to take personal responsibility when a storm in coming to be prepared. To do this,” she continued, “residents need to go to “ready.com” for a list of items one might need.” While not bad advice, it’s like watching the TV news before a storm or before a holiday. They’ll start broadcasting what you should do, not do, for how long, and so on for days on end only to see people demanding help because they didn’t heed the advice. 

For the uninitiated, this was strictly a ruse for the public. The Paul sent emails to his devoted followers to attend. And, attend they did. ABG assumes he prompted them to ask “his” questions, offer advice and of course, dish out compliments where “they” believed appropriate. His ploy worked so well, the room began to list as resident and non-resident alike stated that ConEd was the villain. It was working. Most in attendance ignored the obvious: The Paul did nothing to help before, during and after the storm - again! It was more of his standard operating procedure as The Paul got unencumbered publicity before his end of the month publicity quota expired. Frenzied reporters scrambled to get photos and names of speakers, already knowing their medium would simply use The Paul’s press release talking points for the bulk of their articles. In fact, they simply could leave early since they had all they needed before they got there!

As the constant campaigner, The Paul has developed his craft of subtle campaigning into a well-honed and revered art form. When he was awaiting the court’s verdict in the Fortress Bible case, he needed to deflect attention from his illegal actions and fast! Thankfully, the TappanZee Bridge had entered the campaign season from Obama and Cuomo and gave The Paul a deflection subject better than he could have imagine: save the old Tappan Zee Bridge as a park. He wasn’t the first person to come up with this. But since he has unfettered access to the media machine in Westchester, they gave him the platform he needed and led this rally for a short time until the governor trumped him and cast him aside. But the deflection was working.

The Paul and the Town of Greenburgh were found guilty, with the decision appealed and upheld in Appellate Court, of violating the Church’s first amendment rights of free speech, free assembly, equal protection, due process, and the Town had discriminated against the church under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act or RLUIPA. The judge cited the Town for “intentional delay, hostility and bias towards the Church's application.” This is a damning decision as to what’s wrong with and the lack of quality of leadership in the Town!

Thankfully, The Paul’s the Tappan Zee bridge emergency fiasco and gifted him the “out” he needed as he became the lead proponent of morphing of the current Tappan Zee bridge into a High Line Park, similar to what NYC did to a much-different and safer rail track in Manhattan’s west side. But the park wasn’t the issue. Deflection from the Fortress Bible decision was. ABG wonders why there isn’t outrage throughout the Town demanding the resignation of The Paul and his corrupt partner from that event, Councilwoman Diana Juettner? ABG believes he told her to keep her mouth shut and he’ll get her out of this. She obeyed.

The Citizen’s Committee would not have stopped the illegal actions of The Paul, Juettner and the other Board and various Department members who answer to The Paul of bad and illegal behavior. But The Paul certainly could have asked felon and fellow-schemer Alan Hochberg to investigate by forming a Citizen’s Committee subcommittee (as opposed to the faulty Ethics Committee) that could continue The Paul’s deflection toward another (mis)direction. Sure, there would be the questions and legal challenges from the G10, but they would wither through time as the phony decision from the committee would find The Paul did nothing wrong. Can you say Tammany Hall?

New Castle Town Supervisor Susan Carpenter was one of the attendees as well as several New Castle residents. Why they were remains an inconsequential mystery. Could it be she believed she might get an education in solutions management or campaign strategies by attending? She said that her town of was faced with the same problems as Greenburgh. As if scripted by The Paul, she too berated ConEd, the Public Service Commission and offered no solutions. If we continue to elect the same people, listen to the same press conferences and never hold their feet even near the flame, we should not expect solutions or different outcomes!

So The Paul has anointed ex-convict Alan Hochberg to chair the do-nothing committee to find fault with others and assist in deflecting attention from The Paul’s illegal, immoral, and ill-conceived actions until the next fiasco rears it’s ugly head from the shadows. Whether it is the Fortress Bible decision ($8 million), the WestHelp debacle ($1.2 million), the Water Department deficit ($4 million), the Dromore Road decision, Cumberland Farms, Brightview Assisted Living Center, Stop and Shop on Rt 119, flooding in Fulton Park along the Bronx River, flooding on the Rt 9A corridor in Elmsford, 400+ new condominiums off of Taxter Road, 400+ new condominiums at Eastview (both adding to the Rt 9A flooding), 20 new McMansions in Tarrytown/Greenburgh across from Kraft Foods and last but certainly not least, the GameOn 365 Sports Bubble with it’s über-contaminated site on Dobbs Ferry Road, The Paul is costing us a fortune. It must stop! 

The meeting for the Citizen’s Committee concluded with little more than finger-pointing and no solutions offered and the promise to discuss it more. The unsuspecting committee will meet, proctoring some ideas gleaned from The Paul’s press releases and have Alan Hochberg dutifully hand them to The Paul, feigning interest. There will be the requisite pomp and circumstance and then the committee will fade into the rising flood waters until the next time. They’ll never provide a solution to any of Mother Nature’s fury, the Town’s inability to help it’s constituents and The Paul’s ineptness with dealing with anything that doesn’t require having someone else do something. The best we can hope for is for The Paul and his Board to resign. The least we can hope for is they step aside and let the residents provide solutions. We can only hope.

Happy Thanksgiving!

ABG would like to wish everyone a Healthy and Happy Thanksgiving and keep the victims of Hurricane Sandy in your hearts and prayers during this time. 

Another Resident Speaks Out

This post was a letter posted on another site after last nights Town Hall meeting to discuss forming another Citizen’s Committee for the Town, this time for Alan Hochberg to address ConEd’s inaction during Hurricane Sandy. Given the enormity of devastation throughout the region, we are more concerned with The Paul’s inaction during and after the storm. It is written, submitted and reprinted with permission by Whitney P. We feel there are several valuable points, warranting inclusion here:

Thank you for another great publicity piece for Paul Feiner. You took the comments of a few Village supporters who threw a few minor, somewhat valid, albeit softball, points and allowed him to pontificate for two hours. You neglected to quote any of the people who recognized Feiner’s typical lack of action, poor management skills and uselessness as a leader as he did absolutely nothing during the storm except send out emails to people with no power. Feiner admitted in the beginning of the meeting that HE couldn’t get ConEd to respond quicker or better for Greenburgh. If he can’t, what makes these residents believe they will have an impact? Because he said so? They won’t. If there are fines levied against ConEd, we will pay them after ConEd pays them and they raise our already high rates even higher still!

One man got up and blasted Feiner, saying he did nothing but make empty promises during and after Hurricane Irene, and his lack of actions were the same for this storm. All Feiner ever does is send letters to other politicians telling them they should do more for constituents. He also stated there is an emergency operations center in Hawthorne for all the decision makers to be located during an emergency with the heads of all agencies. THAT's where Feiner should have been during this storm. But, since you didn’t push back and just reproduce his one-sided press releases, you don’t know why he wasn’t there, do you?

Another man asked if Feiner had invited ConEd to attend this meeting. His standard parsing of words was to dodge the real answer until he finally admitted he had “notified” ConEd of this meeting. When the man continued to push, Feiner finally stated that, no, they had not been invited. Of course he didn’t invite them, as well as Police Chief DeCarlo, Fire Chief Loguidice, Highway Commissioner Carosi, if he had, it would have actually required doing something.

This meeting was about publicity for Feiner, shifting attention off of his Fortress Bible loss $8 million, the contaminated soil at the GameOn 365 site, the loss of $1.2 million a year from Westhelp and so much more. He got his publicity no thanks to the GDV. Feiner is a media whore who will continue to talk to you regardless of how much you write against him. Samantha, you need to get in the game.

Finally, Samantha, good reporters learn early on if they plan to make a name for themselves they must ask the tough questions, state the unpleasant and prove themselves in their reporting with the real story. What you’ve done is regurgitate Feiner’s talking points, historically repeating that Feiner will not be held accountable for his failures (again) and that you may have better success at your next job. We had such hope for you.

Opening Acts

Town Board meetings are cyclical. When the Town Clerk fails to book an opening act, the meetings might start on time. We’re actually unsure what time Town Board meetings start since they rarely begin at the appointed time. This was the case Wednesday evening as the audience sat through the requisite video shows (there were three) and The Paul’s ramblings like a drunk uncle at a wedding everyone tries to avoid. The audience started out with a few more than the regular attendees but eventually whittled itself down mostly to the G10.

FEMA was the opening act for the meeting with several FEMA representatives going to the podium to state what they can do for homeowners and business residents that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. While The Paul asked a few questions and Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan chimed in, the result of the twenty or so minutes was if you don’t apply for assistance, you won’t get help. Having witnessed many nearby residents who were flooded in Hurricane Irene be turned down by FEMA for assistance, we aren’t expecting newly affected residents to fare any better.

After the Veteran’s video and the Boy Scouts’ video, the meeting haphazardly got under way. There was a representative from the Friends of the Greenburgh Library who spoke during the first 3-minute public session. She commented on the use of the library during the storm and then pleaded for the Town Board to not cut their funding in this year’s budget. The Paul commented about the 2% Tax Cap from the state, so we still don’t know if the library is able to purchase any new books this year. Interestingly, every time the issue of money comes up and it’s not one of the pet projects of The Paul, we’re limited by the 2% Tax Cap. Otherwise, the Town is spending like there’s no tomorrow – which may be closer than we know.

A representative from the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association got up and asked if the timer could not be started as she wanted to compliment the library for their participation in Hurricane Sandy before she began what she came to discuss. Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan said, “No, you get three minutes like everyone else.” There’s that fostering of community spirit if we desperately long for, shot down again. At one point The Paul began to converse with a resident during their public comment session. During resident Ed Krauss’ 5-minute public speaking session, he stated that maybe this dialog with a resident was an epiphany. But once a dialog started, Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan stated, “We’ve already violated our policy of not commenting during the public sessions,” and stopped it before it materialized into something productive. Finally getting some feedback from the silent Board was refreshing. “Back Pocket” knows The Paul will get them in trouble if he’s allowed to ramble for too long.

Many speakers got up and commented about numerous topics. Most residents that spoke, however, seemed to focus on either the referendum or the GameOn 365 sports bubble debacle. After getting pummeled by so many, The Paul exploded and gave his usual dissertation of his skewed view of democracy in action. Many of the points were salient ones that made his comments moot. Uncustomarily, the Board began spouting off many of the same issues and points they had ignored from residents prior to the referendum and The Paul’s signing of the contract with GameOn 365. He seemed frustrated that his supporters abandoned him during this assault. In fact, even most of his commissioners were not in the room, while Tim “Remediation” Lewis kept his head down during most of the meeting unless to tell a speaker their time at the microphone was up. Maybe he was feeling shameful or possibly repentant for lying to residents as to the clean up costs for the 715 Dobbs Ferry Road site. ABG is confident The Paul had mandated Lewis’ behavior with this deal and is now Lewis is reflecting on his time as the Town Attorney and that it too may need “remediation”.

This meeting was perhaps one hour long if you stripped out the opening acts. The Board made themselves the lead agency for a number of projects The Paul wants pushed through for developers. Several gas stations applied to pay the new “fees” (really a penalty tax) for the recently adopted service station law benefitting Cumberland Farms’ “new” gas station on Central Avenue. Many believe this will be crippling to existing service/gas stations in the Town. The low applications prove the Board’s revenue-generating scheme has backfired. For a change, there were no tax certiorari refunds. ABG guesses you could say we broke even this night. Don’t get overconfident just yet – ABG knows it won’t last. It would be nice to think residents were witnessing a new path with Town Board meetings that are conversational, constructive, purposeful and leave us with a feeling of accomplishment. It could have been a great opening act. We can only hope.

Deflection Committee To Be Formed

Hurricane Sandy was yet another 100-Year Storm in two years. That these storms seem to be happening yearly cannot be coincidence. What it proved again is that our governments, whether local, state or federal, are incapable of addressing even the most basic of challenges. And, pointing their fingers to blame someone or something else is the accepted response. Many in the Town have complained that our infrastructure has not kept pace with the over-development of the Town. 

At the federal level, we hear of FEMA this and FEMA that, while it’s private citizens that seem to come to the rescue more often than not. ABG believes strongly that Homeland Security needs to be overhauled. They are too large and cumbersome to make and implement effective decisions that help our residents in a timely and useful manner.

At the state level, the only thing done before the storm was the governor declaring a state of emergency due to the impending storm, making it easier for the state to request help from the federal government. Once the storm hit, they stood by, watched and only reacted to events after they played out. They lost their proactive posture with the first flooded basement! When the storm ended, reports of looting, mile-long gasoline lines and no power everywhere were the standard fare on every news channel’s report. Clearly, the storm taxed our resources. The politicians only continue to tax us.

At the County level, County Executive Rob Astorino made sure he was on the air whether on local TV, radio or with emails. His media machine was making sure he showed up everywhere, wearing his personalized County Police response jacket. That he is wearing a County Police jacket was pointed out to us by a variety of firefighters throughout the County as they claim Astorino is still trying to “consolidate” the County’s Fire Training Center, putting them under the County Police. Apparently, this is his big consolidation plan to save taxpayers a couple of hundred dollars so the County Police can apply for more grant monies that typically go to the fire service. We’ll see. Regardless, after stating that ConEd has supplied him with information as to what areas and how many homes were without power, the County didn’t really do anything. Getting an update from ConEd, through our overpaid County Executive aka spokesperson was not really helpful to those without power, is it?

In Greenburgh, the Town got “blitzed” by this storm. Sandy slammed many of the same roadways that were affected by Hurricane Irene again. Trees and phone poles that survived the previous storms weren’t as lucky this time with Sandy. Where were The Paul and his Board during the storm? No one seems to know. It easily took The Paul two days after Irene to surface from his gated sanctuary in Boulder Ridge after Hurricane Irene. Once he emerged, he made a beeline to the nearest media’s microphone or camera. The Paul began promising distraught residents FEMA home buyouts as they watched an ocean of polluted water fill their homes; he offered false hope to constituents with no tangible path for remediation or relief. The Paul postured at every opportunity to reach out to other politicians and said they should help his residents. Therein is the problem. He did nothing!

A big issue after Hurricane Sandy caused downed wires, trees and phone poles is clearly the loss of power. In all our years of working and/or residing in the Town, we have rarely seen this kind of frequency of such widespread loss of power as in recent years. We’ve also not experienced the severe storms like we’ve been having as well. Environmentalist will claim it’s global everything. Religious zealots will claim its Armageddon. At ABG, we are convinced the weather is a direct result of the overdevelopment in general of the north eastern corridor, the tri-state area specifically and the Town locally. The physical changes are affecting the wind currents, flooding, raised sea levels and extreme temperatures, both hot and cold. Rising oceanic levels isn’t necessarily from melting glaciers, but more probably from the larger amounts of garbage that humans are dumping into the oceans, from all countries, not just us.

Another big issue is The Paul and his hapless Board continues to green light the overdeveloping of what’s left of any open space in the Unincorporated Town. Additionally, The Paul has chosen a well-honed course of hands-off management and foisted any and all action to other politicians. The Paul needs to stop passing the buck! How exactly can he do that? He hasn’t a clue. In fact, he has announced that he will be forming yet another committee to push for changes as to how ConEd handles future power outages. We imagine the new press releases to the lamestream media being worked on as we write this. Our guess is convicted criminal Alan Hochberg help in forming another “feel good” committee.

The Paul claims that he has some of the solutions and the committee will come up with other answers for our power issues during and after a storm. One of his solutions is to have ConEd workers working around the clock-24 hours a day. It doesn’t seem to matter to him that these people are legally unable to do that by contractual mandates, OSHA, ANSI, PESH and other standards. He feels that since crews work at night already, they can work in the dark. He asks what’s the difference? The simple answer is when they are working on the poles and live wires, it is much easier and safer to do it in the daylight hours. Deflection.

He states that ConEd should hire licensed electricians to help out and that there are many licensed electricians who would like to help out. I’m sure their unions would not have any issues with different locals taking overtime hours from their ConEd brothers and sisters. The fact that someone is a licensed electrician doesn’t automatically mean they are qualified to work as a line person. These are highly trained experts that are working for ConEd. Wouldn’t a better tact for The Paul be to actually ratify the union contract with the Teamsters that work for the Town after ignoring them for four years? Deflection.

The Paul questions whether ConEd waited too long to call in outside out of state crews. ABG is pretty sure that ConEd as well as other utilities have some sort of mutual aid agreements in place but cannot activate it and have these crews respond until there is a certified need to have them come in. The Paul claims the crews didn’t show up until days after the storm. The Paul would obviously prefer they abandon their home districts in a storm to come and sit in Greenburgh and possibly be used if we get hit with a storm. Deflection.

His committee will investigate how ConEd deals with the frail elderly and disabled when there are emergencies. Interestingly, ConEd has several programs and steps they take to assist those who have registered with them. What does The Paul do for these people other that open the Theodore Young Community Center? The Town did allow the mostly glass library to stay open as an assembly point for people. There’s nothing like sitting near an entire glass structure and glass window to watch a hurricane. What’s next; stand under a tree to stay dry? Deflection.

People who lost power should not be charged for the days they suffered without power. There should be a mechanism for them to claim lost foods and other damages but there is not. Maybe instead of forming a committee to do his job, The Paul will actually do something proactively. After all, why fix something when we can talk about it. And that’s all The Paul does, is posture and talk about it. Things need to change so our residents can truly get help when a disaster strikes. We can only hope.

Carcinogens at Frank’s: Should We Ignore?

Resident Hal Samis, having recently retired from the real estate industry, posed these questions to the Town Board and several news media outlets. The Greenburgh Town Board seems to rarely, if ever, answer questions that residents raise at the Town board meetings. ABG felt obliged to publish these as Mr. Samis’ GameOn 365 questions are germane to the public’s right to know. The lamestream media will ignore them to insulate The Paul. Here are Mr. Samis’ unedited questions:

Could these questions be answered? And such preventive action/notice, as would be required or deemed prudent, be undertaken IMMEDIATELY?

1) When does the Lease become effective? I am not asking when rent commences but at what point or date certain that the Tenant (GameOn 365) takes possession of the property and assumes standard Tenant responsibility?

2) Whatever entity controls the property, be it the Town or the Tenant, now that it has been determined that the site is contaminated, i.e. evidence of carcinogens, shouldn't the Landlord and/or Tenant, the responsible party(ies), immediately see to it that the property is properly sealed off from allowing unrestricted entrance and that signs warning of contamination be posted immediately. In its present unsecured state, visitation to the property is both possible and permitted with little effort and assuredly without reliance upon hazmat outerwear.

3) Given that there is no Bonding or even Rent Security required of the Tenant (normally found in all Leases), at the time that the Tenant accepts the Certificate of Occupancy and opens its doors to the Public:

a) over the course of the Tenant's rent paying 15 year term, should discovery find the site to be still contaminated and this to the harm of the visiting and unknowing public (had a less than comprehensive plan of remediation been chosen), who is responsible for such damages as may result from successful litigation by harmed plaintiffs?

b) were the Tenant, GameOn 365 and its successors or assigns, to be found liable by a Court, what assets, other than the existing site improvements net of liens, does the Tenant possess to satisfy such judgements? Since the Town presumably conducted due diligence into the finances of the Tenant and found them to be ready, willing and ABLE to enter into this Lease, I would assume that by unannounced side agreement (albeit contrary to the Lease "this constitutes the entire...") that some sort of escrow arrangement of future profits is required. Am I correct regarding the existence of such?

c) if both the Town and the Tenant, jointly are found liable and, should the Tenant be found lacking in assets, will the Town then be solely responsible for the payment of damages?

d) were the Town and the Tenant, singly or jointly, give consent to a sports facility which will recruit children as paying clientele AND to do so without first seeking all cures and remedies currently available to the Town and the Tenant to cure known contamination, are both the Town Board and the Tenant subject to criminal prosecution?

Please prepare specific answers to the specific questions ready for delivery at the next Town Board meeting. This should require little effort as I'm certain that the Town Board would already know these answers having voted to execute the Lease, having voted to expand the Phase II Study and having accepted the language of the Referendum Proposition.

Hal Samis

Happy Veteran’s Day

On this Veteran’s Day, ABG wishes to acknowledge and thank our brave military service personnel and their families for their sacrifices and outstanding efforts to protect and defend us. God Bless them all.

Williams’ Approach to Occupy WestHelp Has Merit

The Paul acts like he owns Greenburgh. His Town Board knows on which side their bread is buttered and stand at the ready to vote however he mandates. The Board, with it’s typical faux-posturing, are calumniatory of residents who berate their unflinching conviction to the master they are beholden and what he wants done to his playground. Their behavior would almost be comical if it weren’t so distressing. In fact, the chief enunciator is Councilman Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan, who when faced with a declining republican population, hastily switched parties, poked the dogs away from The Paul and snuggled up close, taking advantage of The Paul’s financial resources, mailing lists, email lists and increasing democratic wealth. 

To increase his span of control, The Paul decided it was time to jettison a few resistant Board members and bring in some fresh blood, someone more malleable to his needs. One of those members he kicked to the curb is a former Town Clerk, now County Legislator Alfreda Williams. She had been the Greenburgh Town Clerk for many years when The Paul stumbled upon current Town Clerk Judith Beville. ABG finds her incessant commenting during Town Board meetings is not only unwarranted, it’s disruptive. As the Town Clerk, she is there to record the proceedings (which are captured on video anyway) and announce the speakers during the public hearings and comments. ABG wishes she would simply do that.

The Paul had started a deflection campaign to draw attention away from his bungling (we’re be kind) of the WestHelp property by attempting to shift blame of his screw-up onto the County. Before the last Town Board meeting ended, Councilman Kevin “The Henchman” Morgan stated that the Town cannot proceed with doing anything with the WestHelp property as the County is holding them up with their inaction. Immediately, after the motion was made to adjorn, Williams stood up from the back of the hall pointed at Morgan and said loudly, “Kevin I need to speak with you, now!” Williams stormed up to the dais and proceeded to give him a reprimand for the misleading and incorrect comments he had just made about the County and the WestHelp property. 

ABG has stated in numerous postings the onus is not on the County to find a tenant, but Greenburgh. The contract specifically states that the Town of Greenburgh Housing Authority will maintain the occupancy with low/no income residents. The Paul is in violation of this contract, costing the Town $1.2 million annually.

With the recent Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy fiasco, so many people in Greenburgh remain without power or a place to live. Williams, has come up with a viable and implementable idea to help Greenburgh residents. She wants to immediately open up the currently vacant WestHelp facility to people left homeless or who cannot yet go back to their homes due to storm damage. While The Paul offers nothing but useless attacks toward the utility companies, and insists they hire untrained electricians, he is doing little to actually help anyone. ABG wrote about his methodology after Hurricane Irene swept through and demolished numerous homes and businesses throughout the Town. While he simply gets his media machine to regurgitate his pablum, Williams has struck upon a novel approach to help constituents and the Town. This is the type of thinking that is lost on The Paul and his do-nothing Board. Is it any wonder he ousted Williams?

ABG hopes County Executive Astorino, listens to Williams’ recommendation. Otherwise, he’ll prove to be simply another self-serving politician patting himself on the back. Almost all of our elected officials are scrambling to appear to be doing something while nothing is accomplished by them except insisting on progress reports from the utility companies so they can get airtime. Williams’ idea not only has merit, but exceeds what anyone else is doing to help our residents! Astorino needs to decide that agreeing with The Paul and putting a special needs school on the WestHelp property, which are nothing more than payoffs to his Director of Communications Ned McCormack, and County Legislator Michael Smith, to gain more votes from Valhalla, isn’t as important as actually helping our suffering residents. ABG urges our readers to reach out to their County Legislators and let them know that this is not only a good idea for the facility, but an ideal way to keep the facility doing what it was designed to do: house people in need. We can only hope.

Can He Ignore Them Now?

Residents have been complaining about The Paul’s actions for some time. The G10 pointed out the property’s history having been a dumping location for the White Plains Urban Renewal when that downtown area was being renovated and The Paul ignored them. When the G10 pointed to deficiencies in the environmental study that was proposed, The Paul ignored them. When the G10 pointed out the violation of county and state laws regarding the acquisition of foreclosed properties, The Paul ignored them. When the G10 pointed out that the zoning was residential, not commercial (and knowing he could change it at his behest) The Paul ignored them. When neighborhood residents objected to an 8-story-plus size building on the property, The Paul ignored them. When a developer speaks, The Paul is all ears. When the community speaks, The Paul ignores them. 

The Paul foisted a Greenburgh Town referendum onto the ballot to approve or disapprove the private enterprise’s profit-making sports bubble on 715 Dobbs Ferry Road the day of the election. The Paul stated that the resistance to the sports bubble was nothing more than an exploit by the House of Sports of Ardsley, a new brick and mortar sports facility, whose motive was to fight future competition. They claimed not, stating they welcome the competition. One ABG staffer showed us two mailings she received and a neighbor received from GameOn 365 and pointed out the address label. It was identical to the “layout” when she receives a Town mailing or a campaign piece from The Paul. Her maiden name as it appeared on their home’s deed years ago is what tipped her off. It’s the same for everything she receives from the Town. It’s the only thing she ever receives via US Postal mail with her maiden name.

The Paul rounded up the usual suspect to speak on behalf of the GameOn 365 deal and even offered both sides the opportunity to air a ten-minute video touting their “side”. The two videos could not have been more contrastive. The GameOn 365 video was a slick, vacuous show of pictures with kids playing soccer and seniors being interviewed. In fact, their video even mentioned that voters should flip the “new” 1800’s era ballot over to vote for the proposition. How did they know it would be on the back? Possibly because they did their homework or probably because The Paul coached them as to what to say? The opposition’s video was chocked full of information and facts as to why the Referendum should not proceed. While the count for the two video’s viewing was disparate, it wasn’t enough to sway the vote – which is what The Paul calculated.

The Paul is a shrewd and cunning politician, while fostering the disheveled, unkempt goofball persona. He knew putting this ill-fated idea to a referendum would silence critics whose argument had been to put it out to a referendum. But once The Paul stuck his hand into the referendum mix, he screwed up what may have been a good thing had been done properly. Since it wasn’t done properly, a lawsuit filed by numerous corporations and individuals will be all that is left to save the residents from a dispossessed and impoverished Town Board. And, once in court, The Paul will argue that the referendum passed and the suit should be dismissed or found in his favor because less than 1% of the people spoke. If The Paul loses, he’ll use his standard “battle cry” that this judge doesn’t like him, or it’s a blow to democracy and/or the people. He’ll then begin a new deflection campaign.

In the end, the simple fact is The Paul doesn’t listen to his constituency. He caters to developers and is slowly eroding the Town’s charm and beauty into something most people do not want. The infrastructure has been neglected and ignored to the point of major concern in all neighborhoods with the exception perhaps his own gated community. It’s hard to know just who’s interest The Paul has but so far his history has proven it to be the developers. Perhaps it’s time for the Town to hire a Town Administrator, reduce the Supervisor’s salary, and get the Town on the right track. We can only hope.

FEMA Opens Recovery Center in County Center

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will open a multipurpose Hurricane Sandy recovery center at the Westchester County Center in White Plains Thursday at 3 p.m.

Beginning Friday, the FEMA center will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week until further notice.

The center will be staffed with representatives from:

Con Edison to answer customer questions about outages and restorations - Kevin Burke, chairman and CEO of Con Edison, will be on hand Thursday when the recovery center opens;

·FEMA to help individuals and households apply for financial aid for losses and damages caused by the storm;

The Small Business Administration, which will help businesses apply for low-interest loans for storm-related damages;

A variety of social services agencies will also be on hand to provide residents with recovery assistance;

The Department of Health will be at the County Center Friday, Saturday and Sunday and at other locations giving free tetanus shots to anyone involved with cleanup.

President Barack Obama declared Westchester a disaster area, which makes residents eligible to apply for disaster aid, along with local governments and nonprofit agencies.

Residents are asked to call 1-800-621-3362 or TTY 1-800-462-7585 for the speech- and hearing-impaired. If you use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362.

Another option is to register online at www.disasterassistance.gov or via web-enabled phone or tablet at m.fema.gov. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily until further notice.

Before visiting the recovery center in White Plains, FEMA advises people to register for disaster aid.

Those that do visit the recovery center to apply for assistance should be ready to provide a Social Security number (including your spouse’s if applicable); private insurance information, if available; address and zip code of the damaged property; directions to the damaged home or property; a daytime telephone number; and an address where you can receive mail.

Emergency Preparedness? Not In NY!

During Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast took a beating from the weather. Some of it couldn’t be avoided. Then they took a beating from the incompetence of then Mayor Ray Nagin, which exacerbated the suffering of Gulf Coast residents. When he was finished screwing up his portion of the hurricane and it was all over, shady contractors clobbered the residents again under the guise of help. Although, many good samaritans did help a lot of people. Most people were desperate to try to save whatever might be left of their homes after losing most, if not all of their possessions, automobiles and even loved ones. They grabbed at any help being offered. Still, FEMA dropped the ball with Katrina.

Government is like the stumblebum that just can’t seem to get the right footing. Several days after the hurricane had moved on, FEMA was finally able to get in to the area. One fact that many people aren’t aware of is that FEMA must be requested before they can go into any area. It’s a home-rule issue. In the case of Mayor Nagin and his city, he never requested FEMA until the Bush administration reached out to him and explained what he needed to do in order to get federal assistance. Maybe there should be a class for new mayors explaining what they need to do once they are sworn in?

Locally, we’ve witnessed tremendous failures in tandem with tremendous posturing during and in the aftermath of Hurricane’s Irene and now Sandy by our politicians at every level. Governor Cuomo just fired his emergency management commissioner for diverting resources to his home for tree removal. C’mon. A good leader takes care of his people before himself. In this case, he should have taken care of the other residents before himself. While the governor did the right thing with this episode, he’s done little else except for declaring NY a disaster area before anything even happened, providing New Yorkers future funding relief. It isn’t really relief as much as it is the ability to get low-cost loans to rebuild.

So, why then, is the Long Island area still so in need of food, electricity and general help almost two weeks afterwards? The residents of Coney Island are calling their area New York’s “Katrina”, asking, “Why isn't anyone helping us? We have no food, no power, no heat... we are Katrina.” ABG believes it’s because the state has no real emergency plan to help any of its residents.

County Executive Astorino did an interview immediately after the storm with John Gambling. He seems to do these every week. No stranger to campaigning, he typically is complaining about the HUD monitor, the dysfunctional county legislature or some other issue of little consequence to the county’s overburdened taxpayers. When Gambling asked how recovery efforts were going, Astorino said (paraphrasing), “About as good as it can be given the intensity of the storm.” Gambling asked if there was anything he could do better the next time or what if any lessons were learned this time. His response was to try to improve communications between the emergency workers in the field and the Emergency Operations Center located in Hawthorne. Huh?

The state of the art Emergency Operations Center was built in Hawthorne several years ago under the Spano administration. Many first responders have little or no interaction with this center, but many have been given tours of it and told of how every agency would have a seat at the proverbial table. By design it is for all the various leaders of the government to locate in one area, with liaisons to first responders, the press, state and federal agencies. While it looks impressive, it operates like a Friendly’s Restaurant: there are a lot of people working there, but nobody is helping you and no decisions ever seem to get made. It seems like yet another governmental feel-good boondoggle!

Speaking of first responders, the County insisted in the wake of September 11, 2001, that the first responders in Westchester needed a better radio system. The thinking at the time was all the reports from the 9-1-1 Commission was the failure of radio systems was a part of what led to such a high loss of life. Perhaps. But the County radio system operated on three basic channels. Many fire departments and fire districts operated on the own frequency, not overseen by the County and continue to do so. Then the County spent millions upon millions of dollars “improving” the radio system at 60 Control. So what did we get for all the time and money spent? A marginally different system that allows departments to operate on a localized frequency at a call. Does it help the first responders at a scene? Perhaps. Does it help residents during an emergency such as Hurricane Sandy? No. ABG believes it’s because the County has no emergency plan to help its residents.

In the Town of Greenburgh we have three paid and six volunteer fire departments. We have the Greenburgh Police Department as well as the six Village police departments. We have a county police department that really offers very little bang for the buck, save for the Bomb Squad (pun intended). We have a state police department that does very little in Westchester County and especially local communities except to patrol several highways. Both organizations are reactionary by nature and don’t typically do much until something happens. We can’t really blame them if they don’t take much preparatory action prior to a weather event. However, the paid departments all apply for Homeland Security grant money that seems to only be used to pay for overtime. The police chief worked on an emergency action plan for the Town. It may have been used to prop open a door for a resident who ran an extension cord to his neighbor for power.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency - FEMA - was closed Thursday morning, leaving hosts of individuals, families, and children without food or water. Here’s a picture taken Thursday, Nov. 8, of a FEMA Center for their Staten Island office with a sign on the door that said “FEMA Center Closed Due To Weather”. 

Unbelievable!? People are suffering for almost two weeks and FEMA takes a snow day? It’s ridiculous!

When FEMA came into Greenburgh after Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, we were told residents that received a visit received a subsequent follow-up phone call the following day asking if a FEMA adjuster or representative had visited the resident. The answer was usually yes. If the resident pushed asking when they might see a check for funds, they were told this was only a follow-up phone call to ensure a visit took place and they need to ask the adjuster, who would tell you to call their 800 phone number. The phone call was only about FEMA being able to say how they were being responsive to victims. Remember, if you didn’t go to them and apply, they weren’t coming to you!

Once a FEMA adjuster visited your home or business, you needed to produce insurance documentations, mortgage verification, utility bills/receipts and the like. Most people who were flooded were hard-pressed to produce the requested documentation. While it isn’t funny, it was a bad joke. When asked when a payment check would arrive, they were told several weeks to process the claim and if everything was correct, a few more weeks to get the check in the mail. Ultimately, it would take about three months! There were no follow-up phone calls after that. ABG believes it’s because FEMA has no emergency plan to really help its residents.

FEMA, like The Paul, doesn’t actually do anything, rather, only points you to someone else. If you ask for money, they tell you to apply to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for a low interest loan. There’s the Office of Emergency Management. Who knows what they are managing, but when people need basic services restored, OEM is nowhere to be found. That is pretty much the story to date. For all the people that have suffered from Irene, Sandy, and the recent nor'easter, they are still without essential services. All our local, county, state and federal politicians continue to claim, “We’re here for you!” or, “We’re doing everything we can.” Which is exactly what? 

Talk is cheap; recovery is expensive – life is expensive, especially in NY. The system needs a major overhaul. We can only hope.

Lose-Lose: Lawsuit Could Stop Exposure

The residents of the Town are in a lose-lose position with Proposition #1, that was “passed” (albeit illegally) in Tuesday’s election. It didn’t matter whether the referendum was passed or defeated. If passed, the Town will wind up paying for the cleanup remediation necessary while losing more money than we are being told the Town will make. If it was defeated, it would cost the residents hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars to do the needed remediation. Either way, this should have been addressed when the Town acquired the property back in 2011. After all, we have a AAA Bond Rating that could have been used to finance the cleanup that would have cost less back then.

The lawsuit, while a regrettable but necessary action because of The Paul’s stubbornness and penchant for following wrong paths, will hopefully stop this illegal deal and give everyone some breathing room. We can revisit solutions and ideas for the property via a new and legitimate referendum asking the public what they would like to do with this property. It doesn’t need to only be offering a sports bubble or nothing. The lawsuit should also prove that the property needs to be sold or developed as a Town property, such as a soccer park, which The Paul, Commissioner Gerry Byrne and others claim we need so badly.

If a true referendum to decide what to do with the property were offered, there are several directions ABG would suggest. There may be others we’ve missed. First, clean up and “heal” the property so it can either be sold or utilized as a Town property. Second, offer a referendum with several options for the residents to vote on. Third, properly advertise the referendum and distribute unbiased information about the property and referendum. Fourth, do not sign an contracts or entertain any uses until a vote is tabulated after the referendum.

Here’s just a few options we believe should be on the referendum after full environmental remediation:

• Keep the property as open space.

• Keep the property and develop it as a ball field (sport to be determined at a later time).

• Keep the property and look to develop it for (i.e.) a police department station and/or court.

• Maintain the property as residential and develop more homes at the site.

• Sell the property for market value.

Regardless of the outcome, The Paul and his Board should simply follow the oath they took as public servants. If they would do the right thing, the right thing would happen and our Town would be much better off. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts. The Paul has had 21 unimpeded years to become corrupt. The press is complicit and has stopped exposing multiple wrongdoings for certain politicians. At the local level, we believe The Paul leads this list. We need the press to do their job and expose the wrongdoers. We need The Paul to resign. We need this corrupt Board to resign as well. We can only hope.

Proposition #1 Passes With More Contamination Than The Site

The fix was in, the deal was done, the bed was made and the lights turned out. The lease process began well before the Town assumed ownership of the foreclosed property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, the former Frank’s Nursery. Once the ownership passed hands, The Paul let it fall right through his. While everyone familiar with the property acknowledged and explained the hazards and toxicity of the site to The Paul and his Board, he and they ignored them. Those who understand The Paul’s methods of how he operates knowing that once he makes up his mind to do something, he will not back down, no matter how illegal, immoral, dangerous or costly the project is or will be for the Town.

When nearby resident Simon Cohen launched the ‘HelpBurstTheBubble’ movement, he was uninitiated in Greenburgh politics. He portrayed the contaminated site and The Paul’s actions with logical, real and tangible reasons why it shouldn’t be done. In the end, it didn’t matter as The Paul began and continues to ignore the law mandating the sale of foreclosed property. He ignored all of the points raised by not only Mr. Cohen, but others. The G10 (formerly G8) stated and gave proof of contamination, flooding issues, traffic concerns and so on. Unfortunately, it’s the same litany we’ve repeatedly witnessed being ignored by the Town Board, aka Lead Agency, for project after project. Many had asked for a referendum to find out what the residents wished the Town to do with the property. The Paul ignored them. Then, as the opposition started to gain legitimate inroads toward stopping the ill-conceived project, The Paul then decided to hold a referendum only to have or not have the GameOn 365 bubble. Shrewd.

In classic form, The Paul began his deflection methods to distract from the bubble and began talking about all things unrelated. The media, complicit with him, routinely play along, ignoring their role as fact-checkers and reporters (in the strictest sense) of what all and any of our politicians do – legal or illegal. ABG is convinced we will never have any Watergate-type exposé except when the media is seeking to destroy an existing candidate or politician that is from the “other side” or opposes their agenda. Regardless, ABG will continue to champion the truth as much and as often as we can.

So what’s next? A lawsuit against the Town had already been initiated to stop the referendum bubble deal. As others have aptly stated, The Paul will now trumpet his mantra that the people have spoken and it’s democracy at it’s best, blah, blah, blah. Frankly, it’s a shame The Paul and his Board have so little regard for doing the right thing with people’s health. What’s worse is The Paul’s and his Board’s unbridled willingness to move forward with this dangerous, deceitful and problem-ridden project.

Just as importantly, not doing a thorough and proper site evaluation, remediation cost bidding and finally a site remediation before doing anything with the property for political expediency is unconscionable. It appears our elected officials abandoned a moral compass for a buck some time ago. Yet, to knowingly proceed is nothing less than criminal. Let’s hope the (yet another) lawsuit against the Town will force them to stop and do what is truly the right thing. We can only hope.

Daily Voice Pushes Vote for Carcinogenic Property

In an amazing act of desperation, the online site the Greenburgh Daily Voice has written a brief article and put a banner on their home page announcing that the GameOn 365 Proposition #1 is on the back of the voter ballot. It’s bad enough that they’ve chosen to be “in the tank” for The Paul and his developer cohorts by assisting his illegal referendum, but by informing the uninformed where the ballot is, they are guaranteeing a favorable vote simply by proxy. 

They insist on ignoring the reports of carcinogens that have been found on the site and the serious health hazards it presents to the future users of the property as well as the nearby residents. It is an indirect admission of collusion. Had this been asbestos found in a school, the GDV would be hollering for an evacuation, shut down and remediation of the school. That’s what they should be doing here, not pushing the vote!

When the media becomes part of the story, and in fact IS the story, it verifies that the public has few places they can turn for the truth. Stay tuned to ABG for the truth. Maybe GDV will remove their endorsement of this project. We can only hope!

Vote NO – Carcinogens Found on Proposition #1 Site

In a stunning release by Woodard and Curran, the company doing the environmental study for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, they reported contaminates that exceed acceptable levels for state cleanup criteria for commercial use were found at that location. This is the site of the proposed Proposition #1 which would (illegally attempt to) authorize the GameOn 365 sports bubble project. Numerous concerned Town residents objected to the proposition and repeatedly pointed out the site was believed to be packed full of contaminants and toxic debris, some originating from White Plains construction sites and others from two long-time nurseries.

Due to this finding, The Paul had his Town Board authorize additional money to be spent to investigate the property to the tune of $69,670 more dollars. Not $69k or $70k, but $69,670. Residents had been told by Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis that the Town would only need to spend $100k for site study and cleanup. This no longer seems to be the case with this new discovery. Regardless, The Paul, Tim “Remediation” Lewis and Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan had stated at numerous Town Board meetings that the costs for testing and remediation would be capped at $100k. It appears that the inside information they failed to share with the public is slowly escalating to an amount that was previously unforeseen.

In arrogant defiance while being caught with his pants down, The Paul insisted this Proposition is still good for the Town, he insists the Town should proceed as he planned. Interestingly, it was The Paul, when pushed by residents at the last two Town Board meetings, who said that the safety of the children is paramount and the Proposition as well as the lease would not go through if anything was found that deemed the property dangerous to children and their parents. Ironically, no mention was ever expressed for concern of the employees.

It appears that the concerned residents of the Town were correct in their widespread criticism of the actions of The Paul and his Board regarding Proposition #1 and the GameOn 365 sports bubble. The overwhelming evidence confirms what the long-time residents had warned everyone about. Another critic of the Proposal #1, Simon Cohen, who organized the HelpBurstTheBubble movement, was berated by many at numerous meetings and is owed an apology.

Here again is the video the concerned Greenburgh residents made against Proposition #1:

While ABG is pleased that so many were on the right side of this issue for the right reasons, it is discouraging that our elected representatives are not representing the residents’ best interests, but those of the developers. This has to change. While none of our Town elected officials are running for office, ABG joins many others in asking for their resignations. We can only hope.

Proposition #1: Residents Explain Why They’re Voting NO

In a phony effort to espouse “full disclosure” and a sudden concern for the residents of the Town, The Paul concocted a proposition vote for the GameOn 365 proposal. Numerous residents have repeatedly voiced opposition against this project. They have cited numerous legal violations, questionable moral and ethical choices that The Paul and his Board have made regarding this project. ABG has posted previously about this.

Several residents made a video explaining why they are against the Proposal and will vote NO! Many who are against the proposal have openly stated a sports bubble may be a good thing to have, but since there have been so many missteps along the way, they are voting against it in hopes of having the property properly cleaned to correct environmental standards, sold according to law and generate yearly tax income for future generations.

Here is the video the concerned Greenburgh residents made. If you cannot play the imbedded version here, you can view it on YouTube directly at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agF0guDcMaI

ABG urges everyone to vote NO for Town of Greenburgh Proposition #1.