Saturday, November 10, 2012

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.

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