It’s Time For A Mix

Town Board meetings have become a failing display of what’s wrong with our government and an increased waste of taxpayer time and money. We watched this unfold at Wednesday night’s two public hearings, the first about the budget and the second about the zoning change, which will move forward into passage as quickly as our certiorari disbursements. We are discouraged to see the turnout was mostly limited to the G10 “regulars”, and disappointed that more residents aren’t attracted to the Town Board budget hearings given the tax increases being saddled upon it’s shrinking residents. It’s equally distressing that so many questionable actions continue to go unchallenged by an overwhelming group of constituents, emboldening those on the Board to continue their blatant manipulations of the process.

Last week also found The Paul issuing his mid-month press release/campaign, this time about the ills of County government, which he abandoned once he was installed as the “Prince” of Greenburgh. His blathering this time is about, “The past few years there has been too much pettiness, bickering, feuding, fighting and gridlock in Westchester County government.” He speaks of the money wasted by the County’s Board of Legislators by taking the County Executive to court over their differences with policies and the budget. Why won’t he speak of the quantity and dollar amounts of the lawsuits brought against him and the Town that Unincorporated Greenburgh will be forced to pay? His hollow quote, “We want government officials to cooperate with each other – to do what is right for the County” could easily be transposed for Greenburgh, “We want government officials to cooperate with each other – to do what is right for the Town.” We are still waiting for The Paul to do what is right for the Town and it’s residents instead of developers.

The Town Board in Greenburgh all work together – because The Paul told them they would and if they didn’t, they’ll be “Sonya’d”! You’ll recall former Town Board member Sonya Brown, who went against the wishes of The Paul so he had her removed. Sure, it’s a bit more involved than that but the gist of it is she went against the King, was ostracized throughout Town Hall and quickly banished from internal communications, policy meetings and the like. Outside the “loop”, it was difficult for her to get information or be prepared for meetings and votes. She was effectively shut out of Town government.

To ensure she not be able to get back “in” and to help the public be disappointed by her and a lack of responsiveness, The Paul had her Town supplied telephone number maintained so people would continue to call her but not receive a follow-up response. Constituent contact is the lifeblood of a politician. The Paul knows it. He was ensuring people not vote for her again by making sure she angers them. You see, most people don’t follow elections closely and once they have made a connection with a politician, they will keep going back to that person. Unless of course they never hear back from them. Many of those same people probably don’t even realize that Ken Jones has replaced her. Appropriately, he has fallen in lockstep with the rest of the Board. He learned fast. In fact, at one meeting Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan even said the Board was made up of independent thinkers and don’t always agree with The Paul – probably because The Paul told him to say so.

The Town Board needs a genuine diversity of clear and forward-thinking, articulate ideas, and resident-centric members, regardless of their individual qualifications. It would be nice to see more variety than just lawyers and academics on the Board without business acumen or “real world” experience. By the way, we have nothing against lawyers. But this Board is consumed with creating laws, regulations, and fees (taxes) to develop nickel and dime income to payoff multi-million dollar guilty verdicts and bad economic decisions brought about by The Paul. So, while they strangle businesses already struggling just to survive, the economic climate in Greenburgh is manually being worsened by our “leadership”.

While this Board has the audacity to claim to be business friendly, the reality of their actions belie that. Book knowledge is good to a certain point. Again, there is nothing like real world experience to help focus on the big picture along with the requisite “little stuff” to map out a better direction for our Town. Perhaps it’s time for a better mix of Board members. Dare we say include a republican, an independent, a business owner, and yes, even a developer to round out the thinking process? We desperately need an infusion of new ideas into the stale and unidirectional thinking we witness every other week from this feckless Board. It would be a good start. We can only hope.