Et Tu?

As the saying goes, everything that goes around, comes around. It’s finally come around to The Paul. After abusing the trust placed with him by the electorate, he continually, routinely and cavalierly tossed their concerns aside and has done what he wanted. He spot-zoned numerous properties throughout the Unincorporated Town without regard to input and concerns voiced by the neighborhoods. He granted whatever any developer asked for and continues to do this today. As part of the 1%-ers, he was able to nestle his family quite comfortably in the gated community of Boulder Ridge at the edge of the Hastings-on-Hudson border near Costco, Home Depot and Stew Leonard’s.

There are discussions underway for a proposed commercial and residential development in Yonkers on the back side or northern cap of the Stew Leonard’s, Home Depot and Costco property. This property abuts the gated wonderland that The Paul lives in and would ultimately stunt the view of the Boulder Ridge homes. How? The proposal is to build a multiple use retail building encompassing 255,000 square feet of space by the retail giant Target and 400 residential apartments. This is exactly the right place for this type of combined project for Yonkers. Unless you are The Paul. It’s a bit complicated and yet so very simple. The Paul and his neighbors cannot complain that this will hurt their cherished view, or that these apartments may become low-income or even Section 8 housing (well practiced in Yonkers), and supposedly lower the value of their million dollar homes. So, they are saying that the increase in traffic will be a big issue for the area.

Really? Traffic as a problem? Nah! Every project that has been proposed in Greenburgh and come in front of the Town Board where the issue of increased traffic was a concern has been ignored by The Paul and his “go-along” Board. Add to the woes of increased local traffic due to the never-ending and over-budgeted I-287, 15-year debacle and you have significant traffic issues. This 15-year project has caused an upheaval in traffic on local roads as well as created massive traffic jams on the highway. But every traffic study supplied for every project, regardless of the scope or results were ignored by The Paul and his Stepford Board. Several projects where these results were ignored were the super Stop and Shop on Rt 119, the Greenburgh Health Center on Knollwood Road, WestHab in Fulton Park, Brightview Assisted Living Center at Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue and Dromore Road. All neighborhood pleas were ignored.

Interestingly, when the traffic study for Fulton Park was released and discussed, the report stated that the traffic in the area was already at an “F” rating. This should not be misconstrued as an “F” that a student would receive on a test. It is part of an alphabetical rating system that has a different meaning, and yet in this case had the same result! We all know that any report and its figures can be presented to deliver the results the presenter desires. Westhab’s traffic “expert” stated that the forty or fifty car increase in traffic at rush hour and during the course of the day in an already overburdened roadway system would be “negligible”. The Planning Board ignore these findings but the Zoning Board voted against the Westhab project and actually validated the neighborhood’s complaint and voted to recommend against a zoning change and halt the project. ABG believes The Paul told his Board, in a closed-door Executive session, to ignore this recommendation and vote for the massive zoning change. Ignore the traffic report details, the nay vote from Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, the neighborhood’s collective voices, and push his pet project through – which they did!

When the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association complained to The Paul and the Town Board against the sports bubble that GameOn 365 wanted to build at the old Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, they soon found that The Paul not only supported the 83 foot, 8-story tall sports bubble, The Paul brokered the deal! Since when does a public official get involved with pushing a private sector deal through the governmental maze for developers? Since they came to Greenburgh. ABG cannot prove collusion but indeed wonders why The Paul and his minions would do this?

The shoe now appears to be on the other foot. The Paul’s position as Supervisor, already in double-overtime and in rapid decline, cannot stop the City of Yonkers from moving forward with developing their industrial area by the Yonkers toll booth/Stew Leonard’s/Home Depot/Costco’s. Like Fulton Park, the industrial area is right next to a residential area and Greenburgh’s forefathers intent was to allow a buffer from light commercial to residential and preserve the integrity of the residential neighborhood. But not The Paul. Rather than leave a buffer for the transition into Fulton Park, a much less affluent neighborhood than Boulder Ridge, The Paul decided to build and build big.

Yonkers and their developers have decided to do what is good for them, within their city and unfortunately, ignore the surrounding neighborhood. We recognize that Yonkers is in dire straights. The Paul has created the same environment in Greenburgh as we’ve experienced a decline in our quality of life throughout the Town. Perhaps the Boulder Ridge residents will not only view these stores and apartment buildings from their back windows, but will recognize this same decline other residents throughout Greenburgh have endured for years at the hands of The Paul. Et Tu? We can only hope.