Candidate Questions for the Supervisor’s Forum on Sept 3

ABG staffers were discussing issues in the Town and questions we have for the candidates that we thought might  have or should have been asked at the previous forum that Mr Feiner and Ms Beville did not attend. Here are some of the questions we’d like to see asked of our candidates for Supervisor and Town Clerk.

Here’s an offer we’ll extend to both Mr Feiner and Mr Bernstein. If they choose to respond, staying on topic, ABG will publish their answers unedited. In no particular order, here’s some of what we came up with and hope to hear asked this Tuesday night at the forum to be held at the James Harmon Community Center on Main Street in Hastings -on-Hudson. We’d love our readers to give us any others we may have missed.

Questions for:
Incumbent Supervisor Paul Feiner:
1) You were found guilty in the Fortress Bible Church case. You lost the appeal, yet you and Diana Juettner haven’t been disbarred or removed from office. How are you legally able to stay in office?
2) Another ethics charge was just brought against you? How do you justify the act and why did you sue your own Town Board member and confidante, Francis Sheehan?
3) When will we see sidewalks throughout Greenburgh if you really want to promote “green space” walking, biking and public transportation?
4) What good is a AAA Bond rating if we never borrow any money to maintain and improve our infrastructure?
5) According to a resident, you were seen campaigning at a supermarket instead of attending the forum for you and Supervisor candidate Robert “Bob” Bernstein. Why didn’t you go to the forum?
6) How do we know you’re not lying to us and will attend the Hastings forum?
7) What are you doing to address flooding in the Town, especially in Fulton Park at the Bronx River side and Babbitt Court at the Saw Mill River side?
8) Why don’t you trust the non-partisan Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations and the League of Women Voters?
9) Why was the Scarsdale Inquirer and the ABetterGreenburgh the only media to cover the forum?
10) Why did you keep Dave Mackay Wilson of the Journal News from entering the former WestHelp site in Valhalla?
11) WestHelp remains vacant. Why won’t you put people in these apartments?
12) Certiorari adjustments by the Town reach new heights at each Town Board meeting. Why has it taken so long to just talk about doing a Town-wide reassessment?
13) Westhab and now Brightview both wrote zoning code changes to Greenburgh’s Town Zoning Code. Why isn’t our legal department writing our bills and departmental changes? Don’t you have confidence in the people you’ve hired?
14) Why do developer’s projects always get priority over neighborhood needs and concerns?
15) Your tenure is an obvious reason to have term limits. Why should voters allow any politician to remain in office for more than eight to ten years?
16) You live in a prestigious private community at Boulder Ridge? Why not live in Fairview where you’ve place almost all of the affordable and low income housing?
17) Villages already have a Purchasing Consortium where they purchase as a group and save money. Why doesn’t the Town participate with them?
18) Do you believe in term limits?
19) If you believe in term limits, what is an acceptable limit?

20) How long have you been a resident of Unincorporated Greenburgh?
21) Why are F.O.I.L. requests routinely ignored by your, the Town Clerk and Legal departments?
22) What are your plans to lower taxes beyond raiding the reserve funds?
23) Why have you refused a $3.5 million offer for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road (Frank’s Nursery) for over two years now?
24) The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee never seems to offer a final Comprehensive Plan. Each time they’ve gotten close to being finished, you’ve tasked them with another responsibility to address. One of the last ones was the Zoning Map updates. Will we ever see a Comprehensive Plan in Greenburgh or is this another scheme?

Questions for:

Supervisor candidate Bob Bernstein:

1) You’ve mentioned often that you favor a professional administrator if after assessing the condition of the Town’s operations one may help the Town’s efficiency and non-partisanism. If that’s determined to be required, what becomes of the Supervisor’s position?

2) You are a successful attorney in NYC, will you continue your practice if elected?

3) Poor decisions by Mr Feiner have cost the Town millions of dollars. How will you stem the flow of payments currently being paid out by the Town?

4) Fortress Bible Church was a bad decision by Mr Feiner that will cost the Town dearly. Will the Villages be required to participate in payment of this guilty verdict against Mr Feiner? Will you seek their help?

5) Flooding has grown for the “river sides” of Greenburgh near the Bronx River and Saw Mill River. What will you do to help these people get relief beyond promising FEMA buyouts?

6) Overdevelopment of the Town is continuing at breakneck speeds. What will you do to control it?

7) You recently attended a forum that Mr Feiner snubbed and then had a video played immediately afterwards on the Town’s cable access channel. Is this transparency in government?  

8) Morale for Town employees is at a historic low. How will you address this?

9) Will you utilize private citizens to help run the Town?

10) Villages already have a Purchasing Consortium where they purchase as a group and save money. How will you as Supervisor of the Town participate with them?

10) How long have you been a resident of Unincorporated Greenburgh?
11) How and when will the Comprehensive Planning be adopted when you’re elected?
12) If you believe in term limits and if so, what is an acceptable limit?

Questions for:

Incumbent Town Clerk Judith Beville:

1) You seem to do a lot of speaking at Town Board meetings. Is that the role of the Town Clerk at Town Board and Work Session meetings?

2) Is it you that transcribes the Town’s video recording of Board meetings into the official Town records or does your staff do this? 

3) You seem to spend a lot of time organizing events for the Town. Is that the responsibility of a Town Clerk?

4) Residents often complain that they cannot find information that has been said to be posted on the Town’s website. Why haven’t you made the Town website easier to use and find information?

5) Why do Town Council members edit what is posted on the website? Isn’t that the job of a Town Clerk?

6) Why do you spend so much time out of the office?

7) What management skills do you bring to the office?

8) You’ve been accused of impropriety as a school board member? Mr Feiner and Ms Juettner were found guilty in the Fortress Bible Church discrimination case. Please explain how yours and theirs are not a conflict of interest?

9 ) Villages already have a Purchasing Consortium where they purchase as a group and save money. Why doesn’t the Town participate with them?

10) How long have you been a resident of Unincorporated Greenburgh?

11) If you believe in term limits and if so, what is an acceptable limit?

Questions for:

Town Clerk candidate Sherron Brunson Fantauzzi:

1) Do you have a management background that may help you as Town Clerk?

2) How long have you been a resident of Unincorporated Greenburgh?

3) Villages already have a Purchasing Consortium where they purchase as a group and save money. How will you as Town Clerk participate with them?

4) How will you improve the Town’s website and access to information?

5) How will the Town Clerk’s office change if you are elected?

6) Will you have any change in operational hours to give residents better access to your office if elected?
7) If you believe in term limits and if so, what is an acceptable limit?

ABG knows there are many other questions but believe if we could get some of these questions answered in a concise and straightforward manor, perhaps democratic voters will come out on September 10th and make for A Better Greenburgh.