The Year In Review Part 2

Each year Mr Feiner publishes his accomplishments for the year on various Feiner-friendly websites, sends out numerous email blasts and snail-mail mailings (the latter at a significant cost to the tax-payer). Coincidentally, we publish the “rest of the story” to quote the late Paul Harvey, as Mr Feiner, convicted of lying under oath in the Fortress Bible Church Federal discrimination case, can’t always be relied upon to present accurate and transparent information. Here’s Part 2 of our year in review. This year, Mr Feiner has changed his Accomplishment List to a Highlights List. Staffers have thrown around numerous thoughts as to why the change. Because short of slowing down the Edgemont community’s incorporation efforts, there haven’t really been many new accomplishments. Mr Feiner’s info is in blue, ours in black.

DISABLED

Metro North announcing plans to build elevator at Hartsdale train station- work to start in 2020. 

Whether or not MTA builds an elevator at any of their locations or not is totally up to them. While we’d prefer every site have everything it needs, this is an entity that usually asks for rate increases right after getting rate increases and cannot manage the money they have.

Reactivating disabled advisory committee. Why was this ever discontinued?

RECREATION- CRICKET!

Greenburgh opened up Westchester County's first cricket field at Richard Presser Park in Hartsdale.  Encouraging the county and other municipalities to recognize how much people love cricket. 

Hard to get excited about this when pedestrians are being struck at an alarming rate; our roads are in such disrepair; flooding is being ignored and traffic congestion is out of control as Mr Feiner and his Board green-light massive construction projects without accommodating any changes in our infrastructure.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The abandoned WESTHELP[sic] homeless shelter is now being renovated for affordable senior housing. It's exciting to see the WESTHELP [sic] parking lot fill [sic] of cars--contractors doing the renovations.  The affordable senior housing will open up in 2021. 

Wow! This condition was CREATED by Mr Feiner and his Board when they ignored repeated attempts by the County to renew the contract for WestHelp. He instructed Town employees to leave the facility open and unoccupied so as to condemn it and force it to be torn down by the County to build a new school for a handicapped school in Yonkers. The facility was supposed to be transitioned into a senior living facility. It's a shame that he is taking credit for a horrendous condition that needn't have happened. So he forfeited with a nod from his Board a guaranteed contract promising $1.2 million dollars a year for the Town.

NEW POLICE CHIEF AND COUNCILPERSON TRANSITIONS

A smooth transition of Police Chiefs--Brian Ryan is our new Chief, replacing Chris McNerney who now is Chief Investigator for the DA. 

We wish Chief Ryan well and thank Chief McNerney for his hard work.

EDGEMONT

NY Court of Appeals upheld my interpretation of Edgemont incorporation petition. Appellate division had previously found that the petition for incorporation did not comply with statute requirements. A second petition was filed. I found that the 2nd petition also did not comply with the statute. Those who filed the petition have filed a lawsuit which is pending. 

Mr Feiner’s sole responsibility is to sign off on the petition. He didn’t do that. He decided, along with Councilman Jones, to politicize the issue, publicly saying that they didn’t want it and would not work with the Village of Edgemont should the referendum pass – which would ensure the Unincorporated budget not lose as much money as it might. They are supposed to remain neutral. HE hired people who hired more people to dupe Edgemont residents into signing another petition to negate their original petition signature. But in Greenburgh, ethically challenged politicos never have their feet held to the fire, lose their jobs or go to jail. They just get re-elected. Shame on them.

POLICE AND COURTS

A shooting at an Ardsley Motel resulted in no fatalities of innocent bystanders or police. Our SWAT team responded quickly, a Greenburgh police officer who was shot at was wearing a bullet proof vest and is OK. Highlights the importance of being trained and prepared. 

A suspect in an FBI raid was killed and two SWAT Team officers were injured during the shootout at the Ardsley Acres motel. The FBI said members of the FBI Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force were at the motel assisting the FBI New Haven (Connecticut) Safe Streets Task Force. One of the SWAT Team officers who was shot, a Greenburgh police sergeant, was saved by his bulletproof vest. The other injured officer, a Dobbs Ferry sergeant, may have been struck by a ricochet. They were treated at a hospital and released.

We have saved over 12 million dollars so when we sell the current court house/police we won't have to borrow as much --enabling us to address infrastructure in an affordable manner. 

We had a hard time deciphering this sentence as we haven't saved anything until the building is remediated, which is almost a guaranteed necessity due to its age, and then sold. We think he meant that $12 million was put in a reserve fund from money already collected from taxpayers. But the $49 million dollar bond (or $37million) will still negatively impact the Unincorporated residents. Once the Greenburgh School Board puts their new bond up, it will be a double-whammy against the taxpayers.

Town hired CBRE and Lothrup to help us review real estate options and design. We hope to present the community with a proposed plan for the court house and police station in 2020. And, will be conducting tours of our existing facilities and community meetings before we finalize any decision. 

This is Feiner-speak for, “We’re moving forward with the construction bond for a new police station and courts, regardless. Rather than legally follow the process, we'll be doing what we want by getting everything in place.”

NYS STARTED TO REPAVE SAW MILL RIVER ROAD IN ARDSLEY

NYS started repaving Saw Mill River Road in Ardsley –a road fill of potholes. Work to be completed next year. 36 student interns had lobbied for the road repaving in 2018. NYS promised to repave Hillside Ave but the company went under so there were delays with the project. The state did start some sidewalk, drainage work and will complete the road repaving in 2021. 

Funny, the Village of Ardsley gets what the Village of Ardsley wants because their Mayor and Village Board actively petition other governmental branches when there is something they seek, such as sidewalks. While the Town relies on interns to do the heavy lifting, the public still mistakenly believes Mr Feiner and his Board are doing this. Just look behind the curtain periodically and you'll be very surprised and dismayed. As a side note, every time there is something close to home for the Supervisor or his Board, things get done. This time benefitting Mr Feiner and Ms Juettner.

RECYCLING and food scraps

We increased recycling of paper and plastics from every other week to every week. 

This is a good thing even if studies show that recycling costs us more than we’re saving.

We obtained a grant from NYS for $250,000 to purchase trucks to begin curbside recycling of food waste. Trucks to be ordered in 2020. Service to be offered to villages and unincorporated Greenburgh. 

The one grant doesn't include maintenance or replacement. So, the grant which we pay for with even more of our taxes, is not a freebie.

We have started seriously considering the possibility of opening up a food scrap composting site on Taxter Road ---currently food scraps from around the region are sent out of county. 

Apparently, Taxter Road needs more truck traffic as it is already used as a vehicular cut-through. Surely there are other places this can be done. Greenburgh needs more than just scraps.

ASSISTED LIVING  DISCOUNTS

The Chelsea Assisted LIving Facility is offering discounts to Greenburgh residents--they hope to open in 2020 on Dobbs Ferry Road. They also have some affordable units for those who meet income guidelines. They expect to open in 2020. 

So instead of paying $8k a month rent, it will be reduced to $7k? The few affordable units allotted here won't make a dent in or for the Greenburgh population.

DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS

Brightview seeks to build independent living, assisted living facility at portion of Metropolis. Plan under review.

Maplewood is seeking approval to sell their swim and tennis club on W Hartsdale Ave to an assisted living facility. We are reviewing traffic, neighborhood concerns.

We created land use advisory committees around town involving residents impacted by proposed developments in the land use review early on. These land use committees also help us select the traffic and environmental consultants we hire to review the application.  We want the community to be involved in partnering with the town government.

This is pure BS. The neighborhood residents requested land use committees for Brightview (Metropolis CC), Maplewood, ShopRite & Sam's Club gas station developments but were refused by everyone at the Town!

SOME SMART PEOPLE—INCLUDING A NOBEL PRIZE WINNER

A Tarrytown man won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Gregg Semenza attended Sleepy Hollow HS, one of the schools serving the Greenburgh community. No disrespect intend toward Gregg Semenza, but this really a a stretch by Mr Feiner.

GRANT FROM STATE FOR NEW AMBULANCE-ARDSLEY SECOR VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE CORP

Mayor Nancy Kabbolian and I met Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins two years ago seeking state funding for a new ambulance for the volunteer ambulance corp. Senator Cousins  recently announced that NYS will fund the new ambulance for the volunteers. 

Good for Ardsley-Secor Ambulance Corps. Keep in mind, these grant monies are grants that we all pay for.

VOTING

First time Early Voting was tried in Greenburgh during the town elections. Voter turnout was higher than usual in an off off year election. 

The verdict is still out as to whether this ploy to get early votes actually contributed to election fraud or not.

TECHNOLOGY

Progress  being made - implementation of a work order system in the Department of Public Works. Will enable the town to better track complaints and work requests. 

Perhaps Supervisor Candidate Lucas Cioffi was correct and Mr Feiner IS the bottleneck for all the work that is being or needs to be done in the Town. Mr Feiner’s goal to develop a system is 30 years overdue. You can’t say you’re a visionary with this kind of track record.

Town Board approved funding for enhanced social media initiative –want to get our message out to those who don’t subscribe to traditional media. 

We’re pretty confident that this isn’t about enhancing anything. This is to ensure Mr Feiner has a way to disseminate information of his choosingto residents of his choosingwithout having to share the lists he maintains. He had been able to do this until he was sued and ordered by the courts to share his list.

Taking steps to formalize an official Technology Committee that can help the town keep up to date with technology. 

Another committee that will be able to talk about something but impotent to act. Mr Feiner needs to be able to say, “I’ll turn that idea over to the Technology Committee to investigate and get back to me with a recommendation” – which will never actually happen. It's another black hole for Mr Feiner to use at his discretion.

HOT ASPHALT MACHINE ENABLES TOWN TO REPAIR POTHOLES IN WINTER

Greenburgh is one of the few communities around that has purchased a hot asphalt machine to repair potholes in the winter months. The asphalt companies don't operate in the winter months and most communities use cold patches to repair potholes. These pothole repairs don't last long. This investment enables us to repair potholes efficiently and for the work to last. 

We don't know enough about asphalt to know if this is a good thing or not. At face value, however, if the industry shuts down for the winter, there must be a good reason for it.