It’s no secret that Diana Juettner will not be seeking another term as a Town Council member. We originally thought, “Finally, maybe we can get a breath of fresh air, some new thinking and innovation!” Juettner, a Village of Ardsley resident served on the Board almost as long as the Supervisor. She was also part of the “Feiner-crew” that was found guilty on seven counts, along with Mr Feiner, Westchester County government’s Steve Bass, Eddie Mae Barnes and Timmy Weinberg (deceased) in the Fortress Bible Church Federal discrimination case. One would think that being convicted of any crime would be enough to force a politician to be removed from office. Not in “Bizaro Greenburgh”, where a guilty conviction seems to embolden them with more anointing of tenure.
Speaking of anointments, with Juettner leaving, the Greenburgh Democratic Party has already blessed and promised the Juettner seat to Ellen Hendrickx, former Hastings Democratic Chair and “fill-in” Council woman upon the death of Councilman Kevin Morgan. Can you say, “Done deal?” So much for fresh ideas, new thinking and such. It’s her turn after stepping aside to let Gina Jackson have a seat on the Board. This is significant for several reasons. First, Juettner is a Village of Ardsley resident and Hendrickx was a Village of Hastings resident. This matters because it’s the Villages that support Mr Feiner and ultimately bring him the votes he needs to stay in position as Supervisor. Also, the minuscule portion of the Village resident’s tax bill isn’t high enough for those residents to complain or even follow the illegal and unjust actions of Mr Feiner.
Second, we seriously doubt any Democrat would challenge the party decision-makers and try a run for this seat after it has been blessed for someone else. We saw how well this fared for several past challengers to those in existing positions within the party, the most recent being Democrat Eric Zinger, who ran for Town Board against Councilman Ken Jones and Gina Jackson. While there were those who disagreed with some of his positions and inflexibility toward them to compromise, he was a viable and preferred alternative to Mr Jones and did have some different ideas toward running the Town.
Third, since the Town of Greenburgh’s Republican Chair is a Feiner fan and committee appointee, he is content to not even try to put a Republican candidate up against a Democrat running for elected office in the Town. Additionally, there had been interest from some of the existing Republicans in Town as well as the Villages, in forming a Republican Club to begin raising funds and cultivating candidates for the Town and Villages since the Westchester Republican Party refuses to do so. In fact, Westchester Republican Chair Douglas Colty has said numerous times that he has written Greenburgh Republicans “off.” We’ll wait and see if, and how, that pans out.
Fourth, since the Villages are insulated from any fines incurred by the Town or Mr Feiner and his various Boards, such as the $6.5 million dollar guilty verdict and fine in the Fortress Bible Church Discrimination Lawsuit, why would they even care if Mr Feiner stays in office or not? And, why would they care if he has been in office for 29 years thus far? There are no negatives for them. But there are plenty of negatives for the residents in the Unincorporated portion of the Town, as the Villages have Mayors and Village Boards protecting them – a luxury we will never see with any Feiner administration.
In fact, the Fortress Bible Church Discrimination lawsuit payments originally included all of the Villages but at the last minute Mr Feiner and his Town Board removed them off the resolution. Years earlier, the Villages were very angry when they were included in the payments dealing with a lawsuit over Town property - a fallen tree that killed a man & paralyzed his wife. Because the town was “under insured,” all residents had to pay the remainder of the settlement. The Villages threatened to leave Greenburgh! Mr Feiner promised them that if they stayed, the villages would not be included in any future lawsuits dealing with Unincorporated Town property. That was an incredibly good deal for them.
Fifth, looking at a small issue to begin with, Mr Feiner has mandated that the Town will not send out this year’s garbage and trash pickup calendars*. His excuse is that he can save the Town $5,000 by not printing and sending them out. What?! So, with a TOV budget that is roughly $88+ million dollars, which includes funds for him to do his many campaign mailings, we believe the $5,000 needed to keep our residents informed is well worth the expense. If he were truly looking to cut down printing and mailing expenses, stop the campaigning with all of the duplicitous mailings throughout the year and use that money for the garbage/trash pickup calendars. Or, offer to print the calendars on the office copiers at Town Hall on demand and have the residents come in and pick them up.
Sixth, if we move on to the larger issues, we find the Supervisor and his feckless Board granting every developer just about anything and everything they request . Case in point, the Battery Energy Storage System at the Knollwood Country Club, or the Brightview Continuum Care Facility at the Metropolis Country Club, or the ShopRite Supermarket at the old 9A Multiplex Theater complex or the Townhouses at the Elmwood Country Club bonanza that Mr Feiner keeps pushing for approval. These developments have too many unresolved issues. And yet, after going through the motions of listening to the impacted communities, Mr Feiner and his Board simply ignore the public and do what he wanted anyway.
It seems that every project becomes a “done deal” whenever a developer walks into Town Hall. In addition to the above-noted examples, there are other projects, such as: the Shelbourne Assisted Living Facility which is currently in litigation, and the Westchester Power - ESCO that Mr Feiner automatically enrolled every resident and small business into. Yes, there are exceptions, especially when a development involves “the quality of life” of a Town Board member or Town Official. For example - the Jefferson project in the Ardsley area [affected: Supervisor Feiner and Councilwoman Juettner] or the Ferncliff Cemetery project, [affected: Councilman Sheehan] or another assisted living facility off of Payne Street, [affected: Councilman Morgan and Town Attorney Lewis] . All shot down!
Another ridiculous idea from the Supervisor, who has no business experience or knowledge, is that he has decided the Town needs another crony to be his Economic Development Czar to help fill the empty retail stores throughout the Town. First, the ground floor retail store, with apartments or other businesses above them, is a failed model and should simply be immediately abandoned. Second, while Mr Feiner believes in over-taxation, he fails to recognize that landlords pass his tax increases to their tenants, who in turn pass them on to the consumer or end-user. While this model has always worked to some degree, the more-than-usual vacancies throughout the Town prove that his taxation policies are continuing to kill retail in particular and business in general throughout our Town. Since he only sent this notice about this new position to residents who are online, many of the Town’s residents are unaware that this “fast one” is being done to them.
Going back to where we started, the same old stale Town Board thinking may be changing players unless Ms Juettner changes her mind again and decides to stay in her anointed lifetime position. Should she leave, the Democratic Party will do their members and the Town residents at large a grave disservice, by not offering better potential candidates and by meting out positions from Westchester’s Tammany Hall. All because someone was a good soldier by stepping down to anoint Gina Jackson a position. This is not the way the government was intended to be run, even in Bizarro Greenburgh and has to end. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.
* One of our staffers mentioned that they just received a robocall from Mr Feiner stating he would be sending out the calendars after all.
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