A number of years ago, Mr Feiner appeared to collude with GameOn 365 for the property where Frank’s Nursery had been on Dobbs Ferry Road. When Frank’s Nursery fell into Chapter 11, Frank’s abandoned the property and failed to pay the taxes on it. Subsequently, the Town gained ownership of the property and that’s when the subterfuge happened. Spearheaded by the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association and the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, they rallied the troops, the press and other community leaders to see the sham of a deal Mr Feiner had made with GameOn 365 to illegally lease the property in order to build an 83 foot high Sports Bubble. Mr Feiner, a non-practicing attorney, knows how much he can push the boundaries of legality and used to be fond of saying, “If you don’t like what I’m doing, sue me!” The town was about to be sued when Game On pulled out and went next door looking to buy the Golf Range from the Visioli family to build a Sports Complex. This plan was abandoned and eventually they did buy the 32 acre property and kept it as a Golf Range.
The former Frank’s Nursery property was finally sold for $3.5 million to a developer named Capitol Seniors Housing, who would be building an assisted living facility at that location for about 100 residents. Sadly, before inking the deal, Mr Feiner and Mr Lewis* claimed remediation of the former Frank’s Nursery property would be capped at $100,000. The cost to the Town for remediation was ultimately $1.5 million! Is this why there are so many jokes about not trusting lawyers? Regardless, after back taxes were paid on the property, and the cost of remediation, the Town taxpayers did not see a profit on this property.
The Town Board and specifically Mr Feiner, have struggled for years to find a way to keep the pesky residents and critics of the Town Board at bay. Finally, they have the pseudo-Covid switch (science? really?) that they conveniently flick on or off at their discretion. And they do. While many municipalities have gone back to in-person meetings, the Town of Greenburgh is giddily besides themselves with their unchecked power of keeping the public and most importantly their detractors, out of many discussions that would impede their questionable transactions. Coupled with the ultimate control of forcing residents to utilize Zoom for their 5-minutes of comment, Mr Feiner can “pull the plug” on anyone disagreeing with him.
Now, during the slowest business time of the year with constituent families not around, residents and employees away on vacation, the Town Board quietly put a special meeting and vote on the agenda during Executive session which will wholeheartedly benefit GameOn 365. No mention was made public of this special meeting at the Town Board’s Work Session meeting. Nor was anything said at the subsequent regular Town Board meeting. Mr Feiner decided to try to sneak this through for an obscure night (Thursday 7/28) when those who don’t follow the Town Board’s shuffle won’t even be aware of what these integrity-lacking Board members did – not until you receive your tax bill with the sizable increase caused by the acceptance of this proposal. It wasn’t until Mr Feiner sent the cleverly-crafted “Good News!” email out was his scheme unhatched to the public.
In this case, GameOn 365 has offered to sell 4 acres of the Golf Driving Range on Dobbs Ferry Road for $2 million so the Town can build a new Police Department/Emergency Medical Services Headquarters property adjacent to the Golf Driving Range on Dobbs Ferry Road. Their original goal when the Frank’s Nursery property sale fell through to Game On 365 because scrutiny, lawsuits and the overall “shade” cast on it by so many, it was impossible for Mr Feiner to move forward with the GameOn 365 scheme.
GameOn 365 is also offering to gift a piece of their property to the Town in return for a private access road for access to the new facility enabling the Town to absorb the cost for build this new Police Station. This is the newest in a long list of Feiner’s Follies. At the same time, the Town would be assuming responsibility and costs to build the road, allowing GameOn 365 to return to the Town (the goal all along) and apply for permits for more construction to benefit their owners and majority stakeholders. Mr Feiner is well-known for having an end-game years down the line with a habit of waiting out his opponents. We believe that’s what is happening here.
The rushed proposal in question is to have a referendum to float a Bond to build this new Police Station on the GameOn 365 property. Mr Feiner also sent out another well-crafted document trying to validate the rationale for going along with this debacle. He points out that the age and the size of the current facility is woefully undersized, doesn’t meet Federal standards, does not have proper facilities for male and female staff and there’s a lack of parking. He purports that the building was constructed in 1956 and renovated in 1993 and 2001. Who was Supervisor during the renovations? Why didn’t the Supervisor at the time look forward to create a better building then? Incompetence then and apparently still.
He questions throwing more money into what he considers a bad building. Really? You may recall several years ago when Greenburgh School Superintendent Chase and several School Board members were trying to float a Consolidation Bond, claiming it would only be $114 million dollars. After scrutinizing those figures, what was planned, and NYS Department of Education information, the totals didn’t lie, unlike the Superintendent. The amount was well over $200 million dollars! At the same time, Mr Feiner was trying to get support for a $49 million bond to replace both the Police Headquarters and the Town Court. What changed that the cost would go from $49 million to now $55-60 million for only the police department’s new building. Why the difference; what about the Town Court, also housed at the current location? And why the disparity in figures from a few years ago until now?
Mr Feiner also bemoans the fact that the building is non-compliant, wasteful, operating costs are exorbitant, poorly insulated and vehicles are exposed to the elements. Funny, but most of our cars and automobiles are exposed to the elements but unlike the police department, we cannot change out our vehicles every three years like they do. He has concerns over security and safety. Huh? Can he be serious that the police are afraid of crime in Greenburgh, and if so, what about us, the public?
There may be legitimacy in some of the concerns raised, but after 30 years at the helm, Mr Feiner has been more than derelict with repairs, infrastructure and/or maintaining the well-being of many of our buildings. It’s difficult to go along with this proposal for several reasons: first, the price is fictitious and made up by Mr Feiner; second, there are no plans drawn up that would allow a conscious, good faith review and cost estimate; third, many have questioned using/purchasing/leasing the building at 100 Hillside Avenue (the old Dannon bldg) but have only been ignored; fourth, holding the special meeting on a Thursday night, with little notification and limited participation (through Zoom) or in-person smacks of the ultimate disregard for the public (taxpayers) as nothing more than following the letter of the law to allow Mr Feiner vis a vis the Board to fix a pre-determined outcome.
This behavior, so often seen by a one party-rule Town needs to be slowed down in the least and stopped at the best so the public can truly ask questions and get answers, not platitudes. Mr Feiner and his Town Board have stated that this bond will cost Unincorporated Town members roughly a $150 increase in their taxes and Village residents only $86 based on a $750,000 assessment. To the Village residents, we implore you to vote No for this. For Unincorporated residents we ask you to be diligent, and write to the Town Board and Mr Feiner opposing this sham! Just say, "NO!" Tell them we want facts and figures before committing to another of Feiner’s Follies.It’s the only way to get A Better Greenburgh.
* Tim Lewis, was the Town Attorney at the time and was given a judgeship. It’s like they say in business, those who can’t do get promoted.
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