Fire District Elections This Tuesday, Dec 12th

Our previous article about the fire district elections focused on a debate held in Hartsdale between Bob Iamonico and Mona Fraitag. It was readily apparent to the audience of about 50 of so people that Mr Iamonico had a better firematic command of the evening than his opponent, Ms Fraitag. After listening to both candidates, Ms Fraitag seemed lost with many of the questions. Clearly, her lack of knowledge about the responsibilities of a Fire Commissioner, even though she claims to attend every Fire Commissioner meeting, was glaring and why we found Mr Iamonico the more favorable candidate.

This Tuesday night, with somewhat varying times, will be the elections for the position of Fire Commissioner for the three fire districts in the Town. In Hartsdale, the election will be held at the Hartsdale Fire Station #1 between 3pm and 9pm; Fairview’s will be between 4pm and 9pm at both fire stations; Greenville’s will also be between 4pm and 9pm. In Fairview and Greenville, there is only one candidate seeking office. The Fairview candidate seeking re-election is Vickki Simmons. The candidate seeking election in Greenville is Warren Hershkowitz.

Interestingly, Mr Feiner went after Ms Simmons after attacking the former Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice. Chief LoGiudice apologized to Mr Feiner for comments made some twenty years earlier per Mr Feiner’s request, then he refused to accept the apology and continued his assault against him in the media and with email blasts. By the way, Mr Feiner has yet to apologize to the Fortress Bible Church or the taxpayers after being found guilty of discrimination, destroying evidence and costing the Unincorporated taxpayers $6.5 million dollars in fines.

Then he and his cohorts turned on Ms Simmons. Ms Simmons is known to do the right thing and perform her duties beyond reproach with fire district issues. Mr Feiner, along with his lead surrogate Milt Hoffman (now deceased), accused Ms Simmons of doing a number of illegal things in order to promote her son to Captain in the Fairview FD. Not only was the vote to promote him to Captain unanimous, Ms Simmons abstained from voting for obvious reasons. When the next election took place, Mr Feiner backed his hand-picked candidate, Ms Claire Pizzuti who now sits on the Board. We believe this was nothing but another one of Mr Feiner’s diversion tactics to take public attention away from his failings at the time.

Ms Pizzuti was elected. In the next subsequent election, now retired Fairview firefighter John Malone was elected to the newly open seat. We are unsure if he was also backed by Mr Feiner. But the goal by Mr Feiner is to get three (a majority vote) seats on the three Boards of Commissioners to push for a referendum vote to consolidate the fire districts. Once that were to happen, his surrogates would cede control to the Town, similar to the control over what happens with the police department and in particular their budget!

We’ve heard a rumor that Feiner-friendly resident Don Cannon picked up a petition in order to run for Fire Commissioner in Fairview but never handed it in. Why not? Did he change his mind or is there an ulterior motive? What concerns us is that Feiner and Cannon might attempt a stealth write-in campaign for the commissioner position that Ms Simmons is seeking. We believe Mr Feiner’s long-range goal is to gain control of at least three Fire Commissioners in Fairview and Hartsdale so as to push them to vote for consolidation of the districts as it must be voted upon by the commissioners. We also believe that Mr Feiner will not replace paid firefighters when they retire so as to bring down overall manning levels,  as he did with the Greenburgh PD. Could Mr Feiner be scheming to forcibly drive down the Fire Tax by $1,000, giving him a $1,000 budgetary increase to play with in Town Tax?

In the end, after speaking with all the commissioners in the three departments, studying their budgets and listening to the consolidation, dispatching and personnel arguments from both sides, we believe the fire districts are operating well and with little or no waste in their budgets. We invite residents to go to the meetings and see and hear for themselves. Voting for representation on the fire commissioner boards is a five-year term. Use your best judgement as to whom you choose. It will make for A Better Greenburgh.

David Vs Goliath: A Victory For Open Government

A major ruling on Wednesday from the Supreme Court of the State of New York found in favor of a challenge by Ms Dorrine Livson, against the Town. The Town had been ordered by a lower court to supply Ms Livson with a copy of the now infamous GBList used by Mr Feiner to only send information he wishes to present to residents. Ms Livson, President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association (herein WWCA), had submitted a Freedom of Information Law (herein FOIL), request for a copy of the email list used by Mr Feiner to promote or denigrate proposals, topics of his choice or projects within the Town he either favors or not. He also used it for personal attacks, such as those he made against now retired Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice and others. 

Here’s a little history:

WWCA President Dorrine Livson had requested the email list in 2014 so she could counter some of the misinformation being put forth by Mr Feiner regarding the 8-story (83ft) inflatable sports bubble that private investors, known as GameOn 365, had agreed to build on the former Frank’s Nursery location on Dobbs Ferry Road during secret conversations with Mr Feiner. This was the proverbial “back room deal”. Once Ms Livson got wind of these conversations with Mr Feiner and Mr Hewitt, she FOILed emails from Mr Feiner and received one email in particular from GameOn 365 owner, Martin Hewitt. Mr Hewitt asked Mr Feiner to cease all email communications with him and only do telephone calls because phone calls could not be FOILed and emails could! But the damage was already done. After discontinued use of 6 months, the property was no longer grandfathered as commercially zoned and reverted back to residential zoning. Then Mr Feiner promised $5 million dollars in tax revenue which turned out to be another exaggeration. But since he wanted the GameOn 365 project to go through no matter what, he pushed to have the project on a referendum at the upcoming election, asking all residents of Greenburgh to vote on this one project in this one neighborhood. He sent out numerous emails using this same email list to promote its passage. This was exactly what Ms Livson was upset about and why she sought the email list – to counteract these types of actions by Mr Feiner. 

With the elections underway with the “new” voting machines – seemingly crayons and poster board, many people were not voting for the referendum as they didn’t know it was on the back of the voting ballot. He sent out an “emergency” email using the same email list telling residents to flip over their ballots and vote for the referendum. He was out of control. But, he garnered 22,000 votes in favor of the bubble. 

Back to the present:

The Town denied the request on the basis that the Webmaster stated that there was neither a print or extract function with the software that can reasonably create a list of email addresses. Undaunted, Ms Livson contacted Cit-e-Net on or about March 11, 2014, and was informed that Cit-e-Net could provide the Town with a digital copy of the gblist, upon request by the Town! Ms Livson subsequently appealed the denial which ironically gets reviewed by, ahem, the Town Board – the same people already denying her request. Regardless of how absurd this might be, they denied her appeal. Undeterred, Ms Livson filed what’s called an Article 78 proceeding against the Town, the Town Clerk and the Town Board with the assistance of Edgemont Resident and Attorney Robert Bernstein.

The Supreme Court reviewed the Article 78 filing and found in favor of Ms Livson. The Town refused to turn over the email list even after ordered to do so by the Court and appealed. Yet, although the court found in favor of Ms Livson, the Town stated afterwards they were now concerned with the confidentiality of the people on the list. Our understanding is that this argument was not made during the Town’s original court presentations and was without merit as an argument now! 

Mr Feiner’s abuse of the GBList is well known by those who follow Mr Feiner’s shenanigans and not what he writes in his press releases. All of this could have been avoided had Mr Feiner and the Town Board complied with the original FOIL request by Ms Livson. Once again, the court has found in favor for Ms Livson and has ordered the Town to produce the email list to her – again. They have also been ordered to pay court costs as well. Congratulations to Ms Livson and Mr Bernstein on a job well done! While ABG is certain other civic organizations will be filing for copies of this, it remains to be seen how the Town finally responds. It’s another dark day in Greenburgh that did not have to come to pass had the Town done the right thing. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Award Made in Fairview Discrimination Lawsuit

Several years ago, David Hecht, 46, a Fairview Volunteer Firefighter, took the Westchester County fire test to try to become a paid firefighter, hopefully with the Fairview Fire Department. Hecht, an Elmsford resident, claimed he lived in the Town of Greenburgh proper and was not an Elmsford resident. Compounding his residency issue, which can only be verified by the District upon an offer from the Fire District, he also claimed he had been discriminated against due to his age. He subsequently filed a Federal age discrimination lawsuit against the Fire District. 

His lawsuit asserted that he had been discriminated against by then Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice, who has since retired due to health reasons contracted working at Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. LoGiudice may have had input in the process as Chief but was not the decision maker as to which candidate would be offered a firefighter position. The Board of Fire Commissioners determine who to hire or not hire.

ABG was told earlier that during the interview process, Hecht impressed many on the Board as not being a team player. While this may or may not be a reason to disqualify a person for the position, firefighting finds the need for firefighters to be forced to rely on their colleagues in life-threatening situations and is a consideration of note. And, given there were other applicants to choose from, the decision was made to offer the position to another firefighter. 

It was also disclosed that to hire a younger firefighter over Hecht would offer the Fire District long term benefits of a younger person with fewer physical issues during the main portion of their career. No doubt, firefighting is better suited for a younger person. Also, Hecht’s lawsuit came just before he would be considered too old to be hired. Some say this was his last grandstanding play to get hired.

As to the discrimination lawsuit and settlement of $250,000 to Hecht, he claims he will continue to volunteer with the department. At this point, no one from the Fairview Fire District was available to comment on their decision to settle. While Hecht believes this to be a fair settlement, his goal of becoming a paid firefighter seems to have gone up in smoke. 

Greenburgh’s Double Standards: Do As I Say!

A good man’s public service career is being made into a media circus event to deflect attention away from another not-so-good man’s flawed career. Mr Feiner, the not-so-good man, is the master of deflection and knows how to “work” the system for his own advantage and he’s doing it again. If he could have, he would have simply “Sonya’d” Fairview Fire Chief LoGuidice, a forty year member between his volunteer and career service to the Town. But he cannot as the Supervisor has no control, input or bearing on the Fire Districts. What Mr Feiner has done is deflect attention from his $6.5M Fortress Bible guilty verdict towards some else. He’s effectively managed to have people forget that he alone cost the Town $1.2M per year in non-tax generated income through WestHelp by pointing the finger of anti-semitism at the Fairview Fire Chief.

The Fire Chief’s for the three Greenburgh Fire Departments don’t work “for” the Town or answer to the Supervisor. Rather, they are employed by their individual fire districts. It’s a shame that Mr Feiner openly lied to the public when he claimed all he wanted was an apology for what Mr LoGuidice had said years ago. The reality is it was never about an apology, it was about taking attention away from his increasing costs to the Unincorporated taxpayers of Greenburgh. The Chief formally apologized to Mr Feiner with a letter and in person and made a donation in Mr Feiner’s name as Mr Feiner had requested to a chosen charity. Subsequently, Mr Feiner has now stated it isn’t enough. It should have been the end of it. But more deflection was needed so this “issue” will linger as long as Mr Feiner can get traction with it. Whats next after the Chief visits a holocaust museum, donate a fire truck to the Town?

Part of the double standard that is so readily witnessed with Mr Feiner, his Board and the Feiner Administration can be summed up with the old saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Mr Feiner was found guilty of violating the federal and state constitutional rights of the Fortress Bible Church for deliberately refusing to approve an application for the church to build a sanctuary and school on church-owned land. Not only was he found guilty on seven counts in this discrimination case, he intentionally destroyed evidence and was found guilty to have lied under oath! Why didn’t Mr Feiner step down as Supervisor? Why haven’t Mr Feiner and Ms Juettner, who was part of the guilty verdict, also get disbarred? After all, they are officers of the court. And, what always comes to mind is being sworn in with, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” Double standards abound in Greenburgh. Why haven’t they apologized to the Fortress Bible Church and the Greenburgh taxpayers? More importantly, why do you, the electorate, continue to vote these liars back into office?

Another question that comes to mind is with regards to the former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. Mr Feiner claims he never had any secret meetings with the GameOn 365 organizations and yet those meetings were confirmed when Mr Hewitt insisted the emails between them cease so the information would not be on record and FOIL-able by the public! When the Town acquired that property through foreclosure, they let the property lie as it were without attempting to remediate the contamination on it. By the way, it was never advertised for sale from the date of acquisition and beyond. Mr Feiner then tried to sneak an illegal lease for the property until the G10 caught him in his deceitful behavior and initiated a lawsuit to stop it. He then claimed he would sell it to  the highest bidder but reversed course when GameOn 365 was the low bid. At no point could this sale happen because the Town never had clear title for the property. Mr Feiner intentionally withheld that information from the public – as did the rest of the Town Board members. Double standards? Sure. Lies? Absolutely!

Everyone began to ask the inevitable question, what’s in it for him? Why would he be doing this? He has gone out of his way, above and beyond to make sure that GameOn 365 would be the only bidder for the property. GameOn 365’s attorney’s crafted a Recreational Overlay Zone change that was submitted to be pinned onto the first high-speed Town Board railroad car screaming through the proverbial station. Turning a residentially zoned piece of property into commercial to appease one developer is the quintessential definition of spot zoning. Why would this Board continue this folly? Because Mr Feiner told them to! To be fair, two Board members may be holding out on this but there is really two issues: 1) the Recreational Overlay Zone and 2) the 83ft sports bubble megaplex smack dab in the middle of this residential area. Councilman Jones constantly said he had not heard any objections to these proposals. As such, two civic association turned out in masse to challenge Mr Jones’ misconception. Then he claimed it was what was told to him by others.

During the last Democratic Primary Election to choose the Democratic candidate for the uncontested Town Supervisor’s position, Mr Feiner repeatedly sent out campaign literature full of lies about his opponent, Robert Bernstein. After Mr Feiner won the primary, he was found guilty by the Fair Campaign Committee of these egregious mailings and conveniently blamed others for the “mistake”. Regardless of what Mr Feiner said about the mailings, they found for Mr Bernstein against Mr Feiner, confirming more lies from Mr Feiner. It’s difficult to swallow Mr Feiner’s blame of his printer and mailing service for the content of his mailings as the printer only prints what is supplied to them and the mailing company only mails what they are given. At the end of every political ad is the claim, “I’m Paul Feiner and I approved this message.” Perhaps this time it should have been, “I’m Paul Feiner and I approved this lie.” He never apologized to Mr Bernstein for his lies. Simply, Mr Feiner is a hypocrite. Maybe he should donate a Fire Truck or a new one armed bandit sanitation truck to the Town?

We can go on and on with more examples but the guilty verdict against Mr Feiner and the Board for practicing discrimination speaks volumes. Its sad that discrimination is openly ignored by some, specifically the “untouchable elite” while others are crucified by mob rule. Many have said the three fire districts should consolidate. Perhaps so, perhaps not. We’ll never know until a truly impartial committee is appointed to review and assess the needs of the current districts. Unfortunately, this was done for political gain by Mr Feiner, who appointed a preordained, pro-consolidation committee, to render a foregone conclusion for his own deflection benefit when needed. He knew he would need it at some point and now that point has arrived. They delivered as requested with objections from a small few. Beating your chest at a press conference for publicity with findings that are skewed helps no one. Mr Feiner is not helping the Town anymore and is costing us now more than ever!

If Mr Feiner really is concerned about discrimination, another saying comes to mind, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” Mr Feiner should apologize to Chief LoGuidice for his bad behavior and character assassination of the Chief. A forty year public service career should not be destroyed because one man needs to deflect attention away from himself. After all, if we are to believe in our right to free speech, no matter how offensive it may seem to others, then we should have the right  to say what we say. Please realize we are not condoning what took place. Just because this may have been said in what was believed to be a “safe” environment, doesn’t make it right. But it also doesn’t warrant a man losing his accomplished career after making amends. If it does, we’ll hold the door as Mr Feiner exits first. Only then will we begin to see A Better Greenburgh.

An Open Letter

I am getting physically sick listening to people defame my husband. And for what, having a potty mouth? Venting? Saying something he shouldn’t have said around the dinner table at the firehouse years ago before he was chief? People say stupid stuff. People regret stupid stuff. Life goes on.

Let me tell you about my husband. He has been in the Fairview Fire Dept. since 1973. He was a volunteer firefighter. He was a volunteer for nine years before getting on the paid department. As a volunteer, for nine years he stood fire watch at the Woodlands Community Temple so the worshippers were safe. He didn’t have to be there, he volunteered.

For well over thirty years, Tony ran the Fairview Explorer Post. Guess what? Again, not paid. He even had trouble with the Union because they did not want him doing this for no pay. But the kids in the community needed this program so he ignored the Union and kept on running the Explorer Post. At the same time he was Scout Master for Boy Scout Troop 67 and a Den Leader for Pack 67.

For more years than I can remember, Tony ran Christmas parties at the School for the Deaf and Union Child Day Care – now the Lois Bronz Day Care. Again, guess what? Yup, unpaid unless it happened to fall on a day he was already scheduled to work.

Tony also ran the Fire Prevention Program at the Firehouse along with his Explorers for many years. That included the puppet show, running the Sparky Car, setting up and running different educational games. The program was also run in the schools in Fairview.

Tony has spent over forty years saving lives and property. Firefighters see unimaginable things. Things most people only see in horror films or nightmares. They see bodies burned beyond recognition, somehow seems even worse when it’s the body of a tiny baby or toddler. They see bodies badly damaged or decapitated. They see people trapped in cars, badly injured and only have minutes to try and rescue them. Some die before they are reached despite heroic attempts beyond imagination.

I am ashamed to live in a town where the Town Supervisor who sits relatively safely behind a desk, has the nerve to call a hero an anti-semite because this humble hero called him a bad name when the Town Supervisor threatened to change a successfully running fire dept where this man spent forty years of his life protecting and serving. Whatever was said was said in the privacy of the firehouse kitchen. Had these men just come from a fire? A heart attack victim, stroke victim, horrific accident only to hear again that Mr. Feiner wanted to take their jobs away from them and conceivably, services away from their community? Who knows? It was said in the privacy of the kitchen. Only those there truly know what the circumstances were at that moment. It was not a public comment, it was said in a moment of anger. And then forgotten because life goes on and possibly the next call came in and they were on the run again. Maybe they got to eat, maybe they didn’t. That is their life. They eat together, they live together, they are a family.

Let’s talk a little bit about what Tony has done specifically for Darryl. Darryl’s son was murdered. Tony spent countless hours with Darryl and his family making sure they had everything they needed. Darryl wanted to put up holiday decorations at the firehouse in honor of his son – his wish was granted. Darryl wanted to store his cars at the firehouse, again, done. Darryl didn’t need to come back to work until he was ready after the death of his son. His brother firefighters picked up the slack for him, including Tony. When Darryl pulled the knife on the guy in the firehouse parking lot, his brother firefighters talked him out of hurting the guy and then helped make the problem go away because that’s what brothers do.

Unfortunately, Tony also worked down at 9/11 on the piles. Firefighting is a killer of a job. So Mr. Feiner, as you sit comfortably behind your desk pointing fingers and defaming characters, just be thankful that if you had a heart attack and Tony was there, he would save your life despite the fact that he is losing his own to a 9/11 cancer.

Words Will Never Hurt Me

Let’s be honest, everybody has said something they regret, whether they were vocally yelling it or muttering it under their breath and were simply overheard. It reminds us of the episodes we all have either seen or participated in where a teacher would embarrassingly ask a classmate who got caught speaking or passing notes if we wanted to share the comment with everyone in the class? Usually the answer was a timid, “No.”

Could our society be, in general, a little too intent on bullying? Every comment made is not necessarily bullying and everything that’s said is not going to scar everyone on the receiving end of these comments. What ever happened to, “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me?” Or, the old teenage retort, “ If I wanted crap I’d squeeze your head.” The list of comebacks goes on. In fact, comedians use this same skill set to deal with hecklers.

Why has Mr Feiner recently taken such a keen interest in the Fairview Fire Department? Because he desperately needs to deflect attention away from him – this is purely a self-serving interest. He needs to deflect attention away from the Fortress Bible Church’s guilty verdict decision against Mr Feiner and his Board for $6.5M. You’ll recall he promised during his campaign the fines would be paid for in full by the insurance company? Remarkably, once Mr Feiner was found guilty in federal court for discrimination, his actions negated the policy payout. He has left the Unincorporated Taxpayer on the hook for $5.5M, only receiving $1M from insurance. Then there’s the deflection from the $1.2M in lost revenue to the Town because Mr Feiner decided to terminate the WestHelp lease with the County. The Town Board condoned this activity and again, the UnIncorporated Taxpayers are on the hook for this. We’re not going to start slinging anti-semitic comments here, but he is certainly not a mensch.

Mr Feiner has initiated a lawsuit, probably a first for him because he’s usually on the receiving end of lawsuits. He claims that Fairview Fire Department Chief Anthony LoGiudice made an anti-semitic remark about him. Perhaps he did, perhaps not. But does it warrant anything more than an apology? More deflection? Is it like the Paula Deen incident that happened years ago and might just have been blown out of proportion? 

For that matter, what of the statement yelled by Councilman Jones who shouted at Town Resident Hal Samis at a Town Board meeting to, “Sit down! Sit the f*%# down!” Whether Mr Samis was right or wrong with his actions, it did not warrant the profanity during a Town Board meeting, nor interrupting the speaker at the podium. At the next meeting, Mr Samis publicly apologized and approached the dais with his outstretched hand asking if Mr Jones would accept his apology and shake on it. He was yelled at again to back away from the dais and Mr Jones has never apologized for his actions and comments. There certainly seems to be a double standard in Greenburgh.

Whether Fairview Fire Department Chief Anthony LoGiudice made an anti-semitic remark about Mr Feiner or not, it appears that this could be resolved with an apology. But Feiner seems intent on seeking more woe-is-me publicity (aka deflection) and focusing on ruining the career of a tremendous Town-wide asset to maintain the focus elsewhere and not on his bad behavior. If he were truly concerned with Fairview Fire District costs, for which he does not pay anything, he would not be bothering with a lawsuit. You may recall that a Federal Judge stated during his trial and found Mr Feiner guilty of lying under oath, not being a credible witness and destroying evidence.

This behavior by Mr Feiner is not new nor is it surprising. We know he will do anything to take the focus off of himself and his illegal or ill-conceived ideas, such as an 83 ft sports bubble in the middle of a residential neighborhood. While he pretends to be concerned with what one person is saying about him, he should be more concerned with what everyone else is saying. It’s time for Mr Feiner to step down and show that actions speak louder than words. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Statement by the Fairview Board of Fire Commissioners

Fairview Fire District
19 Rosernont Boulevard
White Plains, NY 10602-1680
(914) 949-2828
Website: www.fairviewfire.org
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/FairviewFire


Thursday, 27 March 2014

Statement by the Board of Fire Commissioners

A recent news report has noted a wholly inappropriate and embarrassing utterance by Chief Anthony LoGiudice which is completely unrelated to a meritless lawsuit presently being defended by the Fairview Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners and Chief LoGindice. The words do not reflect Chief LoGiudice's true feelings. The words were spoken in an angry moment when Supervisor Feiner and the Chief were at odds over political issues related to Supervisor Feiner's efforts to consolidate local fire districts with the Fairview Fire District. For reasons publicly outlined by Chief LoGiudice and earlier by the late Chief Mauro, Chief LoGiudice has very strong feelings of disagreement with Supervisor Feiner. Rather than eloquently address these disagreements, Chief LoGiudice inappropriately used words which do not - and never did -reflect his true beliefs of compassion and respect for people of all religions.

As to the lawsuit, we believe it is fair to note that this board and the Fairview Fire District have a long history and tradition of diversity in our hiring and other employment practices. Age discrimination was not in any way the cause of our decision to hire persons other than David Hecht. The Fairview Board has always hired irrespective of age and in fact, firefighters employed by the fire district over the last seven years have ranged in age from 19 to 44 at the time of hire. We were and are fortunate to have had several better candidates. Mr. Hecht may wage his lawsuit as he and his lawyer see fit; we, however, will not succumb to reportage since it is in court that these claims must be adjudicated. We are confident that a fair adjudication will prove Mr. Hecht's claims to be without basis in law or in fact. The Board will not publicize the reasoning behind its decision to hire other candidates, as there is an obligation to protect the privacy of all concerned as well as the integrity ofthe case.

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