Unnecessary Law Averted... For Now

Appeasement is a difficult game to play, although Mr Feiner always seems eager to jump into that fray. His apparent knee-jerk reaction typically belies levelheaded thought and evaluation. And once again he has not failed to disappoint. Recently, a number of ecologically minded extremists approached him about all the noise caused by leaf blowers specifically being used by landscapers and other horticultural professionals. They even went so far as to complain that residential usage was a problem!

In the course of a normal fair weather week, we can hear leaf blowers being used, sometimes right next door and other times a block or so away. While the sound inconvenience is not too disturbing, we prefer it over the music and partying that takes place until 3am and that ever-present boom-boom-boom bass. But it must all somehow relate to perspective. We’ve also complained to Mr Feiner about speeding on our street as have others only to be ignored. And yet, here’s a problem that the self-proclaimed “problem solver” can actually do something about by picking up the phone and calling Police Chief McNerney and asking him to commit a few cops to traffic control to address speeding. Done. But, as a lame-duck who just won another primary, he’s content to write off the residents who complain about speeding on Town roadways for yet another unproductive term in office.

While we agreed with the apathetic few who voted in the Democrat primary, Tasha Young was not the right choice. Then again, many said they had to hold their nose to even consider voting for Mr Feiner, ultimately voting for the devil you know or the one you don’t. What a sad state of affairs when the only choices we have, given roughly 90,000 residents, are Paul Feiner and Tasha Young! And, where are the Republicans or Independents or any others and why aren’t they stepping up? According to Westchester County Republican Chair Douglas Colety, the Republican Party has written off the Town of Greenburgh. From their viewpoint, a Republican can’t win and they don’t want to expend Republican resources for an unwinnable race. Tim Hays, the Greenburgh Republican Chairman, who has admitted he likes the Democrat Supervisor, even accepted a position on the Town’s feckless Board of Ethics, ensuring at least one favorable vote should Mr Feiner or his Board members require it. It’s not that Mr Hays can’t know right from wrong. Rather, this Board, prior to Mr Hays involvement, has a history of non-decisions and ethically challenged decisions between right and wrong – always favoring the administration. And should they actually want to render a decision, it’s only a recommendation to the Town Board for them to ultimately impose judgement. Can you say fox in the hen house?

Lest anyone believe that all is well in Greenburgh, you only need to see our last two articles regarding the School District’s School Board fiasco. No, all is not well in Mudville in almost any direction you chose to cast a stone. But with his sense of pandering aside, Mr Feiner suggested a proposal that would allow leaf blower use for four days during certain hours, with an education component for landscapers and residents. He said it could be a one-year trial program. What this really translates to is that this is another unnecessary law being pushed by a group who have nothing else to complain about and creating a problem in search of a solution.
“I feel if we start with a compromise, it’s not going to be perfect, but we can work off that every year,” Feiner said at the May 25 Work Session. “Right now, I’m suggesting we have a draft that would be subject to a public hearing but I’m trying to figure out what could we do that where we might be able to at least make some progress where it’s better than now.”

So, the real issue is what’s wrong now that we need to improve it? Are all neighbors using leaf blowers at all hours of the day and night that would warrant this? Of course not. Are cars and trucks speeding down our streets? Of course they are. Are any laws being written to address that? Of course not. There are already existing speeding laws but the police choose not to enforce them. Just like there are sound and noise laws that they will not enforce. If a street has a sign that says No Commercial Vehicles Except Local Delivery, does that keep tractor trailers from driving through our neighborhoods? Of course not. Are we writing laws to stop them? You guessed it, the simple answer is no. Why? Because they already exist but are not enforced.

Mr Feiner has openly developed a sanctuary Town for just about anything someone may want to do. It’s okay to dump refuse wherever construction crews, landscapers or residents (even non-residents) want to because they know they will not be caught and prosecuted and the Town will eventually pick it up and dispose of it at our cost. No policing and no confidence. We have single family residential homes being routinely used as multi-family, costing us more in resources at every level. No policing and no enforcement. We have unchecked trucks driving through our residential neighborhoods and all kinds of unchecked motorcycle and automotive speeding in those same neighborhoods. No policing and no enforcement. We have developers purchasing every piece of available and/or buildable land throughout the Town and promise Workforce, Affordable, Senior and Assisted Living housing until it comes time for them to challenge the Zoning code requirements to achieve their goals, discarding our residents’ concerns and feelings only to have Mr Feiner side with the developer and ignore the Comprehensive Plan (more a political statement than a plan). You’ll recall that the roadshows that were held all heard different residents state they wanted more open and green space, less impervious space, bike and walking paths and smaller buildings. In effect, they wanted to maintain and preserve the suburban feel for our Town.

Mr Feiner and his failed policies may be enjoyed by some progressives who wish to live in an urban environment. Most do not. Most moved to Greenburgh because they wish to have green space, with or without leaf blowers, bike paths, walking paths, green and open space and be able to ride a bicycle without fear of being struck by a car or truck. Our Town needs to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Duplicitous Meeting Obscures Truth - Again

To the uninitiated, when taxpayers receive a neighborhood invite from Mr Feiner, they think it’s something special. Such was the case on Saturday when they were invited to the former Multi-plex for a site visit and another meeting with all of the interested players seeking to build another ShopRite store in Westchester, this time in Greenburgh, known as North Elmsford. It will be directly across the street from Sam’s Club. The same diagrams that had been used back in June were regurgitated for this meeting. In fact, no changes had been made since the initial offering. The only difference this time is all of the players were willing to acknowledge what we had learned even before June, that this would be a new ShopRite supermarket.

One might wonder why ShopRite would want to build at this site? Location, location, location. Don’t be confused, it’s not a great location yet. It will take about two years or less depending on how much green-lighting they need from the Town Board once they take on Lead Agency status. ShopRite knows what we have been reporting for years. The Mt Pleasant portion of property adjacent to Greenburgh’s Northern Elmsford has discussions underway to be developed with numerous apartments, motel, etc., giving them a perfect position to cater to those families. Already existing residents will also benefit. We’re sure Mr Feiner had his hand in this offer as he traditionally is planning for projects several years into the future.

But here’s what doesn’t gel. Residents who participated with this site visit were told numerous things. In part, they heard Feiner-speak and the other part, code for done-deal. So the proposed ShopRite will be 75,711 square feet. Also proposed will be a yet-to-be-announced restaurant or retail business that will be 13,765 square feet in size. The proposal also includes an additional 3,000 square foot restaurant that should be close to the entrance/exit off of 9A. The 20,000 square foot multi-plex theater as well as the stores and bank will be demolished. When looking at the dimensional layout of the project, it’s been crafted to solely benefit the developer and ultimately, ShopRite, by moving the building closer to the Westchester Hills Condominiums and the Orchard Lane residents in the Beaver Hill community.

But this walk through was not about hearing the community residents’ concerns. Rather, it was the developer and Mr Feiner, along with his Town Board, and Commissioner Garrett Duquesne letting the residents know what they can expect with this project. There was nothing different this day from the previous meeting held in the Westchester Hills Condominium’s Rec Center room in June. Everyone here continued to say they had no objection to ShopRite coming into the space. What they all seemed united about was that they did not want an entrance/exit onto Old Country Road. They said an already dangerous area would be made worse by even more tractor-trailer and truck traffic as trucks currently use Old Country Road as a cut through to get to the businesses in the Executive Boulevard complex, which is zoned for light commercial businesses. Old Country Road, which currently prohibits commercial traffic, is the only access/exit road for the Westchester Hills Condominium complex.

The developer’s plans call for major working of the property’s grade from what it is now to a more leveled one. The excuse given was that the zoning requires it and they also wanted to control runaway shopping carts. That was almost laughable. Mr Feiner, his Town Board, and/or his hand-picked Planning and Zoning Boards give out zoning variances like candy at Halloween. Some recent projects where this was done was on Old Colony Road for steep slope; Brightview Assisted Living for setbacks; Deli Delicious for setbacks; Westhab for setbacks, building size; Shelbourne Assisted Living, with a 3,000% variance and setbacks; and on a Central Avenue office building at Ardsley Road and Central Park Avenue for setbacks, undersized building parking and structure heights.

In fact, every developer that pre-meets with Mr Feiner privately before they submit plans at a Town Board work session already know what few obstacles they may face. Regardless, this was a fake argument to make for this crowd because they don’t follow these Boards, nor understand that this deal is already underway. How do we know? Because everyone from the applicant’s side, Mr Feiner and Walter Simon, the Chair of the Planning Board said that once the Planning Board has the project on their agenda, residents can come and speak about it. This is interesting because the Planning Board doesn’t allow comments to be made.

So, looking at the unrevised site plans that everyone struggled to see because the presenters stood by the front of the building’s glass doors and windows with the bright sun blinding the crowd of about 50 or so people, we were shown how the trucks will be coming in and going on a two-way roadway on the perimeter of the property. They will head northward, making a right-hand curved turn toward the rear of the building, pulling past the rear loading docks with their tractor-trailer trucks and then backing into the loading dock proper. Once unloading is completed, the trucks will pull out onto Old Country Road. The unchanged site plans also allow the tractor-trailers to enter from the proposed Old Country Road entrance. An unmentioned aside is that the condominiums are built on what used to be marshland. The piping for the condominium’s storm water, waste, etc., were not built for truck traffic, but for residential vehicles. Let’s not forget that there have been numerous shifts in that entire complex and Old Country Road itself as settling and sinking still occurs.

We see no reason that the developer cannot make adjustments to their plans to be a good neighbor with the three existing residential surrounding this property. Instead, they’ve dug their heels in and continued with the phony slope argument. The Town is famous for allowing steep slope variances and could do so here. The trucks can continue around the building and come down the south side of the drive and exit at the same light that they enter. This isn’t rocket science and in this day and age, computers are doing the reworking once new coordinates are put into the developer’s CAD system. The next step in this scam would have been for Mr Feiner to offer to help create a neighborhood committee so they can meet with a few neighbors to discuss this. He prefers this angle as he likes to try to talk to one or two people at a time to sway their opinion. But since he didn’t offer this, it proves our “done-deal” theory.

This may not be the right project for this property. On a much smaller level, when people are looking to purchase a home, they shop and look at numerous properties before making a decision. Frankly, if there’s something they don’t like, the driveway is too long or too small, or, they don’t like the schools, or the area floods, whatever the reason, you walk away. Will ShopRite walk away? Maybe they desire this property enough to work with the neighbors, maybe not. Another one of Mr Feiner’s ploys is trying to coerce neighborhoods to accept what he wants by saying you don’t know what else might come in here. It could be a methadone clinic or a homeless hotel. It doesn’t have to be if he stuck to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan.

We don’t have to accept this either. You can keep pressure on him, his Town Board and yes, ShopRite. You’re entitled to have a good quality of life and what you want, just as they can want what they want. The difference is that we live here – they are outsiders looking for us to give into their pressure. We’re convinced that this not a good deal as it stands. Let them come back to the Town and its residents with an reworked proposal and see if there can be a compromise. It’s what will make for A Better Greenburgh.