The Futility of Do-Nothing Elected Officials

Following the Memorial Day Parade, which honors our fallen war heroes, we had occasion to run into Assemblyman Democrat Tom Abinanti, who was doing the politician’s dance, Pressing The Flesh. In passing he made a comment about how he contributed to getting the Saw Mill River corridor cleaned out, aiding the homes and businesses that get flooded from storms every year. And, we challenged him that he has done nothing to aid the residents and businesses along the Bronx River corridor. His response was the usual, “I introduced a bill mandating the County be responsible for maintaining the river." It's a page right out of Mr Feiner’s playbook. Appear concerned, promise to "look into it" and then write a letter to another higher-up elected official and he has completed his obligation to do something.

When pushed, Abinanti tried to flip the conversation as to why we weren’t at some non-existent firematic event in Mt Pleasant the previous weekend, we countered this query with a response, "It wasn’t our district." His response was predictably, "Exactly.” He explained that the Bronx River corridor isn’t under his district. Oddly, it is! So why lie about it? Probably because he knew he’d been exposed. Then he claimed he couldn't talk because he was already late, mostly, we believe, for the pictures with local officials (re: media exposure – especially in a desperate election year).

Not surprisingly, Mr Feiner also panders to the media while excelling at pandering to residents. When residents along the Bronx River corridor were über-flooded by storms Irene and Ida, Mr Feiner once again promised action, which turned into a letter to Representatives Stewart-Cousins, Abinanti, A. Williams, Shimsky and probably a few others that wouldn’t be significant other than to reference a number of people he reached out to. The disingenuousness of this action was after he wrote the letter, not only was he done with his responsibility of helping his constituents, but he went to Fulton Park and promised residents there that FEMA (similar to another four-letter word) would purchase their homes from them, eliminating their nightmare. Never happened, plus FEMA explained there were numerous benchmarks the Town must meet before that would happen. Mr Feiner conveniently left that out.

Back to the campaigning, Abinanti claims he submitted the bill to the County, which passed and then he left for the State Assembly. He maintains it was then up to newly elected Shimsky to pick up that mantle and run with it. Maybe. The reality is it was up to Williams as “the Bronx River corridor falls in her jurisdiction” - to use Abinanti's words. The bigger issue that feel-good politicians like Abinanti utilize is pretending to address an issue through introducing legislation but not including funding for it. Yes, Abinanti drafted the plan but never drafted funding for it -- a waste of time!
“The Board of Legislators has done nothing on it since,” Abinanti said. “This is not a state function. My opponent is just trying to deflect from the failures of the Board of Legislators.” Shimsky countered with, “County government will need support at the state and federal levels on a year-over-year basis. Given the degree to which the problem is going to become more pervasive and severe, county government can’t do it alone.” Sounds good, but did they do anything about it? You know the answer.

His supporters claim he has co-sponsored over 500 bills, which passed both houses and he has been the prime sponsor of over 100 bills alone. One such “co-sponsored bill” was for fire department ambulance billing for fire departments that operate ambulance service to their community. What he doesn’t mention was that he only got on board as a co-sponsor after it left committee and it was assured of passage and being signed by the Governor. By the way, this bill has been introduced over 10 years ago and only got traction after the former Governor resigned. So, while Abinanti has been in office for 14 years, he again played it safe and sat on the sidelines. Just like with his impotent County flood responsibility bill.

I in a recent debate and discussions of housing and the high cost of living, Shimsky underscored that much of the county needs significantly subsidized and affordable housing.
“We have to make sure we get more affordable housing units built and think about where housing for a broader array of income levels can be built where it would not be as expensive,” Shimsky said. The obvious answer, never to even be whispered, would be upstate. Abinanti's solution? He said he and fellow state legislators have worked to control the high cost of living by eliminating taxes on gasoline, cutting taxes for the middle class, finding alternative resources for local governments to cut property taxes and allowing Westchester to increase its sales tax. For Abinanti’s 40 or so years as an elected official, he has helped increase all of these same taxes without regard to how expensive he has caused the area to get. “We’ve got to decrease the cost of living for people at this very expensive time,” Abinanti said. An expensive "time" that he is culpably responsible for creating as a 40-year career politician.

On an upcoming Tuesday near you, the Democratic primary will be held. Between early voting and other contrivances that have been added to the existing system, It promises nothing new. We’ll be saddled with the same old faces, clichés, hollow promises and ultimately less action with more finger-pointing and blame. The Democrat stalwarts will come out and either decide more of the same with Abinanti is ok or they’ll decide he should be pastured and give Shimsky a shot. Either way, the people whose homes and businesses flood will be forced to endure more of the same as well as the deck gets shuffled yet again.

Scam Alert

Local business in the Village of Tarrytown and the City of Rye was recently scammed. A person presenting themselves as the Fire Inspector from those Communities appeared and demanded cash to pay a Village inspection fee, which was paid to them. No municpal employee will never ask for or accept cash or other payment in the field. This kind of scam and other similar scams could happen to anyone – a homeowner or a business owner – and could also happen in the instance of someone posing as a representative from a utility like Con Edison or Verizon, a Federal agency such as FEMA or the Small Business Administration (SBA) or some other company or organization.

To avoid being scammed, please keep the following tips in mind:
· Always ask for official identification.
· No Village employee will ever ask for payment, especially of cash, in the field. All documents and payments should be submitted at Village Hall and by check made out to the Village of Elmsford.
· Do not give out personal or confidential information such as your birthday, social security number, bank account number, or other personal or confidential information.
· If anyone attempts to demand cash or other payment from you on behalf of the Village of Elmsford, or another community, please call your Police Department to report criminal activity.
· If you have surveillance cameras, please retain and preserve the information and share it with the Police Department to assist in the investigation.
· Do not allow anyone to coax, coerce or bully you into buying or paying for something you do not want and/or did not ask for.
· For help with dangerous or possible criminal activities, please call your Police Department.

This message was provided by the Village of Elmsford.

Problem Creator Seeks Problem Solver

In a recent front page article in the only daily newspaper left in the region, Mr Feiner was front page, below the fold, patronizing the youngster writing the article entitled, Crisis For Every Downtown Area. His photo is in front of a vacant store front in the Hartsdale Four-Corners (4-C). While disingenuous at best, Mr Feiner feigns lamenting  about this “hub” for small business. In his almost thirty years as Supervisor, he never gave this hub a second thought. Then, with the advent of the Hartsdale Neighbors Association, and a groundswell of support for the Edgemont Incorporation, and even talk of a Hartsdale Incorporation, he knew he had to do something.

Mr Feiner’s playbook for action includes a litany of faux-action points: write a letter to another politician telling them they must act on this on behalf of their constituents, pit neighbors against each other, ignore and say nothing, hoping the issue either resolves itself, goes away, the complainant moves or dies, and/or he appoints a citizen committee or student intern group to address it. The latter usually being his most effective after completing the letter writing grandstanding. After all, who wants to pick on high school kids? 

He’s quoted as saying, “It’s very upsetting and aggravating.” We’re not sure if he meant the vacancies or the action taken by others to remedy the Four Corners’ issues, making him appear to be doing nothing. Specifically, there is a business in that area that did a study bemoaning what's wrong with the area and presented it to Mr Feiner and the Hartsdale Neighbors Association. So to again feign concern, Mr Feiner had his Board vote to spend $400,000 to purchase two uninhabitable houses on West Hartsdale Avenue behind the Dairy Del deli. The excuse proffered was to develop it into a parking lot which would be monitored and maintained by the Hartsdale Parking Authority.

Even with the wasted expenditure of $400,000 and the additional cost involved in the destruction of the two homes, construction of anything within the Four Corners immediate proximity must first be approved by the New York State Department of Transportation. The reason is that Central Park Avenue and Hartsdale Avenue, east and west, are DOT governed roadways. Regardless of the ownership, Mr Feiner is bereft of any plausible or workable ideas for the area as he has been these past 30 years during his unprecedented and mostly inept tenure. You can start to see why term limits are so necessary.

With a recently completed and presented study of the area, a small company who would benefit from several of their suggestions is Inspired Places. While we can debate the merits of it, the study has provided Mr Feiner with talking points that will eventually prove useless. In the article, Greenburgh officials claim to have already been worried about For Lease and For Rent signs before the Covid 19 pandemic. Really? We find it hard to believe as they only seemed to became interested when rumors of a Hartsdale incorporation began to circulate.

What’s also interesting is that Town officials parrot the same canned responses that the internet killed retail. Yet when we talk to business owners, specifically ones in retail, the successful ones are offering a higher level of customer support and interaction with the same goods and services that they've always offered and even increased. Luke Tancredi, the owner of Crank Cycles on North Central Avenue, discussed how he opened his store on March 1st and that bikes “Were flying out the door.” We’re extremely happy for him and our community to have a bike shop that’s thriving. When we went in to purchase a bike with a neighbor, we learned that all of the bikes in his store were only there for repairs. He had run out of new bicycles to sell. Nor did he have any used bikes for sale. We wish him continued success.

When Public Sector officials try to rationalize retail and the private sector and tell the public what’s wrong in the private sector, the words fall on deaf ears. Ultimately, retail space suffers for several reasons that our elected politicians refuse to acknowledge. Instead, in typical Feiner-fashion, he’s proposing to waste more money by increasing personnel and hire an Economic Development Coordinator (EDC), enlisting residents and Generation Z-ers to find ways to “brand” their shops and restaurants. The glaring omission in this “logic” is that this does nothing to fill the vacancies that exist throughout the Town, not only the Four Corners. 

Yes, someone can assist a business owner in applying for funds but those organizations giving those funds will also work with the applicant for their success. Yet we believe the current crop of business owners who are “making it work” are already ahead of that curve. And after they apply, what then for this EDC, their salary and benefits? We might favor this position if the EDC’s remuneration for instance, were tied to successfully filling vacant spaces for 2 years. 2 years? Yes, two, as most businesses fail in the first year.

The are several real issues that are typically ignored by the Public Sector know-it-alls as to what ails businesses and specifically retail. One is antiquated zoning, permits fees (a bonanza Greenburgh’s Building Dept. currently enjoys), registration fees, insurance bonds, etc., and that's before anyone even moves in. Sky-high rents and regulations abound. But why are they sky-high? Taxes. Last year saw Mr Feiner being embarrassed into a one year moratorium on tax increases after Supervisor candidate and challenger Lucas Cioffi promised a two-year moratorium on raising taxes! This year, however taxes have increased. Those increases are passed on to the renter (store owner) through their rent and are ultimately paid for by their customers. Lowing taxes could assist in breaking this cycle.

Another issue negatively and severely impacting this Hartsdale 4-C area is flooding. There is a Flood Committee for the County, chaired by County Legislator Alfreda Williams and the Town’s own Victor Carosi. Amazingly, they’ve never met after the committee was initially formed some four years ago and done nothing for their constituents! This entire time while we did not have any crippling water events would have been the perfect time to act. Politicians such as Mr Feiner love to come out during the storms and promise anything and everything to solve all of these issues “moving forward,” simply leave after the cameras are turned off. The issue in Hartsdale permeates the entire length of the Bronx River corridor and all of the residents along its way repeatedly get flooded. FEMA, a four letter word, only exacerbates the issue by offering extremely expensive and in some cases unaffordable flood insurance for those residents in the corridor with miserly claims payout and ridiculous deductibles. 

These areas never used to flood like they do now and many of these people had never got flooded even during severe storms. It’s only after all of the communities along the corridor began building and creating more and more impervious spaces that people began to get flooded. Why? Because the politicians approved all of the developments (some say over development) and channeled storm water into the Bronx River. The explosive rate of building coupled with a lack of storm water management and infrastructure improvement has proven a recipe for disaster. But what can be done?

First, our representatives must actually act and not spew the useless rhetoric of the past. Second, the different communities must commit resources in a partnership to dredge, clean out and maybe even widen the river to improve water flow. Third, after that they need to provide routine maintenance to keep it clear of debris and flowing freely. Fourth, the County, who has most of the immediate ownership of the property, must assume its responsibility and work to get the river cleaned out as a partner with the river-bound communities. They can no longer sit back, collect their ridiculously high salaries while working families are struggling with sky-high taxes, and do nothing. The time to act is now, before the hurricanes, floods and other assorted storms depend upon us. 

Perhaps Mr Feiner, instead of writing a letter to the County Executive, could actually spearhead an environmental impact crusade to save the Bronx River corridor and help to alleviate those people’s pain?! And perhaps Ms Williams can intercede and get County execution to clear the hurdles of County government’s inaction?! People who get flooded are less concerned with politicians pushing bike lanes in densely trafficked areas and want real help.

After flooding is addressed, there needs to be an honest discussion and action by the Town on zoning that will control how land is use and/or be preserved, along with the integrity of our communities. Village and Town Boards must not capitulate to developers because they seek tax monies. Many of these developers are utilizing grants and low interest loans with little of their own monies invested. This undercuts the community they seek to build in strictly for their bottom line, compromising our neighborhoods. Yes, they should be allowed to build within the constricts of our zoning laws, but not at our neighbood’s expense. Zoning laws are in place for numerous reasons to help communities thrive, not just developers. This abuse has to stop. Finally, Mr Feiner needs to sit down with the DOT and develop a workable plan for improving numerous failures of our combined roadways. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Storm Highlights Frustrations

It seems that every politician is trying to grab more and more headlines during the two most recent storms. Newly elected County Executive George Latimer has had numerous television clips showing him basically yelling into the phone at ConEd executives. Anyone who has gone to and had to deal with the Town Board at a meeting will certainly empathize with his level of frustration. These first 100-year storms and now 500-year storms seem to be happening every year, often several times in one year. But why? There is no easy answer to this unless you are a politician. Of course, it’s climate change – or is it?

In Mr Feiner’s most recent email blast, he says:
“I'm very aggravated. Thought and hoped that everyone would have their power back yesterday as Con Ed promised earlier in the week. Was wrong. Although many residents did contact me--delighted that their power was restored sometime yesterday, others are still out. As of 9 AM there were 338 homes in Greenburgh out of power, down from over 1000 at some points yesterday. Last week there were over 4,000 outages. Con Ed has not been notifying local officials from anywhere in the county what streets they are going to next. We can yell, scream, beg them to help. We can highlight hard luck stories. Sometimes they listen. They also have not always responded to some of our requests. Every municipal official I speak with from other communities has shared similar stories. And some communities are worst off --have more outages.” Now he is starting to know how residents feel whenever we’re trying to get answers from him and his Board!

Mr Feiner has also gone to great lengths to highlight some of those without power or the resources to be able to leave for a stay with relatives, friends or simply a hotel. We truly sympathize with those people without power and with damage to their homes. Oddly, the hotels in our area are all rather expensive, now including a new 3% room tax that Mr Feiner and his Board, along with Assemblyman Abinanti and Senator Stewart-Cousins could not wait to impose on guests. Their claim was that this would not cost residents because they, ahem, don’t rent rooms in Greenburgh. How’s that working out now? Karma.

After the storm always seems to be a political free-for-all to see who can beat up the big bad utilities for not doing something right, not doing anything at all or not doing enough. One way or the other the news media will jump at each one of their attempts to point fingers and replay it incessantly. The utilities are Public Service organizations, regulated by what must seem like billions of regulations put in place by, yes, politicians. This seems to be a sort of Catch-22. One thing the politicians never do is to blame themselves!

Mr Latimer, while new in the County Executive position was a County Legislator, Assemblyman and Senator before assuming this new position. So none of this is new to him, and he has not done much in his previous positions to alleviate any of these difficulties. He remains culpable to a degree and should not get a pass because he’s in a new position. Mr Feiner on the other hand, has been in office even longer and actually exacerbated the problem.

After Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, the Fulton Park Civic Association leaders met with Commissioner Victor Carosi and Richard Fon about trying to get the trees in the area trimmed to prevent further trees from coming down and taking out wires. To their credit, and the efforts of many, a good number of problematic trees were taken down. Because of that effort, no trees have come down onto wires, causing any power outages in that corridor. This type of maintenance needs to happen regularly. Mr Feiner, while always happy to talk about issues, is also very unwilling to take action – unless of course he can get publicity from it. Instead of focusing on the 2% tax cap – which isn’t really followed anyway, Mr Feiner should focus on spending some money on maintenance for the taxpayers well being, instead of $6.5 million fines from guilty verdicts as with the Fortress Bible Discrimination case.

Indirectly, however, Mr Feiner has had trees removed by authorizing all of the overdevelopment throughout the Town. Yes, hundreds and maybe even thousands of trees and pervious space have been removed or will be removed to permit zone-busting, oversized and inappropriate buildings wherever a developer asks for it. The latest will be the former Elmwood Country Club, which succumbed to a falling membership and sold the property to a developer seeking to alter the property’s zoning to create 175 townhouses.

Each time we create more impervious space through these types of construction projects, the remaining permeable spaces wind up getting abnormally inundated with water. As the area saturates more and more, to the point of over-saturation, the soil’s stability is undermined and the trees, usually the older, taller and heavier ones come down. Maintenance of the large trees, as well as a reduction of these over-sized projects and a stricter adherence to our zoning and building codes would surely help.

Several years ago, after Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, Mr Feiner lied to a flood ravaged resident on Old Kensico Road that F.E.M.A. would purchase their home to help them get “out from under”, that resident learned an inconvenient truth: Mr Feiner will say anything without regard to whether it is true or not! Regardless, yesterday Mr Feiner sent out another Feiner email blast that Town employees had finished clearing the trees off of all roadways. Yesterday. Why is that important? Because the utility workers were often unable to access their power equipment until the Town cleared a way for them to get in and operate safely. So, while we feel bad for those residents who have been suffering without power, there is plenty of blame to go around, starting with Mr Feiner’s and his administration.

We will continue to get more severe storms such as this. Mother Nature, while full of surprises, can afford some predictability that will allow us to be better prepared. First, we must dredge the Bronx and Saw Mill Rivers to help storm water flow unencumbered. Second, we must have a tree trimming initiative that operates all of the time, not just when it’s convenient for a TV sound byte. Third, any new construction should mandate underground wiring. Fourth, Mr Feiner needs to operate during storms at the County’s Emergency Command Facility in Hawthorne. That’s where government leaders, utility leaders, police, fire and other heads of organizations operate from during an emergency. Why does this make sense? Because Mr Feiner could simply turn to the head of ConEd and ask direct questions and get direct answers.

There are other things that need improvement such as our sorely neglected infrastructure. How this Town operates is woefully inefficient and it shows up painfully for the abused and beleaguered taxpayers time and time again, especially highlighted during storms. This has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Why Fix It When We Can Talk About It - Some More

Five years ago, post-tropical Storm Sandy struck at high tide, driving catastrophic storm surges into coastal New Jersey and New York unlike anything seen before. Thirty-four New Jersey residents lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, causing over $62 billion in damage. Five years later some areas have recovered. Some have not.

But we don’t live on the coastal area and yet are equally impacted by storms. Newly re-appointed Town Councilman Sheehan discussed Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene and its impact to Greenburgh specifically and the region in general as a 500-year storm. Sadly, his account was skewed for those residents and businesses that have suffered with just about every storm. But how could this 500-year storm happen?

Some say it’s simple. Development and over-development of our suburban communities has allowed and in Mr Feiner’s case encouraged over-sized buildings on every speck of undeveloped land. Where it is apropos, such as the super Stop and Shop on Rt 119 in the Glenview section of the Town near the Marriot and Sheraton hotels, it is conversely not apropos directly across the street with Brightview Assisted Living, and their oversized behemoth sized building smack dab in the middle of residential homes. Similarly, the proposed apartment building on Dromore Road and/or the Shelborne Assisted Living facility on Underhill Avenue, the site of the former Sprainbrook Nursery. There are more examples, but we’re sure you understand the point.

Many community leaders believe super storms are the new norm, and are increasing efforts to make communities more resilient—a critical component of all recovery efforts. NOAA points to two examples:

· New Jersey’s Brigantine Island community used the recovery phase as an opportunity to elevate the road off the island, strengthen barriers along the oceanfront and bayside, and improve zoning and floodplain ordinances.

· New Jersey’s coastal management program developed a Getting to Resilience program to help communities improve hazard preparedness. As a result, many communities instituted new policies that keep people and infrastructure safer, and also resulted in cost reductions for flood insurance premiums.

This information, while germane to New Jersey and possibly other coastal areas, does little to ameliorate the issues for those Greenburgh residents as well as others who, by proximity to the two major rivers used by the entire county for drainage, are routinely ignored unless a news crew is broadcasting from a flood victims home. And, if you read the various governmental agencies websites, specifically about flooding, they mention risk and vulnerability assessments, public outreach and engagement, planning integration, disaster preparedness and recovery and even hazard mitigation implementation. All of these are things a taxpayer can do after they are flooded and the literal and figurative damage has been done. Yet, the one real solution is missing.

The Bronx River and the Saw Mill River are the two rivers that every community within their confines drain into. As more and more development is squeezed onto any undeveloped property, their storm drainage is guided to one of those rivers – maybe not directly, but ultimately. Hence, with more impervious space unable to now absorb previous rain waters, the runoff is pointed to these two rivers. Ultimately, the lower lying regions that never used to flood before are now inundated by water. Many of those same residents have been flooded so many times that they are forced to sell their homes at a fraction of their original worth. So what’s the solution?

Most flood victims know that FEMA is a pathetic and bloated bureaucracy that is incapable of helping those already affected by flooding. Having lived through numerous hurricanes, we’ve watched FEMA shrug their federal shoulders and walk away from helping those in need. As a response, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer sponsored and had passed legislation to increase FEMA flood insurance premiums to those in newly districted flood zones. So basically, the people needing help the most get walloped again after not being helped the first time.

The elections are over. The Democrats claim they came out and voted against President Trump. The Republicans are utilizing the same excuse while ignoring the country’s mandate for change by electing President Trump. Sadly, this is the state of politics in our state, county and municipalities. All of the newly elected candidates that won promised to “fight for you” or offered “a new direction.” Really? Not one of them, whether it’s County Executive-elect George Latimer or any County legislator that has one of the two rivers in their district will do anything about flooding because those constituents are too few and far between to be needed for their election/re-election.

The solution? First, a buy-in from every community. They need to participate in cleaning out the river in their community on a regular basis. Second, both rivers need to be dredged and their width and depth increased. Hopefully, the environmentalists will have more compassion for the taxpaying residents than the ducks and other limited wildlife in the rivers’ immediate path. Third, the storm water infrastructure must be upgraded and more importantly, maintained. Fourth, any new, expanded or additional construction must incorporate significant drainage solutions from that location that will not add significantly to the rise of either river during a storm that cannot be controlled. Fifth, variances, a key tool used by Mr Feiner, his Board and others, cannot be allowed for the benefit of developers. Finally, the storm water path to the rivers and the rivers themselves must be allowed to flow unimpeded. This will reduce flooding, damage, accidents and more. It’s time for some new leadership to step up and not bail on the river corridors. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Believability

Is believability for a politician necessary to govern successfully? We think it should be. That’s why we were a bit dismayed when our local daily paper had an article about “Tackling The Flood.” It went on to discuss the efforts of three communities, Scarsdale, Eastchester and New Rochelle, and how they’ve begun to execute a plan to alleviate flooding along the Hutchinson River in their respective communities. Each signed an agreement, entitled the Hutchinson River Flood Mitigation Project, to try to do something about flooding in their communities. Will they accomplish their goal? We’re not sure, but we believe they will try. Welcome to hurricane season.

The same issue has been brought up at countless meetings for the town of Greenburgh, by different people as well as different organizations. Sadly, with all of the talk about flooding in Greenburgh, nothing has ever been done nor changed to improve the situation during 24-years of the Feiner administration. Taxpayers, both commercial and residential, continue to get flooded. The continued flooding actively forces people to seek higher ground, ultimately with the driest solution being to move out of our town. After all, if Mr. Feiner continues to do nothing but provide lip service what other recourse is there?

Several years ago Mr. Feiner asked to create a task force to address flooding. A task force was formed. Greenburgh Commissioner Victor Carosi and the White Plains Public Works Commissioner were named co-chairs for this committee. County Legislator Alfreda Williams, is also on this commission. There may be several other people on this task force that are also of no consequence and contribute nothing to the flooding problem still being experienced by residents and businesses. Why have they not done anything after having an initial meeting, offering no subsequent plan for relief for these beleaguered taxpayers? And, now it’s hurricane season again with no solutions.

It’s easier to talk about flooding than it is to do something about it, such as coming up with a plan of attack similar to what we see with this Hutchinson River flood mitigation project. The dormant task force has not met in over two years since they were founded. We’re sure if they had they would have said there is no money or there are too many boundaries to try work with to clean the river spaces out, or to dredge them, or to somehow open them up to get a better flow of water. It’s easier to talk about it, to listen to us complain about it, than it is to fix it. After all, these elected officials and subsequent appointed officials know they will be reelected, typically without any opposition, and will reappoint their favorites once again. Losing a couple of hundred collective votes is nothing for Mr Feiner when he receives 7,000 votes running unopposed!

Whenever there is media focus either on a politician visiting the scene of a flood, or the media interviewing the flooded residents, the politicians all say that something must be done and then they point fingers at other politicians either uninvolved, not from the area, or are totally inappropriate for the problem at hand. Previously, Mr. Feiner has passed the buck to County legislators, State legislators or FEMA and the federal government. In fact he told one resident from Old Kensico Road that he would reach out to FEMA on their behalf to see about purchasing their flooded property. He knew that was a lie because the municipality must first perform a number of steps before FEMA will even entertain involvement. It made for great TV sound bytes but little else. Finally, after receiving no help for assistance of any kind from Mr. Feiner, specifically the Town, the County, State, or Federal government, especially FEMA, those same residents sold their house at a loss and moved to another area!

Mr. Feiner went to great lengths to appear on News 12 to bemoan the lack of action by other politicians for his valued constituents. These so-called valued constituents quickly realized that they were mere pawns in Mr. Feiner’s attempt to gain more publicity for himself. While he was successful in beating the drum getting publicity for himself, he threw a small portion of his constituency, literally, down the river along with many of their prized, ruined or irreplaceable possessions. Now that hurricane season is upon us the proverbial barn door has already been closed as the flooding begins once again. With all the development that has taken place in the region there are only two outlets for rainwater to go. The first on the west side of Greenburgh is the Saw Mill River. The second is on the east side of Greenburgh and that is the Bronx River. After the flooding caused by hurricane and tropical storm Irene, the Village of Elmsford mounted a campaign to clean out the Saw Mill River after a resident videotaped the debris blocking the waters flow causing some of the flooding in the area. Mr Feiner jumped on that bandwagon and received all kinds of publicity, but actually did nothing while the flooding continues.

During all the hype that Mr. Feiner and others utilized for their advantage, they ignored the Bronx River corridor and the residents that live near it. They too were severely flooded during Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Sandy. At no point beyond the TV cameras did Mr. Feiner or other politicians offer to do anything to remediate the problems in the Bronx River corridor and the flow of water, especially during even minor storms. Mr. Feiner remains dry and aloof in his gated community in Boulder Ridge. Other politicians also remain dry during storms and bad weather. The role of government is to protect its people – all of its people! That hasn’t happened for those that live along the two corridors that parallel the only two rivers out of the Town and County. Both the Bronx River and the Saw Mill River need attention and residents need relief!

Every community that has the river passing through it needs to take ownership and responsibility for keeping the river clear. Individuals must participate as well. One simple thing individuals can do is simply don’t litter – it clogs our storm drains and ultimately our rivers. By collectively doing this it will help to allow the flow of water to better reach the sound shore waterways and other outlets and not back up into our neighborhoods, homes, and businesses.  By investing in our infrastructure and maintaining all of our wetland areas, we will be helping everyone enjoy a better quality of living in our towns and villages. This needs to happen sooner rather than later so we can have A Better Greenburgh.

This Job Stinks!

Driveway pipe

Looking up Randolph

Fulton Park has had its share of abuse from the Town for the last seven or so years. Mr Feiner, et al, dumped Westhab’s subsidized housing in the neighborhood. Then he appointed new Zoning Board of Appeals members and coerced his newly appointed subjects to approve the Deli Delicious petition to pave his entire property and (illegally?) expand onto the state property to create a drive-through window for a private company.

Now something completely different is happening that will have a better outcome for this previously ignored and now “dumped” upon neighborhood - but it still stinks – literally! Apparently, the Town Public Works Department discovered several of the sewers in the area were at an unusually high level after some recent rains. Not only does this create a foul smell, but it can cause the sewage to back up in multiple locations as well as being a health hazard. Fulton Park knows what that smell and cleanup nightmare is like after having had all kinds of sewage back up into residents’ basements when the neighborhood was flooded during Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. Naturally, FEMA, NYS, Westchester County and the Town talked about helping but in the end, did nothing!

Looking down Randolph

An email was sent out to the Fulton Park residents from Public Works Commissioner Victor Carosi advising of what would be taking place starting today. Here's what it said:

We have a substantial sewer break in the brook behind Randolph Road.  We expect noise and disruption to residents along Randolph Road and Benedict Road during the work.  This will include operating a large pump and having pipes along the street for probably the next five days.  The pumping will be necessary to operate 24-hours a day.  The pump ordered is fitted with noise dampening mufflers, but it still will be noisy. 

I would like to inform the neighborhood association and/or key residents in this area.  Victor G. Carosi, P.E.

Commissioner of Public Works

Town of Greenburgh, NY

(914) 993-1644

We decided to investigate and found crews in the process of laying out 12" piping to bypass a section of pipe that had been found to have cracked and been leaking. Representatives from the Town stated the plan is to pump as much of the sewage and water from the dead end of Benedict Rd through the piping into another sewerage drain located on Randolph Road. Our photos show the piping and driveway plates that are actually flat piping, allowing cars in and out of their driveways. The Towns representatives were forthcoming with information and their plan. After all, this wasn’t a Town Board meeting so there was no need for secrecy, special meetings behind closed doors or Executive sessions.

“Quiet pump”

The schedule of events after the piping is hooked up is to pump the water and sewage tonight and tomorrow and then evaluate the amount left. If the level is low enough, they plan to repair the existing pipe with a liner, hopefully eliminating the need to tear up the road and physically replace the old pipes. If everything checks out okay, the work will continue probably through Monday. If they need to do a bit more, it could go longer. They are confident it should go smoothly. They also said this should not disrupt any residents use of water or sewers (toilets, showers, etc.).

Workers laying the pipe said it was a dirty job but once everything gets started, it should be “routine”. One fellow did comment on the extraordinary amount of mosquito bites he got just laying the equipment out in place. He said they sprayed the area but to no avail. Most residents are already well aware of the Panama Canal-like quality Fulton Park suffers from with mosquitos. Well, as the saying goes, “Its a dirty job but somebody has to do it.” And while this job really does stink, we’re glad the dedicated employees of the Town are there doing the job. 

Power Brokers Destroy Town Assets & Trust

What’s going on with the Town administration is not only reprehensible, but wasteful. The Town Board has looked the other way and perhaps initiated the the censorship and altering of official documents. They have sanitized documents to deflect attention from Mr Feiner and Ms Juettner’s guilt with the Fortress Bible guilty verdict. At the last Town Board meeting, with one goal of voting to pass resolution AT-1 as hastily as possible, Mr Feiner changed the order of the agenda so the altered documents could be adopted as quickly as possible and leave to visit his hospitalized father. AT-1 was the resolution authorizing the Town to pay the fine of $6.5 million as settlement for being found guilty of lying under oath, violating the civil rights of a church and more. If Mr Feiner had left prior to the rushed vote, it would have been a tie vote with Councilmen Morgan and Jones voting in the affirmative and Juettner and Sheehan (who was delayed by traffic) voting nay. Sheehan explained while speaking with us after the meeting that they felt the decision to settle was a hurried one and a less costly amount might have been had with better negotiations.

Back in 2012, computers used by the Xposure program at the Theodore Young Community Center (TYCC) were stolen from the facility. The public was told that security cameras in the facility recorded some of the theft but not enough to make an arrest. The stolen computers were never recovered. The Police Department investigation, led by our new police chief, then Captain McNerney, said they could find little if any real evidence of the theft and let the matter drop after questioning employees there. The entire issue was slowly allowed to slip from public consciousness. The excuse used was insurance that had been purchased by the Xposure Program’s organization for the computers will pay for their replacements. As far as Mr Feiner is concerned, “no harm, no foul”.

During the floods from Super storms Irene and Sandy, flood water damage affected the TYCC. The flooring in the gymnasium buckled and warped, looking like an undulating floor in an amusement park. Almost immediately, the Town claimed there were no funds available in the capital budget and that FEMA funds would pay for a new floor. Ironically, residents throughout the Town would be forced to wait months for a simple determination on their own FEMA claims. It would then take several more months to actually receive a check if qualified to even receive money from FEMA insurance claims. Normally, those who had flood insurance and did receive FEMA payments did not receive replacement value costs, as promised, had a $5k mandatory deductible and did not receive enough to replace their damaged homes or businesses. While residents languished, funds for the TYCC were doggedly pursued by Mr Feiner.

But why is the TYCC is different. Because it’s Mr Feiner’s personal campaign tool in Fairview and he had to take care of them immediately. So while this and other special interest groups of Mr Feiner’s were taken care of, taxpaying residents were ignored – until Mr Feiner learned the media would be in those neighborhoods. Then he made a beeline to be there promising to have FEMA purchase their flooded homes. He knew the Town would be required to institute a host of changes to receive consideration for this and his were lies of false and empty promises. What did he do to help them? After the TV cameras and reporter left, so did he, never to be seen or heard from again in those neighborhoods.

During the cleanup of the flooded gym at the TYCC, Town officials made the decision to store the TYCC bleachers at the Frank’s Nursery site. While its an interesting, albeit stupid idea, there must be other spaces available they could have been taken? But whomever made this decision somehow thought it was a smart move to store them in, to quote GameOn 365’s Martin Hewitt and cohort, Mr Feiner, “A dilapidated building”. It was only smart if the intent was to “lose” the bleachers or have them get additionally damaged so they could justify replacing them, creating another media event entitled, Look What I’ve Done For You Today. After all, they replaced the floor, the lights (unscathed by flooding), added solar panels and more. Who is authorizing these bad decisions?

The G10 and other residents have consistently question the Town Board at meetings as to what happened to the bleachers from the Theodore Young Community Center. They would never receive an answer. It begs the question as to why the bleachers were stored at the former Frank’s Nursery location to begin with. If it was simply because of the size and quantity of the bleachers, why not rent a few CONEX storage containers to put them in and place them in the parking lot at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road? Too much common sense seems to be wasted with this Board. So why Mr Feiner and his Board schemed with taxpayer assets yet again, intentionally forcing their ruination, Mr Feiner’s next press conference/release will be that FEMA money (our money) will be replacing the bleachers damaged by the flooding. Another lie? You decide.

The Town Board has implemented numerous methods of skirting, ignoring or simply “blowing off” constituent taxpayer questions. The most common is to never engage the public in discussion, unless it’s someone sympathetic to one of Mr Feiner’s causes, not a G10 member, or will allow Mr Feiner to discuss a topic such as our triple-A bond rating, mulching leaves, installing solar powered garbage cans or staying within the NYS 2% cap with only a 3.4% tax increase – which may go higher due to the $6.5 million Fortress Bible guilty verdict levied against Mr Feiner, Ms Juettner, et al. Almost all other Town and Village Boards engage the taxpayer in conversation at their meetings, taxpayers they represent.

The Power Brokers at the top level of our Town government are seemingly untouchable, unaccountable, virtually invincible, and they know it. They are routinely hiding information from the public, moving equipment and assets from one location to others ill-suited to store anything in hopes of destroying it. As Mr Feiner and his administration continues to cost us money through “lost” equipment, he will send out press releases, watch for the mailings that advertise the Town has purchased new bleachers for the TYCC. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. This is one of the problems that might be cured with term limits.  Things must change in Greenburgh and fast. Otherwise, we may never see A Better Greenburgh.

Taking Care of Their Own

It was recently reported that the communities throughout Westchester County are being reimbursed by the federal government for cleanup and repair costs from the damage of Superstore Sandy. In case you might not be aware, today is the one year anniversary of Sandy and the devastation it caused. Sandy was less of an issue in Westchester County than Long Island and Rockland County.

Reopening 93 roads in Nyack to restoring their devastated marina, municipalities in the Lower Hudson Valley rightly footed the bill for the recovery effort after Superstorm Sandy blasted this area. The federal government will continue to send money to these localities if they haven’t already received payments. You may recall when Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene hammered our area, numerous homes and businesses were ravaged by flooding, debris, lack of power and more. Our media savvy Supervisor remained home, ensconced in the comfort and safety of his gated Boulder Ridge community sending emails saying Greenburgh was without power, had flooding and roads were closed. Duh! While residents were left to fend for themselves, Mr Feiner waited days until he began visiting the devastated areas throughout the Town.

Once it was deemed safe to travel, Mr Feiner went where the news cameras were. He made sure to take advantage of the free press as he promised flooded residents a FEMA buyout for their homes. When push came to shove and it was detailed what the Town would have to do for buyouts to take place, he quickly clammed up and moved on! He then pointed fingers at other legislators in various levels of government that they needed to do something. He later held a meeting at Town Hall to discuss the power outage outrage because it took so long to restore power. He made sure his pandering went unchallenged and did not invite ConEd or any other utility representatives to that gripe session. When challenged by one resident why he was not at the Emergency Operations Center in Hawthorne where most leaders for all the major players were, he remained silent, probably thinking, “Damn! How did that guy slip in to this meeting? Where’s Hochberg with a body-block when I need him?”

Westchester and Rockland counties have received $49 million in public assistance grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the year since the storm made landfall, federal officials announced on Monday. But individual residents, with FEMA Flood Insurance, that carries a minimum $5k deductible, couldn’t get reimbursed for their damage and were left to fend for themselves. Where are Nita Lowey and Chuck Schumer for them? Rockland had more damage from Sandy than Westchester and yet Westchester benefited from nearly $38 million, while Rockland collected about $11 million, with Putnam communities received $1.3 million. And, they are still applying for additional funding, with more expected to be awarded in the coming months! The residents? Tossed aside.

U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, “One year ago, Sandy made landfall and devastated our region, taking lives and damaging homes and businesses,” Lowey said Monday at a White Plains event marking the one-year anniversary of the storm. “Federal assistance has been absolutely essential in helping the communities ... get back on their feet.” But they didn’t really help residents get back on their feet, did they? They helped government get back to the business of taxation but hung the residents out to dry. Literally.

We’ve experienced a relatively dry hurricane season this year. We’ve also experienced a relatively dry response from our leaders regarding fixing any of the flooding issues that remain dormant to plague our area again. The first thing that needs to happen is a plan to dredge and maybe even widen both the Bronx River and the Saw Mill River from start to finish to ensure water can properly drain from all neighborhoods into these only two waterways’ exits. The next thing needs to be making sure debris and natural obstructions that might get into the rivers are quickly removed. We also need to question this unending development of any open space and replacing natural absorption with impervious space. Just because its undeveloped doesn’t mean we need to put a building on it. Alas, nothing will be done.

Our political leaders cannot wait to beat their chests and say look what I did when things are bad or good. Things are not good right now for residential and business taxpayers, they are just on hold until the next storm. Paul Feiner and Rob Astorino both brag about their respective bond ratings but refuse to take advantage of it by investing in their constituents and our infrastructure. Mr Feiner prefers to lead by press release and not from the front. He could be holding everyone’s feet to the fire but knows its better to not make any waves and complain about things like the Tappan Zee bridge, closing Indian Point, or brag having solar powered trash receptacles in the Town. If he was a true leader, instead of taking care of his own, he’d be helping our residents to make A Better Greenburgh.

Floating Dollars & Bronx River Flooding

ABG offices sit high atop Greenburgh overlooking the beautiful landscape covered in the proverbial blanket of white as Town vehicles appear to be about the only ones on the road. There seems to be a calm enveloping the area. Our copy of the daily newspaper may have been delivered but promises to remain undiscovered for weeks. We had received our copy of The White Plains Examiner before the storm which featured an article about the County’s move to address flooding with the Bronx River within the Town of Greenburgh. It a topic ABG has often posted about.

We’ve heard and seen the posturing before, so it remains to be seen if this time will be any different. County Executive Astorino announced the County is ready, “with an $800,000 capital project to restore over three acres of wetlands and riverbanks just north of Fisher Lane and east of the Bronx River Parkway in Greenburgh.” Translation? The County will throw a pittance toward an issue that needs addressing from at least the Kensico Dam southward into the Bronx, where the water continues it’s final exit. This will be nothing more than “photo ops” and press conference “attaboys” garnered to get political points, press coverage and accomplish little else.  This was exemplified by County Executive Rob Astorino, who said in a prepared statement, “It is important that we target achievable projects in problem areas in order to reduce and prevent future flooding.” Translation? As an “achievable” project, they mean they know they won’t fix the problem, but will be able to say upon the project’s completion that they completed the project. Government double-speak? You decide.

Last year the Astorino administration chose this site in Greenburgh as just one of the seven capital projects as part of a $9 million effort to address chronic flooding along the Bronx River and Sound Shore. The bond act has been sent to the Board of Legislators for approval. And while we assume the bond will be passed, the effort may all be moot if the entire river corridor is not attacked as a global entity. An inspection of the river from the Greenburgh area into the Bronx shows too numerous an amount of blockage to document. 

An effort made in Westchester that will contribute to creating a better and/or increased water flow, without participation from all points south of Westchester County, renders the money spent, the effort of little consequence and tantamount to floating dollars down the river. The people who suffered from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene have finally given up any hope of receiving funds from FEMA even though they are mandated to pay flood insurance to them; all the while new applicants hammered by Hurricane Sandy are just learning this lesson.

What’s needed is a consolidation of bipartisan leaders who run the length of the Bronx River to establish a plan with a concerted effort to tackle this vexing problem. We also need leaders which are willing to begin upgrading everyone’s aging infrastructures to help increase water flow created by all the development from the last twenty or thirty years. It’s not an easy task but one that will reap huge rewards for every community. We can only hope.

Report To The People Offers Little

As if schooled by The Paul, we received a recent “Report to the People” campaign piece that said little, but managed to produce a collage of pictures with the sender posing with several politicos and others from the public, all under the pretext of performing legislative service. The reality is, he is short on substance and long on hyperbole. By the way, we’re not using his name to keep from promoting his lame record and abuse of mailing privileges. We hope that others will view this and other campaign mailers with a more critical eye.

On the front page of the campaign piece is “his statement” in response to the Newtown murders of twenty-six people. These murders were truly horrible and ABG means no disrespect toward those victims, families and friends who are suffering from this. It’s a shame that he would use this as a political opportunity to issue a statement “in response” to the Newtown shootings, when nobody asked him for one and he has nothing to add. Sadly, it’s pure politics. His plan? Keeps guns away from those who would misuse them, ban military style weapons, register all guns, their transfer, mandate their secure storage, carefully license every gun owner, train them in gun safety, and check on them periodically. Then he wants to utilize more mental health professionals in the community to minimize the likelihood of violence. Of course, he fails to mention how to pay for all of this or any real strategy for implementation.

ABG is always saddened to see anyone injured or killed. In fact, several of our staff members volunteer in the Greenburgh community in different capacities and recognize first-hand the horrors that people inflict upon others. We also recognize that most of his talking points are strictly designed to appear to promote a call to action while merely promoting himself. The reality is nothing will happen and in particular, he will do nothing but continue to talk about it. The shooter in Newtown appears to have a history of mental illness. For that matter, his mother, whom he also killed, must have had something wrong too, since she legally purchased and kept weapons in the home, and took her mentally ill son to the firing range to “bond”. He didn’t use military style or assault weapons. In Webster, NY, the shooter of the two firefighters was obviously deranged and then killed himself. Could the talking points our representative have made a difference? We’ll never know. Lets examine his points individually.

1) Keep guns away from those who would misuse them. It’s great to say, but how to you propose to do this? Will he introduce another unenforceable law that he can brag he co-wrote or co-sponsored? You can’t control who gets a gun unless that person is a law-abiding citizen. It’s like putting locks on doors; hence the saying, ‘locks are for honest people’. The amount of people who own guns versus the amount being murdered is being disproportionately represented.
2) Ban military style weapons? They are. It was not a military style weapon that was used in the Newtown killings. It was an over the counter automatic rifle. But okay, ban military weapons. How?
3) Register all guns? Good luck making that happen. Handguns are currently required to be registered, rifles are not. Since the police are prohibited to enter your homes by the constitution, this would be a voluntary program at best, is unenforceable, and limited to the law-abiding. However, if we should attempt to have all guns registered, amend the current law to include rifles. It’s a start in the direction he claims we need. We agree it needs to start.
4) Regulate gun transfers. Again, how? An example was given by a friend whose grandfather gifted a shotgun to his teenage grandson. He took the time to train him in the proper use of the gun, the grandson took a gun safety class and became a remarkable target shooter – not a hunter. As a familial transaction, government would never know about it.
5) Carefully license every gun owner. We already have this law on the books and again, normal law-abiding citizens are never the issue. In fact, the Newtown shooter’s mothers guns were legally registered. Sometimes, bad things happen by bad people that no amount of legislation will stop.
6) Train them in gun safety. Good idea. And yet, government has mandated every new driver take an 8-hour driver safety class before they can take their driving test. Yet once licensed, many of these new drivers still drink, text, and drive under the influence even though they were told them it wasn’t safe to do it. And which group has the highest accident rates? New drivers. So, how much of government mandated training is going to produce the results he seeks?
7) Check on them periodically? Could this be more ambiguous? We hear of child abuse victims all the time who are neglected because a case-worker was overworked or unable to effectively investigate the parents. So, now he proposes hiring more people onto the government payroll that is already bloated? Can you say tax increase? His response, of course, will be, “If we save just one life, any cost was worth it.” That’s debatable.
8) Stop glorifying violence. Many talk about needing anti-violence, especially the Hollywood crowd. Aren’t they the same ones that make and star in the violent movies for gazillions of dollars? The movie industry’s been in a slump and then the action-packed, violent, James Bond “Skyfall” movie sets records for attendance. Add to that The Expendables, Transformers, Batman (repeatedly) etc., proving the law abiding public wants these films because movies are an escape from our everyday lives. Hollywood is being disingenuous, not wanting to bite the hand that feeds them. Good luck with stopping that.
9) The group he works with passed legislation requiring micro-stamping bullets to assist in tracing weapons back to their owner. Didn’t the police know who was doing the shootings in most of these killings. Feel good legislation? You decide.

There were several other items he “worked” on. Or did he? Actually, here’s some of the mailing’s legislatiive topics that was passed into law but not necessarily written by our legislator: DNA Databank, Domestic Violence protections, Cyber-Bullying, Micro-stamping, I-Stop (Internet - System for Tracking Over Prescribed drugs), Water Protection (accidental sewage discharge notification into waterways, sponsored by him), Health (prohibits smoking within 100ft of a school - because our police officers need to be busier), Hydro-Fracking (requires studies of the health impacts of hydro-fracking, co-sponsored by him).

Finally, to the back page of the campaign piece. He claims we need to replace ConEd as their Hurricane Sandy storm response was “totally inadequate, a management fiasco, a poor plan, poorly executed.” He’s calling for hearings into ConEd’s poor response. Why? We know their response was as good as it could be given the magnitude of damage and their current staffing. ConEd called in for help and the ConEd unions turned some of the non-union utility workers away. What results could hearings possibly render? The committee’s 30-page report summary will state that ConEd was woefully understaffed, the size of the storm was unpredictable, and the amount of damage into the billions of dollars and the federal government, along with FEMA must do more. This is strictly grandstanding on his part. The Paul will want to get in on the media frenzy and issue a press release commending the committee, berate ConEd again (he’s already done this), and say we should do away with county government.

He has introduced legislation for an idea that many have offered before him to put a height restrictor at the entrances of our parkways to deter trucks from accessing the roadways. He doesn’t even allude to how much will this cost? Regardless, it does have merit. Currently, the bridges that get repeated hits on the Hutchinson River Parkway cost us little if anything but time to address. When a bridge hit in Mamaroneck happens, the County Police respond (paid, on duty), the Mamaroneck Fire Department (no cost, volunteer) responds, a wrecker responds (big cost, insurance pays) and tickets and fines are issued. Virtually no cost to the tax payer except for the time delays. Now, we’ll be paying for some elaborate study, then prototype development, testing, changes and installation. Worth it, or another government boondoggle? Whatever the cost figures are that are presented to the public, triple the number and you’ll have the final cost. Watch for the federal and state subsidy slight of hand with the accompanying claims of low cost to the taxpayers because the feds are picking up the bill. YOU are the feds picking up the bill!

He also is requesting a discounted rate for all Westchester residents who use the Tappan Zee bridge. ABG, as well as everyone else we discuss this with, recognizes that the tolls will skyrocket once the bridge is completed, so this is highly unlikely to happen. He is still insisting on only building one bridge and keeping the original bridge as a park and bus use. Apparently, it’s been designated as maintenance-free and no longer needs demolition. He should pay more attention when he’s at his part-time job supposedly representing us to what’s already been decided. There will be two bridges, no park and dedicated bus lanes. But he’ll be able to say look what I tried to do for you – and with a straight face.

He brags that he was able to get legislation approved to allow Greenburgh (really The Paul) to lease Town property to a private, for-profit business, undoing the safety net provided by law to protect the Unincorporated residents of the Town. Another legislator from the other side of the building was participatory in the unraveling of this law. Then his last tidbit is that he joined with the Pleasantville mayor, other local officials and numerous residents to stop the installation of cell towers there. Funny, we wonder why he didn’t help the Irvington residents trying to accomplish the same thing? ABG’s guess is that The Paul wanted the towers and he was afraid to go against his eminence.

All of these talking points make for a nice generic mailer/campaign piece that does nothing but continue to aid incumbents with their off-season campaigning. Change a few pictures and this template will surely be used by other legislators. They keep their name out there, ensuring little chance that the electorate will vote for a new candidate come election time. Ultimately, they are doing little for the prized salary and perks they receive. It needs to change. We can only hope.

Disaster Preparedness - Talk Is Cheap

What’s been proven with Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Irene along the eastern coast and Hurricane Sandy in the northeast is that local governments, right on up through the state and the federal governments, are not capable of handling emergencies well, if at all! The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is little more than a “front” for the federal government. Their “help” is nothing more than pointing victims to someone else for assistance. Does this sound like any Town Supervisor we know? They, and our politicians, get repeated publicity and in the end, the victims get little or no help at all. We’re reminded of former President Reagan’s famous quote, “I’m from the government and I'm here to help.”

Many in emergency services are used to responding and attacking anything from a small, single incident to something of a larger magnitude, including mass casualty incidents. The Fire Service trains in the routine tasks of hooking up to a hydrant to dealing with hazardous chemical spills. The EMS Service spends time learning to ask the right questions to ascertain whether aid is even needed. 

The emergency services organizations need to be prepared for any type of emergency. Our Town leadership should also be participating and leading the way. Sadly, they’d rather talk about it than actually do something about it. Last year the Town paid a hefty fee to have Jonathan Raser, to work with Police Chief DeCarlo, to develop a Greenburgh Hazard Mitigation Plan. It was adopted (and paid for) only for us to learn it is merely a vehicle to allow the Town to apply for grant money. 

There are several phases to a disaster that include Mitigation, Preparation, Response, and Recovery. This is the order to address emergency planning as well as infrastructure improvements as they relate to flooding, power outages, resident relocation, etc., if and when the Town choses to address our suffering residents during the yearly “100-Year” storms. Our Town Board is anxious to discuss doing something without actually implementing any improvements. Talk is cheap, isn’t it?

Mitigation is considered activities that either prevent the occurrence of an emergency and/or reduce a community’s vulnerability in ways that minimize the adverse impact of a disaster or other emergency. Most communities have done little mitigation in preparation for an upcoming weather event. This was never more apparent in Greenburgh with the onslaught we received from Hurricane Sandy. Individually, many first responders and their departments handled it well. Conversely, many of our respective Greenburgh communities were paralyzed and unable to effectively receive aid. Residents abandoned? No quite. Thankfully, The Paul never missed a beat sending out emails, especially to those offline with no power.

Consolidated Edison, our “private” public service utility was understaffed to respond to all the incidents that befell them. The operational economics constraining ConEd cause them to not have enough staff to address events the magnitude of a hurricane. How should we get past their staffing issues? The Paul knew a Citizens Committee meeting at Town Hall to “bash” ConEd wouldn’t really do anything, but it would make him seem to care. Ah, publicity. Everyone uses ConEd and no one likes paying their bill, so who wouldn’t want to “go after” the big bad utility company? Pure genius. If you insist on a quicker response from ConEd, with more workers, be prepared to pay higher rates!

The Preparation phase involves activities undertaken in advance of an emergency. Response or Normal Operational phase consists of developing and revising disaster plans and hazard analyses; writing operational mutual aid plans; cross training response personnel to wear one or more of any “hats” as dictated by the event; improving public information and communications systems; and conducting exercises (drills) to validate the planning process. Putting all of these together into an implementable plan is all well and good, but if it is never tested before an actually event, it might ultimately be worthless. As with any critique after this testing, it is imperative that the leadership recognizes and honestly evaluates performances. Simply congratulating everyone so the practice appears good on paper will be self-defeating when it comes time to engage during an event. We often see this kind of “atta-boy” backslapping at Town Board meetings, when they fall over each other, becoming a mutual admiration society. 

An increased “readiness” (pre-planning) is also critical before an incident happens. Inspections of critical facilities must be performed and categorized. Reviewing and updating emergency plans and Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines (SOP/SOGs) should be an ongoing exercise for all Town personnel - not just emergency responders. This should enable them to have increased operating knowledge, familiarity of what is expected by different roles they may be asked to perform, an ability to enhance their performance. Equally important will be their ability to critique the operation to offer a different perspective to assist in making improvements. This personnel should also be updating resource lists and becoming increasingly familiar with mobilizing resources, testing warning and communications systems, disseminating accurate, timely, emergency public information as well as recruiting additional personnel and disaster service workers from the community, such as Citizen Emergency Response Teams (C.E.R.T.).

Responding to a disaster will require actions be taken to save lives and protect property first and foremost. From there, other steps must be taken, including disseminating warnings to be issued, emergency public information to be broadcast, and other advice and action instructions to be conveyed to the public. Perhaps dispatching teams to distribute information will be all that is needed. Leaders will need to have boots on the ground surveying and evaluating the emergency situation. ABG has suggested the Town utilize neighborhood civic associations as well as the CERT members for this task. With information at hand, they will be marshaling, allocating, and positioning personnel and equipment and mobilizing necessary resources. If available, they will need to activate their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) using established guidelines. 

Evacuating the public from certain areas prone in communities that suffer may be necessary and need to be implemented in stages for large areas or restricted access areas. In low lying, flood prone areas for example, conditions may be static, necessitating no changes for those people. Or, those same conditions may change swiftly and require decisions that had been contemplated by not initiated to take effect. All personnel should be well versed in what will be required of them to assist in those actions. During Hurricane Sandy for instance, residents were evacuated to the Theodore Young Center, only to need to be evacuated from there due to storm related damage.

During the immediate emergency, emphasis must be placed on saving lives, gaining as much control of the situation as can be controlled and minimize the effects of the disaster to both the public and the responders. Once an Incident Command Post has been established, they can work in or with the EOC. Of course, sustained or long-term events/emergencies may dictate what else must be done. Providing for the care and treatment of casualties, collecting, identifying, and addressing the deceased, are part of the gruesome reality that must be planned for. During that same period, providing for the mass care with food, lodging, clean clothes, hygiene needs of displaced persons becomes a priority. During the Hurricane Sandy, the Village of Elmsford highway department distributed firewood collected from fallen trees, to residents to burn in their fireplaces. It allowed homeowners with fireplaces to heat their homes and dispose of the wood at no cost! 

Once the recovery process is underway, our people or other appropriate agencies must begin implementing health and safety measures for both the short and long term. Additionally, you must begin protecting, controlling, and allocating vital resources; restoring or activating essential facilities and systems, ensuring the enforcement of police powers in controlling the locations and finally, establishing access controls, erecting traffic barricades, etc.

We do know that with proper planning, evaluation and activation addressing everything that is going on should provide a more organized and less chaotic environment for all. Ultimately, it will assist the victims with a level of calm and security during an extremely stressful event. We don’t currently have a pre-plan for major events and hope this article helps guide our leaders in the right direction toward starting one. We can be ready for the next event. We can only hope.

No Disaster Management, We Offer Three Ideas

Disaster management is typically relegated to emergency responders as a quasi-military event in most communities. Greenburgh isn’t much different. We have a very well paid police department and three very well paid fire departments that provide coverage to most of the Unincorporated portions of the Town. Each Village has it’s own police department. Where there is no paid fire service coverage in the Town, the Town contracts with the Village’s all volunteer fire departments for fire protection coverage. Those residents pay a significantly lower fire tax for the assessed value of their homes than the areas with a paid department, roughly $11/thousand versus $130/thousand). It is the most cost-effective use of our fire protection dollars. As with any police or fire department, they are reactive and respond to emergencies as they arise. This is no different for hurricanes, other weather-related events or their “normal calls” and requests for assistance. They are not in the disaster management business although they may be called into it at a moments notice. You call 911, they respond.

The field of disaster management originated during the Cold War, when planning for nuclear attacks and the need for building bomb shelters was developed. Once the threat of nuclear war waned, concern turned towards responding to natural disasters. Not surprisingly, there appears to be a relationship between the degree to which communities accept disaster management planning and the degree to which they experience disasters: the greater the exposure to disasters, the greater the interest in disaster management. Ironically, in Greenburgh, we’ve always been relatively insulated from major storm event damage. However, The Paul tasked Police Chief Joe DeCarlo to work with Disaster Planning consultant Jonathan Raser to develop a Town Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Developing a Town Hazard Mitigation plan was a seemingly good idea and the two men worked independent of the Town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee, with it’s sole goal to allow the Town to apply for grant funding. While not a terrible idea, Raser was subsequently contracted by the Town to assist residents that were affected by flooding damage during Hurricane Irene. Conflict of interest? Perhaps. But the end result was a Hazards Mitigation plan that proved deficient and ineffective during Hurricane Sandy, no funds secured for any residents suffering from Hurricane Irene, and a hefty paycheck for Mr. Raser, who has returned to his home state of New Jersey. No doubt he’ll be billing Governor Christie for similar “planning”.

Community members are becoming increasingly frustrated not only with being excluded from the decision-making processes involved in community planning, but also with being excluded from those involved in disaster management planning. During all of the three-card monty-like shuffles, we still haven’t received any solutions from our leaders. Fortunately, public participation is gradually becoming an accepted part of the disaster management process – except perhaps in Greenburgh – so things may improve. The Paul rarely has a problem forming a committee for anything and everything with his convict-buddy, Alan Hochberg. He has no issue corralling interns to do the work our regular employees would normally be doing and being paid to do. Could it be because the interns are too naïve to realize they’re being used and abused or that they simply seek the community service hours and could care less how bad The Paul is at doing his job?

ABG can and will continue to critique the actions of the Town and The Paul and the waste of money to get us no closer to any solutions. Additionally, rather than only being critical, ABG is offering a few suggestions to follow and hope they make their way to The Paul’s yet to be formed Emergency Management Committee (EMC), not chaired by Alan Hochberg. While these are our ideas, they by no means are the panacea for all that is wrong in our Town: spot zoning, over-development, antiquated and ignored infrastructure, lack of flood mitigation, lack of impervious space and so on. So here’s just a few of ABG’s ideas that can be done with little or no money and stay under the 2% Tax Cap.

Solution Number 1:

We’d like to see the Town develop a program we’ve tentatively named: HEROS, for Home Emergency Response Operation System. This would entail having a leader and volunteers from every neighborhood throughout the Town to provide information to the Town as well as get information from the Town and back to its residents.

The HEROS’ tasks could include but not be limited:

1) to complete a neighborhood inventory of available equipment (e.g. chainsaws, pumps, generators) and skills (e.g. nursing, plumbers) that could be useful during and after a disaster.

2) to develop a list of special-needs situations (e.g. elderly people living alone) and follow up with them after an event to ensure they’re okay.

3) to arrange for local stockpiling of supplies, such as medical (ice packs, bandages), food (snack bars) and water.

4) to have community members become CERT members and provide basic emergency interaction prior, during and immediately after an event.

5) to provide basic search and accountability, first-aid training.

6) to assess needs required from the Town within their jurisdiction and forward that to the appropriate designee before and/or after an event.

Solution Number 2:

We’d like to see the Civic Associations develop a HEROS-like squad within their individual civic associations that would assign key personnel:

1) to complete a neighborhood inventory of available equipment (e.g. chainsaws, pumps, generators) and skills (e.g. nursing, plumbers) that could be useful during and after a disaster.

2) to assess needs required from the Town within their jurisdiction and forward that to the appropriate designee before and/or after an event.

3) to develop a list of special-needs situations (e.g. elderly people living alone) and follow up with them after an event to make sure they are okay.

Solution Number 3:

We’d like to see the Town develop a liaison with each neighborhood via their civic associations to be the neighborhoods point of contact. This liaison could be a Police Department Constable or a Fire Department Volunteer (no additional costs to the Town) that reports back through their chain of command about the status of each neighborhood they are assigned to liaise.

ABG recognizes that while a top-down policy is needed, it’s really the local-level bottom-up policy that provides the impetus for the implementation of mitigation strategies and a successful disaster management process. When we looked at his blog, The Paul touts and is “thankful” for the work done to alleviate flooding along the Saw Mill River praising the work that’s been done. This work happened due to the efforts of business owners along the 9A corridor, former Village of Elmsford Trustee William Zimkin and the Village of Elmsford. The Paul offered nothing nor initiated any of that cleanup work. Furthermore, after repeatedly promising to show the Fulton Park area how much he thinks of them and is going to help their neighborhood, he has done nothing to help alleviate flooding for Town residents along the Bronx River. That screams volumes of how he feels about them! Their next storm with the subsequent flooding and losses will be their problem, not his. We’re sure The Paul will be emails home sending to those without power, suggesting they call FEMA to keep busy.

State and federal governments and agencies have a role to play in establishing mitigation policies, but it is up to local communities to formulate, initiate and implement those policies that will lead to the adoption of mitigation strategies. Given the obvious links between sustainable hazard mitigation and community planning, it behooves the Town to address the links between hazard mitigation and disaster management planning. In short, it is obvious The Paul has no solutions, nor can we rely on The Paul’s administration for bona fide help, just more finger pointing, emails, letters and rhetoric. We need action – even if we must provide it ourselves. We can only hope.