Showing posts with label Fortress Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fortress Bible. Show all posts

Friday, January 2, 2015

2014 Year In Review - The Rest Of The Story


We’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Each year Mr Feiner emails, publishes and mails his review of 2014 to residents. We deem this an unnecessary and costly event for taxpayers. Many items he alludes to have nothing to do with him but he chooses to include them. It’s his list and he can put  in it what he chooses. Similarly, since it’s his list, most of his efforts are not accurately recounted and that is why we do our rebuttal list. Please note that ABG has not edited Mr Feiner's points.

Here are some of Mr Feiner’s highlights that were emailed to the thousands of names on the Town’s infamous GBList email addresses list held so closely to the vest by Mr Feiner. Those not on the list will be mailed letters via snail mail. While all of this could have easily and more cost-effectively been posted on the Town’s website, it doesn’t allow Mr Feiner the same campaign publicity and results. As such, we want you to see the other side of the year in review and have included our take on his take.

PF:  Unlike some communities in NYS, the Town has complied with the tax cap every year since the State Legislature recommended that local governments keep tax hikes under their recommended tax cap levy. The Town Board unanimously approved the 2015 budget last week which  again complies with the  tax cap.

ABG: What Mr Feiner conveniently doesn’t mention is that in order to squeak by under the tax cap, he and his Town Board raided the Reserve Funds of $2 MILLION (40%)! This is money that would normally be used for tax certiorari settlements and lawsuit settlements against Mr Feiner and the Town. There are plenty of claims. The Town, along with the school and fire districts, averages several hundred thousand dollars to $1 million per Town Board meeting in certiorari and lawsuit settlement refunds. This is hardly the time to “steal” money from one fund to cover another. The real issue here is the misappropriation and/or use of funds by this Town administration. Unfortunately, the one-party Board of political hangers-on will follow Mr Feiner’s instructions to ensure re-election.

PF: Town maintains AAA bond rating from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s---an accomplishment only 1% of communities around the nation can be proud of.  Communities around the nation have experienced bond rating declines. It’s nice that Greenburgh continues to have the highest rating possible from two independent agencies.  Our Aaa rating equates to over $200,000 in interest savings over the life of the debt service.

ABG: In order to maintain this bond rating, the Town borrows very little. Without taking advantage of the low rates, Mr Feiner and his Board have neglected the Town infrastructure to the point of serious degradation of drainage systems, roadways, parks, buildings and more. Regular maintenance on Town owned buildings is ignored until what would be considered normal, less costly repairs turn into catastrophic repairs requiring much more financial commitment.

PF: The new sanitation truck that picks up garbage with an automated hand is now operational.  We’re able to manage with one employee, not three on a truck and anticipate significant savings of your tax dollars.  The Town will continue to expand this method of garbage collection with more routes and new trucks in the coming years.

ABG: They anticipate savings but refuse to provide figures. This is one of Mr Feiner’s well-developed scams. He’ll say something will save us money or blurt out an unsubstantiated dollar figure, while there was no study done, no definitive amounts offered and we’re simply supposed to take his word for it. Now he is saying they will expand this program even before any conclusive performance results can be had or used to substantiate its value.

PF: I meet on a regular basis with retired local management consultants, corporate executives who volunteer their time--offering valuable suggestions on how the town could be better managed. We started the 2015 budget process early in the year and they helped identify over a million dollars in new sources of revenue or cost reductions!

ABG: After all these years of saying this, he still has not learned or used proven management techniques and processes that the business world uses daily. Nor has his claim provided us with these new sources of revenue. The budget he provides in the 11th-hour has minimal opportunity for change by the time the public, who are the real team of reviewers, gets to see it.

PF: Howard Reiss was appointed as the new Fairview Fire Chief earlier this year. He’s trying hard to reach out to the community.  Mike Goldstein was elected Hartsdale Fire Commissioner and Clarie Pizzuti was elected Commissioner of the Fairview Fire Department by large margins. Both were supported by residents who would like to see fire district spending monitored more closely.  A new citizens committee - the Fairview Fire District Monitoring Committee- was formed.  The Fairview, Greenville & Hartsdale fire departments worked with the town –participating in our 9-11 memorial and annual Veterans day memorial event.

ABG: Chief Reiss was appointed the new Chief of the Fairview Fire Department and we wish him well. What Mr Feiner doesn’t say is that he mounted an attack campaign against then Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice, who resigned due to health reasons. Mr Feiner conveniently doesn’t mention it was he who was responsible for the creation of the Fairview Fire District Monitors Committee and posted his long-time friend and cohort to run it. The Fairview and Hartsdale Fire Districts had new candidates run for one open seat in each district’s Board. We are convinced that both candidates for each district were handpicked candidates by Mr Feiner. The one for Fairview was a member of his fire monitors club. Interestingly, when Mr Feiner lives in his home in the gated community of Boulder Ridge, he is protected by an all-volunteer Fire Department and not the paid fire departments in Greenburgh. When he lives at his mother’s residence in Scarsdale, he is protected by the (paid) Scarsdale Fire Department, also not one of the three paid fire departments in Greenburgh. He pays the lowest fire protection taxes and should let the public take care of their respective fire services and stay out of politicizing them!

PF: The town has started promoting organic recycling to residents- an initiative that will eventually reduce the amount of garbage by over 30%.  Thanks to the Greenburgh Nature Center for leading the way!

ABG: He has said this before and there is nothing new here. The Greenburgh Nature Center is a private organization that rents their space from the Town. What is not mentioned is how Mr Feiner arrived at a 30% reduction of garbage figure and how this will be accomplished.

PF: The town has been successful in collecting significant  back taxes owed to us --an initiative that will continue.  Since the List of Delinquent Taxes was filed with the County in April 2014,  62 parcels have been removed from the  delinquent List (2 parcels were removed because they are owned by the State and the remaining were removed because of full payment or a new tax agreement).  A total of a little less than $3.1 million of delinquent taxes was either paid in full or subject to new tax agreements (including current taxes paid in order to be eligible for the tax agreements).  There have been 22 new tax agreements.  Of the 62 parcels, 40 were single family, multi-family or condos.  I have worked with Westchester Residential Opportunities helping families who owe back taxes come up with plans so they can keep their properties.  We continue to receive additional payments from those owing back taxes.

ABG: First, it’s about time! The Town has been delinquent under Mr Feiner’s tenure for going after tax-cheats, tax-evaders and others delinquent in paying their Town taxes. While Mr Feiner had 22-years to collect back-taxes and deliquent taxes, he chose to ignore the problem. During Mr Feiner’s tenure, the tax-paying residents have been subjected to double-digit tax increases, increased fees and increased fines for various violations when they may not have had he done his job. The need to generate revenue by Mr Feiner is only exacerbated by a) his managerial incompetence and b) his constant ignoring of problems that would be better addressed sooner, rather than later.

PF: The town has upgraded our software. The new  Munis Enterprise Resource Planning Software centralizes our financial processes. Many benefits to the town: We will be able to do a better job tracking expenses per department during the year. In 2015 we expect to implement more internal control procedures that will enable us to cut costs. Sometime in 2015 we expect to be able to  be able to collect water bills payments electronically.

ABG: As a rule, most if not all, software companies exist by generating revenue via their upgrades. Since this software will track expenses per department, what was the expense of this software upgrade? Also, each budget season finds Mr Feiner arbitrarily cutting departmental budgets without regard to the items he decides are unnecessary. Our department leaders do a reasonably good job of explaining their expenses during the year. And while ABG does not believe municipal budgets should have categories labeled “miscellaneous” that go beyond $1,000, it is up to Mr Feiner and his Board to rectify that. But they won’t. This point by Mr Feiner is meaningless.

PF: The town hired an auctioneer, GA Keen Realty Advisors to oversee the sale of  Frank’s nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road. We delayed the auction after being advised that additional environmental reviews were needed. Potential purchasers want to have a better understanding how much environmental cleanup work will be required before building on the property. Woodard & Curran Engineers will be conducting the environmental reviews and has been in contact with the NYSDEC. There is significant interest in the property from potential purchasers.

 ABG: Delayed? The delay was based on the delay by Mr Feiner and his Board by ignoring the property’s contamination after ownership was transferred to the Town through foreclosure. Then Mr Feiner attempted to secretly enter into an illegal lease with a "paper" company. Residents requested the property have testing done to find out what contaminants were on the property. Playing games with semantics, a popular pasttime of Mr Feiner, he instructed a testing company to focus on a certain area for testing, ignoring the rest of the property’s space that was used as a dump by the City of White Plains Urban Renewal Project that tore down the old Macy’s and surrounding structures. These old buildings have classically used what we now know are carcinogenic materials such as asbestos, lead and more. Mr Feiner ignored everyone’s pleas to clean up the site before trying to do anything with it. ABG believes his ultimate goal is to gift the property to his friends and their “paper” company.

PF: Many of the problems at the Town Court have been resolved. Over a year ago the Town Board contracted with an independent audit company to conduct a study of Town Court operations. The court has already implemented many audit recommendations leading to improved internal controls and efficiencies. We are about to embark on another major independent study of operations-- of our Public Works department. 

ABG: The problems still exist. Supposedly there were millions of dollars in unpaid traffic and parking violations that Mr Feiner brought interns to address. Eager to do whatever is asked of them, interns cost us little, offer no expertise and provide Mr Feiner with multiple press releases about what a great job they are doing. Do we really want to trust our millions of dollars of income to interns? The obvious answer is, “No!” Mr Feiner hired a new Court Clerk from Port Chester to run the Town Court Department. She was there only briefly when Mr Feiner announced to the Town Board he needed to almost double her salary. ABG believes he told the Board to vote in favor of her salary increase or be “Sonya’d”. Fearing Paul’s wrath and possible excommunication, they did as instructed. Soon after, the newly appointed and extremely well-paid Court Clerk bolted back to Port Chester, able to parlay her higher Greenburgh salary to a comparable one in Port Chester. Once gone, we learned she provided the Greenburgh Courts with little or no relief other than a higher Greenburgh Court Clerk salary for the next person and we still don't know how many tickets remain unpaid!

PF: The town spent $3 million dollars on road repaving on streets throughout the town. The town and villages within Greenburgh jointly purchased significant amounts of asphalt for road repaving, saving many thousands of dollars.  Very pleased that New York State listened to our concerns and repaved W Hartsdale Ave, a road that was in desperate need of repaving.

ABG: Most of the roads in need of repair in the Town merely get patched as having an unused AAA Bond rating yields little in infrastructure maintenance. Getting NYS to pave certain roads thjroughout the Town is our elected leaders’ job! Ironically, the Villages within the Town have maintained a purchasing consortium for about the last ten years. Mr Feiner made the decision to not participate and pay higher prices than they did for all materials. Again, saying “we saved many thousands of dollars” is an empty statement. How much did we save?

PF: By collaborating with other municipalities in Westchester, the town has saved significant dollars with our reassessment initiative.  The town hired Tyler Technologies to collect data.  Updates on the progress of the data collection can be found on the home page of the town website: www.greenburghny.com.  Town Assessor Edye McCarthy and I have been meeting with numerous civic groups during the year answering questions about the reassessment process. This is the first time in over 60 years that all properties are being reassessed.  Once reassessment is completed there will be more stability, fewer tax certiorari refunds, reduced legal costs.

ABG: While what Mr Feiner says here is technically true, the fact remains he is at the root cause for not doing revaluations. Trying to split the expense of doing revaluations with other communities might have saved us a few dollars, but we paid out millions of dollars to comparatively save pennies. Another example of a lack of management skills and a waste of time meeting with retired local management consultants and corporate executives! His time might be better spent sending less campaign mailings out and enrollment in some management classes.

PF: The town is in the process of moving forward retrofitting our lights to more efficient LED lighting. Taxpayers will be thankful because there will be major savings of taxpayer dollars.

ABG: Mr Feiner and his Board decided to replace current light fixtures and bulbs to an added cost of just over a half a million dollars. Again, what are “the major savings” and how long will it take for us to reap those benefits? Those questions go unanswered. As does the question of why not wait and replace the fixtures and bulbs through attrition, when the equipment actually fails?

PF: John Sexton was appointed the new Library Director. Thanks to the Greenburgh Library Foundation and a grant from NYS, the library has invested in two self check machines that allow patrons to check out their own library materials --saving staff time and costs.

ABG: Congratulations and good luck to Mr Sexton. The Greenburgh Library has a competent staff who are usually eager to assist but has remained a political football for Mr Feiner and the the Library Board. That said, the two check-out stations will certainly alleviate the ill-conceived and ill-placed check out desk that routinely finds itself backed up with patrons checking out books, cd’s and dvd’s. Again, how much savings in staff time and costs are we netting? Please provide facts and figures. As for saving staff time, they work in the library and are doing library tasks. Whatever they are doing is their job. More importantly, ABG would like to see Mr Feiner and his Board stop holding the Library budget hostage each year just to prove he can.

PF: Town Clerk Judith Beville has been overseeing our internship program for students. Many students have worked on interesting projects during the year and summer months. In 2014 one of our summer interns was profiled by SUNY Albany as one of their outstanding students and featured on WCBS radio for the work she did as an intern. And, last year a student intern was selected to compete in a game of JEOPARDY (he won a game!).  We continued training students interested in a career  in journalism with our student news network program.

ABG: Thankfully, the Town Clerk’s department is staffed by some very competent people, allowing Ms Belville to spend her invaluable time with extraneous affairs that will do little to improve the Town’s operation, cost-effectiveness, communications and more likely furthers her political employ. Perhaps she should be focusing on improving the new video systems that have not worked properly since being upgraded.

PF: Veterans Living history initiative -- Alan Hochberg and Steve Wittenberg have already conducted over 125 interviews of World War II and Korean conflict veterans. These interviews are broadcast non stop during the Memorial Day and Veterans day weekends. Each of the interviews is about half hour long.  A new committee made up of veterans is planning a Veterans memorial at DeSanti Park on E Hartsdale Ave.

ABG: While the Veteran’s Living History idea is a good one, and we believe in giving convicted criminals a second chance, we are not happy about how convicted felon Alan Hochberg tried to position himself a veteran and reap whatever accolades he could from that. We wonder, once a criminal...?

PF: The Town Board created a new Human Rights Liaison Committee to work with the Westchester County Human Rights Commission.
ABG: This seemed to be a duplicative committee. But it’s always Mr Feiner who says we should do away with County government. So this is contradictory and perhaps simply a political positioning move.

PF: Union Baptist Church located on Manhattan Ave celebrated their 100th birthday this year. Dobbs Ferry Lutheran Church celebrated their 75th!

ABG: Congratulations to both Houses of Worship!

PF: Edgemont schools was named the best school district in the United States by www.businessinsider.com.

ABG: Edgemont has had numerous feuds with Mr Feiner and his Town Board, which sits poised to incorporate and get out from under the Towns horrible fiscal, failing infrastructure, tax and legal incompetence. Nothing about the Edgemont schools is attributable to the Town and is in part why the Edgemont Community is so critical of Mr Feiner and his Board’s actions.

PF: The Greenburgh School district (previously called Central 7) is partnering with the town - working on a very exciting ACE mentoring program. Students who attend the school district will be able to mentor with architects and engineers. Participating students will be eligible for scholarships of between $1,000 and $10,000. Tahira Chase was appointed the Interim School Superintendent this year.  The mentoring program for architects and engineers will start in January, 2015.

ABG: While we endorse almost anything to help improve our students, this limited program does nothing to allow help to the majority of students who may not be of the same academic accomplishments as hopeful engineers. Mr Feiner and his Town Board have absolutely no input or gravitas in this program. Congratulations to Tahira Chase on being appointed the INTERIM School Superintendent. What does this have to do with an engineering program?

PF: Westchester County is continuing to work on replacing the Crane Road bridge. Some residents of Edgemont complained that work was taking place throughout the evening -disrupting sleep.  I think that governments and contractors that do construction work during the evening should be required to offer immediate neighbors a free hotel room while the  overnight work takes place-if the work will continue past midnight and into the early morning hours. We did this a number of years ago when a shopping center in Greenburgh was repaving their parking lot during evening hours.

ABG: While its always good to sympathize with residents, this is exactly the type of thing local elected officials should be addressing for their constituents. We’re sure Mr Feiner has done his usual rope-a-dope and sent letters to other elected officials seeking them to get involved with correcting this travesty but doing little if anything himself.

PF: The town completed a stormwater project in December after we received  a grant from the Bronx River Watershed initiative to redevelop the northeastern portion of the Town Hall parking lot. The goal: to implement storm water retrofit project capable of providing water quality treatment for stormwater runoff from existing impervious areas. Impervious surfaces have a direct connection to pollutants located within storm water runoff and the quality treatment of existing impervious areas with the Bronx River watershed

ABG: While this sounds phenomenal, it does little if anything to help residents in the area as once the riverbed overflows with flood waters, the residents homes get flooded. This project was like throwing stones to fill the Grand Canyon. We’ve written many times about how to address the flooding problem. Unfortunately, the Town, County and State all sit on their thumbs and do nothing to provide any actions to give relief to the river-bound area residents. And, while there was a lot of hoopla around cleaning the debris from the Saw Mill River in Elmsford, that was a directive conceived and implemented by the Village of Elmsford, not the Town. Nothing like that has even been attempted or done at the Bronx River.

PF: We’re moving ahead with rezoning plans to allow for car dealerships on Central Ave.  Significant tax revenues!  807 building permits were issued in 2014 (as of last week) compared to 627 in 2004.

ABG: What the Town is actually doing for the three car dealerships is passing new zoning restrictions preventing new car dealerships from opening on Central Avenue in the Greenburgh stretch of Central Avenue! This scheme was concocted by the three existing auto dealers and their attorney's to prevent future competition from entering “their” space. Many believe these actions border on anti-trust liability for the Town although our über-legal department believes otherwise.

PF: Saks 5th Ave outlet is opening up their new store on Route 119. The new outlet might motivate other high end stores to consider Central Ave and 119 for their stores in the coming years.  A new yogurt store on E Hartsdale Ave is a big success. And- Ben’s deli will  open up their new deli on Central Ave in January, 2015.  The Zoning Board granted Deli Delicious (deli located on Route 119) permission to proceed with their application for a drive through window.

ABG: Saks 5th Avenue OUTLET is not the same as their flagship store opening. Since Mr Feiner lacks any business acumen, he is remiss in believing this will start a spurt of high end retailers to locating on Central Avenue or even in Greenburgh. Congratulations to Ben’s Deli upon their impending opening. We understand that Town bureaucracy has slowed their opening. The final atrocity is the Deli Delicious drive-through window, allowing for the entire property to be paved with blacktop, setbacks ignored and trees removed.

PF: 40 years ago I got my start in public life by successfully pushing for the closing of the Bronx River parkway on Sundays for bicyclists. In 2014 Bicycle Sundays celebrated their 40th anniversary.

ABG: While this is a nice idea, although not practical, the County struggles each year to find funds to pay for the enormous overtime required to afford County Police officers to work this event. This is the same County government and workers Mr Feiner seeks to eliminate.

PF: A gun range on Ardsley Road was shut down by Con Ed after bullet fragments hit a woman. Other bullet fragments were found on residential properties. Since this incident I have been contacted by others around the state who have experienced similar problems. We learned that outdoor gun ranges are not regulated by the state or federal governments.  A new state of the art indoor gun range opened in a commercial area of Greenburgh (Elmsford) this fall.

ABG: First, Mr Feiner said he wanted to close this outdoor gun range housed in a sunken quarry and surrounded by rock walls to the applause of residents. Second, Mr Feiner lied to the public at a Town Board meeting when he said he didn’t want to close the gun range down. Then he proceeded to send out emails via the GBList endorsing a shutdown. The gun range had safely existed for about 70 years without incident. While we don’t doubt something hit the leg of a resident, the lab results were inconclusive and did not substantiate the claims made against the gun range. It didn’t matter. Mr Feiner made up his mind to close the range and that’s what happened. The outdoor range offered an environment that cannot be duplicated for police officers to learn in. Yes, there is an indoor range opened in North Elmsford that we understand will charge about twice as much and not be available as much to the gun enthusiasts.

PF: Over 5 years ago I organized a job club that has assisted the unemployed find work. We’ve helped over 200 people find part time or full time jobs. WJCS, the library and I also co-sponsor job forums during the year with excellent speakers who have helped people improve their job search strategies.

ABG: Sadly, there are no employment agencies in Greenburgh or our area and are relieved Mr Feiner is filling that void. At least Mr Feiner doesn’t have any Town issues requiring his time.

PF: Garrett Duquesne is the new Commissioner of Planning. The Comprehensive Plan Committee is revising their draft plan, based on community input. The new plan, once adopted by the Town Board will help us attract and keep businesses in the town, thereby improving our tax base.

ABG: First, congratulations to Mr Duquesne. We have always believed him to be forthright and pleasant to work with and wish him well. Second, the Comprehensive Plan could have been released earlier but Mr Feiner routinely added more issues for them to address every time a political hot potato landed in his lap. The first draft release found many, many issues that the residents and civic groups disagreed with. There were also many points added by former Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden who had his own agenda for Town-wide expansion. Thankfully, he has left us. We await the final draft.

PF: Working with Edgemont community leaders and residents of the unincorporated section of Hastings on child pedestrian safety initiatives --which hopefully will lead to more sidewalks near schools.  Have been in contact with Congressional representatives and the United States Department of Education to learn more about federal grants that will be made available to local governments for sidewalk construction.  The police department and Town Board approved the installation of no parking signs during school hours on Seely Place.

ABG: The safety issues were brought to the attention of the police and Town Board through a video presentation and many parents complaining. Ironically, the parents are a large group of the offenders. Let’s hope the police can do something positive before someone gets hurt.
  
PF: Hastings on Hudson initiated an interesting deer birth control study. They hope to bring down the deer population by 35-45% over five years. They seek to inoculate as many does as can be reasonably captured during the period allowed by the DEC license with a immunocontraceptive. they will repeat the effort over 4 subsequent years monitoring whether the deer population drops.  If the Hastings experiment works Greenburgh might be interested in expanding the initiative.

ABG: Where is the Greenburgh Nature Center, our Animal Control people and frankly, hunters? We can cull the growing deer population as had been done in the past and it would be quicker than doing another study. We hate to quote Greenburgh’s new slogan so soon, but “Why fix it when we can talk about it?”

PF: I received many complaints early this year about mail delivery and worked with United States Postal authorities and our congressional representatives to improve service. There has been a significant drop in complaints.

ABG: Could the drop in complaints be that the Post Office ignores them all and people just give up? It’s just like trying to get action from Town Hall.

PF: New water meters have enabled the water department to monitor individual water usage. We look for variances in usage and when someone’s water use is higher than it usually is we contact them to determine if there is a leak. We have saved some residents thousands of dollars.

ABG: There it is again, “We have saved some residents thousands of dollars.” And again, there is no actual amount of money proffered. Could it be because it didn’t happen?

PF: Thankful to the snow angels, TV angels who volunteer their time helping the disabled and elderly clear their driveways of snow and remove old TV sets to the highway garage.

ABG: While it’s good to help others and there is nothing wrong with his snow angels program, its also called being neighborly when you help a senior citizen or disabled neighbor with snow removal. Most people just don’t use it as a campaign tool.

PF: construction has started on a 22 unit affordable housing at the old waterwheel property in Ardsley. The new affordable housing units, once it opens up, will offer volunteer firefighters and municipal workers needed affordable housing opportunities. The building should be completed in 2015.  17 units will be affordable. 5 workforce housing.  Brightview Assisted Living facility is under construction in the Glenville/Tarrytown section of unincorporated Greenburgh.

ABG: The Waterwheel project had been broached years ago and turned down. What the above point makes is that 17 units will be offered through a lottery to residents throughout the state and 5 units will go to Ardsley volunteers or municipal workers. It’s pure hype. Brightview, amidst picketing by area unions for unfair wages being paid, will not allow Greenburgh residents on Medicare to move in there. And, the zoning that was created for the entire Town was specifically written by and will benefit Brightview, not the surrounding neighborhood.

PF: Mariano Rivera, one of the most dominant relievers in major league history opened up the Elmsford Little League games earlier this season.  ALSO PLEASED that Madison Square Garden recently responded to a request I made to allow a limited number of students to visit their training facility which is located in Greenburgh ---and to interact with some of the stars at the facility.  The first tour (with about 20 students) will take place in January, 2015.  Had the honor of shaking the hand of President Obama when he visited Tarrytown earlier this year to discuss the Tappan Zee bridge construction project.

ABG: Mariano did visit the Elmsford Little League, but Mr Feiner had nothing to do with it. The MSG organization routinely offers tours and having the President come to Westchester only highlighted the lack of traffic solutions currently suffered by residents and guests.

PF:  The town opened to residents new outdoor exercise equipment at Travis park.  A new playground at Yosemite Park also was dedicated.

ABG: The new exercise equipment at Yosemite Park was not the brainchild of or implemented by Mr Feiner. But we’re happy to see it there anyway.

PF: The town has been working with residents of Edgemont on improving pedestrian safety at the Seely place School. No parking signs from 7 AM to 9 AM and 2 dPM to 4 PM on Seely Place and Henry Street were placed. We are considering constructing more sidewalks near schools around the town and have reached out to the federal and state governments expressing interest in applying for funding.

ABG: We’ve already commented on some of this. However, Mr Feiner loves to talk about sidewalks and then turn his back on those neighborhoods seeking them. The saving grace here is that it is the affluent area of Edgemont and their threats to Incorporate would have a devastating effect on Town finances in general and the taxpaying public as well.

PF: Progress is being made to complete the missing link at the South County Trail between warehouse lane and Main Street in Elmsford. Westchester County has proposed an 8 foot wide 3,300 long asphalt pathway .

ABG: While this is nice, it is all County controlled and Mr Feiner and the Town have no dog in this race.

We haven’t gone in depth with the Fortress Bible settlement ($6.5Million), still abandoned WestHelp ($1.2Million/yr+daily deterioration and remained purposely off of Mr Feiner's list), Tax Certiorari refunds, Frank’s Nursery property ($3.5Million), Massage Parlors, Dromore Road, Sidewalks, Million-dollar payments for property, Video department issues and more. Don’t worry, the truth must prevail and as such, we’ll be back with more real information for you.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Just More Lies

A short while back, Mr Feiner was stopped by a community lawsuit from illegally leasing the former Frank’s Nursery property to his preferred developer (reasons still secretly unknown). Because of the lawsuit, Mr Feiner then said he would sell the property to them. Then he said the Town would issue a new RFP (Request For Proposal) for the property. Seeming to now be resigned to follow the law with foreclosed upon property, Mr Feiner said the right things during his Democratic Primary campaign against Bob Bernstein. The law requires any municipality that acquire property through foreclosure to sell it or keep and develop it for Town use, such as a park, a library, a court or police station. Mr Bernstein was the chosen Democratic District leader’s over-whelming endorsed candidate for the November elections. But now that the Democratic Primary has past, Mr Feiner has again changed his tune.


You may recall that Mr Feiner was “gifting away” the property through rent credits, tax credits and so on, to GameOn 365, after announcing they would build an 83 ft/8-story tall sports bubble and would pay the Town $5M over the course of 15 years. Please do that very simple math and ABG believes you will see that after every credit and tax break is rendered, school taxes paid, etc., there won’t be but a couple of thousand dollars left for the Town yearly. This was not a good deal for the Town.

Mr Feiner later claimed that there was a second company, House of Sports from Ardsley, NY, interested in purchasing the property but he didn’t think their offer to purchase the property was sincere. The House of Sports owners emphatically stated time and again that their offer of double the amount for the property was sincere and that they are always serious when it comes to money. Mr Feiner stated that whomever the Town sold the property to, the other would sue the Town and Mr Feiner didn’t wish this to end up in litigation. Having been found guilty in the Fortress Bible Church lawsuit and then having that verdict upheld in the Appeals Court, coupled with the guilty verdicts that he engaged in unfair campaign practices during the Democratic Primary campaign, illegally made payments to the Valhalla School Board, Mr Feiner is wise to try to stay out of court. This is not good for the Town.

Mr Feiner continues to state that he wants the property to be environmentally sanitized by the new owners and at the new owners expense. The Greenburgh taxpayers have been responsible for paying the school district and other various taxes (fire, county and town) since acquiring the property through foreclosure. Mr Feiner says (we believe incorrectly) that it is his personal opinion to make the Dobbs Ferry Road corridor a “recreation corridor”. ABG has repeatedly pointed out that Mr Feiner’s personal opinion simply “can’t be” since he is always the supervisor and cannot simply stop being the Supervisor to render a personal opinion. Every time he speaks, like it or not, he is speaking as the Supervisor. As such, he has often said this property should be developed for recreational use. Fine. Just don’t try to sell it to a private, for-profit business as a loss-leader under the guise of offering the Town residents another sports field. The only way residents will use any of this facility’s resources is by paying for them! This is not good for the Town.

This summer found Mr Feiner changing his spin once Bob Bernstein’s fact-laden campaign began exposing his litany of lies. He insisted the Town would do another RFP, put a new sign up advertising the property and have all bidders meet with the environmental consultants to generate maximum interest and revenue for the property. Simply, this was classic Feiner-spin fabricated in the moment. This is something Mr Feiner does often, without regard for the truth, strictly to benefit himself at any given moment. This is not good for the Town.

Doing another RFP would actually shut GameOn 365 out of the process because they cannot compete against the House of Sports’ cash resources or an offer for double the amount. House of Sports offered to willingly do the environmental cleanup at their expense as long as they knew the assigned zoning usage for the property. GameOn 365 could not. That alone would have been good enough reason to “seal the deal”. Next, putting a sign out on front of the property is as absurd as Mr Feiner’s claim that he posted the sale on his blog, thinking this would result in a sale. Finally, House of Sports’ only condition for purchase was to know what the zoning use for the property would be by the Town. They also wanted the full environmental report from the Town so they could estimate how and what work would need to be done should they purchase it. The Town never replied to the House of Sports request. These two requests were then transformed by Mr Feiner into “too many conditions” from the House of Sports as a serious purchaser.

House of Sports is a proven winner with their highly successful and well-run facility in Ardsley. This should have been a no-brainer for our Town leaders. An easy $3.5M with little-to-no effort. But our Town Board only plays ball under Mr Feiner’s direction and are subsequently aligned with his chosen purchaser. Instead of making the maximum interest and maximum revenue for the property his goal, as Mr Feiner stated earlier, our Town Board co-opted for politics as usual, and towed the line as instructed. This is not good for the Town.

Many have asked when the Town-wide Comprehensive Planning Committee will unveil their five-years-in-the-making Town Comprehensive Plan. Mr Feiner really doesn’t want it because once implemented, it will severely limit his ability to spot-zone properties for his numerous developer friends. So each time the Committee gets close to completing the plan, Mr Feiner tasks them with another issue to address. The last time was reviewing and correcting the Town’s existing zoning maps. This monumental task has finally been completed by the committee. Mr Feiner maintains this plan will be ready by the end of this year. That’s factually impossible given the amount of public review, revisits, rewrites and changes that will need to be made to it and then the ultimate adoption of it. Another Feiner fabrication. 

Mr Feiner continues to make unsubstantiated claims that other developers besides GameOn 365 and House of Sports are interested in the former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. When pushed for an answer as to who these mysterious developers are,  Mr Feiner refuses to answer. GameOn 365 appears to be moving forward with erecting their 83 ft/8-story tall inflatable bubble on the golf driving range property adjacent to the former Franks plot. This seems to be another Feiner-like deflection from the fact that they don’t have the money or investors to compete against House of Sports’ (or any other) bid for the property. But they have to appear committed to building a sports bubble, no matter how improbable it may be. Their intent now seems to be that they will erect their bubble literally in the backyard of the Westchester View Lane residents and seek the Frank’s property for parking. Subterfuge, lies, posturing, empty bank accounts, non-existent investors. These are just some of what Mr Feiner endorses with this charade. Mr Feiner has stated over and over again that he wants an RFP for this property. Normally, in any place other than Bizarro Greenburgh, it would be the correct way to proceed. But if an RFP took place, he won’t be able to stack the deck as easily to assist GameOn 365 in getting the property. This is not good for the Town.

Mr Feiner announced at the last Work Session that he has now decided to auction the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to the highest bidder without any conditions and for a minimum of $3.5M. At face value this seems perfectly viable but what happened to the RFP he promised? The Democratic Primary is over – back to business as usual. But an auction provides a way out for Mr Feiner and GameOn 365. Here’s what ABG believes will happen. 

GameOn 365 will bid whatever amount they do (its really immaterial). House of Sports will bid $3.5M. Any other bidders who participate are mere icing on the cake. The bids will either be too low, have too many conditions or will simply not happen because the Town will not be forthcoming with the zoning information for the property or the requisite cleanup of it. Knowing how the property is intended to be zoned and used mandates what must be done for hazardous remediation to the property. This is what was holding back House of Sports with proceeding with their offer into a sale. Mr Feiner also knew they would not proceed if he didn’t provide the information. Common sense tells us that no CEO or company in their right mind would purchase property not knowing this. Mr Feiner is banking on this and its his ace in the hole to be able to make sure GameOn 365 gets this property for “a song” with the Town on the hook for everything! This is not good for the Town.

Regardless of how many people or organizations bid on this property, Mr Feiner will have some reason for them to be disqualified or have the secret bid, under the guise of an auction, declared null and void. Not surprisingly, Mr Feiner will announce no one bid properly or the required amount, or had conditions and didn’t meet the criteria. With his normal media blitz, he’ll announce he’s made a decision to sell the property, awarding the sale to GameOn 365. He will say we need to move this process forward because the Town is losing so much money, knowing full well it was what he had intended to do now that he’s forced to follow the law he had previously tried to ignore. The amount of the sale will be the lesser amount he originally tried to gift to GameOn 365 with the illegal lease. Either way, can you say, “Done Deal?” This is not good for the Town.

This saga has gone on for way too long and unfortunately will go on longer because of the  earlier mentioned subterfuge, lies, posturing, empty bank accounts, non-existant investors and the like. It needs to end. This is not good for the Town. Greenburgh taxpayers deserve A Better Greenburgh.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

“Campaign Mailing” and Beautification

Mr Feiner recently sent out another campaign mailing under the guise of touting action that is needed to improve the former WestHelp property on the Westchester Community College campus in the Valhalla portion of the Town of Greenburgh. Had Mr Feiner simply renewed the contract with the County for the WestHelp facility when former County Executive Andrew Spano requested it, the Town would still be reaping $1.2 million per year. But Mr Feiner decided not to renew the contract to gain favor (re: purchase votes) from the Valhalla residents in this election and several key Republican politicians. He knew he would be running against someone in the upcoming election, but couldn’t know who. His formidable opponent this year is Mr Robert “Bob” Bernstein, a resident of Edgemont, an attorney and civic leader who has beaten Mr Feiner in other venues.

Mr Feiner sounded nervous during his acceptance speech at the Democratic Nominating meeting held for free at the Greenburgh Town Hall. In accepting the nomination, he proceeded to state that he welcomed the competition and that this was democracy in action and he looked forward to the campaign with Mr Bernstein.

Separately, this is not the first time democrats have been allowed to utilize Town Hall as Mr Feiner’s personal resources at no charge, but never availed to the republicans at no charge. This all-democratic administration obviously has its perks! Another perk he does enjoy is that of being able to lie to the public and have the mainstream media regurgitate it verbatim.

Almost immediately afterwards, during the campaign ballot signature acquisition period, he challenged the signatures submitted by Mr Bernstein for Supervisor, Mr Sheehan for Town Council and Ms Fantauzzi’s for Town Clerk as fraudulent, as well as Mr Sheehan’s residency as fraudulent. The case was thrown out of court after three day of courtroom melodrama by Mr Feiner and his counsel Assemblyman Abinanti, Mr Feiner shrugged off the loss stating he was looking forward to the competition. If he were looking forward to the competition, why the court action?

Mr Feiner’s flawed decision to not renew the County’s WestHelp contract for $1.2 million per year, which would have guaranteed the Town 10-years worth of income for little if any effort, affects more than just our bottom line. The 100+ units of housing that was championed by our now-Governor and then-HUD Housing Chairman Andrew Cuomo(D), was slated to transform from affordable/subsidized housing for the homeless into affordable/subsidized housing for seniors.

Regardless of whether it was subsidized housing or not, the need for it and its usefulness has never diminished. Mr Feiner determined that the Town should not renew the contract. Not the Board, not the Greenburgh Housing Authority, not the County and certainly not the State. And now that the State has finally said “No” to Mr Feiner’s folly to sell the County property the Town doesn’t own to the Ferncliff School of Yonkers, Mr Feiner awarded the property through a falsified bid to an upstart company named MRH. Then he attempted to accuse the public, especially the G10, of bid-rigging. Bid-rigging cannot happen from the public or Mr Feiner’s critics. It will usually have to happen between politicians who set the parameters of the bid and bidders.

Mr Feiner’s letter claims the fire department’s recommendations to increase the paved space to make access of emergency (fire) vehicles more effective is going to ruin the look of the facility. He also claims these are expensive changes. What will the cost be is conveniently not mentioned. Would it be under $1.2 million? Apparently the lives of seniors in their sunset years are not as important as trying to save them in the event of an emergency. His claim that implementing these changes will make the housing less desirable because of the removal of the grass in this “stunning environment” is absurd. The fire department proposal setting senior residents’ safety as paramount should take preference over the look of the facility. His argument to keep the good-looking facility the way it is is amazingly short-sighted, risky to the lives of those living there, and contrary to his actions taken with almost every other project. How so you ask?

When Westhab purchased the property at 22 Tarrytown Road with county, state and federal funding, they requested variances for the setback, seeking to build literally from the curb to the respective edges of the property. To ensure approval of this variance, they promised a green roof in place of the resulting less porous area. Mr Feiner could not approve their request fast enough! Residents clamored about the safety of a recreational green roof, the increased impervious space and flood water runoff. Mr Feiner did not flinch and illogically supported their proposal. When Brightview Assisted Living sought to do the same thing, again Mr Feiner was first in line. The list continues as Mr Feiner chooses whichever side will garner him more votes. It must stop!

WestHelp will eventually begin to change as MRH moves to begin implementing the contract with the Town that they got by lying on their bid application to the Town. Lying seems to be a hallmark of the Feiner Administration. The lies that germinate from the Town’s administration changes as quickly as the headlines do. The public never seems to remember and whatever the Supervisor says must be true. This behavior is finally catching up with the Mr Feiner.

“Would you prefer to live in a campus environment-with beautiful gardens and lawns? Or, would you want to live in an apartment complex that is paved over? We want the parking placed a short distance from the current WESTHELP campus.” Generally, so do we. But we refuse to stay with the status quo while risking the lives of the residents there! If the alternative is being homeless, we’re pretty sure most people will be happy to walk across the paved lot and enjoy the view of the woods some 50 feet away. Drop this facade Mr Feiner and work on undoing the damage done by you and your administration.

While Mr Feiner continues to show interest in green space, solar energy, shutting down Indian Point, saving the TZ bridge, biking to Timbuktu and the like, he should be spending his time administering the Town’s government. He has spent 22-years not doing that and it is why we find ourselves with convoluted regulations, fees and fines against businesses that are increasing the For Sale and For Rent signs throughout the Town. Our businesses need a business-friendly environment. Once we have this, the exodus from Greenburgh will ebb. We need real tax relief for our residents to slow and stop their exodus. We need our infrastructure updated and modernized. We need flooding addressed Town-wide. The list goes on. Speaking of exoduses, it’s time for the Democratic portion of the electorate to make an important decision regarding an exodus on September 10. Please come out and vote. We need A Better Greenburgh.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Running Scared

A regular reader of ABG recently called to say he had received a phone call from Judith Beville, the Greenburgh Town Clerk. Her call was standard campaign faire and possibly an obligatory gesture on her part as pay back for her benefactor’s largess. Mr Feiner is her benefactor. He typically foots the bill for all candidates that run with him for election (or re-election) paying for mailings, lawn signs and the like from his campaign war chest of over $100+k. The fee for the lawsuit against his challenger for Town Supervisor candidate Robert Bernstein was invariably taken care of by Mr Feiner. Back to the phone call.

Our reader stated that he, a republican married to a democrat, answered the home phone when it rang. Ms Beville stated she was calling on behalf of the Greenburgh democrats running for Supervisor, the Town Clerk position and one Town Board seat. She talked about convicted felon and incumbent Councilwoman/Attorney Diana Juettner, but failed to mention Mr Sheehan who voted against Mr Feiner at least twice this year, creating a political wall that may not be passable for him at this point. It’s also our belief that Mr Sheehan will be “Sonya’d” and won’t be on the Town Board much longer even if he wins the race this time.

Ms Beville proceeded to bemoan Mr Bernstein and that he is not a very nice person, he is an attorney and has sued the Town and Mr Feiner numerous times. She didn’t mention that Mr Feiner invites lawsuits if someone doesn't like what he’s doing. She did mention Mr Feiner has always been the taxpayer’s “Problem Solver”. She didn’t mention that he usually creates most of the problems. She did mention that Mr Feiner was a very nice guy and has been Supervisor for the last 22 years. Being in office that long has yielded the Town a AAA Bond rating. She didn’t say the Town has never taken advantage of that bond rating or ever plans to utilize it.

She then asked her reader if she could count on our reader to vote for her, Mr Feiner and Ms Juettner for the democratic endorsement in the November primary. He responded after she explained why he and his spouse should vote for them in the primary with a chuckle. He told her he can’t vote because he is a registered Republican and voting, as she well knows, is only open to registered democrats. But, he assured her that while his spouse may vote for her, she will most surely not voting for Mr Feiner. She said she has been getting that same response from many of the democratic voters she has called and spoken with. Is it any wonder she is getting responses like that given the shenanigans, back-room deals, spot-zoning, illegal actions and so on geminating from that one corner office?

This coming democratic primary to be held on September 10 promises to be a close one in that Mr Feiner, a 22-year incumbent, has worn out his welcome with many residential and business residents. Mr Bernstein has certainly alienated some with his lawsuits against the Town. But, as we have stated previously, ABG has always believed that Mr Bernstein has always done what was in the best interest of the Town, while Mr Feiner has not. It is for that lone reason alone that we suggest you put aside your personal feelings of both candidates and evaluate them by their words and their actions. ABG has certainly written enough in the past five years to give much of the information rarely printed by the mainstream media and especially Mr Feiner. ABG believes the decision becomes an easy one to make in that context. ABG encourages all Democrats to participate in their Primary to pick a candidate for their party endorsement. You may just be helping to create A Better Greenburgh.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Coalition To Protect Their Jobs


A recent meeting hosted by The Paul at his personal meeting room (Town Hall) found numerous politicians assembled in a move to preserve their jobs and limit any competition from challengers, regardless of their party affiliation. ABG is reminded of the recent changes in Albany by the democrats to increase their span of control. Here, however, is a move under the guise of campaign reform that promises to increase the incumbents’ chances of never being voted out of office.

Former 20-year Westchester County Legislator and current NYS Assemblyman Thomas “Proclamation” Abinanti rarely spends his own money on a campaign. He prefers to use mailings from his elected office instead. It’s his personal Golden Goose. As a “news” or “informational” mailing, he as well as other elected politicians, are able to mail his entire constituency repeatedly and use duplicate and/or unique mailings at no cost. The cost is shifted to the electorate through our taxes. No doubt you’ve seen the mailings. They may come in the form of a letter or more often as a glossy array of photos showing proclamations being presented, checks exchanged, and ribbon cutting ceremonies to preserve a tree in someone’s name. It really doesn’t matter what the event as long as the politician has a photo of it.

Abinanti’s plan is to introduce a state bill that would have villages, towns, cities and counties fund elections with public money. Municipalities that participate in the program would provide candidates with $6 for every $1 that the candidates might raise. He claims that his bill, which would put a strain on municipalities that are struggling with tight budgets already, would reduce the influence that big donors have on campaigns and politicians. This move seems like something Abinanti would create to save a buck. Any money that he may have raised and is in his campaign war chest would not be used and go directly to him at some point. What it really does is aid the incumbents as they maintain a donar list and benefactors who continue to purchase what they want by greasing a politicians campaign.
During this meeting at our Town Hall, Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick, known in Yonkers as “Lesnick the Liar”, said, “Opting into the program would cost Yonkers. They hold elections every other year and our costs are about $500,000 each election. He added “You can’t judge everything in terms of dollars and cents. What is a clean government worth?” What indeed? The Yonkers Inspector General seems to constantly work in hyperdrive doing investigations of political wrong-doings in the City of Hills, where nothing is on the level.

Finally The Paul added his two-cents worth saying, “Campaigns should not be about raising dollars but should be about issues.” It should always be about issues but never is. The Paul has over $100K in his campaign war-chest that will continue to grow and remain untouched. The Paul will once again be running unopposed with his two Stepford Board members Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan and Diana “Sleepy” Juettner. Apparently, the Greenburgh Republican leadership prefers to remain in the shadows rather than do the work required to mount a campaign against them. For a change, The Paul is right that it should be about the issues. Issues such as: Fortress Bible guilty verdict, Dromore Road zoning, increased Service Station taxation on Central Avenue, WestHelp contract violations, WestHab spot-zoning and zoning violations, Rt 119 over-development, Assisted Living facilities zoning on undersized parcels of land, and more. But in Greenburgh, where it should be about the issues, it won’t. If our politicians never leave office, we’ll never get better representation. This bill should be killed and one for term limits should be offered instead. We can only hope.