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.
