ESCO Scam Perpetuated On Taxpayers Again

 A Message to All From the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations:

The original intent was to wait a few more days to receive Con Edison bills for the month of December and then issue a 2020 year-end table demonstrating the cost difference to five residents who “opted out” of the ESCO contract for electric supply in which the Greenburgh Town Board enrolled nearly 12,000 resident and small businesses users.

However, in response to a number of calls, the Executive Board of the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations feels it necessary to reply to some misinformation that the Town released Wednesday (1/13/21) in an email blast regarding the new 18-month ESCO contract.

The Town’s email stated:  “We’re happy to announce that the Town of Greenburgh and our neighboring communities will be renewing our participation in Sustainable Westchester’s Westchester Power (WP) program.”  In fact, more than half of Greenburgh’s “neighboring communities” – Town of Mount Pleasant, Village of Elmsford, Town of Scarsdale, Town of Eastchester, City of Yonkers – have never participated in this Westchester Power program.

While it is true that the Westchester Power program did offer a “clean electricity supply choice since 2016,” Greenburgh residents and small businesses were not part of that choice.  Instead, the Town enrolled Greenburgh residents and small businesses in the “standard option” which means they have been paying for electricity to be supplied mainly by fossil fuels and nuclear.  Thus, no tons of greenhouse gases have been mitigated.

The only thing Greenburgh residents and small businesses who had not “opted out” could rely on was a fixed rate of 7.709 cents per kilowatt hour. And, that fixed rate has been costly to those Greenburgh residents and small businesses. The CGCA urges you to compare that fixed rate price with the kWh costs listed on the attached table for five properties that did “opt out.”

Please focus attention on the column for Property #5. As the table indicates, over the past 22 months this property has paid considerably less each month for electricity than the 7.709 cents per kWh cost charged by the Town’s chosen ESCO.  The most recent cost to Property #5 was 5.5 cents per kWh, mainly for the month of November.  While this mere 2.209 cents saved per kWh may not appear great, please be aware that Property #5 is a “total electric living” household.  The owner is the sole occupant who rarely uses the oven and carefully controls indoor temperatures.  Even so, 1,544 kWh of electricity were used between November 5 and December 9.  That 2.209 cents difference amounted to a savings of over $35 for this time period.  Even greater numbers of kWh will likely be used and more savings may be possible in the colder months ahead.

Can you imagine what the electricity costs are to a “total electric living” four-bedroom townhouse, such as those at Westchester Hills, occupied by four or more family members? Electricity is used to heat or cool the rooms; run an oven for hours to cook meals including roasting that Thanksgiving turkey; heat hot water for multiple residents to take showers, wash dishes, wash clothes; dry laundry; provide lighting; and power refrigerators, TVs, computers and numerous other appliances.

The Town’s choice for the 2-year (2019-2020) ESCO contract has been quite costly for "total electric living" residents and the almost 12,000 other residents and small business electricity users.  Yet, the Town has failed to take any responsibility to inform users of this cost factor over the past two years.  This is especially troubling during this last year when so many residents and small business owners have been negatively impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new 18-month ESCO contract the Town approved becomes effective with January 2021 meter readings and does provide for the “green” sustainable option at a cost of 7.405 cents per kWh which is slightly less expensive that what users have been paying.  We will have to wait to see what the financial impact will be.

The Town’s January 13 email contained other inaccurate and dated information that is not worth addressing at this time. Hopefully, in the months ahead, the Town will do a better job of reading information it receives before posting it on the Town’s website.  And hopefully it will provide accurate and up-to-date information, as it promised, on whether this new green ESCO contract is to your advantage.

Stay safe and well.
Ella Preiser, CGCA Secretary

Sports Authority Announces All Stores Closing

We originally posted an article on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 that the Sports Authority chain had filed for bankruptcy protection. Sadly, they have announced plans to close all of their stores and liquidate their inventory and assets.

Sports Authority has changed direction and decided to try to sell off its assets rather than trying to reorganize under bankruptcy protection. Initially, the sporting goods chain, said it would close or sell about a third of its 463 stores but stay open as a more streamlined company. The company’s lawyers said it had changed its approach.

In addition to a Yonkers store at the Cross County mall, Sports Authority has a store in Elmsford.

No Confidence In Process After Supervisor Speaks

It is not a surprise to anyone who follows Greenburgh politics that the proverbial “deck” is stacked against the residents by our Town administration. Ironically, while it is technically the “Feiner Administration”, it’s certainly not a “finer” administration – in fact, it’s far from it. The Town Board and in particular Mr Feiner, knowing the media would be present at its previous Wednesday night meeting, began to use words like honest, honestly, honesty, confidence, the process and so on quite often as well as conjunctively! Media-savvy Mr Feiner took the lead and his re-election teammates ran with it. Regardless of what Mr Feiner and half the Town Board says, every resident we spoke to gave a vote of “No Confidence” with this administration. Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Always the behind-the-scenes operative, Mr Feiner sent an email to Dorrine Livson, President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association, who felt it should be seen by all and has no problem sharing information. You may recall that Ms Livson asked for the GBList from Mr Feiner and the Town through the Freedom of Information Law and was denied the request. She appealed to the same Town Board denying the request because, well, here is another convoluted process with which the public has no confidence. Not surprisingly her appeal was also denied – by the same people she was requesting the information from!

Sadly, while Mr Feiner has no intention of releasing the GBList to Ms Livson and is comfortable disobeying another court order, he has no compunction about using the coveted GBList for a non-Greenburgh civic association from Yonkers. This association borders Mr Feiner’s gated community and would have affected his home value and quality of life. Do as I say, not as I do? Here’s a copy of that email:

Click on the email to enlarge

With no other recourse, Ms Livson filed an Article 78 with the courts to seek justice for both Town Board refusals of the information requested. She was victorious. However, now as another stall tactic, the Town says they are appealing her court victory. Regardless of that outcome, here is the latest email Mr Feiner sent to Ms Livson:
Dear Dorrine,
I know that you and I have some differences re: the appropriateness of the Board commencing a traffic and environmental study of the Game On application. However- the Board made the decision. It's time to move on and have an honest, unbiased review of the application and the impact the facility will have on the community - if it is approved.
 
We are going to be issuing a request for proposals. And then will interview the possible consultants before making a decision.

I want to work with you and your association members during the review process. And, also want to reassure you that I have not made up my mind how I will vote on this application.

Thanks for your comments and participation.
Paul

Several points we’d like to make with regards to this email. First, while it may seem innocuous enough by itself, there is an underlying message of pomposity and certainly one of non-respect for the community. Second, and possibly most importantly is that he is now claiming “the Board” did this. The vote is split 2 for the proposal and 2 against the proposal with Mr Feiner casting the deciding vote. It is well known in Greenburgh politics that if a Board member seeks re-election, they must tow Mr Feiner’s line or be “Sonya’d”*. Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Mr Feiner has never been objective when it comes to the GameOn 365 application. For almost 5 years now, he has been GameOn 365’s biggest cheerleader. From an illegal lease, ignoring higher offers for the former Frank’s Nursery property, to now wasting time on an application that should not be entertained. His actions, to be honest (his phrase) show his true self. He has mandated by his and his two colleague’s actions by voting to intend to become the lead agency actually initiates this process for this proposal for an approximately 107,000 sq. ft. indoor recreation facility along with an outdoor playing field, while retaining a reduced portion of the existing golf driving range, and provide related features such as landscaping and parking. Again for the uninitiated, he promised his friend the deal and he plans to deliver! The issue is becoming clouded by Mr Feiner’s deflection in making this about the GameOn 365’s proposed sports mega-plex. It’s not! It’s about changing residential zoning to allow commercial enterprises in residential neighborhoods. Don’t lose sight of this as Mr Feiner will continue his deflection technique.

How do we know this is nothing more than a confidence (con) scheme? Simple. Here’s an email we received by accident back in 2012 from Martin Hewitt (GO365 principle) to Mr Feiner cautioning to not send emails as they could be FOILed. Note the portion that says, “...first breach that could be FOIL’d that may tip Donald off...” Donald, by the way, is one of the owners of Elm Street Sports in Ardsley, NY, operating the House of Sports facility. Here’s that email:

Click on the email to enlarge

At this week’s Town Board meeting, two Board members and Mr Feiner agreed to to start the review process of the application for a zone change to allow a recreation facility to be built on Dobbs Ferry Road by declaring their intent to become the Lead Agency (the first step) for this project. So, regardless of Mr Feiner’s posturing (lying?), the process has begun under the guise of a non-committal intent, foisting a traffic study (the second step) upon us – residents be damned! He’s begun his rope-a-dope as he fosters more misinformation to anyone who will listen. Here’s a sampling of it: The Town Board will hire a traffic expert to conduct a traffic study.; we will analyze the traffic impacts and the environmental/quality of life impacts in communities that have similar Sports facilities. Under New York State law the applicant (Game On) pays for the consultant costs. But, the Town Board selects the consultant. So what? Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Mr Feiner is technically correct how he has phrased this next sentence. “The Town Board did not approve any application this week. We just started the review process”. What this really means is they have initiated the first step of the review process which is what would happen if they had sat up there and said they were declaring themselves the Lead Agency. It’s semantics and deflection to keep the average, uninformed residents guessing. What does this mean for the average Greenburgh citizen? Simply, don't stand to close to the tracks, you might get hurt as this train won’t slow down as it approaches the station. This favored method of operation by the Town Board has to change. Only when residents no longer feel as though they are being railroaded will we get A Better Greenburgh.

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. 

The Paul Feigns Capital Plan

The Paul’s latest stenographer, Greg Shillinglaw, recently “took a letter” from his other boss, The Paul. ABG believes he was probably guided to merely rewrite The Paul’s carefully worded press release and submit it as his own story for the Sunday edition of the newspaper. No harm, no foul, right? So while The Paul is touting his “most significant capital budget of his 20-year tenure” to the tune of $11.9M, the reality is that his budget is a large as it is due to his actions and a good number of illegal actions.

After continual prodding by the G-10 and others, The Paul has finally acquiesced and said he would have the Town perform a revaluation. The last time the Town had a revaluation was in the mid-1950’s. Once he started that mantra, his Stepford Board hopped onto the bandwagon and talked often about it. That was all they did was talk about it. The Paul claimed they were shopping for the best price, hoping to combine the cost with other communities, most notably the City of Yonkers. So even though the entire onus may not have originally been on The Paul, had he done his due diligence when he was first elected, we wouldn’t be in such a sorry state of financial straights as we now find ourselves with certiorari refunds. The Paul has been teasing us with a revaluation/reassessment for several years now. He even formed a committee. You know how that goes: form a committee to make sure nothing happens. As long as we‘re at it, let’s appoint convicted felon Alan Hochberg to head it. So with all of The Paul’s talk of “price-fishing”, Yonkers went ahead without us, Bronxville has completed theirs and Scarsdale is wrapping their revaluations up. Once again, The Paul is all talk, no action.

In a different press release, The Paul obviously bypassed the Town’s accounting department and began advertising the Town could save $4+M over twenty years by spending a small fortune in LED light bulbs for Town light fixtures. Forget that his math was fuzzy by about half the actual amount we might save. Forget that disposing of currently working light bulbs that have already been paid for makes no economic sense. Forget that he felt the inflated savings warranted a major press release and got his news media surrogates to go along with him. Slow news day perhaps? Nope! When The Paul speaks, they are obliged to regurgitate it. Curiously, why didn’t they challenge his incorrect numbers before printing the press release? More importantly, why is Shillinglaw just going along with whatever The Paul spews?

Continuing, the article quotes The Paul saying, “These are major policy issues – not just infrastructure improvements.” The Paul is right that they are policy issues. But to try to combine them even indirectly into infrastructure improvements is just wrong. The Paul has not allotted money toward any infrastructure improvements during most of his tenure as Supervisor. And spending $500k to save $300k is merely reckless wasting of Town resources and money. What he should be doing is replacing existing light bulbs and light fixtures to newer LED ones only when the old bulbs or fixtures fail and as necessary. Otherwise, this is simply a campaign stunt.

The Paul claims to be losing money with the existing installed water meters and has championed the Town to spend (with residents ultimately reimbursing) $3.5M to replace every household and business’ water meter to a new digital, remote reading one. While technology may be great, do we really want our Town’s water meters constantly broadcasting homeowner’s information? Given that so many of us are using wireless networks in our homes and businesses, how might this open us up to a hacker? How easy might it be for a 14-year old to hack into our information? Or, how about the 30-year old professional hacker and thief? And even if they cannot break in, will it wreak havoc with our wireless networks and compromise everyones security? Who will install these new meters and does it now need a power source? There are too many unanswered questions that need to be answered before we proceed.

A while back, 19 laptops were stolen from the Theodore Young Community Center. The police refused to question everybody and the culprits were never apprehended. Nor were the computers recovered. To improve security at the TYCC, The Paul is proposing spending $25k to beef up the security system. Forget that we are closing the barn door after the laptops were taken. But, with every other possible expenditure in the budget, this was what The Paul chose to focus upon? This is what Shillinglaw chose to let The Paul focus on as well! This is nother less than an abdication of responsibility on the part of both of them. We expect this kind of chicanery from The Paul. Since the editors at the Journal News allow Shillinglaw to publish this as news, its apparent they condone the lack of journalism emanating from their new offices of the Journal News. It’s time for their reporters and our politicians to be held to a higher standard and stop allowing this lazy effort to be considered reporting. We can only hope.

Et Tu?

As the saying goes, everything that goes around, comes around. It’s finally come around to The Paul. After abusing the trust placed with him by the electorate, he continually, routinely and cavalierly tossed their concerns aside and has done what he wanted. He spot-zoned numerous properties throughout the Unincorporated Town without regard to input and concerns voiced by the neighborhoods. He granted whatever any developer asked for and continues to do this today. As part of the 1%-ers, he was able to nestle his family quite comfortably in the gated community of Boulder Ridge at the edge of the Hastings-on-Hudson border near Costco, Home Depot and Stew Leonard’s.

There are discussions underway for a proposed commercial and residential development in Yonkers on the back side or northern cap of the Stew Leonard’s, Home Depot and Costco property. This property abuts the gated wonderland that The Paul lives in and would ultimately stunt the view of the Boulder Ridge homes. How? The proposal is to build a multiple use retail building encompassing 255,000 square feet of space by the retail giant Target and 400 residential apartments. This is exactly the right place for this type of combined project for Yonkers. Unless you are The Paul. It’s a bit complicated and yet so very simple. The Paul and his neighbors cannot complain that this will hurt their cherished view, or that these apartments may become low-income or even Section 8 housing (well practiced in Yonkers), and supposedly lower the value of their million dollar homes. So, they are saying that the increase in traffic will be a big issue for the area.

Really? Traffic as a problem? Nah! Every project that has been proposed in Greenburgh and come in front of the Town Board where the issue of increased traffic was a concern has been ignored by The Paul and his “go-along” Board. Add to the woes of increased local traffic due to the never-ending and over-budgeted I-287, 15-year debacle and you have significant traffic issues. This 15-year project has caused an upheaval in traffic on local roads as well as created massive traffic jams on the highway. But every traffic study supplied for every project, regardless of the scope or results were ignored by The Paul and his Stepford Board. Several projects where these results were ignored were the super Stop and Shop on Rt 119, the Greenburgh Health Center on Knollwood Road, WestHab in Fulton Park, Brightview Assisted Living Center at Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue and Dromore Road. All neighborhood pleas were ignored.

Interestingly, when the traffic study for Fulton Park was released and discussed, the report stated that the traffic in the area was already at an “F” rating. This should not be misconstrued as an “F” that a student would receive on a test. It is part of an alphabetical rating system that has a different meaning, and yet in this case had the same result! We all know that any report and its figures can be presented to deliver the results the presenter desires. Westhab’s traffic “expert” stated that the forty or fifty car increase in traffic at rush hour and during the course of the day in an already overburdened roadway system would be “negligible”. The Planning Board ignore these findings but the Zoning Board voted against the Westhab project and actually validated the neighborhood’s complaint and voted to recommend against a zoning change and halt the project. ABG believes The Paul told his Board, in a closed-door Executive session, to ignore this recommendation and vote for the massive zoning change. Ignore the traffic report details, the nay vote from Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, the neighborhood’s collective voices, and push his pet project through – which they did!

When the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association complained to The Paul and the Town Board against the sports bubble that GameOn 365 wanted to build at the old Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, they soon found that The Paul not only supported the 83 foot, 8-story tall sports bubble, The Paul brokered the deal! Since when does a public official get involved with pushing a private sector deal through the governmental maze for developers? Since they came to Greenburgh. ABG cannot prove collusion but indeed wonders why The Paul and his minions would do this?

The shoe now appears to be on the other foot. The Paul’s position as Supervisor, already in double-overtime and in rapid decline, cannot stop the City of Yonkers from moving forward with developing their industrial area by the Yonkers toll booth/Stew Leonard’s/Home Depot/Costco’s. Like Fulton Park, the industrial area is right next to a residential area and Greenburgh’s forefathers intent was to allow a buffer from light commercial to residential and preserve the integrity of the residential neighborhood. But not The Paul. Rather than leave a buffer for the transition into Fulton Park, a much less affluent neighborhood than Boulder Ridge, The Paul decided to build and build big.

Yonkers and their developers have decided to do what is good for them, within their city and unfortunately, ignore the surrounding neighborhood. We recognize that Yonkers is in dire straights. The Paul has created the same environment in Greenburgh as we’ve experienced a decline in our quality of life throughout the Town. Perhaps the Boulder Ridge residents will not only view these stores and apartment buildings from their back windows, but will recognize this same decline other residents throughout Greenburgh have endured for years at the hands of The Paul. Et Tu? We can only hope.

New Deflection Tactic: It’s Not Me, It’s Them!

ABG has bemoaned The Paul’s deflection tactics quite often. The latest “game” is his tactical switch regarding The Paul’s abandoning of the WestHelp property and contract. The contract would have generated a guaranteed $1.2 million in revenue if The Paul had simply signed the renewal contract between the County and the Town. Traction of The Paul’s inaction is spreading, and even The Paul’s allies in the lamestream media are now starting to say he cost the Town $1.2 million a year. Imagine how different the stories might have been had The Pauls’s media cohorts actually reported instead of regurgitating his press releases?

The Paul’s newest tact is that Westchester County is not moving fast enough for The Paul and his Stepford Board in making a decision with possible usage of the former WestHelp site on the Westchester Community College campus. So now, instead of recognizing and being associated with inaction to the loss of $1.2 million in contracts with the County, The Paul wants to be seen as trying to use that property right away, that it is languishing even though he has a prospective tenant for it. Apparently, his lead agency mentality with the ability to ramrod through any he decision he desires has taken hold. ABG believes if feels if he can deflect the conversation away from his inaction about not signing the contract to making the issue about the County Executive’s inaction with the property, he’ll shine again, the clouds will part and everyone will forget his bungling of the no-brainer contract. ABG will not let that happen.

He’d like us to forget that the facility is vacant and falling into disrepair because of his refusal to renew that contract. He’d like us to think then County Executive Andy Spano’s office delayed the contract to renew and it’s because of them the facility is vacant (its always someone else’s fault). He’d like to convince us that the Spano administration was seeking to repurpose the property anyway and his inaction was not the reason Greenburgh no longer is being paid for a contract he chose to abandon.

The contract with the County-owned property was to manage the facility for low income people. ABG is not concerned with who specifically lives there, rather, that qualified and/or deserving and people needing housing are provided help. The Town’s Greenburgh Housing Authority has a waiting list of about 250 people seeking low income housing. The amount of homes this could provide to some of those people could reduce that number by 108, the amount of units at the facility. ABG feels The Paul should bite the ego-bullet, admit he screwed up – again – and take real action providing homes for those on the waiting list. ABG doesn’t want to see more press releases about building a new school for a Yonkers school when Greenburgh residents need a place to live! The needs of our own should be what is motivating The Paul. Unfortunately, they’re not!

The Town officials may be tired of waiting for the Astorino administration to submit legislation to change the venue of the property. Too bad. The Paul and his Stepfords can solicit proposals all day long. There is a contract in place that says Greenburgh, through the Greenburgh Housing Authority, shall run this facility for it’s intended purpose - housing. The Town is breaking the lease by not providing low income housing at this site. Stop making up numbers about how much the property could generate with a school versus affordable housing and put those in need under a roof. ABG realizes The Paul has lost the $1.2 million for this year and should move on. Literally. Just go. We can only hope.