Honest Answers Welcome But Deflection Triumphs

Whenever Mr Feiner's latest guilty verdict is highlighted, he goes into what we've tagged as "deflection mode". You've seen this time and time again and we've written about it as often. The difference between us and the mainstream media is that we see it exactly for what it is. They, on the other hand, will reprint what he says without question or challenge. ABG believes they've abdicated their role as the fourth estate. Knowing he will get them "to play" by simply saying a few media-friendly buzz-words, he stated the Town's fire districts should consolidate. He began his rant to consolidate the Fairview and Hartsdale paid fire departments and deflected attention away from his failing budget, guilty verdict judgements and the general financial distress the Town of Greenburgh has been delivered. His ploy worked, his schemes have worked but his actions are failing. His policies are failing. HE is failing.

Mr Feiner has a small cadre of die hard loyalists who will do his bidding for him, allowing his appearance of being hands-off any hot button topic - such as fire district consolidation. In fact, when a Town Board meeting is not going his way, he will get on his mobile device and rally his troops via text messaging for help. As he stalls the meeting with his ramblings, awaiting his serfs arrival, they are given quick and unfettered access to the microphone. Their standard response might be an iteration of, "I was watching this at home and was so upset I had to come in to speak..." Others, in particular the G10, must sign up early and wait until called, usually after these troops have had their privileged say. Mr Feiner has perfected this routine and utilizes it often.

When Mr Feiner's guilty verdict was announced, the victorious Fortress Bible Church Discrimination lawsuit was almost put to bed. The judge had given ample opportunity to Mr Feiner and the Town to settle the case outside of the courts, but Mr Feiner, a non-practicing attorney, did not take advantage of the golden opportunity before he and the Town Board. His being obstinate, based on how many times Mr Feiner acted against the law and found guilty by the courts, keeps costing us more and more money we just don't have. One question we have been posing for years is why Mr Feiner can be found guilty in Federal Court on seven counts of discrimination, lying under oath, destroying evidence and still not be disbarred? It's business as usual in Greenburgh and for that matter, New York. Chicago has nothing on us.

Mr Feiner knows the taxpayers have deep pockets and brags they're only being zapped with a 3.4% tax increase, well under the NYS 2% Tax Cap, to pay for his illegal actions. We were under the (mistaken?) assumption that Mr Feiner had been personally found guilty and required to pay the penalties associated with the verdict and be forced to personally pay toward the verdict levied.

His latest deflection is to appear supportive of a 9A Bypass to reduce congestion on the 9A corridor. Naturally, like most of his follies, the "best chance of making this happen is now," a statement often made by Mr Feiner for projects he is interested in. This was the recent article in the once-critical and now-friendly White Plains Examiner. Under his hand, he had the Town Board adopt a resolution supporting New York State's pursuing of a 9A Bypass. This is like kissing your aunt on her cheek - it's nice but just doesn't mean anything. Its interesting that now that our Town Planning Commissioner has resigned to go wreak havoc in Stamford, CT., that Mr Feiner comes up with this exercise in futility. Next up? A press conference with his state representative buddies providing them more air time/publicity but producing little more than the promise to draft legislation to investigate the possibility and funding feasibility to study the need to see if there is a traffic congestion problem on 9A. It will go nowhere because there is no funding available for any of this.

Mr Feiner has included the Villages of Ardsley and Elmsford into the fray. Both of these villages are suffering because of the building that has taken place throughout the Town. What he doesn't address is the already congested traffic throughout the Town and the two mega-proposals in the north-end of the Unincorporated Town north of Elmsford at the old Union Carbide property. His press release, dutifully reprinted by the Examiner, says that the Town has $4.3 million dollars in a 9A Bypass Fund collected from new real estate taxes from new developments, but doesn't say what its availability of designated uses might be. We're back to that Aunt you kissed earlier. Its like her telling you she has put money aside for you when she dies, and then doesn't die anytime soon. Its nice but doesn't do you any good.

Saying you're for something is okay. Unfortunately, Mr Feiner is for everything with little action toward anything except providing for his developer friends and donors. Now that the shooting range has been closed, the bloated budget is done, the 10% salary increases for all elected officials complete, the verdict for Fortress Bible Church rendered, WestHelp still unoccupied costing us $1.2M/year, the Frank's Nursery property languishing, Brightview Assisted Living underway, Dromore Road dragging on, the Ferncliff School relocation gone, the Finneran Law changed with no sports bubbles, Midway Shopping Center expansion before the Town, the Trader Joe's expansion painfully lumbering on, the Landmark at Eastview 100+acres proposal starting to see the light of day, the fire consolidation scheme doing its damage, flooding in low lying areas still not addressed, racism at Town Hall unchecked, paving of Deli Delicious' entire property approved, and the Greenburgh Daily Voice turned over to Mr Feiner for his unfettered use, why shouldn't Mr Feiner do what he does best and add to the obsfuscation with a 9A Corridor Bypass to the mix?

 It's time for real leadership in Greenburgh. The stranglehold of political leverage is slowly proving why one-party rule, lack of ideas, and one voice is not good for our Town. The willfully ignorant must change and become involved. Our Town must change. Only then will we start to see A Better Greenburgh.

Opaque Transparency

The Merriam-Webster definition of transparency is shown below. We purposely decided to show it rather than type it out so as to, ahem, be transparent.

A screen capture of the definition of the word, transparent, from
the Merriam-Webster digital dictionary.

Staffers at ABG thought the most accurate definition was #2a: free from pretense or deceit :frank. As in the nursery? Seriously though, free from pretense or deceit accurately sums up the machinations taxpayers have been punished with as Mr Feiner seeks a way to steer the multi-contaminate property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to his chosen beneficiary GameOn 365.

Mr Feiner routinely espouses transparency whenever the topic is broached, usually at a Town Board or similar meeting. His online “go-to” guy is Councilman Francis Sheehan. You’ll recall during Mr Feiner’s preliminary attempt to remove his then-opponent for Town Supervisor Democratic Primary candidate Bob Bernstein, he threw Mr Sheehan under the proverbial bus. Mr Feiner alleged Mr Sheehan’s listed home address on the ballot signature petitions was a lie. Mr Feiner went forward with this accusation knowing that Mr Sheehan and his family had moved into a temporary residence while his home was being remodeled to make it handicapped accessible for his aging mother, who has since passed away. While its unfortunate that Mr Feiner engages in such unscrupulous behavior, this time his wrath fell upon Mr Sheehan. Mr Sheehan’s more recent actions and conversations have caused speculation by some that he might be positioning himself to run for Supervisor against Mr Feiner in the next election. Although at last night’s Town Board meeting he reverted back to saving Mr Feiner from himself as he spoke. The answer might become apparent if Mr Sheehan gets “Sonya’d” by Mr Feiner.

The previous Town Board meeting found several topics discussed by the G10 and others. Mr Feiner and crew also let everyone know that he postponed the Frank’s Nursery “auction” from the previously posted date of December 3, 2013 until some time in 2014. He declined requests to specify a date or explanation as to why he has delayed this again. Ah, transparency. He subsequently mentioned that two other parties have expressed interest in possibly purchasing the property for more than the Town-stipulated minimum bid of $3.5 million. This means he is in communication with others, possibly affecting the outcome of any sale. But what of Mr Feiner’s goal to create a recreational zoning category to ensure limited bid participation for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road? He needs a way to ensure delivery of the property to GameOn 365 and this would certainly keep the amount of participants to a minimum. Ah, transparency.

Residents and taxpayers have said if this property’s sale were properly advertised and marketed we might get more than the paltry $1.7 million (with the Town “carrying” $1.3 million spread out over 13 years at a rate of 2.6%) from Feiner-annointed developer GameOn 365. Ardsley’s House of Sports upped the ante by offering $3.5 million dollars for the property, thwarting Mr Feiner’s easy gifting of the property to GameOn 365. In fact, numerous FOILed emails between Martin Hewitt, a principal for GameOn 365, and Mr Feiner, found them agreeing to cease sending emails and only have verbal contact to avoid having their communications FOILed by outside parties! They agreed to that strategy. Ah, transparency.

One concern highlighted by several residents was that they repeatedly asked for a Request For Proposal (RPF) for the property after Mr Feiner attempted to illegally enter into a lease with GameOn 365 for the 715 Dobbs Ferry Road property. Why an illegal lease you might wonder? Any law Mr Feiner doesn’t like is simply ignored under the old adage to beg forgiveness rather than seek approval. Under Westchester County and New York State law, any property acquired by a municipality must either be developed for the municipality’s use, such as a park, office or other facility (police station and library being the most obvious). If that is not done, the municipality is required to sell it. Mr Feiner’s excuse for the lease was so the Town could keep the property and fifteen years from now be able to “take it back” when it is worth more and do what they will with it. That’s simply not legal to do. We often heard, “If you don’t like what I’m doing, sue me!” from Mr Feiner. So, once again, several neighborhood organizations sued Mr Feiner to stop another illegal action by him. Days before scheduled to go to court Mr Feiner, realizing he would be losing yet another lawsuit, dropped the lease scheme.

Needing to deflect attention away from his illegal actions, he made an announcement that he would put the property up for a referendum and let the voters decide what should be done with the property. Knowing the predictability of Greenburgh voters, he worded the referendum in such a way that would almost guarantee passage. He was right, it did pass. He followed up with a non-stop barrage of hallelujahs that the voters had spoken. What he always purposely avoided saying (as in the truth) was that only the minuscule portion of voters who voted in this election favored the referendum. Disingenuous? Sure, but it took the focus away from Mr Feiner’s illegal lease deal with GameOn 365! Ah, transparency.

So now there is a new sign on the property that says the property is For Sale. No other information is posted, such as whom to contact if one is interested in purchasing the property. The sale has been purported by Mr Feiner to be sold “as is”, referring to the known multiple contaminations on the property from a heating oil spill, carcinogens from being used as a dump for the White Plains Urban Renewal, herbicides, pesticides and whatever else. The fill was placed near the rear of the property, where the property historically floods. Concerns have repeatedly been made about water runoff and the spread of contaminates and carcinogens. Town Attorney Tim Lewis, the “unofficial expert” repetitively informed concerned citizen taxpayers that the contamination was not that bad without conveying specifics. Ah, transparency.

A forthcoming surprise announcement of the sale of the property by Mr Feiner should be entertaining if nothing else. Many have bandied about different ideas and directions the Town might take to make the favored GameOn 365 sale happen. Mr Feiner has often displayed his own brand of shrewdness and misdirection to get what he wants and is probably working on a new plan without input from the Town Board to ensure GameOn 365 success. Unfortunately, this is what we have often come to receive from Mr Feiner.

We’re hopeful, but not confident, that the Town Board will do the right thing and abandon the scheming to ensure only one purchaser for the property. Having an auction with sealed bids is not the spirit or intent of an auction, although legal. Postponing the sale to have time to change the zoning is not the spirit or intent of doing the right thing for the taxpayers and the Town.

The Town Board and Mr Feiner have a fiduciary responsibility to get the largest amount of money for this property. Period. He should abandon these games - pun intended - to award GameOn 365 the property and figure out how to pay back the money he has continued to cost the taxpayers: $8M (Fortess Bible Church), $1.2M/yr (WestHelp), $21M (tax arrears), $3.5M (Frank’s Nursery property), $4M (water meters), 10% salary increases, the list goes on. Mr Feiner rarely respects what is right for the neighborhoods, ultimately degrading the quality of life in those neighborhoods. He should embrace honesty and tell the truth about why he is doing what he does and maybe we can start to see transparency in A Better Greenburgh.

Carcinogens at Frank’s: Should We Ignore?

Resident Hal Samis, having recently retired from the real estate industry, posed these questions to the Town Board and several news media outlets. The Greenburgh Town Board seems to rarely, if ever, answer questions that residents raise at the Town board meetings. ABG felt obliged to publish these as Mr. Samis’ GameOn 365 questions are germane to the public’s right to know. The lamestream media will ignore them to insulate The Paul. Here are Mr. Samis’ unedited questions:

Could these questions be answered? And such preventive action/notice, as would be required or deemed prudent, be undertaken IMMEDIATELY?

1) When does the Lease become effective? I am not asking when rent commences but at what point or date certain that the Tenant (GameOn 365) takes possession of the property and assumes standard Tenant responsibility?

2) Whatever entity controls the property, be it the Town or the Tenant, now that it has been determined that the site is contaminated, i.e. evidence of carcinogens, shouldn't the Landlord and/or Tenant, the responsible party(ies), immediately see to it that the property is properly sealed off from allowing unrestricted entrance and that signs warning of contamination be posted immediately. In its present unsecured state, visitation to the property is both possible and permitted with little effort and assuredly without reliance upon hazmat outerwear.

3) Given that there is no Bonding or even Rent Security required of the Tenant (normally found in all Leases), at the time that the Tenant accepts the Certificate of Occupancy and opens its doors to the Public:

a) over the course of the Tenant's rent paying 15 year term, should discovery find the site to be still contaminated and this to the harm of the visiting and unknowing public (had a less than comprehensive plan of remediation been chosen), who is responsible for such damages as may result from successful litigation by harmed plaintiffs?

b) were the Tenant, GameOn 365 and its successors or assigns, to be found liable by a Court, what assets, other than the existing site improvements net of liens, does the Tenant possess to satisfy such judgements? Since the Town presumably conducted due diligence into the finances of the Tenant and found them to be ready, willing and ABLE to enter into this Lease, I would assume that by unannounced side agreement (albeit contrary to the Lease "this constitutes the entire...") that some sort of escrow arrangement of future profits is required. Am I correct regarding the existence of such?

c) if both the Town and the Tenant, jointly are found liable and, should the Tenant be found lacking in assets, will the Town then be solely responsible for the payment of damages?

d) were the Town and the Tenant, singly or jointly, give consent to a sports facility which will recruit children as paying clientele AND to do so without first seeking all cures and remedies currently available to the Town and the Tenant to cure known contamination, are both the Town Board and the Tenant subject to criminal prosecution?

Please prepare specific answers to the specific questions ready for delivery at the next Town Board meeting. This should require little effort as I'm certain that the Town Board would already know these answers having voted to execute the Lease, having voted to expand the Phase II Study and having accepted the language of the Referendum Proposition.

Hal Samis

Daily Voice Pushes Vote for Carcinogenic Property

In an amazing act of desperation, the online site the Greenburgh Daily Voice has written a brief article and put a banner on their home page announcing that the GameOn 365 Proposition #1 is on the back of the voter ballot. It’s bad enough that they’ve chosen to be “in the tank” for The Paul and his developer cohorts by assisting his illegal referendum, but by informing the uninformed where the ballot is, they are guaranteeing a favorable vote simply by proxy. 

They insist on ignoring the reports of carcinogens that have been found on the site and the serious health hazards it presents to the future users of the property as well as the nearby residents. It is an indirect admission of collusion. Had this been asbestos found in a school, the GDV would be hollering for an evacuation, shut down and remediation of the school. That’s what they should be doing here, not pushing the vote!

When the media becomes part of the story, and in fact IS the story, it verifies that the public has few places they can turn for the truth. Stay tuned to ABG for the truth. Maybe GDV will remove their endorsement of this project. We can only hope!

Vote NO – Carcinogens Found on Proposition #1 Site

In a stunning release by Woodard and Curran, the company doing the environmental study for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, they reported contaminates that exceed acceptable levels for state cleanup criteria for commercial use were found at that location. This is the site of the proposed Proposition #1 which would (illegally attempt to) authorize the GameOn 365 sports bubble project. Numerous concerned Town residents objected to the proposition and repeatedly pointed out the site was believed to be packed full of contaminants and toxic debris, some originating from White Plains construction sites and others from two long-time nurseries.

Due to this finding, The Paul had his Town Board authorize additional money to be spent to investigate the property to the tune of $69,670 more dollars. Not $69k or $70k, but $69,670. Residents had been told by Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis that the Town would only need to spend $100k for site study and cleanup. This no longer seems to be the case with this new discovery. Regardless, The Paul, Tim “Remediation” Lewis and Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan had stated at numerous Town Board meetings that the costs for testing and remediation would be capped at $100k. It appears that the inside information they failed to share with the public is slowly escalating to an amount that was previously unforeseen.

In arrogant defiance while being caught with his pants down, The Paul insisted this Proposition is still good for the Town, he insists the Town should proceed as he planned. Interestingly, it was The Paul, when pushed by residents at the last two Town Board meetings, who said that the safety of the children is paramount and the Proposition as well as the lease would not go through if anything was found that deemed the property dangerous to children and their parents. Ironically, no mention was ever expressed for concern of the employees.

It appears that the concerned residents of the Town were correct in their widespread criticism of the actions of The Paul and his Board regarding Proposition #1 and the GameOn 365 sports bubble. The overwhelming evidence confirms what the long-time residents had warned everyone about. Another critic of the Proposal #1, Simon Cohen, who organized the HelpBurstTheBubble movement, was berated by many at numerous meetings and is owed an apology.

Here again is the video the concerned Greenburgh residents made against Proposition #1:

While ABG is pleased that so many were on the right side of this issue for the right reasons, it is discouraging that our elected representatives are not representing the residents’ best interests, but those of the developers. This has to change. While none of our Town elected officials are running for office, ABG joins many others in asking for their resignations. We can only hope.