“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.

Hurricane Damage Finally Addressed

Most people can’t even remember when Hurricane Sandy struck (October 26, 2013). Those inflicted with damage can give dates, times and particulars. Then there are those of us who witnessed the damage but luckily went unscathed, watching others get hammered by wind, rain and water. While not as devastating as Hurricane Irene or as costly to as many residents, Sandy walloped us and left quite a bit of destruction in its path.

There needed to be a cleanup period and a reasonable amount of time to allow municipalities time to clean what they could. After all, downed power lines, poles and the like needed to repaired and it takes time. One of the things that always gets discussed during and after a major storm is why “they” haven’t done anything to address preparing for future storms by moving power lines underground, adding drainage capabilities and more. And after a reasonable amount of waiting, many contacted the Town Supervisor, spoke at Town Board meetings, sent the Town letters and spoke with department heads regarding repairs, trash removal and the like that was seemingly unaddressed by the Town.

This broken phone pole on Old Tarrytown Rd was
tied to another quickly-installed pole right after
Hurricane Sandy. It stayed this way 

until the FPCA repeatedly contacted 

Town officials to instigate the correct 

agencies to make a final and safe repair.

Fulton Park Civic Association Vice President Tom Bock met with Richard Fon of the Greenburgh Highway Department to address the many trees on public property impinging upon power lines. Fulton Park easily floods when it it rains, leaving residents on edge when the forecast threatens the loss of power that will keep their pumps from working. Together, they rode through the Fulton Park neighborhood identifying trees that seemed marginally dangerous and those that should be addressed immediately. Mr Fon said he would touch base with Commissioner Victor Carosi to see what kind of schedule could be developed for the removal or trimming of as many trees as possible. Finally, after months of haranguing the Board and getting nowhere, dealing directly with Commissioner Carosi, proved successful for the neighborhood which finally got action!

It should be noted that pictures were provided for the Town employees to use in identifying trees that should be addressed. Mr Fon even stated that they have a “line certified” employee, allowing them to cut limbs near power lines. Mr Fon explained how the Town’s arborist could be utilized to identify healthy trees as well as those that are dead or dying. All of this information provided some hope for the residents and was presented to them at one of their Civic Association meetings. The last couple of minor storms saw flash flooding better controlled by the recently lowered and resurfaced Old Kensico Road. By lowering the roadway the residents now had curbs to direct the water to the two overwhelmed but functioning storm drains. Commissioner Carosi has been responsive to the neighborhood’s concerns. Now speeding has increased on the street and needs to be addressed by the Greenburgh Police Department.

Since this is a campaign year, Mr Feiner’s free mailings have begun. This week we’ve received a new campaign piece from Mr Feiner. Well actually, while we recognize this as a campaign piece, Mr Feiner identified two points in his mailing. First, is that he has complained to the NYS Public Service Commission and Verizon for damaged or neglected phone poles that were damaged as a direct result of Hurricane Sandy. On the back page he lists the poles and their addresses that have been addressed.

Frankly, residents shouldn’t have to complain about these or any other poles to get them fixed. His office, and those of other employees who are “out and about” should be reporting back to their supervisors and letting them know where poles in the Town are and in need of repair are. In fact, when Mr Bock rode with Mr Fon on their “tree tour” in Fulton Park, Mr Fon identified numerous potholes and said he would get to the right people to get a crew out to do repairs. They were fixed in three days! This is what should be going on regularly. Although it would put a chink in Mr Feiner’s “Here I am to save the day!” armor as the problem solver.

The second issue is a common ploy Mr Feiner repeatedly uses. He claims “some people” have been emailing him about proper water filtration and that Greenburgh’s water is properly purified and references John Devany, the Water and Sewer Superintendent. ABG believes one person may have mentioned something and he has transformed it into “some people”. And, his three small paragraphs could have been split into separate mailings, giving him two mailings for his campaign instead of one. Since they were combined into one, we’re sure there will be several more “updates” coming. These mailings, possibly distributed with water bills quarterly, would be more than enough to keep the electorate informed and save taxpayers money. Perhaps Mr Bernstein, the candidate running in the Democratic Primary against Mr Feiner for Town Supervisor has a different take on mailings. We’d love to hear it. It’s another expense we just don’t need given the amount of money Mr Feiner is costing the residents.

We hope every democrat registered to vote will do so in the Democratic Primary this September 10th. For those not registered, please get a registration form from the Board of Elections. If you are a registered Democrat and are unable to vote on that day, here is the link to obtain information about filing an absentee ballot.
http://citizenparticipation.westchestergov.com/absentee-ballots
We believe your vote will help to provide us with A Better Greenburgh.

Emergency Preparedness? Not In NY!

During Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast took a beating from the weather. Some of it couldn’t be avoided. Then they took a beating from the incompetence of then Mayor Ray Nagin, which exacerbated the suffering of Gulf Coast residents. When he was finished screwing up his portion of the hurricane and it was all over, shady contractors clobbered the residents again under the guise of help. Although, many good samaritans did help a lot of people. Most people were desperate to try to save whatever might be left of their homes after losing most, if not all of their possessions, automobiles and even loved ones. They grabbed at any help being offered. Still, FEMA dropped the ball with Katrina.

Government is like the stumblebum that just can’t seem to get the right footing. Several days after the hurricane had moved on, FEMA was finally able to get in to the area. One fact that many people aren’t aware of is that FEMA must be requested before they can go into any area. It’s a home-rule issue. In the case of Mayor Nagin and his city, he never requested FEMA until the Bush administration reached out to him and explained what he needed to do in order to get federal assistance. Maybe there should be a class for new mayors explaining what they need to do once they are sworn in?

Locally, we’ve witnessed tremendous failures in tandem with tremendous posturing during and in the aftermath of Hurricane’s Irene and now Sandy by our politicians at every level. Governor Cuomo just fired his emergency management commissioner for diverting resources to his home for tree removal. C’mon. A good leader takes care of his people before himself. In this case, he should have taken care of the other residents before himself. While the governor did the right thing with this episode, he’s done little else except for declaring NY a disaster area before anything even happened, providing New Yorkers future funding relief. It isn’t really relief as much as it is the ability to get low-cost loans to rebuild.

So, why then, is the Long Island area still so in need of food, electricity and general help almost two weeks afterwards? The residents of Coney Island are calling their area New York’s “Katrina”, asking, “Why isn't anyone helping us? We have no food, no power, no heat... we are Katrina.” ABG believes it’s because the state has no real emergency plan to help any of its residents.

County Executive Astorino did an interview immediately after the storm with John Gambling. He seems to do these every week. No stranger to campaigning, he typically is complaining about the HUD monitor, the dysfunctional county legislature or some other issue of little consequence to the county’s overburdened taxpayers. When Gambling asked how recovery efforts were going, Astorino said (paraphrasing), “About as good as it can be given the intensity of the storm.” Gambling asked if there was anything he could do better the next time or what if any lessons were learned this time. His response was to try to improve communications between the emergency workers in the field and the Emergency Operations Center located in Hawthorne. Huh?

The state of the art Emergency Operations Center was built in Hawthorne several years ago under the Spano administration. Many first responders have little or no interaction with this center, but many have been given tours of it and told of how every agency would have a seat at the proverbial table. By design it is for all the various leaders of the government to locate in one area, with liaisons to first responders, the press, state and federal agencies. While it looks impressive, it operates like a Friendly’s Restaurant: there are a lot of people working there, but nobody is helping you and no decisions ever seem to get made. It seems like yet another governmental feel-good boondoggle!

Speaking of first responders, the County insisted in the wake of September 11, 2001, that the first responders in Westchester needed a better radio system. The thinking at the time was all the reports from the 9-1-1 Commission was the failure of radio systems was a part of what led to such a high loss of life. Perhaps. But the County radio system operated on three basic channels. Many fire departments and fire districts operated on the own frequency, not overseen by the County and continue to do so. Then the County spent millions upon millions of dollars “improving” the radio system at 60 Control. So what did we get for all the time and money spent? A marginally different system that allows departments to operate on a localized frequency at a call. Does it help the first responders at a scene? Perhaps. Does it help residents during an emergency such as Hurricane Sandy? No. ABG believes it’s because the County has no emergency plan to help its residents.

In the Town of Greenburgh we have three paid and six volunteer fire departments. We have the Greenburgh Police Department as well as the six Village police departments. We have a county police department that really offers very little bang for the buck, save for the Bomb Squad (pun intended). We have a state police department that does very little in Westchester County and especially local communities except to patrol several highways. Both organizations are reactionary by nature and don’t typically do much until something happens. We can’t really blame them if they don’t take much preparatory action prior to a weather event. However, the paid departments all apply for Homeland Security grant money that seems to only be used to pay for overtime. The police chief worked on an emergency action plan for the Town. It may have been used to prop open a door for a resident who ran an extension cord to his neighbor for power.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency - FEMA - was closed Thursday morning, leaving hosts of individuals, families, and children without food or water. Here’s a picture taken Thursday, Nov. 8, of a FEMA Center for their Staten Island office with a sign on the door that said “FEMA Center Closed Due To Weather”. 

Unbelievable!? People are suffering for almost two weeks and FEMA takes a snow day? It’s ridiculous!

When FEMA came into Greenburgh after Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, we were told residents that received a visit received a subsequent follow-up phone call the following day asking if a FEMA adjuster or representative had visited the resident. The answer was usually yes. If the resident pushed asking when they might see a check for funds, they were told this was only a follow-up phone call to ensure a visit took place and they need to ask the adjuster, who would tell you to call their 800 phone number. The phone call was only about FEMA being able to say how they were being responsive to victims. Remember, if you didn’t go to them and apply, they weren’t coming to you!

Once a FEMA adjuster visited your home or business, you needed to produce insurance documentations, mortgage verification, utility bills/receipts and the like. Most people who were flooded were hard-pressed to produce the requested documentation. While it isn’t funny, it was a bad joke. When asked when a payment check would arrive, they were told several weeks to process the claim and if everything was correct, a few more weeks to get the check in the mail. Ultimately, it would take about three months! There were no follow-up phone calls after that. ABG believes it’s because FEMA has no emergency plan to really help its residents.

FEMA, like The Paul, doesn’t actually do anything, rather, only points you to someone else. If you ask for money, they tell you to apply to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for a low interest loan. There’s the Office of Emergency Management. Who knows what they are managing, but when people need basic services restored, OEM is nowhere to be found. That is pretty much the story to date. For all the people that have suffered from Irene, Sandy, and the recent nor'easter, they are still without essential services. All our local, county, state and federal politicians continue to claim, “We’re here for you!” or, “We’re doing everything we can.” Which is exactly what? 

Talk is cheap; recovery is expensive – life is expensive, especially in NY. The system needs a major overhaul. We can only hope.

They Should Resign

Rain, rain, go away, come back another day. Everyone should recognize the lyrics from this old nursery rhyme. The Paul sings a somewhat different tune, “Residents, residents, go away, come back another day.” It seems The Paul repeatedly takes the proverbial wrong courses of action at every turn and every venue regarding the Town’s involvement, finances and now tenuous future. According to him, it’s the residents that continually get in his way of doing what he wants. Although the residents are probably singing, “Paul, Paul go away, don’t come back on any day.”

Flooding
The weather experts claim we are scheduled to be hit with another 100-year storm two months after the one year anniversary of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. It defeats the purpose of calling it a 100-Year Storm if it’s happening every year, doesn’t it? Speaking of experts, one year ago, The Paul hired Jonathan Raser, an engineer and expert specializing in flood mitigation to review the conditions in the Town and seek assistance for the flooded residents. After collecting his somewhat substantial fee, and securing absolutely no funds for the residents or the Town, Mr. Raser hi-tailed it back to New Jersey whence he came, offering no resulting help, funds, or hope! The sum of his efforts? A letter to the flood-prone residents of the Town that they do not qualify for any aid and basically they are on their own. As he was leaving, he might have been overheard saying, “My bill is on The Paul’s desk, see ya suckers!” 

This once again imbues the well-known deflection tactic of The Paul seeming to care. When the flooding from Hurricane Irene hit the region and Greenburgh in particular, it took The Paul quite some time to leave the stately Boulder Ridge gated community to visit his serfdom. But once he received word that the news cameras, reporters and crews were out covering the effects of the storm in Greenburgh, he sniffed them out like a bloodhound that caught a scent. He visited Hartsdale, Fulton Park and Babbitt Court, offering any affected and suffering flood victims another false hope, this time of FEMA home buyouts. He corralled numerous Town employees, working for four years without a contract, to receive a little overtime picking up debris. These dedicated workers came through as usual and then The Paul did what he does best, deflect, ignore, babble on and disappear.

In spite of The Paul intruding with the victims’ cleanups spewing vague ideas that accumulated no traction, his next best idea was to request every other politician do something to help these beleaguered and beaten residents. After all, he’s done everything he can, which in reality was nothing. In fact, he wrote, talked and postured about how many other politicians he contacted deluging various residents with daily mailings stating as much. After the media left, so did The Paul - back to his sanctuary of the secure confines of Boulder Ridge, where flooding, traffic, homeless people, sports bubbles, over-sized stores, concerned citizens, environmental studies, and projects that devalue our residential areas are not an issue.

But why do these areas have such frequent flooding where there never was any? Overdevelopment! The state renovated I-287 and the Bronx River Parkway, routing their water runoff into Fulton Park. The Town has done nothing to address this. Nothing! The Paul helped develop the 9A corridor with more to come, routing that water into Babbitt Court. You might ask, “Don’t we have a Planning Department to oversee and control the development throughout the Town?” We used to. Most projects they “touch” mysteriously become bigger and bigger with the Commissioners involvement. They have even helped developers to find ways around zoning and planning limitations. Quietly, without fanfare they changed the departments name. It’s now known as the Department of Community Development and Conservation. The name change, slightly sexier and more encompassing with political correctness sudden makes things all better. The cost in damage to residents: MILLIONS.

WestHelp
When the County leased the WestHelp facility to the Town, it was a financially secure and rewarding deal for the Town. People in need of housing had a brand new, extremely nice place to live and the Town was earning $1.2 million a year in income. It was a sweetheart deal for then School Board President Michael Smith, now a Republican County Legislator representing the same area. Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association former President, Ned McCormack, who is now Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino’s Communications Director, was also against the WestHelp deal. You see, they were both on the Valhalla School Board and protested putting those horrible homeless people on the campus of Westchester Community College and into the Valhalla School System without “something in return” for them. Did you know that County Executive Rob Astorino has now endorsed The Paul’s convoluted and illegal plan to tear down the facility to lease the property to a school for fifty years? Why? Why would Rob Astorino do that when all of the County Legislators are against it and trying to optimize housing for the low income and homeless population throughout the county? Partisan politics? Hardly. The County Executive is trying to help his Director of Communications and one of only a few minority legislative allies he has in the County Legislature get along with this neighborhood and get votes through a payback. Payback? Why? 

Not to be outdone, or to lose a vote, The Paul reached a financial arrangement with the Town Board, with no checks, balances or scrutiny to pay off the Valhalla School District. Essentially, he provided them a bribe, under the guise of an “educational grant” to accept these kids. There’s your reason. How they would use the money would be up to the school board for the school district - in essence for the children. So, what did they do with the money? They took a cruise and forced the taxpayers to foot the bill! You can read more at: valhallavoice.blogspot.com/. Fortunately, the Town of Greenburgh had two residents that pursued legal action to overturn this illegal deal in court and won! Now the Valhalla School District will have to return a portion of the monies to the Town in an agreed upon settlement. Something is better than nothing. The cost for this screw-up: $1.2 MILLION per year.

Referendum/Sports Bubble
Before Frank’s Nursery defaulted on their taxes and before the property was foreclosed upon with ownership assumed by the Town, The Paul met with several people representing themselves as a company called GameOn 365. Knowing of The Paul’s non-existent business acumen, they salivated over the possibility of acquiring that property from the Town for a song. These are stockbrokers apparently tired of competing with Charles Schwab and web-based competitors for peanuts and saw this as their big jump onto “Easy Street”. Knowing how to manipulate people into buying worthless stocks, they must have thought it easy to convince a bunch of their stockbroker-jock friends to invest in this deal. The Paul met secretly and communicated with them to position them to be the preferred recipient of The Paul’s good graces when it became time to unload said property.

Immediately after the Town assumed ownership, the public cried for the property to be used as a temporary library. Unassuming as most people in the Town are about what motivates The Paul, many decried foul knowing the history of this property as contaminated. What to do? If The Paul pushed for the library to relocate, they would be exposing “the children” (as well as adults) to toxic chemicals and who knows what else. The Paul quickly needed to deflect; so the talk turned to using the land for a new and larger police station and court. At the last Town Board meeting, Councilman Morgan stated to a resident that the neighborhood overwhelmingly was against this. When did the Town Board start listening to it’s residents? You may recall at about the same time, The Paul announced his newest no/low cost plan to financially save the Town by having interns process millions of dollars worth of back-logged traffic tickets. Deflection at it’s best? You decide. The cost for this illegal deal: MILLIONS.

Fortress Bible

Back when Tom “Proclamation” Abinanti was a mere 20-year career County Legislator, he enjoyed a relative safe haven where he resided. Then an African American church from Mount Vernon, the Fortress Bible Church, purchased property nearby. Ever the close friend of The Paul, he may have mentioned to him his concern of their nearby move. What did The Paul do? He put up road blocks, delays, fees and requirements for them to have to meet in order to proceed ahead with their plans. What were their plans? They simply wanted to build a church and a school on the property they purchased.

Tim “Remediation” Lewis, not wanting to publicize his strategy for fighting the Fortress Bible case in court, remained silent. We’re sure this was mostly on the marching orders of The Paul. But silent he remained; and, so did the others in The Paul’s administration. Perhaps if they had shared their strategy, the residents might have been able to help them. Unfortunately for the Unincorporated residents of the Town, they LOST the court case and were found guilty of discrimination, perjury, willfully destroying evidence and more! The cost for this debacle: upwards of $8 MILLION.

The Paul’s entire administration is a model for mismanagement, misjudgment, misdirection, misspending and missed opportunities. The Paul has exhausted most normal routes to help the residents of the Town preserve what little is left of it. He and Town Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden are on a track to overdevelop what little areas of green is left in Greenburgh. Not sure about this? There is much more about The Paul’s and his Stepford Board’s actions that are crippling our Town. ABG has written repeatedly about it. The Paul and the Board should help the Town. They will do this when they resign. It has to end. We can only hope.