David Vs Goliath: A Victory For Open Government

A major ruling on Wednesday from the Supreme Court of the State of New York found in favor of a challenge by Ms Dorrine Livson, against the Town. The Town had been ordered by a lower court to supply Ms Livson with a copy of the now infamous GBList used by Mr Feiner to only send information he wishes to present to residents. Ms Livson, President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association (herein WWCA), had submitted a Freedom of Information Law (herein FOIL), request for a copy of the email list used by Mr Feiner to promote or denigrate proposals, topics of his choice or projects within the Town he either favors or not. He also used it for personal attacks, such as those he made against now retired Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice and others. 

Here’s a little history:

WWCA President Dorrine Livson had requested the email list in 2014 so she could counter some of the misinformation being put forth by Mr Feiner regarding the 8-story (83ft) inflatable sports bubble that private investors, known as GameOn 365, had agreed to build on the former Frank’s Nursery location on Dobbs Ferry Road during secret conversations with Mr Feiner. This was the proverbial “back room deal”. Once Ms Livson got wind of these conversations with Mr Feiner and Mr Hewitt, she FOILed emails from Mr Feiner and received one email in particular from GameOn 365 owner, Martin Hewitt. Mr Hewitt asked Mr Feiner to cease all email communications with him and only do telephone calls because phone calls could not be FOILed and emails could! But the damage was already done. After discontinued use of 6 months, the property was no longer grandfathered as commercially zoned and reverted back to residential zoning. Then Mr Feiner promised $5 million dollars in tax revenue which turned out to be another exaggeration. But since he wanted the GameOn 365 project to go through no matter what, he pushed to have the project on a referendum at the upcoming election, asking all residents of Greenburgh to vote on this one project in this one neighborhood. He sent out numerous emails using this same email list to promote its passage. This was exactly what Ms Livson was upset about and why she sought the email list – to counteract these types of actions by Mr Feiner. 

With the elections underway with the “new” voting machines – seemingly crayons and poster board, many people were not voting for the referendum as they didn’t know it was on the back of the voting ballot. He sent out an “emergency” email using the same email list telling residents to flip over their ballots and vote for the referendum. He was out of control. But, he garnered 22,000 votes in favor of the bubble. 

Back to the present:

The Town denied the request on the basis that the Webmaster stated that there was neither a print or extract function with the software that can reasonably create a list of email addresses. Undaunted, Ms Livson contacted Cit-e-Net on or about March 11, 2014, and was informed that Cit-e-Net could provide the Town with a digital copy of the gblist, upon request by the Town! Ms Livson subsequently appealed the denial which ironically gets reviewed by, ahem, the Town Board – the same people already denying her request. Regardless of how absurd this might be, they denied her appeal. Undeterred, Ms Livson filed what’s called an Article 78 proceeding against the Town, the Town Clerk and the Town Board with the assistance of Edgemont Resident and Attorney Robert Bernstein.

The Supreme Court reviewed the Article 78 filing and found in favor of Ms Livson. The Town refused to turn over the email list even after ordered to do so by the Court and appealed. Yet, although the court found in favor of Ms Livson, the Town stated afterwards they were now concerned with the confidentiality of the people on the list. Our understanding is that this argument was not made during the Town’s original court presentations and was without merit as an argument now! 

Mr Feiner’s abuse of the GBList is well known by those who follow Mr Feiner’s shenanigans and not what he writes in his press releases. All of this could have been avoided had Mr Feiner and the Town Board complied with the original FOIL request by Ms Livson. Once again, the court has found in favor for Ms Livson and has ordered the Town to produce the email list to her – again. They have also been ordered to pay court costs as well. Congratulations to Ms Livson and Mr Bernstein on a job well done! While ABG is certain other civic organizations will be filing for copies of this, it remains to be seen how the Town finally responds. It’s another dark day in Greenburgh that did not have to come to pass had the Town done the right thing. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Sustainable Westchester Q&A Meeting Moved

The meeting scheduled by Ken Stahn for residents to discuss the Sustainable Westchester ESCO at the Town Hall Cafeteria at 7 PM. before the Town Board Open Hearing on this topic has been moved to the Town Hall cafeteria. Everyone is welcome to attend and ask questions. 

Mr Feiner and his Town Board have decided, on their own, to enter  ALL TOWN RESIDENTS into  an "ESCO" or Energy Savings Consortium Organization run by Sustainable Westchester. This is an important meeting that we urge residents to attend!

Big Brother Creeps In

Billed as "Good News!" by the Town Supervisor, his latest move has "Big Brother" written all over it, and it doesn't pertain to the well-known television show. Mr Feiner and his Town Board have decided, on their own, to enter  ALL TOWN RESIDENTS into  an "ESCO" or Energy Savings Consortium Organization run by Sustainable Westchester. Mr Feiner sent out an email and a physical mailing to residents from the Town's snail-mail and email list, known as the GBList. This email list, by the way, was sought after by many community organizations as Town information/property and Mr Feiner refused to relinquish it when it was requested. Dorrine Livson, President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association, was one civic group representative that requested it under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and was turned down by Mr Feiner. She appealed the decision and was again turned down. She went to court and was victorious, finding Mr Feiner once again guilty of breaking the law! Now appealing the decision, Mr Feiner is still refusing to turn the list over to her even under court directive.

The more we talk to different people about these ESCO's, the more questions and apparent problems for residents arise than answers can be had. Mr Feiner said people that don't want to participate can opt out at any time. What we have learned is that many ESCOs have a penalty charge when you opt out. More importantly, however, we don't understand why this was not set up for people to opt IN instead of having to opt OUT? Mr Feiner repeatedly refuses to answer that question. Governing by fiat appears to be Mr Feiner's latest abuse of his power.

He says your ConEd bill can go down by hundreds, even up to $600! Mr Feiner has a history of shouting out unsubstantiated figures whenever its convenient. Could you get a better rate on your own from purchasing your power from a company other than ConEd? Perhaps. Would you prefer to be in control of your own contractual obligations, rather than having the Town be in charge of your power options? Again, perhaps. But after witnessing so many instances of financial mismanagement by this administration, its a bit scary for us to think Mr Feiner, found guilty of lying in Federal court (re: Fortress Bible decision) is even telling the truth! And after the introductory period, will your rates stay the same or change? And, if they change, is Mr Feiner going to pay the difference or work on your behalf to make sure your rates are in fact lower and you continue to save hundreds? Perhaps, but more than likely it is highly doubtful, however, excuses will be plentiful, We foresee classic Feiner double-talk with little or no relief ever coming.

So, the Town Board approved a resolution some two weeks ago that will enter all Town residents into an agreement to participate in a "community choice aggregation" program through Sustainable Westchester. Participating communities will pool resources and procure energy supplies from an ESCO. In February of this year the New York State Public Service Commission authorized Sustainable Westchester to become the first business in New York State to put out for bid the total amount of natural gas or electricity being purchased by local residents and small businesses.

The claims are that the program has some benefits: Price stability for a fixed contract term, better terms than a typical resident could get acting alone and the ability to design a program that reflects local goals like cleaner power sources. Currently, anyone can purchase their energy from an ESCO but many ESCOs don't provide fixed rates -they offer ratepayers good deals initially and then increase the rates a short time later. It's confusing to some when trying to compare the ESCOs. Sustainable Westchester has the resources to compare ESCOs and to get an agreement for a fixed term. And if you disagree with their decision, well, you'll be S.O.L. (Stuck Outta Luck - the G-rated version).

One resident and Civic Association President Ken Stahn is also concerned about many aspects of this contract. While there may be some in favor of this vote-getting ploy to tout how they've saved the taxpayer's money, too many questions linger and threaten this purported "good news!" from Mr Feiner.

Mr Stahn has set up a meeting with the group,Sustainable Westchester, regarding the Town Board Resolution of June 10th, 2015.  The meeting will take place at the Town Hall at 7 PM before the opening of the hearing on this topic when the Town Board meets on that evening this coming Wednesday June 24th,2015.

He needs to get ten positive responses regarding this meeting from people to move forward with meeting with them. His hope is to hear from concerned taxpayers by noon Tuesday June 23rd, 2015 or he will be forced to cancel the meeting.

Please reply to Mr Stahn by noon June 23rd, 2015 either positive or negative about your interest in the meeting.

Kenneth G. Stahn, 644 Ardsley Road, Scarsdale, New York 10583-1804
Cell 917-642-7516; Home 914-693-4904; e-mail kgstahn@aol.com

We applaud Mr Stahn for seeking answers before the Town moves on yet another "done-deal". We agree with many who say this could be good but that taxpayers should only be required to "opt IN", otherwise Big Brother will start to creep into other decisions "for us". You can help to stop this madness! Join Mr Stahn this Wednesday evening. Regardless of the outcome, stay, and during the public speaking session tell Mr Feiner and his Board, "No!" They should only move forward with this if it is "Opt IN" Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Greenburgh School Superintendent Finally Terminated

After earning a salary of $235,266 per year, the Greenburgh Board of Education has finally voted to fire School Superintendent Ronald O. Ross immediately. He had been on administrative leave for approximately four months after accusations were made by the school administrators and staff of discrimination and creating a hostile work environment. Interestingly, Mr Feiner never complained that Mr Ross' salary was more than his as he will do when he goes after someone he doesn't like.

Accused of discrimination and creating a hostile work environment in a lawsuit in May 2014, the lawsuit finally forced the school board to place an interim school superintendent in the position during the investigation. As reported by ABG in our article posted on Friday, May 9, 2014, Hypocritical Supervisor – Anti-Jewish: Bad, Racist: Best of The Best
Ross was sidelined in May. 

The lawsuit allegations indicated he was verbally abusive to employees, called them names, humiliating them in public and made it impossible to do their jobs. Our original article detailed some of what he was alleged to have said to employees. We also posted two photographs of Ross. The one that is used as part of the "publicity package" and more current one of him. Both are seen here:

Below is a copy of two emails sent by Mr Feiner to select School Board members when this began, asking the School Board members to not seek to replace Superintendent Ross. He closes the email with the sentence, “If I did not think that Ron was the best of the best – I would not write this note.” The second email (bottom) again finds Mr Feiner is disappointed to learn of an effort to replace Superintendent Ronald Ross, claiming Ross is hard working, and he really cares about “our” children. Mr Feiner does not have children who attend the Greenburgh schools, so “our children” seems a bit contrived. In closing with the second email, he says, “I would be happy to meet with you to discuss why I think it’s important to keep Ron Ross working for our community.” Mr Feiner has a knack of turning opinions when going one-on-one with people.
 
 

On September 19th another lawsuit was filed alleging similar unacceptable behavior by Mr Ross by a teacher formerly working in the Middle School. ABG finds it sad that Mr Feiner, who himself was found guilty of discrimination in Federal Court against the Fortress Bible Church, would endorse Mr Ross and his discriminatory behavior. Ironically, ABG also posted an article discussing discrimination complaints made by a Town Hall employee who was in a meeting and forced during this meeting to listen to a rant by Greenburgh Town Assessor Edye McCarthy. A complaint was filedand subsequently ignored by Mr Feiner and the Town Board, ultimately being swept under the rug by them, even after it was repeatedly brought up at Town Board meetings by the public.
Here’s an excerpt of those comments from that letter:

This letter was submitted and cc’d to Mr Feiner. But instead of addressing Ms McCarthy’s racist comments at Town Hall, Mr Feiner probably felt if he ignored it, he could sweep it away. His previous statement was proven hollow and obviously nothing more than posturing based on the inaction we've witnessed. He previously said, “We cannot, as elected officials, allow discrimination to rear its ugly head” is not only disingenuous, but self-serving and insulting to those who do the right thing on a daily basis. Again, why wasn’t Ms McCarthy disciplined or terminated from her position? 

Greenburgh is a widely diverse Town - its part of what makes our Town so rich. Why has Mr Feiner not addressed the racism within his own administration and with his appointed Department Head? Why has he personally practiced and been found guilty of racism during his 22 years in office and not been disbarred and removed from office? We need honest leadership in Greenburgh. We need change in Greenburgh and a fresh start from what has become a stale and unwelcome status quo. Mr Ross' departure is a fitting start. We need more. Only then can we have A Better Greenburgh.