Edgemont Destiny Continues

Our previous article discussed the meeting Mr Feiner crafted as his unofficial anti-incorporation event. It's no secret that Mr Feiner is against the Edgemont Incorporation although in the next breath claims to not have a position. The last meeting utilized Councilman Ken Jones as Mr Feiner's understudy, making several comments that can only be interpreted as being against the incorporation. Regardless, there is another meeting tonight that promises to be interesting, if not informative.

We believe the tactic for tonight’s meeting will be orchestrated by Mr Feiner, even if he is not present, to somehow accuse the Edgemont Incorporation Group of discrimination. It's not about discrimination. Rather, it is to get out from under the Town’s mismanagement and control. Regardless, once it is refuted by the Edgemont Incorporation leaders, he will need something else to deflect away from his cavalier approach to the incorporation and the Town’s lack of preparedness. He has arranged for Wespac to be present. WesPac, a social activist and anti-Israel group, will give him the added conflict and deflection he desires once the discrimination issue is eliminated. The meeting held Tuesday night is the exact representation of why Edgemont residents are looking to incorporate.

Tonight's meeting begins at 7PM at the Seely School. We urge you to attend. It will make for A Better Greenburgh.

The Questions Were Well Written, But The Answers Were Not

The meeting at the Theodore D. Young Community Center (TDYCC) was billed as one of providing information to the Town’s residents regarding the impact on Town operations should the Edgemont Community incorporate and become a Village within the Town. The dais was represented with commissioners from each of the Town’s departments as well as the Town Attorney, Tim Lewis and Town Board member, Ken Jones. The consensus in the audience was that as Mr Feiner’s appointees, they were instructed to be there. Chairs were set up in the gymnasium for about one hundred or so people. Many of the seats remained unused.

André G. Early, the Commissioner of the Department of Community Resources, welcomed everyone and turned the microphone over to Don Cannon, a Feiner-sycophant, who has obediently served his padrone in several capacities. Tonight, his apparent task would simply be to spread misinformation, false facts and obfuscate any discernable information to the Town residents, a task he executed well. And, when he didn’t know how to answer a question, or it was specific to one of the department heads, they were offered the microphone to give the seemingly agreed upon answer, “I don’t know.”

The short presentation made by Mr Cannon regurgitated information Mr Feiner has touted but never verified, qualified or detailed beyond his typical sensationalism. Those who follow Town affairs know Mr Feiner typically throws out unrealistic numbers and bogus information, hoping something “sticks”. Here, it was a rehashing of the anti-incorporation numbers that he has maintained as accurate. We might believe him if he would explain and quantify how he arrived at them. But, he never does…

That leaves us with the numbers he’s created. At every opportunity Mr Feiner has said the Edgemont incorporation would mandate drastic cuts throughout the Town. He claims that Edgemont’s incorporation, parroted by Mr Cannon, will cause the Town budget to lose $17.5 million dollars, increase taxes to Unincorporated Greenburgh residents by 30%, layoff 30% of Town employees and cut services by 30%. Our first question, read last, asked how they arrived at these numbers? Our second question was if the new Village of Edgemont contracts all of the same services with the Town, how do the numbers change? Mr Cannon answered the question with a technically correct but invalid answer. He said, “I got those numbers from the Town budget.” The second question’s answer was brushed aside with the standard answer, “We don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.”

The numbers are important for several reasons. First, the standard answer was always, “We don’t know or we’ll have to wait and see.” Councilman Jones, an attorney, seems to have studied at Mr Feiner’s “dance” school. When he didn’t have a tangible answer, he said an awful lot of “um’s and ah’s” and just kept dancing around not providing any answers, eventually just turning off the microphone. Second, the 500 pound elephant in the room was simply: how can you tell us we’re going to lose $17.5 million dollars, increase taxes to Unincorporated Greenburgh residents by 30%, layoff 30% of Town employees and cut services by 30% and then claim you’re unable to substantiate how you arrived at those numbers? And, since the proposed Village of Edgemont representatives have consistently stated they always planned to purchase services from the Town, which they will be paying for, how will these numbers be changed? “We don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.”

In speaking with former Justice Herb Rosenberg after the meeting, he stated, “The questions were well written, but the answers were not,” referring to the 3x5 index cards that residents and attendees were required to fill out with their questions. Sadly, because this meeting was not about sharing and presenting facts to the residents, the evening turned into a colossal waste of everyone’s time. Many residents left early as they slowly realized they were being pandered to and not getting any real information. Many began shouting questions from the floor, obviously frustrated by the card-controlled questioning process. In fact, the Journal News reporter who was at the meeting left about halfway through it.

As we were leaving, we passed Mr Feiner in the lobby area and overheard him asking someone how the evening went? They asked why he hadn’t been here for the meeting and his answer was that he was at another meeting. We don’t know if it was about Edgemont Incorporation or not, but we believe he accomplished his goal of limiting transparency and obfuscating information against the Edgemont Incorporation effort. The outcome would have been the same had Mr Feiner been present, so it’s no loss that he wasn’t in attendance. Again, people wanted to know why no action had been taken by the Feiner Administration for the Town to be ready should incorporation proceed long before this meeting. The answer given by Mr Cannon was that a Citizen Task Force was being formed to address the incorporation. What’s next, using interns?

There is another meeting this Thursday night at the Seely School. We hope this will provide real, forthcoming information. The Town officials claim to be neutral in this entire episode – but they obviously are not. Mr Feiner has invited WesPac, a social activist and anti-Israel group to the meeting. He’s done this before with them. Last time caused Town Hall to be shut down earlier in the day about a year ago after Mr Feiner allowed them use of Town Hall for free, costing taxpayers a lot of money for police overtime and allowing Mr Feiner to subsequently create phony cause to keep neighborhood organizations from utilizing Town Hall for meetings. Why do we mention this? 

We believe the tactic for this Thursday night’s meeting will be orchestrated by Mr Feiner to somehow accuse the Edgemont Incorporation Group of racial discrimination. We honestly do not believe they are doing this to keep anyone out of Edgemont. Rather, it is to get out from under the Town’s mismanagement and control. Regardless, once it is refuted by the Edgemont Incorporation leaders, he will need something else to deflect away from his cavalier approach to the incorporation and the Town’s lack of preparedness. This meeting at the Theodore Young Community Center had a specific intent. It could not be recorded or televised as it should have been and is why it was not held in Town Hall – which we know was available since no one is allowed to use it any more. Regardless, WesPac will give him the added conflict and deflection he desires once the discrimination issue is removed. The meeting held Tuesday night is the exact representation of why Edgemont residents are looking to incorporate. This type of bad behavior from Town leadership needs to end. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Budget and Personnel Cuts Feed Doom and Gloom

The Hartsdale Neighborhood Association meeting recently held at the Highview School to inform people about how the impact of the Edgemont incorporation may affect them may have raised more questions than answers. It may have also inadvertently pointed to the incompetence of the Feiner administration with their cavalier approach about the Edgemont Incorporation.

During this meeting of over a hundred people in attendance, Jason Muldoon queried the crowd as to how people learned of the meeting? It seemed the majority were from the email blast sent out by Mr Feiner. That shows his power to draw his supporters in when he needs them. Many people showed up at 7PM even though the meeting was scheduled for 7:30PM. Those same people raised their hands having been notified of the meeting by Mr Feiner’s email.

Our previous article describes how Mr Feiner showed up early and was talking about the Edgemont incorporation. When asked to stop, he shouted at one of the organizers that he had a first amendment right to free speech even though she asked him to respect that this was their meeting not his, forcing Police Chief McNerney to intervene and diffuse the situation. As an aside, residents are permitted and limited to speak for 3 minutes at a Town Board meeting. If they go beyond the allotted time, or are part of the G10, he has Mr Lewis interrupt them and shut them down or they are banned from speaking, such as was done to vocal critic and resident Mr Hal Samis.

There were rumblings about the upcoming elections by some, but Mr Feiner knows it’s just talk and is not threatened. He garners 7,000 votes when he runs unopposed and works relentlessly to disqualify ballot signatures. In fact, to deny culpability, he even utilizes other Board members’ family members to do that dirty work. One time that he did feel threatened was in a debate/forum in Hastings on Hudson, a normally safe haven for him. The forum was against Supervisor candidate/challenger Robert Bernstein during a Supervisor’s race several years ago. He became rattled as Mr Bernstein threw too many truths at him and he slowly unraveled, with spittle flying from his mouth and hands shaking as he held up papers yelling, “I have proof of what I’m saying right here!” Still, he won the election, with his biggest support coming from those who he does not govern, the Villages, and those that he does, Fairview. Well played.

During the Q&A period at the end of the meeting Mr Feiner was asked what contingencies had been put in place should the incorporation happen? He said none. He was asked if he had talked to the Edgemont community about what he could do to change their minds and he said no. However, in all fairness, he had gone to Edgemont Community Council meetings with some frequency and heard regularly of complaints from their past presidents and current President Bob Bernstein. In fact, when the Town’s now-adopted Comprehensive Plan was still being developed, many Edgemont residents chimed in often complaining of misguided directions the group was favoring. More significantly, when the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee was holding hearings, an inordinate amount of Edgemont residents participated, giving feedback that was both positive as well as negative. Many believe the Comp Plan Steering Committee listened but didn’t hear what was being said. Please realize that while the Comprehensive Plan could have provided a valuable road map to the future for the Town, it became an extremely politicized exercise to the point where two of its members refused to sign off on final approval! It was adopted in spite of what many believe were valid objections.

Mr Feiner desperately needed to placate the Edgemont Community to keep them from or at least slow them from moving incorporation forward, knowing he could lose millions of dollars for the Town if they succeeded. He had already lost $1.2 million per year for the Town by illegally and intentionally breaking the Westhelp contract with the County. That source of revenue was gifted to the Town requiring minimal effort from the Town. He also cost the Town $5.5 million dollars when he was fined after being found guilty in federal court for discrimination in the Fortress Bible Church case.

He continued offering to build sidewalks in multiple locations, including Seely Place, along with others in Edgemont. What’s ironic here is that some time earlier he had visited the Seely Place neighborhood telling those residents they should not ask for sidewalks because they would be responsible for maintaining them!  In fact, he sent an accusatory letter to Fulton Park residents stating their Civic Association Vice-President asked the Town to put in a sidewalk on Old Kensico Road at those residents’ expense and maintain it - which was a lie!

While he was offering Edgemont sidewalks to get them to put their guard down and feel like he was working with them, he was secretly making backroom deals with Jim Kane of Formation Shelbourne, LLC., to build an assisted living facility on the current Sprain Brook Nursery property. The proposal is not only too large for the parcel of land they seek to build on, it requires several variances to comply with the two-year old Assisted Living law written by the Brightview Assisted Living attorneys for themselves that the Town adopted as its own. One of the variances that Shelbourne needs for this project is a 3000% variance to accommodate the requirement of being within 200 feet of a state right of way. It’s absurd to even entertain this outrageous accommodation.

At the Hartsdale Neighborhood meeting, the uninitiated took Mr Feiner at his word as being truthful when he said the Town could lose $17 million dollars if Edgemont incorporated, forcing, “Police services, um, you know taxes, uh, water rates may go up,” and, “it would require major reorganizing of the Town of Greenburgh.”(http://westchester.news12.com/news/edgemont-residents-meet-to-discuss-incorporation-1.13196407?pts=564454) . The point here is that if the Edgemont incorporation proceeds forward, several things will stay the same for Edgemont and several will change. One thing is fire protection, provided by the Greenville Fire District. Instead of billing the Town of Greenburgh for fire protection, they will bill the Village of Edgemont. Sewer districts will remain the same as will costs. Although, we’re unable to verify if billing will stay the same or change. Public Works services, such as trash and garbage pickup, snow plowing, road maintenance, etc., will change in that it will be a contracted service from the Town (according to what was said by the HNA leaders). Of course, they might be able to secure a better price and service from Scarsdale or Yonkers. However, if that doesn’t happen, and the Village of Edgemont seeks to keep the current status quo with services, the Greenburgh budget may see a slight shift, but nothing as doomsday-ish as Mr Feiner is saying. If the Village of Edgemont is able to acquire better pricing from Scarsdale or Yonkers for example or a private company such as Waste Management, then the Town’s budget might take a significant but not as crippling a hit as has been perpetuated by Mr Feiner.

While we are cautiously optimistic about how this will turn out and might change the budget and services for Unincorporated Greenburgh, it’s nice to see more people are paying attention. Several people in the audience were part of the G10. Most, however, have never gone to a Town Board meeting to see how the Town is run, residents treated and developers courted. Perhaps it’s time. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Edgemont Destiny

The evening started out as a contentious one when it was advertised to be simply one of discussion. Upon our arrival at approximately 7PM, we found Mr Feiner already engaged in conversation with another attendee regarding the Edgemont Incorporation. It was then that Karen Kelly, one of the organizers, asked him to stop “politicking”. Mr Feiner claimed he had a right to speak to whomever he pleases. She loudly told him that this was not his meeting, it was a Hartsdale residents’ meeting and he would be given a chance to speak. He shouted back that he had a first amendment right to free speech and she said he should respect that this was their meeting not his. At this point, Police Chief McNerney intervened and tried to diffuse the situation. It would have been more cordial of Mr Feiner to have respected her wishes and the organization and stepped outside to have a private conversation.

The meeting began late as the members of the Hartsdale Neighbors group that organized it scrambled to find and set up more chairs as the growing audience eventually exceeded 100 people. Three members of the Hartsdale group ran the meeting. Dan Weinfeld first explained the ground rules: this was not a night for political discussion, it was not about attacking the Edgemont group seeking incorporation and that everyone should remain civil to each other. It was an informational session. Mr Feiner would be given five minutes at the end to make a statement, as would Edgemont Incorporation member Jeff Sherwin. You may recall that Mr Sherwin made two unsuccessful attempts the previous week to deliver the incorporation petition signatures and the $6,000 filing fee to Town Hall, being told that the only person allowed to receive them was Mr Feiner - who was on vacation!

No other Town Board members were in attendance, although Town Attorney Tim Lewis and Town Clerk Judith Beville were there. There were several police officers whether on duty or as community members, one of whom asked legitimate questions. The standing room only audience remained mostly quiet, respectful of any speakers, only occasionally asking them to speak louder as there was no microphone or amplification available.

Mr Dan Weinfeld gave a brief video presentation explaining the makeup of the Town’s Unincorporated sections of Greenburgh, focusing primarily on the Hartsdale and Fairview sections of the Town. He explained the makeup of the river town villages, including Ardsley and Elmsford, populations of both the Villages and the Unincorporated Town, and the services used by all. It was a very encompassing presentation and well-received. During his presentation, Mr Weinfeld stressed that all of this information is on their website (www.hartsdaleneighbors.org) or on the Edgemont Incorporation site (www.edgemont2017.org).

After Mr Weinfeld concluded his portion of the presentation, Mr Luis Polit presented a breakdown of the financial facts of what is currently being collected in revenue to the Town, Edgemont’s portion of it and the projected changes should Edgemont incorporate and become the Town’s 7^th village. Once he concluded, another of the citizen organizers, Jason Muldoon, stepped in and explained that Mr Feiner and Mr Sherwin would be speaking next, reiterating that this is not a political discussion. He also did a quick show of hands to see how people found out about this meeting. Clearly most were there through Mr Feiner’s GBList email notifications. 

He then offered Mr Feiner five minutes to speak. He addressed the crowded room by giving an example of a Village that had incorporated in 2010 without stating it was Mastic Beach. He then proceeded to either find fault with the Edgemont incorporation or say why it wouldn’t work. As is often the case, Mr Feiner deflected away from the topic at hand, changing his story, only to refer to his sheet of talking points to return to his reasons why the Edgemont incorporation was not going to work. After five minutes, Mr Muldoon cut Mr Feiner off, stating his five minutes were up – a bittersweet moment for those who attend Town Board meetings and are only given minutes to discuss anything in front of his Board.

Mr Sherwin was the last speaker who took the opportunity to quickly debunk Mr Feiner’s example of Mastic Beach, which had incorporated and then several years later voted to undo the incorporation. Mr Sherwin pointed out that it was not a fair or accurate comparison as the population of Mastic Beach was 12.8 thousand versus Edgemont’s 7,300 and the disparity in revenues was equally different. Mr Feiner often relies on incorrect information for shock value and doesn’t often encounter immediate and correct informational challenges.
 
Mr Sherwin proceeded to read a prepared statement, thanking the Hartsdale and Unincorporated residents for allowing him the opportunity to speak. He mentioned that like the Hartsdale group, they were just a group of citizen volunteers seeking to control their community’s destiny as the Town has not worked with them multiple times, citing the Dromore Road and Shelbourne projects as two recent and drawn out examples. The focus was also not as much about saving money for Edgemont taxpayers, although that would be a benefit based on their calculations, but about their destiny, zoning and development considerations.

Once the speakers concluded, Mr Muldoon opened the floor to questions. Many of the residents seemed to focus on information as to how they would be affected financially, through tax increases and personnel cuts should incorporation move forward. One gentlemen, who is obviously one of Mr Feiner’s supporters began to raise political points and was quickly shut down. One woman asked Mr Feiner if this information was on the Town website. Mr Feiner did not directly answer her and when pushed by others who followed up said he would have to discuss it with his Board. Mr Sherwin said that the information, feasibility study and more is on the EIC website as well as the Hartsdale Neighbors website. ABG would suggest in the interest of fairness that the Town at least publish a link on the Town’s website to these other two sites.

Occasionally, a question would arise that the Hartsdale members could not answer and they were very candid and simply said so. Mr Sherwin seemed well prepared with facts and figures and offered information numerous times without seeming to be adversarial or confrontational. It was a relief and pleasant to see both sides working together even though they have different interests and outcomes at heart. Also in attendance were several people who claimed to be from Edgemont who did not favor Edgemont incorporation, including Mr Hugh Schwartz, a Feiner appointed Planning Board member. And while they were able to make their points behind their rationale, it never became a tug of war between the two factions.

Several questions were directed at Mr Feiner, asking what contingencies the Town had planned should the incorporation move forward, as it was obviously doing? Mr Feiner stated that he sent an email and snail mail out to constituents asking for volunteers to serve on a Citizen Task Force to work with his Commissioners on this. Long-time Greenburgh Central School Board President Terry Williams asked why the Town was not hiring professionals to address this. He said that that may be the Task Force’s recommendation and direction they go. Several followed up on that and asked why something wasn’t done sooner. Mr Feiner ultimately fell back to his position that he didn’t believe the incorporation would happen but never gave an tangible answer. 

In the end, this will be decided by only Edgemont residents in the Town who can vote for incorporation. Many believe Mr Feiner will increase his email blasts and snail mail mailings to thwart the EIC's efforts all on the taxpayer dime. Regardless, it promises to be an interesting ride for the next several months. While we too are anxious about how the incorporation will financially impact the unincorporated Town, we applaud both groups for their respective efforts and civility. This is what helps to make A Better Greenburgh.

We Stand Corrected

In our previous post from Thursday, January 22, 2015, entitled Town Looks Gift Horse In The Mouth, we erroneously sided with Town Clerk Judith Beville regarding her objecting to her office having discretion to approve or deny the issuance of licenses to Massage Parlor applicants. She asserted that there is a difference in this bill compared to the Town’s existing 1977 Cabaret Law. She stated that Cabaret license applicants were seeking an additional license for an existing business and the Massage Parlors were new businesses starting new. Ms Beville was (and remains) wrong with her stance. We had agreed with her assertion on its face value and have since found that her assumption is incorrect.

We mentioned in our article that the proposed Massage Parlor bill, crafted by Edgemont and other residents and submitted through the Edgemont Community Council to the Town Board, had taken portions from several other communities’ Massage Parlor Laws already addressing the Massage Parlor issue. It also addressed the Town Clerks Office’s approval or denial of an applicant’s license request. The portion of the law regarding the Town Clerks Office’s involvement in the licensing process is copied verbatim from the Town’s existing 1977 Cabaret Law. Regardless of what Ms Belville believes she will do or not, her actions are limited.

The history of the Cabaret Law was to give the Police Department a better ability to go after organized Crime which the Cabaret Law helped them do. All cabaret owners seeking a license had to fill out an application. The Police Chief, the Building Inspector and the Fire Marshall subsequently reviewed those applications. If they approved the application, the town clerk simply issues the license and the establishment would then have to obtain a special permit from the town board and proceed to a public hearing.

There have been allegations that brothels in Greenburgh are fronting as massage parlors. In fact, one resident even said if you see the word “spa” in the name, it’s probably a front for prostitution! Another allegation is that underage girls or sex slaves are being forced to work in them. Our police department’s investigatory work appears to substantiate this information with major raids conducted in 2013 and in 2010. But the police chief says that doing prostitution stings is very expensive and consumes resources of other law enforcement agencies, and even when the Town gets the help, the businesses reopen again shortly after, as if nothing had changed.

Some of the information required for a license is the disclosure of who actually owns the Massage Parlor/Company, a background check must be performed to ensure the applicant has not been convicted of a crime or have a criminal record. From the Building Department and Fire Marshall’s side of the application, the location must conform to all building code requirements and to all Fire Code requirements. Also objecting to the proposed bill was Town Attorney and Environmental Expert Tim Lewis. He deleted the portion where the Town Clerks Office issues the license and would have the Town Board issuing the license. So if there was a denial from one of the approvers, the Town Board will not issue the permit. The applicant would then be required to appeal to the Town Board. Appealing to the denying agency makes no sense as was pointed out by Town Zoning and Detail Expert Ella Preiser. Mr Lewis also favored a 120-day moratorium on Massage Parlors. If we don’t have any law about Massage Parlors, creating a moratorium to stop (or slow) them is not legal.

We are convinced that the proposed bill should be adopted once it receives minor changes, such as the Town Clerk shall issue the license pending approval or denial of the three actual approvers from the Town: the Police Chief, the Building Inspector and the Fire Marshall. If any of these three wish to deny the application, the Town Clerk shall simply not issue the license and state as much to the applicant. No discretion for or against the application shall be exercised by the Town Clerk’s Office. At the point of denial by any or all of the actual authorities having jurisdiction, an automatic appeal is mandated to the Town Board. Consequently, all discretion and responsibility, whether real or assumed, is removed from the Town Clerk and falls exactly where it belongs. This bill should be adopted unchanged. Only then will we begin see A Better Greenburgh.

Town Looks Gift Horse In The Mouth

Two issues of late, completely different from each other, are dogging the taxpayers yet again. This one is about a bill that was drafted by several residents to limit/prohibit/regulate Massage Parlors in the Town - specifically due to the proliferation of them in the Edgemont section and other areas of the Town. The second is about another study for the needed inspection of the former Frank's Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road (a future article).

About two years ago, an Edgemont resident attended an Edgemont Community Council (ECC) meeting and spoke of the proliferation of massage parlors and the "undesirable" clientele they attracted. We were there when one of the speakers said if the name had the word "spa" in it, they were probably conducting sexual acts beyond a simple massage.

Soon after this meeting, it was brought out into the open at a Town Board meeting. Since only good news can come from Town Hall, Mr Feiner tossed this hot potato to the Police Chief. Now, almost two or so years later with little action on the issue town-wide, the problem is once again in the forefront of the news. Other news media sources, mostly those content to regurgitate Mr Feiner's one-sided press releases unchallenged, have occasionally broached the subject whenever the police have made arrests. Perception being reality, a fine line that Mr Feiner understands how to exploit, had him doing the Feiner shuffle and trying to push the Town Board into enacting a temporary fix while a long-term solution could be had.

The Edgemont Community Council’s President, Robert Bernstein, North Elmsford resident and Zoning Expert Ella Preiser and several others worked together to craft a document to address the Town's burgeoning massage parlor growth. While government is nothing if not taxing and regulating (some say over-taxing & regulating) its residents, this bill was constructed in hopes of fostering tighter control over the creation of these shops. The bill that was offered to the Town with no cost received a chilly acceptance from all. At the last Town Board meeting, Mr Bernstein took to the microphone to bemoan the changes Town Environmental Expert and Attorney Tim Lewis had made to the bill. There were two sticking points: 1) that the Town Clerk is given discretion to approve or reject the licensing of massage parlors; and 2) the Town Attorney deleted the portion about the Town Clerk approval, taken word for word from the Town’s existing Cabaret Law.

ABG has mentioned often our desire for the Town Clerk to remain silent during Town Board meetings. However, she did make a valid point during the discussion of whether or not the Town Clerk should have the ability to deny the application. According to Mr Feiner, who typically shifts his position based on favorable crowd reaction, said he had a problem with the Town Clerk’s office having the ability to approve or reject a license application. As was explained by Ms Beville, the Cabaret Law and Massage Parlor licensing were very different. Her licensing approval or denying capability under the Cabaret Law is to allow an existing business an additional service, such as entertainment. Under the Massage Parlor bill proposal, the Town Clerk’s office would be in a position to grant a license to operate a new business. Surprisingly, we agree with the Town Clerk.

Further discussion between Mr Feiner and Mr Bernstein was periodically interrupted by Town Attorney Lewis. Finally, after hearing Mr Bernstein’s complaint of how he was not contacted at all while the Town Board altered the proposed bill, all parties agreed to try to change the bill that accommodates both sides. Regardless of the future collaboration on the Massage Parlor bill, Mr Feiner again insisted on introducing what they already posted to show they were taking action. Vociferous objections were made as it did not make sense to introduce a flawed bill when a corrected one could easily be had. The Town Board ignored the public’s input.

The Town Board has become increasingly reactionary with so many issues. They have become predictably wrong on the items that they do focus on, such as the Fortress Bible Church discrimination (taxpayer cost: $5.5M), termination of the WestHelp contract (taxpayer cost: $1.2M/yr), former Frank’s Nursery no-sale (taxpayer cost: $3.5M+remediation), Comprehensive Plan (taxpayer cost: unknown), tax certiorari adjustments (taxpayer cost: $100K to 1M/Town Board meeting). The list is almost endless. 

Its time for some new blood to start circulating in Town Hall. When residents are forced to write bills our legal department seems incapable of doing, its time for a change. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Ethics Complaint Filed

On August 17, a Code of Ethics Citizen’s Complaint was filed against Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul J. Feiner (“Feiner”) and Judith Beville, Greenburgh Town Clerk, (“Beville”) alleging violations of the Greenburgh Code of Ethics in connection with their having solicited or accepted services in aid of their political campaigns for re-election from Town Attorney Timothy Lewis in violation of Chapter 570-7(A); and against each of them for aiding each other in the violation of such section of the Ethics Code in violation of Chapter 570-13. The allegations of this complaint are supported by the complainant’s sworn statement under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of New York, being filed herewith with the Greenburgh Town Clerk, that the allegations contained herein are true and correct to the best of the complainant's knowledge, information and belief.

It is readily accepted by residents in the Town that Mr Feiner seems to operate, or “play”, by his own set of rules when it comes to what he wants or wants to do, regardless of ethics or legality. One example that comes to mind is his willingness to change Town zoning codes for a developer’s proposal. Not only is this illegal and known as “spot-zoning”, these changes are usually detrimental to the particular neighborhood affected and the Town overall. A recent case in point would be the Affordable Living Facility zoning change enacted by the Town Board which was written by the attorneys for the Brightview Assisted Living Facility proposal in the Glenville section of the Town. Needless to say, Brightview fared extremely well with the enactment of this change while the small Glenville community will be irrevocably changed.

At the Democratic Nominating Convention, held at Town Hall for free/no charge on May 24th, Mr Feiner lost the endorsement of the Democratic Party for Supervisor in this November’s election to Mr Robert Bernstein in what’s known as a weighted vote of District Leaders. Because there are two candidates vying for the endorsement, it forces a Democratic Primary vote which will be held on September 10th. At that time, registered Democratic voters will cast their votes to choose which candidate becomes the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party. ABG urges all registered democrats to come out and vote.

The ethics complaint filed alleges that Mr Feiner (Supervisor) and Ms Beville (Clerk), as Public Officials, accepted contributions from Town Attorney Tim Lewis, who is an Appointed Town Officer, with his collection of ballot signatures for their respective candidacies. The Code of Ethics specifically states, “Chapter 570-7 of the Greenburgh Code of Ethics is entitled, “Prohibited Political Activities” and subsection A thereof is entitled, “Contributions.” Subsection 1 thereof states (in pertinent part) that “No Public Officer ... shall directly, or indirectly, solicit or accept any contribution or money or services or thing of value for any political party, campaign committee or any Candidate from any Appointed Officer or Employee ....” .”

The issue of “any contribution... or services” is the contention of this complaint. Obtaining signatures from an appointed town official in aid of an elected town official’s campaign for reelection is a violation of the code. Collecting signatures takes time and effort and is a service with value. Elected town officials should know better than to accept such services from their appointees, and appointees should know better than to aid such violations by the elected officials who appoint them. Mr Feiner, a non-practicing attorney recently had his last lawsuit tossed NY Supreme Court on a technicality. It’s no wonder Mr Feiner would easily “dismiss” his ethical responsibility to the Town and its residents in a desperate attempt to remove Mr Bernstein’s candidacy against him. 

In a previous posts on ABG, we discussed Mr Feiner’s dismissed lawsuit in more detail and how Mr Feiner disingenuously claimed he welcomed competition and that this was democracy in action. Apparently, he was not telling the truth as he challenged signatures acquired by the Bernstein campaign and even his Town Board colleague Councilman Francis Sheehan, even challenging an order of nuns who had gotten petition ballot signatures for Mr Bernstein! 

Political candidates have many resources available to them from the Board of Elections. When they are in doubt of a proper procedure or interpretation of a requirement mandated of a candidate, they can easily call the Board of Elections in White Plains or Albany for clarification and explanation. In fact, both the Democrats and Republican hold “Campaign Schools” for candidates to discuss the “rules” to help them navigate the maze of paperwork, deadlines, filings and donation requirements. After 22-years in office, Mr Feiner seems to have forgotten or chosen to ignore most of these requirements. Perhaps his time in office has exhausted him. Or, if he intends to remain in politics, he consider returning to school – Campaign School. The electorate has the ability to let Mr Feiner know they are exhausted too. By voting in the Democratic Primary, they might just help the Town be A Better Greenburgh. 

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.

Greenburgh: WestHelp, WestHab, West-Broke

   Based on an article in The Journal News, by reporter Stacy Anderson, the Valhalla school district is suing the town in an effort to continue receiving $650,000 a year from Greenburgh under the WestHELP Partnership Grant. All the agreements in the world will not help squeeze blood from a stone. Stacy, a nice person and an able writer, fails to verify through historic actions and investigation, anything the supervisor feeds her (hence the moniker stenographer).
   She writes, "Although Greenburgh's counterclaim seeks to recoup the $1.8 million it had already given the school district, the three say that town attorneys cannot adequately represent taxpayers because town Supervisor Paul Feiner favors the agreement." Did she ask Town Attorney Lewis what he could do as opposed to just taking his word for it? Did she contact Herb Rosenberg or Bob Bernstein and ask what the alternatives might be for the town and it's attorneys? Evidently not.
   Paul Feiner has typically kept the taxpayers in the dark. He continually paints the stalwarts who show up at Board meeting as "anti-everything" he and his merry Stepford board proposes. Not true. His and their sloppiness, incompetence and ineptness are proof of their failures. What does that say of our school system?
   He references one magazine article from Money magazine about Greenburgh being the 80th Best Place to Live. That they strictly reviewed the Town through numbers and what his highness told them doesn't paint a clear picture. BTW Paul, anything but first place is a loser. And, 80 is too far down the list to be all that impressive. Based on this scenerio, Bush could have looked like a great president if he worked like the supervisor does. 
   WestHab is another mess that the supervisor insists on illegally moving forward for the benefit of a developer, not the town. He and his merry goof-ball board members rubber stamp the project along and the community, ultimately the town, suffers. This project is so bad that Sanborn, the VP of Land deals, was fired last week because he couldn't get the project to move forward, even with Feiner's illicit and illegal actions. Feiner's gotta go before the town is driven into bankruptcy. So does the Board.