Selective Racism Condoned By Supervisor

In our last post, the ABG team had decided it would be our last about the Fairview FD anti-semitism case. Good, bad, or indifferent, we felt it time to move on. According to the Greenburgh Update Facebook site, the Journal News screwed up with their information, saying they “erred”. The fact that they “erred” should warrant an apology to Chief LoGuidice for the pain, embarrassment and suffering he has had to unnecessarily endure! Instead, they buried a one sentence admission of their error in another article.

The allegations of anti-semitic slurs became publicized when the Journal News reported that retired firefighter Darryl Leak had testified in an unrelated age discrimination suit against the Fairview Fire District that Chief LoGiudice had made anti-Semitic comments toward Mr Feiner. However, we had taken issue with Deputy Chief Howard Reiss, himself Jewish, and his actions or inactions regarding anti-Semitism in the Department. Having based our information on the public information we had at the time, and subsequently learning that it was incorrect, we offer our apologies to Deputy Chief Reiss for assuming (we know and we did) that that information was correct. We know Deputy Chief Reiss to be a man of character and a stalwart public servant.

Allegations relating to the deposition that Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice made “anti-Semitic slurs” against Town Supervisor Paul Feiner gave the appearance that Chief LoGiudice had lied under oath. He did not lie, especially under oath because he was never asked about any comments made about Mr Feiner. In speaking with the Chief, he admits he made comments in the past and has apologized for them to Mr Feiner in person and in a written statement. Mr Feiner, himself a Federally convicted liar and non-credible witness based on his guilty verdict in the Fortress Bible Church discrimination case, has been repeatedly quoted as saying the Chief’s apology is “a good first step.”

A good first step would be for Mr Feiner to practice what he preaches and show similar outrage in real cases of discrimination, anti-Semitism, hate speech and other violations of people’s rights. In an article of April 4th in the Scarsdale Inquirer, Mr Feiner is quoted as saying, “We cannot, as elected officials, allow discrimination to rear its ugly head.” Yet he practiced discrimination against the Fortress Bible Church when the Church purchased property and sought to construct a new church and school on it just off of Dobbs Ferry Road. We understand that this refusal to the church would have directly benefitted his friend, now NYS Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, who lived nearby.

In the April 8th edition of the Journal News, Mr Feiner’s quoted as saying, “This is the first time in my life I have ever personally experienced any form of anti-Semitism,” the 58-year-old Feiner said. “I just think we have to get people to reflect on how hurtful and wrong these types of comments are. It’s not acceptable for anyone to be saying things like this.” This is a bit difficult to stomach given his being found guilty of seven counts in the Fortress Bible Church guilty verdict.  He certainly knows how to say the right things, he’s just not capable of doing the right thing. Documents recently acquired by ABG indicate Mr Feiner has known about racism in Town Hall and chose to ignore it!

Below is an excerpt of a letter addressed to Town Assessor Edye McCarthy and carbon-copied to the Union President and Supervisor Paul Feiner on October 27, 2008. We have omitted the names and body of the letter to protect the privacy of the victim. We also will forewarn you that the content may be considered disturbing. The letter of complaint was made against Greenburgh Town Assessor Edye McCarthy, and apparently ignored by Mr Feiner and ultimately swept under the rug by he and the Town Board, even after it was repeatedly brought up at Town Board meetings by others.

Here’s a portion of those comments from that letter:

This letter was submitted and cc’d to Mr Feiner. He chose to do nothing about the accusations to this day, even as he continues his double-standard attack against Chief LoGuidice. Instead of addressing Ms McCarthy’s racist comments at Town Hall, Mr Feiner must have believed if he ignored it, it would go away. His statement, quoted above, “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. Once he learned of this, why wasn’t Ms McCarthy disciplined or terminated from her position? Where was Mr Feiner’s outrage then and to some degree, now? Why didn’t he reach out to the ADL or the NAACP? Why wasn’t there the same public outcry and dare we say, mob mentality from Town Hall? Why has our Town Board remained silent?

Adding to this insulting behavior by Mr Feiner was another letter circulated during the Democratic Primary election this past year when Mr Feiner ran against Edgemont resident Robert Bernstein. The letter writer, Ms Doris Sassower, a White Plains resident and co-founder of the Center for Judicial Accountability of White Plains, was forced to go to court to challenge her City of White Plains tax assessment under White Plains Tax Assessor Edye McCarthy. The lawsuit she initiated went to the Supreme Court in White Plains where they rendered a decision in favor of Ms Sassower, finding that she had been discriminated against by Ms McCarthy!

Here is a copy of her letter that was written by Ms Sassower and distributed during the Democratic Primary:

ABG has maintained, as have others, that Mr Feiner’s continued attack of and refusal to accept Chief LoGuidice’s apology is purposely being perpetuated for Mr Feiner’s own political gain. There is a well-known double standard in effect in the Town of Greenburgh and it rears it’s ugly head time and again. Mr Feiner had an opportunity to address Ms McCarthy’s racism and bad behavior but chose not to. Why? Because there was no political cache in it for him. His latest use of the Greenburgh email list has been to deflect attention away from his failing administration and point the bloodhounds of misinformation away from himself. This time he chose to attack the Fire District, Fire Department and its people because he has no say over what they do and can hurl attacks unimpeded.

Greenburgh is a widely diverse Town. Why has Mr Feiner not addressed the racism within his own administration and with his appointed Department Head? 22 years IS enough. Only when Mr Feiner and his schemers and plotters are gone can we have A Better Greenburgh.

Discrimination and Prejudice’s Double Standard: More Education is Needed

Two ABG staffers were asked during a lunch break to comment on their discussion about the recent anti-semitic comments made by Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGuidice. They questioned if the comments were actually made by the Chief? We said they must have been as the Chief apologized for them. Did we think he was an anti-Semite or for that matter a prejudicial person? “No,” and we were in agreement that his actions over the course of his forty-plus years in public service spoke louder than words. But it doesn’t excuse what happened. Yes, words can hurt. Words can be used to destroy. At this point, we hope they can also be used to heal.

Some of the discussion centered on the philosophical meanings of words as well as the real world actions of discrimination, hate speech and what is considered acceptable or not. We’ve stated before that Mr Feiner is quick to accuse others of racism while he himself was actually found guilty of discrimination against the Fortress Bible Church from Mount Vernon. In fact, he was found guilty on seven counts, including lying under oath, destroying evidence and not being credible. How can we believe anything he says? We can’t. The passage of “let he who cast the first stone…” comes to mind.

It also begs the question of what other forms of derisive, hateful and insulting language might be used throughout our Town government? What of the other departments in the Town, such as the highway department? We already know Mr Feiner and his Town Board condone the use of this offensive language by Town Assessor Edie McCarthy when she used of the “N” word in Town Hall toward another employee as witnessed by employees and Town activist Hal Samis. Mr Samis asked at several Board meetings what they did to address it and never received an answer, solution, apology or even a shrug of the shoulders. Just the blank stare that is so often used when answers are not forthcoming. Where was Mr Feiner’s outrage during that entire episode? There was none! Why is one form of bad behavior acceptable and another is not? We’ve also seen Mr Feiner go out of his way to give a second chance to others, i.e., Alan Hochberg, a convicted felon who has worked for him and maintains an office at Town Hall. When Councilman Ken Jones shouted, “Sit down! Sit the f&^# down!” neither Mr Jones nor Mr Feiner apologized for his foul language of that night! Why is it that whatever Chief LoGuidice offers is not enough? Why the double standard?

According to reports, Fire Department Deputy Chief Howard Reiss confirmed past conversations of Chief LoGuidice’s comments. How has Mr Reiss had been treated by Chief LoGuidice during his tenure on the job? Was he unable to practice his religious beliefs while employed by the fire district? Did the Chief forbid him to observe any Sabbaths or religious functions? Has Reiss ever complained about LoGuidice’s behavior or any anti-Semitism in the Fire Department? Are there others guilty of this behavior as well? If he did, were his concerns addressed or dismissed? Similarly, Reiss claims he’d heard this and we wonder why he said nothing to either a superior, a union representative or commissioner? Isn’t he, as a Jewish firefighter, condoning the behavior and in fact exacerbating it? Its one thing if no one knew this was taking place and another to jump on the bandwagon later while its convenient to do so. We’re not saying he shouldn’t speak up, just questioning why he would wait until now?

We see many examples of discrimination in all sorts of ways each and every day and are expected to tolerate them as politically acceptable or humor and sometimes both. The media seems to have no problem bashing Christianity when it will provide a sensational story, but mass murders at Fort Hood are classified as “workplace violence” as opposed to jihad. You’re recall in Nov. 5, 2009, Muslim Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan murdered 13 people on the base and wounded 30 more while shouting in the name of Allah. How is this rationale a positive or acceptable argument about discrimination? It is not.

Examples abound with a few “passes” of what some choose to interpret as acceptable while others do not enjoy the same luxury. We recall when Vice President Joe Biden mocked Indian accents in a 2012 jobs speech in New Hampshire? Or, when he complained in 2008 on the campaign trail that “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.” We can certainly keep going with Biden, but his behavior is typically compared to the embarrassing oaf everyone avoids and shrugs off. Another double standard.

How about when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now a leading 2016 Democratic Presidential contender, repeatedly employed a degrading Southern accent to pander to black voters? She said in a speech, “I ain’t noways tired.” Insulting? Demeaning? Excused. Or that Democrat Bob Beckel made fun of Louisiana GOP governor Bobby Jindal’s State of the Union response by comparing it to a “call-center ad in Mumbai.” Just last week on his Comedy Central show, Stephen Colbert revived his supposedly satirical “Ching-Chong Ding-Dong” skit. Here, he speaks in Pidgin English with a grossly exaggerated Asian accent. The reason he said and did what he did doesn’t matter. “Oh, I ruv tea. It’s so good for you. You so pretty, American girl.” Why are these statements considered acceptable? Humor? Hardly. Why does the media not hold these people to the same standards? When do we draw the line? Because they are said by favored leaders and comedians should not allow them to be conveniently dismissed and ignored.

It also begs the question of when is our disdain for language such as this considered hypersensitivity, when is it a private conversation, and when is it free speech? If it is free speech, our First Amendment rights, or whatever we choose to call it, to what extent should we allow it? Can we, or for that matter should we, even seek to control it? Examples of American Nazi’s protesting throughout our country and their right to not only rally and protest but their “right” to do so in pro-American events, such as Fourth of July parades seem to abound. Similarly, why do we allow anti-war protestors to protest and disrupt families in mourning during military funerals at plots they have purchased, both financially and with lives? When is your freedom of speech a violation of my rights? We don’t need to wait generations for things to change. We can change them now!

In the African American community, racist comments being made amongst each other with the use of the “N” word. Why is it still used and considered acceptable? We know that that language will not be tolerated in the Fire Department and rightfully so. In fact, deceased comedian Richard Prior made it a point to say he would stop using the word because it was wrong for a number of reasons. Good for him – unfortunately, we lost him too soon. To go beyond this one word, when do we stop calling overweight people “Fatso”, or redheads “Red”, or those of Italian decent “Guineas”? Unfortunately, the list is endless. Finally, African American actor Nick Cannon recently put on whiteface makeup and posted pictures of himself saying, “It’s official! I’m white!” claiming he was doing a character impression for his new movie. Doing the opposite of “blackface” as white actors did years ago, which is nowadays considered offensive, doesn’t justify his actions or make it any less prejudicial because he is an African American. If it’s not right for one, its not justifiable for another.  

No rational, thinking person would support hate speech. There are several organizations whose goal is to teach tolerance and acceptance to the ignorant. If you are not willing to accept an apology why should we bother to even do this? We need to get people educated to understand and believe there is a better way. Mr Feiner is always quick to throw stones while living in a glass house. Perhaps Mr Feiner should undergo this same sensitivity training so he can learn how offensive using the “N” word can be? What Chief LoGuidice did in the past was wrong. Mr Feiner asked for an apology and received it. It’s time to work together toward healing. 

We certainly need to ensure this won’t happen again, whether in Town Hall, the fire department’s TV room, on the playground and the entertainment industry or anywhere. We cannot stop in our quest. Education, acceptance and fairness are better than they used to be but we still need more. Lets work together toward eliminating all prejudice and discrimination in our Town and our lives. Only then can we have A Better Greenburgh.

Town Cowards

The last Greenburgh Town Board meeting found the G10 as well as other seeking answers. They left with none. The residents in the room sought apologies for those residents who were treated rudely or spoken about in derogatory ways by the Board. They left with none. In fact, the daily newspaper even printed some of these same derisive comments. Why? Shouldn’t the “reporter” offer a balanced and even handed story? Perhaps in times past. But what does it say about a Town Board who cannot own up to their actions and simply admit wrongdoing and apologize? Of course, promising to no longer perform the same actions would really be what residents seek. By not doing any of these we see them for what they really are: cowards.

Growing up and attending school, we all knew who the school bullies were. We avoided them whenever possible, sometimes acquiescing minimal submission to avoid greater pain. This time, in Greenburgh, the bullies are those we would have normally avoided: the Town Board. Bill, the founder of ABG, had nicknames for the Town Board members. While they certainly may have accurately ABG described those members, we will no longer use them. It’s akin to how Mr Feiner treats the residents and how he has slowly manipulated his Town Board members to perform. Wanting to be part of the group and be up to speed as quickly as possible, newest Board member Ken Jones went above and beyond his indoctrination, shouting at a resident to, “Sit down! Sit the F*** down!” Cowards.

Speaker after speaker took to the podium describing the poor behavior of Mr Jones and this time the Board all remained silent. Resident upon resident continued requesting an apology for the abhorrent behavior and endured continued silence. In the corporate world this behavior would result in a trip to the Human Resources Department, probably some intense retraining and the event would be recorded into the person’s work file – haunting that person’s career ad infinitum. Or, they would be terminated as the company maintains a zero tolerance policy toward this type of behavior. The latter would more than likely be the action of choice as one travels up the corporate ladder. The Greenburgh ladder is markedly different. ABG is pretty sure whenever this Board wants to “high-five” each other, they adjourn to Executive Session! Cowards. 

Hiding in Executive Session to openly discuss topics that would either embarrass themselves or prove admission of illegality of their actions has grown into a disappointing norm for this Board. Once they learned that this “out” would get them off the hook, they began to abuse it. Mr Feiner had developed a new phrase about two years or so ago, paraphrasing, “There is a small group of people who are against everything we try to do.” Once he had a comfort level with it, he must have sent a memo to the Town Board members to use it as well. Dutifully, his scribes at the daily newspaper began to run the quote often. Now, however, his new catch-phrase is, “This is bid-rigging.” The G10 has taken to their new catch-phrase, “You owe the people of Greenburgh an apology.” But again, no apologies. Cowards. 

At the last Town Board meeting, Mr Jones moved to hold over the vote for the sale of the former Frank’s Nursery at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road for a week. Smart move. Why did he make this motion? Only his conscience, attorney and possibly a spiritual leader will ever know for sure. But Mr Feiner’s actions regarding the proposal from GameOn 365 from inception to this point, have been discussed ad nauseum by the G10 and others. In fact, the illegalities and wrong-doings were pointed out by Town Supervisor candidate Robert “Bob” Bernstein to Mr Feiner and the Board. The Elm Street Sports’ attorney pointed them out. Retired Justice Herb Rosenberg made the case. Residents and speaker after speaker continued the education for this Town Board in desperate need of, if not legal, at least moral, assistance. It’s not as though they missed one comment as they left for the restroom. Their insistence on maintaining their bravado and the status quo with this gift to another developer and ignoring advice from so many is troubling. It’s the school yard bullies thinking they will never be deposed from the swingset. Cowards.

ABG recognizes all too well that Mr Feiner has become a political machine in Greenburgh. His failed bid for Congress years ago proved then that he was a small fish in a big pond incapable of moving beyond our Town – unfortunately. Now however, as the big fish in a small pond, he’s crafted a niche for himself that is imploding. His Ponzi-like schemes cannot support each other enough any more. School-age reporters are easily lost as Mr Feiner dazzles them with his deflection skills, oblivious that they are being “conned”. The majority of the Democrats appear to have had enough of his bullying, proven by their overwhelming nomination of Mr Bernstein for Town Supervisor. Regardless of the winner in the November election, the G10 will remain ever vigilant. ABG is starting to see more residents and beleaguered taxpayers at Town Board meetings. They are becoming more vocal and involved. The schoolyard bully syndrome from the Town Board is wrong for Greenburgh. Their ruse of wearing down concerned citizens is not working any more. Cowards.

What do we want in our Town? You’ll have to decide.

Due Diligence, Colorful Language and “Sit the F*** Down!”

The first round of public comments where residents get only three minutes to speak seemed to pick up the pace of the Town Board meeting. Two service station owners spoke of multiple violations by a gentleman named Ali, who is running a gas station at Central Avenue and Old Army Road, and would like the Town to look into his sign violations, auto repairs and more. Their request to the Town Board is to have the playing field leveled by mandating the owner comply with all laws that they are all required to follow and cease his illegal operations. Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis stated they would look into these complaints and get back to them in two weeks. We wish them luck with having the Town make the owner comply and then getting a response from the Town.

Installing sidewalks seemed to be a popular subject as the cost of maintenance and installation of sidewalks was not in the proposed capital budget, also on the night’s agenda. One resident discussed the need on Old Kensico Road for sidewalks as they have witnessed a significant increase in speeding now that the Town has repaved the road. The Paul agreed. One advantage of the repaving was the “lowering” of the road surface which returned a viable curb for the homeowners, preventing water on the street from entering their yards and homes as it did previously. That speaker finished with a criticism of the WestHelp bid by the Town Board, while complimenting them on the New Resident Event held earlier in the evening.

The Paul decided to expound on how aggravated he was over the controversy with the WestHelp bidding process. He started out calmly and then became more agitated as he continued, stating the Town will get $1.5 M within months of signing the lease and there were millions of dollars at play and we’d get several million dollars less if we went with the next bidder(s) on the list. Apparently to The Paul, his logic justifies the Town’s acceptance of an illegal bid to make a few million dollars more over the course of the 18 years. One good thing, borne from a bad thing, is still bad; and it sounds just as illegal. 

Then The Paul brought up Ferncliff and Harbor View, which was the developer mentioned above that dropped out of the bid, and claimed members of the public were trying to stop the highest bidder from working with the Town. He distorted these facts while ignoring reality. His actions were what caused Ferncliff from not happening, as they were never a financially viable candidate for the WestHelp property. Harbor View backed out of the deal because there was an internal conflict with the two partners, with one working secretly with The Paul and the other kept in the dark. They also didn’t want to be in the middle of a public feud with The Paul, the County and the State.

The Paul commented, “Now there’s an attempt to, um, smear the reputation of the third bidder; someone who is offering significantly more money than anyone else. Um, what concerns me, the issue that concerns me even more is the ramifications that this is going to have on every bidding process.” While this sounds very authentic and perhaps a bit sincere, what The Paul fails to mention is that all of the WestHelp bidding process circumstances were created by his actions and condoned by his Board! The fact that the applicant from Group MRH lied to get the bid and subsequently admitted he lied to the Journal News reporter is the single-most damning ramification – all created by the applicant! In fact, the public’s only involvement prior to this was that they were doing the real due diligence and found the discrepancies in seemingly all of the information being presented to the Town.

The Paul’s tirade continued about a resident contacting him because he was appalled that a reporter went to the bidders home and took a picture of him in an undershirt. This same person said he would never bid with the Town to not have his reputation defamed. First, The Paul never mentioned if this person he spoke of would ever be submitting a bid on anything in the Town anyway or was simply making a point that The Paul would seize upon. Second, Mr. Harris let the reporter into his home. Third, what he was wearing was insignificant to the reporter and he could have taken a moment to “suit up” if his appearance were of concern. Third, and probably most importantly, the home address was the one provided as the business address on the bid. As such the reporter went to the business address supplied to the Town in the bid. If he didn’t want people to contact him at home, he should have listed another address for the business, perhaps one where he could share office space for a fee.

The next statement is the phrase we believe will be the new catch-phrase of the day from The Paul and his Town Board we’ll be hearing often. “So what’s going to happen because of all this controversy is we’re basically… I consider this a form of bid rigging. And I’m saying it is bid rigging. It is bid rigging because what we’re basically doing is we’re discouraging the highest bidder from getting an award from the Town.  The aim of all this character assassination is to encourage people who win a bid successfully to drop out of the process and what’s going to happen its not only this project that counts. It’s going to be all these other projects.” Then he rambled on without offering any proof but claimed to have letters that the public hasn’t seen validating his position. It was an amazing exchange and then he reiterated, “I am convinced that this is a form of bid rigging.”

The second public comment, where the public is given five minutes to speak, became the liveliest and testiest. The first speaker, Robert Bernstein detailed point after point of the submitted information, explaining the incongruities he found and the apparent falsehoods throughout. At the end of his time, Mr. Bernstein chastised Councilman Jones as a lawyer and member of the NYS Bar reminding him that he has a duty to make sure no fraud takes place in the Town of Greenburgh. Councilman Jones appeared visibly shaken and was sweating profusely. Once Mr. Bernstein’s time was up, he concluded, “Ladies and gentlemen, you have a duty to do the right thing. You have a Supervisor out of control. You need to put a stop to this.” The Paul responded that they have a duty to make sure there is no bid rigging in the Town; to which Mr. Bernstein countered with, “Sir, you have faked this offer. The only one who is bid rigging is you!”

Resident after resident came to the podium to highlight discrepancies in the bid for the WestHelp property, the process, the illegalities of same, and occasionally other issues involving the Town.  Toward the end of the evening in what turned into more and more absurd responses from our Town “leaders”, Ms Preiser asked numerous questions of the Board and had a short dialog with them. When the last speaker, Mr. Bock asked for his turn at the podium, the Board begrudgingly conceded. As he was speaking, several Board members were busy with their electronic devices and not paying attention to what he was saying. Mr. Samis approached the dais and said loudly, “Mr. Feiner isn’t listening to you! He’s playing with his machine.” Councilman Jones told Mr. Samis  to sit down. Mr. Samis then repeated himself. Councilman Jones responded, “Sit down! Sit the f*** down!” Mr. Samis remarked that, “Mr. Jones spoke and he never speaks during a meeting.” Jones insisted that Mr. Bock was speaking. The Board immediately rose and they simply said in unison the meeting was over and exited. Mr. Bock’s final comment in disgust was, “This is Open Government at it’s best.”

The language used by Councilman Jones, no matter how frustrated he may be, is inexcusable for any of our Town “leaders”. We understand that sanctions should be placed against Mr. Jones, but know in “Bizarro Greenburgh”, he will probably be receiving an award at the next Town Board meeting. ABG noted several Board members were outside after the meeting by their parked cars laughing. 

Please watch the two Public Comments portions of the meeting to be enlightened as to what is happening to our Town by our “Leaders”. To see the part where Councilman Jones loses control, go directly to the last view minutes of the Second Public Comment section. But don’t sell yourself short; and watch the whole event:

http://greenburghny.swagit.com/play/05082013-689