Fortress Bible Church, a growing evangelical Christian church in Mt. Vernon purchased property in Greenburgh to build and move to a 500-seat chapel and a school for kindergarten through 12th grade in Greenburgh. The location can be identified by two concrete posts set against the trees at the north side of Dobbs Ferry Road by the entrance to the Sprain Brook Parkway north. You know the spot, it’s where former County Legislator and now State Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, used to live. You may also recall he is a good friend of The Paul, but has since moved to Tarrytown with everything that’s been going on. Could it be The Paul tried to stop the church’s growth plans from the inside to help preserve his good friend’s neighborhood?
The Fortress Bible case, specifically the lawsuit where a federal judge determined the Town of Greenburgh (Feiner & Town Board) violated the Fortress Bible church’s constitutional religious rights by rejecting its building plans, was confirmed after an appeal and subsequent loss by The Paul and current Town Councilwoman Diana “Sleepy” Juettner. The decision and subsequent appeal decision was upheld in a federal court of appeals! Clearly there is no doubt here. This interprets into a financial, as well as moral victory, for the Church while bringing shame to our Town leaders. It also means they will be able to proceed and use money won from the Town to fund their expansion! The estimates as to an amount of the decision range from $4 million to $8 million dollars. Thankfully for The Paul and Diana “Sleepy” Juettner, they will be running unopposed and easily get re-elected – even though they should immediately resign! Naturally, the Town will be footing the bill for their racist actions and they will not be forced to pay one cent. Sadly, the residents of the Unincorporated Town will be “on the hook” for the money required to pay this off – again.
The Paul has arrogantly been quoted as saying, “This is not going to be doom and gloom for the town. I don’t think the number will be nearly as high as (church attorneys) are estimating. No matter what the damages are, I don’t anticipate Greenburgh going over the tax cap. The town will still be very financially healthy after all this is resolved.” Of course it won’t be doom and gloom for him, he has a handsome salary as supervisor and has long stopped giving back portions of his salary for non-delivery of services. You’ll recall that old publicity stunt where he would give back what amounted to pocket change if he didn’t deliver on projects during the course of the year? It was an effective media tool but delivered little else. Worthy media coverage would be if he gave a portion of his salary back for every guilty court verdict and/or certiorari adjustments the Town has had to pay out!
The Town residents continue to scrape by with a failing infrastructure, guilty verdicts, storms, floods, 4-year contract negotiatons, increased taxes from every side and all The Paul can do is try to do is deflect by saying it’s not going to be “doom and gloom” and he “doesn’t anticipate going over the tax cap”. Adherence to the NYS tax cap is a joke just as not going over it means nothing with all the exemptions included in it. The Paul is not worried because he is running for re-election unopposed and his track record of calling the “right shots” is so stellar.
He called it when he said “No!” to the Fortress Bible Church moving to Greenburgh ($8M). He called it when he said ignore doing town-wide revaluations ($1M /yr & approx.$4M to date). He called it when he decided to not renew the WestHelp contract with the County ($1.2M/yr). He called it when he and Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis guaranteed that remediation costs will go no higher than $100K for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road at the former Frank’s Nursery. He called it with Dromore Road. He called it with the water filtration “cap” on Ardsley Road. He called it when he tried to enter into an illegal lease with GameOn 365 instead of selling the property as required by both County and State law after foreclosure acquisition. He called it when he told The Fercliff School of Yonkers to cease their search for a new location and move into the WestHelp facility. The list goes on...
ABG has predicted The Paul and his Stepfords will ultimately sell the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to GameOn 365. Nearby House of Sports’ owners have offered $3.5M – twice what GameOn 365 insists they can scrape together given more time. The Paul and his Stepfords new mantra is they must do their due diligence before making a decision on the property. This is “code” to delay, giving GameOn 365 time to try to raise enough money for at least a deposit for the purchase. For any private sector businessman, this transaction would be a no-brainer and would be an easy decision. But The Paul promised GameOn 365 the property in closed door dealings with the owners before acquiring the property through foreclosure. We’re also sure if GameOn 365 can scrape together the deposit, The Paul will offer to “carry” the mortgage. Can anyone say Barney Frank?
Read more: Media Complicity or Just a Lie? at :
http://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2013/04/media-complicity-or-just-lie.html
Then there’s the issue of illegal spot-zoning throughout the Town, enhancing The Paul’s ability to serve up a builder’s “delight” for his developer friends while residents must struggle with bureaucratic red tape, confusing forms and attitudes from departmental employees. Residential applicants are routinely submerged into numerous mazes of building requirements just to make changes to their property. This highlights a portion of what is wrong with this administration. The average permit process in the Town for a resident can take a minimum of one year and that doesn’t mean your project will even begin as the inspections, changes and costs might drag the process out even longer. Note: we invite ABG readers to share their experiences with us.
Contributing to The Paul’s ability to spot-zone are faulty zoning maps that developers often use to make their case in front of the complicit Town Board. These outdated and incorrect maps are what is allowing The Paul the ability to change zoning ad hoc. His Stepford Board votes “Yes” to whatever is placed before them. Although, a great risk to her political future, co-racist Councilwoman Diana “Sleepy” Juettner voted nay to a recent motion for a change. It must have been her turn to publicly go against The Paul – with his blessing of course. Thankfully, the Comprehensive Planning Committee has submitted new and improved zoning maps that may slow some of these occurances.
We have numerous properties throughout the Town that have seen spot-zoning changes. More importantly, ABG knows that developers, contractors and builders continually float in and out of Town Hall and will stop to discuss their Town business with The Paul. The proverbial kiss of his ring aside, we’re sure they’re there to test the waters and once they get the official nod, they know its okay to proceed. Obviously, we cannot prove what goes on behind closed doors. But ABG can review the decisions and projects the Town moves through at abnormally record pace and can tell something is very wrong in Gotham. Too bad we don’t have a Batman to rescue us. We can only hope.
Contributing to The Paul’s ability to spot-zone are faulty zoning maps that developers often use to make their case in front of the complicit Town Board. These outdated and incorrect maps are what is allowing The Paul the ability to change zoning ad hoc. His Stepford Board votes “Yes” to whatever is placed before them. Although, a great risk to her political future, co-racist Councilwoman Diana “Sleepy” Juettner voted nay to a recent motion for a change. It must have been her turn to publicly go against The Paul – with his blessing of course. Thankfully, the Comprehensive Planning Committee has submitted new and improved zoning maps that may slow some of these occurances.
We have numerous properties throughout the Town that have seen spot-zoning changes. More importantly, ABG knows that developers, contractors and builders continually float in and out of Town Hall and will stop to discuss their Town business with The Paul. The proverbial kiss of his ring aside, we’re sure they’re there to test the waters and once they get the official nod, they know its okay to proceed. Obviously, we cannot prove what goes on behind closed doors. But ABG can review the decisions and projects the Town moves through at abnormally record pace and can tell something is very wrong in Gotham. Too bad we don’t have a Batman to rescue us. We can only hope.
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