Just More Lies

A short while back, Mr Feiner was stopped by a community lawsuit from illegally leasing the former Frank’s Nursery property to his preferred developer (reasons still secretly unknown). Because of the lawsuit, Mr Feiner then said he would sell the property to them. Then he said the Town would issue a new RFP (Request For Proposal) for the property. Seeming to now be resigned to follow the law with foreclosed upon property, Mr Feiner said the right things during his Democratic Primary campaign against Bob Bernstein. The law requires any municipality that acquire property through foreclosure to sell it or keep and develop it for Town use, such as a park, a library, a court or police station. Mr Bernstein was the chosen Democratic District leader’s over-whelming endorsed candidate for the November elections. But now that the Democratic Primary has past, Mr Feiner has again changed his tune.

You may recall that Mr Feiner was “gifting away” the property through rent credits, tax credits and so on, to GameOn 365, after announcing they would build an 83 ft/8-story tall sports bubble and would pay the Town $5M over the course of 15 years. Please do that very simple math and ABG believes you will see that after every credit and tax break is rendered, school taxes paid, etc., there won’t be but a couple of thousand dollars left for the Town yearly. This was not a good deal for the Town.

Mr Feiner later claimed that there was a second company, House of Sports from Ardsley, NY, interested in purchasing the property but he didn’t think their offer to purchase the property was sincere. The House of Sports owners emphatically stated time and again that their offer of double the amount for the property was sincere and that they are always serious when it comes to money. Mr Feiner stated that whomever the Town sold the property to, the other would sue the Town and Mr Feiner didn’t wish this to end up in litigation. Having been found guilty in the Fortress Bible Church lawsuit and then having that verdict upheld in the Appeals Court, coupled with the guilty verdicts that he engaged in unfair campaign practices during the Democratic Primary campaign, illegally made payments to the Valhalla School Board, Mr Feiner is wise to try to stay out of court. This is not good for the Town.

Mr Feiner continues to state that he wants the property to be environmentally sanitized by the new owners and at the new owners expense. The Greenburgh taxpayers have been responsible for paying the school district and other various taxes (fire, county and town) since acquiring the property through foreclosure. Mr Feiner says (we believe incorrectly) that it is his personal opinion to make the Dobbs Ferry Road corridor a “recreation corridor”. ABG has repeatedly pointed out that Mr Feiner’s personal opinion simply “can’t be” since he is always the supervisor and cannot simply stop being the Supervisor to render a personal opinion. Every time he speaks, like it or not, he is speaking as the Supervisor. As such, he has often said this property should be developed for recreational use. Fine. Just don’t try to sell it to a private, for-profit business as a loss-leader under the guise of offering the Town residents another sports field. The only way residents will use any of this facility’s resources is by paying for them! This is not good for the Town.

This summer found Mr Feiner changing his spin once Bob Bernstein’s fact-laden campaign began exposing his litany of lies. He insisted the Town would do another RFP, put a new sign up advertising the property and have all bidders meet with the environmental consultants to generate maximum interest and revenue for the property. Simply, this was classic Feiner-spin fabricated in the moment. This is something Mr Feiner does often, without regard for the truth, strictly to benefit himself at any given moment. This is not good for the Town.

Doing another RFP would actually shut GameOn 365 out of the process because they cannot compete against the House of Sports’ cash resources or an offer for double the amount. House of Sports offered to willingly do the environmental cleanup at their expense as long as they knew the assigned zoning usage for the property. GameOn 365 could not. That alone would have been good enough reason to “seal the deal”. Next, putting a sign out on front of the property is as absurd as Mr Feiner’s claim that he posted the sale on his blog, thinking this would result in a sale. Finally, House of Sports’ only condition for purchase was to know what the zoning use for the property would be by the Town. They also wanted the full environmental report from the Town so they could estimate how and what work would need to be done should they purchase it. The Town never replied to the House of Sports request. These two requests were then transformed by Mr Feiner into “too many conditions” from the House of Sports as a serious purchaser.

House of Sports is a proven winner with their highly successful and well-run facility in Ardsley. This should have been a no-brainer for our Town leaders. An easy $3.5M with little-to-no effort. But our Town Board only plays ball under Mr Feiner’s direction and are subsequently aligned with his chosen purchaser. Instead of making the maximum interest and maximum revenue for the property his goal, as Mr Feiner stated earlier, our Town Board co-opted for politics as usual, and towed the line as instructed. This is not good for the Town.

Many have asked when the Town-wide Comprehensive Planning Committee will unveil their five-years-in-the-making Town Comprehensive Plan. Mr Feiner really doesn’t want it because once implemented, it will severely limit his ability to spot-zone properties for his numerous developer friends. So each time the Committee gets close to completing the plan, Mr Feiner tasks them with another issue to address. The last time was reviewing and correcting the Town’s existing zoning maps. This monumental task has finally been completed by the committee. Mr Feiner maintains this plan will be ready by the end of this year. That’s factually impossible given the amount of public review, revisits, rewrites and changes that will need to be made to it and then the ultimate adoption of it. Another Feiner fabrication. 

Mr Feiner continues to make unsubstantiated claims that other developers besides GameOn 365 and House of Sports are interested in the former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. When pushed for an answer as to who these mysterious developers are,  Mr Feiner refuses to answer. GameOn 365 appears to be moving forward with erecting their 83 ft/8-story tall inflatable bubble on the golf driving range property adjacent to the former Franks plot. This seems to be another Feiner-like deflection from the fact that they don’t have the money or investors to compete against House of Sports’ (or any other) bid for the property. But they have to appear committed to building a sports bubble, no matter how improbable it may be. Their intent now seems to be that they will erect their bubble literally in the backyard of the Westchester View Lane residents and seek the Frank’s property for parking. Subterfuge, lies, posturing, empty bank accounts, non-existent investors. These are just some of what Mr Feiner endorses with this charade. Mr Feiner has stated over and over again that he wants an RFP for this property. Normally, in any place other than Bizarro Greenburgh, it would be the correct way to proceed. But if an RFP took place, he won’t be able to stack the deck as easily to assist GameOn 365 in getting the property. This is not good for the Town.

Mr Feiner announced at the last Work Session that he has now decided to auction the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to the highest bidder without any conditions and for a minimum of $3.5M. At face value this seems perfectly viable but what happened to the RFP he promised? The Democratic Primary is over – back to business as usual. But an auction provides a way out for Mr Feiner and GameOn 365. Here’s what ABG believes will happen. 

GameOn 365 will bid whatever amount they do (its really immaterial). House of Sports will bid $3.5M. Any other bidders who participate are mere icing on the cake. The bids will either be too low, have too many conditions or will simply not happen because the Town will not be forthcoming with the zoning information for the property or the requisite cleanup of it. Knowing how the property is intended to be zoned and used mandates what must be done for hazardous remediation to the property. This is what was holding back House of Sports with proceeding with their offer into a sale. Mr Feiner also knew they would not proceed if he didn’t provide the information. Common sense tells us that no CEO or company in their right mind would purchase property not knowing this. Mr Feiner is banking on this and its his ace in the hole to be able to make sure GameOn 365 gets this property for “a song” with the Town on the hook for everything! This is not good for the Town.

Regardless of how many people or organizations bid on this property, Mr Feiner will have some reason for them to be disqualified or have the secret bid, under the guise of an auction, declared null and void. Not surprisingly, Mr Feiner will announce no one bid properly or the required amount, or had conditions and didn’t meet the criteria. With his normal media blitz, he’ll announce he’s made a decision to sell the property, awarding the sale to GameOn 365. He will say we need to move this process forward because the Town is losing so much money, knowing full well it was what he had intended to do now that he’s forced to follow the law he had previously tried to ignore. The amount of the sale will be the lesser amount he originally tried to gift to GameOn 365 with the illegal lease. Either way, can you say, “Done Deal?” This is not good for the Town.

This saga has gone on for way too long and unfortunately will go on longer because of the  earlier mentioned subterfuge, lies, posturing, empty bank accounts, non-existant investors and the like. It needs to end. This is not good for the Town. Greenburgh taxpayers deserve A Better Greenburgh.