A number of years ago, the Town secretly made a deal with several legislators and Robert Miller of Westhab, to build a facility where the King’s Inn motel used to be at 22 Tarrytown Road. The property was the buffer area created by more intelligent Town leaders many years earlier that was the transition point between a small amount of light commercial land and residential properties adjacent to it. The King’s Inn Motel buildings were in light commercial zone and its parking lot was residential. Immediately next to that is the Fulton Garden Apartments, two stories in height and very much similar to many townhouse arrangements, size-wise, we see in other neighborhoods. The previous zoning boards saw the value in easing into a neighborhood as opposed to what Mr Feiner wanted.
When the Westhab facility was proposed as a 7-story monstrosity on .7 acres of land, it overshadowed the surrounding area. So much for a transition piece of land between commercial and residential. Not only were a plethora of concessions made by the Town, the Westhab attorneys were writing the zoning and building code changes as they needed them and the complicit Town Board was adopting them for our Town codes! We are now experiencing many of the difficulties belabored by the community leaders, civic associations and residents highlighted back then.
Just during the months of January and February, the Westhab snow plows are taking all of their snow covering the old Fulton Avenue, as well as the few unused parking spaces and pushing all of that snow into the (non-existent*) traffic circle. This not only blocks the traffic trying to struggle through the already snow covered streets in Fulton Park, but it’s illegal! The Fulton Ave roadway was a two-way street that allowed residents a second method of egress from the neighborhood. The traffic light at Old Kensico Road and Rt 119 only allows three cars to go through before turning red again.
During the time Westhab was being built, Mr Tartaglione offered the use of his then-open deli for neighborhood meetings regarding the fight to stop the Westhab and Town’s assault on Fulton Park. Included with this gesture was free coffee during the meetings. Unbeknownst to the neighborhood, and behind their back, Mr Tartaglione was desperately conspiring to sell his deli’s property to Westhab. It was only when a neighbor stumbled onto his scheme that he ceased offering the deli as a meeting place and began insisting residents who shopped there to leave and not return. One woman named Rose, told us she had been going their daily since the deli opened. She was stunned when he told her to leave and not return. And, at about the same time, when he was forced to abandon his sale to Westhab, he began pushing the drive-through window as his catholicon, regardless of what would be necessary to make these significant changes to his building. He needed to flip this building.
Residents then attended the zoning meetings where Mr Tartaglione had Mr Chuck Pateman of Irvington, represent him as both his developer and general contractor. Both Mr Tartaglione and Mr Pateman then began reaching out to members of the neighborhood to elicit support for this project. When that failed to help their scheme, large outdoor plants began showing up on various residents’ doorsteps from Mr Tartaglione. Bribes? You decide. If a project can stand on its own legs, it shouldn’t be necessary to try to buy support. But this is Greenburgh. Many say Yonkers is the city of hills, where nothing is on the level. Move over Yonkers.
The issues that arose over two years ago were centered around a building that is too small to support the plan Mr Tartaglione sought. It still is. He was relying on the state property along Rt 119 (and still is) that NYS has emphatically said they would not sell the property because of future plans on Rt 119 (get ready - its coming). The property cannot support the amount of parking spaces necessary to comply with current zoning requirements. Again, this is Greenburgh so we’re not hopeful it will matter. Finally, and there is more that we’ve discussed before, is the increased traffic congestion at the only entrance and exit to Fulton Park. Since the Town gave Fulton Avenue to Westhab, and made it a one way street going north into the already congested and now, plowed-in, non-existent traffic circle, traffic is already at a standstill most days during both morning and evening rush hours. Even other times of the day find traffic unbearable and heavy. The traffic study supplied for the Westhab project gave the neighborhood an “F” grade for an over-congested area. Now that Smashburger has opened, traffic routinely backs up on Rt 119 into the intersection of Rt 119 and Old Kensico Road. Here’s a few pictures of traffic at various times in Fulton Park.
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| Traffic going westbound on Rt 119 at Old Kensico Road |
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| Traffic at Rt 119 backed up into the intersection as seen from Old Kensico Road. |
When Mr Tartaglione petitioned the Zoning Board of Appeals to expand his deli and it’s footprint, the denied his request. The reasons were the same as they are now: not enough parking, increased traffic, easements, lack of property (he incorporated state property still not available for sale) and other points. Regardless, the zoning did not support his plan. This appeal found Mr Tartaglione’s acting skills much better. Seemingly chocked up and on the verge of tears, he recounted how his parents purchased the deli, he worked there and then inherited it. He never discussed the booming business and the money he made during that time, only that not having this drive through window was costing him $4k a month. He never discussed the the decline in food value or his high prices. He never discussed the “stale” menu that offered the same selections for years. He never discussed that he didn’t offer free delivery when all of his competitors did. He never discussed that the area has become saturated with other eateries offering many more choices than his deli. And, he never discussed that people stopped coming to his deli once they had more choices. He never discussed that the 4-story Verizon building across the street closed, severely impacting the business. He never discussed this application was made under the guise of a restaurant application, not a deli.
He did say, however, that he did not want to be next to Westhab’s new building as he knew from statistics that crime follows Section 8 housing. Once the tiny, over-priced apartments fail to be rented, Westhab would “Section 8 them”, filling them with Section 8 housing voucher recipients. Section 8 renters are required to pay 30% of their income toward housing costs and we, through the government DSS Department, subsidize the rest. Then, Westhab has a government subsidized, never failing to get paid, source of income under the guise of helping the poor. He did say that his deli had been broken into numerous times when Westhab was “managing” the former King’s Inn hotel with transitional male ex-convicts.
Now, over two years later (there is an 18-month waiting period) the Zoning Board of Appeals has changed membership – all appointed by the Supervisor. Since some of these new Board members have never seen Mr Tartaglione’s pseudo tears, faux quivering voice, and pleas for help, the meeting this Thursday promises passage for his originally ill-fated proposal. So while his new plan increases impervious space, requires no additional water control for flooding, requires property from NYS that is not for sale, a lack of parking spaces, increased traffic and blockages at all time of the day, Thursday’s meeting is about endurance. He waited long enough to outlast the last rejection, regroup, get a new representative and contractor and propose his changes. This is not only bad for the neighborhood, but the area in general. The other point is that once it happens in one spot within the Town, its destined to be repeated in others. Bad ideas, like bad politicians don’t go away, they get promoted. Watch for this in other areas of the Town. Mr Tartaglione’s endurance will ultimately trump the needs of the neighborhood.
Mr Feiner, Mr Madden and others, wish to reshape the look and feel of both Rt 119 and Central Avenue. It’s already happening. They want the buildings to be bigger, require less parking or what’s called shared parking and they’re looking to increase traffic while complaining about increased traffic. They are changing laws to allow private companies to profit by installing sports bubbles throughout the Town as well as assisted living facilities.
They have routinely spot-zoned for the convenience of various developers while ignoring the pleas and needs of the neighborhoods. It’s currently underway in the Worthington section of the Town on Dobbs Ferry Road with an unwanted 83 foot tall sports bubble in a residential neighborhood. Mr Feiner lives in an affluent, upscale and gated community. Mr Madden doesn’t even live in Greenburgh. It’s amazing to ABG that the negative impact going on throughout the Town is out of control by people immune to its negative impact. Where is the “green” in Greenburgh? There are no longer any checks and balances in out Town. Mr Feiner has been in office so long that he has had the time and ability to stack the deck in his favor. It has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh!
* When the Fulton Park residents challenged the Town zoning based on several factors, they were told the traffic circle was not on the zoning maps and “didn’t exist”.
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