State of The County Address

County Executive and gubinatorial candidate Rob Astorino gave his mandated yearly State of The County address Thursday night. Joined in the front row by his wife and three children, this invitation-only event was a who’s who of Westchester County government and Republican party members. Although, numerous Democratic representatives were absent for this event, several of the Democratic representatives were in attendance. He covered numerous topics affecting the County and either had memorized his speech or utilized a prompter. Regardless, he appeared relaxed, polished and confident as he spoke.

Of particular interest to ABG was the proud announcement of the “great partnership” with the New York Knick’s developmental team, who would be using the County Center for their home games. In general, this is good news, except for Fulton Park, the small community that has been besieged by or abused and ignored by Mr Feiner and the County for years. It reminds us of when political leaders brag about the deals they make for tax savings and incentives they offer big businesses to stay in our county and towns. He made mention of that as well. They never discuss how the residential taxpayer must offset that money. Nor do they ever discuss or seem to help struggling small businesses with similar deals.

The County had used the former King’s Inn Motel for homeless and then a transitional prisoner release location for years, adding to a crime and general lower quality of life for the neighborhood. ABG has recounted the tales of “quickie” sex in cars parked nearby with hookers, empty crack vials and “baggies”, depleted alcohol bottles and used condoms on neighborhood lawns. The County’s solution to these issues was to park a County police car on the street outside the facility. Since then, Mr Feiner “gave” the property to Westhab, as well as the former Fulton Avenue, the increase in traffic for this neighborhood has been staggering.

Now that the Knicks will arrive, the street congestion promises to increase as the $7 parking fee is easily avoided on the north side of the building. With this free parking on the streets in their neighborhood, the Fulton Park Civic Association has reached out to the police department in hope of ameliorating this situation before it gets even worse as the Knicks arrive. The County, along with our Town, doesn’t appear to look beyond the immediate gratification and publicity of new deals.

Astorino mentioned that ticket prices will be only $10 and not require a second mortgage to take your family to a game. So while the $10 ticket price is attractive, and the $7 parking fee is not a killer, traffic and parking issues in this already congested area get worse when there is an event at the County Center. The effect of these events is that roadways backup in all directions, frustrations increase, automotive accidents happen and the event impacts more than just the immediate area. The solution for the County is to spend overtime and place County Police officers to direct traffic. The last time we checked, the County Police’s overtime budget was $8 million.

There was quite a bit said regarding the HUD settlement by Mr Astorino, which elicited not only applause, but several standing ovations. He focused on his actions being driven by the law and legal standing. He also announced a new initiative for the County in that they will replace the HUD money themselves so as to not be held to HUD mandates and standards, maintaining control of what we do in the County under “Home Rule”. An interesting idea whose time may have come under duress, Mr Astorino claimed the cost to residents would be $1 each.

He discussed the increasing Hispanic population to Westchester, speaking a brief time in Spanish and announcing that his Deputy Chief of Staff, Katie Delgado would be starting in an additional new role of Immigrant Services Liaison. He touched on her family’s background and thanked her in Spanish, saying, “Katie, pro favor, levantese (get up).” Whether this was a cheap parlor trick or Mr Astorino actually speaks Spanish remains a mystery.

Mr Astorino took the opportunity to brag about the contracts his administration has worked out with seven of the eight unions of the County’s workers. Then he highlighted the one union that failed to ratify their contract, the CSEA. He thanked the others as they made the concession to pay into their health benefits as everyone else does. He discussed the findings offered by an independent fact finder that the union and how he disagreed with some of the findings but was willing to accept and agree to it. The CSEA apparently was not and has still refused to ratify the contract – “We will continue to negotiate.”

Finally, Mr Astorino discussed his “run” for governor. He discussed that 85% of the Westchester Tax levy will go to Albany to pay for nine NYS unfunded mandates. The County taxes paid to NYS amount to $450 million and the County receives back about $250 million. He referred to this as “Albany math” that is compounded by the crippling 2% NYS Tax Cap. The time to act is now. He said, “The issues of Westchester and New York State are one in the same. Jobs, taxes, education, the environment, preserving the social safety net and bringing some sanity to the burden of unfunded mandates all desperately need attention right now.”

Obviously, this was a receptive and friendly crowd for Mr Astorino. Not everybody applauded or participated in the several standing ovations. His message touched on all of the major points but revealed little unknown information. Acknowledging numerous members of the audience, Mr Astorino played the crowd as good as anyone could. He is correct that he had lowered taxes by 2% in his first year and held the taxes at a 0% increase since then. Eventually, as everyone knows, everyone’s taxes will go up. The hopeful news is that we can get other politicians to follow Mr Astorino’s lead and work to hold taxes at “no-increase” level. We certainly need this in Greenburgh. If and when this happens, we’ll start to see A Better Greenburgh!