Town Hall Suspected of Bid Rigging - Updated!

In a stunning and yet typical closed door, about-face move, our Town Board is unceremoniously moving swiftly albeit effortlessly toward scrapping the entire proposal constructed for the former Frank's Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road! The multi-million dollar question is why? In particular with this previously passed  proposal was the fact that the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association had participated with significant input into the proposal, actually correcting numerous mistakes pre-final draft. Could the explanation for this move be that Mr Feiner realized he was losing control to gift the property to GameOn 365 and felt he/they needed to move before the "auction" began? Remember, past performance doesn't guarantee future results, but it sure does provide an extremely accurate indicator.

On the Agenda as TB-1 in this Special Town Board Meeting to be held on August 5th at 10:30AM, the Town plans to rescind TB-8, adopted on July 15, 2014 which authorized the marketing plan/budget of GA Keen Realty Advisors related to the sale of the former Frank's Nursery property located at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. Why?

With the second agenda item, TB-2, the Town Board plans to turn right around and approve the marketing plan/budget, information sheet, information memorandum, non-disclosure agreement and bidding procedures document for the auction of 715 Dobbs Ferry Road (Formerly Frank's Nursery) and authorizing a marketing plan/budget appropriation amount not to exceed $27,000 to GA Keen Realty Advisors, the Town's Real Estate Advisor. What changed and why?

What the Town Board is doing is removing the unanimously agreed upon stipulation that any bids on the property strictly utilize the R-30 zoning requirements to develop the property! Translation: Bid rigging. For example, GameOn 365 would have to follow the permitted uses of R-30 zoning such as residential housing, assisted living facilities, private clubs, etc., if they were to bid on the Frank's Nursery property. Similarly, this would apply to anyone else as well. And, we all know that what Mr Feiner wants is what will happen, regardless of the hoops he or others must jump through to accomplish it.

Mr Feiner's allegations of citizen bid rigging during the lease/sale/auction debacle with GameOn 365 still rings hollow as the Town Board again tries to change the playing field to benefit GameOn 365. They are still only a paper company with a small handful of investors relying on Mr Feiner's back room agreement for them to purchase the property while more significant offers are ignored. Is this just another ploy in Mr Feiner's bag of tricks? Will we see something added into the new proposal that removes the definition of a qualified bidder, or removal of the adherence to the R-30 Zoning?

You'll recall Mr Feiner tried to illegally lease the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to GameOn 365 about four years ago. Only after residents and civic associations threatened to sue the Town ala, "If you don't like what I'm doing, sue me," to stop his illegal actions did he back down. Fortunately, their threats to sue was enough to stop the runaway Mr Feiner and his Board from breaking yet another law.

Mr Feiner recently reached out to the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association claiming the owners of the Apple Farm, located in the shopping center on Rt 119, expressed interested in purchasing the Frank's Nursery property after the decision to rescind the proposal. The reply from neighborhood's Civic Association was firm: the only way they would agree to the sale of the property is if any bidder adheres to the R-30 zoning codes for the property. Mr Feiner wasn't happy and needed a way to push the Civic Association aside. In fact, ABG believes this could be why there is a special meeting with new proposals being introduced. By the way, given the amount of items on the Special Meeting Agenda, these should have all warranted a regular meeting. However, it would also have warranted the requisite public comments and slowed down the process Mr Feiner seeks to control, exposing their real motivation.

UPDATE, Sunday August 3rd:
In an email forwarded to the ABG offices, Mr Feiner replied to the query as to why the change. His answer below, is vague enough to appear legitimate but is really Mr Feiner thumbing his nose at the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association and their involvement with the entire process that HE insisted they participate in. Here's his email quote:

"RE: Resolution TB-1  08/05/14

we were advised that this requirement would not be legal and could jeopardize the sale of the property.  My understanding is that the town has more leeway re: decision as to who we're going to sell the property to, after the auction take place.  PAUL"

"We were advised" means that Mr Feiner made a decision and is not providing specifics because by remaining vague, his feet won't be anywhere near the fire, let alone held to it. The "more leeway" dumps the ball he temporarily "lost hold of" back in his lap, allowing him to cherry-pick to whom the Town sells the property after the auction. This will allow him to say no to bidders he wants out of the way until he gets to, for instance, the GameOn 365 bid. Since he can't control the bid, he needs to control the awarding of it. This rescinding of the proposal will allow that control to be his. 

Also on the agenda worth mentioning is AT-1, a resolution authorizing tax certiorari settlement with Westhab, Inc./22 Tarrytown Road Housing Development Fund Corporation for a total of $28,901. It's sad that a) the Town granted everything on Westhab's wish list when they sought to build; b) they utilize the police, fire and sanitation services while being a not-for-profit-but-very-well-paid organization; c) they don't have to contract with a carting company for garbage, recycle and trash removal while all other businesses must and are seeking a refund while utilizing Town services. Is this their idea of being a good neighbor, forcing the other residents to pay their share? And where are the financially concerned Fire Monitor participants and why aren't they looking at these expenses and/or behavior?

Having community involvement is critical for the success of the Town. Open government, real open government should be the cornerstone of how government works. Sadly, while Mr Feiner knows how to say and use the buzzwords about open government, he doesn't practice what he preaches. We'll have to wait and see what the changes are in the auction proposal contracts and learn why after the change takes place. Hardly open government. But in Greenburgh, it is our goverment. Only when the willfully ignorant become involved will we see A Better Greenburgh.