Supervisor Seeks Takeover of Town Fire Departments Through Elections

It’s a long-range plan. Mr Feiner has often expressed displeasure with not having control of the Town’s Fire Departments vis a vis the Fire Districts. There’s nothing new to this arena, recognizing that Mr Feiner is a control fanatic. The “Aw, gee-whiz,” persona is nothing but an act. Some 22-odd years ago Mr Feiner was advised by a resident to develop the disheveled schlep act so people will think he’s not that swift. Not only did it work well for Mr Feiner, he perfected it. That same resident now openly and vehemently admits being against Mr Feiner and his politics. His “act” was almost exposed during the debate against then-candidate for Town Supervisor Robert Bernstein. When Bernstein became critical of so many of Mr Feiner’s ill-fated and costly schemes, Mr Feiner’s lips began quivering, he stood up and began waving papers almost yelling, “It’s all right here. I have proof you’re wrong.” Sadly for Mr Feiner, Mr Bernstein’s facts were correct.

Many believe, as does ABG, that Mr Feiner was behind establishing the Fairview “fire monitors” group led by his compatriot, Milt Hoffman, a retired editorialist from the Journal News. It’s believed by many this group was tasked to smear certain members of the Fire District, Fire Department and create a phony cause against them. This deflection plan was pure Paul Feiner and was hatched in anticipation of the Fortress Bible Church decision being rendered against Mr Feiner, fellow Board member Diana Juettner and the Town to the cost of $6.5 Million! Lest we not forget the lost $1.2 Million the Town was losing each year because Mr Feiner decided (supposedly on his own) to terminate the WestHelp affordable housing contract with the County. Or, that he needed to take focus away from the contaminated Town-owned-through-foreclosure property, the former Frank’s Nursery at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. While trying to gift the property to his friends from GameOn 365, Elm Street Sports of Ardsley made an offer of $3.5 Million dollars in cash and a promise to bear the entire cost of remediation. Mr Feiner said, “No.” Then out of no where, a gift was delivered to him.

David Hecht of Elmsford had taken the County test to become a paid firefighter. His hope was to be hired by the Fairview Fire District. But apparently, he had two strikes against him. First, they challenged that he was not a resident of Greenburgh, but of the Village of Elmsford. Residency is a mandate by the Fire District to get the job. Second, he was somewhat older than other candidates. Regardless, he was called in for an interview. Whatever transpired there is only conjecture by those not in the room. Ultimately, other candidates were chosen. Mr Hecht, sensing his firematic future with the Fairview Fire Department was slipping away, sued the Fire District for age discrimination. During the testimony of what has been described as a disgruntled retired firefighter/former employee, it was said that then-Chief Anthony LoGiudice as a Lieutenant numerous years earlier had made anti-Semitic comments about Mr Feiner. This was a home run for Mr Feiner as he now had the ultimate deflection he needed. How does Mr Hecht factor in to this? Keep reading.

Characteristically, Mr Feiner began his email blitz to the residents of the Town while sending press releases to the media at an unprecedented pace – even for Mr Feiner as well as doing interviews. Publicly, he demanded an apology from then-Chief LoGiudice. Privately we wonder if he said he could care less about what the Chief said, just that he can get a lot of publicity from it. Even though the comments had been made years earlier when he was a Lieutenant in the fire department, Chief LoGiudice made two apologies. He sent a written letter of apology to Mr Feiner and then went and apologized to Mr Feiner in person. He even made a donation in Mr Feiner’s name. Apology seemingly accepted, the media storm began to wane. Focus was being redirected back to the lawsuit’s guilty verdict and the $6.5 Million dollar fine, $5.5 Million of which would not be covered by insurance and paid by taxpayers. Since Mr Feiner lied under oath and was found guilty of discrimination in Federal Court, the insurance company was released of its obligation to pay the full amount. So, Mr Feiner jumped back on the anti-Semitic rant and went after the Chief again.

With so much negative media attention focused on Chief LoGiudice and the fire department, and suffering from leukemia related health issues contracted during his service at the “pile” at Gound Zero in NYC after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Chief LoGiudice took some time off. While new medications were helping him cope with normal day to day living, he felt the department would continue to suffer if he stayed on. He retired. This was the first major step in Mr Feiner’s takeover plan. 

We believe, as do others, that Mr Feiner then suggested Mr Hoffman and the “fire monitors” to go on the attack of the Fire District’s Board of Directors. This group of people, many who would not say if they lived in the district or not, became disruptive at several Board meetings. It’s certainly possible that some might not be Fairview residents even though they were allowed an opportunity to speak and participate in the meetings. Ironically, the press showed up for several of the meetings. Who called them for that publicity?

After raising false allegations of a lack of transparency from the Fairview Fire District Board, Mr Hoffman would speak at these meetings, sometimes seeming incoherent and almost rambling. He gave his own incorrect facts and figures which were either fabrications or simply unsubstantiated information. He could often be heard huddling with his people saying that “they” were going to run their own candidates so they could take over the Board and the Fire Department! This sounds like what Mr Feiner probably wanted and even asked Mr Hoffman to do.

Now it’s election time. Three candidates are running in the Fairview Fire District race for one open Commissioner position. While the ballot petitions were done in November and submitted in early December per NYS law, the three candidates seem to be doing what some have accused the Fire District and Fire Department of doing: being secretive and not transparent. It has been very difficult to find out anything about the three candidates. So we did some investigating and here’s what we learned and ultimately believe is happening. While this is pure supposition on our part, you be the judge as to who you may want to vote for or not. We are not saying that any of these candidates have not been honest or above board, but there are too many questions unanswered.

There are three candidates running for Fairview Fire Commissioner - 5 yr term:
1) Claire Pizzuti. 
Ms Pizzuti is an attorney by profession. She is also a “member” of the Fairview Fire Monitors group that we believe (and cannot prove) Mr Feiner has Mr Hoffman running. Ms Pizzuti has embarked on a mailing campaign. That's pretty expensive and extreme for a volunteer position. Mr Feiner has sent out a GBList email blast with the three candidates names, however Ms Pizzuti’s was printed larger than the others. We wrote about this on December 4th, entitled Supervisor Seeks To Influence Elections.

As a member of this monitor group, our fear is that Ms Pizzuti will be a pipeline back to Mr Feiner, whether directly or indirectly through Mr Hoffman. As such, will they “suggest” how she should vote? We are concerned that she will not have the taxpayers best interest at heart. But we are still concerned that eventually, when there are enough “Friends of Paul” on the Board (there's a new member voted on every year), they will push for a Fire Department Consolidation, which Mr Feiner will advance via referendum (re: GameOn 365) saying, “Let the people decide.” The referendum will be voted on by the entire Town and Villages even though they may not be part of or utilize the Fairview Fire District and Department. The referendum will pass and then the Fire Department will fall under the auspices of the Town Board (aka Paul Feiner). ABG believes this would be disastrous for the taxpayers!

2) Keith Guerra. 
Mr Guerra is a retired Greenburgh Police officer and we appreciate his service to the Town. He invariably knows many Town employees, processes and procedures. First, in his bio, Mr Guerra says he wants to “work diligently to search for ways to improve the department’s efficiency”. The fire monitor group and civic associations met with the Fairview and Hartsdale Chiefs to discuss what they are doing about costs, operations, and efficiencies. Because the Chiefs proved that efficient operations were already underway the decision was made by Mr Hoffman to publicly drop the push for consolidation (at this juncture). Second, is we already have two former police officers on the Board, Michael Kotter (who, to be fair, switched from the Greenburgh PD to the Fairview FD, from which he is retired.) and Damon Young, also a retired police officer. We don’t believe another police officer adds balance to the Board. Third, and we said you'd see this again, we’ve been told David Hecht carried ballot petitions for Mr Guerra. 

3) Todd Cammisa.
Mr Cammisa is a retired Yonkers firefighter. Our belief is that our Fire District Board will benefit with more firematic experience on it. We also believe an outsider, not entwined with the systems in Greenburgh may bring a fresher perspective to the table. We also understand Mr Camissa is going door to door campaigning. We are more comfortable with Mr Cammisa as a Commissioner.

There are two candidates running for Hartsdale Fire Commissioner - 5 year term:

1) Michael Goldstein.
We remember Mr Goldstein being part of Alan Hochberg’s original Fire Department Consolidation Committee formed by Mr Feiner without any authorization, legal representation or real standing with the Fire Districts or the community. The fire personnel members on this committee proffered their own report challenging the findings of Mr Hochberg’s report and recommendations. ABG believes the ruse was merely to substantiate Mr Feiner’s request proving consolidation was needed with this foregone conclusion. The fire personnel report proved with real facts and numbers why consolidation would be more costly for the taxpayer and not improve services or efficiency. We are concerned that Mr Goldstein might also be a pipeline back to Mr Feiner and wonder if he would act independently of him?

2) Andrew Lee.
We were unable to learn much about Mr Lee beyond his having been both a volunteer and career firefighter. However, given the past of his opponent and Mr Lee's firematic background we are more comfortable with him as a Commissioner.

3) Anthony Frasca - 1 yr term.
Anthony Frasca is running for a one-year term to complete the balance of a 5-year term he was appointed to fill when a former commissioner vacated the position a year early. We believe Mr Frasca should continue as a commissioner.

There is one unopposed candidate running for Greenville Fire Commissioner - 5 year term:
1) Walter Groden.
Walter Grodin has an extensive firematic background and has served as the coordinator who ran the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services Fire Training Center in Valhalla. We believe Mr Grodin is a good choice. 

Our investigation went not only into the candidates, but the three proposals in Greenville. 
Proposition #1:
The Greenville firehouse roof is in fact leaking. Ignoring this needed repair will add to future structural and infrastructure costs.
Proposition #2
Mr Feiner robbed $2,000,000 from the reserve funds and the Town Board condoned it to deflate the real tax increase the Town should be imposing and continue to say the budget came in under the NYS Tax Cap. The Fire District unanimously voted to borrow money while interest rates are low, for the 2014 and 2015 certiorari payments that the Town representatives have said is coming. 
Proposition #3
The financing of a new aerial ladder fire truck due to age is another justified expense. ABG had questioned whether or not the truck might be refurbished instead of replaced. We learned that typically the fire department will sell the old truck and those funds will go toward the new truck as well.

We believe the three Greenville proposals voters will be deciding upon this coming Tuesday are valid and justified. Interestingly, Mr Feiner, who again has no skin in this game living in either Hastings or Scarsdale, is fighting these expenditures. Also interesting is the fact that Mr Feiner cannot tend to his own budget without stealing funds from Peter to, ahem, pay Paul, but has no problem weighing in on non-Town budgets.

We hope we have presented enough information for you to see the "other side" of the equation. We hold nothing against any of the candidates. However, since politics in Greenburgh seems to have been tainted now for some, oh, who knows, twenty-two years or so, we felt it important to share what is taking place behind closed doors. Open government only works when you don't talk about it but actually practice it. That hasn't been happening for some time in our Town and needs to change. Only then will we have A Better Greenburgh.