Fireworks Fiasco Eludes Safety

Many people have commented that they have witnessed fireworks for sale in almost every retail store they go into. Local firefighters and police officers are also confused. Some that we've spoken to have claimed that they too have seen and even purchased fireworks, believing that they are now legal since they are being sold in stores throughout Westchester County.

While residents are now able to purchase fireworks legally in Westchester County, there is still some confusion about which ones people can buy and just as importantly, if it's legal to use them or shoot them off? Certain types of fireworks can be sold in New York to those 18 years of age or older, but according to New York law, the ones for sale are “sparkling devices.” These are what is commonly referred to as simply sparklers.

The law passed in 2014 and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a democrat, lets retailers sell the small fireworks from June 1 to July 5 and December 26 to January 1 each year. Similar to tents and stands seen in other states, some even along the roadsides, temporary stands or tents can get a NY State permit to sell the sparkling devices from June 20 to July 5 and December 26 to January 1. According to the State's definition, sparkling devices are ones that burn on the ground and do not explode in the air.

A 2016 law decided that if a particular County wanted to “opt out” of selling fireworks, it would have to formally do so. Westchester never did opt out, allowing sparklers, fountains, cakes and tubes to be legally purchased. To that end, the Westchester County Association of Fire Chiefs, the Westchester County Volunteer Firemen's Association and the Westchester County Association of Fire Districts petitioned County Executive George Latimer as well as all County Legislators to have Westchester County "opt out" of this law, stating among other points that these devices are extremely dangerous burning at temperatures from 800 to 2,000 degrees!

In response to the letters sent, County Legislator Williams responded. An excerpt from her response clearly indicates that profits over safety were paramount for the legislators. Here's a portion of her response, "I have discussed your request, for Westchester Co. to opt out of the sparkler law, with my colleagues and some vendors in the area. It seems that it is too late to opt out now, due to the nearness of the July 4th Holiday, most vendors have already ordered their supply. However we will consider doing this next year, early enough to notify all involved.” A second legislator we discussed this with said she wasn't even aware of the "opt out" provision. In a subsequent meeting with County Executive George Latimer, he assured us that the County Attorney will be drafting a bill that will be introduced after the July 4th Holiday and he assures us that he will sign it.

While doing this after the July 4th Holiday may be the proverbial closing of the barn door after the animals are out, the attitude at the County Legislature appears somewhat apathetic. At least we can hope that no one gets injured during the highly anticipated use of these easy-to-come-by fireworks. It now comes down to each municipality as to whether or not they are legal to be used. So, even though you can purchase them, you might not necessarily be allowed to shoot them off! We urge you to check with your respective municipality's building and codes department or police department to find out wjhat you can and cannot do with fireworks.

As always, please stay safe this July 4th and enjoy the holiday, keep an eye on your kids and when in doubt, err on the side of caution and don't use any fireworks.

For those who prefer to write letters or call their legislators, please use the following information:

Your Legislator Name
Westchester County Board of Legislators
Michaelian County Office Building, 8th Floor
148 Martine Avenue
White Plains, NY 10601

Name	District	Phone
John G. Testa	1	(914) 995-2828
Kitley S. Covill	2	(914) 995-2810
Margaret A. Cunzio	3	(914) 995-2847
Michael B. Kaplowitz	4	(914) 995-2848
Benjamin Boykin	5	(914) 995-2827
Nancy E. Barr	6	(914) 995-2834
Catherine F. Parker	7	(914) 995-2802
Alfreda A. Williams	8	(914) 995-2833
Catherine Borgia	9	(914) 995-2812
Damon R. Maher	10	(914) 995-2817
James Maisano	11	(914) 995-2826
MaryJane Shimsky	12	(914) 995-2821
Lyndon Williams	13	(914) 995-2837
David J. Tubiolo	14	(914) 995-2815
Gordon A. Burrows	15	(914) 995-2830
Christopher A. Johnson	16	(914) 995-2829
Virginia Perez	17	(914) 995-2846

Great News & More Lies

A recent press conference held by County Executive Latimer, touted, finally, the upcoming plans for the former abandoned Westhelp facility on the Westchester Community College campus. It was abandoned because Mr Feiner decided to play games with the facility while it was under the Town’s control. Sadly, due to his politicization of the site and his desire to generate publicity, the “problem causer’s” plan backfired for the Town.

The facility originally generated $1.2 million a year for the Town, guaranteed. Now, forever lost, these were monies that could be applied toward paying off penalties and fines brought upon the Town with the Fortress Bible guilty verdict by Mr Feiner and Diana Juettner directly, and his Board indirectly through their condoning of previous behavior, to mention just one example. During the Feiner-induced Westhelp debacle, Mr Feiner decided on his own to not sign the Westhelp renewal contract with the County during the waning days of the then-County Executive Spano administration. In fact, they reached out to Mr Feiner numerous times only to be rebuffed by him. Mr Feiner then lied to the public when asked about it, saying the County never reached out him and that was why the contract was not renewed. Copies of communications from the County Executive later validated the County’s claim that Mr Feiner was again lying.

Now Mr Feiner has again used his infamous GB-email list to share more “great news” - even if it’s only partially true. In his announcement, he thanks his Board "who worked very hard" to make this happen. They did nothing! They condoned everything that Mr Feiner tried to do with the site. Instead, they should have forced him to adhere to the original contract, intent and agreements that were in place when it was created. After which the facility would be turned over to the Town entirely to be used for senior rental housing - period! 

Ever the shrewd publicity hound, Mr Feiner publicly suggested that it was the County causing the problem with utilizing the facility and not him. County Legislators Williams and Shimsky, not at all Feiner fans, vociferously countered as did then-County Executive Rob Astorino. Also following this sham, his lies and missteps was Journal News writer David McKay Wilson, who painstakingly detailed Mr Feiner's bad and possibly illegal activities. In fact, it was repeatedly pointed out that Mr Feiner and the Town were in breach of the inter-municipal agreement in place for the facility. As we’ve stated numerous times before, when Mr Feiner doesn’t like a particular law, agreement or decision, he simply ignores it, leaving the taxpayers to pick up the fines and penalties generated by his bad behavior!

The original conversion of the apartments was to be into 54 units. Regardless of the rationale, the number was then inflated to 74 by those involved as the numbers were increased to make a more profitable result for the management company, claiming 74 units would make the project more financially viable for them. Critics complained that the change would make for smaller, more cramped apartments for the future residents, which was not the right direction to proceed.

Now that County Executive Latimer has been dragged into the Feiner quagmire, he’s agreed to the 74 units at the facility in a lease created last October. Part of the discussion was about whether or not the new facility would generate more students for the Valhalla school district. Isn’t it a bit ironic that so often we hear about declining enrollments and yet “leaders” continue to try to keep new students from coming into our schools? Presently, in fact, Dr Tahira DuPree Chase, the Greenburgh School District Superintendent, is fighting the Greenburgh Central School district’s current reputation by visiting civic associations and neighborhood groups to try to dispel what she considers to be a false narrative from realtors and others about the Greenburgh schools. 

The plans call for the developer, Marathon Development Group, to pay $1.5M - $900K to the County and $600K to the Town, on behalf of the County, in exchange for the Town relinquishing all rights to the site. The new development will serve a wide mix of income levels, including 40% to 60% of Area Median Income as well as 80% to 90% of Area Median Income. Market analysts note the mix of units will broaden the property’s appeal to the senior community. 

The Town has suffered long enough and lost millions of dollars due to Mr Feiner's arrogance, failed management and his rubber-stamp Board. As is so often said, the Supervisor, who is missing the “shame gene”, says this is good for the Town and the County. Is it? Cramped living quarters are certainly better than no living quarters. And, receiving $600k for the Town doesn’t negate the loss the taxpayers have incurred on top of the millions of dollars that must now be spent unnecessarily to remediate the mold and destruction that has taken place in the interim. This kind of arrogance and incompetence needs to end. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

HNA Sponsors Tax Watch Columnist Presentation

The Highview Elementary school auditorium saw about 50 people attend the Hartsdale Neighbors Association meeting which featured David McKay Wilson as the guest speaker.

Prior to Wilson speaking, there was a brief presentation about food scrap recycling. The two women showed a small scrap container you can use in your kitchen for daily recycling and then a slightly larger one that would collect about three weeks worth of scraps. Lined with biodegradable liners, these would accumulate in the larger container that you would bring and drop off at a location at Anthony Veteran Park. Flyers were also handed out explaining the program along with an email sign-up sheet.

Wilson gave a brief description of himself and recounted a good number of stories he had worked on in and about Greenburgh. After being away from Greenburgh for about seven years, he returned to write his first story exposing the contaminated landfill that was installed at the Woodlands High School. That story ultimately led to an investigation which resulted in a jail sentence for the offender as well as remediation of the field. Town Attorney Tim Lewis, the Town's defacto environmental faux-expert, was not involved with cost-analysis with this event. Wilson also discussed the WestHelp debacle created initially by then HUD Chairman, current governor Andrew Cuomo. He talked about the scheme cooked up for the Town to get the lease money from those apartments and the illegal payoffs that Mr Feiner was making to the Valhalla School Board.

The night was to be a discussion of taxes. So, after Wilson completed his introduction, he proceeded to talk about what he had learned from various experts about what was on the horizon. He commented that 27% of the Town Taxes were from Edgemont. And, now that the judge has ruled Mr Feiner's decision to not allow the elections as incorrect, the vote for Edgemont incorporation can proceed. While good news for Edgemont residents, it may not be so good for the rest of the Unincorporated Town.

This discussion renewed talk of a Hartsdale incorporation as well. Since Mr Feiner has positioned himself in favor of the Villages, something we don't believe would be the case with the Village of Edgemont, he would have major budgetary issues in the Town should Hartsdale also look to control their own destiny in a similar fashion.

One comment that Wilson made was that the new IRS tax plan should not negatively affect most people in Greenburgh and Hartsdale. He clarified this by saying that the polarized political pundits are saying how bad it will be but the experts he's been speaking and meeting with are saying the opposite. He seemed to feel that the greatest impact with it will be in the real estate market.

Ultimately, the high-end market could suffer the most as the property tax deductions will change, allowing for only the first $10k in taxes to be deducted. As such, it will probably make selling a high-end home more difficult. It may also find sellers lowering their asking price to be able to make the sale. This same scenario could force an increase in the rental market. Consequently, the incentive to own might be less.

The discussion turned toward affordable, low income and Section 8 housing. It is also believed that affordable housing could suffer as the tax incentives most developers utilize will not be as great. An unrelated example that Wilson mentioned was illegal housing and that Governor Cuomo, who lives with his girlfriend Sandra Lee, never filed or paid for renovation permits to their home in Chappaqua. The irony is that the Town Tax Assessor revalued their home to a higher value.

Wilson finally discussed the taxation schemes that our current crop of legislators are trying to implement both to attack President Trump and to help people who might be severely and/or negatively impacted by this tax plan. He reiterated that most people are probably not going to be negatively impacted by it. What was never discussed were any plans by these same legislators to lower NY State taxes to help keep people here, to help keep businesses here and to help to make New York competitive again. It would behoove the Town to be leaders and start to lower fees(taxes), regulations(taxes), and taxes to make Greenburgh more competitive for businesses. We don't need more low income, affordable, Section 8, workforce and other housing that will not change the paradigm. We need creative ideas from different people. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Abinanti & Stewart Cousins’ Voter Suppression Bill Suppressed, Until Today?

In a most typically secretive way, Mr Feiner, a democrat, spoke and/or met with NYS Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti and Andrea Stewart-Cousins, also democrats, to change the 100 or so-year old state law on incorporation in another futile attempt to stop the Edgemont community residents from incorporating into what would be Greenburgh’s seventh village. It would also curtail any other area in the Town from thinking about incorporation.

Ironically, the attempt in Albany also failed, albeit until today, even though Mr Feiner had enlisted his Albany buddies to change the law. Both Abinanti and Stewart-Cousins submitted the voter-suppression bills in their respective branches of the NYS legislatures, but their attempt to sneak this unincorporated Greenburgh specific bill through was met with resistance. In fact, on June 20th, several Edgemont residents traveled to Albany to meet with the Greenburgh representatives. Stewart-Cousins met with constituents. Abinanti refused to meet with his constituents. However today is a critical day as Governor Cuomo has ordered the legislature into a special session to pass through other legislation that he and others believes is critically needed. Does that include the Abinanti/Stewart-Cousins/Feiner Voter Suppression bill? Let’s hope not.

Abinanti’s refusal to meet with constituents speaks volumes and lets residents know how he feels about representing them or anyone else. It’s a shame that constituents who travel two and a half hours are thought so little of that their unchallenged representative, conspiring in cahoots with unchallenged Mr Feiner to take away voters’ rights, thinks he can treat people this way. In spite of Mr Abinanti’s rude and bad behavior, Greenburgh residents did meet with other more receptive representatives. They discussed the legality and ethical conundrum created by Mr Feiner, Mr Abinanti and Ms Stewart-Cousins. They all know it’s okay as they are democrats and their seats will never be challenged by anyone else in Westchester. Or will they?

The Greenburgh Town Democrats have nominated Mr Feiner, Mr Sheehan, Ms Juettner, Ms Beville and Ms Povella (collector of taxes) for re-election. They put their names on petitions, and Democratic District Leaders started obtaining signatures, allowing the usual suspects to run (likely uncontested).  A vacancy then opened up on the Town Court and Bonnie Orden was nominated to fill the void. The Greenburgh Democrats came up with another petition, not one just for Bonnie Orden, but one that included Mr Feiner, Mr Sheehan, Ms Juettner, Ms Beville, Ms Povella and also Ms Orden. 

So now the Democrats will be trying to get more signatures. How will they be monitoring to ensure that people do not sign both, and duplicate signatures?  Will voters even remember if they already signed a duplicate petition?  Has the Democratic “leadership” made any effort to warn petition carriers to take steps to avoid duplication? Of course, if someone were running against Mr Feiner, someone such as Mona Freitag would be double checking for duplicate signatures.  

The Greenburgh Democrats will do everything possible to support a totalitarian regime. They criticize Trump, Putin and North Korea. They protest gerrymandering. Now it appears that they support removing voting rights for unincorporated Greenburgh. Mr Feiner’s latest attempt to block the ECC, the EIC, Bob Bernstein, Jeff Sherwin and others from Edgemont and Hartsdale in Albany, may have seemingly failed. What will be next? ABG was surprisingly caught off-guard when we learned of the bill that he had concocted in secret with Abinanti and Stewart-Cousins against Greenburgh residents. Yet, even so, this latest maneuver continues to re-enforce all the reasons we believe this administration should be removed. Between law suits with guilty verdicts, fines and penalties being charged to unincorporated Greenburgh residents, unethical and discriminatory behavior, it’s time. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

No Change In The Status Quo

The elections are finally over. Enough money was spent on advertising the candidates to balance many local budgets. In Greenburgh, we could pay off all the guilty verdicts brought upon us by Mr Feiner's illegal activities. Accusations flew and junk mailings found postal employees lining up at chiropractic offices in droves. Let's hope the candidates will pick up and properly dispose of all of their yard signs. literature and assorted paraphernalia. In the end though, nothing really changed.
 
The governor's race found Cuomo defeating challenger Astorino. The voting percentage was 55% to 42%. The television and political pundits all said Cuomo handily took this (re)election. But did he? Cuomo received 114,533 votes and Astorino received 86,493. The numbers don't lie but they do tell a story. Given the roughly two to one ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the state, the numbers tell us that Astorino crossed party lines and was attractive enough to some Democrats that they voted for him; or that some Democrats were dissatisfied or mad at Cuomo (and others) and simply voted against the status quo.
 
Yes, Astorino still lost. But did he? As we just said, the numbers don't lie and Cuomo did win. However, this election wasn't as much about Astorino winning as it was to position himself for the next gubernatorial election. Compared to New York's last election's upstate Republican candidate Carl Paladino, Astorino has that Richie Cunningham, aw-shucks demeanor and is very likeable. Having his adorable family in tow doesn't hurt either. He's comfortable with a variety of media and he is fluent in Spanish. He now has name recognition throughout the state, a cadre of people who are willing to stump for him the next time around, greater statewide awareness of state-wide issues and ties to the big money donors. Ultimately, he now has a wider breadth of supporters than he had before.

Locally, we saw sitting Democratic Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, sponsored in part by big Pharma, defeat Republican challenger Mike Duffy. The tally was 62% to 38% (20,765 to 12,787 respectively). In this race, the numbers are pretty much what they were when Thomas Bock challenged Abinanti in 2010, telling us two things: Abinanti has a Greenburgh Democratic base willing to vote the party line regardless of any wrong-doing or lack of knowledge on the issues. Or, simply, the democrats vote for their own and the Republicans do the same. Everyone continues to try to figure out how to capture the Independents and undecided voters to side with them without much success.

In other races, there were a few close calls but nothing radically different. We were watching the Attorney General race because the outcome could have been important for Greenburgh taxpayers. There have been several attempts by different organization to have our Supervisor investigated for multiple wrong-doings with little success. Had incumbent Attorney General Eric Schneiderman lost, we may have been more likely to finally make some headway than previously attempted. 

Propositions 1, 2, and 3 all passed - no surprise there. Each time propositions are put forth, the media blitz to convince the electorate to support them on behalf of the incumbents is untiring and often bereft of information that presents both sides of the argument. ABG wrote about the three Propositions and tried to give the counter-points to make the case to the voters to really think about not voting in favor of them. 

Overwhelmingly, the votes for either status quo or a populace that is unhappy with the dysfunction of government proves at all levels that people want change and deserve better .The northeast seemed to be entrenched and a bit immune to the wave across the nation for change. With Democrats holding onto their seats but spending much more money than ever before to do so, this should be a wake up call for many of them. Contrary to Mr Cuomo's ads, NY and New Yorkers are not doing better and people are still leaving. Now that the shift in the US and NY Senates has happened, our leaders may really be forced to cross the aisle and actually work together. Isn't that what they all tout before they get elected? Let's hope they do. Then, maybe we'll see A Better Greenburgh.

Honest Answers Welcome But Deflection Triumphs

Whenever Mr Feiner's latest guilty verdict is highlighted, he goes into what we've tagged as "deflection mode". You've seen this time and time again and we've written about it as often. The difference between us and the mainstream media is that we see it exactly for what it is. They, on the other hand, will reprint what he says without question or challenge. ABG believes they've abdicated their role as the fourth estate. Knowing he will get them "to play" by simply saying a few media-friendly buzz-words, he stated the Town's fire districts should consolidate. He began his rant to consolidate the Fairview and Hartsdale paid fire departments and deflected attention away from his failing budget, guilty verdict judgements and the general financial distress the Town of Greenburgh has been delivered. His ploy worked, his schemes have worked but his actions are failing. His policies are failing. HE is failing.

Mr Feiner has a small cadre of die hard loyalists who will do his bidding for him, allowing his appearance of being hands-off any hot button topic - such as fire district consolidation. In fact, when a Town Board meeting is not going his way, he will get on his mobile device and rally his troops via text messaging for help. As he stalls the meeting with his ramblings, awaiting his serfs arrival, they are given quick and unfettered access to the microphone. Their standard response might be an iteration of, "I was watching this at home and was so upset I had to come in to speak..." Others, in particular the G10, must sign up early and wait until called, usually after these troops have had their privileged say. Mr Feiner has perfected this routine and utilizes it often.

When Mr Feiner's guilty verdict was announced, the victorious Fortress Bible Church Discrimination lawsuit was almost put to bed. The judge had given ample opportunity to Mr Feiner and the Town to settle the case outside of the courts, but Mr Feiner, a non-practicing attorney, did not take advantage of the golden opportunity before he and the Town Board. His being obstinate, based on how many times Mr Feiner acted against the law and found guilty by the courts, keeps costing us more and more money we just don't have. One question we have been posing for years is why Mr Feiner can be found guilty in Federal Court on seven counts of discrimination, lying under oath, destroying evidence and still not be disbarred? It's business as usual in Greenburgh and for that matter, New York. Chicago has nothing on us.

Mr Feiner knows the taxpayers have deep pockets and brags they're only being zapped with a 3.4% tax increase, well under the NYS 2% Tax Cap, to pay for his illegal actions. We were under the (mistaken?) assumption that Mr Feiner had been personally found guilty and required to pay the penalties associated with the verdict and be forced to personally pay toward the verdict levied.

His latest deflection is to appear supportive of a 9A Bypass to reduce congestion on the 9A corridor. Naturally, like most of his follies, the "best chance of making this happen is now," a statement often made by Mr Feiner for projects he is interested in. This was the recent article in the once-critical and now-friendly White Plains Examiner. Under his hand, he had the Town Board adopt a resolution supporting New York State's pursuing of a 9A Bypass. This is like kissing your aunt on her cheek - it's nice but just doesn't mean anything. Its interesting that now that our Town Planning Commissioner has resigned to go wreak havoc in Stamford, CT., that Mr Feiner comes up with this exercise in futility. Next up? A press conference with his state representative buddies providing them more air time/publicity but producing little more than the promise to draft legislation to investigate the possibility and funding feasibility to study the need to see if there is a traffic congestion problem on 9A. It will go nowhere because there is no funding available for any of this.

Mr Feiner has included the Villages of Ardsley and Elmsford into the fray. Both of these villages are suffering because of the building that has taken place throughout the Town. What he doesn't address is the already congested traffic throughout the Town and the two mega-proposals in the north-end of the Unincorporated Town north of Elmsford at the old Union Carbide property. His press release, dutifully reprinted by the Examiner, says that the Town has $4.3 million dollars in a 9A Bypass Fund collected from new real estate taxes from new developments, but doesn't say what its availability of designated uses might be. We're back to that Aunt you kissed earlier. Its like her telling you she has put money aside for you when she dies, and then doesn't die anytime soon. Its nice but doesn't do you any good.

Saying you're for something is okay. Unfortunately, Mr Feiner is for everything with little action toward anything except providing for his developer friends and donors. Now that the shooting range has been closed, the bloated budget is done, the 10% salary increases for all elected officials complete, the verdict for Fortress Bible Church rendered, WestHelp still unoccupied costing us $1.2M/year, the Frank's Nursery property languishing, Brightview Assisted Living underway, Dromore Road dragging on, the Ferncliff School relocation gone, the Finneran Law changed with no sports bubbles, Midway Shopping Center expansion before the Town, the Trader Joe's expansion painfully lumbering on, the Landmark at Eastview 100+acres proposal starting to see the light of day, the fire consolidation scheme doing its damage, flooding in low lying areas still not addressed, racism at Town Hall unchecked, paving of Deli Delicious' entire property approved, and the Greenburgh Daily Voice turned over to Mr Feiner for his unfettered use, why shouldn't Mr Feiner do what he does best and add to the obsfuscation with a 9A Corridor Bypass to the mix?

 It's time for real leadership in Greenburgh. The stranglehold of political leverage is slowly proving why one-party rule, lack of ideas, and one voice is not good for our Town. The willfully ignorant must change and become involved. Our Town must change. Only then will we start to see A Better Greenburgh.

Feiner Guilty Again

ABG and others have been saying Mr Feiner had violated the terms of the contract the Town entered into back in 1989 with Westchester County regarding the WestHelp “gift” years ago. You’ll recall, then State of New York Governor candidate Cuomo, later appointed to the position of HUD Commissioner, built the facility amidst intense controversy in the area. The Town received the keys to the WestHelp property at no cost and was allowed to collect rent without having to lift a proverbial finger, or spend any real money for the facility. In fact, with the exception of erecting a fence to keep the residents in (others claim it was to keep people out), the property has remained unchanged for years.

The residents of WestHelp were primarily females, some with youngsters, some not. The area residents of Valhalla, along with several community leaders objected to these young families and did not want them attending their Valhalla schools. To reward them for accepting them, Mr Feiner instituted payments to the Valhalla School Board. In 2008 the State Comptroller said Mr Feiner illegally paid-off the Valhalla School Board with these payments. These payments were challenged in court. No surprise here, but Mr Feiner lost and was again found guilty of providing illegal payments and the Valhalla School District was ordered to return the money. This was all due to the successful legal challenge by Greenburgh residents, Robert Bernstein and Herb Rosenberg. They brokered a repayment deal for a return of the illegally expended money by Mr Feiner, and while these two residents won the court case on the taxpayer’s behalf, their efforts will “only” gain the Town a return of about $1.2 million.

Mr Feiner decided to play politics in the last election and use the WestHelp property as a political football for his own endgame. In the election prior to this last one, Mr Feiner began to lay out his plans to get more votes from the Valhalla area by pandering to their elitism. To hedge his bets because he is so disliked by the majority of Democratic leaders in Westchester, especially in Greenburgh, he decided to pander to the Republican leaders, from the top right on down. Having originally been against the affordable housing from the start, they naturally supported Mr Feiner’s folly and the Republicans in the County Legislature, aligned together against anything Democrat, went right along with the County Executive’s endorsement of Mr Feiner’s plan.

Thankfully, our two County Legislators representing Greenburgh and County Legislative Chair Ken Jenkins, saw through Mr Feiner’s charade and sought to stop this travesty. Equally important was their desire to put people in need of housing into those languishing units. Now, however, since Mr Feiner ordered the apartments to be left open to be ravaged by the elements, animal infestation, vandals and so on, the usage of those apartments is on hold until they can be renovated. As the tide against Mr Feiner rose and the defecation began to hit the ventilation, Mr Feiner went into “deflection mode”, blaming this on the County Executive saying the County Executive is against affordable housing. It’s ironic because the County Executive’s entire administration is based on two things: lowering taxes and completion of the court agreed upon affordable housing throughout the County.

Refusing to admit this problem was caused by him and condoned by his Town Board, Mr Feiner began twisting a small bit of truth into one of his “Deflection Mode” lies. He even went so far as to “hire” a non-provened management company, Group MRH. This “company” is comprised of one man who apparently lied on his application bid to the Town Board. He stated dollar amounts to renovate and manage the facility. When it got down to actually doing some work, he asked for all kinds of adjustments from the Town Board at a work session. It was defeating the whole purpose of a bid. All of the other (losing) bidders, with affordable experience, came in close to the same amounts with their bids for renovations, down payment to the Town and management fees. Mr Feiner stayed with his poorly handpicked choice.

Prior to the Group MRH fiasco, we witnessed another Feiner Deflection where he promised the affordable housing property to the Ferncliff School for the Developmentally Disabled. They were ecstatic to finally find a place that might fit their needs. But when residents resisted this flawed plan, Mr Feiner insisted it was the residents (G10) who were compromising his efforts and affordable housing! Not knowing any better, as well as not being used to being lied to by government officials, they believed Mr Feiner and his Town Board’s offer as sincere. The G10 knew better and often stated that the Town was under contract to utilize the property for affordable housing. Mr Feiner didn’t care and continued his ruse with Ferncliff, dealing them a crushing blow once the County finally told Mr Feiner the facility will not be sold, torn down or used for anything but affordable housing. We can only sum up Mr Feiner’s actions as despicable. 

Another part of the lies from Mr Feiner is that he and Town Attorney Timothy Lewis refused to disclose the Environmental Impact Study for the property and the study’s requirements. One requirement was that whomever takes over the project would have the right to renovate and rent all 108 apartments. This is simply not true! According to the 1989 document two units would need to be combined into one, creating one appropriately sized living unit. Ultimately, they would be left with 54 dwelling units, not 108! Fewer units mean close to half the number of residents and occupancy, and the question of parking is another point of contention. Given the change in occupancy, there should not be an increase in traffic. Finally, the gross and net incomes for the facility management will be significantly less than promised. Another Feiner lie.

In the end, Mr Feiner and his Town Board have intentionally neglected the WestHelp property for 27 months. When they learned a County inspection was scheduled to take place, Councilman Morgan instructed Commissioner Carosi to send a cleanup crew to the site to clean up debris, mow the weeds and generally straighten it up. It’s the only time the Town expended any effort toward the facility. As such they are in breach of the contract that had been worth a minimum of $1.2 million a year for the Town. They are also in breach of the taxpayer’s trust. The Feiner-faithful re-elected him to office in spite of this debacle that needn’t have happened – along with Fortress Bible Church and so more.

It remains to be seen what the County plans to do with the property, if there will be fines against the Town, a termination of the contract and possible court action. If the County chooses to go to court against the Town, Mr Feiner’s track record does not provide any level of confidence for our already overburdened taxpayers. Mr Feiner should consider stepping down for health reasons – ours. Then we can focus on A Better Greenburgh.

Just Watch Me

The time leading up to the next election promises to be interesting and economically advantageous for overburdened and beleaguered taxpayers. Not because we’ll have any breakthrough politicians revolutionizing anything, but because several of our potential candidates want to move up, so they are pandering “savings” to the voters. It’s the classic line from a song, “Vote for me and I’ll set you free.” The reality however, begins more likely as, “Elect me to represent you,” which morphs into, “Thanks for electing me, but after all it is all about me. There’s more I need to do and am seeking higher office to do it. See ya!” More accurately the sentiment should be translated as, “Thanks for electing me suckers! I can make more money and get more power by moving up and away from you. Vote for me again and I’m outta here, just watch me!” Since most voters are willfully oblivious to most politics and their politicians, they think they’re doing their community a service by going to vote, recognizing the name on the ballot and voting for them or simply voting the party line when they don’t know anything of a candidate, encouraging more of the same behavior for the next crop of candidates who come along.

There is usually some sort of damage or havoc left in the exiting politician’s wake in the form of increased taxes, new rules, regulations, fees and restrictions to our personal freedoms. Our own Town leaders say they are business friendly, yet continue to institute or increase fees, pass new regulations (with fines), all limiting the business’ ability to operate profitably. Once a business’ resources are exhausted, several less desirable options are available: they let people go, they cut back on merchandise or services, move to another location or go out of business.

Their acts of desperation to continue to stay in business affects us all as the community tax base begins to erode, employees who had the ability to financially support the area cannot and cut back their spending. Some even lose their homes and are forced to move in with relatives or subsidized housing, aka affordable housing. Less taxes are paid into everything from FICA, Social Security, pensions, towns and villages, etc. The elected politicians quick-buck has long-term devastating effects.

For instance, in Greenburgh we witness a Town Board that perpetually struggles to create new taxes in the form of fees and permits or increase existing ones to offset Mr Feiner’s expensive blunders. Blunders such as Fortress Bible Church ($8M payout); WestHelp ($1.2M/yr loss), remarkably uncovered Tax Arrears ($21M uncollected over 20 yrs), Frank’s Nursery property ($3.5 M lost), water meter debacle ($4M expense) and finally, but not limited to, the 10% salary increase the Town Board will vote itself. Mr Feiner justifies the increase saying the elected officials haven’t had a raise since 2007 or so. Here’s a simple solution: quit! Anytime the salary one receives is not working for someone in the “real world” (private sector), that person starts marketing themselves and seeks a new job. Mr Feiner tried this as a politician when he ran for Congress – and lost. So this time he just instructed his Board to vote them all a pretty hefty raise. While the G10 fights this, the willfully ignorant taxpayers allow this.

Mr Feiner wanted to be in Congress. Mr Astorino wants to be Governor, Mr Christie wants to be President. Mr Cuomo wants to be President – and his actions certainly belie that. In New York, it’s Andrew’s turn, so New Jersey’s big guy will really have his work cut out for him. After Cuomo’s big media blunder years ago, the “payback” to Uncle Mario happened and the junior Cuomo was appointed the HUD Chair so he could pay his dues, keep his big, entitled mouth shut and let New Yorkers forget how he insulted them, come back and get back onto the political horse. Shortly after this time, a younger Noam Bramson was elected as New Rochelle Mayor and his grooming began for the promised Nita Lowey’s Congressional seat when she retired. That is, until the Democratic apparatchik began bandying Chelsea Clinton’s name about as her successor if and when retirement plans are announced. In the meantime, our recently re-elected politicians all desire to use our backs as their stepping stone, so they are doing and saying the right things for taxpayers.

Unfortunately, Mr Feiner will not be going anywhere, anytime soon. We had always hoped that someone else would be interesting in hiring a non-practicing attorney, with no management skills, no budget skills and was convicted in Federal Court? No takers. No surprise. Since he cannot move up, apparently Greenburgh is stuck with him, thanks to the willfully ignorant that just won’t bother to pay any attention to his illegal actions and habitually reelect him. By the way, now that Westhab’s President Robert Miller is retiring, perhaps Mr Feiner will be asked to step in and fill their one void with another?

County Executive Astorino, moving along after his well-deserved reelection, is doing more than putting his toe in the proverbial waters to see if support for his run for governor has any legs. He recently travelled to the Republican Governors Association conference in Phoenix with his wife, and spent time meeting with New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, another political anomaly in an otherwise overwhelmingly Democratic environ. Why did they need to go to Arizona to talk? They could have more easily gotten together in Westchester or New Jersey to “strategerize”. Details of what they discussed was not made public. According to the upstate newspaper the Democrat & Chronicle, Governor Cuomo claims he knows what the two discussed but isn’t disclosing what he knows.

Astorino ran a campaign about maintaing our neighborhoods zoning independence and the right to control our community’s respective look and feel. He and others have bemoaned the overreaching federal government’s hand into this issue, which ABG believes falls squarely under Home Rule. While many support Astorino’s position, many Democrats, their staff and political pundits, along with anybody anti-Republican, claim he’s doing more harm than good. Because of his actions, the federal government has been withholding funds that are more like member items and costing our communities the ability to offer more to their residents (translation: lost votes). He also reduced the spending for the County’s budget, and actually lowered County taxes. While the County tax portion of property taxes paid by the average homeowner is about 18%, the gesture is more symbolic than tangible. And yet the gesture is having good political payoff for Astorino as well as taxpayers. It appears that he is helping the overtaxed taxpayer.

Common Core is dividing New York parents of school age children. Common Core and standardized testing under the guise of educational improvements will further what school’s institutionalized learning already does. It reduces creativity, individual thought, and exceptionalism, akin to teaching coloring and insisting the kids stay within the lines. It demoralizes teachers whose only love is to impart and nurture knowledge into the rapt minds of our young. Governor Cuomo has been doing a great job of campaigning, with only a few minor missteps from which he’s been able to distance himself thanks to a sympathetic liberal press. He has championed reducing taxes, trying to stimulate growth and jobs. He has taken a position on Common Core, seeming to align himself with the majority of a vociferous public. As he continues to claim to be against high taxes, he streamlined the Tappan Zee Bridge project, continues to espouse development and jobs while bolstering his job approval ratings.

Staunch Republicans have even admitted Mr Cuomo is doing a good job. The side benefit of all of this for the electorate is that we now have a 2% NYS Tax Cap, a Tappan Zee Bridge project seeming to move forward to create jobs along with other taxpayer friendly savings, ensuring New York financial and voting support. Mr Cuomo has also been smart enough (or advised) to stay out of the Hydro-fracking controversy in the Marcellus Shale region, having yet to yield a decision to either support hydro-fracking or not. Mr Cuomo’s gestures are nothing more than a stall tactic and if he can just get to the next election cycle without having to render a decision, he’ll be all set.  But his non-campaigning campaigning is having a good economic payoff for the New York taxpayer that we’ve not experienced in a while.

Obamacare is dividing the country and even the Democrats who voted for it. In fact, Obamacare’s implementation been postponed until after the next election to allow those same Democrats a pass to reelection. Our financial advisors are telling us the worst is yet to come. President Obama’s legacy is done. It’s Obamacare – good or bad. As businesses get affected by it and begin reacting to it as best they can, more and more people will be negatively affected. But the willfully ignorant will have forgotten how they were impacted and reelect the same people, just to get screwed again. The people who are financially better-off will just suck it up as they always do and pay the difference. The politicians will have been exempted from participating and pander to those with financially less, promising them much but delivering little.

It can’t all be blamed on the willfully ignorant, but it’s a good place to start. If and when they start paying attention, we can start to turn the tide and improve our lot in New York. It needs to start locally, only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

NAACP Continues Fight Against Feiner, Sends WestHelp Support Letter to Cuomo

Steeped in controversy, the housing facility known as WestHelp languishes while people in need of a home wallow in despair. There was controversy when the facility was proposed and ultimately built, as there still is now, many years later. Back in the day, it was so bad that the racist NIMBY’s in Valhalla fought the low income housing tooth and nail. It got so bad that residents in the Mayfair area of the Town threatened to secede from the Town of Greenburgh, and form their own village. And while the residents fought hard to stop the facility, then HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, now our governor, persevered and succeeded in getting the housing built. Tough love aside, the facility was erected on the campus of the Westchester Community College campus. 108 new apartments were then made available to people within the DSS system. Some were single women and others had kids. In the end, 108 families were living in their own apartments thanks to Andrew Cuomo (and others)! To keep Valhalla residents safe from the hoards of roaming single women from entering other neighborhoods, The Paul had a chain link fence installed, topped with barbed wire to contain them. Perhaps The Paul used the same company that installs fencing at our corrections facilities?

Between New York State and Westchester County, the housing was built and then the Town was assigned to collect rent from the County to the tune of $1.2 million dollars per year. Greenburgh has the Greenburgh Housing Authority whose function is to work with and maintain existing housing as well as those in need of housing. They currently maintain an active list of about 250 people in need of shelter.

Imagine everyone’s dismay once The Paul decided to not renew the housing contract with the County and cost the Town $1.2M per year! Many, including the G10, went to Town Board meetings and asked The Paul and his Town Board why he would not renew the lease. The Paul stated it was County Executive Andrew Spano’s fault. He said that Spano never sent a lease for him to sign. Residents quickly proved this was a lie! ABG has learned two Lease requests were sent to The Paul. Spano’s office claimed it was The Paul who didn’t respond. In a desperate attempt to cover his butt, The Paul then fabricated fake emails he claimed were sent to the County Executive requesting a lease. It’s shameful that not only would The Paul lie to everyone, but that he would fabricate emails to compound his lie.

Things were going well for Greenburgh while the County kept using WestHelp. But once they claimed to not need it as temporary low/no income housing facility, The Paul decided to break the lease and hatch a plan to get Valhalla votes. Whether this was done with or without a complicit Town Board is moot, as they went along and continue to go along with the charade. As mentioned earlier, the Greenburgh Housing Authority has clients that could have moved right in after the apartments had been vacated by the previously homeless women tenants. It would have almost halved their client list in need of a home! But this wasn’t part of The Paul’s grand vote-getting scheme. He wouldn’t be collecting any where near the rent he was getting from the County he needs to offset the year and a half loss relying on the Greenburgh Housing Authority.

There were two meetings hosted by the White Plains Chapter of the NAACP to discuss the WestHelp property and it’s fate with legislators and concerned citizens. We’ve written about this previously and won’t rehash what we’ve said before.  NAACP President Lena Anderson, has just sent a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo asking him to maintain the apartments. ABG has posted a copy of her letter below:

When everything is said and done, this is still a landlord/tenant issue. The fact that The Paul’s racism has been exposed, along with Rob Astorino, Michael Smith, Ned McCormack, Matt Richter, and media sap Phil Reisman (of the Journal News), doesn’t come as a surprise. The fact that so many other “leaders” would go along with it all, does surprise us. Actually, it disappoints us more than surprises us. ABG understands that the electorate has short memories. The Paul and the other politicians realize this too. They are assuming when the next election comes around that this will all be forgotten and they’ll get re-elected. Since that is what has happened for the last twenty years for The Paul, he figures he has a lock on being re-elected. ABG hopes not. Then again, we can only hope.