County Center Meeting About Flooding

This announcement from the Westchester County Representatives was just posted. While it's short notice, it may be helpful for Fulton Park and other Bronx River corridor residents and business owners to attend. Fulton Park Civic Association's Vice President Tom Bock plans to attend the 5pm meeting. If this goes through, it will provide increased flooding for us all! Please attend.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,
     As you may know, the Army Corps of Engineers is considering six different plans for coastal storm protection, many of which call for construction of massive, in-water barriers (giant sea-gates) in New York Harbor that would choke off the Long Island Sound and the Hudson River from where it meets the ocean. These barriers would restrict tidal flow, block the migration of fish and trap sediment, sewage, and contaminants, while also failing to address increased flooding and other exacerbating impacts of sea level rise.

     After the intercession of County Executive George Latimer and appeals from the public, environmental, and grassroots organizations, the Army Corps has scheduled two public scoping meetings for the New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study at the Westchester County Center in White Plains on Wednesday, October 3, 3-5 p.m. or 6-8 p.m.

     So far, the Corps’ outreach for this project and related meetings have been limited.  Before the public comment period ends on November 5, we must show the Corps that communities take the human and environmental impacts of this project seriously and that they must prioritize public engagement. We don’t want them to think that a lack of turnout for this meeting indicates a lack of interest; we all know otherwise.

Will you join us at either of these two meetings on October 3?

New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Focus Area Feasibility Study Scoping Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, October 3, 2018, at 3 PM – 5 PM OR 6 PM-8 PM

WHERE: Westchester County Center, 98 Central Ave, White Plains, NY 10606

Additional information on the NY-NJ Harbor and Tributaries Focus Area Feasibility Study is available at

http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Projects-in-New-York/New-York-New-Jersey-Harbor-Tributaries-Focus-Area-Feasibility-Study/

Please consider attending and inviting your neighbors, as well – this is a critical time to speak out before the comment period closes on November 5 to prevent a short-sighted decision.

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!

Pandering With Feel Good Laws

Our County government is redundant in any direction you might look. There isn’t much we need or must have from it that warrants keeping it. We have federal, state and local laws passed to “protect” various constituencies. One must question if these levels of government really protect us, or are they simply another level of intrusion into our lives, pandering to special interests? Recently, Planned Parenthood pushed County Legislators to introduce County-level legislation to ban anti-abortion protesters from being within 200 feet of an abortion clinic, or making contact with a girl seeking an abortion. Before getting too excited, whether you are pro-abortion or pro-life, that’s not what this post is about. It’s about needs. Why would the County legislators feel the need to create and/or pass legislation such as this? They’re pandering for votes, similar to trolling for fish, in their districts hoping to get a “bite”.

Federal and New York State laws already exist limiting how close anti-abortionists can get to an abortion clinic. It’s 200 feet. You may be aware of the Planned Parenthood facility on Rt 119, directly across from the Greenburgh Police Station parking lot on Rt 119 that is mostly used when court is in session. Nestled back from the roadway, its not widely realized that it is there – unless you are seeking an abortion or to protest. On occasion, you will see protestors on the same side of the street as the facility, east of the I-287 bridge exit ramp with protest signs. So abortion, as well as anti-abortion, does exist here Greenburgh.

The point is, the anti-abortion protesters are following the laws that exist and staying 200 ft away from the abortion clinic. Why does the County need another law, duplicating what already exists? Because County Legislators can get publicity from it and add the number to their “look what I’ve done” scorecard. They are pandering to the pro-abortionists with another law we simply don’t need. Protagonists insist it closes a gap in the law at a County level. What gap? If nothing else, it highlights that a County legislator missed the opportunity to take a NY State law, use their word processing program to do a Search & Replace with the words “State” with “County” and introduce this as their County bill, pandering to the pro-abortion groups. By the way, County Executive Astorino vetoed this bill because it was redundant to existing laws.

We found the County passing several other “feel good” laws within the last two years or so. The intent of the laws may be valid but the result is more non-enforcable legislation that will dies a quick death and becomes forgotten legislation until election time, when we start receiving the cavalcade of mailings, robo-calls and lawn signs, espousing the “great” job the politico’s have done for us. The only time we ever really hear from our elected officials is when they want to get re-elected. Cha-ching!

This past year found the County government jumping on the “anti-texting” bandwagon by creating a law that is against texting while driving. Did it stop texting? No. Did it reduce texting? No. Going forward, will a ticket ever be written for texting while driving? Maybe. Once an accident has occurred, the police can look at a phone and see if it was being used for texting and issue a ticket. At that point, what’s the point? The accident has already happened and the lesson was better learned by example. We just hope nobody gets seriously injured or killed. Actually, most traffic regulations already prohibit distracted driving. So, whether you are texting, drinking a beverage, doing your makeup, shaving, tuning your radio or having a hands-free phone conversation, you are already breaking the law. That’s right. There are already laws on the books about distracted driving. Why introduce another law for the same thing? It’s not about the need for a new law, it’s about pandering to a new group of voters, of course.

Last year the County entered the environmental brouhaha by creating and passing a law prohibiting vehicular idling for more than three (3) minutes. Pandering in its purist form. Tickets written? None. Most vehicles that pull up to a drive-through window, will wait longer than three minutes to pickup their order from the takeout window. In fact, in Fulton Park, the former deli, now closed for over two years, has petitioned the Town for numerous variances, increasing the impervious space and actually asking for an endorsement to violate of the three-minute idle law. The Town Zoning Board of Appeals is poised to grant it. Stopping vehicles from idling past 3 minutes may be a lofty goal but it is not a realistic one. When a driver pulls up to a store to “run in” and purchase a lottery ticket, their car is left idling longer than three minutes. That’s what the law might seek to limit. Forget about someone stealing the car that was left running with the keys in it.

Most diesel vehicles used to have a more difficult time starting after they were turned off, which explains why many are left running while the driver makes a delivery or “runs in” to buy a lottery ticket. So who and what exactly was this law written for? Certainly not the delivery people, such as the bread, soda or snack vendor making a delivery. School buses? Possibly. When there is an school event at the County Center, a litany of school buses can be seen in the County Center parking lots, on the side streets such as Old Kensico and County Center Roads. These buses may or may not be idling. But who is issuing tickets? Greenburgh Police say its White Plains Police’s territory, White Plains Police say its Greenburgh Police’s territory and the County, who wrote the law always says there are no officers available to investigate. Mostly because they’re getting time-and-a-half overtime directing traffic in front of the County Center. One ABG staffer questioned the three minute idle, concerned that when the school buses are getting warmed up in the morning to go make their runs picking up students they run even longer. Does this count? Nope, after all, we do it for the kids.

After the Columbine and Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, legislators jumped on the bandwagon to create more gun control laws in hopes of never experiencing more unnecessary school violence such as these two shootings. We only highlight these two shootings, knowing there have been more. Was this a knee-jerk reaction to a horrific event than a rational, well thought-out and planned objective? Obviously, no one wants to see anyone killed or injured by shootings, especially children. But taxing everything to be more expensive is not the answer. All that accomplishes is penalizing law abiding citizens. We don’t outlaw or raise taxes on gasoline because car accidents kill people. Having “gun-free” zones in school neighborhoods may feel good, but it just tells a shooter they will meet no resistance. So all the laws enacted under the heavy-handed guise of improving things rarely works. But it feels good.

We have enough laws, regulations, fees, mandates, controls and over-saturation at local, county, state and federal levels. Writing more laws to fill a small, albeit minuscule gap that may exist will give a politicians a feel good moment they will take advantage of during their next re-election campaign. It will also allow them to provide a mailing update (campaign), highlighting the great work they are doing for us, even though the law may never be enforced. What would be more advantageous for all of us would be for politicians to follow the laws already on the books. And, if they fail to do so, find themselves being investigated and removed from office. Greenburgh might be a good place for that to start. Then will might begin to see A Better Greenburgh.

Fulton Park Street Picnic & Barbecue

It’s Saturday. There’s a threat of rain. Heat. Humidity. Sunshine. Clouds. Vacations. Holiday weekend. Politics. Campaigns. No shows. These were just a few of the issues the Fulton Park Civic Association had to contend with as they planned their first neighborhood street-closing picnic and barbecue. Under the deftly executed control of President Maria Gomez and help from Vice-President Tom Bock, the first of what is hoped to become an annual street festival was successfully enjoyed by about fifty or so residents and their friends.

Fulton Park neighbors visit with each other
during the neighborhood picnic

With music playing and the smells of a summer barbecue wafting through the neighborhood, curious residents as well as invited guests began to arrive at 4PM. Neighbors brought everything required to have a good time. There was music, barbecued food, salads, soda and bottled water to quench every appetite and thirst. Several families had their kids with them and for a small donation of only $5 per family, they were invited to consume as much as they wanted. Many left very satisfied after eating both store-bought food and an assortment of home-made dishes. Later, the deserts table was quickly left made bare.

50/50 raffle tickets were sold during the event and the drawing was held at the end of the event. A woman named Donna from Hastings, visiting a Fulton Park friend, was the lucky winner of $64. In a noble gesture, she asked the group there to accept her winnings as a donation to the Civic Association, saying she thoroughly enjoyed herself and wanted to help their future efforts. Many residents in attendance personally thanked her for her generosity. What a great way to end an event.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor candidate
Bob Bernstein stopped by for a hot dog,
cold water and conversation.

Speaking with many of the residents elicited the same response. They all wanted to do this again! It was a great way to meet more of their neighbors, enjoy some good food and spend some time with friends and family without the hustle of having to travel to another location. Fulton Park Civic Association President Maria Gomez says now they know what they can do differently or better for next year’s event. That sounds great – count us in!

County Gifts Day Off to Select Group of Employees

ABG has previously posted about this waste of County resources. What it amounts to is nothing more than a paid day off for County employees. It was started under former County Executive Andrew Spano and perpetuated by current County Executive Robert Astorino. Astorino touts himself as a reformer when its convenient but apparently is more interested in paying back the unions with this day off for the workers who participate.

Billed as the Westchester Educational Safety Training for police, emergency services and public works employees. It billed as running between 8:30AM until 2:00PM. This ensures an entire paid day off for anyone chosen to participate AND be billed as the requisite safety training employees must receive. Most public employees start at 8AM and finish at 4PM. This gives them plenty of time to “punch in”, hop in a County owned truck or vehicle and hightail it over to the County Center. Once the event shuts down, and they get back to their respective offices, it’s just in time to “punch out”.

Here’s two copies of the flyers being circulating through the entire County system. Note that they have different topics but the same basic format and information. ABG wonders how many more of these exist that we haven’t seen?

 

When these supposed forums began years ago, it was known as the County Fleet Day. The very few “old timers” still on the job for the County still refer to it as such. Back then, the special workers chosen for this payoff simply drove their rigs to the County Center, pulled them inside and had breakfast and lunch on the County’s dime. That still happens and we pay for it all as an event under the guise of “training”. It’s not training. Not only has Astorino and everyone in his administration has turned a blind eye toward this blatant ripoff of the taxpayers dollars, but the longer they let this travesty continue and the longer he and his administration condone it, the more of our valuable tax dollars is wasted.

ABG supports legitimate safety training. Having eight uniform vendors participate in this “trade show-like” environment is nothing more than the County administrators trying to substantiate and even validate this waste of time and dollars. It must end! If Astorino has finished padding his administration with Republican faithfuls and foot soldiers, it’s time for him to really start trimming waste, spending and the highest taxes in the nation. Playing the game of proposing the elimination of jobs compared to such waste such as this is where we can start saving the battered taxpayers real dollars. ABG implores County Executive Astorino to stop playing games with the public’s money. We can only hope.