Resident Shunned; Town Board & Attorney Postures; Board Fakes Pass

It’s not been a piece of secreted information, nor has it been unknown by many. It’s not been a surprise to anyone, especially our Town Board, since the last two years after notification. What has been troubling to most is the Town Board’s obvious obfuscation of a bill that was written by resident advocate Robert Bernstein, and mishandled by every portion of our Town’s leadership. While it’s also no secret that there is no love lost between Messrs. Bernstein, Feiner and Lewis, Mr Bernstein had, along with members of his Edgemont Community Council, pointed out that numerous massage parlors, alleged fronts for prostitution, continued to operate and multiply throughout our Town. In fact, Mr Bernstein, with help from several resident advocates including Ella Preiser amongst others, crafted a bill to regulate massage parlors within the Town and presented it to the Town Board for adoption.

The Town Board dutifully washed their hands of it, uh, we mean, turned it over to Town Attorney Tim Lewis. Mr Lewis opposes the submitted bill, so it languished in his “not to-do” pile. At numerous subsequent meetings, Mr Bernstein and others would ask about the fate of the bill and get the requisite stare Mr Feiner has learned to use so well. Mr Lewis gave his legal opinion of the bill and why he had not done anything with it. Ever the politician, Mr Feiner continued to say he supported the bill but was waiting on the Town Attorney. As time dragged on, so did the lack of a legal position as the Town Attorney, et al, sought a non-binding determination/judgment from the NYS Attorney General’s office. Mr Bernstein explained that while Mr Lewis may disagree with the law, his presumption toward enacting the bill into law was incorrect and it should be adopted. We can’t help be reminded of the Town’s new slogan: “Why fix it when we can talk about it?”

At last weeks Town Board meeting, Police Chief Chris McNerney told the Town Board that all six massage parlors had been shut down about two weeks ago. Eleven women were arrested that were working at these locations as unlicensed massage therapists. When asked how many have reopened since then, he stated, “All of them.” On March 16, 2015 Chief McNerney, himself an attorney, drafted a letter to the Attorney General’s office detailing that state law gives local governments the legal authority to close down brothels fronting as massage parlors.  “I strongly believe that the Town of Greenburgh’s proposed local law is needed and is not preempted by New York State law,” Chief McNerney wrote.  “The intent of our proposed law is to curtail criminal activity at businesses within the Town and to eliminate businesses which jeopardize the public health, safety and welfare,” he added.

Jeopardizing the public health, safety and welfare of Town residents is a heartfelt concern from the Chief of Police, yet Town officials seem less than concerned. In fact, knowing that Mr Feiner can get scads of publicity out of this quandary, he has done what he does best and flipped the Town’s inaction into a publicity stunt. He sent out an email via his coveted GBList that the Town will be hosting a forum about sex trafficking on Thursday at 7PM, championed by reporter Ken Picard. Other panelists include our Police Chief Chris McNerney and Lauren Pesso, the Director of the Human Trafficking Program at My Sisters’ Place. Noticeably absent are Mr Bernstein who has been championing the issue via legislation to help curb and/or stop human trafficking. We realized this was a publicity stunt because there are many other representatives who could be included from Westchester County Office for Women, Westchester County District Attorney, Hope’s Door, Victims Assistance Services of WestCOP, Pace Women’s Justice Center, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, Empire Justice Center, Westchester County Department of Probation, Westchester County Department of Social Services, Westchester County Chiefs of Police Association and the Interfaith Caring Community of Greenburgh. We could list more but think the point is made. Why have these others not been invited? 

The answer is simple. As we begin the re-election cycle, Mr Feiner will need to have the appearance of seeming to care about the community. It could be our next Town slogan, “We seem to care.” He’ll use this ploy to bring human trafficking to the forefront, as will other local politicians in their bids for re-election. Nothing will come of this venture. Eventually, for the sake of the young girls involved, we hope that Mr Bernstein’s proposed bill comes to fruition and is passed into law. If it is, it will be closer to the elections so as to provide Mr Feiner with more campaigning opportunity. This type of insincere patronizing by Mr Feiner has lost its luster long ago. It’s time for a change in Greenburgh. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Paragon of Virtue

ABG posted our first discoveries of The Paul’s illegal sanctioning of Town Hall for a group of democrats making phone calls for Obama, and quite naturally assumed The Paul guilty. Then we read a post by one of the G8 which brought up a good point. Perhaps The Paul didn’t know of this usage as others in Town Hall routinely schedule rooms for meetings by various organizations, not the supervisor? A valid question to say the least. But, just like the kid who cries wolf one too many times, The Paul has had in hands in more dark, Town-wide “done-deals“ than an army proctologist with a new wave of recruits. As a result of his past behavior, we quite naturally placed the blame with him. We still do. Only after constituents and the media exposed the misuse of the Town Hall did the Obama campaign offer to reimburse taxpayers for the theft of public space. 

All one must do to arrange a meeting room for your organization at Town Hall is call the Town Clerks Office. There, Town Clerk Judith Beville, too busy planning the next concert, poetry reading or student film for the next Board meeting, will have one of her able assistants talk to you and book your room. How much vetting takes place during the process is unknown? Is it possible that one of the employees made the decision to provide the Obama Phone Bank the use of Town Hall? Did they clear it with, or was it Belville herself, that made the decision? Either way, it was Belville, who is responsible for all of the actions of that office. It’s immaterial whether she either assumed The Paul would be uninterested or consciously did not bother to tell him. Perhaps she was being intentionally deceptive, following in the footsteps of her boss? It doesn’t matter. The Paul is responsible for the actions of all of his departments.

ABG doesn’t believe The Paul will just let anything go and demand everyone throughout his administration keep him informed of their respective departments actions. If Belville alone made the decision, ABG is pretty sure she still “ran it by” her exalted leader. ABG would like to know if there are any written rules of usage to dictate what qualifies or not for booking or refusing a room? How thorough a vetting process exists for room usage? Would they simply book a room to a hate group if requested? ABG hopes not, but now we’re not so sure. This isn’t like pulling up to the Alexander Hotel and checking in for a couple of hours of fun in the sheets and leaving before anyone is the wiser. This happened every week on Tuesday nights for many weeks in a row! It would be hard to convince ABG that The Paul or Clerk Beville didn’t know who and for what reason this room was being used. This is a serious enough breach of ethics (contradiction of terms in Greenburgh) that The Paul should demand Town Clerk Beville’s immediate resignation!

Next we’ve learned that Douglas Colety, Chairman for the Westchester Republican Party and another paragon of virtue, has requested an investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for the possible illegal use of Greenburgh Town Hall by the Democratic Obama campaign group. Colety issued a press release stating, “Taxpayers have a right to know that public facilities are not being used for partisan political campaigns and no municipal building should ever be converted into campaign headquarters for any party. It is critical that the Attorney General step in to answer important questions, including whether any town employees were used to keep Town Hall open for the evening phonebank and whether any laws were broken in the process.”

It’s kind of funny that the “pot” is asking for the “kettle” to be investigated. Colety has attracted quite a bit of his own scrutiny in the recent past with his paid position as a Commissioner at the Board of Elections, the Chairman for the Westchester Republican Party, the New Rochelle GOP leader and owner of the Executive Star Mailing Services. ESMS is the million dollar printing company Colety owns and operates printing most, if not all of the Republican Party and candidates’ literature and campaign mailings. A printer we know told us he tried to work with Republican candidates but it was “suggested” they utilize Colety’s printing and mailing services or risk the consequences. What consequences you wonder? ABG was told by two candidates (promised anonymity) that Colety, who was joined at the hip with Westchester Independence Party Chairman Dr. Giulio Cavallo, can practically guarantee the Independence line if Colety asks him for it for a candidate. Colety is also known to donate money to the campaigns of those candidates he “likes”. 

By the way, Colety’s “lieutenant” at the Westchester Republican Party is John Cerino, Westchester County Executive Astorino’s “Scheduler”. There’s a terrific “title” for another hundred-thousand dollar payback position. Colety’s Deputy Chairperson for the Westchester Republican Party is Christine Sculty, who also works for Astorino at an annual hundred-thousand-plus dollars. Former Mt. Pleasant Supervisor and now Astorino-appointed Westchester County Attorney Robert Meehan along with his wife are both heavily involved in the Westchester GOP, as well as employed by Westchester County and the Westchester County Board of Elections (under Colety) respectively. Who doesn’t work for them, democrats? Nope, their side has numerous positions doled out by the Democratic Commissioner Reginald Lafayette.   

Regardless of Colety’s conflict of interests and improprieties, he has made a point that ultimately will get a headline for a few days and go nowhere. We agree that The Paul’s administration should be taken to task for this latest abuse of power. We know the Attorney General will leave The Paul alone for familial reasons. We do need someone to go after The Paul, his Stepford Board, the Town Clerk and the rest of his rancid administration to clean up the Town after this latest violation of trust from The Paul. We can only hope.