Open Letter To The Supervisor and Town Board

Dear Mr. Feiner and Town Board members,

I would like to share my concern about the development issue that is before you this Wednesday November 14th, namely the proposed development of the Elmwood Country Club.

The developer is granted an as of right for 119 homes on the property, but is seeking a zoning change (downzoning) so they can build a 175 unit Townhouse development.

My neighborhood (Hilltop Farms) is the first neighborhood east of the development, after the Sprain Parkway. I have several issues of importance about this, but my primary concern is the increase in density and the impacts of traffic on our neighborhood.

As I’m sure you are well aware, there is already significant rush hour congestion around the Dobbs Ferry Road / Hartsdale Ave intersection, as well as on E Hartsdale Avenue, all the way down to the 4 corners area. Adding the anticipated number of commuter cars to our already busy roadways will decrease the quality of life in our town. The traffic jams on these roads have already added to the commute times for residents. There will also be consequences for the traffic on Dobbs Ferry Road heading to both the Sprain, and into Ardsley.

The developer is claiming that an over-55 community will not have as many people heading out to work in the morning, but I think that might only be true when the residents reach full retirement age, and at that point, they might even seek to relocate and be replaced by a younger household. I am also concerned that a developer faced with slow sales of their $1,000,000 townhouses might move to create rental property on part of the parcel, and I don’t know if they would be prohibited from doing that. Speaking of the demographics, Senior communities are less likely to support bond issues such like the one currently proposed by our district.

The proposal by the Greenburgh Central School District to consolidate onto a campus that would have E Hartsdale Avenue as its primary egress/entrance, and that will also create traffic nightmares for people traveling our roads at least for 2 periods in the morning and
afternoon. Add into that a new Assisted Lving at Metropolis, and a proposed Assisted Living at Maplewood Swim Club and you can see where there can be serious problems.

There is also the problem of creating a zoning precedent if you were to down-zone Elmwood, and you would leave the door open for anyone else to demand equal treatment. We have several other large country club parcels that are ripe for development.  I don’t want to see our town so packed with housing, that we will see people looking to move away, rather than come here.

Now, passing over the myriad other issues brought to light with this proposal, taxes, cost to the town for upkeep of parkland with dubious suitability, loss of tax revenue due to townhouse vs. single-family homes and loss of revenue to both the school district and fire
district.

I am quite disappointed with the attitude and stance taken on behalf of the developer in this matter. They are trying to pressure the surrounding homes with scare tactics by threatening to remove any buffer between the neighboring homes. Indeed, if you look at their 119
home proposal, they have purposely not only placed a swimming pool behind every home, but they have drawn the bordering homes to the north in a disproportionate manner, making the backyard tiny and the front yard huge so as to place the homes as close to the setback as possible. I don't think this type of tactic escapes notice, and furthermore, this developer has no future interests in the town, seeking only to pave the way for another company to come in and build, and that builder might have no interest in any kind of “vision
statement” proffered during the permit process. The object here seems to be to generate the maximum profit possible with little regard for the effects on the surrounding community.

On the practical side, I think that the 119-home proposal that cost a million dollars on this parcel would be a potential great benefit to the town. It will attract business to the Route 119 corridor and hopefully we will see an increase in quality shopping and dining. Those 119 homes will pay full freight to our tax rolls, and hopefully not add as much traffic to our roads.

Thanks for taking the time to hear my thoughts. I urge you to disallow a proposal that would lead to a request to downzone the Elmwood property.

Sincerely,

Paul C.
(Full name and address of writer intentionally withheld.)

No Confidence In Process After Supervisor Speaks

It is not a surprise to anyone who follows Greenburgh politics that the proverbial “deck” is stacked against the residents by our Town administration. Ironically, while it is technically the “Feiner Administration”, it’s certainly not a “finer” administration – in fact, it’s far from it. The Town Board and in particular Mr Feiner, knowing the media would be present at its previous Wednesday night meeting, began to use words like honest, honestly, honesty, confidence, the process and so on quite often as well as conjunctively! Media-savvy Mr Feiner took the lead and his re-election teammates ran with it. Regardless of what Mr Feiner and half the Town Board says, every resident we spoke to gave a vote of “No Confidence” with this administration. Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Always the behind-the-scenes operative, Mr Feiner sent an email to Dorrine Livson, President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association, who felt it should be seen by all and has no problem sharing information. You may recall that Ms Livson asked for the GBList from Mr Feiner and the Town through the Freedom of Information Law and was denied the request. She appealed to the same Town Board denying the request because, well, here is another convoluted process with which the public has no confidence. Not surprisingly her appeal was also denied – by the same people she was requesting the information from!

Sadly, while Mr Feiner has no intention of releasing the GBList to Ms Livson and is comfortable disobeying another court order, he has no compunction about using the coveted GBList for a non-Greenburgh civic association from Yonkers. This association borders Mr Feiner’s gated community and would have affected his home value and quality of life. Do as I say, not as I do? Here’s a copy of that email:

Click on the email to enlarge

With no other recourse, Ms Livson filed an Article 78 with the courts to seek justice for both Town Board refusals of the information requested. She was victorious. However, now as another stall tactic, the Town says they are appealing her court victory. Regardless of that outcome, here is the latest email Mr Feiner sent to Ms Livson:
Dear Dorrine,
I know that you and I have some differences re: the appropriateness of the Board commencing a traffic and environmental study of the Game On application. However- the Board made the decision. It's time to move on and have an honest, unbiased review of the application and the impact the facility will have on the community - if it is approved.
 
We are going to be issuing a request for proposals. And then will interview the possible consultants before making a decision.

I want to work with you and your association members during the review process. And, also want to reassure you that I have not made up my mind how I will vote on this application.

Thanks for your comments and participation.
Paul

Several points we’d like to make with regards to this email. First, while it may seem innocuous enough by itself, there is an underlying message of pomposity and certainly one of non-respect for the community. Second, and possibly most importantly is that he is now claiming “the Board” did this. The vote is split 2 for the proposal and 2 against the proposal with Mr Feiner casting the deciding vote. It is well known in Greenburgh politics that if a Board member seeks re-election, they must tow Mr Feiner’s line or be “Sonya’d”*. Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Mr Feiner has never been objective when it comes to the GameOn 365 application. For almost 5 years now, he has been GameOn 365’s biggest cheerleader. From an illegal lease, ignoring higher offers for the former Frank’s Nursery property, to now wasting time on an application that should not be entertained. His actions, to be honest (his phrase) show his true self. He has mandated by his and his two colleague’s actions by voting to intend to become the lead agency actually initiates this process for this proposal for an approximately 107,000 sq. ft. indoor recreation facility along with an outdoor playing field, while retaining a reduced portion of the existing golf driving range, and provide related features such as landscaping and parking. Again for the uninitiated, he promised his friend the deal and he plans to deliver! The issue is becoming clouded by Mr Feiner’s deflection in making this about the GameOn 365’s proposed sports mega-plex. It’s not! It’s about changing residential zoning to allow commercial enterprises in residential neighborhoods. Don’t lose sight of this as Mr Feiner will continue his deflection technique.

How do we know this is nothing more than a confidence (con) scheme? Simple. Here’s an email we received by accident back in 2012 from Martin Hewitt (GO365 principle) to Mr Feiner cautioning to not send emails as they could be FOILed. Note the portion that says, “...first breach that could be FOIL’d that may tip Donald off...” Donald, by the way, is one of the owners of Elm Street Sports in Ardsley, NY, operating the House of Sports facility. Here’s that email:

Click on the email to enlarge

At this week’s Town Board meeting, two Board members and Mr Feiner agreed to to start the review process of the application for a zone change to allow a recreation facility to be built on Dobbs Ferry Road by declaring their intent to become the Lead Agency (the first step) for this project. So, regardless of Mr Feiner’s posturing (lying?), the process has begun under the guise of a non-committal intent, foisting a traffic study (the second step) upon us – residents be damned! He’s begun his rope-a-dope as he fosters more misinformation to anyone who will listen. Here’s a sampling of it: The Town Board will hire a traffic expert to conduct a traffic study.; we will analyze the traffic impacts and the environmental/quality of life impacts in communities that have similar Sports facilities. Under New York State law the applicant (Game On) pays for the consultant costs. But, the Town Board selects the consultant. So what? Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Mr Feiner is technically correct how he has phrased this next sentence. “The Town Board did not approve any application this week. We just started the review process”. What this really means is they have initiated the first step of the review process which is what would happen if they had sat up there and said they were declaring themselves the Lead Agency. It’s semantics and deflection to keep the average, uninformed residents guessing. What does this mean for the average Greenburgh citizen? Simply, don't stand to close to the tracks, you might get hurt as this train won’t slow down as it approaches the station. This favored method of operation by the Town Board has to change. Only when residents no longer feel as though they are being railroaded will we get A Better Greenburgh.

The Sidewalk To Nowhere Finally Makes Sense

We posted an article on July 8, 2011 Paul Feiner: Three Card Monty – The Deception Continues - Part 2 about a sidewalk to nowhere being built by the Stop and Shop Supermarket developer on Rt 119 in the Glenville section of Town. You may not be aware of this, but Town law requires that all new commercial construction include a new sidewalk be built by the developer (in this case Robert Martin) in front of their property. In some cases, these are simply sidewalks to nowhere that the developer installs because it’s required, not because it makes sense. Case in point? There are many, however, the new mega-housing being built on Westchester View Lane off of Dobbs Ferry Road has a brand new sidewalk that fills the length of the property line and meets up with, well, nothing on each side.

Stop and Shop is located in what is now known as the Premier Plaza, in Glenville on the south side of Rt. 119. The Premier Plaza is an obvious reference to the location, which was where the old Premier Theatre had been located. Robert F. Weinberg, president of Robert Martin Company, espoused the site’s location as, “The center will sit near hotels, offices, and homes and is “the beginning of a new era of thinking” about mixing property uses. It’s starting to recognize that you can put several uses together, and you can reduce traffic,” he said. “You have to think about how can we improve our way of life without using more energy.” The use of buzzwords, such as consolidation, less energy, mixed usage, reduce traffic, new era of thinking, masks the future intent of the corridor. It also preps the public into being more acceptable to changing zoning under the guise of having mixed use as a good thing. It’s not.

The town originally approved site plans in 1983 for two office buildings, but granted a special permit for retail use in 2009. A second phase of the original Stop and Shop project is currently underway as can be witnessed with new construction taking place between the Stop and Shop and Rt. 119.

In 2009 we exposed a plan being worked on by the Westchester County Government and supported by Supervisor Feiner and his Board to build just over 1,000 units of residential apartment buildings (12) in the unincorporated section of Greenburgh along Rt 119 from the Marriot Hotel all the way to Rt 9 in Tarrytown. To do this, they proposed utilizing unused parking spaces in corporate building parking lots. This would require numerous zoning changes, which Supervisor Feiner has repeatedly proven he has no qualms doing for the right price. But what about the sidewalk to nowhere?

The Stop and Shop payoff, apparently brokered by the law firm DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten, Wise & Wiederkehr, LLP, was to build a limited sidewalk near the Halston House apartments between Benedict Avenue and Rt 119. The cost in 2009 was about $238,000. ABG’s original post about this was on December 14, 2009, entitled “Sucking the Life Out of Route 119”. This sidewalk is across the street from the Stop and Shop location. Let that sink in. It’s across the street from Stop and Shop. We always wondered why they would build a sidewalk in a different location than on the property’s lot? Mr Feiner and the Town Board simply ignored the question and approved any application placed in front of them. Now it makes sense.

The Brightview Assisted Living facility project had not been exposed to the general public until, ahem, it was too late for the Glenville neighborhood. Obviously, Mr Feiner and the Town Board knew of their plans. Why else would they allow the developer across the street build a sidewalk someplace other than their property? Because this fits into Mr Feiner’s grand scheme to transform Rt. 119 before the Comprehensive Plan can be passed and put a halt to his wholesale over-developing of Rt. 119 and what’s left to the remaining open space in the Town.

Sidewalks to nowhere, over-development such as what is underway in north Greenburgh, failing infrastructures Town-wide, increased flooding without mitigation, added traffic congestion with no viable solution other than to suggest taking a bus, high-rise apartment buildings in lieu of parking spaces, discrimination lawsuit guilty verdicts, contractual violations with the County, blatant disregard for businesses, decreased Town services. The list is almost endless. Twenty-two years is simply too long to remain honest and effective. We see it now as we realize that yesterday’s actions are being done for tomorrow’s political moves. It has to end. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Endurance To Trump Neighborhood

Over two years ago Deli Delicious lost their bid for expansion for their speck of property. In short, the owner claims he was losing money by not having a drive through window for food pickup orders and this was the reason his business was not doing well. He used to advertise seven flavors of soups served daily on an illegally installed sign on the south side of his building – actually on NYS property. He maintained an office in the basement for the deli and a real estate business he profits from. We’re told, the owner, Mr Tartaglione, along with other family members, owns many pieces of rental property throughout Westchester County. That’s his real business.

A number of years ago, the Town secretly made a deal with several legislators and Robert Miller of Westhab, to build a facility where the King’s Inn motel used to be at 22 Tarrytown Road. The property was the buffer area created by more intelligent Town leaders many years earlier that was the transition point between a small amount of light commercial land and residential properties adjacent to it. The King’s Inn Motel buildings were in light commercial zone and its parking lot was residential. Immediately next to that is the Fulton Garden Apartments, two stories in height and very much similar to many townhouse arrangements, size-wise, we see in other neighborhoods. The previous zoning boards saw the value in easing into a neighborhood as opposed to what Mr Feiner wanted.

When the Westhab facility was proposed as a 7-story monstrosity on .7 acres of land, it overshadowed the surrounding area. So much for a transition piece of land between commercial and residential. Not only were a plethora of concessions made by the Town, the Westhab attorneys were writing the zoning and building code changes as they needed them and the complicit Town Board was adopting them for our Town codes! We are now experiencing many of the difficulties belabored by the community leaders, civic associations and residents highlighted back then.

Just during the months of January and February, the Westhab snow plows are taking all of their snow covering the old Fulton Avenue, as well as the few unused parking spaces and pushing all of that snow into the (non-existent*) traffic circle. This not only blocks the traffic trying to struggle through the already snow covered streets in Fulton Park, but it’s illegal! The Fulton Ave roadway was a two-way street that allowed residents a second method of egress from the neighborhood. The traffic light at Old Kensico Road and Rt 119 only allows three cars to go through before turning red again.

During the time Westhab was being built, Mr Tartaglione offered the use of his then-open deli for neighborhood meetings regarding the fight to stop the Westhab and Town’s assault on Fulton Park. Included with this gesture was free coffee during the meetings. Unbeknownst to the neighborhood, and behind their back, Mr Tartaglione was desperately conspiring to sell his deli’s property to Westhab. It was only when a neighbor stumbled onto his scheme that he ceased offering the deli as a meeting place and began insisting residents who shopped there to leave and not return. One woman named Rose, told us she had been going their daily since the deli opened. She was stunned when he told her to leave and not return. And, at about the same time, when he was forced to abandon his sale to Westhab, he began pushing the drive-through window as his catholicon, regardless of what would be necessary to make these significant changes to his building. He needed to flip this building.

Residents then attended the zoning meetings where Mr Tartaglione had Mr Chuck Pateman of Irvington, represent him as both his developer and general contractor. Both Mr Tartaglione and Mr Pateman then began reaching out to members of the neighborhood to elicit support for this project. When that failed to help their scheme, large outdoor plants began showing up on various residents’ doorsteps from Mr Tartaglione. Bribes? You decide. If a project can stand on its own legs, it shouldn’t be necessary to try to buy support. But this is Greenburgh. Many say Yonkers is the city of hills, where nothing is on the level. Move over Yonkers.

The issues that arose over two years ago were centered around a building that is too small to support the plan Mr Tartaglione sought. It still is. He was relying on the state property along Rt 119 (and still is) that NYS has emphatically said they would not sell the property because of future plans on Rt 119 (get ready - its coming). The property cannot support the amount of parking spaces necessary to comply with current zoning requirements. Again, this is Greenburgh so we’re not hopeful it will matter. Finally, and there is more that we’ve discussed before, is the increased traffic congestion at the only entrance and exit to Fulton Park. Since the Town gave Fulton Avenue to Westhab, and made it a one way street going north into the already congested and now, plowed-in, non-existent traffic circle, traffic is already at a standstill most days during both morning and evening rush hours. Even other times of the day find traffic unbearable and heavy. The traffic study supplied for the Westhab project gave the neighborhood an “F” grade for an over-congested area. Now that Smashburger has opened, traffic routinely backs up on Rt 119 into the intersection of Rt 119 and Old Kensico Road. Here’s a few pictures of traffic at various times in Fulton Park.

Traffic going westbound on Rt 119 at Old Kensico Road

Traffic at Rt 119 backed up into the intersection as seen
from Old Kensico Road.

When Mr Tartaglione petitioned the Zoning Board of Appeals to expand his deli and it’s footprint, the denied his request. The reasons were the same as they are now: not enough parking, increased traffic, easements, lack of property (he incorporated state property still not available for sale) and other points. Regardless, the zoning did not support his plan. This appeal found Mr Tartaglione’s acting skills much better. Seemingly chocked up and on the verge of tears, he recounted how his parents purchased the deli, he worked there and then inherited it. He never discussed the booming business and the money he made during that time, only that not having this drive through window was costing him $4k a month. He never discussed the the decline in food value or his high prices. He never discussed the “stale” menu that offered the same selections for years. He never discussed that he didn’t offer free delivery when all of his competitors did. He never discussed that the area has become saturated with other eateries offering many more choices than his deli. And, he never discussed that people stopped coming to his deli once they had more choices. He never discussed that the 4-story Verizon building across the street closed, severely impacting the business. He never discussed this application was made under the guise of a restaurant application, not a deli.

He did say, however, that he did not want to be next to Westhab’s new building as he knew from statistics that crime follows Section 8 housing. Once the tiny, over-priced apartments fail to be rented, Westhab would “Section 8 them”, filling them with Section 8 housing voucher recipients. Section 8 renters are required to pay 30% of their income toward housing costs and we, through the government DSS Department, subsidize the rest. Then, Westhab has a government subsidized, never failing to get paid, source of income under the guise of helping the poor. He did say that his deli had been broken into numerous times when Westhab was “managing” the former King’s Inn hotel with transitional male  ex-convicts.

Now, over two years later (there is an 18-month waiting period) the Zoning Board of Appeals has changed membership – all appointed by the Supervisor. Since some of these new Board members have never seen Mr Tartaglione’s pseudo tears, faux quivering voice, and pleas for help, the meeting this Thursday promises passage for his originally ill-fated proposal. So while his new plan increases impervious space, requires no additional water control for flooding, requires property from NYS that is not for sale, a lack of parking spaces, increased traffic and blockages at all time of the day, Thursday’s meeting is about endurance. He waited long enough to outlast the last rejection, regroup, get a new representative and contractor and propose his changes. This is not only bad for the neighborhood, but the area in general. The other point is that once it happens in one spot within the Town, its destined to be repeated in others. Bad ideas, like bad politicians don’t go away, they get promoted. Watch for this in other areas of the Town. Mr Tartaglione’s endurance will ultimately trump the needs of the neighborhood.

Mr Feiner, Mr Madden and others, wish to reshape the look and feel of both Rt 119 and Central Avenue. It’s already happening. They want the buildings to be bigger, require less parking or what’s called shared parking and they’re looking to increase traffic while complaining about increased traffic. They are changing laws to allow private companies to profit by installing sports bubbles throughout the Town as well as assisted living facilities.

They have routinely spot-zoned for the convenience of various developers while ignoring the pleas and needs of the neighborhoods. It’s currently underway in the Worthington section of the Town on Dobbs Ferry Road with an unwanted 83 foot tall sports bubble in a residential neighborhood. Mr Feiner lives in an affluent, upscale and gated community. Mr Madden doesn’t even live in Greenburgh. It’s amazing to ABG that the negative impact going on throughout the Town is out of control by people immune to its negative impact. Where is the “green” in Greenburgh? There are no longer any checks and balances in out Town. Mr Feiner has been in office so long that he has had the time and ability to stack the deck in his favor. It has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh!

* When the Fulton Park residents challenged the Town zoning based on several factors, they were told the traffic circle was not on the zoning maps and “didn’t exist”. 

Open Letter from Former Justice Rosenberg

The letter below, written by former Court Justice Herb Rosenberg of Dobbs Ferry, was a response to an email sent out by Mr Feiner using the Town’s email list. Illegal? No. Ethical? No. Another weapon in Mr Feiner’s campaign arsenal? Absolutely! Mr Feiner has been in a collusive relationship with GameOn 365 to give the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, the former-Frank’s Nursery, to them for “a song” and then carry the mortgage for 13-years. He now wants to delay the sale with a phony RFP until after the Town’s proposed Comprehensive Plan is approved. ABG is not convinced this will ever happen under this administration.

The Town of Greenburgh acquired the former Frank’s Nursery property through tax foreclosure in 2011, Mr Feiner has battled concerned residents for over two years to illegally lease, and then sell the property to a startup venture named GameOn.

Refusing to publicly disclosed who they are, Mr. Feiner insists he has spoken about the property with potential bidders, offering more money for the property than House of Sports. Why he refuses to inform the Town residents who these people are adds to the shroud of secrecy and back room deals Mr Feiner is so anxious to do.

Here is Justice Rosenberg’s unedited letter:

Paul,

As with your earlier referendum, your letter misstates facts and omits important facts.  While that doesn't seem to bother you, I will comment for the sake of others.

1.  You have said several times that both GameOn and House of Sports have threatened lawsuits.  You know perfectly well that GameOn isn't going to sue because, as the lower bidder, they have no claim, and if they did sue that would be sanctioned by the court for a frivolous lawsuit as part of the quick dismissal of their case.

2.  You say, in your questions, that the site "is currently appraised at $1.6 million but would be worth more if it is rezoned for other uses."  You omit the fact that the property was appraised with GameOn's recreation proposal before the appraiser, including the need to rezone.   Your misleading point seems to be that the property would be worth more if it is rezoned for recreational uses.  In fact, it is worth  more, as House of Sports has shown.  It is the appraisal that was "cooked" so that GameOn could bid $1.7 million and make it seem like a fair price.

3.  Although you state the appraised value, you fail to state the amounts already offered -- $3.5 million from House of Sports and $1.7 million (with a highly contingent additional $1.3 million) from GameOn, which you touted as a fair price.  That kind of information is important for purposes of asking residents for an opinion.

4.  You say that people have been calling you.  You always say that people have been calling you, but of course you can't prove it and nobody can disprove it.  But if true, so what?  People, in general, don't have the financial, legal, or planning knowledge that is required for such decisions, and so you are just using the words "people have been calling" you to justify whatever actions that you want to do, because there is no way to prove that anyone called you.  However, I doubt that this will ever stop you.

4.  Most of the questions -- especially the last eight -- should not be asked of the general public.  The Town Board has been elected to study, consider, research, etc., so that intelligent decisions can be made by responsible elected officials who are expected to understand legal, financial, budgetary, planning and environmental issues -- things that the general public is not trained to understand and does not have the information to understand.  In other words, your questionnaire is unserious.

You are now talking about selling the site in the winter of 2014.  If yours were an honest approach, it would mean a further delay of almost two years.  But you have not shown yourself to be honest.  It is fairly clear that your real purpose -- or strategy -- is to prevent the House of Sports from acquiring the property, probably to enable the GameOn people to get financing.  Or maybe it is just to spite House of Sports.  The public good has been secondary in your actions in recent years.

You have turned a golden opportunity into a mess, and as usual, the Town will suffer.

Herb Rosenberg

Fortress Bible Delay Helps Racists

A delay in the financial restitution for the Fortress Bible Church decision as it relates to the Town and its residents will only help The Paul and his co-racist conspirators breeze through their unchallenged election in November. For those unfamiliar (how can that be?) with the Fortress Bible case, we’ll recap.

Fortress Bible Church, a growing evangelical Christian church in Mt. Vernon purchased property in Greenburgh to build and move to a 500-seat chapel and a school for kindergarten through 12th grade in Greenburgh. The location can be identified by two concrete posts set against the trees at the north side of Dobbs Ferry Road by the entrance to the Sprain Brook Parkway north. You know the spot, it’s where former County Legislator and now State Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, used to live. You may also recall he is a good friend of The Paul, but has since moved to Tarrytown with everything that’s been going on. Could it be The Paul tried to stop the church’s growth plans from the inside to help preserve his good friend’s neighborhood?

The Fortress Bible case, specifically the lawsuit where a federal judge determined the Town of Greenburgh (Feiner & Town Board) violated the Fortress Bible church’s constitutional religious rights by rejecting its building plans, was confirmed after an appeal and subsequent loss by The Paul and current Town Councilwoman Diana “Sleepy” Juettner. The decision and subsequent appeal decision was upheld in a federal court of appeals! Clearly there is no doubt here. This interprets into a financial, as well as moral victory, for the Church while bringing shame to our Town leaders. It also means they will be able to proceed and use money won from the Town to fund their expansion! The estimates as to an amount of the decision range from $4 million to $8 million dollars. Thankfully for The Paul and Diana “Sleepy” Juettner, they will be running unopposed and easily get re-elected – even though they should immediately resign! Naturally, the Town will be footing the bill for their racist actions and they will not be forced to pay one cent. Sadly, the residents of the Unincorporated Town will be “on the hook” for the money required to pay this off – again.

The Paul has arrogantly been quoted as saying, “This is not going to be doom and gloom for the town. I don’t think the number will be nearly as high as (church attorneys) are estimating. No matter what the damages are, I don’t anticipate Greenburgh going over the tax cap. The town will still be very financially healthy after all this is resolved.” Of course it won’t be doom and gloom for him, he has a handsome salary as supervisor and has long stopped giving back portions of his salary for non-delivery of services. You’ll recall that old publicity stunt where he would give back what amounted to pocket change if he didn’t deliver on projects during the course of the year? It was an effective media tool but delivered little else. Worthy media coverage would be if he gave a portion of his salary back for every guilty court verdict and/or certiorari adjustments the Town has had to pay out!

The Town residents continue to scrape by with a failing infrastructure, guilty verdicts, storms, floods, 4-year contract negotiatons, increased taxes from every side and all The Paul can do is try to do is deflect by saying it’s not going to be “doom and gloom” and he “doesn’t anticipate going over the tax cap”. Adherence to the NYS tax cap is a joke just as not going over it means nothing with all the exemptions included in it. The Paul is not worried because he is running for re-election unopposed and his track record of calling the “right shots” is so stellar.

He called it when he said “No!” to the Fortress Bible Church moving to Greenburgh ($8M). He called it when he said ignore doing town-wide revaluations ($1M /yr & approx.$4M to date). He called it when he decided to not renew the WestHelp contract with the County ($1.2M/yr). He called it when he and Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis guaranteed that remediation costs will go no higher than $100K for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road at the former Frank’s Nursery. He called it with Dromore Road. He called it with the water filtration “cap” on Ardsley Road. He called it when he tried to enter into an illegal lease with GameOn 365 instead of selling the property as required by both County and State law after foreclosure acquisition. He called it when he told The Fercliff School of Yonkers to cease their search for a new location and move into the WestHelp facility. The list goes on...

ABG has predicted The Paul and his Stepfords will ultimately sell the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to GameOn 365. Nearby House of Sports’ owners have offered $3.5M – twice what GameOn 365 insists they can scrape together given more time. The Paul and his Stepfords new mantra is they must do their due diligence before making a decision on the property. This is “code” to delay, giving GameOn 365 time to try to raise enough money for at least a deposit for the purchase. For any private sector businessman, this transaction would be a no-brainer and would be an easy decision. But The Paul promised GameOn 365 the property in closed door dealings with the owners before acquiring the property through foreclosure. We’re also sure if GameOn 365 can scrape together the deposit, The Paul will offer to “carry” the mortgage. Can anyone say Barney Frank?

Read more: Media Complicity or Just a Lie? at :

http://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2013/04/media-complicity-or-just-lie.html

Then there’s the issue of illegal spot-zoning throughout the Town, enhancing The Paul’s ability to serve up a builder’s “delight” for his developer friends while residents must struggle with bureaucratic red tape, confusing forms and attitudes from departmental employees. Residential applicants are routinely submerged into numerous mazes of building requirements just to make changes to their property. This highlights a portion of what is wrong with this administration. The average permit process in the Town for a resident can take a minimum of one year and that doesn’t mean your project will even begin as the inspections, changes and costs might drag the process out even longer. Note: we invite ABG readers to share their experiences with us.

Contributing to The Paul’s ability to spot-zone are faulty zoning maps that developers often use to make their case in front of the complicit Town Board. These outdated and incorrect maps are what is allowing The Paul the ability to change zoning ad hoc. His Stepford Board votes “Yes” to whatever is placed before them. Although, a great risk to her political future, co-racist Councilwoman Diana “Sleepy” Juettner voted nay to a recent motion for a change. It must have been her turn to publicly go against The Paul – with his blessing of course. Thankfully, the Comprehensive Planning Committee has submitted new and improved zoning maps that may slow some of these occurances.

We have numerous properties throughout the Town that have seen spot-zoning changes. More importantly, ABG knows that developers, contractors and builders continually float in and out of Town Hall and will stop to discuss their Town business with The Paul. The proverbial kiss of his ring aside, we’re sure they’re there to test the waters and once they get the official nod, they know its okay to proceed. Obviously, we cannot prove what goes on behind closed doors. But ABG can review the decisions and projects the Town moves through at abnormally record pace and can tell something is very wrong in Gotham. Too bad we don’t have a Batman to rescue us. We can only hope.

Admitting Guilt, Town Offers To Sell Property

In a stunning development just uncovered by ABG, The Paul has attempted to circumvent another guilty verdict by having the Town offer to sell the 715 Dobbs Ferry Road property, formerly the home of Frank’s Nursery, to the GameOn 365 Sports Bubble developer! In learning of The Paul’s reasoning, it cuts to multiple points made regarding the lawsuit currently underway by www.HelpBurstTheBubble.com, the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association and numerous others that maintain The Paul and his Town Board have illegally signed a lease for the property to GameOn 365. During the last election, The Paul foisted an illegal referendum, judiciously worded, as he colluded to assist the GameOn 365 organization toward getting voter approval for their project.

The Paul has maintained the project has received overwhelming support from the Town’s voters. Technically, it did not. Out of the 9k or so people that voted in the election, a disproportionately small percentage of the Town’s population, the majority did vote in favor of the referendum, claiming the public recognizes the need for and benefits of an indoor/outdoor sports facility. Perhaps. By why hadn’t our sports professionals that run and maintain the TWO Town Recreation Departments recognize this need and act on it? Could it be because someone was offering a buck for an abandoned piece of property that no one wanted to touch because of it’s contamination, until The Paul promised another back room sweetheart deal?

The Paul maintains that by selling the property the Town will avoid unnecessary expense and time by not going to court. He’s right - of course that’s never mattered to him before - so why should it matter now? He maintains that there could be years of litigation. He’s right! The Town would have to continue paying taxes on the property. He’s right again. And the property, suffering from major contamination after being used as an Urban Renewal dump site for White Plains, would still need to be remediated. His real motivation for doing this is that by selling the property instead of leasing it, he negates another lawsuit and moves forward with a project only he sees a need for.

By eliminating the lease, the paradigm shifts dramatically. New Request For Proposals (RFP) might need to take place for a sale to happen. New environmental studies may also be needed. Until the sale is committed to by the Town, the lease is still active and cannot considered “over”, as The Paul would have us think. The issue of zoning also factors heavily into this piece of land. It is currently zoned for single-family residential use and would need to be zoned for commercial usage. It had previously been zoned commercial for Frank’s Nursery but reverted back to residential once the property lay vacant for six months.

ABG would recommend the lawsuit against the Town continue. The only purpose of this ploy by The Paul is to accomplish one thing: get GameOn 365 the deal he promised them! While the entire Town voted on the illegal referendum approving the GameOn 365 deal, The Paul knows the lawsuit will again prove his actions and methods were illegal and wrong. It also hurts one neighborhood that is not being allowed the right to control their destiny as The Paul put it in everyone else’s hands to decide if this neighborhood should get a bubble or not. This too is just wrong! By turning the game on (no pun) it’s heel and going a new direction, The Paul thwarts the will of a neighborhood to stay residential. He and his Board will rezone the property to whatever GameOn 365 asks for - residents be damned! A sale would have been the right thing to do in the very beginning when the Town acquired the property, with real bids after a real assessment. Now it seems a bit moot. Perhaps we should simply develop this property as another Town park and be done with all. We can only hope.

Welcome The Worthington Woodlands Civic Association

A newly formed civic association meeting was held Monday evening in the Town Hall’s main meeting room. Uncharacteristically for that room, this meeting started on time at 8PM on the dot. So, to The Paul and his Stepford Board, it can be done. With so much going on throughout the Town, as well as issues concerning their neighborhoods specifically, neighbors reached out to each other and decided to join together. About fifty or so residents from several neighborhoods converged upon Town Hall.

Other meetings were also underway in other rooms throughout the Town Hall facility. Several members of other civic associations joined this newly formed association as guest speakers, and to help aim the group toward accomplishing several goals. First thing was to fill several positions such as President, Vice-President and the like. That went remarkable well as neighbors eagerly stepped up to help out. Because time was short, the guests guided several conversations and suggestions toward the newly elected officers and members.

Next was a discussion about the GameOn 365 Sports bubble that The Paul and his Stepford Board have already voted on and signed a lease for on the contaminated, formerly owned Frank’s Nursery property on Dobbs Ferry Road. For many residents, this was the first time many were learning of this. They asked about the referendum The Paul has be talking about? One member explained that The Paul is opening up actions to be taken in their neighborhood to the entire Town to decide through this referendum. Another civic association guest speaker explained what The Paul will say regardless of the outcome. If the referendum passes, he’ll say, “This is great! Democracy works and the people have spoken. I’m so happy.” If it fails to pass, he’ll say, “It doesn’t matter, we’ve already signed the contract, so the deal proceeds and the vote really doesn’t matter. I’m so happy.”

Another guest speaker was from the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, the umbrella group for all the Town civic associations. She expounded on the history of the Fortress Bible Church lawsuit and subsequent guilty verdict against The Paul and his previous Town Board. She also explained the appeal process that the Town just lost as well – guaranteeing more tax increases for Greenburgh residents! The decision holds The Paul and the Town guilty of discrimination, destroying evidence amongst other verdict findings. Some in the audience welcomed the explanation of the entire process while still amazed and disgusted by the behavior of Town leaders. As a note, Town Attorney Tim Lewis had repeatedly refused to discuss Town strategy for their appeal with the public. Perhaps if he had, greater legal minds within the Town may have been able to help gain a more favorable outcome.

A brief discussion of The Paul’s failure to renew the $1.2 million Westhelp contract with the County took place and the impact this loss of revenue is having on the Town. They didn’t discuss the $4 million loss from the water department or the 19 laptops stolen from the Theodore Young Center. They didn’t discuss how the Teamsters have been without a contract for four years. They didn’t discuss the spot zoning performed by the Stepford Board while ignoring recommendations of the Planning and Zoning Boards. They didn’t discuss the reshaping plans for Central Avenue or Rt 119. There will be other meetings and plenty of other topics to discuss down the line.

They did touch on the reduction in curb-side leaf pickup and the supposed savings taxpayers will “enjoy”. Really? The Town is keeping the equipment and the same highway crews will now pick up bagged leaves left at the curb by homeowners or gardeners (for additional fees). No savings there. There is no personnel reassignment or hourly savings with this change and no waste removal cost savings – nothing! The Paul cannot tell us how much taxpayers will save as there really are no savings. It’s The Paul’s routine deflection tactic. To quote one of the G8, we currently pay for these services and they should be maintained or our taxes reduced to match the reduction of service!

As you can well imagine, the meetings and conversations were spirited and ran past the official end of the new civic association’s first meeting. The organizers should feel they’ve earned the right to claim success based on the turnout! Welcome to the new Worthington Woodlands Civic Association and best of luck in the future.

New Neighborhood Association to Form in Worthington & Dobbs Ferry Roads Area

Each effort by The Paul to cater to a developer is typically met with resistance or protest from a select group of residents we affectionately refer to as the Greenburgh 8, or G8 for short. They are usually at every Town Board meeting to scrutinize The Paul’s actions, whether the Town Board meetings start with Town business or the campaign circus The Paul and his Stepford Board are so fond of. They are the speakers at every Town Board meeting, reading staggering facts and information to an aloof, unengaged and seemingly bored Board. Is it possible that there no other residents are concerned with the costly, illegal and unethical actions of The Paul and his Stepfords? ABG thinks not.

Apparently, there are others trying to affect changes for the benefit of the Town via neighborhood civic associations. Another in the never-ending list of The Paul’s debacles is the GameOn 365 sports bubble that has been proposed to built on contaminated Town-owned property “for a song”. We’ve posted before about the reasons this “done-deal” developer-centric deal should not happen. Most of the Town’s assorted civic associations are against this project for a host of valid and discernible arguments. But, it doesn’t matter to The Paul, as he keeps this project moving forward at full-steam. Knowing he has done so many things with this project which are either illegally or morally wrong, he has decided to do what he does best: deflect! Ever the shrewd politician, he decided to take the moral and legal onus from his shoulders and dump it in the lap of the public by offering the GameOn 365 for public referendum.

To the uninitiated, you may be thinking putting this to a referendum is a good thing for the Town and democracy at it’s best. Had it been done first, ABG might agree. Most are not seeing or realizing this is still a bad project for the Town because of all the issues, problems, illegalities and future considerations that have been raised about this project. They will not go away just because the project was put out for referendum. Here’s the kicker: The Paul knows he will get a minimum of 7k votes for this project at the next election and perhaps even more because it is a major election and more people will be voting. He knows this because when he ran unopposed for supervisor he received about 7k votes! That means that 7k voters will either blindly vote the party line and whomever is running on it as the endorsed candidate or for whatever the “project” or referendum is, without bothering to investigate the facts or look at other factors simply because they maintain differing party affiliations and ideas. ABG would hope this time might be different. We can only hope.

Worthington and Dobbs Ferry Roads’ residents had gone to the meetings about “The Bubble”, concerned about the 8-story (83 ft tall) sports bubble to be installed as a temporary(?), 15 YEAR, structure on the contaminated dump, formerly Frank’s Nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road. Prior to Frank’s Nursery it was Flower Time Nursery. Prior to that it was used as a dump for the city of White Plains. When Frank’s Nursery defaulted on their taxes, the Town assumed ownership of the foreclosed property and left it to languish. Then, as The Paul began costing the Town more and more money through guilty lawsuit verdicts, expired income-generating contracts and the like, he began doing what he always does, putting more and more hare-brained, off-the-wall ideas “out there” in hopes of making back some of the money the Town is hemorrhaging through his incompetence and bad actions.

After seeing how incredibly dysfunctional and problematic our Town’s operational government is, an incredulous group of neighbors tried reaching out to each other and began to see that they were not alone. Deciding to formalize and create a Worthington & Dobbs Ferry Roads Civic Association, they sought a location to meet and were instructed by other civic associations to use Town Hall for their meeting venue. They began distributing flyers for their first meeting and have decided to meet this Monday evening on October 1st, at 8PM at Greenburgh Town Hall on Hillside Avenue in the main meeting hall. We hope they are successful in having their neighbors participate. While The Paul’s bubble fiasco is certainly one topic for concern, there are many others requiring discussion. This promises to be an interesting evening, regardless of where you may stand on Town issues. We hope they start at the appointed 8PM time, unlike the other meetings held in this hall and the neighborhoods respond and support this effort. We can only hope.

Referendum Scheduled AFTER Bubble Contract Passes

Thankfully, the Town’s video system was working last night and it wasn’t necessary to go to Town Hall to witness the GameOn 365 “done deal debacle”(DDD) happen at about 9:45 PM. ABG has maintained that the GameOn 365’s recreational “bubble”, a problem-ridden concept from even before day one, was another of The Paul’s done deals. The ethics law for the Town are being “dumbed down”, eliminating a good amount of consequence for unethical behavior by Town employees. Coincidence?

Once the DDD locomotive got up to full steam, the meeting started a half an hour late, as usual. Recently, residents have been forced to endure all kinds of crazy hours for meetings with Town officials. But the conventional media never seem to question this. Why not? ABG’s guess is because as school children the “reporters” had been instructed not to question their elders and this is just a carry-over from that. It’s so sad. It’s part of the faux-learning system indoctrination our youth is being subjugated to. How nice it would be to have a reporter actually challenge The Paul and his Stepford Board.

Regardless, after sitting down and hastily reading the items on the Agenda for this Special Meeting, The Paul made motions and Kevin “The Henchman” Morgan seconded them. While the vote was “unanimous”, once again Councilman Ken Jones was absent. He was also absent previously and the caused a rescheduling of an important vote on this proposal and once again he bailed. Could it be he did not like this DDD proposal and was trying to escape being cornered into a vote he didn’t want to make? We'd like to think so, but also are sure he’s already in the tank for The Paul. Council members Jeuttner and Sheehan sat by quietly, hardly squeaking out their vote in favor of this debacle. “Yes we’ll vote for it, whatever you say, M’lord. Please don’t treat us like Sonya.”

The Paul also moved to have the resolution go to a public referendum, after voting in favor of the contract! We could barely hear a few residents question him as to why they would not have the referendum first and then vote? He claimed in order to hold a referendum, there must be a contract. Don’t be fooled. Even if the referendum mandates not doing this proposal, he will say we already have a contract and it doesn’t matter! Apparently there are two types of referendums. Organizers against the GameOn 365 bubble have been acquiring signatures to force the Town to put this proposal on a referendum. By moving to do this first, The Paul again takes the power away from the people and continues to pull the strings of this game regardless of the referendum’s outcome.

The date for the next vote is August 29th, to put the GameOn 365 proposal on the ballot for a November referendum. While this is still a done deal, the kids from the traditional media are probably clinging to The Pauls every word and believing the referendum will happen, possibly even pass this, and justice will be served. But the referendum is moot. With or without it, the uninvested investors, having no skin in the game and no investment in the Town, will get their piece of contaminated and undervalued property in the center of the most expensive real estate market in Westchester County. The Town will pay for the property’s contaminated soil cleanup and then they will have a market value piece of land for pennies on the dollar. The Paul? He’s getting something, indirectly of course, that will fall through the cracks as well as the newly edited ethics law. The Paul has to go. We can only hope.