Feiner’s Follies

During the 28 years of the Paul Feiner Administration, the residents of the Town of Greenburgh have been subjected to his mis-management and incompetency during that entire time and paying dearly for it. We’ve listed a wide collection of costly events from Mr Feiner.

Law Suits Verdicts Against The Town

• Fortress Bible Church discrimination lawsuit where Mr Feiner and his Board (at the time) $6.5 million award, which we are still paying.

• Cotswold Tree Damages. Found that the Town under-insured; Monetary award of millions; the Husband was killed and his wife was permanently disabled.

Pending Law Suits

• S&R Development Estates LLC has filed 7 lawsuits since 2007, against  the Town of Greenburgh for illegally blocking the development of a multi-family affordable & low income residential property for $26 million. This all came about due to an error on the Zoning map. The property should have been shown as being in a Residential district. Instead it was mistakenly shown as being in the Central Ave. commercial district where multi- family housing is permitted. When the mistake was discovered, Paul Feiner ordered the map to be corrected without following the legal procedure which required a Public Hearing. S&R purchased the property relying on the fact that it was zoned for multi/ family use.

• Argonaut Insurance Co., Wants to be released from covering the $26 million Dromore Road suit. They claim that they were not the insurance carrier when the basis for the initial suit (2007) took place and should be released from paying any fines since they were only retained in 2015. Actually, Argonaut maintain that Mr Feiner and Mr Sheehan acted intentionally, and as a result Argonaut should be released from coverage because public policy doesn’t allow for insurability of “intentionally caused harm.”  In other words, this isn’t an accident like a tree falling on a car: Argonaut is alleging that Messrs Feiner and Sheehan deliberately changed the maps to screw S&R and therefore they violated the insurance policy. This has happened before with the $6.5 million fine in the Fortress Bible Church. Because Mr Feiner was found guilty of lying under oath and destroying evidence in Federal Court, the insurance company only had to pay one million dollars of the entire amount. 

                  

• Ferncliff Cemetery is suing Mr Feiner and the Town for $76 million, contending that the twelve acres is actually property for cemetery burials. The Town has claimed that that property was not part of the original Ferncliff purchase and subsequently cannot be used for cemetery burials.

         

Land Use Decisions

• Shelbourne Assisted Living Facility. Disregarding the Town Zoning Ordinance re: Assisted Living and has a 3000% variance allowed - distance of more than 1 mile to State road instead of 200 ft.

• Deli Delicious Restaurant

  Appointed a tenant of the Deli Delicious owner to the Zoning Board of Appeals when the      

  property owner was seeking variances from that Board.

• Frank’s Nursery. Allowed uncollected taxes for 6 years before Town foreclosed on property. Tried to lease the property to GameOn Sports Complex – Illegal according to State and County law. He attempted to sell property without clear title. Also contracted to sell property to GameOn with a 13 year installment plan, and a way “out” if hazardous materials remediation costs exceeded a certain amount.

• WestHELP – Westchester Community College Property off of Knollwood Road. The Town was receiving $1.2 million per year for housing for homeless women and children.

Mr Feiner arranged a deal with the Valhalla School District to pay them $650,000 a year for school-age children to attend Valhalla schools. State Comptroller found the deal illegal. No children attended the Valhalla schools and a law suit was filed by private citizens to have that money returned to the Town and won. Another deal was made with the Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association to pay them $100,000 for their approval of this arrangement. The deal was found to be illegal.He also allowed the contract to lapse in 2011 causing the Town to lose over $8 million to date and forcing the property to fall into disrepair due to lack of maintenance.

• Tarryhill Housing on Old Tarrytown Road.The Town did not do its due diligence in allowing this affordable housing project to be sold to owners whose objective it is to turn the property into non-affordable housing per Wall Street Journal article.

Land Use Committees

Paul Feiner promoted the idea that land use committees would allow neighborhood residents to have input regarding proposed development in their communities. 

We have now been informed by the Commissioner of Community Development & Conservation that the rules have been changed and that land use committees will only be used when a Zoning Change is required for the project.

When a project (i.e. The Jefferson) was proposed in Mr. Feiner's “backyard”, he made sure that an outside independent consulting firm was hired to study all aspects of the proposal.

Without a land use committee, this procedure will not be followed.

There are currently 4 land use applications submitted to the Town that should be allowed to have land use committees formed to have input from the neighborhood residents that will be impacted by these developments. These are:

• ShopRite Super Market - MutliPlex theater/ Master's Shopping Center property on 9A. Mr Feiner favors allowing large tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles to use the adjoining Old Country Road. This project will impact the safety of 215 families in the Westchester Hills Condominiums and some residents of the Beaver Hill area.

• Sam's Club – 9A across from MultiPlex/Master's Shopping Center. They are seeking to install 7 underground gas tanks with 14 gas pumps in a FEMA-designated flood zone near the Saw Mill River. It would would eliminate 100 parking spaces and increase congested traffic flow for the area. This proposal was previously rejected by the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals. 

• Metropolis Country Club – Dobbs Ferry Road.They are seeking to change the Zoning Code for an Independent Living/Assisted Living/Memory Care Facility to allow for a 60% increase in density.They also want to introduce “floating zones” which could set a precedent to allow commercial entities in all residential districts.

• Maplewood Swim & Tennis Club – West Hartsdale Ave.They seek to build an Assisted Living/Memory Care Facility.They also wants a variance of 50% for the length of the building from 300 ft. to 450 ft. Neighbors in several neighborhoods nearby have expressed concerns involving increased traffic and safety on already heavily travelled roads.

         

All of the residents from these areas should be given the same opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about these forthcoming developments, just like the residents of East Irvington (solar farms), Worthington-Woodlands (Elmwood CC), Hartsdale (4 Corners) and Ardsley (The Jefferson).

Dial Democracy

This was the brain child of Paul Feiner that allowed residents to call in to Town Board meetings during Public Comments and Public Hearings to voice their opinions, concerns and ask questions when they are unable to attend these meetings in person.

For some unknown reason, this important social media tool has been discontinued for the past decade despite the urging by citizens to restore it.

In fact, Dial Democracy should also be allowed during Public Hearings at the Planning Board and Public Hearings involving variances at the Zoning Board of Appeals. It’s what will make for A Better Greenburgh.

Pre-Primary Democratic Candidate Forum

Three ABG staffers attended the Candidates Pre-Primary Forum at Town Hall on Thursday night. It started on time, unlike every Town Board meeting which starts late to the detriment of many audience members or taxpayers wishing to speak or be heard or are being time-constrained by childcare issues or work the following day. Remember this point, you'll see this again. The event was hosted by the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations and moderated by the League of Women Voters. When CGCA Chair O'Shea asked the audience to join in a pledge of allegiance, the apathetic crowd hesitantly and seemed to begrudgingly participate. Pathetic.

The first face-off was between 10-year incumbent Town Clerk Judith Beville and her challenger, Maria Portilla, who is endorsed by Mr Feiner. Having won the draw, Ms Portilla read her opening statement first, saying that the Town Clerks office is in crisis. While it was a good catch-phrase, and may be correct, she used it a little bit too much. However, it also established the core argument for her candidacy and apparently rattled incumbent clerk Judith Beville. Ms Portilla is a Senior Case Worker for the Westchester Department of Social Services and mentioned several innovations that she will implement as Town Clerk. Frankly, they should have been implemented long ago.

When it was Ms Beville's turn, she listed the accomplishments that she has overseen, stressing that she has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master's degree in Public Administration, stating that the Town Clerks position is not an entry-level one. That said, elections are about change if warranted or desired by the populace. And yet, Ms Beville started out as the Town Clerk after being elected and did not work her way up through the ranks to become Town Clerk. So it appears that it is an entry-level position after all.

During this brief period of campaigning, we've seen Ms Beville out and about more than usual and heard people discussing her office more than ever. Specifically, that she's had a complete changeover of personnel, disclosed HIPAA information of a former staff member and shredded numerous boxes of files erroneously. She mentioned her Masters Degree in Public Administration several times which is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of and we respect. However, simply having an academic degree doesn't necessary make you qualified in a particular field. A bit of irony was that while Ms Beville was speaking, the buzzer/timer that she usually operates for the Town Board went off and forced her to stop speaking -- another issue people have complained about during her campaign is that she injects herself into discussions during the Town Board meetings.

The next phase was the asking of questions which were all submitted by audience members prior to the event's start. The t-ball questions that were asked were quickly answered at which point the moderator said they were out of questions and then asked the audience if anyone had any additional questions? There was a flurry of activity in the back of the room as audience members submitted more questions, which were mostly a rehash of what had already been discussed, and covered no new ground. It was embarrassing that so little specific issues and actual solutions went unaddressed. 

It was also disappointing that Ms Beville's record remained unchallenged. While she touts improving response times for freedom of information requests, she contradicted herself by saying it's the department heads that don't respond in a timely manner. So while it may not be her fault specifically, she hasn't improved those response times. She boasts about internships and while Mr Feiner also touts and utilizes interns, that hasn't reduced our taxes or facilitated a better operating government. It also seemed that she started each of her answers with a qualifying comment that she was not responsible for this or that. It was always someone else's fault.

Finally concluded with no real enlightenment for Town voters, a short intermission allowed for some unearned back-slapping until the Town Board candidates took to the dais with the same moderator. Those candidates were Eric Zinger of the Hartsdale area, Ken Jones of Parkway Homes area and Gina Jackson, all of Unincorporated Greenburgh. The moderator seemed to struggle reading the questions that were submitted. These questions were now elevated to softball-level questions, a step up from the t-ball questions asked earlier. It should be noted that these are all candidates of the same party so going into this already accounts for a lack of challenges. Again, we had hoped for more.

All three gave an opening statement with Mr Zinger going first, stating that this was the first time in 12-years that voters had an opportunity to vote for challenged seats. That remains to be seen. As an incumbent, Ken Jones enjoys a certain amount of "incumbency lead" that should automatically help him in the primary vote. So, if the voters follow past practices, they'll re-elect the incumbent and elect one new candidate. The real "choice" might only be between Mr Zinger and Ms Jackson. We hope that is not the case and finally breaks the stranglehold at Town Hall.

We expected Mr Zinger to go after Mr Jones and his ethical challenges (read our previous article of Monday, June 10, 2019 - Misdirection, Lies and Ethics). Instead, Mr Zinger discussed his time living in Hartsdale, working in the financial world, and how the Hartsdale 4-Corners has declined for years until he, along with others, formed the Hartsdale Neighbors Association and got more involved with the Town government. He stated he would like to see the Edgemont Community not incorporate and stay within the Town and is willing to work towards that end. He also lamented how frustrating is is for residents to have to wait for an opportunity to speak at Board meetings. And of course, he, as well as the others, said we must make Greenburgh more affordable.

Incumbent Ken Jones opened with the statement that since he has been on the board we haven't had any Fortress Bible Church-type lawsuits. That's one hell of an accomplishment. Perhaps after being surrounded by so much bad that this actually looks good to him. It's not. You'll recall that Mr Feiner and the Town were found guilty of 7-counts of discrimination, including lying under oath, destroying evidence and more in the Fortress Bible Church discrimination lawsuit and fined $6.5 million dollars. $5.5 million of which the insurance company refused to pay (nor has to) because Mr Feiner was found guilty in Federal Court. Mr Jones conveniently neglected to mention the two pending lawsuits currently underway and during his watch: the Dromore Road lawsuit and the Ferncliff Cemetery lawsuit.

Ms Jackson stated that she had lived in Atlanta and moved back to Greenburgh and is living with her mother, "Thanks, Mom." She did say she cannot afford her own home. This seems to be a never-ending complaint of every younger generation. Many of us couldn't afford our own places when we started out so we lived with our parents, got a place with friends and had roommates until we got married or better jobs or both. Sorry, but owning a home where you prefer to live is not a right and is something to strive towards. Government trying to control housing either directly or through legislation never accomplishes much except creating more government jobs and restrictions that keep many of these same generations that it's said to be for unable to move in. That's why there are apartments. However, in this case the argument made her the face of the point which could help her.

One question that was asked of all the candidates was what they would do to increase public participation at Town Board meetings. We've written often about the G10, those ten or so regulars that show up to the meetings and speak. In fact, we've also mentioned how the Town Board actually engages in back and forth conversations with new, uninitiated first-timers. The G10 are never given the same courtesy unless it's to somehow make the Board look good.

Mr Zinger said he would start the meetings on time, have documents that are slated to be discussed or voted on available at least 24-hrs earlier so residents have a chance to study them and treat people with respect. Ken Jones said starting the meetings on time would help. The audience laughed, acknowledging that he is a part of the reason the meetings start late. He also stated he wants to get Dial Democracy working. Keep in mind that Dial Democracy hasn't worked in years and falls under the Town Board's purview. For those unaware because it doesn't work and may note know about it, Dial Democracy is the hypothetical ability of Town residents to telephone directly into Town Board meetings, on air, and ask questions of the Board during the meeting. Mr Jones is the one candidate in the position to do something about this but has not. When the question of creating leaf blower usage legislation came up, he stated there were already leaf blower ordinances on the books but enforcement is difficult as response times after a complaint is made may find the offender finished or gone before the police can get there.Mr Jones apparently can recognize the problems but is unable to solve them even years later.

Ms Jackson would like questions to be able to be submitted online so that more people could be engaged in issues. She also said she is a stickler to start on time. When responding to the question of leaf blowers noise, Ms Jackson clearly didn't know there were already ordinances on the books and suggested we could use ordinances to control the noise. We appreciate that Ms Jackson is newly returned to the area. Perhaps its a bit premature for her to run at this juncture, perhaps not. Even with this faux pas, we need fresh, non Feiner-mandated thinking on the Board. Although, the fact that she is on Team Feiner means she won't really have to worry about what she knows or not.

We'd like to mention one other question that was asked and that was if the candidates supported term limits. Mr Zinger readily said yes, he supports term limits. Ms Jackson said she did not and stated that that was what elections were for. Mr Jones said he would support a three-term limit and gave an obviously well-thought out and yet convoluted answer. He said yes but for three terms of 4-years each (currently at $79k/year plus benefits that, if declined pays them even more money). He claimed that the first term you are learning the ropes and are voting on issues that were not yours. The second term you are starting to work on your issues and the third term you are bringing them to fruition. It was an impressive conveyance of what is wrong with government and many of our elected officials. If you need twelve years to implement anything, but cannot get Dial Democracy working in four, you are the wrong person in that office.

In the end, many people left this meeting disappointed because they didn't learn much if anything they didn't already know. However, we believe Eric Zinger was the strongest of the three candidates and actually offered a few solutions while the other two spoke in generalities and platitudes. Even so, we wish the candidates luck and hope the democratic crowd that will vote in this primary on June 25th will give some thought to this year's vote and consider a different mindset when voting. It will help to make A Better Greenburgh.

Only $166 MILLION To Consolidate With No Guarantees

In the summer of 2018, the Hartsdale Neighborhood Association (HNA) had a regular meeting at the Highview school on Central Avenue next to the Empire College and behind Webb Field. That’s the field on Central Avenue with the 9-1-1 Memorial that keeps falling apart. The Highview school is a grammar school with mostly younger students in attendance at the rear of the property.

During this particular meeting, Greenburgh School Superintendent Tahira Dupree Chase was a guest speaker and there to talk about a few things school-centric. One of them was related to recent school shootings and the safety of the kids at our schools. Everyone agrees that these horrible shootings should stop but for every one idea that can be implemented there’s an argument made against it. It seems to be a vicious cycle that will likely continue. Regardless, we learned that Safety Officers were being hired amongst other things that were being done to protect the students. Of course, this is good. But with the increased security presence becoming more well-known and pronounced, it tarnishes the reputation of an already tarnished school system. As a parent, many wonder if sending their child to Greenburgh schools is a good idea or if private school is the better way to go? Obviously, there are many families who cannot afford the private school route regardless of any safety concerns they have. But many residents have chosen the private school route.

Superintendent Chase indicated, as do so many who want the public to buy-in to their consolidation proposals, that the cost wouldn’t be much, about $97 per family per month. Broken down even farther, she equated it to $3.50 a day for a premium cup of coffee (for the next 30 years)! While the coffee analogy may make her plan more palatable (pun intended), the reality is our taxpayers are already hurting as we continue to pay off (and anticipate) guilty verdicts against Mr Feiner and his administration. We’re into year two of the Fortress Bible Church guilty discrimination verdict for $6.5 million with pending law suits in connection with the Shelbourne, Dromore Road and Ferncliff projects. And while a daily cup of premium coffee is not a problem for the extremely well-paid Dr Chase, many residents don’t make that kind of money and struggle to merely get by, glad when they can afford a deli coffee.

But consolidation for what purpose is the nagging question? To simply say we would have all grades on one campus is not enough. To also say that we would sell two current schools that are either in disrepair or needed repair begs the question why weren’t they maintained to begin with? Or is this a page from Mr Feiner’s playbook with WestHelp. Let the buildings intentionally deteriorate so such a dismal picture can be painted showing the need to jettison them? Possibly. And by bringing the younger grades to this campus, what of security and threats to them in our ever-burgeoning active shooter world. Somehow the separation seems like a viable alternative.

The Greenburgh Central schools have a more surmountable problem of education. They are now teaching the Mandarin language from kindergarten through the high school senior class because studies show it’s an up-and-coming language. It used to be that French or Spanish were the two more popular foreign languages to learn. Frankly, after hearing some of these students speak, the school probably needs to be working on speaking better English. And, with all of the special programs and remedial classes that are maintained, the lack of a fundamental education seems to be absent. Our suggestion to Dr Chase is instead of trying to apply lipstick to make it look pretty, fix the glaring problems before undertaking such a major expense and cost to the taxpayers.

Since we never see the school budget get lowered – as we are always told to vote for it “for the kids” – raising our taxes and moving all of the kids to one location solves little. Let’s not forget that 49% of the Fairview district is tax exempt so the other 51% are carrying them – in effect paying twice the amount they should have to pay. So now, instead of $3.50 per day or $97 per month, it’s more like $7 per day and $194 per month. That’s significant to seniors on a fixed income, low income families, out-of-work taxpayers and others just struggling to get by. Even more significant is the lack of proof of savings by executing this multi-year change should voters elect to approve it. Dr Chase needs to get her house in order before she looks to build a new one and then move in. While this seems like a great exercise for a resume update, we need more tangibles before we decide to go along with this. While the budget increases are touted as “for the children,” the reality is it’s for the teachers and other personnel costs. We don’t need to speak Mandarin to know that this system needs attention before we start raising taxes for this expensive game of chess. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Ferncliff Deal Rejected – Everyone Loses!

In a stunning, yet expected, upset, The Paul, the Town Board, County Executive Rob Astorino, County Legislator Michael Smith, CE Advisor Ned McCormack and a few lesser players, have failed with their bid to remove the WestHelp affordable housing from the Westchester Community College Campus – again! They fought it when it was proposed and even tried to secede from the Town and incorporate as a Village just to fight the Town’s acceptance of it! ABG will state that we honestly believe the Ferncliff School does great work, serves a vital community service and was most likely duped into believing The Paul with another of his convoluted schemes.

A letter posted below from the State, details the state’s rejection of Ferncliff’s request to proceed with the WestHelp project.

Over a year has gone by with The Paul-induced and Town Board supporting, the failure to live up to its contract with the County. You may recall the contract stipulated that the Town be paid $1.2M per year to house low/no income individuals and to maintain the facility. ABG believes The Paul ordered the facility to remain left abandoned and exposed to facilitate its rapid deterioration. ABG also believes there was a deal made between The Paul, Rob Astorino and Michael Smith for some return favor to be determined at a later date. Ultimately, ABG has maintained this has always been about The Paul acquiring votes in the next election. But The Paul’s intentional ruining of these apartments while the Greenburgh Housing Authority maintains a list of some 250 or so families in need of housing is the real  crime.

Only last week Legislator Catherine Borgia, D-Ossining said, “What happened between the end of the WestHELP lease and today? And why is Greenburgh still involved when provisions are not being met?” ABG wants to know why the all the county legislators weren’t demanding the answer to this same question for over a year? And, will the County be pursuing restitution for The Paul’s wrongdoings or are they going to let it just “disappear”? Could it be that everyone’s blind party affiliations and the partisan need to sit with one side or the other is more at play here than anything else? Were the democrats who favored the Ferncliff School deal simply representing their Yonkers-based constituents or trying to support The Paul – or both? Were the republicans siding with Astorino for similar partisan reasons? You decide.

In the end, nobody won. The Paul failed to buy his votes from Valhalla. Rob Astorino and Mike Smith haven’t endeared themselves any more or less with their neighbors but have proven they are still racist. The Ferncliff School loses because they are still no closer to relocating to a newer facility. The no/low income people and the Greenburgh Housing Authority’s families and individual members in need of housing are still in need of housing. The Town of Greenburgh loses to the tune of $1.2M each year (or $100K each month) because of The Paul’s corrupt and reprehensible decisions. The County loses because their facility was left vacant and forced to deteriorate and will require repairs to be utilized again.

Several RFP’s indicated that this $20M facility would require approximately $3M in renovations to make it habitable again. Let’s hope the County appropriates the necessary emergency funding to do these repairs immediately and get the housing back to it’s required condition for use. ABG doubts the County will decide to bring an action against the Town, as that may have been the deal made for The Paul’s participation in helping the Mayfair-Knollwood neighborhood. The Paul is no stranger to lawsuits against him. While the Town maintains a AAA Bond Rating it has never taken advantage of, the time for it’s unfortunate need is approaching. ABG doesn’t wish to see more lawsuits against the Town. What ABG would like to see is The Paul and his Board resign in an admission of their dereliction and illegal actions. We can only hope.

Bluff and Blink

The latest go-’round with the WestHelp property and the proposed Ferncliff takeover has reached a new low in bluffing. It’s like the card game that has two players vying for the pot waiting for the other to blink.

The Paul began this house of cards-like scheme around 2009 when he decided to not renew the WestHelp lease with the County for the WestHelp property. Whether his Town Board was complicit is of no consequence as they would have gone along with anything he told them to go along with. We can only speculate of his decision to why he wanted to do this? ABG maintains the primary reason would be votes in the upcoming election. He’d remove the homeless from not only WestHelp, but Valhalla, and return this bucolic hamlet into the enclave it had been prior to the now-Governor’s housing initiative was ever built. Might another reason be The Paul was approached by the County Executive himself or a representative or even a County Legislator requesting an alliance of sorts in a tit-for-tat arrangement to be determined at a later date?

What good would all of this be if the County Board of Legislators didn’t buy in to The Paul’s diversion and deflection? After all, he is the master of deflection. Amazingly, no County Legislative oversight committee, the County DSS system or body of inspectors was monitoring the WestHelp property. This transpired for over roughly two years while the County continued to ignore The Paul’s (vis–à–vis Greenburgh’s) contractual violations to not continue to house low and no income people and ignore the maintenance of the facility. Why? Could it be that the County Executive garnered enough bipartisan support to “break” the contract the County has with the Town? Or, could it simply be that a number of County Legislators are from the Yonkers area, and Ferncliff, a for-profit business, is Yonkers based and they are stepping up for their constituent?

This deal ultimately playing out well for the Ferncliff School still seems like a long shot. They essentially have no money to purchase or do the demolition work to destroy the 108 viable apartments others could be using. They then must rely on state funds for construction and then rent! The majority of their residents are from NYC, even though they claim that these children are coming from what is considered low income families. It seems justifying why they should be allowed to move to the WestHelp site is a different kind of bluff. The Ferncliff School has offered to pay $500K a year in rent to Greenburgh yet have no money to secure, demolish and rebuild and are solely dependent on state funding to proceed, if they can proceed at all. It’s been nothing if not a bluff perpetrated by The Paul this entire time and causing unnecessary pain and suffering for everyone!

Until the County Board of Legislators can get County Executive candidate and Chairman Ken Jenkins, Greenburgh County Legislators Alfreda Williams and Mary Jane Shimsky to concede, the County Community Services Committee has introduced items for discussion and a vote by their committee. Another part of the bluff. Ironically, the Chair for this committee is Alfreda Williams, who has been against this move by The Paul. Also on the committee and against this change is MaryJane Shimsky. But the other side includes Legislator Michael Smith of Valhalla. The rest of the Republican legislators will stand side-by-partisan-side with Astorino and Smith. The several Yonkers Democrats who favor of the Ferncliff deal will continue to push for The Paul’s rouse. ABG wonders what will be offered to these Jenkins, Williams and Shimsky to get them to go along?

There has been much ballyhoo about who is more deserving of the property and are homeless people more important than developmental disabled? The answer is simple: it is not a competition and both are in need of our attention and assistance. The issue for ABG and many others, including the Westchester N.A.A.C.P., who helped get the apartments built, is that The Paul took it upon himself to not renew the lease while we still need affordable housing in our area. He chose to violate the tenets of an enforceable contract which his Town Board condoned (naturally) and subsequently endorsed, and remain in violation of that contract for the last 18 months. Again, why hasn’t the County taken action against The Paul and The Town’s contractual violations?

Below are two pages showing the actions of the Community Services Committee meeting. ABG believes it is a bluff because we know they believe if they profess it enough and act as though this were really happening for Ferncliff School, it will. It seems like the old “beg forgiveness rather than ask permission” routine. There are several reasons they should not be doing this. One, it’s unfair to taunt the Ferncliff School like this. Two, Chairman Ken Jenkins, has worked to try to find a suitable location other than the WestHelp site even though County government is not obliged to do so! In fact, there is additional space near WestHelp on the Westchester Community College campus that has been suggested/offered as suitable. Remarkably, we haven’t heard a peep from anyone about this parcel. Three, while ABG believes it will be next to impossible for the County to bring an action against the Town because not only do Astorino, Smith and McCormack live in the Valhalla area, Astorino appointed County Attorney Robert Meehan, lives nearby! Finally, when the lawsuits do start, don’t you think those “aiding and abetting” will be named as well?

The Ferncliff School does great work for a small portion of the population. But their portion of the population should be treated as equally as the others. They need help finding a new location and we wonder why The Paul has never offered them 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, the old Frank’s Nursery property? He could have sold the property to the Ferncliff School for $1 if he truly cared about them, had the Town do the site remediation and kill two birds with one stone. 

Others have been helping them in their quest and will continue to do so. We truly wish them success. At the same time, the one property they seek as ideal is committed to another equally important purpose. While we wish we could snap our fingers and find a solution for the Ferncliff School, their needs will be better served if they abandon The Paul’s bluff and look in earnest for another location that is actually attainable. We can only hope that the Ferncliff School is successful in their relocation and that WestHelp gets renovated as soon as possible and it’s 108 apartments be put to good use again. We want to see people in desperate need of housing move into their new homes. Again, we can only hope.

Still No Comment on 715 Dobbs Ferry Road

Wednesday night’s Town Board meeting was met with the usual questions and the typical non-answers from the Board and The Paul. Numerous residents queried the Board when they had their turn at the podium as to what was being done with the former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road (as well as other issues). Each speaker specifically suggested the property be advertised with a Request For Proposal (RFP) and not limit the property to only two choices, either House of Sports or GameOn 365. But The Paul stated he wants (not that the public’s opinion matters) to keep it as a recreational use. Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan said he didn’t want to necessary go with the highest bid. This is the Board’s “tell” that the property will go to GameOn 365!

For some unknown reason, The Paul stated the Board would make their decision in March, after doing their “due diligence”. One speaker actually said the last time he heard this was discussing with The Paul and several Board members the proposed Westhab project that no one in the neighborhood wanted and the Town’s Zoning Board voted against. The Paul said the same thing back then and that no decision had been made and they were doing their “due diligence”. Surprisingly(?), The Paul and his Stepford Board approved the project, became the lead agency and voted every proposal Westhab made through the system faster than ever before seen. ABG believes this “due diligence” is simply another of The Paul’s classic stall tactic. In March they will turn around and say they are ignoring the larger financial amount the Town could receive to hand over the property to GameOn 365. This is about the only real transparency in this administration’s government.

The Town certainly has the right to sell the property to anyone it choses because this property was acquired through foreclosure. GameOn 365 apparently has never had the funds nor currently has the funds to develop their proposal into anything substantial. On the other hand, House of Sports does. Regardless, The Paul did backflips trying to get GameOn 365 to be the (illegal) leasee of choice. A lawsuit filed against the Town to stop the illegal lease has now been met by a counter-lawsuit. It’s seems now GameOn 365’s principals are down to, “Nah, nah, na-nah nah!”

House of Sports, in Ardsley, has recently opened an indoor sports facility that already has about 1,000 members. They have offered $3.5 million for the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. The only thing House of Sports has requested would be a change for the zoning from residential to a commercial one. Since the property is currently zoned only for single family homes, and it’s highly unlikely The Paul and his Board will put the property up for an RFP and hand the property over to GameOn 365, it’s likely we’ll never see housing at this location.

Currently, without an RFP, there are only two competing offers for the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. What the speakers at this meeting continued to drive home was that there might be more we can do with this property if only the Town would expand the scope from two recreational companies to include other types of businesses. Actually, wouldn’t this be an ideal spot to locate the Ferncliff School? It’s the same amount of acreage The Paul has been illegally trying to give Ferncliff with the WestHelp property on the Westchester Community College campus. It’s an even flatter piece of land, which they claim is an important requirement for them. 

The Town owns the property and The Paul is no stranger to cranking the approval process right on through every back door known only to developers. Why won’t The Paul direct the Ferncliff School to 715 Dobbs Ferry Road if he is so interested in helping them? Because this is just another of The Paul’s misdirection scams. Ultimately The Paul won’t get any Valhalla votes if he doesn’t help the Mayfair neighborhood remove the low income housing they vehemently fought to keep out years ago!

Every time a resident asked The Paul what he was going to do with the property, The Paul hemmed and hawed and didn’t answer. Nor did his Board. This tells ABG that he still prefers to do a flawed deal with GameOn 365, and is willing to discard the higher offer from House of Sports. The Town has a fiscal responsibility to the Town residents to garner the most money for this property to pay down the back taxes, gain a profitable sale for the property and start generating tax revenue as quickly as possible. Our “go-along” Town Board and The Paul, whose seemingly only interest are padding their developer friend’s pockets, are clearly not looking out for the best interest the residents. This is a clear-cut issue that requires little thought or justification. Either The Paul and his Board should put the property up for an RFP or accept the highest amount of money for the sale of this property and do the right thing by the residents. We can only hope.

Pedestrian Struck on Knollwood Road

Sure, there’s a snowstorm happening as we post this and we expect accidents to happen. As we sit in our offices looking over the Town, our police scanner is busy with all the usual calls plus those created by the weather. Numerous police and fire departments along with ambulances have been scrambling about the County as well as the Town to accidents of various degrees of severity.

The Broadway Civic Association has long complained that the Town is shirking its responsibility by not insisting to install sidewalks in numerous places, but specifically leading to the newly built and just-opened Greenburgh Health Center on Knollwood Road. In fact, the Town Planning Board approved a sidewalk at 275 Knollwood Rd, the location of The Knolls at Pinewood, a 15-unit luxury condominium, of which 13 are complete. But ‘The Knolls’ doesn’t want sidewalks built – neither does The Paul! And, of course, since The Paul doesn’t want it, his Town Board doesn’t want them either.

Interestingly, when The Paul, his Town Board, County Executive Rob Astorino, his aide Ned McCormack and County Legislator Michael Smith were all pushing to destroy WestHelp for Valhalla votes, Kevin “Henchman” Morgan suggested the need to build sidewalks on Knollwood Road from WestHelp’s property toward Rt 119 because it would be unsafe for Ferncliff residents to walk on Knollwood Road without them. The irony is that the Ferncliff residents and day students would never be walking anywhere. They would have a van transporting them wherever they might be going. The Henchman must have misspoke.

The point? At about 2PM today, Friday, a pedestrian was struck by a car walking on Knollwood Road at the entrance to the Westchester Community College. There is no sidewalk. At the other end of Knollwood Road, the new Greenburgh Health Center has opened. It’s only a matter of time that a pedestrian gets hit by a car at this new address. The old Community Health Center on Rt 119 across from the former A&P in the Crossroads Shopping Center, found many of it’s clients crossing Rt 119 with kids, strollers and shopping bags, etc., in all kinds of weather and traffic. The dangerous situation that existed at one area has been shifted to another. Even though it is a different area, the same risk still exists for the health center’s clientele, just at their new home. There is no sidewalk.

The Paul had championed the illegal sale of the old Cooke’s Florist property to the Mount Vernon Medical Group that runs the medical center doing business as the Greenburgh Health Center. He spot-zoned the property and has trumpeted not installing sidewalks for this location. While we hope no one ever gets hurt coming or going to this new location, the amount of traffic that frequents the area almost guarantees it. Many will recall how The Paul continually bragged about the Town’s AAA Bond Rating some months ago. Perhaps if we utilized some of it by borrowing the necessary funds and building sidewalks throughout the busy streets in our Town, we can save people from being involved in an unnecessary accidents and injuries. We can only hope.

WestHelp Fiasco Has Gone On Far Too Long

ABG has previously posted the arguments as well as the illegal actions of The Paul toward the WestHelp facility as he tries to buy votes from the Mt. Pleasant/Valhalla N.I.M.B.Y. crowd. The Paul and his Board has purposefully allowed viable, structurally sound apartments that he in part, authorized, endorsed and even helped build while a County Legislator, fall into disrepair. Now, as Town Supervisor, he has changed his tune with affordable housing, claiming we have a glut of affordable housing in Greenburgh, and is doing a 180° reversal, insisting we tear down this affordable housing!

At a forum meeting sponsored by the N.A.A.C.P. last week, he showed his true colors by making racist remarks and insulting the members in attendance and the work they did years ago to get these apartments built! Visibly stunned after being held to task for making his comments, he stammered to come up with a tolerable answer. The audience wasn’t buying. You can read more on previous ABG posts, “Feiner Insults N.A.A.C.P.” in two parts.

There was a “Contacts” sheet provided at the meeting and we’ve had requests from our loyal readers for that information so they could reach out to our elected officials regarding this travesty that has gone on for far too long. ABG is happy to oblige.

Here is the contact information:

Town of Greenburgh:
Greenburgh Town Hall, 177 Hillside Ave., White Plains, NY 10603

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner: pfeiner@greenburghny.com; 914-993-1540

Town Council members (914-993-1544 + Ext.):
Kevin Morgan: kmorgan@greenburghny.com; 914-993-1544 x 3
Diana Juettner: djuettner@greenburghny.com; 914-993-1544 x 2
Francis Sheehan: fsheehan@greenburghny.com; 914-993-1544 x 4
(Note: Sheehan repeatedly & openly states at meetings he does not read emails)
Kenneth Jones: kjones@greenburghny.com 914-993-1544 x1

Westchester County

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, 148 Martine A ve. White Plains, NY10601
914-995-2900

Westchester County Board of Legislators
800 Michaelian Office Building 148 Martine Avenue, 8th Floor White Plains, New York 10601
Main Tel: (914)995-2800;

Chairman Ken Jenkins
995-2829

John Testa, Peekskill
995-2828

Peter Harckham, Bedford, Majority Leader
995-2810

Michael Smith, Greenburgh
995-2847

Michael Kaplowitz, Somers
995-2848

David Gelfarb, Rye
995-2834

Bill Ryan, White Plains
995-2827

Judith Myers, Mamaroneck
995-2802

Alfreda Williams, Greenburgh
995-2833

Catherine Borgia, Ossining
995-2812

Sheila Marcotte, Eastchester
995-2817

Jim Maisano, Minority Leader, New Rochelle
995-2826

Mary Jane Shimsky, Greenburgh
995-2821


Lyndon Williams, Mount Vernon
995-2837

Bernice Spreckman, Yonkers
995-2815

Gordon Burrows, Yonkers
995-2830

Ken Jenkins, Yonkers, Chariman
995-2829

Virginia Perez, Yonkers
995-2846

New York State
NY State Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
(518) 474-8390

Representing Greenburgh in Albany:
State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins,
28 Wells Avenue Building 3

Yonkers, NY 10701
914-423-4031

Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti
303 South Broadway Suite 229 

Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-1605

Feiner Insults NAACP - Part 2

ABG inadvertently omitted several points in our previous post about the forum held by the NAACP on Monday night. We hope to correct that with this post, hence, part 2.

While The Paul had the floor, he bragged about the scatter site housing near Manhattan Avenue that would be torn down to have new low income apartment buildings built in their place. Subsequent to that comment, when Legislator Alfreda Williams had the floor, she correctly pointed out that The Paul has purposely contained almost all of the low income housing in the Fairview section of the Town. And this latest project would just be a further continuation of that policy. She said the result has been the “ghetto-izing” the area! She also correctly pointed out that this is another form of discrimination that appears to have gone unchecked by The Paul.

When the creation of the WestHelp housing was being discussed, formulated and created, this same chapter of the NAACP was a participant group struggling to develop this property as a project for affordable housing. Back then, affordable housing was sometimes considered Welfare Housing and was often met with all kinds of resistance and derision, relegated mostly to the cities. In time, that moniker was eliminated. Regardless of what it was called, the Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association, as well as several now, high ranking County leaders (Astorino, McCormack, Smith) were, and still are, against the facility as a low income, affordable housing facility. They remain the embodiment of a portion of the Mt. Pleasant/Valhalla’s Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) crowd! You would hope high-ranking public officials would understand the value this property holds as existing housing?

To Williams’ credit, she also stated that The Paul requested RFP’s for this property. For the uninitiated, that is a Request For Proposal that developers will submit to the Town proposing work to be done. Bidders would like to receive the awarded contract. There were six proposals, with the Ferncliff School being one of them. Ferncliff’s proposal is to tear down the apartments and build a new facility. The others were all proposing some kind of affordable, senior, low-income, municipal and/or emergency services housing. Williams’ point was that after inspection, they all maintained that while the apartments needed various levels of work, these were still well-built, viable and usable apartments that will have a long future of use. This is contrary to The Paul’s statements that these apartments are in such disrepair the facility needs to be destroyed. ABG would like to point out that while these RFP’s were submitted in ernest, they weren’t requested in ernest by The Paul. It was another deflection on his part.

As The Paul rattled off a list of affordable housing in the Town, focused primarily in Fairview, he touted the new soon to be opened Westhab housing facility at Tarrytown and Old Kensico Roads. He lied about working with the neighborhood. He lied about the neighborhood being in favor of the project. He lied when he said Greenburgh’s employees will live there. They will only live there if their name might be chosen from a tri-state lottery. William’s countered with the truth and acknowledged that a resident was in the audience and willing speak to The Paul’s comments. He was never called on to speak.

ABG knows that The Paul had promised the Fulton Park neighborhood something completely different. Some twenty years earlier, when the old property was a former hotel called the King’s Inn, he told the neighborhood that if and when the homeless population were removed by the County, he would want to see a Senior Citizen Living Facility at the site. The neighborhood worked intimately with Westhab and it’s residents to maintain a pleasant relationship. The facility that will be opening in a few months will not have seniors, municipal employees and might have two or three veterans - as promised to the Town Board after they Spot-Zoned the property to accommodate the developer. ABG’s guess it it will invariably be filled with DSS and Section 8 recipients, hardly the senior facility he promised.

While The Paul was a Westchester County Legislator, he was in favor of the WestHelp affordable housing site. Wilson’s one and only question asked of The Paul, was, “Why did you support the WestHelp affordable housing when you were a County Legislator but now as Town supervisor you won’t support it?” The question went unanswered. Time would ultimately be the audience’s enemy and The Paul’s rescuer. Before they could extract an answer from The Paul, the NAACP President was forced to end the dialog as their time for the space had run out and the crowd had to leave.

It was apparent to those in attendance that The Paul insulted the NAACP’s members and good work they have done to create affordable housing in Westchester and Greenburgh. More importantly, The Paul exposed himself as the racist he is when he discussed people of color and the segregated clustering of affordable housing in the Fairview section of the Town! He has ruled the Town for 21 years and while he’s been able to mask his bad behavior with his bumbling persona, his armor has finally wore thin and the chinks are beginning to expose him for what he is. It’s time for him to go. We can only hope.

Feiner Insults NAACP

Dave Wilson of the Journal News was the moderator for the night. The NAACP was the host and a church in White Plains was the location. The forum on Monday night was a sounding board over the low income housing dilemma facing the County and the Town. The panel for the forum was composed of David “Tax Watch” Wilson, Robert Bernstein, an attorney who intervened with retired judge Herb Rosenberg on behalf of the Town to reclaim $1.2M illegally paid to the Valhalla School District by The Paul. Alfreda Williams and MaryJane Shimsky, both County Legislators representing Greenburgh and other communities, were joined by County Legislator and County Executive Candidate, Ken Jenkins. Arriving late, as had been announced to the crowd, was The Paul.

Wilson began the evening with a slide presentation showing the WestHelp facility on the Westchester Community College campus. Bernstein was the first panelist to speak and highlighted several key points that appear to be in violation by The Paul and his Town Board. He read specific sections of the original contract and the case against The Paul seems damning! It basically said that the Town shall maintain the facility and the Town will continue to house low income residents in the facility. Both of those points have been unequivocally violated. Then the three legislators spoke. Jenkins assured everyone that the County is not against Ferncliff, a private company, and is also working closely with them to find an appropriate site for their school. He continued that The Paul should not be pitting the WestHelp property against Ferncliff. Both are equally worthy causes. Shimsky said that WestHelp is a valuable public asset that we cannot let go to waste under any circumstance. She furthered that there is obviously a need for affordable housing in our community. The crowd wholeheartedly agreed. Williams suggested that organizations such as this one could help by continuing to stay involved.

By arriving late, The Paul knew he would have limited exposure at this meeting. If he was lucky, he knew he could bloviate, dance a bit, get his agenda across and hope to be out of there without answering any real questions. After letting The Paul ramble on for about five minutes with an “opening statement”, Wilson asked Feiner one question, “Why did you support the WestHelp affordable housing when you were a County Legislator but now as Town supervisor you won’t support it?” Performing “The Paul shuffle”, he read from a piece of paper all the points he wanted to make, but never answered the question!

One woman in the back row put her head down on the table, shaking her head in disbelief while others could be overheard saying he wasn’t answering the question. After Wilson interrupted him twice and asked him to answer the question, he continued his rambling. We all know this is The Paul’s main deflection tactic. The woman in the back raised her hand and asked why he wouldn’t answer the question. People in the audience wanted substance. The audience was not happy with The Paul’s deflection. They demanded answers. After The Paul claimed that the DSS referred people mostly of color to affordable housing, one gentleman took offense to Feiner’s statement and asked why Feiner would put “people of color” in his statement? The Paul’s response was because he was at a meeting held by the NAACP. This did not bode well with the crowd, who let their displeasure be known.

Without a doubt, this could have been a good back-and-forth session with good questions and perhaps honest answers. But The Paul wasn’t there to participate in an honest dialog. Rather, he was there to campaign. But tonight, the crowd The Paul thought he could pander to wasn’t buying the goods – finally! Overheard after the meeting was the comment that, “The Town has a lot of bad things happening to it because of The Paul’s mismanagement and illegal actions, but we have a lot more good things happening to it too.” We just need to make sure we keep the good outweighing the bad.

To keep the good outweighing the bad, we need to vote The Paul out of office. This meeting may have been one of the first steps toward that end. We can only hope.

WestHelp As A Loss Leader

There are numerous years still left in the WestHelp lease between the Town and the County. The openly professed NIMBY’s of the Valhalla section of Town, are the Mayfair-Knollwood group, lead by The Paul and propped up by County Legislator Michael Smith (R-Valhalla). In a Town Board work session Tuesday morning, the Greenburgh Town Board collectively fell on the sword for their leader. They voted to continue pushing for the County to accept their “sham” deal with the Ferncliff School, making them the official tenant for the now-vacant property. In any other Town, these people would be recognized as racists and run out of Town!

We’ve previously written about the apparent links to the County Executive, the County Legislature, The County Executive’s Communications Director, The Valhalla School District and of course, The Paul. In a concerted effort to drive the unwanted homeless element out of Valhalla, whether combined or singularly, The Paul let the $1.2 million lease with Westchester County lapse, claiming, as he is doing again, that it’s the County’s fault the lease wasn’t renewed. Then to prove his virtue, he manufactured two emails that he claimed were emails he had sent to then County Executive Spano stating he wanted to renew the lease. Everyone who saw the emails said the same thing: they were phonies. 

Monday night The Paul released the RFP’s (request for proposals) submitted to the Town for the County’s former WestHelp property. There were six submissions:

Ferncliff Manor, Inc. 
$500,000 per year to the Town until the year 2031 to operate a residential school for 74 developmentally disabled children. 70% of the children come from families with incomes below $50,000 annually.

Group MRH, LLC & The Richman Group Affordable Housing Organization
$100,000 per year to the Town until the year 2032 to operate an affordable rental housing pursuant to a triple Net sublease agreement with the Town for the remaining 20-year Master Lease term.

HarborView Properties
$125,000 to 165,000 per year to the Town until the year 2032 to operate property as an eighty percent (80%) Market Rate Apartment Rental Community with twenty percent (20%) of Units set aside and designated as ¨Affordable Housing Units.¨

Marathon Development Group
$200,000 initial lease payment and lump sum $2,000,000 at contract closing representing the net present value of 20 year payment streams to the Town until the year 2032 to convert the existing shelter apartments into 80 units of affordable senior housing (55 and older), with a preference for veterans.

Community Housing Innovations
$350,000 per year to the Town until the year 2032 to develop the former WestHELP site for use as affordable housing, primarily for seniors and the existing administration/school building for a community use such as relocation of the Lois Bronz Children’s Center or Ferncliff Manor, Inc.’s. temporary use for a disabled school facility.

WestHAB
$200,000 per year to the Town ($600,000 up front) until the year 2064 to operate affordable housing pursuant to a tri-party lease between WestHAB, the Town and the County using Low Income Housing Tax Credit Equity for 50 years. 

The first proposal is his proposal of choice. It’s the reason he has let the WestHelp facility deteriorate with plans of tearing it down once he finally exhausts the County Legislature with his incessant posturing. His deflection campaign of trying to foist his failure to renew the contract as their fault is not working. Fortunately, the majority of legislators are not buying into his convoluted scheme. Is The Paul simply using Ferncliff as a loss-leader or is it just another deflection, cooked up long before this year’s budget debacle and would begin to take attention off of this year’s budget? He couldn’t know a hurricane would strike, bailing him out of another laser-focused critique of his poorly executed budget. In The Paul’s classic form, he just shrugs off the criticisms.

Interestingly, the WestHelp complex of 108 apartments was built under the authority of the United States Housing and Urban Development. That organization was run by then HUD Housing Secretary and current NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo. ABG believes Cuomo will be running for president in the next election, or at least vice-president. Regardless of his future plans, ABG doesn’t seriously believe that Westchester’s lack of affordable housing would find Cuomo endorsing the demolition of these same apartments after championing their creation. Why should that matter?

First, the state has it’s own budget problems and is unlikely and unwilling to come up with to remove affordable housing. Second, Ferncliff Manor is only offering $500,000 with the proviso that New York State pay for what will happen with the property for them. Without the state’s assistance, it is unlikely that the Ferncliff deal can happen nor would the Town actually be making $500k per year. Undaunted, that didn’t stop the Town Board from supporting The Paul’s harebrained idea – no surprise there! Somewhat sheepishly, Tim “Remediation” Lewis, coming off his major mishandling of the toxic site cleanup costs for the GameOn 365 proposal site, cautiously seemed to offer The Paul an “out” stating they should look at all the offers equally. The Paul barreled on.

The County Legislature, and it’s chair Legislator Ken Jenkins, have repeatedly told The Paul and the Town Board they must abide by the contractual obligations of the existing lease. They are not in favor of repurposing the site and giving up much needed affordable housing in Westchester especially in view of the housing desegregation settlement. While The Paul usually can’t wait to install affordable housing in the most inappropriate places, it begs the question of why he would be so adamantly against maintaining the 108 apartments in Valhalla and keeping the affordable housing? In fact, he’s been on record saying there is a glut of affordable housing in Greenburgh! So, what’s in it for him? 

ABG maintains votes as well as county support for The Paul is his motivation since this appeases Astorino, McCormack, Smith et al. This entire episode is loaded with ethical dilemmas, illegal actions and simply more lies. One of these RFP’s might very well be the one the Town signs on with, regardless of the superficial date The Paul has created for a final decision. These games have to stop. We can only hope.

Ruining WestHelp to Secure Votes

The Town’s largest source of rental income will invariably continue to stand abandoned and empty, and continue to deteriorate throughout 2013. Regrettably, because of intentional and designed neglect, it will need to be torn down when all is said and finally done. This bill will wind up being paid for by the Town’s Unincorporated residents, victims of The Paul’s lack of management skills and overall incompetence. Of course, we all know this facility as WestHELP, the 108-apartment low/no income housing complex off of Knollwood Road on the Westchester Community College campus.

The Paul had craftily ignored requests from the Spano Administration over three years ago to renew the $1.2 million lease back when Spano was still the county executive. There was obviously an ulterior motive behind his refusal to renew: more votes for himself and even his “opposition”. He knew if he didn’t renew the lease, he could intentionally let the units fall into disrepair, vandalism and destruction and then say despondently, “These units need too much money invested in them to save, they must be destroyed as they are uninhabitable!”

The scheme was hatched. He informed his Stepford Board that they must sing the same song or risk expulsion from The Paul’s Circle of Trust, invoking the Sonya Brown clause. They concurred with the requisite, “Yes, m’Lord.” Seated to the right of The Paul was Kevin “The Henchman” Morgan, who scorned, “You will comply.” Newcomer Jones tendered temporary resistance by abstaining from attendance when a vote was necessary to move the plan forward. One demerit earned.

The Paul, ever adept with diversion, deflection and deceit, then formulated the next part of his plan. He found a likely subject that might be interested in occupying the property once the units were destroyed in the Ferncliff School. We imagine Sheehan might have asked The Paul, “But what of the County rental contract with the Town? Even as a non-practicing attorney you know it’s a breach on contract if we don’t rent these affordable units to people in need of homes?” And with a quick and surprising follow-up, Diana “Sleepy” Juettner might have asked “How about our own Greenburgh Housing Authority list of over two hundred and fifty people in need of homes? Can’t we put them in there?” Enraged, we can almost hear The Paul yell at them, “ENOUGH! IT’S NOT ABOUT HOUSING! IT’S ABOUT GETTING VOTES IN THE NEXT ELECTION! Pay attention people. If we get rid of housing the homeless in Valhalla and get rid of WestHelp, we’ll get more votes from that part of Greenburgh. Don’t you get it?”

Ken Jones, may have asked The Paul, “Can you win a fight with the County Legislators or can you get them to go along with this?” The Paul responded confidently, “The only one who will be a problem is Alfreda Williams. She’s still mad because when she wouldn’t play along, I threw her off the Board and put Beville in her place. Astorino is a slam-dunk, he’s in my pocket on this, his guy McCormack and the new legislator, whats-his-name Smith. They’ll all go along because they’ll get the votes too once the homeless are gone. Hell, this was going to be the best payoff ever! It was all working until Bernstein and Rosenberg got in the way. I’m telling you it was foolproof!”

On Monday, December 3, the Town will receive bids for the use of the WestHELP property. It appears that Ferncliff is in the lead as the preferred candidate. While it looks sincere, it’s all moot as The Paul will continue his “tear it down” mantra and insist the Town enter a long-term lease for the property with Ferncliff. Plus, it’s not up to The Paul to decide what can be done with this property. Ferncliff is a for-profit school for developmentally disabled children. They seek to build a new residential school and facility to replace a Yonkers facility which they will be forced to leave. Why wouldn’t The Paul offer the old Frank’s Nursery property on Dobbs Ferry Road. According to The Paul the Ferncliff deal is worth more than the GameOn 365 deal. The operative word here seems to be “deal”.

The Ferncliff proposal was turned down by the County Board of Legislators because the Town's contractual rights to the WestHELP property mandate the 20-year old county-owned apartments be used for low and moderate income housing. After allowing the contractual lapse, a SUNY Purchase representative looked at the facility in hopes of using it for student housing, as it is currently on SUNY property (the WCC campus is a SUNY facility). He found that with the disrepair and now mold conditions, the apartments would require about $20k each for renovation to make them livable by students. Given the state’s fiscal troubles, ABG doesn’t see SUNY or the state stepping up to take these over anytime soon. Although, this would be a great usage for them.

The Paul has made alliances with an overwhelming majority of residents from the Mayfair Knollwood community who have opposed this housing since it’s inception. They claim it’s too close to their homes. Ironically, these “NIMBY-ers” are a mile away from the facility and the housing is secured on the Westchester Community College campus in a fenced-in area that the Town erected. So, by knowingly choosing to not spend any town money to maintain the 108 apartments from September 2011, when the contract expired, The Paul guaranteed the apartments to be uninhabitable and gifted their destruction to the Mayfair Knollwood community!

While the Town has lost the $1.2 million dollars annually by not renewing the contract, The Paul is claiming that if the Ferncliff deal had been approved, “the town would have received about $530,000 a year in rent.” Of course, without New York State agreeing to fund it, the Town gets nothing! The Paul is pushing to keep the property from being used for low and moderate income housing regardless of whether the deal happens or not. THAT’s how all the politicians will get their votes.

The Paul and his Board have not posted financial resources in this year’s 2013 town budget for any repairs or maintenance of the facility. This indicates that The Paul isn’t planning on doing anything with this property except tear it down. ABG believes he will continue to bemoan the Westchester County Board of Legislators as resisting his plans to raze the facility and lease it to Ferncliff. The County Board of Legislators threatened to take the WestHELP property away from the Town for violating the terms of its lease and maintained it must be used for low and moderate income housing. ABG believes they should do just that! He’s even challenged them to attend a meeting as a publicity stunt we hope they won’t dignify by attending.

It’s a shame that this has been allowed to intentionally happen right before everybody’s eyes and no one, especially the County landlord, has acted to stop it. ABG believes the County Legislators, the County Legal Department and yes, the County Executive need to get off their vote-purchasing bandwagon and do the right thing! They should initiate an action against The Paul and his Board forcing the Town to renovate the facility to habitable status and either put people in it who are homeless, abuse victims, veterans or students and start utilizing the 108 apartments as intended and collecting rent. If the Town will not do so, the County should immediately take the property back, begin renovations and get it into a ready-to-use condition. By letting this valuable asset decay, nobody but a few politicians, and most importantly The Paul can come out ahead. It's time for everyone to stop playing games with this existing and vital housing, fix it up and get people living there. We can only hope.