The abandoned WestHelp affordable housing property on the Westchester Community College campus continues to degrade as Mr Feiner instructed the property be left exposed as part of his plan. Even though its gate is still padlocked, we’re told pipes have been removed as well as sinks, faucets and the like. Mr Feiner wanted to eliminate the facility in Valhalla to secure votes for himself and co-conspirators in the upcoming election. His plan began over two years ago. Ever the phony, yet scheming politician, he kept his plan mute. When the G10 residents realized what happened, they went public. Things have gotten so uncomfortable for Mr Feiner with this latest fiasco, that he and his Board have taken drastic steps to limit the public from speaking out at Town Board meetings.
After NYS ruled against Mr Feiner’s plan to tear down the facility and allow his choice of the Ferncliff School of Yonkers, for the developmentally disabled to build a new school at the location, Mr Feiner faked concern again and insisted an RFP for affordable housing be posted soliciting from developers a plan to renovate and use the site for affordable housing. An RFP should be good. There were a number of viable proposals promising renovation and rental of the units within a short period of time. Mr Feiner has learned from the GameOn 365 debacle that he can say anything but do what he pleases with little or no legal, moral or ethical repercussions. He learned to use the new “buzz” phrases of “due diligence” and “fiduciary responsibility to the Town”. And yet, he continues to argue about his flawed decisions with these proposals with wanton disregard for legalities.
After a new Request For Proposal (RFP) was requested by Mr Feiner and the Town Board, a number of affordable housing-oriented specialists submitted their proposal for the WestHelp property. One company called Group MRH, submitted the bid paperwork with falsified statements and documents to enhance their chance of being awarded the bid. The ruse almost worked. The problem was that this vendor, handpicked by Mr Feiner, not only falsified documents to get the bid, but his bid was too low when compared to the others. Undeterred, ABG believes Mr Feiner quietly worked with MRH until his bid was the highest one. No matter that their bid and its related information was lie. He asked for a new bid and amazingly, Group MRH had the high bid. ABG can imagine Mr Feiner saying, “I can’t tell you what the highest bid is but yours needs be more.” “How about now?” as MRH slipped a piece of paper toward Mr Feiner with a new, larger number. “Not yet.” Another piece of paper. “Now?” “Nope.” Again. “Now?” “Yes, write it up and resubmit it!”
In the submission for the last bid was a seemingly innocuous statement that claimed Group MRH had maintained a 10-year working relationship with the Richman Group. Richman is a well-known and respected affordable housing management company with a range of affordable housing involvement throughout the country. Everyone was impressed by the bid and the related stature of who would be involved.
Then people began to dig a bit and slowly uncovered more and more discrepancies with the Group MRH bid. Once statements provided couldn’t be corroborated and documents were falsified to gain the bid, Mr Bernstein and others challenged Mr Feiner and the Boards decision to continue with Group MRH. But Mr Feiner remained adamant to stay with his choice even after verifying that they lied to get the bid!
Robert Bernstein, a Town Supervisor primary candidate against Mr Feiner, successfully showed that Group MRH had lied to get the housing contract. He proved that the Richman Group had no involvement with Group MRH. That alone should have forfeited the entire process for Group MRH. But not in “Bizzaro Greenburgh”. Mr Feiner began the campaign blitz to announce the bid he awarded to Group MRH. He also mentioned the involvement with the Richman Group. He held press conferences, put out press releases announcing the same thing over and over. Suddenly, a letter was sent to Mr Feiner from the Richman Corporation’s legal representatives requesting Mr Feiner to Cease and Desist using their name and associating them with Group MRH. Mr Feiner didn’t stop. It was uncovered by Mr Bernstein and when presented to the Town Board at a Town Board meeting, most claimed they were unaware of the letter, insisting Mr Feiner didn’t share it with them. Ignorance is bliss.
In Mr Feiner’s June 10, 2013 newsletter/campaign document, Mr Feiner is happily violating the Cease and Desist order from the Richman Group. In his document under the information about WestHelp, he says, “MRH has asked the Richman Group Affordable Housing Corporation to provide property management and tenant compliance oversight for the affordable housing units at 1 West Help Drive.” Regardless of what Group MRH is doing, planning to do, has done or not done, Mr Feiner should not be writing about the Richman Group based on the Cease and Desist request. Secondarily, whenever a resident would ask him what the criteria he was looking for in a vendor was or what progress was being made searching for a vendor for this property, he or Town Attorney Tim Lewis would say they couldn’t speak about it because it is a private matter or they cannot divulge contractual information during negotiations. Mr Feiner continues to selectively release information, which ABG finds a reprehensible way to treat Town residents.
Mr Feiner should respect the Cease and Desist request from the Richman Group. But he didn’t. Mr Feiner should also respect all the residents in the Town, not just the ones who vote for him or agree with him. But he doesn’t. Mr Feiner should also provide a better example for his Board to follow. But he can’t. Unfortunately, they have all operated this way for so long, ABG is convinced we’ll need to “clean house” to begin leading by a better example.
Showing posts with label Group MRH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Group MRH. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Bernstein On WestHelp
We are publishing Mr Bernsteins Press Release as a courtesy as other media sources will only focus on Mr Feiner. This is in the effort of fair play and not an admission of agreement or endorsement with what is said.
Democratic candidate for Greenburgh town supervisor Bob Bernstein said today Supervisor Paul Feiner's proposed 18-year lease of the 108 county-owned apartments at WestHELP – once the Town's largest non-tax source of revenue – is a “complete mess that can't be fixed and won't guarantee affordable housing or revenue to the Town.”
According to its lease with the county, the town is required to use the 108 apartments for low or moderate income rental housing. Mr. Feiner twice failed to respond to a county request to extend the WestHELP lease for an additional 10-year period through 2021 and has kept the premises vacant and deteriorating for the past 21 months with no revenue to the Town.
With the County Board of Legislators threatening to place the town in default for not maintaining the property or using it as required, Mr. Feiner has proposed entering a lease with Group MRH, a start-up company with no affordable housing experience, that previously proposed $2 million in repairs, which it offered to allow the Town to hold in escrow, and a $500,000 a year rent payment to the Town.
The proposed lease makes no mention of the $2 million in renovations or any escrow and provides no protection at all to taxpayers the property will be maintained, properly managed, or even used for affordable housing. Furthermore, even though no school-age children are expected to live there, the lease gives the town the right to divert a substantial portion of the rent to the Valhalla School District in “property taxes” which the Town says it will levy and pay for itself, thus giving the Valhalla School District revenues a court had previously ruled were illegal.
Under Mr. Feiner's proposed lease, all the Town can do in the event MRH fails to pay rent, to use the property for affordable housing, or maintain the property, is demand MRH “cause the Premises to be vacated” and “deliver vacant possession” to the Town.
“This makes no sense,” Mr. Bernstein said. “It means if there's ever a default, the town would have to force MRH to put innocent tenants on the street in order to get a new company to come in and make things right. No municipality would ever do that.”
Under the terms of the county's lease with the Town, no subleasing is permitted without the county's express written consent. Mr. Bernstein said Mr. Feiner's proposed lease is “such a non-starter that the WestHELP apartments will now probably remain vacant and deteriorating for the foreseeable future – much to the delight of the Tea Party Republicans who never wanted this housing built in the first place.”
The town-wide Democratic Primary for Town Supervisor will be held Tuesday, September 10.
Democratic candidate for Greenburgh town supervisor Bob Bernstein said today Supervisor Paul Feiner's proposed 18-year lease of the 108 county-owned apartments at WestHELP – once the Town's largest non-tax source of revenue – is a “complete mess that can't be fixed and won't guarantee affordable housing or revenue to the Town.”
According to its lease with the county, the town is required to use the 108 apartments for low or moderate income rental housing. Mr. Feiner twice failed to respond to a county request to extend the WestHELP lease for an additional 10-year period through 2021 and has kept the premises vacant and deteriorating for the past 21 months with no revenue to the Town.
With the County Board of Legislators threatening to place the town in default for not maintaining the property or using it as required, Mr. Feiner has proposed entering a lease with Group MRH, a start-up company with no affordable housing experience, that previously proposed $2 million in repairs, which it offered to allow the Town to hold in escrow, and a $500,000 a year rent payment to the Town.
The proposed lease makes no mention of the $2 million in renovations or any escrow and provides no protection at all to taxpayers the property will be maintained, properly managed, or even used for affordable housing. Furthermore, even though no school-age children are expected to live there, the lease gives the town the right to divert a substantial portion of the rent to the Valhalla School District in “property taxes” which the Town says it will levy and pay for itself, thus giving the Valhalla School District revenues a court had previously ruled were illegal.
Under Mr. Feiner's proposed lease, all the Town can do in the event MRH fails to pay rent, to use the property for affordable housing, or maintain the property, is demand MRH “cause the Premises to be vacated” and “deliver vacant possession” to the Town.
“This makes no sense,” Mr. Bernstein said. “It means if there's ever a default, the town would have to force MRH to put innocent tenants on the street in order to get a new company to come in and make things right. No municipality would ever do that.”
Under the terms of the county's lease with the Town, no subleasing is permitted without the county's express written consent. Mr. Bernstein said Mr. Feiner's proposed lease is “such a non-starter that the WestHELP apartments will now probably remain vacant and deteriorating for the foreseeable future – much to the delight of the Tea Party Republicans who never wanted this housing built in the first place.”
The town-wide Democratic Primary for Town Supervisor will be held Tuesday, September 10.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Psst, Nobody Will Know...
Most Town Board meetings, as well as Work Session meetings, go unnoticed by the majority of resident taxpayers and business owners. In fact, this is one of the most emboldening elements in The Paul and his Board’s illegal, collusive and immoral actions. While the G10 continues it’s admirable defense of these same taxpayers from these actions, it’s getting harder and harder for them to keep up with all the bad decisions made by The Paul and ratified by his Board.
The latest unholy mess be perpetrated onto the Town has been with the property formerly known as WestHelp, located on the southwestern corner of the Westchester Community College campus. In a show of support for the Valhalla community, The Paul had used Unincorporated Town budget funds to erect an 8 foot tall chain link fence topped with barbed wire to keep the pesky low-income, single mothers and their young children contained and unable to roam the sleepy hamlet, devaluing their property. Others claim the fence was erected to keep single men out. County Legislator Michael Smith bemoans the fact that they have an overabundance of homeless people in their neighborhood. He openly states that there is a halfway facility across from his street and anyone who believes they should be there should ask to have them put in their own neighborhood. Valhalla has too much in one place.
Ned McCormack, formerly part of Valhalla School Board, and now right-hand man for County Executive Rob Astorino, along with Michael Smith, the then-president of the school board, agreed to a money laundering scheme proposed by The Paul years ago. Their brief meeting on that fall day would begin the ruination of the Town’s largest revenue/income stream that was essentially gifted to the Town by the County. Adding insult to injury, Smith, et al, decided to use the funds appropriated to the school board to take a party cruise with money originally intended for the Valhalla students’ benefit. When asked, Smith claimed at the time that county legislators and the county executive gave their approval with no indication that there would be any future repercussions. His moral compass misplaced, that was good enough for Smith and his crew as they hit the high seas. A lawsuit, subsequent loss and fines for repayment of the money proved that simply taking everyone at their word, with-a-wink-and-a-nod just doesn’t cut it!
The Paul was still determined to work with the Valhalla residents in hopes of nurturing votes in the next election, unsure if he’d be running for the supervisor’s position unopposed or if he’d have to mount a real campaign. He knows he can rely on Council member Kevin “Henchman” Morgan and his daughter to challenge opponent ballot signatures keeping The Paul out of the fray. So at the end of his last unopposed victory, he hatched a new scheme for votes. The Paul did not renew the lease with the County for the WestHelp property, told someone to make sure the facility was left open to slowly deteriorate and then did what he is so good at doing: deflection. He talked about Frank’s Nursery, dog parks, the Tappan Zee bridge, hydro-fracking upstate, closing Indian Point, ConEd’s dismal response during hurricane Irene and other things that have nothing to do with running the Town or which he has any authority or control. His deflection was working. “Mr. Open Government” knows what to say especially as he pens letters to the editors, community view op-eds, and interviews by the rotating reporters du jour who never get a chance to learn his modus operandi. It’s amazing that he has all the answers for every other issue but can’t run the Town efficiently.
The next step was to get someone to move in to the WestHelp facility if he couldn’t get it to deteriorate quickly enough to raze it. After all, what would please the Valhalla voters, Astorino, Smith, McCormack and the rest more than getting the homeless out of the facility? Tearing it down! So he needed a group to “play” and he found a neighbor right in his own back yard. The Ferncliff School located just over the Greenburgh boarder in Yonkers was looking to relocate. The added benefit for The Paul is that he could get another group moved farther away from his own gated community. He suggested renting the facility to them and they went after his plan like sharks chasing surfers. Their concerns were that they needed relatively flat land and while the WestHelp property might fit the bill, they would need to destroy about half of the existing facility and rebuild to meet their needs. Ferncliff and The Paul stated there was no other property anywhere that could suffice. Interestingly, The Paul never offered a similarly sized and appropriate property to them that could be ideal for the school – with some remediation. But The Paul already promised that property to Martin Hewitt, a principle for a start up venture/paper company known as GameOn 365 in a back room deal. The property? Frank’s Nursery.
The G10 pushed at every meeting to get The Paul and his Town Board to do the right thing. The NAACP, who intervened with the Valhalla property when then-HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo announced was looking to build the 108 units there, has consistently voiced their opinion that the housing should remain and continue to be used as affordable housing. Dave Wilson of the Journal News moderated two forums discussing the history of the facility, its usage, and future use. Legal opinions were tendered as well. The overwhelming majority of people, whether Greenburgh residents or not, tired of The Paul’s tactics of pitting the developmentally disabled children of Ferncliff against the affordable housing needs of residents. The Paul spoke at the first forum but said nothing and seemed to ramble on incoherently until a statement insulted the audience. The normally friendly crowd for The Paul got restless and the meeting was abruptly ended. Yet, at Town Board meeting after meeting, The Paul would continue have his foot soldiers march up to the podium and endorse the Ferncliff plan to take over WestHelp.
“R-F-P! R-F-P! R-F-P!” Okay, there were no protest chants for a Request For Proposals but it was the constant pushing by the G10, and others that forced The Paul’s hand and he asked for RFP’s for affordable housing prior to the state weighing in and saying nay to Ferncliff moving to the WestHelp property. Five companies that were affordable housing oriented companies submitted RFPs. The Paul claimed the Town Board would do it’s due diligence and investigate the offers. Apparently, one of the submissions was from a former school mate of The Paul. Can you say, “favored status”? Regardless, after a conversation with a resident, they withdrew their application. Another of the applications was from Ferncliff. They were in fact the highest bidder at $500k in rent per year. This wasn’t even half of what the Town had received from the County contract that had now run dry at $1.2 million per year. So, then there were three.
The G10 persisted for two long years and dictated the property be used as intended. They also met with County Legislators to try to get them to investigate The Paul and the Town’s failure to adhere to the contractual requirements for the WestHelp property. With a split vote in that legislature, things became a bit dicey for the democrats in charge. Could they go after one of their own (The Paul) and risk alienating themselves within the party? Some did, but enough didn’t. Smith, a Republican, had a veritable meltdown one evening at a County Board meeting over this issue. The Paul spoke at the County Board meeting, punishing them directly and then had Ferncliff supporters speak. The trick was to have the parents speak of the duress and uncertainty they live with if Ferncliff doesn’t get this property; which are all legitimate concerns. Fortunately, the state intervened and said said, “No.” They were against tearing down existing affordable housing in Westchester, nor would they supply the demolition funds and subsequent building funds Ferncliff would require if they received the property. All of their money has probably been allotted towards rebuilding the Tappan Zee Bridge.
There was one bid left in the RFP process that had all the right components, from a Richard Harris, not the famous actor, of the company called Group MRH, LLC. He submitted his “plan” along with a “resumé” and corroborating documentation stating he was working with well-known and respected affordable housing company, The Richman Group. The problems with the submissions from MRH are many and ABG believes were never intended to see the light of day. ABG believes that the RFP submission from MRH was designed to bolster the RFP submission of the Ferncliff School to the top of the pile with a $500K rental payment, besting the $100K up to $350K from the other applicants. By the way, we don’t believe the Ferncliff School was part of this ploy. The Ferncliff figure of $500K was an assumptive amount they hoped the state would pay for rent if Ferncliff’s proposal were to be accepted.
The resumé submitted by Harris was typed on plain paper as opposed to a letterhead of the company he represents and simply adorned with the word “Resume” at the top. It was more of a letter format than an actual resumé format typically seen in business. The text is eerily similar to that found from their “partners” literature. More importantly, after The Paul announced the partnership of Richman and Group MRH receiving the Town’s nod, the Town attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis received a Cease and Desist order from The Richman Group Affordable Housing Corporation Vice President stating there was no partnership. Harris claimed to have a 10-year track record in affordable housing and yet his company has only been in existence for two years! ABG believes Harris may have been encouraged to submit a proposal only to bolster the Ferncliff offering so The Paul could get the tenant he wanted. But when the accepted proposal could not stand up to scrutiny, The Paul forged on, stating the lack of partnership between these two (Group MRH/Richman) didn’t matter to the Town and the deal stands. Obviously, not on two legs.
While this was going on, Ferncliff was reworking their bid. We’re not sure why as their ability to secure funds from the state to proceed anywhere seems unlikely. Could their actions have been suggested by The Paul in hopes that once this deal with Group MRH fell apart they would swoop in and save the day? Perhaps. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
Because of all the incongruous and conflicting information, the G10 has once again asked that the deal with Group MRH be terminated. Once it is learned that any applicant has not been totally truthful or has apparently lied on their application, it should be dismissed and the next available bid be utilized. The Town Board is holding a work session meeting this morning, stated-time to begin to be guessed by all, to discuss this matter. We’re sure The Paul will remain obstinate and insist on discussing this in Executive Session. But, before they adjourn, they will award the sale of Frank’s Nursery to the lowest bidder, GameOn 365. Let’s hope no other countries send representatives to Greenburgh as the Russians did about two years ago to see how our government works. This is not how it should be and must change. We can only hope.
The latest unholy mess be perpetrated onto the Town has been with the property formerly known as WestHelp, located on the southwestern corner of the Westchester Community College campus. In a show of support for the Valhalla community, The Paul had used Unincorporated Town budget funds to erect an 8 foot tall chain link fence topped with barbed wire to keep the pesky low-income, single mothers and their young children contained and unable to roam the sleepy hamlet, devaluing their property. Others claim the fence was erected to keep single men out. County Legislator Michael Smith bemoans the fact that they have an overabundance of homeless people in their neighborhood. He openly states that there is a halfway facility across from his street and anyone who believes they should be there should ask to have them put in their own neighborhood. Valhalla has too much in one place.
Ned McCormack, formerly part of Valhalla School Board, and now right-hand man for County Executive Rob Astorino, along with Michael Smith, the then-president of the school board, agreed to a money laundering scheme proposed by The Paul years ago. Their brief meeting on that fall day would begin the ruination of the Town’s largest revenue/income stream that was essentially gifted to the Town by the County. Adding insult to injury, Smith, et al, decided to use the funds appropriated to the school board to take a party cruise with money originally intended for the Valhalla students’ benefit. When asked, Smith claimed at the time that county legislators and the county executive gave their approval with no indication that there would be any future repercussions. His moral compass misplaced, that was good enough for Smith and his crew as they hit the high seas. A lawsuit, subsequent loss and fines for repayment of the money proved that simply taking everyone at their word, with-a-wink-and-a-nod just doesn’t cut it!
The Paul was still determined to work with the Valhalla residents in hopes of nurturing votes in the next election, unsure if he’d be running for the supervisor’s position unopposed or if he’d have to mount a real campaign. He knows he can rely on Council member Kevin “Henchman” Morgan and his daughter to challenge opponent ballot signatures keeping The Paul out of the fray. So at the end of his last unopposed victory, he hatched a new scheme for votes. The Paul did not renew the lease with the County for the WestHelp property, told someone to make sure the facility was left open to slowly deteriorate and then did what he is so good at doing: deflection. He talked about Frank’s Nursery, dog parks, the Tappan Zee bridge, hydro-fracking upstate, closing Indian Point, ConEd’s dismal response during hurricane Irene and other things that have nothing to do with running the Town or which he has any authority or control. His deflection was working. “Mr. Open Government” knows what to say especially as he pens letters to the editors, community view op-eds, and interviews by the rotating reporters du jour who never get a chance to learn his modus operandi. It’s amazing that he has all the answers for every other issue but can’t run the Town efficiently.
The next step was to get someone to move in to the WestHelp facility if he couldn’t get it to deteriorate quickly enough to raze it. After all, what would please the Valhalla voters, Astorino, Smith, McCormack and the rest more than getting the homeless out of the facility? Tearing it down! So he needed a group to “play” and he found a neighbor right in his own back yard. The Ferncliff School located just over the Greenburgh boarder in Yonkers was looking to relocate. The added benefit for The Paul is that he could get another group moved farther away from his own gated community. He suggested renting the facility to them and they went after his plan like sharks chasing surfers. Their concerns were that they needed relatively flat land and while the WestHelp property might fit the bill, they would need to destroy about half of the existing facility and rebuild to meet their needs. Ferncliff and The Paul stated there was no other property anywhere that could suffice. Interestingly, The Paul never offered a similarly sized and appropriate property to them that could be ideal for the school – with some remediation. But The Paul already promised that property to Martin Hewitt, a principle for a start up venture/paper company known as GameOn 365 in a back room deal. The property? Frank’s Nursery.
The G10 pushed at every meeting to get The Paul and his Town Board to do the right thing. The NAACP, who intervened with the Valhalla property when then-HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo announced was looking to build the 108 units there, has consistently voiced their opinion that the housing should remain and continue to be used as affordable housing. Dave Wilson of the Journal News moderated two forums discussing the history of the facility, its usage, and future use. Legal opinions were tendered as well. The overwhelming majority of people, whether Greenburgh residents or not, tired of The Paul’s tactics of pitting the developmentally disabled children of Ferncliff against the affordable housing needs of residents. The Paul spoke at the first forum but said nothing and seemed to ramble on incoherently until a statement insulted the audience. The normally friendly crowd for The Paul got restless and the meeting was abruptly ended. Yet, at Town Board meeting after meeting, The Paul would continue have his foot soldiers march up to the podium and endorse the Ferncliff plan to take over WestHelp.
“R-F-P! R-F-P! R-F-P!” Okay, there were no protest chants for a Request For Proposals but it was the constant pushing by the G10, and others that forced The Paul’s hand and he asked for RFP’s for affordable housing prior to the state weighing in and saying nay to Ferncliff moving to the WestHelp property. Five companies that were affordable housing oriented companies submitted RFPs. The Paul claimed the Town Board would do it’s due diligence and investigate the offers. Apparently, one of the submissions was from a former school mate of The Paul. Can you say, “favored status”? Regardless, after a conversation with a resident, they withdrew their application. Another of the applications was from Ferncliff. They were in fact the highest bidder at $500k in rent per year. This wasn’t even half of what the Town had received from the County contract that had now run dry at $1.2 million per year. So, then there were three.
The G10 persisted for two long years and dictated the property be used as intended. They also met with County Legislators to try to get them to investigate The Paul and the Town’s failure to adhere to the contractual requirements for the WestHelp property. With a split vote in that legislature, things became a bit dicey for the democrats in charge. Could they go after one of their own (The Paul) and risk alienating themselves within the party? Some did, but enough didn’t. Smith, a Republican, had a veritable meltdown one evening at a County Board meeting over this issue. The Paul spoke at the County Board meeting, punishing them directly and then had Ferncliff supporters speak. The trick was to have the parents speak of the duress and uncertainty they live with if Ferncliff doesn’t get this property; which are all legitimate concerns. Fortunately, the state intervened and said said, “No.” They were against tearing down existing affordable housing in Westchester, nor would they supply the demolition funds and subsequent building funds Ferncliff would require if they received the property. All of their money has probably been allotted towards rebuilding the Tappan Zee Bridge.
There was one bid left in the RFP process that had all the right components, from a Richard Harris, not the famous actor, of the company called Group MRH, LLC. He submitted his “plan” along with a “resumé” and corroborating documentation stating he was working with well-known and respected affordable housing company, The Richman Group. The problems with the submissions from MRH are many and ABG believes were never intended to see the light of day. ABG believes that the RFP submission from MRH was designed to bolster the RFP submission of the Ferncliff School to the top of the pile with a $500K rental payment, besting the $100K up to $350K from the other applicants. By the way, we don’t believe the Ferncliff School was part of this ploy. The Ferncliff figure of $500K was an assumptive amount they hoped the state would pay for rent if Ferncliff’s proposal were to be accepted.
The resumé submitted by Harris was typed on plain paper as opposed to a letterhead of the company he represents and simply adorned with the word “Resume” at the top. It was more of a letter format than an actual resumé format typically seen in business. The text is eerily similar to that found from their “partners” literature. More importantly, after The Paul announced the partnership of Richman and Group MRH receiving the Town’s nod, the Town attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis received a Cease and Desist order from The Richman Group Affordable Housing Corporation Vice President stating there was no partnership. Harris claimed to have a 10-year track record in affordable housing and yet his company has only been in existence for two years! ABG believes Harris may have been encouraged to submit a proposal only to bolster the Ferncliff offering so The Paul could get the tenant he wanted. But when the accepted proposal could not stand up to scrutiny, The Paul forged on, stating the lack of partnership between these two (Group MRH/Richman) didn’t matter to the Town and the deal stands. Obviously, not on two legs.
While this was going on, Ferncliff was reworking their bid. We’re not sure why as their ability to secure funds from the state to proceed anywhere seems unlikely. Could their actions have been suggested by The Paul in hopes that once this deal with Group MRH fell apart they would swoop in and save the day? Perhaps. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
Because of all the incongruous and conflicting information, the G10 has once again asked that the deal with Group MRH be terminated. Once it is learned that any applicant has not been totally truthful or has apparently lied on their application, it should be dismissed and the next available bid be utilized. The Town Board is holding a work session meeting this morning, stated-time to begin to be guessed by all, to discuss this matter. We’re sure The Paul will remain obstinate and insist on discussing this in Executive Session. But, before they adjourn, they will award the sale of Frank’s Nursery to the lowest bidder, GameOn 365. Let’s hope no other countries send representatives to Greenburgh as the Russians did about two years ago to see how our government works. This is not how it should be and must change. We can only hope.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Due Diligence?
So much for The Paul and his Town Board doing their “due diligence”! You’ll recall in Town Board meeting after meeting The Paul continually boasting, to the point of bragging, that the Town Board was doing their due diligence in choosing a company to take over and operate the WestHelp property. For two years now, Town residents, the NAACP and others were all insisting to return it to its proper intent as affordable housing. You may recall the town is contractually required to provide low/moderate income housing at the WestHelp property.
But in a move to purchase votes and endear himself with Valhalla residents and certain county republicans, The Paul ordered the apartments to remain vacant for nearly two years. He also insisted they remain left open to facilitate their ruination, ultimately requiring demolition. This would ensure no low/moderate income residents return to the bucolic Valhalla Hamlet and allow The Paul to gift the property to the unsuspecting Ferncliff School to build a new residential school for the developmentally disabled on the property. The state rejected that proposal last month, insistent the property be used for affordable housing as intended. Another of The Paul’s latest schemes that would backfire!
Month after month, meeting after meeting many residents, and specifically the G10, would ask what the criteria was for selecting a vendor for the property. The new catch phrase from The Paul and his Board was, “Yada, yada, yada. We are doing our due diligence.” You can easily substitute a host of words/expressions for the “yada, yada, yada’s”. These substitutes could be: “blah, blah, blah”; “go away, go away, go away”; “we’re in over our heads, we’re in over our heads, we’re in over our heads”; “help us, help us, help us”. The list is endless. And yet The Paul persisted they stick to their due diligence story – and they did. Due diligence actually requires doing something. It appears they did little, if anything.
It’s been about two years or so since The Paul decided to pull the plug on the Town’s most lucrative “do-nothing” contract with the County of Westchester. The Town earned $1.2M per year in rental payments from the County for the WestHelp property. Because of The Paul’s latest scheme, the taxpayers lost this cool $1.2M per year that will a) never be recouped; and b) never be replaced with anything even close. In the meantime, after doing their due diligence, The Paul instructed his Board to choose the bid from a new partnership made up of the Richman Organization and Group MRH. They did. This partnership proposal promised to pay Greenburgh $1.5M up front and almost $500,000 annually. The payments will continue through the year 2032. They will also spend approximately $2M in renovations. The Town won’t even be making half of what it was before this debacle began and the Ferncliff School is no closer to finding a new home.
Now it’s been uncovered through other people’s due diligence that there is no partnership between the Richmond Group and Group MRH! So what due diligence was The Paul and his go-along Board engaged in? Can we expect similar due diligence from them regarding other projects in the Town, such as the Frank’s Nursery property? Or how about the spot-zoning changes recently made to accommodate the Brightview Assisted Living facility just off of Benedict Avenue at Rt 119? How much due diligence was performed here?
The Brightview spot-zoning change, another “done-deal”, happened not only for the Brightview developers, but was passed by the Board under the guise of a Town-wide change to allow Assisted Living facilities throughout the Town. Justification for this spot-zoning for one developer was evenly spread out through the entire Town’s Unincorporated districts, allowing four story buildings on postage stamp sized properties in residential neighborhoods. Due diligence? Hardly. The attorneys for Brightview wrote the spot-zoning change to benefit themselves and The Paul and his Board voted to approve it, and fast! After all, Brightview is on a schedule and might withdraw their plan if they’re delayed. They’ve repeatedly said so.
Now that the WestHelp deal is done, The Paul openly stated that the two organizations are not a partnership. And when asked if this would alter the WestHelp property deal or not, The Paul, who begrudgingly only reverses course when he is mandated to do so by court rulings, said, “Not at all. It’s not really a big deal. Richman was never going to be the financial backer. There were zero misrepresentations on the part of (MRH).” Perhaps not – technically. But after all the espoused due diligence, ABG wonders what their due diligence actually was? And now that you do know something is amiss, most normal leaders, at least in business, would take pause, review, perhaps reopen the evaluations or reopen the RFP process. In a story ABG posted called “Under The Circus’ Big Tent” on April 26th, we quoted The Paul saying, “This is not a game. This is not entertainment. This is not a circus. This is a business. We have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of Greenburgh to get the best possible deal for the Town.” This is a business? Really? Fiduciary responsibility? C’mon! Of course the representatives for MRH had no comment. They got what they wanted. Could this deal have been promised to them? You decide.
If this sounds a bit familiar to ABG readers, its because we’ve been living through this same scenario with another Unincorporated property and phantom business. The former Frank’s Nursery at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road was another “done-deal” brokered behind closed doors by The Paul and his Board with the “paper” company GameOn 365 before the Town acquired the property through foreclosure. Apparently, GameOn 365 did not have the money to purchase the property, so The Paul offered to lease it to them. A lease is simply illegal by county and state law. It wasn’t until a lawsuit was filed against The Paul and the Town that he withdrew his lease offer and offered to sell GameOn 365 the property – until House of Sports doubled the offer! That’s when The Paul and Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan began a new mantra that they were only looking at “serious investors”. GameOn 365 had, and continues to have, no money. House of Sports is fully operational and has the financial resources to enter into the sale. Where’s The Paul’s fiduciary responsibility now? Business indeed!
The Town officials obviously did not do any due diligence and again made a deal with a questionable start-up company. Even more incredible is the arrogance of The Paul and his insistence to continue with this deal. ABG had hoped the Town’s due diligence would surprise us with a transaction that might get renovations underway immediately, help those in need of housing and follow the law. Once again, the Town leaders have failed miserably – this time with due diligence. Just as the investment company ads claim, that “Past performance is no guarantee of future results”, ABG is not confident The Paul and his complicit Board will do the right thing with the Frank’s Nursery property and provide us with different results. We can only hope.
But in a move to purchase votes and endear himself with Valhalla residents and certain county republicans, The Paul ordered the apartments to remain vacant for nearly two years. He also insisted they remain left open to facilitate their ruination, ultimately requiring demolition. This would ensure no low/moderate income residents return to the bucolic Valhalla Hamlet and allow The Paul to gift the property to the unsuspecting Ferncliff School to build a new residential school for the developmentally disabled on the property. The state rejected that proposal last month, insistent the property be used for affordable housing as intended. Another of The Paul’s latest schemes that would backfire!
Month after month, meeting after meeting many residents, and specifically the G10, would ask what the criteria was for selecting a vendor for the property. The new catch phrase from The Paul and his Board was, “Yada, yada, yada. We are doing our due diligence.” You can easily substitute a host of words/expressions for the “yada, yada, yada’s”. These substitutes could be: “blah, blah, blah”; “go away, go away, go away”; “we’re in over our heads, we’re in over our heads, we’re in over our heads”; “help us, help us, help us”. The list is endless. And yet The Paul persisted they stick to their due diligence story – and they did. Due diligence actually requires doing something. It appears they did little, if anything.
It’s been about two years or so since The Paul decided to pull the plug on the Town’s most lucrative “do-nothing” contract with the County of Westchester. The Town earned $1.2M per year in rental payments from the County for the WestHelp property. Because of The Paul’s latest scheme, the taxpayers lost this cool $1.2M per year that will a) never be recouped; and b) never be replaced with anything even close. In the meantime, after doing their due diligence, The Paul instructed his Board to choose the bid from a new partnership made up of the Richman Organization and Group MRH. They did. This partnership proposal promised to pay Greenburgh $1.5M up front and almost $500,000 annually. The payments will continue through the year 2032. They will also spend approximately $2M in renovations. The Town won’t even be making half of what it was before this debacle began and the Ferncliff School is no closer to finding a new home.
Now it’s been uncovered through other people’s due diligence that there is no partnership between the Richmond Group and Group MRH! So what due diligence was The Paul and his go-along Board engaged in? Can we expect similar due diligence from them regarding other projects in the Town, such as the Frank’s Nursery property? Or how about the spot-zoning changes recently made to accommodate the Brightview Assisted Living facility just off of Benedict Avenue at Rt 119? How much due diligence was performed here?
The Brightview spot-zoning change, another “done-deal”, happened not only for the Brightview developers, but was passed by the Board under the guise of a Town-wide change to allow Assisted Living facilities throughout the Town. Justification for this spot-zoning for one developer was evenly spread out through the entire Town’s Unincorporated districts, allowing four story buildings on postage stamp sized properties in residential neighborhoods. Due diligence? Hardly. The attorneys for Brightview wrote the spot-zoning change to benefit themselves and The Paul and his Board voted to approve it, and fast! After all, Brightview is on a schedule and might withdraw their plan if they’re delayed. They’ve repeatedly said so.
Now that the WestHelp deal is done, The Paul openly stated that the two organizations are not a partnership. And when asked if this would alter the WestHelp property deal or not, The Paul, who begrudgingly only reverses course when he is mandated to do so by court rulings, said, “Not at all. It’s not really a big deal. Richman was never going to be the financial backer. There were zero misrepresentations on the part of (MRH).” Perhaps not – technically. But after all the espoused due diligence, ABG wonders what their due diligence actually was? And now that you do know something is amiss, most normal leaders, at least in business, would take pause, review, perhaps reopen the evaluations or reopen the RFP process. In a story ABG posted called “Under The Circus’ Big Tent” on April 26th, we quoted The Paul saying, “This is not a game. This is not entertainment. This is not a circus. This is a business. We have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of Greenburgh to get the best possible deal for the Town.” This is a business? Really? Fiduciary responsibility? C’mon! Of course the representatives for MRH had no comment. They got what they wanted. Could this deal have been promised to them? You decide.
If this sounds a bit familiar to ABG readers, its because we’ve been living through this same scenario with another Unincorporated property and phantom business. The former Frank’s Nursery at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road was another “done-deal” brokered behind closed doors by The Paul and his Board with the “paper” company GameOn 365 before the Town acquired the property through foreclosure. Apparently, GameOn 365 did not have the money to purchase the property, so The Paul offered to lease it to them. A lease is simply illegal by county and state law. It wasn’t until a lawsuit was filed against The Paul and the Town that he withdrew his lease offer and offered to sell GameOn 365 the property – until House of Sports doubled the offer! That’s when The Paul and Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan began a new mantra that they were only looking at “serious investors”. GameOn 365 had, and continues to have, no money. House of Sports is fully operational and has the financial resources to enter into the sale. Where’s The Paul’s fiduciary responsibility now? Business indeed!
The Town officials obviously did not do any due diligence and again made a deal with a questionable start-up company. Even more incredible is the arrogance of The Paul and his insistence to continue with this deal. ABG had hoped the Town’s due diligence would surprise us with a transaction that might get renovations underway immediately, help those in need of housing and follow the law. Once again, the Town leaders have failed miserably – this time with due diligence. Just as the investment company ads claim, that “Past performance is no guarantee of future results”, ABG is not confident The Paul and his complicit Board will do the right thing with the Frank’s Nursery property and provide us with different results. We can only hope.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Two Years Too Late: WestHelp Decision Finally Made
There were three RFP’s presented to the Town Board for the WestHelp property. As previously posted, The Paul and his former schoolmate’s deal parted company supposedly after a resident had a conversation with one of this bidders partner. Either The Paul’s deal was incredibly flimsy or the conversation was incredibly powerful. ABG honestly believes it was a combination of both. In a failed and illegal attempt to vacate the property and install the Ferncliff School into the facility, The Paul literally cost the Town millions of dollars in lost revenue that will never be made back and caused viable apartments to unnecessarily fall into disrepair.
At the Town Board Work Session, a record forty-five minutes or so transpired before the Board adjourned to Executive Session. During the public portion of the meeting, they accepted the bid from a new partnership made up of the Richman Organization and Group MRH. Their partnership proposal promises to pay Greenburgh $1.5M up front and almost $500,000 annually. These payments will continue through the year 2032. They must also spend approximately $2M in renovations. This unnecessary expense is because The Paul/Greenburgh left the apartments exposed to the elements, causing them to fall into into unnecessary disrepair since October of 2011, when the Town took over the property!
While the Town has lost $1.2M per year and will never recoup those losses, ABG is happy to see the property finally be used for what it was intended - housing. We’re also glad that the housing will be focused on providing homes for people from age 55yrs and older. It’s a shame that the hijinks from The Paul and his complicit Town Board were allowed to get this far. Let’s hope a decision for the former Frank’s Nursery is soon to come as it’s another property that has fallen into The Paul’s mischievous hands. We can only hope.
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