Town Knew They Would Lose $1 Million

The Town of Greenburgh, Ardsley and Hastings entered a decision with Forest City Ratner a number of years ago to fund repairs to various roadways. Forest City Ratner was the Ridge Hill developer, who agreed to pay an award of $5 million dollars to the three communities. One catch was that the money had to be put in an escrow account, with an expiration date of March 18, 2016.  That deadline passed three weeks ago and the money in that account reverted to the developer. Some of the work had been done and the funds spent with money left in the escrow account.

Paul sent an e-mail out in March of 2009 discussing this agreement. The entire document can be accessed through the link below.  We've inserted his two paragraph statement here:

Possible intersection improvements RIDGEHILL $5 million settlement
Release Date: March 30, 2009

When it became clear to Greenburgh, Ardsley & Hastings officials that we could not legally stop the Ridge Hill development from being approved by Yonkers we entered into an agreement with the city and Ridge Hill developers. Ridge Hill would contribute $5 million towards road improvements. A committee made up of representatives of Greenburgh, Ardsley & Hastings has been meeting. This committee has been reviewing various traffic safety options. This is a summary of the committees’ most recent meeting, as reported by Thomas Madden, Commissioner of Planning.

PAUL FEINER

At the March 19, 2009, Ridgehill Intersection Improvement Committee, discussed and classified the twelve project study areas into three categories, in order better allocate resources when studying the intersections and road segments. These categories are 1) Intersections that would benefit from further study and have the most impact; 2) Intersections or improvements that should be sent to the State or County as a report and analysis for future road work considerations; and 3) No improvements needed until 2028. 

Read the entire document at:

http://www.greenburghny.com/Cit-e-Access/news/?TID=10&NID=14272

What was left of the funds were to be used to improve the conditions to and from Ridge Hill, Jackson Avenue at Saw Mill River Road (9A) and a widening of 9A in downtown Ardsley. To be applied as intended, the $1million balance was to be used to straighten a section of Jackson Avenue near Sprain Ridge Road. Even though that money is now gone due to a contractual clause, leaders with the Town claim the reconstruction of that section of road will still take place – even without the $1million in funds!

A memo dated March 17 from Greenburgh Planning Commissioner Garrett Duquesne was sent to Mr Feiner several weeks ago warning that County Planning staff were continually objecting to all plans put forth by the Town for this small strip of property, siting the removal of trees, grading and other disturbances that would be made to the property. The changes were adding costs to this project and delaying a resolution of it. It was Duquesne who has said the project will continue forward. However, the Town cannot proceed without the County’s approval. In fact, the Town Board had already passed a resolution (below) committing funds to complete the project in January 2016!

According to County Legislator MaryJane Shimsky, the fatalities in this area mandate that this work gets done. She also stated that the Deputy County Executive is committed to finishing this project as well. Sadly, the fact that the Town Board passed a resolution to fund this without mentioning forfeiture of $1million is almost like not informing the public at all. It perpetuates the phony “open and transparent” government pablum being spouted from Town Hall. This is a serious amount of money that the Town failed to act promptly on and is most likely the reason it is now gone. Mr Feiner was against developing this area with a proposed Target store in addition to the Stew Leonards, Home Depot and Costco. Could this have been his solution to slow that down?

We’ll never really know the truth from Town Hall as to why the funds had not been used before the deadline was reached. Clearly, the Town Board all knew what would be happening with the $1million funds. Also clear is that they didn’t care. This cavalier approach to taxpayer funds has to stop. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Et Tu?

As the saying goes, everything that goes around, comes around. It’s finally come around to The Paul. After abusing the trust placed with him by the electorate, he continually, routinely and cavalierly tossed their concerns aside and has done what he wanted. He spot-zoned numerous properties throughout the Unincorporated Town without regard to input and concerns voiced by the neighborhoods. He granted whatever any developer asked for and continues to do this today. As part of the 1%-ers, he was able to nestle his family quite comfortably in the gated community of Boulder Ridge at the edge of the Hastings-on-Hudson border near Costco, Home Depot and Stew Leonard’s.

There are discussions underway for a proposed commercial and residential development in Yonkers on the back side or northern cap of the Stew Leonard’s, Home Depot and Costco property. This property abuts the gated wonderland that The Paul lives in and would ultimately stunt the view of the Boulder Ridge homes. How? The proposal is to build a multiple use retail building encompassing 255,000 square feet of space by the retail giant Target and 400 residential apartments. This is exactly the right place for this type of combined project for Yonkers. Unless you are The Paul. It’s a bit complicated and yet so very simple. The Paul and his neighbors cannot complain that this will hurt their cherished view, or that these apartments may become low-income or even Section 8 housing (well practiced in Yonkers), and supposedly lower the value of their million dollar homes. So, they are saying that the increase in traffic will be a big issue for the area.

Really? Traffic as a problem? Nah! Every project that has been proposed in Greenburgh and come in front of the Town Board where the issue of increased traffic was a concern has been ignored by The Paul and his “go-along” Board. Add to the woes of increased local traffic due to the never-ending and over-budgeted I-287, 15-year debacle and you have significant traffic issues. This 15-year project has caused an upheaval in traffic on local roads as well as created massive traffic jams on the highway. But every traffic study supplied for every project, regardless of the scope or results were ignored by The Paul and his Stepford Board. Several projects where these results were ignored were the super Stop and Shop on Rt 119, the Greenburgh Health Center on Knollwood Road, WestHab in Fulton Park, Brightview Assisted Living Center at Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue and Dromore Road. All neighborhood pleas were ignored.

Interestingly, when the traffic study for Fulton Park was released and discussed, the report stated that the traffic in the area was already at an “F” rating. This should not be misconstrued as an “F” that a student would receive on a test. It is part of an alphabetical rating system that has a different meaning, and yet in this case had the same result! We all know that any report and its figures can be presented to deliver the results the presenter desires. Westhab’s traffic “expert” stated that the forty or fifty car increase in traffic at rush hour and during the course of the day in an already overburdened roadway system would be “negligible”. The Planning Board ignore these findings but the Zoning Board voted against the Westhab project and actually validated the neighborhood’s complaint and voted to recommend against a zoning change and halt the project. ABG believes The Paul told his Board, in a closed-door Executive session, to ignore this recommendation and vote for the massive zoning change. Ignore the traffic report details, the nay vote from Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, the neighborhood’s collective voices, and push his pet project through – which they did!

When the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association complained to The Paul and the Town Board against the sports bubble that GameOn 365 wanted to build at the old Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, they soon found that The Paul not only supported the 83 foot, 8-story tall sports bubble, The Paul brokered the deal! Since when does a public official get involved with pushing a private sector deal through the governmental maze for developers? Since they came to Greenburgh. ABG cannot prove collusion but indeed wonders why The Paul and his minions would do this?

The shoe now appears to be on the other foot. The Paul’s position as Supervisor, already in double-overtime and in rapid decline, cannot stop the City of Yonkers from moving forward with developing their industrial area by the Yonkers toll booth/Stew Leonard’s/Home Depot/Costco’s. Like Fulton Park, the industrial area is right next to a residential area and Greenburgh’s forefathers intent was to allow a buffer from light commercial to residential and preserve the integrity of the residential neighborhood. But not The Paul. Rather than leave a buffer for the transition into Fulton Park, a much less affluent neighborhood than Boulder Ridge, The Paul decided to build and build big.

Yonkers and their developers have decided to do what is good for them, within their city and unfortunately, ignore the surrounding neighborhood. We recognize that Yonkers is in dire straights. The Paul has created the same environment in Greenburgh as we’ve experienced a decline in our quality of life throughout the Town. Perhaps the Boulder Ridge residents will not only view these stores and apartment buildings from their back windows, but will recognize this same decline other residents throughout Greenburgh have endured for years at the hands of The Paul. Et Tu? We can only hope.