Problem Creator Seeks Problem Solver

In a recent front page article in the only daily newspaper left in the region, Mr Feiner was front page, below the fold, patronizing the youngster writing the article entitled, Crisis For Every Downtown Area. His photo is in front of a vacant store front in the Hartsdale Four-Corners (4-C). While disingenuous at best, Mr Feiner feigns lamenting  about this “hub” for small business. In his almost thirty years as Supervisor, he never gave this hub a second thought. Then, with the advent of the Hartsdale Neighbors Association, and a groundswell of support for the Edgemont Incorporation, and even talk of a Hartsdale Incorporation, he knew he had to do something.

Mr Feiner’s playbook for action includes a litany of faux-action points: write a letter to another politician telling them they must act on this on behalf of their constituents, pit neighbors against each other, ignore and say nothing, hoping the issue either resolves itself, goes away, the complainant moves or dies, and/or he appoints a citizen committee or student intern group to address it. The latter usually being his most effective after completing the letter writing grandstanding. After all, who wants to pick on high school kids? 

He’s quoted as saying, “It’s very upsetting and aggravating.” We’re not sure if he meant the vacancies or the action taken by others to remedy the Four Corners’ issues, making him appear to be doing nothing. Specifically, there is a business in that area that did a study bemoaning what's wrong with the area and presented it to Mr Feiner and the Hartsdale Neighbors Association. So to again feign concern, Mr Feiner had his Board vote to spend $400,000 to purchase two uninhabitable houses on West Hartsdale Avenue behind the Dairy Del deli. The excuse proffered was to develop it into a parking lot which would be monitored and maintained by the Hartsdale Parking Authority.

Even with the wasted expenditure of $400,000 and the additional cost involved in the destruction of the two homes, construction of anything within the Four Corners immediate proximity must first be approved by the New York State Department of Transportation. The reason is that Central Park Avenue and Hartsdale Avenue, east and west, are DOT governed roadways. Regardless of the ownership, Mr Feiner is bereft of any plausible or workable ideas for the area as he has been these past 30 years during his unprecedented and mostly inept tenure. You can start to see why term limits are so necessary.

With a recently completed and presented study of the area, a small company who would benefit from several of their suggestions is Inspired Places. While we can debate the merits of it, the study has provided Mr Feiner with talking points that will eventually prove useless. In the article, Greenburgh officials claim to have already been worried about For Lease and For Rent signs before the Covid 19 pandemic. Really? We find it hard to believe as they only seemed to became interested when rumors of a Hartsdale incorporation began to circulate.

What’s also interesting is that Town officials parrot the same canned responses that the internet killed retail. Yet when we talk to business owners, specifically ones in retail, the successful ones are offering a higher level of customer support and interaction with the same goods and services that they've always offered and even increased. Luke Tancredi, the owner of Crank Cycles on North Central Avenue, discussed how he opened his store on March 1st and that bikes “Were flying out the door.” We’re extremely happy for him and our community to have a bike shop that’s thriving. When we went in to purchase a bike with a neighbor, we learned that all of the bikes in his store were only there for repairs. He had run out of new bicycles to sell. Nor did he have any used bikes for sale. We wish him continued success.

When Public Sector officials try to rationalize retail and the private sector and tell the public what’s wrong in the private sector, the words fall on deaf ears. Ultimately, retail space suffers for several reasons that our elected politicians refuse to acknowledge. Instead, in typical Feiner-fashion, he’s proposing to waste more money by increasing personnel and hire an Economic Development Coordinator (EDC), enlisting residents and Generation Z-ers to find ways to “brand” their shops and restaurants. The glaring omission in this “logic” is that this does nothing to fill the vacancies that exist throughout the Town, not only the Four Corners. 

Yes, someone can assist a business owner in applying for funds but those organizations giving those funds will also work with the applicant for their success. Yet we believe the current crop of business owners who are “making it work” are already ahead of that curve. And after they apply, what then for this EDC, their salary and benefits? We might favor this position if the EDC’s remuneration for instance, were tied to successfully filling vacant spaces for 2 years. 2 years? Yes, two, as most businesses fail in the first year.

The are several real issues that are typically ignored by the Public Sector know-it-alls as to what ails businesses and specifically retail. One is antiquated zoning, permits fees (a bonanza Greenburgh’s Building Dept. currently enjoys), registration fees, insurance bonds, etc., and that's before anyone even moves in. Sky-high rents and regulations abound. But why are they sky-high? Taxes. Last year saw Mr Feiner being embarrassed into a one year moratorium on tax increases after Supervisor candidate and challenger Lucas Cioffi promised a two-year moratorium on raising taxes! This year, however taxes have increased. Those increases are passed on to the renter (store owner) through their rent and are ultimately paid for by their customers. Lowing taxes could assist in breaking this cycle.

Another issue negatively and severely impacting this Hartsdale 4-C area is flooding. There is a Flood Committee for the County, chaired by County Legislator Alfreda Williams and the Town’s own Victor Carosi. Amazingly, they’ve never met after the committee was initially formed some four years ago and done nothing for their constituents! This entire time while we did not have any crippling water events would have been the perfect time to act. Politicians such as Mr Feiner love to come out during the storms and promise anything and everything to solve all of these issues “moving forward,” simply leave after the cameras are turned off. The issue in Hartsdale permeates the entire length of the Bronx River corridor and all of the residents along its way repeatedly get flooded. FEMA, a four letter word, only exacerbates the issue by offering extremely expensive and in some cases unaffordable flood insurance for those residents in the corridor with miserly claims payout and ridiculous deductibles. 

These areas never used to flood like they do now and many of these people had never got flooded even during severe storms. It’s only after all of the communities along the corridor began building and creating more and more impervious spaces that people began to get flooded. Why? Because the politicians approved all of the developments (some say over development) and channeled storm water into the Bronx River. The explosive rate of building coupled with a lack of storm water management and infrastructure improvement has proven a recipe for disaster. But what can be done?

First, our representatives must actually act and not spew the useless rhetoric of the past. Second, the different communities must commit resources in a partnership to dredge, clean out and maybe even widen the river to improve water flow. Third, after that they need to provide routine maintenance to keep it clear of debris and flowing freely. Fourth, the County, who has most of the immediate ownership of the property, must assume its responsibility and work to get the river cleaned out as a partner with the river-bound communities. They can no longer sit back, collect their ridiculously high salaries while working families are struggling with sky-high taxes, and do nothing. The time to act is now, before the hurricanes, floods and other assorted storms depend upon us. 

Perhaps Mr Feiner, instead of writing a letter to the County Executive, could actually spearhead an environmental impact crusade to save the Bronx River corridor and help to alleviate those people’s pain?! And perhaps Ms Williams can intercede and get County execution to clear the hurdles of County government’s inaction?! People who get flooded are less concerned with politicians pushing bike lanes in densely trafficked areas and want real help.

After flooding is addressed, there needs to be an honest discussion and action by the Town on zoning that will control how land is use and/or be preserved, along with the integrity of our communities. Village and Town Boards must not capitulate to developers because they seek tax monies. Many of these developers are utilizing grants and low interest loans with little of their own monies invested. This undercuts the community they seek to build in strictly for their bottom line, compromising our neighborhoods. Yes, they should be allowed to build within the constricts of our zoning laws, but not at our neighbood’s expense. Zoning laws are in place for numerous reasons to help communities thrive, not just developers. This abuse has to stop. Finally, Mr Feiner needs to sit down with the DOT and develop a workable plan for improving numerous failures of our combined roadways. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Greenburgh Central School District Vote Passes and Disappoints

In reviewing the numbers after an election of any kind held in Greenburgh, the apathy and blasé attitude of voters has reflected poorly on the vast majority. It seems that particular causes may unite a certain part of the citizenry, and there are groups in our community doing the same things at the local level.

The School Board elections and the School District’s budget vote took place after being delayed by NYS and rescheduled from May to June with a mail-in vote as opposed to an in-person vote at the polls. Good or bad, the numbers were somewhat the same as many more people had the opportunity to vote but again, did not bother to vote. It seems the only time we see a spike in voting is when there is a project(s) in a certain neighborhood that literally affects them in their backyard. Hence the term we’ve coined called OIMBY: Only In My Back Yard.

There are roughly 90,000 residents in all of the Town of Greenburgh. There are six Villages including an seventh possible new one with the Edgemont incorporation looming near. The Villages in the Town are Elmsford, Ardsley, Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Tarrytown. Interestingly, they have their own elections yet are also allowed to vote in Town elections, which many feel is just seems wrong. But because of this, Mr Feiner and his Board play the Villages like a fine instrument to ensure no matter how much they touch that turns to crap for Unincorporated Greenburgh, Mr Feiner, et al, will get their votes to remain in office and not be held accountable or culpable for their misgivings, lies and illegal actions.

So, while we know there are 90,000 residents, we also know that not all can vote. Greenburgh School enrollment is about 1800 kids. So roughly speaking, without fact-checking the dual-parent vs single-parent households status, there could be up to 3600+ voters participating in a school vote. According to information provided by School District Clerk Ivy Krauss, the actual count of ballots that were distributed to registered voters was 16,563. The amount that was returned of votes cast was 3,594. So 78.3% of the voting population did not participate. Those voting for the budget approved it, 1,968 to 978, roughly a two-to-one victory. Or was it?

Out of those numbers there were 619 votes that were disqualified because the voters didn't read the instructions, understand the instructions or thought their votes would be counted regardless of what they did or didn’t do correctly. So 3.74% of the voters who thought they voted weren’t counted. A breakdown is as follows:
401: oath envelope not signed; 190: oath envelope not provided; 15: oath envelope contained extrinsic papers (ie more than one ballot); 9: ballot torn and/or defaced; 1: signature did not match that of the voter; 2: ballot was blank; 1: oath envelope did not contain any ballot. Apparently, everyone is okay with these amounts being dismissed. Why? Probably because the budget passed.

What we are struggling with is that out of 16,563 people who could vote, only 3,594 did vote - a slight increase from the usual amount. We’d have thought that those who don’t usually come out to vote would have thought this mail-in style voting would prove more convenient and garnered more votes – but that doesn’t appeared to be the case. In fact, statistics show that senior citizens typically vote against school budgets for a host of reasons. And, when the School District and the Administration pushed the ill-fated consolidation bond proposal, a two to one defeat was confirmed to be in part due to the senior citizens vote. And, knowing Mr Feiner has injected himself as the caped crusader of poor mail delivery, how much of the votes cast never made it beyond the mailbox they dropped it in? We may never know.

There was also a proposition to move money from one part of the budget to a reserve fund for maintenance and repairs. That passed with 2519 votes for and 445 against. Previous Boards have failed to adequately fund the repair budgets for years causing much disrepair of our school buildings and an excuse to consolidate. Still, the taxpaying public saw past the incorrect information provided and shot the consolidation down. The several proponents of the consolidation were Superintendent Chase, who appears to be trying to develop herself as a brand; Trustees David Warner and Terry Williams. In fact, both of these gentlemen have been on the School Board for years and hold responsibility for the lack of repair funding which has led to the degradation of the buildings. Could this have been a covert plan all along?

Two School Board members were running for re-election, Tracy Mairs and Ashley Pineda*. Ivy Kraus, the School District Clerk, shared the totals for their re-elections: 2441 and 2391 respectively. We have no problem with either candidate seeking a second term of office and believe they can make a difference in that period of time although we prefer term limits. We’ve seen Ms Mairs openly participate in school district related conversations but hardly ever witness Mr Pineda getting involved in the discussions. Granted this was his first year in the position and may taking some time to get up to speed and comfortable. As such, we believe he needs to step up his game.

Voting during this primary coincided with the School District/Board elections were fraught with problems. The voter sites that were trimmed back seemingly experienced problems that caused hours-long delays in voting. Some have claimed this falls in Mr Feiner’s lap. While we never hesitate being critical of Mr Feiner, it does not. But he did say he would write a letter or two to the appropriate parties involved. Translation: send a letter and out of his hands and done. Move on to his next contrived issue.

This election was rushed by the School District per the mandates of Albany and the Governor. While we're sure everyone involved tried their best, it still seemed unorganized to some extent. If this is the precursor to the November elections, we’re not hopeful that we’ll be seeing results on election night. This has to change and get better. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

* A one-year incumbent filling the balance of a term of a Board member who resigned and needed to run for the position.

Town Board Violates Law, Approves ShopRite

On Wednesday, May 13th, the Greenburgh Town Board, via a Zoom meeting, unanimously and we believe illegally approved a site plan application by Lewis Masters Holdings LP to demolish the multiplex cinema at 320 Saw Mill River Road (Route 9A) in Elmsford across from Sam’s Club and build a ShopRite supermarket. 

There were 2 Public Hearings held on the ShopRite development. The March 11th Public Hearing, held at Town Hall, had public participation but the April 22nd Public Hearing via a Zoom meeting was presumed to be illegal because of limited participation by the public. Numerous letters of concern were sent to the Town Board which were not acknowledged or heard by the public. 

The site, which had other retail space and still has the KFC and Taco Bell restaurant, covers 10 acres and is in between 9A and the Westchester Hills Condominium. Old Country Road, which runs uphill from Route 9A(east) is a well-traveled road used by school buses from 4 different public school districts as well as Private and Parochial Schools, residents and pedestrians. 

The roadway was originally the only access and egress for the 215 Westchester Hills Condominium owners until Executive Boulevard was created and joined Old Country Road at the top of the hill. Pocantico Park scatter site housing which is run by the Greenburgh Housing Authority, lies to the north. That is the side of the property where the developer plans to build the entrance way which will circle up to the new building.

The ShopRite supermarket will be 75,711 square feet including an accessory interior restaurant space together with approximately 10,765 square feet of attached separate retail space after they tear down the existing National Amusements multiplex cinema and other buildings which contained a number of small businesses.

The application was first submitted to the Town Board on April 15, 2019. However, Mr Feiner instructed the developer to meet with the area residents to get their buy-in. They met at the Westchester Hills Condominium’s Recreation Center. The room was full. And, full of it. Mr Feiner snuck in after the meeting had begun with his Town Board members. Once recognized, he took a lot of hits from residents. While most were okay with a ShopRite coming in, they emphatically insisted that they did not want a curb cut on Old Country Road with the subsequent truck traffic and even car traffic as it’s already a congested road. 

Another major concern raised by the residents of Orchard Lane, which abuts Old Country Road, is the issue of blasting and rock chipping. Their homes were built on cement slabs which contain pipes for radiant heat and water. This issue must be continuously monitored as demolition and construction proceeds.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said, “This is positive news for the town especially during this difficult time in our history when so many residents are out of work due to COVID-19. There will be significant construction jobs and permanent job opportunities after the supermarket opens up.” There may be people out of work due to Covid-19 but Mr Feiner also favors keeping the economy shut down which would limit who and how many people may get construction jobs from this project. Our guess would be very few from the area.

The approval contains a number of conditions that the developer must meet. Some of these are:
• The use of LED and motion activated lighting;
• Putting in new sidewalks;
• Making modifications to Old Country Road such as mountable curbs and shifting lanes;
• Designing and installing public improvements such as an updated bus stop and traffic signal modifications;
• Planting additional evergreen screening and repairing fencing;
• Restricted hours for truck deliveries and operation of the trash compactor

All of the claims by the Town Board to not want to vote for this resulted in what was expected: a unanimous vote approving another one of Mr Feiner’s pet projects. The phony compassion from this Board has to stop. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Maplewood Walk-Through Provides No Answers For Neighbors - Only Developer

Yes, it was a beautiful day. Sadly, the people that were in attendance truly believed that they were being part of an honest appraisal of the property sought to be purchased by the developers. They went there honestly thinking that they were going to experience an open dialogue with the Planning Board and the developer for the Maplewood assisted living facility. What they learned however, was that this was probably a well coordinated effort between the developer and the planning board to benefit the developer by learning, before a hearing, what the issues were of the surrounding community. You see, these residents have not had to deal with Town Hall or a developer before, so they went there with open and honest questions, but did not receive the same in return.

What they did receive was an opening salvo letter from Walter Simon, the chair of the planning board, prior to the meeting, instructing them of what they could and could not do during the walk-through. Equally disappointing was that not all of the Planning Board members were in attendance with this event being scheduled specifically for them. It begs the question why were they not there?* And what would be the purpose of having a walk-through with the public if the walk-through was for the benefit of the Planning Board and not the public? Could it be that this was simply smoke and mirrors and designed specifically for the Planning Board to provide the developer a way of finding out what all the neighbors’ issues are and have prepared answers before they make their pitch to the Planning Board or the Town Board?

Putting traffic aside momentarily, and it's difficult to ignore traffic because it is such a rampant problem throughout our town, another issue that is significant throughout the town is flooding. We’re now seeing flooding even during normal rain events. Claims that we are starting to see 500 year storms on a regular basis are being proven out more and more throughout the Town and yet the flooding issue is routinely ignored by the Town. This has a significant impact on how every roadway, general and rush-hour travel and traffic flow are affected. When the Bronx River corridor experiences flooding, it backs up into many of our neighborhoods as well as effecting Central Avenue. In fact Mr. Feiner and his Town Board recently purchased and demolished two houses for a cost of $400,000 to try to increase the space near the four corners and create a right hand turning lane to alleviate a little bit of the increased traffic congestion going from West Hartsdale Avenue onto Central Park Avenue southbound.

So if we can put traffic and flooding aside, what other issues will impact this neighborhood with this project? The Maplewood property where the assisted living facility will be placed must be excavated and leveled so that the building, which we were told will be three stories, can be built. This includes blasting and multiple pieces of construction equipment and worker vehicles for that and grading of the site. Many of the homes in the area are extremely old, some having been built in the mid 1800’s. Those homeowners are concerned that blasting will not only disrupt their lives but damage their homes. Mr Simon referenced the Town’s blasting laws to allay any concerns. However, we know from experience that these laws and the insurance company’s resistance to pay from technicalities will leave these homeowners in the lurch should their homes incur damage just as has happened throughout the Town in the past.

This project reminds us of an individual who goes house shopping looking for a new home. As you start look at homes, you find something you like about one and dislike about another. As you go around and you see what you do like you slowly begin to make your decision as to what to purchase. If you believe there is something about a particular home that you disliked and can't change it, you have to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision about whether to proceed or not. Sometimes it means walking away. This project is dependent on getting approvals from the town and all of its boards, and once they get those, the sale transaction will be made. This project, as almost all of the assisted living facilities in the Town, is too big for the property and the surrounding area and should be denied!

They claim the staff-to-patient ratio is 1 to 8 and there would be 26 to 28 staff on duty for a day shift. They claim that some of the staff might live in the neighborhood. While that's doubtful, anything is possible. They state there would be 15 to 20 people on the night shift and 12 people on the overnight shift. The traffic argument from the developer is that these people will not all be driving cars, will be using public transportation and shuttles to get to and from work – not affecting traffic much at all. They’ll also say that the residents won’t drive but they won’t mention their families and friends coming to visit them. Again, exacerbating the impact on traffic. The flooding issue will be addressed with water basin collectors. They don’t say what happens to the rest of the water when these basins are full. But, we know. DOT hasn’t weighed in on anything with Central Avenue and probably won’t. So traffic, water, right hand turns and everything else affecting this project will go unchallenged.

We believe Mr Feiner has already met with the developer as he does with all developers. He would have given them a few lame conditions to meet with the public and indicated that this project would get his approval once the Town Board becomes the lead agency. We also believe this to be a done deal, especially if the residents don’t get more vociferous with their protests and highlighted by the fact that he wasn’t at the walk-through. By the way, a requirement to build a sidewalk in front of the property will be enforced and Mr. Feiner will take credit for having a sidewalk (to nowhere) built on West Hartsdale Avenue. 

It’s these kinds of contradictions and lack of support from the town for its existing residents and taxpayers that make projects like this so frustrating and ultimately unwelcome. Greenburgh is changing as we become the assisted living capital of NY, where current Greenburgh residents cannot afford to move into the facilities once constructed. These projects, forcibly shoehorned onto inappropriately small pieces of properties need to stop. It’ll make for A Better Greenburgh.
* Planning Board member Hugh Schwartz was recovering from surgery.

Arrogance of One Party Rule

The November elections have concluded; all voting challenges are concluded, absentee ballots have been counted and the early voting strategy terminated. When reviewing the outcomes and wondering if anything has changed, the answer is a resounding “No!” What has changed is the arrogance of the newly elected and re-elected candidates. They know that their schemes to distance themselves from the Trump effect can now be pushed even farther left, whether it’s good for us or not.

Locally, we’ve watched Mr Feiner maneuver his self-appointed Ethics Committee members, which in Greenburgh is easily considered a contradiction of terms, to abandon ship prior to the election, allowing Town Councilman Ken Jones to “skate” on the two ethics violations charges that have been brought against him by two Greenburgh residents before his preordained reelection. For the uninitiated, all “citizen committees” are crafted by Mr Feiner with their creation by him and his Town Board rubber-stamping hand-chosen members. The purpose of these committees is to ultimately do Mr Feiner's bidding or to rule in favor of a decision he will be making.

Mr Jones, however, has two ethics violations brought against him that have languished because the Ethics Committee chair has been ill and two of its members have resigned. Without a quorum, and basically without a committee, Mr Jones got the green light to run for reelection unencumbered by pesky facts. Keep in mind, this is Greenburgh, and the taxpaying residents really don't have anyone in government looking out for them like the Village elected officials do.

During the last local election campaigns, Mr Feiner’s challenger for Supervisor posed numerous suggestions and ideas that he would try if elected. None were to raise his salary. But the Democratic stronghold dismissed any new, good or innovative governance either from fear or ignorance by skulking away from change, granting Mr Feiner an unprecedented 29th and 30th year as Supervisor. Some of the voting public have never even known a different Greenburgh supervisor. That also goes for the Council members. We’re confident that this was not what the founders anticipated government to be. In fact, you know these politicians have been in office too long once they insist that they need a raise and vote themselves one.

The current 2019 salary for the Town Supervisor is $156,363 - up 2% from 2018. This year Mr Feiner and his Board will increase his salary for 2020 to $159,803 - up 2.2% from 2019. Town Council salaries are also being bumped up from 2019 to $34,714 - up 2% from 2018. The Board will also increase their salary in 2020 to $35,478 - up 2.2% from 2019. What about the 2% tax cap or doesn’t that apply to these one-percenters? All receive FULL Medical Benefits or can opt out for $10,000 if covered by other job or if covered by a spouse or domestic partner. So while our elected officials didn’t even let the election dust settle, they’re voting themselves raises. You re-elected them and sanctioned this so they won’t even need to use the excuses of how it’s necessary because it’s a cost of living raise or they are underpaid for the work they do or that this is really a full-time amount of work. Frankly, those tired excuses are just plain crap. If they don’t like the salaries, step aside. There are plenty of people willing to do the work for that money and provide an honest days work!

Speaking of raises, we are now being fed the same crap from the County Legislators who are decrying their paltry $49,200 for their part time job and are seeking an increase in their salaries to the tune of a 52% increase to $75,000! The last raise they received was in 2005. The proposed half a million dollars would be coming from the $2 billion dollar budget County Executive Latimer has proposed for 2020. The icing on this untasty crap cake will be the increases in stipends for “serving” on committees – whether they meet or not. Also slated are significant raises for department heads and non-union personnel. Claims have been made by Chairman Boykin to offset some of the nearly half a million dollars in expenses for the Legislators raises but hasn’t given any facts. This certainly does not appear that these Legislators have the best interest of the public at heart, only their wallets – which get stuffed by emptying ours.

We’re not saying that there should never be raises but believe that any raise enacted through legislation for any elected position should become effective after that voting candidate has left office. And, regardless of the song and dance excuses about cost of living and the like, the position pays what it pays. Don’t like the pay? Then don’t take the job. If you do take the job, there should also not be any appointments to committees or appointment as the head of a committee until a certain amount of time has been spent doing the job. We understand that these are done-deals or at least the opening salvo. If the public protests, then the amounts might be reduced. It will help to make A Better Greenburgh.

23-Year-Old Seriously Injured In Hit-Run Greenburgh Crash on Old Kensico Rd

A 23-year-old Greenburgh man was seriously injured during a hit-and-run incident on Old Kensico Road late last night by a vehicle that fled the scene, leaving the victim with serious injuries. 

The incident took place around 11:07 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 15, when Greenburgh Police came upon a pedestrian who had just been struck by a motor vehicle on Old Kensico Road where it intersects with Randolph Road, said Greenburgh Police Lt. Kobie Powell.The victim, a resident of Old Kensico Road, had been dropped off by a friend and was crossing Old Kensico Road behind the friend's vehicle when a dark-colored vehicle traveling southbound on Old Kensico Road struck the victim propelling him into an adjacent driveway, Powell said.The vehicle that struck him stopped momentarily and then fled the accident scene southbound on Old Kensico Road, leaving the victim with sustained head injuries. He was transported by Greenburgh EMS to the Westchester County Medical Center, where he was admitted.The Fulton Park Civic Association and the Council of Greenburgh Civic Association have been at numerous Town Board meetings pleading with the Supervisor and his Board to install sidewalks along Old Kensico Road before something bad happens. Too late. They need to find a solution for speeding and resume engaging in traffic enforcement. Traffic enforcement has been abandoned for over a year now. The neighborhood also has many young kids walking to and from school and to bus stops early and in the afternoon without an adult present along Old Kensico Road. In fact, one of the stops is at this actual accident location. This situation needs to change. It's the only way to get A Better Greenburgh.

Greenburgh detectives are asking anyone with information to contact 914-989-1721.

Candidates Forum To Be Held

Legal Issues Plague School Bond Consolidation Proposal

We’ve previously written about the entire debacle that the Greenburgh School Board has created under the guise of consolidation. Consolidation, as bandied about by public officials and others these days usually is done under the mask of savings. It could be saving money, saving resources, personnel or time. Rarely do most people question the benefits that could be had should a consolidation take place. As taxpayers, who wouldn't want to save money? An example is the Villages within the Town of Greenburgh created a purchasing consortium that the Town refused to participate in, saving on many common items, one being asphalt (blacktop). By consolidating their purchasing, they gave up nothing and gained a lot in the way of savings for each Village.

Now the Greenburgh School Board has decided to use the consolidation mantle to push a spending extravaganza plan for the Greenburgh School District – at a cost far beyond the reach of many in the Greenburgh Central School District‘s finances. The cavalier attitude presented by those pushing this, including School Superintendent Chase has the hallmarks of ignoring the plight of many of our residents! The project was kept secret by those in favor of it and only started gaining publicity once the referendum date had been publicized. Thankfully, many involved throughout our Town and astute residents became aware of this. We wrote about it and attended most of the “information sessions” that were said to provide answers.They did not.

Dr Chase equated the cost of this proposal to a specialty cup of coffee per day. Perhaps in her world she can do that, but she’s obviously out of touch with many working parents, residents, and taxpayers either with kids in the school system or not. Additionally, seniors on a fixed income are scared to death of this bond proposal and fear for their homes! One resident we'll call Rose, said she is 94 years old and is barely able to stay in her home where she has lived all of her married and widowed life. She stated to us that if this bond passes, the best that she can hope for is to die before it’s implemented. Does that sound like someone having a specialty cup of coffee each day?

Under state law, it is illegal for school officials to use public money to hire political consultants to pass bond measures. A board of education may use public resources to present objective, factual information to the voters concerning a vote or election (Education Law §1716; Phillips v. Maurer, et al., 67 NY2d 672; Appeal of Caswell, 48 Ed Dept Rep 472, Decision No. 15,920; Appeal of Wallace, 46 id. 347, Decision No. 15,529). However, while a board of education may disseminate information “reasonably necessary” to educate and inform voters, its use of district resources to distribute materials designed to “exhort the electorate to cast their ballots in support of a particular position advocated by the board” violates the constitutional prohibition against using public funds to promote a partisan position (Phillips v. Maurer, et al., 67 NY2d 672; Stern, et al. v. Kramarsky, et al., 84 Misc 2d 447; Appeal of Caswell, 48 Ed Dept Rep 472, Decision No. 15,920; Appeal of Wallace, 46 id. 347, Decision No. 15,529). Dr Chase is now making the rounds to various churches and other groups to sell her legacy plan.

Additionally, it is improper for a board of education, as a corporate body, to be involved in partisan activity in the conduct of a school district election (Appeal of Wallace, 46 Ed Dept Rep 347, Decision No. 15,529; Appeal of Hager and Scheuerman, 43 id. 363, Decision No. 15,019).  Even indirect support, such as a school board giving a PTA access to its established channels of communication to parents to espouse a partisan position that the board itself was prohibited from doing directly, has been deemed improper (Stern, et al. v. Kramarsky, et al., 84 Misc 2d 447; Appeal of Wallace, 46 Ed Dept Rep 347, Decision No. 15,529; Appeal of Hager and Scheuerman, 43 id. 363, Decision No. 15,019).

http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisions/volume57/d17296.

An issue or conflict we see here is that the Greenburgh School Board had gone directly to their student's parents with this proposal to garner support from them. Only after scheduling a referendum vote and not advertising their $166 million dollar proposal to the public was the plan exposed. But once it was learned of, the plan received quick resistance as too costly and would be blocked by Greenburgh’s already beleaguered taxpayers. The School Board quickly reacted by lowering the cost to $114.6 million dollars, jettisoning the work slated for Woodlands High School. They've once again kicked the maintenance can down the road. Those that don’t study history are destined to repeat it.

Repeating history is exactly what we continue to see happening. Utilizing the explanation that the repairs needed to the Greenburgh schools was a conscious decision that was purposely made by the Board, the audience was astounded. They were told in the (non-information) information sessions that it was the taxpayer’s fault that maintenance was not performed because the taxpayers had not approved previous bonds. Wow. 

Next, the audiences were admonished because they let the schools get this way and now we must look forward and not live in the past. By the way, the brochures that were handed out contained little information regarding real and detailed costs for all of this construction. But they did have nce watercolor renditions of what the buildings would look like. When resident taxpayers posed questions about future maintenance and those costs and plans, they were told these would be new buildings and not require much maintenance! So much so that maintenance is not even in the upcoming budgets for those buildings.Remarkably, the audience then received an ad hoc lecture on integrity from Dr Chase.

Another interesting facet is that the architectural firm the School Board has hired is the same firm featured in a Journal News article about the Mt Kisco Fire Department's building renovations screw-up that they estimated the project buildings to cost. A bond was floated and passed to renovate the firehouse. Now it’s been learned that their figures were incorrect and way off what was put out to bid. Don’t take our word for, read about it at: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/mount-kisco/2019/02/27/mount-kisco-firehouse-miscalculation/2997309002/ This is not the firm we want to use on a project that will lock us into for the next 30 years!

GCSD has hired the following firms to handle bond planning:

CS Arch (architectural firm):  They are represented by Darryl Mastracci and Tina Mesiti. Their website provides strategies for passing school bonds.

https://www.csarchpc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Proven-Strategies-for-Passing-School-Building-Referenda.pdf

Focus Media, out of Goshen, is a public relations firm. They helped Mt. Vernon pass their school bond.

https://www.focusmediausa.com/

Savin Construction Management P.C.was also used by Mt. Vernon. Their name has been mentioned at meetings, but it is not clear how their role differs from/complements that of CS Arch.

http://www.savinengineers.com/

* In case the bond passes, there is reason and precedent for establishing a Bond Oversight Committee. 

http://www.smcoe.org/assets/files/about-smcoe/superintendents-office/citizens-bond-oversight/BestPractices_5.09.pdf

We recommend voting NO in the referendum and let the school board work with the community instead of around it to come up with changes for our school district. Furnish facts and figures, provide real information and let the public - the only real stakeholders in all of this - have a seat at the table. It’s the only way to get A Better Greenburgh School District. 

Real Costs of School Bond Proposal & More

Many resident taxpayers have repeatedly asked questions of Greenburgh School Superintendent Dr Chase as well as the Greenburgh School District Board. Instead of getting information and forthright answers, we've been told not renovating the school buildings was an intentional decision they made. “How so?” we asked. We were told that the School Board made a conscious decision to not do maintenance on the buildings instead of laying off teachers. But during the presentations we were told that the aesthetics in the classrooms was paramount to the students learning. If true, why not maintain them?

We’ve spoken to teachers that feel otherwise, stating that while having a new room/building/environment is always nice, it’s the teachers that make the learning environment what it is. In fact, based on the results Dr Chase and the School Board touts and was published on the brochures they sent out to taxpayers, this appears to be true. We apparently have a lot of great teachers doing a great job educating our students! Dr Chase’s response? “Imagine how much better it could be with a new building?” Sorry, we can’t because they haven’t instilled a level of trust with us after this kind of poor mismanagement.

Take a look at this chart. Several neighborhood associations that have attended these meetings and left with unanswered questions created this document. They’ve put this together to try to help explain to the public the some of the issues with this referendum.

Integrity & Respect Missing In Last Public Information Forum

Integrity. Dr Chase made a very big deal out of touting integrity during the meeting held at the Greenburgh Library last week when residents questioned the integrity of the school board. In fact she went into a several-minute diatribe about it, using up valuable time that should have been given to taxpayers and residents to ask questions and get answers about the proposed school bond referendum that is being held on March 19th under the cloud of obfuscation, and what some have called outright deceit.

This evening’s presentation began as the others had with introductions and long-winded explanations of why the proponents of this were in favor of it. In fact, people who had not attended or spoken at other meetings were now doing so. We believe this was a concerted effort to exhaust the clock, so to speak and limit the public’s time to speak. Additionally, there was an obvious (and dare we say planned) time limit imposed by the Library’s requisite closing time of 8:30pm wrap-up/9:00pm locking of the doors. It seems when these events were held at the schools time was a lesser factor.

After this exhaustive waste of time, the presentation was pitched. There was a new video now being used with a different child “explaining” what was wrong with these school district buildings. If it were not such a blatant and cheap attempt to use this boy as their foil, it would be laughable. Quite the contrary, it was despicable to manipulate a child this way. At least this time the new video didn't have Walter Simon and Mona Fraitag (Planning Board Chair and Alternate member respectfully) espousing the plan’s virtues under the guise of concerned citizens. Their previous participation seems like an obvious conflict of interest. However with the Town’s “paper” Ethics Committee, appointed by Mr Feiner, who was convicted in Federal court of lying under oath, destroying evidence and discrimination of the Fortress Bible Church, we seriously doubt they will be challenging this any time soon.

Once the posturing ended, they finally allowed the public to speak. You should realize that with such an important tax levy about to be thrust upon Greenburgh Central School District taxpayers, the public was only allowed 2 minutes each to speak. In fact, as Dr Chase was belaboring the benefits of this project, she engaged in a back and forth conversation with an elderly woman in the crowd who was obviously in favor of this proposal. Several residents in the back of the room protested as they had their hands up looking to speak but were ignored by Dr Chase! Integrity.

When the first speaker was finally allowed to the podium, she asked for an explanation of the $114.6 million dollars that will be borrowed by the School District and why the interest for it, as found in a document provided by School Board member David Warner, would be $84 million dollars but that there was never any mention of it in any of these presentations? So now the total we would actually be paying off would be $198.6 Million dollars - Wow! Not only did everyone straighten up and pay attention, Dr Chase tried to quickly shut down this resident by repeatedly saying the bond is only for $114.6 million dollars and her time was up! But how can this be? Thank you Mr Warner for daylighting an important piece of information. Finally, integrity.

Several pro-bonders pooh-poohed what was being asked. But the reality is, you can rarely, if ever, borrow money for free and it raised an extremely important question that has still remained unanswered. “Your two minutes are up, please let the next speaker have their turn.” “Answer my question!” “Next speaker.” Integrity indeed. The other 800 lb., elephant in the room is that Mr Feiner has proposed to replace the Town’s Police Department and Courts building with a $49 million dollar bond (plus interest!). So now we’re are looking at a total that could be around $247.6 million dollars! Lest we not forget that the Fairview Fire District’s portion of the Town’s has a 48% tax exempt properties and Hartsdale’s similar tax exempt properties of 42% wind up forcing those who are not tax exempt to pay twice the amount they should have to. And  we have not even begun to discuss the impact to the tax base when the Hamlet of Edgemont Incorporates!

Another speaker got up and questioned the two traffic studies which were very different in their results and curious how their findings could be so different? After telling the speaker very little, Dr Chase told him his two minutes was up. Then one of the administration’s representatives took one of the portable microphones to tell the gentleman that the Town's traffic study was flawed and that theirs was a pre-project traffic study and not binding. It seems whenever a resident/taxpayer(s) stumps the panel with a question they can’t or don’t want to answer, they say they’ll have to research that topic some more. But when it works to they’re advantage, they cherry-pick the points they want to use to make their argument instead of presenting all of the information in a forthcoming and open manor. In fact, another resident said she was an architect and routinely does business property appraisals and dispelled the $20 million dollar value placed the Highview and Bailey buildings the School Board was counting on selling when the are worth maybe $3 million dollars? Naturally, she was told her appraisal was wrong.

Read the Town’s traffic study on the Town’s website for yourself (if the link doesn’t work, copy/paste in your URL field): 
http://greenburghny.com/Documents/Kimley-Horn%20-%20Greenburgh%20Central%20School%20District%20%20Warburg%20Campus%20Consolidation%20Plan%20-%20Traffic%20Review.pdf

The entire evening was a duplicitous show of an overbearing and rude School Superintendent and Board talking down to taxpayers, as they desperately try to cling to her legacy dream, bolstered by a School Board whose past governance has been questionable and sketchy at best. Anyone who spoke against the proposal was spoken over or told their time was up. Mr Williams mentioned that years ago there had been numerous bonds voted down along with austerity budgets. He’s correct. He also responded to the contaminated land-fill issue from several years ago but would not allow a back and forth dialog with the resident. Yet, he was also a member of this Board for some 15 years or so, and had ample opportunity to try to work toward changing the direction of the school district. Whether he contributed to trying to fix it or not, this project is off the rails and everyone needs to put the brakes on this project until all of the facts can be vetted. Another significant issue of concern is that by law, they are not allowed by the New York State Education Department to lobby for a project. Yet, they have hired a public relations firm to do just that. So they are violating the law in addition to limiting facts from the public.

Unable to silently sneak this through to a referendum vote in hopes that no one was paying attention has created another level of mistrust with the School District. The School Board should cancel their misguided push for a referendum and enlist the aid of the residents to help formulate a workable and tenable project if we are to proceed on that route.  Perhaps a consolidated campus, beyond all the smoke, mirrors and lack of concrete information, is a good idea. But this isn’t the way for us to go about doing so. There needs to be openness, honesty, tangible information and answers to hard questions. This translates to integrity. Perhaps they should practice what they preach. Only then might we be better able to proceed. Otherwise, we recommend a “NO” vote against this referendum. It’s the only way to get A Better Greenburgh.

Controlling The Outcome By Limiting Information

The latest “information session” touted by the Greenburgh School District Board and their Superintendent, Dr Chase at the Highview School, found taxpayers wanting real, tangible and unencumbered answers to not only their questions, but for the limited information that was being proffered. This meeting was a mirror of the previous ones with a lot of the same players saying the same things. The problem is that the first few meetings fed them many of the objections and now armed with “ready-to-go” answers, they are able to quickly and deftly shut down anyone asking a question that might even allude to an objection. Most were concerned with the untenable tax increases that this $114.6 million bond, coupled with Mr Feiner’s $49 million bond, the regular school tax bill, the County tax increase, NYS funding reductions and, well, you get it. People will be foreclosed out of their homes so Dr Chase might have a legacy.

New York State law ties property taxes to the real market value of a home—roughly three per­cent-plus per $1,000, which would put yearly taxes on a million-dollar home somewhere north of $30,000. Few area residents ever complained that the last for­mal as­sess­ment having taken place was in the mid-1950s, artificially keep­ing val­u­a­tions low until a home was sold. As a rule, that's the only time a re-evaluation would take place. Then in 2016, the Town of Green­burgh ex­e­cuted a full re­assess­ment that hit vil­lages like Irv­ing­ton, Hast­ings and Dobbs Ferry like a sledgehammer. 

Many home­own­ers saw their tax bills more than dou­ble! Thou­sands “grieved” their as­sess­ments, chal­leng­ing the new val­ues and plead­ing for re­lief. Only a frac­tion were suc­cess­ful, but Mr Feiner concocted a plan to lessen the blow and his current unpopularity. The town adopted a three-year grad­u­ated-pay­ment sys­tem for those whose taxes had gone up by more than 25%. This put the burden on the remaining residents to make up for the savings given to those taxpayers.

As of this year, that stepped-relief plan has ended, and now every­one will be pay­ing full assessed value. Many long-time res­i­dents have been dri­ven to sell. Many in down­town neigh­bor­hoods that tra­di­tion­ally housed work­ing-class fam­i­lies, sold not be­cause they wanted to, but be­cause they could­n’t af­ford to stay. As long as there were young fam­i­lies will­ing to pay top dol­lar, how­ever, they were able to es­cape as the Ponzi scheme continues. But these were the villages, which seem to have more wealth than most parts of Unincorporated Greenburgh, with their own mayors and village boards, not Mr Feiner as their “mayor”.

With the initial proposal for the Greenburgh School Districts bond proposal referendum coming in at almost $166 million dollars, it was quickly pared down to be seemingly more palatable once it was realized the constituency could not afford it. “Reduced” to $114 million dollars, the School Board believed they could sell this to taxpayers. Enter the dynamic, well-spoken school superintendent, Dr Chase. She deftly handled many of the questions asked and using a plan directly from Mr Feiner’s playbook, easily deflected criticisms from the crowd. In fact, the first and second of these sessions fed her the objections and provided her and the school board ample time to craft answers for the next sessions. But it remained nothing but smoke and mirrors - just like the maintenance of our school buildings.

Saddled with the revaluation increases that many homeowners experienced, they are now dismayed by the new federal tax law that lim­its de­duc­tions of state and lo­cal taxes (SALT) to the first $10,000, a fig­ure easily topped out by four out of five Westch­ester home­own­ers. Westch­ester home purchases, already with the high­est prop­erty taxes in the na­tion, have plunged 18 per­cent, cit­ing the limit on SALT de­duc­tions as a prox­i­mate cause, according to Bloomberg News.

Recently, Mr Feiner was quoted as being upset with the Governor's plans to cut state aid to Towns and Villages. "I think it’s wrong for the state to tell local governments to comply with the tax cap — to reduce property taxes — yet the state at the same time is cutting back their financial support, making it harder for local governments to comply," he said, adding the town would lose $409,765. Unincorporated taxpayers will be forced by Mr Feiner to make up that difference as he never cuts anything we can't afford. That is more bad news, along with the fact that Unincorporated Greenburgh Central School residents might soon be saddled with a whopping tax increase of a minimum of $800+ per year for single family homes should this referendum pass.

Add to that the yearly increases in Town, County, Fire, Sewer, SCHOOL and other districts’ taxes and many residents may be forced out of their homes. Let's not forget that 48% of Unincorporated Greenburgh's Fairview Fire District is tax exempt - so this will further hurt the people paying double of what they should have to carry the exempted properties. Finally, Mr Feiner has said he will be proposing a $49 million bond of his own to replace the Greenburgh Police headquarters and courts. That's over $163 MILLION in new bond-generated additional taxes for the next 15, 20 or 30 years!

We believe, as do many others, that Dr Chase and the Greenburgh School Board have not proposed this plan in earnest. Rather, they utilized the student population’s parents to get their first round of by-ins. Then they were about to take it to the streets, but it was too imposing and the necessary participation of the Woodlands High School was scrapped to lower the cost, once again kicking the can down the road. The Brighter United 2019 Capital Project News brochure was mailed out and handed out. There's even a display in the Greenburgh Town Library. What isn't on display or included in the brochures with all of this is any real information, figures, specifics and what those on fixed incomes, single parents, low-income parents, etc., will wind up needing to do should this referendum pass. 

Sadly, as Mr Feiner has said and proven before, this bond will probably pass because many don't know the issues or study the proposals. They fall for the standard line, "It's for the children." Don't believe it. There is a good portion of Greenburgh residents who won’t see that this is a bad deal as they believe their kids will benefit from this project. Given the eight or so years that this project is proposed to take, most who have kids in these schools now will not benefit from this project. The school district, if it were a good one, could add to the attractiveness of moving to the Town. However, until that happens, we urge taxpayers to vote NO for this referendum. Diminished returns, dwindling enrollment, poor school board management and superior private school competition make this proposal unacceptable. We urge the school board, district and superintendent to scrap this plan. In the absence of that we urge taxpayers to vote NO. Then, we implore them to work intimately with the community to craft a solution that doesn’t bankrupt homeowner and business taxpayers. It’s the only way to get A Better Greenburgh.

New Information Sessions Dates Added For School Bond Referendum

Many of our readers are nervous and extremely concerned about the $114.6 million school bond referendum that the Greenburgh Central School District is pushing. Why? Because a $400,000 home that is within the Greenburgh School District will see their taxes increase by about $800 per year! But according to the pro-bond proponents, this is good and will raise the value of our homes. Really?

Many seniors who are on a fixed income, are unsure how they will be able to pay this new increase. Dr Chase and our school board are clearly not concerned about them. If they were, they would be addressing alternatives. Rather than admit failure in running the school district, they prefer use one of Mr Feiner’s old and reliably tricks: deflection. This isn't about their failures as a Board, or that they intentionally neglected maintenance to the schools, or that kids learn better in a new environment. In fact, many teachers have readily admitted that while a new building would be nice, if the teachers have the kids engaged, they will learn and prosper. The brochure that the school district has produced shows a 96% graduation rate in 2018, 90% of graduates go to college along with a few other vague statistics.

If teaching Mandarin is so important, why aren’t other schools teaching it? Trendsetters you say? How about getting things to run well and then we can see about going down new and unproven avenues. Regardless of what we say, even though the numbers in our articles are real, come out and find out for yourselves. See below for the next meeting dates.

Classroom Warfare or Just Bullying

There seems to be a lot of class warfare going on in society nowadays, fueled by self-appointed community leaders and especially the media - whether you believe them to be fake or not. We're always hopeful that true community leaders will do what's necessary to help our neighborhoods and its residents. Some of our community leaders seem less concerned about the community members and more about what they want. With Mr Feiner and his Board, it's all about being re-elected and making sure they don't lose their full-time salaries for part-time work. For others, it's about a legacy.

During the month of January, Greenburgh School Superintendent Dr Chase began a series of presentations about the referendum for the bond that she, along with our elected school board wanted to undertake. We missed the first meeting, but have made the last two and would have made the next two had they not been postponed. There is yet another meeting being held on Thursday night, February 7, at the Theodore Young Community Center at 7 pm off of Manhattan Avenue.

We've previously written about the last two meetings, noting that they were very different in several ways. They were both held in the auditorium at the RJ Bailey School. This one was on a Saturday at 10 am, under the guise of "hearing the community" because many people could not always make evening meetings for a host of reasons. Fair enough. Unlike school which has a finite start and end time, this meeting apparently did not and started late. Yet, once the meeting had started, introductions were quickly made. The previous evening meeting found Dr Chase making introductions at some length. It seems there were a lot of Greenburgh Central School District teachers, administrative personnel, Board members and such in the audience. Here's a thought, ask all of those people to stand, quickly identify them and then start the meeting.

Two presentations had been utilized in those two meetings. The first one was longer and more comprehensive than the second one. We wonder what is in store for the next meeting? Either way, we hope those attendees will be getting more information instead of less. We also hope that the new practice of shutting down the voice of the people will not be done again. At the evening meeting residents and taxpayers were allowed to speak, ask questions, make comments and have somewhat of a dialog with the $114.6 million referendum bond proponents. While many were protesting, others were in favor while still others were on the fence. Hearing what neighbors, not necessary employees, have to say may be helpful to the undecided.

So, the Saturday meeting found the dialog removed. Gone. Now they handed out 3x5 inch index cards and asked for participants to write down and submit their questions. The audience was told they would go through them on the bus ride to the Highview School and to the Woodlands High School. That did not happen! It was already noted that this entire plan seemed well-crafted to keep the voting public in the dark about this entire event. Now it seems that the questions and comments were too much for the pro-bond sponsors. In fact, when the ABG publisher was questioning an answer from a school board member, a gentleman in a tan suit came over and tried to stop the board member from responding!

In addition to the ignored school maintenance, the enrollment in the district of 1,757 in 2015-2016 went down in 2017-2018 to 1,734. Certainly not a major shift but indicative of a trend that was also reported in the Friday Journal News (as well as other publications) entitled, High School Graduation Rates Dip Across Westchester. "Westchester County's overall high school graduation rate for the class of 2018 dipped slightly compared to the year before, with several school districts also seeing notable declines. The Bedford school district saw a 7 percent dip in their graduation rate between 2017 and 2018, the largest decline in the county. In Bedford, 84 percent of students graduated in 2018, down from 91 percent in 2017. The state data also shows that the Greenburgh school district saw a 7 percent dip in its graduation rate, going from 88 percent in 2017 to 81 percent in 2018, but these figures are being disputed by district officials."

Dr Chase dismissed the findings as an error in reporting methodology that she was working to "correct the apparent discrepancy in the data reporting." This piece of information couldn't come at a more inopportune time for her. Ironically, we were researching just this topic as one reader asked us about declining enrollment in general and in the northeast in particular. Further digging found that the exodus of school children is directly linked to an exodus from the incredibly highly-taxed states, such as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. No surprise there as study after study explain that taxpayers are voting with their feet. Perhaps this should be seen as a warning salvo to Dr Chase?

A reader who was in support of the bond issue made these points nevertheless:
- Does Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) have any enrollment studies about enrollment projections? 
- Birth rates are at a 30-year low; 
- Immigration seems to be slowing; 
- NYS continues to lose population; 
- GCSD appears to be losing enrollment for at least 3 consecutive years; 
- Enrollment has dropped from Kindergarten through 12th;
- NYSED clearly indicates even the Latin student numbers, traditionally steady or increasing, have decreased; 

 All valid points. And while the questions are abundant, the answers are not. Should Greenburgh build this new mega-campus, will we have the student body to sustain it? There has not been any information forthcoming from the school district to substantiate the pro-bond proponents' claims. Another parent also in favor commented that while he sees a need for maybe a 10, 20, and 30-year plan for the district, the secrecy and lack of tangible information is forcing him to oppose this.

Recently, Mr Feiner was quoted as being upset with the Governor's plans to cut state aid to Towns and Villages. "I think it’s wrong for the state to tell local governments to comply with the tax cap — to reduce property taxes — yet the state at the same time is cutting back their financial support, making it harder for local governments to comply," said Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, adding the town would lose $409,765. That bad news, along with the fact that Unincorporated Greenburgh Central School residents might soon be saddled with a whopping tax increase of a minimum of $800+ per year for single family homes! Add to that the yearly Town, County, Fire, Sewer and other district taxes and many residents may be forced out of their homes. Let's not forget that 48% of unincorporated Greenburgh's Fairview Fire District is tax exempt - so this will further hurt the people paying double of what they should have to carry the exempted properties. Finally, Mr Feiner has said he will be proposing a $49 million bond of his own to replace the Greenburgh Police headquarters and courts. That's over $163 MILLION in additional taxes!

Two meetings have recently been cancelled due to the cold weather and yet things are certainly heating up. There has only been one counter-proposal to the $114.6 million bond option and that is to do repairs by passing a different bond issue for $79 million. Surely, our school board can draw up some alternative ideas even though they helped to put us in this mess? While we are offended by Dr Chase's cavalier approach to what this will cost residents, not many of us make the $313k per year that she does and can easily afford a specialty coffee each day or to go out to dinner once a week as she apparently does and still have money left for necessities. This mindset must change. Alternatives that are not do-or-die must be researched and all facts and figures communicated in an open and clear fashion. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Cancelled Community Meeting To Be Rescheduled

Important Message

The weather model has not provided us with a steady nor definitive track of potential snow and ice for this evening. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, the Greenburgh Central School District will cancel all after-school programs and evening activities for today, January 29. The community meeting scheduled for 7 pm at the Greenburgh Public Library will be rescheduled to a date in the very near future. Please visit our website, social media platforms and television station for a new community meeting date at the Greenburgh Public Library. Please be safe!

Forcing A Referendum By Omission

We had originally begun writing an article detailing the evening meeting held on Thursday, January 24th. Then we attended the Saturday, January 26th meeting at the RJ Bailey school and felt so much had changed that we had to rewrite it all.

With a late start on Saturday, Dr Chase welcomed everyone, and thanked the attendees for coming out and giving up their Saturday mornings. As such, she and fewer presenters were briefer than they had been on Thursday night. Thursday night she introduced many in attendance, which included the school board members, teachers, staff, etc. In fact, many we spoke with that night were convinced the crowd was intentionally filled with pro-bond beneficiaries who work for the district. We also understand that while this may be the case, there are those non-employees that favor this proposal.

To listen to those only in favor of the bond talk about it, you’d expect to find our children sitting in condemned buildings. To be fair, the buildings do need work to put them in better shape. Why are they in such bad shape? Read on.

We find it interesting that the school district leaders have let the maintenance of the buildings degrade when they claim to be doing everything “for the children”. They agree with Dr Chase that there is pride when you can go to work or school in a bright, new building instead of an older one. We agree. However, these buildings only degraded due to the intentional decisions to do so. We asked a Board member if he agreed with Dr Chase’s assumption about the conditions of a school affecting their learning and he did. No surprise there.

When asked then why they would not do the necessary maintenance for all of these years to make the learning environment the best it could be, he said it was a conscious decision to put off maintenance so as to not be forced to lay teachers off. Huh? If you’re doing everything for the students and their environment really does affect their ability to learn, then it appears that they are derelict in their duty to the students, the school district and the taxpayers by making the wrong choices regarding maintenance over the years. Besides, the public has approved every budget they’ve submitted and given them what they've asked for. 

The presentation made on Thursday night seemed to be comprised of about 15 to 20 slides. It was changed for the Saturday morning crowd and reduced to maybe 8 to 10 slides. It was also lacking some of the statistical information that had been there for the Thursday night crowd. Why the change? C’mon, you know why. And should a taxpayer challenge information in the presentation, Dr Chase’s retort was usually, “But imagine how much more we could do if we did this?” Even with a vivid imagination, and a 96% graduation rate or that 90% of graduates go to college, there will always be some portion of the high school community that will not graduate or go on to college. This is our hard earned money, so please, no imagining, just facts.

It was reiterated in Saturday’s presentation about how many transitions a student in Greenburgh must go through as they progress through the school system. Apparently, these kids are somehow traumatized by having to use different schools as they “age up” and move from their one school to the next. Transitions – a part of life – we’re told have a negative effect on a child’s learning ability. And yet, when they finish building everything they want to build, each of the same grade delineations will continue to have transitions: separate office for each of the different grade levels, separate entrances, separate gyms, separate cafeterias – although with a common kitchen and separate playground spaces. Separate, but equal. So really, nothing seems to change for the students.

The Lee F Jackson school is slated under this expansion plan to get 20 new classrooms. With an increase in size of this magnitude, many have raised concerns about the added traffic through the Juniper Hill neighborhood’s limited access. More buses traveling back and forth to the school can only mean more traffic and accidents. In fact, many commented on the already overburdened and sometimes perilous traffic on West Hartsdale Avenue during rush and school hours creating three choke points. Putting all students in one place promises more grief for motorists living in the area and using an already congested set of roadways. The audience was told they didn’t have traffic information and studies would have to be done.

Another stumbling block is that this glossy presentation lacks specific information and an honest presentation of facts. We’re only being given the information the pro-bonders want us to have. It’s claimed in their original proposal that Woodlands High School “needed” repairs. That made the original referendum/bond offering at $166 MILLION. We believe initial pushback and limited negative feedback put the proposal in jeopardy so adjustments were made and the repairs to Woodlands High School were dropped. The new bond number was now $114.6 MILLION. Woodlands High School repairs can now wait until after the sale of Highview and RJ Bailey. So, once again necessary maintenance and repairs can will be kicked down the road in hopes of the bond going through? If it doesn’t pass, the pro-bonders are ready with another one, this time for $79 MILLION. It just never ends.

The public is being told that this $114.6 MILLION bond would cost the taxpayers $14 a month per $100,000 assessed value based on a 30-year average. The yearly figure for most taxpayers will be about $800+ per year based on a home worth $400,000. In fact, Dr Chase referenced the Mamaroneck School District on Saturday as ammunition for her cause, stating Mamaroneck is investing in their kids, schools and community. Yes, they are. But they have a larger tax base to draw from. Mamaroneck has approximately 5,300 students to Greenburgh’s 1900, which dramatically alters the playing field and translates to a much lower impact on taxpayers! And, let's not forget that Greenburgh pays the most money per student out of any of the public schools in Westchester.

Mamaroneck Schools, for all intents and purposes, appears to be doing the same renovations/upgrades/improvements that Dr Chase claims we will be doing should this referendum pass. Those include: fire alarms, mechanical equipment and security systems updates; floors and ceilings would be repaired along with asbestos abatement; repairs would be made to building exteriors, including roofs, window replacement and brick restoration; sidewalks, fences, retaining walls and doors would also be repaired; new air conditioning and ventilation units would be installed in some schools. What they are not doing is tearing down existing buildings and building new ones. If Greenburgh were to just do repairs and renovations, it will “only” cost taxpayers $79 MILLION.

The last disturbing portion of Saturday’s exercise was that they purposely decided not to let people speak. They handed out 3”x5” index cards for taxpayers to submit their questions. Someone stated, “Oh, so they’re using that old ploy to keep us silent.” Told they would discuss the questions on the bus ride to the other schools, that never happened. While Thursday night’s meeting did allow residents to speak, we believe the comments rattled the presenters and brought up too many good points, glaring inaccuracies and some embarrassing actions on behalf of those decision makers who chose to intentionally allow the disrepair of our school systems buildings. 

Dr Chase also reiterated that there is a lot of misinformation “out there” spreading false information. When we started learning about this new referendum and doing a small amount of research, we became quickly dismayed as there was very little information “out there”. We had originally thought more highly of our school district than we do now. The video the school district has been showing to push this project has a few of Mr Feiner’s sycophants in it. While we don’t hold much credence in what they say, having the young student who is in the video saying they can’t go upstairs in the auditorium because it’s dangerous is patronizing. Having that same student speak during the Saturday meeting was wrong and just pandering. 

The meeting was believed to be set up so that taxpayers could learn how this project will affect them. That was shut down on Saturday as the index cards were unanswered, the tour was superfluous and more questions than answers seem to abound. Stop using Mr Feiner’s playbook and tell the truth – tell both sides of the equation. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.