Greenburgh Politics Votes No Change

In a not-stunning-in-the-least primary vote, seemingly nothing will change in Greenburgh. Sure, change can be scary. So can the lethargic same-old, same-old mentality that seems to prevail. That's what the minute portion of Greenburgh Democratic voters decided last night.

With no surprises, the problems that plague the Feiner Administration will remain until the election which will invariably yield similar results. The results of the primary vote for the two Town Council seats and one Town Clerk seat played out this way:

GINA R JACKSON       2,706 or 41% of the votes. 
ERIC ZINGER              1,458 or 22% of the votes.
KEN JONES*               2,426 or 37% of the votes.
Office Totals               6,590 or 100% of the votes.

In the Town Clerks race
MARIA J PORTILLA    1,775 or 48%
JUDITH A BEVILLE*   1,947 or 52%
Office Totals                3,722 or 100%

*incumbent

Pre-Primary Democratic Candidate Forum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dying A Slow Death Until They Die In Office

The governor has sent “tax relief” checks to property owners in the guise of helping the beleaguered NY taxpayer. The Town has not. What may have helped the governor would have been to announce that instead of trying to buy your vote, he’s announcing an infrastructure overhaul that has been needed for the last hundred years or so to address the cacophony of issues plaguing New York: failing roadways, flooding, failing railways, crumbling bridges, ruptured water mains, outdated airports, traffic congestion and more. Instead, this move highlights the kick-the-issues-down-the-road practice all politicians subscribe to because it’s not sexy stuff. They profess these issues will be addressed but later become someone else’s problem if they ever leave office. But in New York, as in Greenburgh, you have to die in office to officially leave. It’s killing us.

The twin “Honda” bridges (aka New Tappan Zee) across the Hudson River exacerbates the ineffectiveness of what is transpiring with our government’s stale and feeble thinking. We recently saw two tractor-trailers jackknifed on the bridge, stalling traffic for over an hour. No one was surprised. Let’s face it, with the volume of traffic travelling that roadway, we know we can expect more. So, when the planning stages produced two bridges with a new rubberized surface much slicker in the wet weather than the previous concrete, no rail, no real HOV lanes, a bike path, viewing areas, eagles’ nests, and other millennial contrivances, traffic volume and flow appeared to have been a glaringly absent topic.

We experience daily this thinking at local, state and federal levels as project after project transform into boondoggle after boondoggle. The difference locally and in our Town is the failure to “play the game” and think outside the box is destroying what was once a dynamic Town! And, at the same time, every NY politician – mostly all democrats – have remained in office for far too long. Regardless of New York’s issues and us specifically, we have the same archaic, stale and ineffective thinking bombarding us daily. An example would be any project will have 10% low-income, ground floor retail (which over and over again stay vacant) and apartments above the retail for Millennials and of course with no parking as we’re continually told Millennials don’t drive or own cars. Yet, when you look at Hartsdale Avenue going into the center of Hartsdale, there is not nearly enough parking for those people living in those apartment buildings! When it rains and there is flooding, they must (re)move their cars to higher ground. Some thought a recently passed weak Comprehensive Plan would help the residents. It was so watered down it became a laughingly simple political document that won’t protect the integrity or longevity of the Town.

Project after project gets approved by a reticent Town Board incapable of breaking free of the servitude that grips them to their master. As long as they are instructed to vote in favor of a project, pass a code change or waive the craftily enacted standards that favor developers, they will remain on his Board. Falter from that narrative and be jettisoned in the blink of an eye, commonly referred to as being “Sonya’d.” After Town Board member Sonya Brown publicly exposed Mr Feiner’s racial bias against the minority community in the Fairview section of town, she was shunned by the Town Board, ignored by many in Town Hall (also fearful for their jobs) and dropped from the re-election ticket for now-Councilman Ken Jones. Mr Jones learned quickly that to get along he must go along. Sadly, we had been hopeful that he would exhibit a modicum of independence only to have the electorate be disappointed yet again as he tows the Feiner -line.

The Elmwood Country Club was sold to a developer who has an arsenal of attorneys at their beck and call who know how to play the approval game in Greenburgh. We’re told they met secretly with Mr Feiner and probably his Town Board as Mr Feiner laid out the groundwork they needed to follow to ensure successful completion of their yet to be proposed project. First, meet with his arch-enemy, the President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association and get a buy-in from their President and ultimately their members. You’ll recall that they were the ones who successfully stopped Mr Feiner’s GameOn 365 from erecting (really inflating) an 83 ft tall “sports bubble” at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road where the former Frank’s Nursery had been. Stung by this embarrassing defeat after several residents exposed Mr Feiner and GameOn 365’s collusion, Mr Feiner has worked tirelessly to find any way possible to get the flawed and failing GameOn 365 project to reach fruition. Why follow this same path of failing ideas? Do as I say, not as I do.

The Hartsdale Neighbors Association sparked a debate about their 4-Corners (4C) and it’s need of renovation and uplifting, citing that it’s been a revolving door of failed businesses and desolate retail spaces due to the Town’s permit process, zoning, lack of parking and bereft planning processes. In light of the Edgemont Incorporation effort, word got back to the Town Board about new talks of a Hartsdale Incorporation based on what happens to the Unincorporated Town (which includes Hartsdale) should the Edgemont incorporation succeed. Concerns festered over what would happen to the Hartsdale community and the town budget, town services and staff. Mr Feiner and his Board were rapt as Inspired Spaces made a presentation of solutions for the failed and ignored area. They certainly embody their motto, “We seem to care.” But since the only real beneficiaries of remodeling of the 4C area is the landlords, we doubt these plans will get much traction.

But now that the Edgemont incorporation has been successfully stalled, Town politicians needed a new crisis to divert attention from what is really going on with finances, personnel, insider developer approvals and more. Thankfully, whenever in need and there is no apparent cause to latch onto, play the race card. This time it was espoused by Town Clerk Judith Beville, an African-American woman who charged in a series of emails that she, as an African-American woman, was being targeted by all of the members of the Town Board, but not her meal ticket Mr Feiner, that had racial overtones. She made sure to not bite the hand that feeds her so to speak.

Racism is no stranger at our Town Hall, at least during the Feiner Administration(s). And while these episodes have always been craftily ignored, swept under the rug or simply ignored, racism is alive and well at 177 Hillside Avenue. Regardless of previous events, Ms Beville sent a series of emails alluding to racism and then actually charging that this was done to her specifically because she was an African-American woman in a high-profile position in the Town. Whether or not it was true almost seemed inconsequential as she began to play to her base who showed up to the Town Board meeting on her behalf. There were other statements made about the Deputy Town Clerk that appeared to cross the line regarding HIPAA requirements, legal requirements and of course common courtesy. In fact, toward the end of the Town Clerk discussion portion of the last Town Board meeting, all of the Council members as well as Town Attorney Tim Lewis were repeatedly asking her to stop talking as she was probably violating HIPAA laws by discussing the medical problems of the former Deputy Town Clerk! Punishment for these transgressions? Not in Greenburgh.

While Ms Beville was unwilling to remain silent after the Board pleaded with her, Councilman Sheehan stated that the entire episode was not a racial matter and that the Deputy said she was going to quit because she had to keep training new people as well as continuing to do her own job as well. Because of the seemingly endless stream of trainings and her workload, she said she had had enough. Apparently, it was either Mr Feiner or the Town Board (or both) who decided to create and fill a new position at roughly $70+k per year with benefits without approval, a budget item or candidate search. THIS sounds like our Town Board. They also stated that the Town Clerk’s office would still have the same number of staffers working there, but training could now be done by Ms Beville. And yet Mr Feiner seems compelled to complain about the Fire Districts personnel issues. Those who live in glass houses should not cast any stones.

Word in the Town Hall hallways is that the Town Board doesn’t have faith that Ms Beville can adequately train those new people and that’s why they wanted to keep the former Deputy, even if it was in a different position. Maybe so. This isn’t the way to run a Town. It’s also proof of why we need term limits, even though those in office will never agree to relinquish their power until they've padded their coffers enough and are ready themselves to step down. When the Democratic electorate finally wises up, maybe we will see a change and get some new blood, new ideas and better thinking. Complacency is also alive and well in Greenburgh. It needs to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Town Prohibits Residents From Using Conference Rooms

In an unexplained move that we’re told originated from the Town Clerk’s office, the public is no longer allowed to utilize Town Hall conference rooms for meetings! We’ve heard the decree even forbids all Town Civic Associations as well as Town appointed Boards, such as the Historic Preservation Board, from using the conference rooms. We hope this is not the case. Previously, local groups, neighborhood groups and civic associations had always had access to conference rooms for meetings, discussions, etc, in their Town Hall. Why the sudden change?

One reason that comes to mind is simply censorship and control from the corner office. You may recall we wrote about censorship originating from Mr Feiner in our article found here in our article from Tuesday, January 12, 2016 Censoring The Public, when we discussed Mr Feiner’s blatant censoring of the public – unless of course having a dialog with any individual was something he wanted to do – at the “Scoping Session” for the Jefferson at Saw Mill project. Then he said he would be following Twitter-type rules of only allowing residents to speak for one minute.

Another school of thought refers back to the demonstration that Mr Feiner organized inviting Hamas supporters to utilize Town Hall for an anti-Israel demonstration. It bordered on some ugly behavior with some terrible things said. One older gentleman (using the term loosely) threatened a resident with death threats. We wrote more in depth about this in another article on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 Anti-Semitic Board Offers Hamas Town Hall.

ABG believes this newest elimination of the taxpayer’s rights to use their own, taxpayer-funded building for their groups and organizations meetings is nothing more than retribution against those same taxpayers trying to slow and stop Mr Feiner and his Town Board’s agenda(s). ABG also believes this is the culmination from backlash the corner office received for handing over the keys to the anti-Israel haters. They should not use their own bad behavior to create edicts against the public! At that time, Ms Beville was the one who controlled use of the Town Hall facility and no doubt followed orders from Mr Feiner. But now they are forcing residents to go to different Commissioners for usage of even fewer conference rooms!

This Board seems bent on limiting our resident’s participation and voice, usually because the residents are looking for their leadership to do the right thing and then call them on it when they don’t. Don’t believe us? They have routinely “run the clock out” to adjourn before “allowing” residents to have their 5-minutes at the podium. They have also delayed the official start of meetings with poetry readings, presentations, musical performances and such and then abjectly eliminated the public comment session claiming there “was not enough time” to allow the public a chance to speak. 

The resolution, not requiring a hearing and most importantly, public comments, allows this Town Board to run rampant over the people who not only pay their salaries, but who own the building! The Board has supplied a nicely written list of “Whereas’s” to cover themselves, it “states” and uses the Police Chief as a scapegoat, saying this is being done upon his recommendations. We reached out to the Police Chief for information but did not receive a response. It also says that in addition to not being able to use Town Hall for meetings, groups can use the conference rooms in the Library and Veteran Park. Factually impossible because these rooms are booked almost throughout the year already, they also suggest the Theodore D. Young Community Center as another alternative. Again, rooms in the TDYCC, like the other locations, are only available for a small window during the day and many are already booked as well. This is nothing more than Mr Feiner boasting another way he can control and manipulate the public.

Clearly, this move is wrong for the Town, it’s residents, and most importantly the taxpayers. Town Hall belongs to the public. It is everyone’s building and while Mr Feiner has been there for 24-years, he remains a guest there and should always remember that. That’s when we’ll see A Better Greenburgh.

2014 Year In Review - The Rest Of The Story

We’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Each year Mr Feiner emails, publishes and mails his review of 2014 to residents. We deem this an unnecessary and costly event for taxpayers. Many items he alludes to have nothing to do with him but he chooses to include them. It’s his list and he can put  in it what he chooses. Similarly, since it’s his list, most of his efforts are not accurately recounted and that is why we do our rebuttal list. Please note that ABG has not edited Mr Feiner's points.

Here are some of Mr Feiner’s highlights that were emailed to the thousands of names on the Town’s infamous GBList email addresses list held so closely to the vest by Mr Feiner. Those not on the list will be mailed letters via snail mail. While all of this could have easily and more cost-effectively been posted on the Town’s website, it doesn’t allow Mr Feiner the same campaign publicity and results. As such, we want you to see the other side of the year in review and have included our take on his take.

PF:  Unlike some communities in NYS, the Town has complied with the tax cap every year since the State Legislature recommended that local governments keep tax hikes under their recommended tax cap levy. The Town Board unanimously approved the 2015 budget last week which  again complies with the  tax cap.

ABG: What Mr Feiner conveniently doesn’t mention is that in order to squeak by under the tax cap, he and his Town Board raided the Reserve Funds of $2 MILLION (40%)! This is money that would normally be used for tax certiorari settlements and lawsuit settlements against Mr Feiner and the Town. There are plenty of claims. The Town, along with the school and fire districts, averages several hundred thousand dollars to $1 million per Town Board meeting in certiorari and lawsuit settlement refunds. This is hardly the time to “steal” money from one fund to cover another. The real issue here is the misappropriation and/or use of funds by this Town administration. Unfortunately, the one-party Board of political hangers-on will follow Mr Feiner’s instructions to ensure re-election.

PF: Town maintains AAA bond rating from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s---an accomplishment only 1% of communities around the nation can be proud of.  Communities around the nation have experienced bond rating declines. It’s nice that Greenburgh continues to have the highest rating possible from two independent agencies.  Our Aaa rating equates to over $200,000 in interest savings over the life of the debt service.

ABG: In order to maintain this bond rating, the Town borrows very little. Without taking advantage of the low rates, Mr Feiner and his Board have neglected the Town infrastructure to the point of serious degradation of drainage systems, roadways, parks, buildings and more. Regular maintenance on Town owned buildings is ignored until what would be considered normal, less costly repairs turn into catastrophic repairs requiring much more financial commitment.

PF: The new sanitation truck that picks up garbage with an automated hand is now operational.  We’re able to manage with one employee, not three on a truck and anticipate significant savings of your tax dollars.  The Town will continue to expand this method of garbage collection with more routes and new trucks in the coming years.

ABG: They anticipate savings but refuse to provide figures. This is one of Mr Feiner’s well-developed scams. He’ll say something will save us money or blurt out an unsubstantiated dollar figure, while there was no study done, no definitive amounts offered and we’re simply supposed to take his word for it. Now he is saying they will expand this program even before any conclusive performance results can be had or used to substantiate its value.

PF: I meet on a regular basis with retired local management consultants, corporate executives who volunteer their time--offering valuable suggestions on how the town could be better managed. We started the 2015 budget process early in the year and they helped identify over a million dollars in new sources of revenue or cost reductions!

ABG: After all these years of saying this, he still has not learned or used proven management techniques and processes that the business world uses daily. Nor has his claim provided us with these new sources of revenue. The budget he provides in the 11th-hour has minimal opportunity for change by the time the public, who are the real team of reviewers, gets to see it.

PF: Howard Reiss was appointed as the new Fairview Fire Chief earlier this year. He’s trying hard to reach out to the community.  Mike Goldstein was elected Hartsdale Fire Commissioner and Clarie Pizzuti was elected Commissioner of the Fairview Fire Department by large margins. Both were supported by residents who would like to see fire district spending monitored more closely.  A new citizens committee - the Fairview Fire District Monitoring Committee- was formed.  The Fairview, Greenville & Hartsdale fire departments worked with the town –participating in our 9-11 memorial and annual Veterans day memorial event.

ABG: Chief Reiss was appointed the new Chief of the Fairview Fire Department and we wish him well. What Mr Feiner doesn’t say is that he mounted an attack campaign against then Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice, who resigned due to health reasons. Mr Feiner conveniently doesn’t mention it was he who was responsible for the creation of the Fairview Fire District Monitors Committee and posted his long-time friend and cohort to run it. The Fairview and Hartsdale Fire Districts had new candidates run for one open seat in each district’s Board. We are convinced that both candidates for each district were handpicked candidates by Mr Feiner. The one for Fairview was a member of his fire monitors club. Interestingly, when Mr Feiner lives in his home in the gated community of Boulder Ridge, he is protected by an all-volunteer Fire Department and not the paid fire departments in Greenburgh. When he lives at his mother’s residence in Scarsdale, he is protected by the (paid) Scarsdale Fire Department, also not one of the three paid fire departments in Greenburgh. He pays the lowest fire protection taxes and should let the public take care of their respective fire services and stay out of politicizing them!

PF: The town has started promoting organic recycling to residents- an initiative that will eventually reduce the amount of garbage by over 30%.  Thanks to the Greenburgh Nature Center for leading the way!

ABG: He has said this before and there is nothing new here. The Greenburgh Nature Center is a private organization that rents their space from the Town. What is not mentioned is how Mr Feiner arrived at a 30% reduction of garbage figure and how this will be accomplished.

PF: The town has been successful in collecting significant  back taxes owed to us --an initiative that will continue.  Since the List of Delinquent Taxes was filed with the County in April 2014,  62 parcels have been removed from the  delinquent List (2 parcels were removed because they are owned by the State and the remaining were removed because of full payment or a new tax agreement).  A total of a little less than $3.1 million of delinquent taxes was either paid in full or subject to new tax agreements (including current taxes paid in order to be eligible for the tax agreements).  There have been 22 new tax agreements.  Of the 62 parcels, 40 were single family, multi-family or condos.  I have worked with Westchester Residential Opportunities helping families who owe back taxes come up with plans so they can keep their properties.  We continue to receive additional payments from those owing back taxes.

ABG: First, it’s about time! The Town has been delinquent under Mr Feiner’s tenure for going after tax-cheats, tax-evaders and others delinquent in paying their Town taxes. While Mr Feiner had 22-years to collect back-taxes and deliquent taxes, he chose to ignore the problem. During Mr Feiner’s tenure, the tax-paying residents have been subjected to double-digit tax increases, increased fees and increased fines for various violations when they may not have had he done his job. The need to generate revenue by Mr Feiner is only exacerbated by a) his managerial incompetence and b) his constant ignoring of problems that would be better addressed sooner, rather than later.

PF: The town has upgraded our software. The new  Munis Enterprise Resource Planning Software centralizes our financial processes. Many benefits to the town: We will be able to do a better job tracking expenses per department during the year. In 2015 we expect to implement more internal control procedures that will enable us to cut costs. Sometime in 2015 we expect to be able to  be able to collect water bills payments electronically.

ABG: As a rule, most if not all, software companies exist by generating revenue via their upgrades. Since this software will track expenses per department, what was the expense of this software upgrade? Also, each budget season finds Mr Feiner arbitrarily cutting departmental budgets without regard to the items he decides are unnecessary. Our department leaders do a reasonably good job of explaining their expenses during the year. And while ABG does not believe municipal budgets should have categories labeled “miscellaneous” that go beyond $1,000, it is up to Mr Feiner and his Board to rectify that. But they won’t. This point by Mr Feiner is meaningless.

PF: The town hired an auctioneer, GA Keen Realty Advisors to oversee the sale of  Frank’s nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road. We delayed the auction after being advised that additional environmental reviews were needed. Potential purchasers want to have a better understanding how much environmental cleanup work will be required before building on the property. Woodard & Curran Engineers will be conducting the environmental reviews and has been in contact with the NYSDEC. There is significant interest in the property from potential purchasers.

 ABG: Delayed? The delay was based on the delay by Mr Feiner and his Board by ignoring the property’s contamination after ownership was transferred to the Town through foreclosure. Then Mr Feiner attempted to secretly enter into an illegal lease with a "paper" company. Residents requested the property have testing done to find out what contaminants were on the property. Playing games with semantics, a popular pasttime of Mr Feiner, he instructed a testing company to focus on a certain area for testing, ignoring the rest of the property’s space that was used as a dump by the City of White Plains Urban Renewal Project that tore down the old Macy’s and surrounding structures. These old buildings have classically used what we now know are carcinogenic materials such as asbestos, lead and more. Mr Feiner ignored everyone’s pleas to clean up the site before trying to do anything with it. ABG believes his ultimate goal is to gift the property to his friends and their “paper” company.

PF: Many of the problems at the Town Court have been resolved. Over a year ago the Town Board contracted with an independent audit company to conduct a study of Town Court operations. The court has already implemented many audit recommendations leading to improved internal controls and efficiencies. We are about to embark on another major independent study of operations-- of our Public Works department. 

ABG: The problems still exist. Supposedly there were millions of dollars in unpaid traffic and parking violations that Mr Feiner brought interns to address. Eager to do whatever is asked of them, interns cost us little, offer no expertise and provide Mr Feiner with multiple press releases about what a great job they are doing. Do we really want to trust our millions of dollars of income to interns? The obvious answer is, “No!” Mr Feiner hired a new Court Clerk from Port Chester to run the Town Court Department. She was there only briefly when Mr Feiner announced to the Town Board he needed to almost double her salary. ABG believes he told the Board to vote in favor of her salary increase or be “Sonya’d”. Fearing Paul’s wrath and possible excommunication, they did as instructed. Soon after, the newly appointed and extremely well-paid Court Clerk bolted back to Port Chester, able to parlay her higher Greenburgh salary to a comparable one in Port Chester. Once gone, we learned she provided the Greenburgh Courts with little or no relief other than a higher Greenburgh Court Clerk salary for the next person and we still don't know how many tickets remain unpaid!

PF: The town spent $3 million dollars on road repaving on streets throughout the town. The town and villages within Greenburgh jointly purchased significant amounts of asphalt for road repaving, saving many thousands of dollars.  Very pleased that New York State listened to our concerns and repaved W Hartsdale Ave, a road that was in desperate need of repaving.

ABG: Most of the roads in need of repair in the Town merely get patched as having an unused AAA Bond rating yields little in infrastructure maintenance. Getting NYS to pave certain roads thjroughout the Town is our elected leaders’ job! Ironically, the Villages within the Town have maintained a purchasing consortium for about the last ten years. Mr Feiner made the decision to not participate and pay higher prices than they did for all materials. Again, saying “we saved many thousands of dollars” is an empty statement. How much did we save?

PF: By collaborating with other municipalities in Westchester, the town has saved significant dollars with our reassessment initiative.  The town hired Tyler Technologies to collect data.  Updates on the progress of the data collection can be found on the home page of the town website: www.greenburghny.com.  Town Assessor Edye McCarthy and I have been meeting with numerous civic groups during the year answering questions about the reassessment process. This is the first time in over 60 years that all properties are being reassessed.  Once reassessment is completed there will be more stability, fewer tax certiorari refunds, reduced legal costs.

ABG: While what Mr Feiner says here is technically true, the fact remains he is at the root cause for not doing revaluations. Trying to split the expense of doing revaluations with other communities might have saved us a few dollars, but we paid out millions of dollars to comparatively save pennies. Another example of a lack of management skills and a waste of time meeting with retired local management consultants and corporate executives! His time might be better spent sending less campaign mailings out and enrollment in some management classes.

PF: The town is in the process of moving forward retrofitting our lights to more efficient LED lighting. Taxpayers will be thankful because there will be major savings of taxpayer dollars.

ABG: Mr Feiner and his Board decided to replace current light fixtures and bulbs to an added cost of just over a half a million dollars. Again, what are “the major savings” and how long will it take for us to reap those benefits? Those questions go unanswered. As does the question of why not wait and replace the fixtures and bulbs through attrition, when the equipment actually fails?

PF: John Sexton was appointed the new Library Director. Thanks to the Greenburgh Library Foundation and a grant from NYS, the library has invested in two self check machines that allow patrons to check out their own library materials --saving staff time and costs.

ABG: Congratulations and good luck to Mr Sexton. The Greenburgh Library has a competent staff who are usually eager to assist but has remained a political football for Mr Feiner and the the Library Board. That said, the two check-out stations will certainly alleviate the ill-conceived and ill-placed check out desk that routinely finds itself backed up with patrons checking out books, cd’s and dvd’s. Again, how much savings in staff time and costs are we netting? Please provide facts and figures. As for saving staff time, they work in the library and are doing library tasks. Whatever they are doing is their job. More importantly, ABG would like to see Mr Feiner and his Board stop holding the Library budget hostage each year just to prove he can.

PF: Town Clerk Judith Beville has been overseeing our internship program for students. Many students have worked on interesting projects during the year and summer months. In 2014 one of our summer interns was profiled by SUNY Albany as one of their outstanding students and featured on WCBS radio for the work she did as an intern. And, last year a student intern was selected to compete in a game of JEOPARDY (he won a game!).  We continued training students interested in a career  in journalism with our student news network program.

ABG: Thankfully, the Town Clerk’s department is staffed by some very competent people, allowing Ms Belville to spend her invaluable time with extraneous affairs that will do little to improve the Town’s operation, cost-effectiveness, communications and more likely furthers her political employ. Perhaps she should be focusing on improving the new video systems that have not worked properly since being upgraded.

PF: Veterans Living history initiative -- Alan Hochberg and Steve Wittenberg have already conducted over 125 interviews of World War II and Korean conflict veterans. These interviews are broadcast non stop during the Memorial Day and Veterans day weekends. Each of the interviews is about half hour long.  A new committee made up of veterans is planning a Veterans memorial at DeSanti Park on E Hartsdale Ave.

ABG: While the Veteran’s Living History idea is a good one, and we believe in giving convicted criminals a second chance, we are not happy about how convicted felon Alan Hochberg tried to position himself a veteran and reap whatever accolades he could from that. We wonder, once a criminal...?

PF: The Town Board created a new Human Rights Liaison Committee to work with the Westchester County Human Rights Commission.

ABG: This seemed to be a duplicative committee. But it’s always Mr Feiner who says we should do away with County government. So this is contradictory and perhaps simply a political positioning move.

PF: Union Baptist Church located on Manhattan Ave celebrated their 100th birthday this year. Dobbs Ferry Lutheran Church celebrated their 75th!

ABG: Congratulations to both Houses of Worship!

PF: Edgemont schools was named the best school district in the United States by www.businessinsider.com.

ABG: Edgemont has had numerous feuds with Mr Feiner and his Town Board, which sits poised to incorporate and get out from under the Towns horrible fiscal, failing infrastructure, tax and legal incompetence. Nothing about the Edgemont schools is attributable to the Town and is in part why the Edgemont Community is so critical of Mr Feiner and his Board’s actions.

PF: The Greenburgh School district (previously called Central 7) is partnering with the town - working on a very exciting ACE mentoring program. Students who attend the school district will be able to mentor with architects and engineers. Participating students will be eligible for scholarships of between $1,000 and $10,000. Tahira Chase was appointed the Interim School Superintendent this year.  The mentoring program for architects and engineers will start in January, 2015.

ABG: While we endorse almost anything to help improve our students, this limited program does nothing to allow help to the majority of students who may not be of the same academic accomplishments as hopeful engineers. Mr Feiner and his Town Board have absolutely no input or gravitas in this program. Congratulations to Tahira Chase on being appointed the INTERIM School Superintendent. What does this have to do with an engineering program?

PF: Westchester County is continuing to work on replacing the Crane Road bridge. Some residents of Edgemont complained that work was taking place throughout the evening -disrupting sleep.  I think that governments and contractors that do construction work during the evening should be required to offer immediate neighbors a free hotel room while the  overnight work takes place-if the work will continue past midnight and into the early morning hours. We did this a number of years ago when a shopping center in Greenburgh was repaving their parking lot during evening hours.

ABG: While its always good to sympathize with residents, this is exactly the type of thing local elected officials should be addressing for their constituents. We’re sure Mr Feiner has done his usual rope-a-dope and sent letters to other elected officials seeking them to get involved with correcting this travesty but doing little if anything himself.

PF: The town completed a stormwater project in December after we received  a grant from the Bronx River Watershed initiative to redevelop the northeastern portion of the Town Hall parking lot. The goal: to implement storm water retrofit project capable of providing water quality treatment for stormwater runoff from existing impervious areas. Impervious surfaces have a direct connection to pollutants located within storm water runoff and the quality treatment of existing impervious areas with the Bronx River watershed

ABG: While this sounds phenomenal, it does little if anything to help residents in the area as once the riverbed overflows with flood waters, the residents homes get flooded. This project was like throwing stones to fill the Grand Canyon. We’ve written many times about how to address the flooding problem. Unfortunately, the Town, County and State all sit on their thumbs and do nothing to provide any actions to give relief to the river-bound area residents. And, while there was a lot of hoopla around cleaning the debris from the Saw Mill River in Elmsford, that was a directive conceived and implemented by the Village of Elmsford, not the Town. Nothing like that has even been attempted or done at the Bronx River.

PF: We’re moving ahead with rezoning plans to allow for car dealerships on Central Ave.  Significant tax revenues!  807 building permits were issued in 2014 (as of last week) compared to 627 in 2004.

ABG: What the Town is actually doing for the three car dealerships is passing new zoning restrictions preventing new car dealerships from opening on Central Avenue in the Greenburgh stretch of Central Avenue! This scheme was concocted by the three existing auto dealers and their attorney's to prevent future competition from entering “their” space. Many believe these actions border on anti-trust liability for the Town although our über-legal department believes otherwise.

PF: Saks 5th Ave outlet is opening up their new store on Route 119. The new outlet might motivate other high end stores to consider Central Ave and 119 for their stores in the coming years.  A new yogurt store on E Hartsdale Ave is a big success. And- Ben’s deli will  open up their new deli on Central Ave in January, 2015.  The Zoning Board granted Deli Delicious (deli located on Route 119) permission to proceed with their application for a drive through window.

ABG: Saks 5th Avenue OUTLET is not the same as their flagship store opening. Since Mr Feiner lacks any business acumen, he is remiss in believing this will start a spurt of high end retailers to locating on Central Avenue or even in Greenburgh. Congratulations to Ben’s Deli upon their impending opening. We understand that Town bureaucracy has slowed their opening. The final atrocity is the Deli Delicious drive-through window, allowing for the entire property to be paved with blacktop, setbacks ignored and trees removed.

PF: 40 years ago I got my start in public life by successfully pushing for the closing of the Bronx River parkway on Sundays for bicyclists. In 2014 Bicycle Sundays celebrated their 40th anniversary.

ABG: While this is a nice idea, although not practical, the County struggles each year to find funds to pay for the enormous overtime required to afford County Police officers to work this event. This is the same County government and workers Mr Feiner seeks to eliminate.

PF: A gun range on Ardsley Road was shut down by Con Ed after bullet fragments hit a woman. Other bullet fragments were found on residential properties. Since this incident I have been contacted by others around the state who have experienced similar problems. We learned that outdoor gun ranges are not regulated by the state or federal governments.  A new state of the art indoor gun range opened in a commercial area of Greenburgh (Elmsford) this fall.

ABG: First, Mr Feiner said he wanted to close this outdoor gun range housed in a sunken quarry and surrounded by rock walls to the applause of residents. Second, Mr Feiner lied to the public at a Town Board meeting when he said he didn’t want to close the gun range down. Then he proceeded to send out emails via the GBList endorsing a shutdown. The gun range had safely existed for about 70 years without incident. While we don’t doubt something hit the leg of a resident, the lab results were inconclusive and did not substantiate the claims made against the gun range. It didn’t matter. Mr Feiner made up his mind to close the range and that’s what happened. The outdoor range offered an environment that cannot be duplicated for police officers to learn in. Yes, there is an indoor range opened in North Elmsford that we understand will charge about twice as much and not be available as much to the gun enthusiasts.

PF: Over 5 years ago I organized a job club that has assisted the unemployed find work. We’ve helped over 200 people find part time or full time jobs. WJCS, the library and I also co-sponsor job forums during the year with excellent speakers who have helped people improve their job search strategies.

ABG: Sadly, there are no employment agencies in Greenburgh or our area and are relieved Mr Feiner is filling that void. At least Mr Feiner doesn’t have any Town issues requiring his time.

PF: Garrett Duquesne is the new Commissioner of Planning. The Comprehensive Plan Committee is revising their draft plan, based on community input. The new plan, once adopted by the Town Board will help us attract and keep businesses in the town, thereby improving our tax base.

ABG: First, congratulations to Mr Duquesne. We have always believed him to be forthright and pleasant to work with and wish him well. Second, the Comprehensive Plan could have been released earlier but Mr Feiner routinely added more issues for them to address every time a political hot potato landed in his lap. The first draft release found many, many issues that the residents and civic groups disagreed with. There were also many points added by former Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden who had his own agenda for Town-wide expansion. Thankfully, he has left us. We await the final draft.

PF: Working with Edgemont community leaders and residents of the unincorporated section of Hastings on child pedestrian safety initiatives --which hopefully will lead to more sidewalks near schools.  Have been in contact with Congressional representatives and the United States Department of Education to learn more about federal grants that will be made available to local governments for sidewalk construction.  The police department and Town Board approved the installation of no parking signs during school hours on Seely Place.

ABG: The safety issues were brought to the attention of the police and Town Board through a video presentation and many parents complaining. Ironically, the parents are a large group of the offenders. Let’s hope the police can do something positive before someone gets hurt.

  

PF: Hastings on Hudson initiated an interesting deer birth control study. They hope to bring down the deer population by 35-45% over five years. They seek to inoculate as many does as can be reasonably captured during the period allowed by the DEC license with a immunocontraceptive. they will repeat the effort over 4 subsequent years monitoring whether the deer population drops.  If the Hastings experiment works Greenburgh might be interested in expanding the initiative.

ABG: Where is the Greenburgh Nature Center, our Animal Control people and frankly, hunters? We can cull the growing deer population as had been done in the past and it would be quicker than doing another study. We hate to quote Greenburgh’s new slogan so soon, but “Why fix it when we can talk about it?”

PF: I received many complaints early this year about mail delivery and worked with United States Postal authorities and our congressional representatives to improve service. There has been a significant drop in complaints.

ABG: Could the drop in complaints be that the Post Office ignores them all and people just give up? It’s just like trying to get action from Town Hall.

PF: New water meters have enabled the water department to monitor individual water usage. We look for variances in usage and when someone’s water use is higher than it usually is we contact them to determine if there is a leak. We have saved some residents thousands of dollars.

ABG: There it is again, “We have saved some residents thousands of dollars.” And again, there is no actual amount of money proffered. Could it be because it didn’t happen?

PF: Thankful to the snow angels, TV angels who volunteer their time helping the disabled and elderly clear their driveways of snow and remove old TV sets to the highway garage.

ABG: While it’s good to help others and there is nothing wrong with his snow angels program, its also called being neighborly when you help a senior citizen or disabled neighbor with snow removal. Most people just don’t use it as a campaign tool.

PF: construction has started on a 22 unit affordable housing at the old waterwheel property in Ardsley. The new affordable housing units, once it opens up, will offer volunteer firefighters and municipal workers needed affordable housing opportunities. The building should be completed in 2015.  17 units will be affordable. 5 workforce housing.  Brightview Assisted Living facility is under construction in the Glenville/Tarrytown section of unincorporated Greenburgh.

ABG: The Waterwheel project had been broached years ago and turned down. What the above point makes is that 17 units will be offered through a lottery to residents throughout the state and 5 units will go to Ardsley volunteers or municipal workers. It’s pure hype. Brightview, amidst picketing by area unions for unfair wages being paid, will not allow Greenburgh residents on Medicare to move in there. And, the zoning that was created for the entire Town was specifically written by and will benefit Brightview, not the surrounding neighborhood.

PF: Mariano Rivera, one of the most dominant relievers in major league history opened up the Elmsford Little League games earlier this season.  ALSO PLEASED that Madison Square Garden recently responded to a request I made to allow a limited number of students to visit their training facility which is located in Greenburgh ---and to interact with some of the stars at the facility.  The first tour (with about 20 students) will take place in January, 2015.  Had the honor of shaking the hand of President Obama when he visited Tarrytown earlier this year to discuss the Tappan Zee bridge construction project.

ABG: Mariano did visit the Elmsford Little League, but Mr Feiner had nothing to do with it. The MSG organization routinely offers tours and having the President come to Westchester only highlighted the lack of traffic solutions currently suffered by residents and guests.

PF:  The town opened to residents new outdoor exercise equipment at Travis park.  A new playground at Yosemite Park also was dedicated.

ABG: The new exercise equipment at Yosemite Park was not the brainchild of or implemented by Mr Feiner. But we’re happy to see it there anyway.

PF: The town has been working with residents of Edgemont on improving pedestrian safety at the Seely place School. No parking signs from 7 AM to 9 AM and 2 dPM to 4 PM on Seely Place and Henry Street were placed. We are considering constructing more sidewalks near schools around the town and have reached out to the federal and state governments expressing interest in applying for funding.

ABG: We’ve already commented on some of this. However, Mr Feiner loves to talk about sidewalks and then turn his back on those neighborhoods seeking them. The saving grace here is that it is the affluent area of Edgemont and their threats to Incorporate would have a devastating effect on Town finances in general and the taxpaying public as well.

PF: Progress is being made to complete the missing link at the South County Trail between warehouse lane and Main Street in Elmsford. Westchester County has proposed an 8 foot wide 3,300 long asphalt pathway .

ABG: While this is nice, it is all County controlled and Mr Feiner and the Town have no dog in this race.

We haven’t gone in depth with the Fortress Bible settlement ($6.5Million), still abandoned WestHelp ($1.2Million/yr+daily deterioration and remained purposely off of Mr Feiner's list), Tax Certiorari refunds, Frank’s Nursery property ($3.5Million), Massage Parlors, Dromore Road, Sidewalks, Million-dollar payments for property, Video department issues and more. Don’t worry, the truth must prevail and as such, we’ll be back with more real information for you.