The Greenburgh Water Department announced their annual maintenance program to operate and flush fire hydrants for the week beginning Monday, October 17, 2016 thru Friday, October 21, 2016 beginning in the Knollwood Area.This action is necessary to make sure the fire hydrants are in good working order in case of emergencies and to help flush sediment out of the distribution system.
The hydrant flushing and operating action will take place during the day from 9:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. Greenburgh Water District Customers in the neighborhoods listed and the immediate vicinity should expect temporary periods of discolored water and lowered pressure resulting from this maintenance operation. This discoloration consists primarily of harmless silt and air and does not affect the safety of the water. For further information, customers may contact the Greenburgh Water Department at 914-989-1900 or visit the Town websitewww.greenburghny.com.
- KNOLLWOOD AREA
- MAYFAIR ACRES, including roads near Knollwood Road, Manor Drive, Buena Vista Drive and Chelsea Road.
- PARKWAY HOMES, including roads near Hillside Avenue, Old Tarrytown Road, North Road, South Road, Maryton Road, Lawrence Drive, Virginia Road.
- VALIMAR
- WYNDOVER PARK, including roads near Old Kensico Road, County Center Road, Winnetou Road, and The Woodlands.
Please be advised that flushing may cause water pressure variations and discoloration of water. This does not represent a health hazard. However, customers are cautioned to determine if the water is clear before washing clothes (or any other processing) as staining may occur. If you experience discoloration in your water after crews have been flushing in your neighborhood, clear the pipes in your home by running cold water faucets for a few minutes. The water is absolutely safe. However, to avoid any inconvenience, we suggest you monitor the water before doing any laundry and keep water in the refrigerator for drinking and cooking.
Showing posts with label Parkway Homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parkway Homes. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2016
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Must Someone Else Die?
Many residents have indicated that speeding is an issue on their neighborhood streets. Occasionally, the police department will send a car to monitor and maybe even write a couple of tickets. But the fact is, there are too many streets, too many cars and too few police officers to stop them. We won’t bother discussing whether or not ticket quotas exist because most people already have an opinion about that. What we will discuss is that common, small infractions seem to either go unnoticed or unticketed because they are a nuisance to the police. Infractions such as illegal lane changes, using a cell phone while driving, failure to signal and so on are the ones routinely excused - unless if there's an accident.
An officer we spoke to said he was doing speed control but only issued one ticket and about half a dozen warnings after radar-checking one particular neighborhood for an hour. He said he gave warnings to those speeding between the posted 30mph speed limit and up to 40mph. His hope was it might filter back to family and friends, with word ultimately getting back to them to slow them down. He also said that every neighborhood he does this in finds the residents are among the many speeding culprits! Either we don't have enough police officers doing traffic enforcement or enough resources for them - or both. It all comes down to money.
The Town’s Police Department budget is controlled by the Town Board. The Police Chief submits his budget request to Mr Feiner and his Town Board. Then the dance begins. Actually, the dance happens with all of the assorted Town Commissioners each year at budget time. The past several budgets have been trumpeted by Mr Feiner as being below the New York State 2% Tax Cap. Sadly, the public is being scammed by Mr Feiner’s well-honed lie originated in Albany and perpetuated here in Greenburgh that while we stayed under the 2% Tax Cap, our tax increase (this year) was 3.4%. Caveat emptor or willfully ignorant.
Regardless, the Police Chief submits what he needs and during the subsequent dance, perhaps even before and after it, Mr Feiner tells the department head to find something to cut so he can issue multiple press releases about how he found fat and made cuts in the budget. Then there's several other press conferences and releases about the budget being under the tax cap again, once upon a time Greenburgh was the 80th best place to live, essential services were maintained while staying under the 2% Tax Cap and so on. Publicity Paul will use a host of press releases, interviews and physical mailings. He'll also use the illegally held GBList. That's the email list that he and the Town are stalling the release of to Dorrine Livson of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association after going to court and being court-ordered to give it to her under the Freedom of Information Law.
Mr Feiner's latest folly is a new traffic sign that announces how many tickets have been issued on a particular street supposedly for speeding. The issue at hand with this is that the Town is abdicating their responsibility for traffic enforcement by relying on a sign, crossed fingers and the hope that drivers will slow down. This very definitely compromises our residents and guests' safety and well-being. Also, Mr Feiner has over-advertised the new sign as his panacea for publicity, informing speeders town-wide that there are no cops nearby and speed away! So as drivers barrel on down the road,we have Publicity Paul (aka Pinocchio Paul, Posturing Paul, Federal Felon Feiner) to thank. If speeding is to be controlled by a sign, what's our next policing move? Another traveling sign to announce how many break-ins a particular neighborhood has had? By posting a sign and advertising there are no police nearby, will crime now rise?
Another conversation with a Town police officer said Feiner's sign publicity has started a firestorm of requests at police headquarters. Apparently, since Promising Paul has been asking for suggestions on its placement, the police have been inundated with requests for the sign. While we tip our hat to Preposterous Paul for another great deflection and latest the publicity coup, these requests indicate the seriousness of the speeding problem throughout the Town and the residents' desperation for relief. The Town Board has green-lighted almost every project for the last 22-years, the tenure of multiple Feiner Administrations, without having a coinciding traffic plan to control flow of traffic, speeding, parking and the like.
Similarly, many neighborhoods ask for speed bumps/humps, stop signs, rumble strips, even red light cameras to try to slow speeders. Each time the subject is broached with Town leaders and police representatives they are given a plethora of reasons as to why their requests cannot be delivered. They're told speed bumps can't be used to control traffic, they hold water and increase flooding on our already flood-prone streets. They're told you can't put in rumble strips, you can't have an officer doing speed control because of budget constraints. They're told they cannot install stop signs to control traffic. We can't do this and we can't do that? But what can they do? Apparently, more they tell us.
In one of his almost daily campaign mailings, Mr Feiner said the following:
It appears that stop signs can be installed to control traffic flow. This is exactly what residents from several neighborhoods have been asking for. It's just so sad that a death had to occur for this to happen. The real point however, is while the stop signs may help control traffic in the future, would they have prevented this unfortunate death? Must someone else die before we see the installation of stop signs, traffic lights, controlled pedestrian crossing areas and other solutions?
With elections approaching, this will be one of the best pieces of campaign fodder Mr Feiner has dreamed up. He will have the signs installed, send out multiple press releases, have several press conferences at the sight, posture about it at numerous Town Board meetings and lament that they cannot do this in more neighborhoods because he's limited in spending due to the NYS 2% Tax Cap - which his Town Board could vote to ignore. He'll continue on that he is committed to safety and improving our neighborhoods. Look for another sign saying that since the stop signs were installed, "X" amount of tickets have been written and "X" amount of lives have been saved.
There are serious traffic issues growing with every development Mr Feiner and his Town Board approve. Coincidentally, corresponding traffic control is noticeably absent. As our budget resources dwindle, our police department is being pushed to do more with less. Let's see how many more of the signs Mr Feiner plans to distribute throughout our Town affecting your safety and the safety of your families and visitors. Must someone else die to get action throughout our Town? This has to change. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.
An officer we spoke to said he was doing speed control but only issued one ticket and about half a dozen warnings after radar-checking one particular neighborhood for an hour. He said he gave warnings to those speeding between the posted 30mph speed limit and up to 40mph. His hope was it might filter back to family and friends, with word ultimately getting back to them to slow them down. He also said that every neighborhood he does this in finds the residents are among the many speeding culprits! Either we don't have enough police officers doing traffic enforcement or enough resources for them - or both. It all comes down to money.
The Town’s Police Department budget is controlled by the Town Board. The Police Chief submits his budget request to Mr Feiner and his Town Board. Then the dance begins. Actually, the dance happens with all of the assorted Town Commissioners each year at budget time. The past several budgets have been trumpeted by Mr Feiner as being below the New York State 2% Tax Cap. Sadly, the public is being scammed by Mr Feiner’s well-honed lie originated in Albany and perpetuated here in Greenburgh that while we stayed under the 2% Tax Cap, our tax increase (this year) was 3.4%. Caveat emptor or willfully ignorant.
Regardless, the Police Chief submits what he needs and during the subsequent dance, perhaps even before and after it, Mr Feiner tells the department head to find something to cut so he can issue multiple press releases about how he found fat and made cuts in the budget. Then there's several other press conferences and releases about the budget being under the tax cap again, once upon a time Greenburgh was the 80th best place to live, essential services were maintained while staying under the 2% Tax Cap and so on. Publicity Paul will use a host of press releases, interviews and physical mailings. He'll also use the illegally held GBList. That's the email list that he and the Town are stalling the release of to Dorrine Livson of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association after going to court and being court-ordered to give it to her under the Freedom of Information Law.
Mr Feiner's latest folly is a new traffic sign that announces how many tickets have been issued on a particular street supposedly for speeding. The issue at hand with this is that the Town is abdicating their responsibility for traffic enforcement by relying on a sign, crossed fingers and the hope that drivers will slow down. This very definitely compromises our residents and guests' safety and well-being. Also, Mr Feiner has over-advertised the new sign as his panacea for publicity, informing speeders town-wide that there are no cops nearby and speed away! So as drivers barrel on down the road,we have Publicity Paul (aka Pinocchio Paul, Posturing Paul, Federal Felon Feiner) to thank. If speeding is to be controlled by a sign, what's our next policing move? Another traveling sign to announce how many break-ins a particular neighborhood has had? By posting a sign and advertising there are no police nearby, will crime now rise?
Another conversation with a Town police officer said Feiner's sign publicity has started a firestorm of requests at police headquarters. Apparently, since Promising Paul has been asking for suggestions on its placement, the police have been inundated with requests for the sign. While we tip our hat to Preposterous Paul for another great deflection and latest the publicity coup, these requests indicate the seriousness of the speeding problem throughout the Town and the residents' desperation for relief. The Town Board has green-lighted almost every project for the last 22-years, the tenure of multiple Feiner Administrations, without having a coinciding traffic plan to control flow of traffic, speeding, parking and the like.
Similarly, many neighborhoods ask for speed bumps/humps, stop signs, rumble strips, even red light cameras to try to slow speeders. Each time the subject is broached with Town leaders and police representatives they are given a plethora of reasons as to why their requests cannot be delivered. They're told speed bumps can't be used to control traffic, they hold water and increase flooding on our already flood-prone streets. They're told you can't put in rumble strips, you can't have an officer doing speed control because of budget constraints. They're told they cannot install stop signs to control traffic. We can't do this and we can't do that? But what can they do? Apparently, more they tell us.
In one of his almost daily campaign mailings, Mr Feiner said the following:
"Speeding
on South Road and North Road has always been a concern of residents of
Parkway Gardens and Parkway Homes. The Greenburgh Town Board will vote
on Wednesday,
October 14th to accept the Police department’s recommendation to add an
“all way” stop sign at South Road at the intersection of Jackson Place
and at North Road at the intersection of Jackson Place. Earlier this
year there was a fatal hit and run accident
on South Road. It’s the desire of the Greenburgh Police department and
Town Board to make all of our roads safer and to improve the quality of
life for residents. Greenburgh Police Chief Chris McNerney and his
traffic safety officers deserve our thanks for
their follow up on this important safety initiative and for meeting
with community members prior to making this recommendation."
It appears that stop signs can be installed to control traffic flow. This is exactly what residents from several neighborhoods have been asking for. It's just so sad that a death had to occur for this to happen. The real point however, is while the stop signs may help control traffic in the future, would they have prevented this unfortunate death? Must someone else die before we see the installation of stop signs, traffic lights, controlled pedestrian crossing areas and other solutions?
With elections approaching, this will be one of the best pieces of campaign fodder Mr Feiner has dreamed up. He will have the signs installed, send out multiple press releases, have several press conferences at the sight, posture about it at numerous Town Board meetings and lament that they cannot do this in more neighborhoods because he's limited in spending due to the NYS 2% Tax Cap - which his Town Board could vote to ignore. He'll continue on that he is committed to safety and improving our neighborhoods. Look for another sign saying that since the stop signs were installed, "X" amount of tickets have been written and "X" amount of lives have been saved.
There are serious traffic issues growing with every development Mr Feiner and his Town Board approve. Coincidentally, corresponding traffic control is noticeably absent. As our budget resources dwindle, our police department is being pushed to do more with less. Let's see how many more of the signs Mr Feiner plans to distribute throughout our Town affecting your safety and the safety of your families and visitors. Must someone else die to get action throughout our Town? This has to change. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
A Rebuttal to: Ethics Anyone, or Foxes in the Henhouse?
ABG posted a story on November 3rd regarding a number of people we felt were in collusion with Mr Feiner seeking a pre-ordained outcome for a building expansion. Collusion seems to happen often in the Town and ABG finds ourselves writing about them quite often – more often than we would like. Regardless, ABG received a letter from Mr Nicholas DeCicco refuting much of what we had posted about his participation of what took place. He asked for an opportunity to set the record straight and after discussing the events with him, feel it is only fair to do so.
After discussing the entire issue with Mr DeCicco, we feel he has presented a compelling argument. While the past cannot be changed, we applaud Mr DeCicco’s efforts to help improve our Town and look forward to hearing from him in the future. Here are Mr DeCicco’s points in their entirety:
Thanks for your time and willingness to make some corrections and hopefully allow the facts to be presented in an accurate context.
Despite my best efforts to comply with every rule during my campaign in 2011, I missed something. Yes I was thrust into my first election with only 4 weeks left to go, BUT NO MATTER HOW ODD OR UNIQUE THE RULE WAS IT WAS STILL MY RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW IT. I took accountability and reimbursed the host of the dinner party in question. Allowing the situation to be represented as anything more than an honest oversight which I took responsibility for and fixed is all together unfair and inaccurate. I believe it is fair to point out that:
1) I was RECUSED from the Deli Delicious Zoning Board application several weeks BEFORE the “fund raiser” and vote, and thus had no ability to vote on or discuss it. The Ethics Board specifically found that I properly and immediately recused myself and abided by said recusal.
2) I had no prior relationship at all with anybody associated with the Deli and recused myself IMMEDIATELY upon a potential conflict arising. Once Mr. Pateman called me to propose the event I called Mr. Belasco* the very next day to tell him I was recused from the Deli case (Mr. Belasco sent an email to the Ethics Board verifying this).
3) I did not “resign” from the ZBA. While I was not consulted about moving to the Planning Board, there was no gap in service from my 6 years on the ZBA through my appointment onto the PB.
After discussing the entire issue with Mr DeCicco, we feel he has presented a compelling argument. While the past cannot be changed, we applaud Mr DeCicco’s efforts to help improve our Town and look forward to hearing from him in the future. Here are Mr DeCicco’s points in their entirety:
Thanks for your time and willingness to make some corrections and hopefully allow the facts to be presented in an accurate context.
Despite my best efforts to comply with every rule during my campaign in 2011, I missed something. Yes I was thrust into my first election with only 4 weeks left to go, BUT NO MATTER HOW ODD OR UNIQUE THE RULE WAS IT WAS STILL MY RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW IT. I took accountability and reimbursed the host of the dinner party in question. Allowing the situation to be represented as anything more than an honest oversight which I took responsibility for and fixed is all together unfair and inaccurate. I believe it is fair to point out that:
1) I was RECUSED from the Deli Delicious Zoning Board application several weeks BEFORE the “fund raiser” and vote, and thus had no ability to vote on or discuss it. The Ethics Board specifically found that I properly and immediately recused myself and abided by said recusal.
2) I had no prior relationship at all with anybody associated with the Deli and recused myself IMMEDIATELY upon a potential conflict arising. Once Mr. Pateman called me to propose the event I called Mr. Belasco* the very next day to tell him I was recused from the Deli case (Mr. Belasco sent an email to the Ethics Board verifying this).
3) I did not “resign” from the ZBA. While I was not consulted about moving to the Planning Board, there was no gap in service from my 6 years on the ZBA through my appointment onto the PB.
4) No “settlement” was negotiated with the Ethics Board. At the very first meeting I explained the situation, offered to reimburse the host, and asked the complainant to withdraw – he refused. After the second meeting, I submitted sworn statements attesting to all of the above and checks showing repayment – The complainant again refused to withdraw.
5) The EB dismissed numerous frivolous accusations.
6) At the complainant’s insistence the board was forced to issue a decision dismissing all but one violation (for which they imposed NO PENALTY) based upon an obscure rule which stated a board member could not accept a political contribution from an associate of a person who had an application before the Town within the past 12 months. Once confronted with this odd rule, my contention was that it was not intended to “get” somebody who properly recused beforehand (as I had done) but to “get” somebody who actually votes for an application and then several months down the road accepts such contribution. But the “look back” was there, without qualifiers, so apparently applicable.
7) Even a member of the Ethics Board stated this rule was unique to Greenburgh, and that my action of immediate and prior recusal would have been more than sufficient in any other municipality.
8) I did not say I was unaware Mr. Pateman had a professional relationship with the Deli – such awareness was the reason for my immediate recusal once the dinner was presented to me. I did not realize that attending such would still be prohibited even though I was previously recused from the matter. I fully believed I was in compliance because of my prior recusal and such belief was more than reasonable as Greenburgh's rule prohibiting such is unique (see #7).
9) I reimbursed the host on my own accord after only two meetings with the EB. This was exceptionally fast as in comparison “Cookie-Gate” took 3 years, and most other complaints typically take several months or years.
10) The Ethic’s Board imposed NO PENALTY, only asking me to verify the reimbursement checks were cashed and state I would not accept a future contribution to make-up for the reimbursement.
For proper context I think it is important to note the complainant was a financial contributor to, political district leader for, close friend to, political advisor to, and main proponent of my then opponent. Perhaps all that played a role here when the simple gesture of a phone call prior to filing the complaint could have resolved any issues without dragging our Town through the mud and hurting so many people.
If the integrity of the system and holding officials accountable was truly the purpose of this complaint, then when it was clear the integrity of the vote was upheld because of my prior recusal and nonexistent relationship with the Deli, that through my history, actions, and sworn statements my only intent was to be in compliance, that the rule in question was obscure, and I was nonetheless holding myself accountable by reimbursing the host – why be importunate for a written decision which will last in perpetuity? Why go for blood?
Perhaps the ulterior goal was to make me look bad and deter me from running in the future? Perhaps that’s why out-of-context information was continually posted on the complainant’s public community Facebook page, which never acknowledged my prior recusal or all the dismissed allegations, and my replies to relevant postings were always deleted but the complainant’s comments remained? Bottom line, if the Ethics Board didn’t believe I was being open and honest they could have issued far more serious repercussions than “verify the reimbursement checks are cashed.”
ABG - There are plenty of bad things going on in this Town and I FULLY support your efforts to call them out. If I ever step out of line intentionally I would expect to be called out too. If I ever do so inadvertently, I would hope to be given a chance to take accountability and fix the issue, and not be wrapped up in the same package as those who continually do wrong on purpose and try to get away with.
My integrity and desire to help our Town be a better place is always paramount and the filter through which all decisions are made.
Thanks,
Nick
* Steve Belasco was the Chair for the Zoning Board of Appeals and has since passed away.
5) The EB dismissed numerous frivolous accusations.
6) At the complainant’s insistence the board was forced to issue a decision dismissing all but one violation (for which they imposed NO PENALTY) based upon an obscure rule which stated a board member could not accept a political contribution from an associate of a person who had an application before the Town within the past 12 months. Once confronted with this odd rule, my contention was that it was not intended to “get” somebody who properly recused beforehand (as I had done) but to “get” somebody who actually votes for an application and then several months down the road accepts such contribution. But the “look back” was there, without qualifiers, so apparently applicable.
7) Even a member of the Ethics Board stated this rule was unique to Greenburgh, and that my action of immediate and prior recusal would have been more than sufficient in any other municipality.
8) I did not say I was unaware Mr. Pateman had a professional relationship with the Deli – such awareness was the reason for my immediate recusal once the dinner was presented to me. I did not realize that attending such would still be prohibited even though I was previously recused from the matter. I fully believed I was in compliance because of my prior recusal and such belief was more than reasonable as Greenburgh's rule prohibiting such is unique (see #7).
9) I reimbursed the host on my own accord after only two meetings with the EB. This was exceptionally fast as in comparison “Cookie-Gate” took 3 years, and most other complaints typically take several months or years.
10) The Ethic’s Board imposed NO PENALTY, only asking me to verify the reimbursement checks were cashed and state I would not accept a future contribution to make-up for the reimbursement.
For proper context I think it is important to note the complainant was a financial contributor to, political district leader for, close friend to, political advisor to, and main proponent of my then opponent. Perhaps all that played a role here when the simple gesture of a phone call prior to filing the complaint could have resolved any issues without dragging our Town through the mud and hurting so many people.
If the integrity of the system and holding officials accountable was truly the purpose of this complaint, then when it was clear the integrity of the vote was upheld because of my prior recusal and nonexistent relationship with the Deli, that through my history, actions, and sworn statements my only intent was to be in compliance, that the rule in question was obscure, and I was nonetheless holding myself accountable by reimbursing the host – why be importunate for a written decision which will last in perpetuity? Why go for blood?
Perhaps the ulterior goal was to make me look bad and deter me from running in the future? Perhaps that’s why out-of-context information was continually posted on the complainant’s public community Facebook page, which never acknowledged my prior recusal or all the dismissed allegations, and my replies to relevant postings were always deleted but the complainant’s comments remained? Bottom line, if the Ethics Board didn’t believe I was being open and honest they could have issued far more serious repercussions than “verify the reimbursement checks are cashed.”
ABG - There are plenty of bad things going on in this Town and I FULLY support your efforts to call them out. If I ever step out of line intentionally I would expect to be called out too. If I ever do so inadvertently, I would hope to be given a chance to take accountability and fix the issue, and not be wrapped up in the same package as those who continually do wrong on purpose and try to get away with.
My integrity and desire to help our Town be a better place is always paramount and the filter through which all decisions are made.
Thanks,
Nick
* Steve Belasco was the Chair for the Zoning Board of Appeals and has since passed away.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Running Scared 2
There is a distinct interest in the Primary race for the Democratic Party endorsement. Depending with whom you ask, either opponent may seem to have the edge as the frontrunner. The reality of slowly unmasking Mr Feiner’s track record is happening daily and exposing him as the ungracious, scheming career politician he has evolved (perhaps de-volved) into. Somewhere, somehow, during his 22-year tenure, something snapped, changing him from the young, helpful politician into the grumpy, Tammany Hall-like insider. Twenty-two years ago there were many people who felt compelled to support him when he first took office. He was a breath of fresh air after a developing and maturing Greenburgh began to feel weighted under an aging Anthony Veteran.
In the beginning, Mr Feiner seemed like a viable and even welcomed choice – a breath of fresh air. Mr Veteran advanced his years in office and continued his agenda, whatever it was. People tired as he progressed but didn’t give them whatever they or their special interest group requested. The “young guy” studied the history and once he got into office, he used it to his advantage. While he is an incompetent leader and manager, he has mastered history and has been using it for the last 22 years to his advantage. Although, it appears we haven’t learned from history and are once again repeating it.
Robert “Bob” Bernstein, is an attorney, community leader, and family man from the Edgemont section of Greenburgh. He has earned a local reputation as a ethical person who puts his principles before politics. He is the challenger for the Town Supervisor position against Mr Feiner, touching on topical issues of the day involving the Town, our Town Board and others issues affecting Greenburgh taxpayers. He recently addressed a group of voters in the Worthington section of the Town after attending a four-hour church mass in another part of Town.
In his presentation to this group of neighbors provided insight toward his improving the operations of the Town government, a respect for residents and a more cooperative give-and-take between the two. He cited examples of mismanagement, arrogance and a willingness by Mr Feiner to repeatedly break the law. He pointed in the direction of the former Frank’s Nursery, stating that Mr Feiner refused an offer twice that of his preferred lowest bidder, with no strings attached. He further pointed out that there is still no action with that property. He discussed the WestHelp debacle that was started two years earlier by Mr Feiner by not renewing the WestHelp contract from the County guaranteeing the Town $1.2 million. He talked about flooding, revaluation, and our increasing rise in taxes. The list was almost endless but the audience remained engaged and rewarded with thoughtful, intelligent answers to their questions. If only the Town Board meetings were run the same way.
The Town has had 22-years of an abandoned constituency in the Unincorporated portion of the Town, a decaying infrastructure, bullying and abuse of employees, losses in court exceeding millions and millions of dollars and certiorari adjustments to businesses throughout the Town by Mr Feiner and his hand-picked cohorts. It’s time for the residents of Greenburgh to get something better. This September 10, is the Democratic Primary for Greenburgh. ABG encourages all Democrats to study the topics affecting the Town and make an informed decision by participating in the Primary process. Your vote can make a difference and lead us toward a Better Greenburgh.
In the beginning, Mr Feiner seemed like a viable and even welcomed choice – a breath of fresh air. Mr Veteran advanced his years in office and continued his agenda, whatever it was. People tired as he progressed but didn’t give them whatever they or their special interest group requested. The “young guy” studied the history and once he got into office, he used it to his advantage. While he is an incompetent leader and manager, he has mastered history and has been using it for the last 22 years to his advantage. Although, it appears we haven’t learned from history and are once again repeating it.
Robert “Bob” Bernstein, is an attorney, community leader, and family man from the Edgemont section of Greenburgh. He has earned a local reputation as a ethical person who puts his principles before politics. He is the challenger for the Town Supervisor position against Mr Feiner, touching on topical issues of the day involving the Town, our Town Board and others issues affecting Greenburgh taxpayers. He recently addressed a group of voters in the Worthington section of the Town after attending a four-hour church mass in another part of Town.
In his presentation to this group of neighbors provided insight toward his improving the operations of the Town government, a respect for residents and a more cooperative give-and-take between the two. He cited examples of mismanagement, arrogance and a willingness by Mr Feiner to repeatedly break the law. He pointed in the direction of the former Frank’s Nursery, stating that Mr Feiner refused an offer twice that of his preferred lowest bidder, with no strings attached. He further pointed out that there is still no action with that property. He discussed the WestHelp debacle that was started two years earlier by Mr Feiner by not renewing the WestHelp contract from the County guaranteeing the Town $1.2 million. He talked about flooding, revaluation, and our increasing rise in taxes. The list was almost endless but the audience remained engaged and rewarded with thoughtful, intelligent answers to their questions. If only the Town Board meetings were run the same way.
The Town has had 22-years of an abandoned constituency in the Unincorporated portion of the Town, a decaying infrastructure, bullying and abuse of employees, losses in court exceeding millions and millions of dollars and certiorari adjustments to businesses throughout the Town by Mr Feiner and his hand-picked cohorts. It’s time for the residents of Greenburgh to get something better. This September 10, is the Democratic Primary for Greenburgh. ABG encourages all Democrats to study the topics affecting the Town and make an informed decision by participating in the Primary process. Your vote can make a difference and lead us toward a Better Greenburgh.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Babble Mode
Its almost guaranteed for every Town meeting. Mr Feiner rambles on waiting for one of the other Board members or Town Attorney to stop him before he says something incriminating, über-ridiculous or simply not true. Its similar to the drunk uncle at a wedding who, once he gets a hold of the microphone, everyone will role their eyes and wonder what embarrassment is about to come? Rarely, is there the miracle of silence or a self-imposed conclusion.
Mr Feiner is again running for re-election after being Town Supervisor for 22-years. We ask ABG readers to evaluate his record and decide for themselves if he is really our best choice? AGB knows most people only listen to sound bytes and read the headlines from his conspicuous and sometimes concurrent weekly campaign mailings under the guise of community updates from the Supervisor’s office. While many people are able to financially afford Mr Feiner’s gross mismanagement of the Town, ethically and morally there are others that have been championing doing the right thing. This November election Mr Feiner has a credible foe with Edgemont’s Democrat Supervisor candidate and challenger, Robert (Bob) Bernstein, a community leader and activist.
Mr Bernstein was endorsed by the Greenburgh Democrats 54% to incumbent Mr Feiner’s 35% at their nominating convention. At the same convention they also nominated incumbents Diana Juettner and Francis Sheehan. They seem to work at the behest of Mr Feiner and rarely oppose him for fear of being “Sonya’d” out of the inner circle. You may also recall that Ms Juettner was also found guilty with Mr Feiner in the Fortress Bible Church guilty verdict. ABG wonders when disbarment proceedings will begin against her and Mr Feiner? Mr Bernstein, along with Retired Town Justice Herb Rosenberg of Dobbs Ferry intervened on behalf of the Town of Greenburgh in a lawsuit by the Valhalla School District for $4.6M and subsequently recovered more than $1.1M for the Town taxpayers after Mr Feiner repeatedly made payments (re: payoffs) to them.
At the last Town Board meeting Mr Feiner was in “Babble Mode” numerous times. “Fair, open and transparent, bidding process, RFP process, confident we did the right thing...” the list of catch-phrases he knows to use that the media will attribute to him are many. The reality is our Supervisor, with our Town Board of enablers, uses the Unincorporated Town as his playground making illogical and bad decisions after bad decisions. And each time one of these is brought up by either the G10 or another Town resident, he’ll go into “Babble Mode”. One thing he is well-known for saying, even emphasizing is that, “This is just my opinion, nobody else’s.” Or, he will stammer, “Speaking just for me, I um, would, um be in favor of this. I’m just speaking for me.”
ABG staffers always cringe when we hear him say this. It’s ludicrous that as the Supervisor, he is injecting his personal opinion into a public session when he is supposed to be neutral. His personal opinions are just that, personal, and should stay that way. As the Supervisor he is always the Supervisor and his personal opinions are moot, similar to how a police officer is always considered a police office even if he is not working or on duty. He is the representative for all of the Town residents and should not be taking sides – period. But our Supervisor, laden with self-generated issues of developer back-room deals and meetings (re: Westhab, Stop & Shop, Cumberland Farms, Toll Brothers, Brightview, EastView, etc.), spot-zoning changes (re: Westhab, Stop & Shop, Cumberland Farms, Brightview, etc.), unaddressed flooding of neighborhoods (re: Fulton Park, Babbitt Court), lawsuits (too numerous to list), guilty verdict judgements (re: one is Fortress Bible), intentionally silencing the public (re: Town Board meetings), developers writing Town laws (re: Westhab, Brightview, Eastview), fee and tax increases against our businesses to assist one over others (re: Apple Farm, Cumberland Farms) and fiscal improprieties (re: WestHelp, Frank’s Nursery, Teamster & CSEA Town contracts), lack of infrastructure repairs, the list seems unending. Mr Feiner skirts the boundaries of the law to give his developer friends advantages and breaks no residential taxpayer could dream of. But because the law technically wasn’t broken, Mr Feiner can get away with what he does.
Under Mr Feiner’s rein, the Town taxpayers have experienced 102% water rate increases, 54% Unincorporated area tax increases, 145% tax increases to Village residents and revaluation discussions for years, ultimately costing residents between $100k to $200k per Town Board meeting (sometimes up to $1.2 million). Mr Feiner claims the Town is bound by NY State’s 2% tax cap legislation and there is nothing he can do to help the situation. He and his Board’s caused the situation they cannot fix through inattentiveness, incompetence and lack of managerial or fiscal skills. In fact, the Town could easily go beyond the 2% tax cap as other neighboring communities have done. But Mr Feiner won’t because he wouldn’t be able to brag at election time that he stayed within it. Skillful? Yes. Ethical? No. Damaging to the Town? Absolutely!
Mr Bernstein offers a beleaguered and faltering Town a positive alternative. Mr Feiner has gotten used to abusing his authority in the Town against the private and commercial residents. Each time Mr Feiner and his Board screw-up, residents managed to get screwed too. Mr Bernstein has repeatedly acted in the best interests of the Town with issues such as WestHelp, Frank’s Nursery, requests from the Town’s legal department with issues beyond their capabilities, the Brightview project, and Cumberland Farms and more. The list of Mr Bernstein’s assistance is almost a long as Mr Feiner’s failures.
This September 10th is the Democratic primary that will decide which of these two candidates will receive the Democratic endorsement and run as the democratic candidate. There is no Republican candidate for Supervisor as the Westchester and Greenburgh Republican party have abandoned Greenburgh. So the choices should be rather straight-forward for Greenburgh residents. ABG believes the choice is clear. Please learn more about the records of each candidate and help make Greenburgh better. Imagine, a better Greenburgh.
Mr Feiner is again running for re-election after being Town Supervisor for 22-years. We ask ABG readers to evaluate his record and decide for themselves if he is really our best choice? AGB knows most people only listen to sound bytes and read the headlines from his conspicuous and sometimes concurrent weekly campaign mailings under the guise of community updates from the Supervisor’s office. While many people are able to financially afford Mr Feiner’s gross mismanagement of the Town, ethically and morally there are others that have been championing doing the right thing. This November election Mr Feiner has a credible foe with Edgemont’s Democrat Supervisor candidate and challenger, Robert (Bob) Bernstein, a community leader and activist.
Mr Bernstein was endorsed by the Greenburgh Democrats 54% to incumbent Mr Feiner’s 35% at their nominating convention. At the same convention they also nominated incumbents Diana Juettner and Francis Sheehan. They seem to work at the behest of Mr Feiner and rarely oppose him for fear of being “Sonya’d” out of the inner circle. You may also recall that Ms Juettner was also found guilty with Mr Feiner in the Fortress Bible Church guilty verdict. ABG wonders when disbarment proceedings will begin against her and Mr Feiner? Mr Bernstein, along with Retired Town Justice Herb Rosenberg of Dobbs Ferry intervened on behalf of the Town of Greenburgh in a lawsuit by the Valhalla School District for $4.6M and subsequently recovered more than $1.1M for the Town taxpayers after Mr Feiner repeatedly made payments (re: payoffs) to them.
At the last Town Board meeting Mr Feiner was in “Babble Mode” numerous times. “Fair, open and transparent, bidding process, RFP process, confident we did the right thing...” the list of catch-phrases he knows to use that the media will attribute to him are many. The reality is our Supervisor, with our Town Board of enablers, uses the Unincorporated Town as his playground making illogical and bad decisions after bad decisions. And each time one of these is brought up by either the G10 or another Town resident, he’ll go into “Babble Mode”. One thing he is well-known for saying, even emphasizing is that, “This is just my opinion, nobody else’s.” Or, he will stammer, “Speaking just for me, I um, would, um be in favor of this. I’m just speaking for me.”
ABG staffers always cringe when we hear him say this. It’s ludicrous that as the Supervisor, he is injecting his personal opinion into a public session when he is supposed to be neutral. His personal opinions are just that, personal, and should stay that way. As the Supervisor he is always the Supervisor and his personal opinions are moot, similar to how a police officer is always considered a police office even if he is not working or on duty. He is the representative for all of the Town residents and should not be taking sides – period. But our Supervisor, laden with self-generated issues of developer back-room deals and meetings (re: Westhab, Stop & Shop, Cumberland Farms, Toll Brothers, Brightview, EastView, etc.), spot-zoning changes (re: Westhab, Stop & Shop, Cumberland Farms, Brightview, etc.), unaddressed flooding of neighborhoods (re: Fulton Park, Babbitt Court), lawsuits (too numerous to list), guilty verdict judgements (re: one is Fortress Bible), intentionally silencing the public (re: Town Board meetings), developers writing Town laws (re: Westhab, Brightview, Eastview), fee and tax increases against our businesses to assist one over others (re: Apple Farm, Cumberland Farms) and fiscal improprieties (re: WestHelp, Frank’s Nursery, Teamster & CSEA Town contracts), lack of infrastructure repairs, the list seems unending. Mr Feiner skirts the boundaries of the law to give his developer friends advantages and breaks no residential taxpayer could dream of. But because the law technically wasn’t broken, Mr Feiner can get away with what he does.
Under Mr Feiner’s rein, the Town taxpayers have experienced 102% water rate increases, 54% Unincorporated area tax increases, 145% tax increases to Village residents and revaluation discussions for years, ultimately costing residents between $100k to $200k per Town Board meeting (sometimes up to $1.2 million). Mr Feiner claims the Town is bound by NY State’s 2% tax cap legislation and there is nothing he can do to help the situation. He and his Board’s caused the situation they cannot fix through inattentiveness, incompetence and lack of managerial or fiscal skills. In fact, the Town could easily go beyond the 2% tax cap as other neighboring communities have done. But Mr Feiner won’t because he wouldn’t be able to brag at election time that he stayed within it. Skillful? Yes. Ethical? No. Damaging to the Town? Absolutely!
Mr Bernstein offers a beleaguered and faltering Town a positive alternative. Mr Feiner has gotten used to abusing his authority in the Town against the private and commercial residents. Each time Mr Feiner and his Board screw-up, residents managed to get screwed too. Mr Bernstein has repeatedly acted in the best interests of the Town with issues such as WestHelp, Frank’s Nursery, requests from the Town’s legal department with issues beyond their capabilities, the Brightview project, and Cumberland Farms and more. The list of Mr Bernstein’s assistance is almost a long as Mr Feiner’s failures.
This September 10th is the Democratic primary that will decide which of these two candidates will receive the Democratic endorsement and run as the democratic candidate. There is no Republican candidate for Supervisor as the Westchester and Greenburgh Republican party have abandoned Greenburgh. So the choices should be rather straight-forward for Greenburgh residents. ABG believes the choice is clear. Please learn more about the records of each candidate and help make Greenburgh better. Imagine, a better Greenburgh.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Flooding The Town
The intentional title could be about the flood of emails slowly picking up from a nervous Mr Feiner whose monarchy is being threatened. It could be from the water cascading down the 9A and Bronx River corridors like a spring thaw in upstate NY’s Ausable Chasm. It could be from the soon-to-be-normal campaign blitz to re-elect the current and failed Town administration. Indirectly, its about all of them. ABG was begun and has flourished because of issues facing our Town and caused internally. It is because of this that we felt this post is warranted.
Every election cycle seems to find every politician promising the world and delivering only invoices. There are two candidates embroiled in the race for the Democratic endorsement for Town Supervisor in this election cycle. Those two people are the well-honed, incumbent Paul Feiner and his opponent Robert Bernstein. The similarities and differences offered voters is a starkly wide one based on the issues needed to be discerned. This will only further muddy the decision making choices one must make if they plan to vote in the Democratic primary. On the one hand, Mr Feiner has cultivated the appearance of “problem solver” to the unknowing and uninformed public. Mr Bernstein has pointed out that the “problems”, beyond filling a pot hole or trimming a tree, are usually created by Mr Feiner so he can “solve” them.
Incumbents Diana Juettner and Francis Sheehan, also seeking re-election, continue to try to distance themselves from Mr Feiner’s unscrupulous dealings with GameOn 365. Yet, they can’t stray too far from Mr Feiner’s campaign war chest lest they be forced to pay for their campaign themselves. Mr Feiner has always financially sponsored candidates seeking office with him. Since he must run every two years, its that leash that allows him to easily “pull their strings”. Go against him, as Sonya Brown quickly learned, and be jettisoned with a new puppet on his knee. In this post, we won’t even get into the Fortress Bible Church debacle.
Here’s just a few points that can help distinguish the differences and similarities between the candidates. First, the similarities. Please keep in mind that these are not meant to be disrespectful, insulting or accusatory. Both men are near in age, white, Jewish, lawyers–one practicing, one non-practicing, live in upscale homes, are married with children and have been involved with various social issues in different capacities.
Now a few of the differences.
Mr Feiner illegally paid the Valhalla School District millions of dollars as a payoff for accepting WestHelp’s 108 affordable housing units while offering nothing to other Villages or neighborhoods. Mr Bernstein (with retired Justice Herb Rosenberg) recouped some of that money for the Town residents proving in court that Mr Feiner’s actions were illegal.
Mr Feiner chose to let the WestHelp apartments decay in hopes of tearing them down. Mr Bernstein worked independently as well as in concert with the local NAACP to thwart Mr Feiner’s efforts, halting the ruination of these apartments while the County turned a blind eye. That saga is still unfolding.
Mr Feiner insisted the Town Board do their “due diligence” in choosing a management team to oversee the former WestHelp property. Their choice was a non-experienced, new entrant into the mix, Group MRH, ignoring other qualified applicants simply because he promised a higher monthly fee. After doing his own substantive research and “due diligence”, Mr Bernstein conclusively proved that the Feiner-blessed choice, Group MRH, had misrepresented themselves and essentially lied to gain the contract. Mr Bernstein has repeatedly asked the Town Board to disqualify this firm.
Probably the most important aspect of the entire WestHelp debacle is that Mr Feiner arbitrarily took it upon himself to allow the largest income-producing, non-tax revenue funding and allowed it to expire! The County had “gifted” Greenburgh a most lucrative $1.2M per year lease for the WestHelp facility and Mr Feiner chose to allow it to lapse. Mr Bernstein has often stated that this was one of the largest and most costly blunders of this administration affecting the finances of the Town.
Mr Feiner’s most recent tax that he and his Board imposed was onto existing gas stations on the Central Avenue corridor. Mr Bernstein pleaded with Mr Feiner and the Board not to initiate the fee but they would not heed the advice of Mr Bernstein and proceeded anyway. At the last Town Board meeting several service station owners attended the Town Board meeting and lashed out at the Board and Mr Feiner for hurting their businesses while he catered to Cumberland Farms and a few other stations of choice.
Mr Feiner has focused on non-Town issues, such as turning the Tappan Zee Bridge into a park, similar to NYC’s “High-line Park” created from an old elevated train line. Mr Bernstein may be interested in the Tappan Zee project, but it doesn’t affect the Town. Mr Feiner should be focusing on Town issues, such as lowering taxes, reducing waste, and sitting down with the employees of the Town and working out a contract he let go unratified for 4 years. Mr Bernstein remained focused on Town issues. But since Mr Bernstein is not the Town Supervisor, he can focus on whatever he pleases. Focus seems to be an issue with Mr Feiner. Don’t believe us? Ask him a question and see if you get an answer.
Mr Feiner has a grand plan to overdevelop the Rt 119 and 9A corridors with larger, more “city-like” buildings. Mr Feiner’s Board goes along with everything proffered by job-security-seeking Town Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden. There is currently a move on Central Avenue to build a dance studio that was a little bit of everything: business on the bottom, offices on the top and possibly apartments as well. The push was for a 4 to 6-story building. This would be on one of the corners on Central Avenue near the 7-11 and Hess gas station. Mr Bernstein believes in development within reason and adhering to existing zoning. This project is simply too large for the location. But this is the vision Mr Feiner and Mr Madden have for our Town.
Mr Feiner’s administration has perfected their own “cloaking devices”. One such device is the intentionally curtailed development and lethargic implementation of a Town Comprehensive Plan. A town-wide comprehensive plan would severely restrict Mr Feiner and his Board’s ability to spot-zone properties for developers. While spot zoning is illegal, Mr Feiner has perfected the ability to not be held back by zoning laws. Mr Feiner has had 22 years to appoint members of the Planning and Zoning (among others) Boards, virtually assuring agreement and passage of any plan that comes for review. Mr Bernstein may want to consider removing zoning capabilities from the Town Board.
Finally (for now anyway), Mr Feiner has never worked in the private sector. As such, he has no management experience and terms such as Return On Investment (ROI), evaluation metrics, and performance reviews are abstracts to him. Most unqualified people in a significant position would invariably learn while on the job. Yet reviewing numerous projects throughout the Town, morale of our workers (our greatest asset), flooding throughout, spot-zoning, illegal leases, illegal referendums, over-saturation of group homes, developer-centric decisions, over-sized buildings throughout the unincorporated Town, WestHelp, GameOn 365, out-of-control Board members (“Sit down! Sit the F*** down”) keeping the public from speaking and more has proven this is not the case with Mr Feiner. Mr Bernstein brings management experience to the Town and a level-headed sense of what is in the best interest of the Town. Mr Feiner abandoned this quite some time ago. Mr Bernstein has also suggested he would investigate the benefits of hiring a Town Manager/Administrator as that seems to have worked well for the Villages.
There is clearly a difference between the candidates and we look forward to hearing them at several forums prior to the Primary election.
Every election cycle seems to find every politician promising the world and delivering only invoices. There are two candidates embroiled in the race for the Democratic endorsement for Town Supervisor in this election cycle. Those two people are the well-honed, incumbent Paul Feiner and his opponent Robert Bernstein. The similarities and differences offered voters is a starkly wide one based on the issues needed to be discerned. This will only further muddy the decision making choices one must make if they plan to vote in the Democratic primary. On the one hand, Mr Feiner has cultivated the appearance of “problem solver” to the unknowing and uninformed public. Mr Bernstein has pointed out that the “problems”, beyond filling a pot hole or trimming a tree, are usually created by Mr Feiner so he can “solve” them.
Incumbents Diana Juettner and Francis Sheehan, also seeking re-election, continue to try to distance themselves from Mr Feiner’s unscrupulous dealings with GameOn 365. Yet, they can’t stray too far from Mr Feiner’s campaign war chest lest they be forced to pay for their campaign themselves. Mr Feiner has always financially sponsored candidates seeking office with him. Since he must run every two years, its that leash that allows him to easily “pull their strings”. Go against him, as Sonya Brown quickly learned, and be jettisoned with a new puppet on his knee. In this post, we won’t even get into the Fortress Bible Church debacle.
Here’s just a few points that can help distinguish the differences and similarities between the candidates. First, the similarities. Please keep in mind that these are not meant to be disrespectful, insulting or accusatory. Both men are near in age, white, Jewish, lawyers–one practicing, one non-practicing, live in upscale homes, are married with children and have been involved with various social issues in different capacities.
Now a few of the differences.
Mr Feiner illegally paid the Valhalla School District millions of dollars as a payoff for accepting WestHelp’s 108 affordable housing units while offering nothing to other Villages or neighborhoods. Mr Bernstein (with retired Justice Herb Rosenberg) recouped some of that money for the Town residents proving in court that Mr Feiner’s actions were illegal.
Mr Feiner chose to let the WestHelp apartments decay in hopes of tearing them down. Mr Bernstein worked independently as well as in concert with the local NAACP to thwart Mr Feiner’s efforts, halting the ruination of these apartments while the County turned a blind eye. That saga is still unfolding.
Mr Feiner insisted the Town Board do their “due diligence” in choosing a management team to oversee the former WestHelp property. Their choice was a non-experienced, new entrant into the mix, Group MRH, ignoring other qualified applicants simply because he promised a higher monthly fee. After doing his own substantive research and “due diligence”, Mr Bernstein conclusively proved that the Feiner-blessed choice, Group MRH, had misrepresented themselves and essentially lied to gain the contract. Mr Bernstein has repeatedly asked the Town Board to disqualify this firm.
Probably the most important aspect of the entire WestHelp debacle is that Mr Feiner arbitrarily took it upon himself to allow the largest income-producing, non-tax revenue funding and allowed it to expire! The County had “gifted” Greenburgh a most lucrative $1.2M per year lease for the WestHelp facility and Mr Feiner chose to allow it to lapse. Mr Bernstein has often stated that this was one of the largest and most costly blunders of this administration affecting the finances of the Town.
Mr Feiner’s most recent tax that he and his Board imposed was onto existing gas stations on the Central Avenue corridor. Mr Bernstein pleaded with Mr Feiner and the Board not to initiate the fee but they would not heed the advice of Mr Bernstein and proceeded anyway. At the last Town Board meeting several service station owners attended the Town Board meeting and lashed out at the Board and Mr Feiner for hurting their businesses while he catered to Cumberland Farms and a few other stations of choice.
Mr Feiner has focused on non-Town issues, such as turning the Tappan Zee Bridge into a park, similar to NYC’s “High-line Park” created from an old elevated train line. Mr Bernstein may be interested in the Tappan Zee project, but it doesn’t affect the Town. Mr Feiner should be focusing on Town issues, such as lowering taxes, reducing waste, and sitting down with the employees of the Town and working out a contract he let go unratified for 4 years. Mr Bernstein remained focused on Town issues. But since Mr Bernstein is not the Town Supervisor, he can focus on whatever he pleases. Focus seems to be an issue with Mr Feiner. Don’t believe us? Ask him a question and see if you get an answer.
Mr Feiner has a grand plan to overdevelop the Rt 119 and 9A corridors with larger, more “city-like” buildings. Mr Feiner’s Board goes along with everything proffered by job-security-seeking Town Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden. There is currently a move on Central Avenue to build a dance studio that was a little bit of everything: business on the bottom, offices on the top and possibly apartments as well. The push was for a 4 to 6-story building. This would be on one of the corners on Central Avenue near the 7-11 and Hess gas station. Mr Bernstein believes in development within reason and adhering to existing zoning. This project is simply too large for the location. But this is the vision Mr Feiner and Mr Madden have for our Town.
Mr Feiner’s administration has perfected their own “cloaking devices”. One such device is the intentionally curtailed development and lethargic implementation of a Town Comprehensive Plan. A town-wide comprehensive plan would severely restrict Mr Feiner and his Board’s ability to spot-zone properties for developers. While spot zoning is illegal, Mr Feiner has perfected the ability to not be held back by zoning laws. Mr Feiner has had 22 years to appoint members of the Planning and Zoning (among others) Boards, virtually assuring agreement and passage of any plan that comes for review. Mr Bernstein may want to consider removing zoning capabilities from the Town Board.
Finally (for now anyway), Mr Feiner has never worked in the private sector. As such, he has no management experience and terms such as Return On Investment (ROI), evaluation metrics, and performance reviews are abstracts to him. Most unqualified people in a significant position would invariably learn while on the job. Yet reviewing numerous projects throughout the Town, morale of our workers (our greatest asset), flooding throughout, spot-zoning, illegal leases, illegal referendums, over-saturation of group homes, developer-centric decisions, over-sized buildings throughout the unincorporated Town, WestHelp, GameOn 365, out-of-control Board members (“Sit down! Sit the F*** down”) keeping the public from speaking and more has proven this is not the case with Mr Feiner. Mr Bernstein brings management experience to the Town and a level-headed sense of what is in the best interest of the Town. Mr Feiner abandoned this quite some time ago. Mr Bernstein has also suggested he would investigate the benefits of hiring a Town Manager/Administrator as that seems to have worked well for the Villages.
There is clearly a difference between the candidates and we look forward to hearing them at several forums prior to the Primary election.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Divide and Conquer and Bid Rigging
At the last Town Board meeting, where new Councilman Ken Jones hurled the “F-bomb” at resident Hal Samis for approaching the dais, the G10 were in attendance and in good form. Speaker after speaker continued to harangue the Board for not doing their “due diligence” regarding the allegedly fabricated partnership of Group MRH and the Richman Corporation by Group MRH’s principal. Richman is well-known for their work in affordable housing throughout the nation. Regardless of what was presented, the Board feigned interest with their residents and either walked out or directed their attention to their personal electronic devices. ABG acknowledges that the exception may be momentarily acceptable to check a device, but this Board is worse than a young teen with their first phone (or A.D.D).
Also at the last meeting the public was treated to a new catch-phrase from Mr Feiner. He decided he would attack the residents questioning his motives regarding WestHelp since he lost that challenge. His lack of due diligence and feckless ability to broker a beneficial deal for the Town, or for that matter, any deal for the Town keeps our Town spiraling out of control. The list of Mr Feiner’s recent and ignored debacles awaits poised for his re-election bid this Tuesday night at Greenburgh Town Hall.
This reminds us of when democrats were using the facility to make phone calls for President Obama’s re-election campaign and Republican Chairman Doug Colety found out that a political party was using Town resources for campaigning and caught Mr Feiner red-handed supplying the use of Town Hall by a political party without charging for its use. Embarrassed? Doubtful. ABG has repeatedly heard that Mr Feiner is without the “shame” gene. But, he did request they pay a token amount. And, in typical knee-jerk fashion, the Town Board “wrestled” with how much to charge any group using Town Hall property? As always, after they all postulated, they offered no solution. Ms Ella Preiser informed them of a policy already on the books for years, citing chapter, verse and date of adoption, and that they should simply follow it. Ockham’s Razor; also doubtful in Greenburgh. Let’s see if the Town receives a check from the Democratic Party for this nominating convention?
As Mr Feiner continues the wholesaling of the Unincorporated Town to developers, residents are challenged by his divide and conquer strategy, all the while sitting in either increased traffic or flooded neighborhoods. He wrongfully assumes they cannot possibly have the resources to effectively battle him, deeming himself unstoppable. In concert with Mr Feiner is his “Fidus Achates”, Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden, whose title seems to grow in propensity with the need cover Mr Feiner’s litigiousness butt. Mr Madden bristles as he presents every proposal to the Town Board with an implied endorsement, ensuring job security. Mr Feiner relishes these exhortations, perched from the dais like the buzzard eyeing a carcass from afar, never once disagreeing or instructing Mr Madden to, “Sit down. Sit the F*** down!”
Here’s a few examples:
The Edgemont Community Council has been directing their efforts to dealing with the Dromore Road zoning and building conflagrations and slowly making headway. Fulton Park’s Civic Association is dealing with Westhab’s building construction violations to no avail and will next be addressing the Deli Delicious drive-through requests yet again - if they can get through the backed-up traffic jams on their overburdened street. The Parkway Homes Civic Association found themselves surprised with Mr Feiner’s “slipping” another group home into an already saturated area at 88 North Road. Low and behold, Councilman Ken Jones is a member and said nothing to his neighborhood. The Glenview Civic Association has had its issues with the Brightview Assisted Living facility that asked for, wrote and received the zoning change from the Town Board to increase the size of their building and any others built throughout the Town in the future. They had just finished with all the Stop and Shop problems and violations only for Mr Feiner to find a speck of undeveloped property in their neighborhood he would “gift” a developer. The Village of Ardsley will be getting at least half a million dollars from the sale of the Town-owned, foreclosed upon former-Water Wheel property while other Villages and the Unincorporated Town watch helplessly in disbelief. Of course, the Cumberland Farms deception on Central Avenue hosted a look at ways the Town Board could charge all Central Avenue Service Stations a several thousand dollar fee (read: tax) based on their distorted view of how to reward existing businesses in the Town. Let’s not forget the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association’s recent request to meet with the Town Board to discuss the GameOn 365 propos...oh wait a minute, Mr Feiner and his Board just pushed that through without a public meeting after promising to propose a few dates for them all to sit down together to discuss it. The guilty verdict against the Town for the illegal sewer district billing by the Southern Greenville Civic Association area keeps those people occupied as the Town still hasn’t followed the court-ordered restorations and refunds. While we’re in that neighborhood, lets not ignore the Toll Brothers development that has constantly and continues to violate many of the Town’s building regulations. Apparently, Mr Feiner is happy to look the other way himself and ignore others that work for him doing the same. Of course in Valhalla, Mr Feiner led the charge to break the lease stipulations with the County for the WestHelp facility, allowed it to deteriorate and try to add a new tenant that he did not have authority to do. Fortunately, NYS shot down this bad idea and insisted the affordable housing remain just that. And while we would love to see legal action taken against him for doing this, it would be counterproductive and only cost us more money in guilty verdict judgments. The north Elmsford-area Civic Association of the Town will now be trying to reign in Mr Feiner with the 100 acres (50 in Greenburgh and 50 in Mt Pleasant) of construction near and on the old Union Carbide property, increasing car and truck traffic to an already impossible traffic situation on Rt 9A and other area roads. Increasingly record setting flooding will continue to hammer anything south of the area during a “regular” rainfall. On Taxter Road we’ll see 400 more condominiums being built. White water rafting to Ardsley may be a new sport in Elmsford with each rainfall. Back on the Bronx River side of the Town, Mr Feiner has done nothing to help those residents and businesses with any type of flood relief maintenance.
In every instance mentioned above, its believed developers secretly met with Mr Open Government himself or Mr Madden to craft what they would need to promise the Town to move ahead with their plans. The Fortress Bible Church refused to offer the fire district a donation per Mr Feiner’s request and met only resistence with their proposed church and school. The Hebrew Retire Center on Grasslands road conceded and their expansion plans sailed through the Town’s bureaucracy like a hot knife through butter. Fortress Bible Church sued and won, with the settlement award to be upwards of $8M!
Mr Feiner accused the residents of bid rigging at the last Town Board meeting but has been proven to be the only suspect of bid rigging in the Town. And where is our Town Board? Surely the Board members who are attorneys can see they are not upholding their “Officer of the Court” status with their condonation of all of these actions and bad decisions. We can only wait and see what happens with the nominations at the democratic meeting to invariably be held at no charge at Town Hall. We hope the democrats have someone able and willing to challenge Mr Feiner. His time has past. We need to get back to healing our Town without being divided and certainly never conquered!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Openly Trying To Discredit Residents
The last Town Board meeting devolved toward the end of the second public comment session as Board members ignored the speaker to use their electronic devices. Ironically, the Town Councilman, well-paid as part-time employees and vested for life after 5 years, have decided to limit public comment by ending the meetings with a self-imposed and arbitrary ending time of 11PM. Apparently holding open meetings or having open government meetings is also a part-time thing when the Town leadership incompetently decides to do whatever they want. If the meetings started on time, ABG would agree to the 11PM curfew. Since, however, Mr Feiner and his Board have turned the first hour and sometimes two into a campaign circus, it defies logic, decorum and protocol to censure our residents by ending the meetings at 11PM.
Many residents spoke at the first public comment session from the podium and complained there was no money appropriated in the capital budget for sidewalks. Fulton Park Vice President Tom Bock said he too, was dismayed there was no money for sidewalks in the capital budget. He also stated the speeding on Old Kensico Road has increased now that the Town leveled and paved the street. Mr Feiner then went on a rant about this street in particular needs sidewalks and deflected the conversation around sidewalks and not of speeding cars and trucks. He spoke of the state’s sidewalk program along Central Avenue and wondered aloud if he could use those funds to build the sidewalks. He also asked Mr Bock if he would want to reach out to the residents on Old Kensico Road or want the Town to do so. Town Attorney Tim Lewis said there would be legal issues such as the need to shovel snow off of the sidewalk in the winter, removing plants upon installation, etc. Recognizing there are legal considerations that would need to be addressed, Mr Bock requested the Town query the residents as to the viability of a sidewalk. Mr Bock’s concern for the safety of pedestrians on the street with the increased speeding was genuine.
Several days later a letter was sent out by Mr Feiner. ABG believes it was crafted in hopes of trying to discredit Mr Bock. This is a ploy often utilized by Mr Feiner when a community leader goes against him. This letter was completely disingenuous and entirely misrepresented Mr Bock’s argument – about speeding and enforcement. In fact, if you watch the exchanges between Mr Bock and Mr Feiner, at no time did Mr Bock request sidewalks. Rather, he was seeking solutions for the increased speeding on his street. It was Mr Feiner who chose to bring up sidewalk installation on Old Kensico Road. So we wonder if speeding will continue as police cruisers continue to drive with the flow of traffic and write zero tickets for fear of offending area residents? It’s all about safety.
Here’s the text of Mr Feiner’s letter with subsequent comments in blue to his points:
Watch the exchange at:
http://greenburghny.swagit.com/play/05082013-689 and advance to the time 45:22.
Mr Feiner’ survey would have been more meaningful, helpful and honest if he included several real considerations as part of his survey, something along these lines:
Many residents spoke at the first public comment session from the podium and complained there was no money appropriated in the capital budget for sidewalks. Fulton Park Vice President Tom Bock said he too, was dismayed there was no money for sidewalks in the capital budget. He also stated the speeding on Old Kensico Road has increased now that the Town leveled and paved the street. Mr Feiner then went on a rant about this street in particular needs sidewalks and deflected the conversation around sidewalks and not of speeding cars and trucks. He spoke of the state’s sidewalk program along Central Avenue and wondered aloud if he could use those funds to build the sidewalks. He also asked Mr Bock if he would want to reach out to the residents on Old Kensico Road or want the Town to do so. Town Attorney Tim Lewis said there would be legal issues such as the need to shovel snow off of the sidewalk in the winter, removing plants upon installation, etc. Recognizing there are legal considerations that would need to be addressed, Mr Bock requested the Town query the residents as to the viability of a sidewalk. Mr Bock’s concern for the safety of pedestrians on the street with the increased speeding was genuine.
Several days later a letter was sent out by Mr Feiner. ABG believes it was crafted in hopes of trying to discredit Mr Bock. This is a ploy often utilized by Mr Feiner when a community leader goes against him. This letter was completely disingenuous and entirely misrepresented Mr Bock’s argument – about speeding and enforcement. In fact, if you watch the exchanges between Mr Bock and Mr Feiner, at no time did Mr Bock request sidewalks. Rather, he was seeking solutions for the increased speeding on his street. It was Mr Feiner who chose to bring up sidewalk installation on Old Kensico Road. So we wonder if speeding will continue as police cruisers continue to drive with the flow of traffic and write zero tickets for fear of offending area residents? It’s all about safety.
Here’s the text of Mr Feiner’s letter with subsequent comments in blue to his points:
Dear Old Kensico Road Neighbor:
This note is being written as a follow up to the recent Greenburgh Town Board meeting. A resident of your street, Tom Bock, approached the Town Board and suggested that we fund the construction of a sidewalk on Old Kensico Road. NOT TRUE. MR BOCK APPROACHED THE BOARD AND EXPLAINED THAT SPEEDING HAS INCREASED WITH THE NEWLY PAVED ROAD. The benefit of a sidewalk: pedestrian safety. CORRECT.
In the event that the town is able to construct a sidewalk on Old Kensico Road, residents would be responsible for clearing snow from the sidewalk during winter months and would be subject to fines if the sidewalks are not maintained. In addition, bushes, trees, walls, obstructions would be removed from the town right of way. CORRECT I checked with the Town Attorney who advised that in most cases the town owns 25' of the property next to the road. NOT TRUE. THE TOWN OWNS 25FT FROM THE CENTER OF THE ROAD INTO THE PROPERTY FOR A TOTAL OF 25FT.
We are researching whether the town can legally construct new sidewalks in residential neighborhoods without imposing a fee on the homeowners who live next to the sidewalks. NOT TRUE. MR FEINER SPOKE ONLY OF STATE FUNDING FOR THIS PROJECT AT THE TOWN BOARD MEETING AND NEVER SUGGESTED RESIDENTS OF OLD KENSICO ROAD PAY FOR THE SIDEWALK. I would appreciate it if you would complete the following survey and return it to rne. THIS IS NOT AN ACCURATE SURVEY. We will try to be responsive to neighborhood concerns. NOT TRUE. HE SEEKS ONLY A ‘NO’ RESPONSE TO BE ABLE TO DENY NOT WANTING TO HELP THE RESIDENTS.
Feel free to contact rne anytime I can be of help.
LIMITED SURVEY RESPONSES:
( ) Yes! I would like a sidewalk in front of my house on Old Kensico Road.
( ) No. I don't want a sidewalk.
( ) Yes ( ) No I would only support a sidewalk if the cost of the sidewalk is paid for by residents who live all over the town.
( ) Yes ( ) No I would support a sidewalk if a special sidewalk district is created - and residents of Old Kensico Road are asked to absorb the costs of the sidewalk.
http://greenburghny.swagit.com/play/05082013-689 and advance to the time 45:22.
(Please check as many as applicable)
Want/ Don’t want a sidewalk:
( ) Yes, I would like a sidewalk either in front of my property or opposite mine.
( ) No, I don’t want a sidewalk.
( ) Yes, I am willing to investigate a sidewalk district and once the information of that is gathered, sit down at a community meeting to discuss it and then make a determination.
( ) Yes, I am willing to keep it clean from snow and debris as long as the Town maintains the sidewalk.
Funding A Sidewalk
( ) Yes, I am willing to contribute if it is paid for by a town-wide assessment.
( ) Yes, I am in favor of seeking County, State and/or Federal funds to build a sidewalk on our street.
( ) Yes, I would like a sidewalk as long as the Town allocates funds yearly for the maintenance of it in the budget.
( ) No, I don’t want to contribute as my taxes are high enough and I shouldn’t have to “pay per project”.
( ) No, I don’t want yet another taxing district in the Town.
( ) No, I don’t want to contribute as my taxes are high enough and I shouldn’t have to “pay per project”.
( ) No, I don’t want yet another taxing district in the Town.
( ) No, I don’t believe the residents should fund this sidewalk
( ) No, I don’t believe the residents of Old Kensico Road should fund this sidewalk.
As you can see, there are far too many questions that should be asked about this proposal from Mr Feiner that were not. Old Kensico Road residents should not be forced to pay for a Town sidewalk as it is not for their use only and not owned by them, but rather, benefits all in the Town. The letter sent was eerily similar to the referendum Mr Feiner offered during the last election ensuring a “Yes” vote for GameOn 365’s illegal lease. Crafted for adishonest reason will generate dishonest results that Mr Feiner will use any chance he gets.
It’s a shame that Mr Feiner put political capital ahead of public safety simply to “best” a concerned resident. Is it any wonder that residents refuse to attend Town Board meetings and even speak? It’s these kinds of actions that distinguish themselves, separating the good leaders from the bad. We seem to be in a morass of bad leaders. This was a poorly veiled attempt to discredit Mr Bock and the safety issue he continues to raise on Old Kensico Road. Unfortunately for pedestrians, while Mr Feiner may think he has won, ABG believes Mr Bock is in the right and will prevail. Let’s pray no one gets struck and injured or worse by a car or truck in the meantime.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Town Votes To Object To State Against Group Home
After another presentation from the Richmond Community Services, the state agency seeking to build a group home on 88 North Road in the Parkway Homes section of Fairview, the neighborhood made their case again for the over-saturation and changing landscape this project would cause if built. ABG noted previously that Councilman Ken Jones neglected to inform his neighborhood of this proposal. ABG isn’t sure if he was feeling guilty for that or truely believes what his neighbors were saying, but he made the motion today for the Town to officially object to the State to this group home being constructed at 88 North Road. As expected, and clearly unable to recognize and vote for adhering to Town law, The Paul voted against the motion. His reasoning was that he was for group homes. Unable to see that this was not what the motion was about, Councilman Jones explained that he heard the neighborhood speak and is following local Town law about having a minimum distance of at least 2000 feet between group home facilities. Councilman Sheehan concurred, saying the nearest property was just over 1,000 feet away. Had this been 2001 feet, he would have not voted in favor of the motion to object.
At this point, proceeding with the home is temporarily put on hold until there is a hearing with the State. There is an agreement in place to purchase the property assuming the State gives the green light for this project. While the arrogance of the State representative at the last Town Board meeting should shed no light on the possible outcome, we can only hope that the State sees the error in choosing this property and looks to situate near similar sized homes where there are no group homes or facilities – say in Boulder Ridge. The residents got their message across to enough Board members this time. The Paul clearly insisted that he wasn’t interested in representing the constituents, only his own personal views towards group homes. Sometimes, as a representative, you must go against your own beliefs and do the right thing. This would have been one of those times as the four to one vote to object was based on Greenburgh law. We can only hope.
At this point, proceeding with the home is temporarily put on hold until there is a hearing with the State. There is an agreement in place to purchase the property assuming the State gives the green light for this project. While the arrogance of the State representative at the last Town Board meeting should shed no light on the possible outcome, we can only hope that the State sees the error in choosing this property and looks to situate near similar sized homes where there are no group homes or facilities – say in Boulder Ridge. The residents got their message across to enough Board members this time. The Paul clearly insisted that he wasn’t interested in representing the constituents, only his own personal views towards group homes. Sometimes, as a representative, you must go against your own beliefs and do the right thing. This would have been one of those times as the four to one vote to object was based on Greenburgh law. We can only hope.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Assaulted From Every Level
The Paul decided a previously thought-to-be untouched neighborhood should have a group home for the developmentally disabled located in it at 88 North Road. He also decided to keep his goal from the neighborhood he was about to punish. Had he included the Parkway Homes neighborhood with his plan in the beginning, he would have learned there were other group homes in the immediate area. The Paul’s actions highlights why we need term limits. The Paul has been in office for so long now, he’s in his 21st year, he has forgotten that he is there to serve the public, not himself, his developer friends, the county or the state! And since the electorate cannot seem to stop reelecting career politicians after a few terms, mandatory exiting through term limits would keep the abuse from perpetuating.
So while The Paul “ghettoizes” Fairview (Alfreda Williams, January 14, 2013, WestHelp Forum in White Plains) with more and more not-for-profits, building homeless/affordable/low-no income/Section 8 and any other type of housing that will not pay taxes, the State has decided to implant it’s own housing in Greenburgh. Why aren’t our elected Greenburgh officials standing up for what our residents want? Did The Paul invite the State to purchase 88 North Road or did the owner of it seek them? Could the State merely have been stumbled upon it? Doubtful. ABG believes The Paul reached out to the State agency and “suggested” 88 North Road to them, promising they will sail right through the approvals/zoning changes, et al, once he makes his Board the project’s lead agency.
In another seemingly shady move, this time from Westchester County and CE Rob Astorino, the County has entered into a deal with a church in Mount Vernon, namely the Friendship Worship Center, on Lincoln Avenue to create a homeless shelter in their basement. The hours of operation for this “warming center” are 9PM until 6AM each day. There are four schools in the nearby vicinity. So once the homeless are asked to leave at 6AM, they will probably be running into teachers, students and their parents arriving at school. It seems we are being assaulted at every level of government with low income and homeless housing. We have the Federal HUD mandate, NY State building out of place group homes in residential neighborhoods, this “paying of churches” by the County, and The Paul saying we should tear down the 108 units in Valhalla that were built specifically for the homeless population. Why so much? Because everyone knows where the money is and simply needs to form a not-for-profit company to jump on the government gravy train.
The homeless problem has lessened a bit in Westchester County, although the frigid weather brings the reality of it right back to our doorstep. Legislator Lyndon Williams made several excellent points in his letter to the County Executive. Here’s an excerpt:
“Addressing the homeless problem is a County obligation that requires a comprehensive long- term, county-wide solution, not a patchwork of fixes in which the homeless population is targeted for tolerant communities like Mount Vernon. Moreover, many of the homeless persons are in need on mental health services, and yet your Administration has closed the County’s mental health clinics that provided such services to this vulnerable population.
Perhaps more than any other community in Westchester, Mount Vernon has done its part in cooperating with the County to address the problems of the poor and vulnerable. However, this City cannot continue to be the dumping ground for all of the social problems of Westchester County, especially when considering that your Administration has eliminated from the 2013 County Budget many of the worthwhile programs that benefit Mount Vernon, like funding for at- risk youth initiatives that have been proven to be quite successful.
I do not want to simply point to the problem without proposing a solution. Therefore, I suggest that the $120,000 awarded to Friendship Worship Center to house the homeless be used instead by the Church to run programs that serve at-risk youth in Mount Vernon.
The shelter program for the homeless, in turn, should be located in the county-owned housing located adjacent to the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla. This facility consists of 108 units of housing that are presently available and unoccupied. The fully equipped facility, which was constructed under the administration of former County Executive Andrew O’Rourke, was intended to house the homeless and that intention should be fulfilled by using it to solve the homeless problem in Westchester County.
It is truly a disgrace that housing specifically constructed to address the problem of homelessness remains vacant while these most vulnerable members of our communities are left to wander the streets, sleep in doorways of buildings and even die in cars in which they reside by necessity. Mr. Astorino, you have an opportunity to change the plight of the homeless by implementing this solution.”
ABG agrees with Legislator Lyndon Williams and hopes the County Executive will heed his plea to not pay off his friends and cronies, use the County taxpayer money properly and reopen the WestHelp housing that sits hostage under The Paul. We can only hope.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The Scent of Blood
There was a palpable tension in the air. The crowd entering Town Hall was angry. Everyone in this crowd was upset from being disrespected and bypassed. This crowd wanted answers. No, this crowd demanded answers. This time the crowd was not in the mood to let The Paul or his Stepford Board off the hook. The Town Board Work Session had spilled over from earlier in the day to a night-time continuation with every seat in the audience filled. The scent of blood was unmistakable. The Paul had done it to another neighborhood again.
The carryover meeting was to discuss the group home proposed to be built on 88 North Road on a now vacant lot. The Paul had been informed of New York State’s intent to build a home there. But The Paul refused to inform the neighborhood. Neither did newly elected Town Councilman Ken Jones, an officer with the Parkway Homes Civic Association! This is a project that The Paul wants built and he made no bones at the work session stating such. He had Tim “Remediation” Lewis even hand out a list of group homes in the Greenburgh area. Ironically, there were no group homes in Boulder Ridge. Know who lives in Boulder Ridge?
The Paul yielded the floor to the two representatives from the State, who laid out their plans. There were several audience members who shouted out comments of displeasure as these two arrogantly stated that New York State can do what they want based on NY law, regardless of what the neighborhoods want or say. It sounded just like The Paul with his pet projects. But the male representative said that even though Towns, Villages and neighborhoods protest, the State agency always wins the case because the New York State law trumps local law. The woman representative said they don’t need to follow local codes and then contradicted that statement later by saying they follow local codes. They tried to say anything to confuse the audience or simply will say what they think people want to hear.
Speaker after speaker took to the podium to explain why they didn’t feel this project should be built at this location. Several speakers asked why some group homes already in the area were not on the list? They were told by these state representatives that sometimes they might miss one. Might miss one? How can that be? But, there seems to be more group homes in the area than the NYS representatives would have us believe. One reason they can get away with this, beyond the reason that they “might have missed one” is semantics. These people were here to build a group home for developmentally disabled men with The Paul’s blessing. That’s considered different than a group home for mentally handicapped or physically disabled men – even though they can be interchangeably defined based on what you need the cause to be. It’s like numbers. You can always manipulate your numbers to give the result you want based on semantics. It’s how The Paul justifies his illegal actions for the $12M in losses the Town has experienced in the last year, beyond certiorari refunds.
The entire two and a half hours of this meeting found everyone in agreement and not wanting this group home. Everyone. While numerous valid reasons were stated, The Paul insisted that the neighborhood association have a few people sit down with the Town Board, whom we know will feign concern for the neighborhood and then go along with The Paul’s desire to have this built. The fact is, this is a Done Deal! The Paul purposely neglected to inform the neighborhood until it was too late for them to stop this from happening! The decision must be rendered by the Town to the State to accept or reject the proposal by February 1! The Paul wants it and he was doing everything he could to block the public from standing in his way of making it happen. Could he be doing this to placate Governor Cuomo after requesting Governor Cuomo’s HUD housing project WestHelp, be torn down?
The Paul unsuccessfully continued to convince this packed room to compromise with the State representatives and to meet again privately with the Board and the State representatives to come up with an acceptable solution for both the State and the neighborhood. The Paul’s insistence on making this happen, trying to schedule more meetings and run down the clock is conclusive proof that this group home has been preordained and he is going to make this happen. Occasionally, Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan would add a comment, Diana “Sleepy” Juettner just sat there and Ken “Newby” Jones mostly sat there, probably realizing he betrayed his neighborhood for the ultimate aphrodisiac – political power. No matter, the neighborhood will forget this in a few months and he’ll be re-elected.
The Board adjoined to Executive Session after abusing the audience to discuss and make decisions they are too embarrassed to have the public witness. Once in the back room for their Executive Meeting ABG can only wonder the verbal beating the Board received from The Paul.
The Paul sent an email out today:
What this email says is what the neighborhood of over a hundred residents wants doesn’t matter. The Paul has decided that this is a done deal because he wants this group home built here. There is no doubt that The Paul pointed this piece of property to the bloodhounds at the Richmond Community Services and said, “Go for it! I'll make sure nothing gets in our way.” His email says “the Town Board has a specific number of days to determine if the Board wants to object.” There is no need for the neighborhood to meet with The Paul and his Board again. They were definitive during the meeting as to what they want the Town Board to do: OBJECT! He continues, “After listening to community concerns the agency has agreed to a one week extension of the Padavan notification timetable till February 8th, 2013.” After listening? They didn’t listen. If they did, they would not have to ask for an extension, they would just OBJECT! “They will be meeting with their architects to discuss the size of the proposed home and landscaping issues.” This again indicates that The Paul isn’t interested in saying, “NO!” to the State, simply finding a way to get what he wants.
The issue at hand is not whether the group home has value. The issue is that The Paul and his Board, and specifically Councilman Ken Jones, predetermined what should happen in the Parkway Homes neighborhood, didn’t inform or include the neighborhood in the decision-making process, made a deal with the state agency and disrespected an entire community. Frankly, ABG is not surprised at The Paul and his Stepford Board’s behavior or decision to circumvent the neighborhood. While not surprised, we are nevertheless disappointed. The residents in Greenburgh are owed, deserve and should receive better from the elected officials. We can only hope.
The carryover meeting was to discuss the group home proposed to be built on 88 North Road on a now vacant lot. The Paul had been informed of New York State’s intent to build a home there. But The Paul refused to inform the neighborhood. Neither did newly elected Town Councilman Ken Jones, an officer with the Parkway Homes Civic Association! This is a project that The Paul wants built and he made no bones at the work session stating such. He had Tim “Remediation” Lewis even hand out a list of group homes in the Greenburgh area. Ironically, there were no group homes in Boulder Ridge. Know who lives in Boulder Ridge?
The Paul yielded the floor to the two representatives from the State, who laid out their plans. There were several audience members who shouted out comments of displeasure as these two arrogantly stated that New York State can do what they want based on NY law, regardless of what the neighborhoods want or say. It sounded just like The Paul with his pet projects. But the male representative said that even though Towns, Villages and neighborhoods protest, the State agency always wins the case because the New York State law trumps local law. The woman representative said they don’t need to follow local codes and then contradicted that statement later by saying they follow local codes. They tried to say anything to confuse the audience or simply will say what they think people want to hear.
Speaker after speaker took to the podium to explain why they didn’t feel this project should be built at this location. Several speakers asked why some group homes already in the area were not on the list? They were told by these state representatives that sometimes they might miss one. Might miss one? How can that be? But, there seems to be more group homes in the area than the NYS representatives would have us believe. One reason they can get away with this, beyond the reason that they “might have missed one” is semantics. These people were here to build a group home for developmentally disabled men with The Paul’s blessing. That’s considered different than a group home for mentally handicapped or physically disabled men – even though they can be interchangeably defined based on what you need the cause to be. It’s like numbers. You can always manipulate your numbers to give the result you want based on semantics. It’s how The Paul justifies his illegal actions for the $12M in losses the Town has experienced in the last year, beyond certiorari refunds.
The entire two and a half hours of this meeting found everyone in agreement and not wanting this group home. Everyone. While numerous valid reasons were stated, The Paul insisted that the neighborhood association have a few people sit down with the Town Board, whom we know will feign concern for the neighborhood and then go along with The Paul’s desire to have this built. The fact is, this is a Done Deal! The Paul purposely neglected to inform the neighborhood until it was too late for them to stop this from happening! The decision must be rendered by the Town to the State to accept or reject the proposal by February 1! The Paul wants it and he was doing everything he could to block the public from standing in his way of making it happen. Could he be doing this to placate Governor Cuomo after requesting Governor Cuomo’s HUD housing project WestHelp, be torn down?
The Paul unsuccessfully continued to convince this packed room to compromise with the State representatives and to meet again privately with the Board and the State representatives to come up with an acceptable solution for both the State and the neighborhood. The Paul’s insistence on making this happen, trying to schedule more meetings and run down the clock is conclusive proof that this group home has been preordained and he is going to make this happen. Occasionally, Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan would add a comment, Diana “Sleepy” Juettner just sat there and Ken “Newby” Jones mostly sat there, probably realizing he betrayed his neighborhood for the ultimate aphrodisiac – political power. No matter, the neighborhood will forget this in a few months and he’ll be re-elected.
The Board adjoined to Executive Session after abusing the audience to discuss and make decisions they are too embarrassed to have the public witness. Once in the back room for their Executive Meeting ABG can only wonder the verbal beating the Board received from The Paul.
The Paul sent an email out today:
The Greenburgh Town Board met last night with representatives of Richmond Community Services and the community to discuss a proposed group home for six developmentally disabled individuals, some wheelchair confined, others with limited mobility. The home is proposed to be located at 88 North Road. According to NYS law the Town Board has a specific number of days to determine if the Board wants to object. After listening to community concerns the agency has agreed to a one week extension of the Padavan notification timetable till February 8th, 2013. They will be meeting with their architects to discuss the size of the proposed home and landscaping issues. Some of the Board members expressed concern about saturation of group homes/non profits in the Fairview section of town.
What this email says is what the neighborhood of over a hundred residents wants doesn’t matter. The Paul has decided that this is a done deal because he wants this group home built here. There is no doubt that The Paul pointed this piece of property to the bloodhounds at the Richmond Community Services and said, “Go for it! I'll make sure nothing gets in our way.” His email says “the Town Board has a specific number of days to determine if the Board wants to object.” There is no need for the neighborhood to meet with The Paul and his Board again. They were definitive during the meeting as to what they want the Town Board to do: OBJECT! He continues, “After listening to community concerns the agency has agreed to a one week extension of the Padavan notification timetable till February 8th, 2013.” After listening? They didn’t listen. If they did, they would not have to ask for an extension, they would just OBJECT! “They will be meeting with their architects to discuss the size of the proposed home and landscaping issues.” This again indicates that The Paul isn’t interested in saying, “NO!” to the State, simply finding a way to get what he wants.
The issue at hand is not whether the group home has value. The issue is that The Paul and his Board, and specifically Councilman Ken Jones, predetermined what should happen in the Parkway Homes neighborhood, didn’t inform or include the neighborhood in the decision-making process, made a deal with the state agency and disrespected an entire community. Frankly, ABG is not surprised at The Paul and his Stepford Board’s behavior or decision to circumvent the neighborhood. While not surprised, we are nevertheless disappointed. The residents in Greenburgh are owed, deserve and should receive better from the elected officials. We can only hope.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Oops! I Did It Again
The January 22nd Town Board meeting found The Paul with his back against the wall – again. This time he neglected to notify the public and specifically the neighborhood, that New York State was moving forward to purchase the vacant property at 88 North Road. Their goal is to build a 3,000 square foot group home for developmentally challenged men. This seemed to be an averaged size crowd of about twenty or so people one expects for a hearing, even though this wasn’t a hearing. It also had some of the G10 in attendance. As we would later learn from every speaker, they had only just found out about this purchase either that day or the day before this meeting.
Richmond Community Services had two representatives speak on behalf of their proposed purchase. They explained that they have 11 similar group homes throughout Westchester. This home would house, “Six young men who have ‘aged out’ from the residential schools they were in as they have all turned 21 years of age.” The term “young men” was used throughout the discussions. ABG finds the use of “young men” somewhat disingenuous in these discussions. While developmentally “young”, these are still men, aged 21 and older who will reside in this home as their permanent residence, for as long as they are alive. The house to be built will have six bedrooms with multiple exits and be handicap accessible.
That these future residents in this future home will be profoundly developmentally disabled and possibly suffer from other medical issues, the representatives claim that their medical needs will be tended to by on-site staff. When pushed a bit, the staff could be specially trained high school graduates. At no point did the representatives state that a live-in nurse, paramedic, EMT or other medically trained professional would be on site. Not allaying neighborhood residents’ concerns whatsoever, the representatives claimed their would be no need for either the police or fire departments to respond to medical emergencies at this location. And while we don’t mind our emergency services responding here, the neighborhood can’t really handle it as a regular occurrence.
After the initial presentation, residents of the Parkway Homes Civic Association and surrounding area spoke. Curiously, ABG’s understanding is that Town Councilman Ken Jones is a Vice President of the Parkway Home Civic Association. Assuming this is true, why didn’t he inform this neighborhood via his position as either Vice President of the Parkway Homes Civic Association or as a member of the Town Council or even individually as a resident walking throughout the neighborhood, telling everyone of the states plans to acquire this property? We can only wonder if he didn’t because The Paul instructed him to stay silent? This isn’t the first time The Paul has not informed neighborhoods of things about to happen and yet he seems to have no problem sending emails at the drop of a hat to boast of an idea for the Tappan Zee Bridge or the Library with a broken furnace.
Speaker after speaker bemoaned the fact that there wasn’t enough time for the neighborhood to respond to this revelation and berated The Pauls behavior toward them regarding such an important change to their neighborhood. Alicia Ford, the President of the Civic Association said the area maintains a Historic Designation, that our taxes are high enough without adding more tax-exempt properties to the Town’s rolls. She stated that there were other group homes in the area, the closest one being on Wyndover Woods Avenue, with 14 residents. She asked what the neighborhood could expect to see after the state decides they no longer wants to house developmentally disabled men there?
Patricia Brown said she lives adjacent to the property and is concerned about the increase in taxes that she, a retired senior citizen, would have to pay to make up for what this home will not pay. “It just isn’t fair to do this to us after working so hard for all of our lives.” Most people agreed that any project that goes onto the 88 North Rd site must be tax generating, otherwise it should not be allowed.
The Paul defended not informing the residents of this proposal as, “It is all my fault for not telling everyone sooner.” The state can come in and simply take over the land with a kind of eminent domain for any property they want and the Town cannot stop them. The only thing they may accept as a reason to not build is a saturation of group homes in the area. Most people are not against group homes if done within reason. If they are going to build a 3K square foot home, it will not match any of the existing houses in the vicinity. It will not blend and actually stick out like a sore thumb.
Fulton Park suffered with a similar problem that Parkway Homes is going through now. The Paul decided that a .7 acre parcel of land should be used by Westhab to build a seven story apartment building and decided that Fulton Park (as well as any neighborhoods) be damned! He spot-zoned the property to accommodate Westhab and like a blitz never seen in our Building, Zoning, and Planning Departments, saw a two-year application and permit process reduced to six months. The Parkway Homes neighborhood has a legitimate complaint. But as we all unfortunately know, The Paul doesn’t care about this neighborhood, only Boulder Ridge – which doesn’t have a group home in it. Maybe the state will change their mind, maybe not. We can only hope.
Richmond Community Services had two representatives speak on behalf of their proposed purchase. They explained that they have 11 similar group homes throughout Westchester. This home would house, “Six young men who have ‘aged out’ from the residential schools they were in as they have all turned 21 years of age.” The term “young men” was used throughout the discussions. ABG finds the use of “young men” somewhat disingenuous in these discussions. While developmentally “young”, these are still men, aged 21 and older who will reside in this home as their permanent residence, for as long as they are alive. The house to be built will have six bedrooms with multiple exits and be handicap accessible.
That these future residents in this future home will be profoundly developmentally disabled and possibly suffer from other medical issues, the representatives claim that their medical needs will be tended to by on-site staff. When pushed a bit, the staff could be specially trained high school graduates. At no point did the representatives state that a live-in nurse, paramedic, EMT or other medically trained professional would be on site. Not allaying neighborhood residents’ concerns whatsoever, the representatives claimed their would be no need for either the police or fire departments to respond to medical emergencies at this location. And while we don’t mind our emergency services responding here, the neighborhood can’t really handle it as a regular occurrence.
After the initial presentation, residents of the Parkway Homes Civic Association and surrounding area spoke. Curiously, ABG’s understanding is that Town Councilman Ken Jones is a Vice President of the Parkway Home Civic Association. Assuming this is true, why didn’t he inform this neighborhood via his position as either Vice President of the Parkway Homes Civic Association or as a member of the Town Council or even individually as a resident walking throughout the neighborhood, telling everyone of the states plans to acquire this property? We can only wonder if he didn’t because The Paul instructed him to stay silent? This isn’t the first time The Paul has not informed neighborhoods of things about to happen and yet he seems to have no problem sending emails at the drop of a hat to boast of an idea for the Tappan Zee Bridge or the Library with a broken furnace.
Speaker after speaker bemoaned the fact that there wasn’t enough time for the neighborhood to respond to this revelation and berated The Pauls behavior toward them regarding such an important change to their neighborhood. Alicia Ford, the President of the Civic Association said the area maintains a Historic Designation, that our taxes are high enough without adding more tax-exempt properties to the Town’s rolls. She stated that there were other group homes in the area, the closest one being on Wyndover Woods Avenue, with 14 residents. She asked what the neighborhood could expect to see after the state decides they no longer wants to house developmentally disabled men there?
Patricia Brown said she lives adjacent to the property and is concerned about the increase in taxes that she, a retired senior citizen, would have to pay to make up for what this home will not pay. “It just isn’t fair to do this to us after working so hard for all of our lives.” Most people agreed that any project that goes onto the 88 North Rd site must be tax generating, otherwise it should not be allowed.
The Paul defended not informing the residents of this proposal as, “It is all my fault for not telling everyone sooner.” The state can come in and simply take over the land with a kind of eminent domain for any property they want and the Town cannot stop them. The only thing they may accept as a reason to not build is a saturation of group homes in the area. Most people are not against group homes if done within reason. If they are going to build a 3K square foot home, it will not match any of the existing houses in the vicinity. It will not blend and actually stick out like a sore thumb.
Fulton Park suffered with a similar problem that Parkway Homes is going through now. The Paul decided that a .7 acre parcel of land should be used by Westhab to build a seven story apartment building and decided that Fulton Park (as well as any neighborhoods) be damned! He spot-zoned the property to accommodate Westhab and like a blitz never seen in our Building, Zoning, and Planning Departments, saw a two-year application and permit process reduced to six months. The Parkway Homes neighborhood has a legitimate complaint. But as we all unfortunately know, The Paul doesn’t care about this neighborhood, only Boulder Ridge – which doesn’t have a group home in it. Maybe the state will change their mind, maybe not. We can only hope.
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