No Confidence In Process After Supervisor Speaks

It is not a surprise to anyone who follows Greenburgh politics that the proverbial “deck” is stacked against the residents by our Town administration. Ironically, while it is technically the “Feiner Administration”, it’s certainly not a “finer” administration – in fact, it’s far from it. The Town Board and in particular Mr Feiner, knowing the media would be present at its previous Wednesday night meeting, began to use words like honest, honestly, honesty, confidence, the process and so on quite often as well as conjunctively! Media-savvy Mr Feiner took the lead and his re-election teammates ran with it. Regardless of what Mr Feiner and half the Town Board says, every resident we spoke to gave a vote of “No Confidence” with this administration. Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Always the behind-the-scenes operative, Mr Feiner sent an email to Dorrine Livson, President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association, who felt it should be seen by all and has no problem sharing information. You may recall that Ms Livson asked for the GBList from Mr Feiner and the Town through the Freedom of Information Law and was denied the request. She appealed to the same Town Board denying the request because, well, here is another convoluted process with which the public has no confidence. Not surprisingly her appeal was also denied – by the same people she was requesting the information from!

Sadly, while Mr Feiner has no intention of releasing the GBList to Ms Livson and is comfortable disobeying another court order, he has no compunction about using the coveted GBList for a non-Greenburgh civic association from Yonkers. This association borders Mr Feiner’s gated community and would have affected his home value and quality of life. Do as I say, not as I do? Here’s a copy of that email:

Click on the email to enlarge

With no other recourse, Ms Livson filed an Article 78 with the courts to seek justice for both Town Board refusals of the information requested. She was victorious. However, now as another stall tactic, the Town says they are appealing her court victory. Regardless of that outcome, here is the latest email Mr Feiner sent to Ms Livson:
Dear Dorrine,
I know that you and I have some differences re: the appropriateness of the Board commencing a traffic and environmental study of the Game On application. However- the Board made the decision. It's time to move on and have an honest, unbiased review of the application and the impact the facility will have on the community - if it is approved.
 
We are going to be issuing a request for proposals. And then will interview the possible consultants before making a decision.

I want to work with you and your association members during the review process. And, also want to reassure you that I have not made up my mind how I will vote on this application.

Thanks for your comments and participation.
Paul

Several points we’d like to make with regards to this email. First, while it may seem innocuous enough by itself, there is an underlying message of pomposity and certainly one of non-respect for the community. Second, and possibly most importantly is that he is now claiming “the Board” did this. The vote is split 2 for the proposal and 2 against the proposal with Mr Feiner casting the deciding vote. It is well known in Greenburgh politics that if a Board member seeks re-election, they must tow Mr Feiner’s line or be “Sonya’d”*. Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Mr Feiner has never been objective when it comes to the GameOn 365 application. For almost 5 years now, he has been GameOn 365’s biggest cheerleader. From an illegal lease, ignoring higher offers for the former Frank’s Nursery property, to now wasting time on an application that should not be entertained. His actions, to be honest (his phrase) show his true self. He has mandated by his and his two colleague’s actions by voting to intend to become the lead agency actually initiates this process for this proposal for an approximately 107,000 sq. ft. indoor recreation facility along with an outdoor playing field, while retaining a reduced portion of the existing golf driving range, and provide related features such as landscaping and parking. Again for the uninitiated, he promised his friend the deal and he plans to deliver! The issue is becoming clouded by Mr Feiner’s deflection in making this about the GameOn 365’s proposed sports mega-plex. It’s not! It’s about changing residential zoning to allow commercial enterprises in residential neighborhoods. Don’t lose sight of this as Mr Feiner will continue his deflection technique.

How do we know this is nothing more than a confidence (con) scheme? Simple. Here’s an email we received by accident back in 2012 from Martin Hewitt (GO365 principle) to Mr Feiner cautioning to not send emails as they could be FOILed. Note the portion that says, “...first breach that could be FOIL’d that may tip Donald off...” Donald, by the way, is one of the owners of Elm Street Sports in Ardsley, NY, operating the House of Sports facility. Here’s that email:

Click on the email to enlarge

At this week’s Town Board meeting, two Board members and Mr Feiner agreed to to start the review process of the application for a zone change to allow a recreation facility to be built on Dobbs Ferry Road by declaring their intent to become the Lead Agency (the first step) for this project. So, regardless of Mr Feiner’s posturing (lying?), the process has begun under the guise of a non-committal intent, foisting a traffic study (the second step) upon us – residents be damned! He’s begun his rope-a-dope as he fosters more misinformation to anyone who will listen. Here’s a sampling of it: The Town Board will hire a traffic expert to conduct a traffic study.; we will analyze the traffic impacts and the environmental/quality of life impacts in communities that have similar Sports facilities. Under New York State law the applicant (Game On) pays for the consultant costs. But, the Town Board selects the consultant. So what? Don’t lose sight of this one simple fact: this is about changing zoning in residential neighborhoods to allow commercial businesses.

Mr Feiner is technically correct how he has phrased this next sentence. “The Town Board did not approve any application this week. We just started the review process”. What this really means is they have initiated the first step of the review process which is what would happen if they had sat up there and said they were declaring themselves the Lead Agency. It’s semantics and deflection to keep the average, uninformed residents guessing. What does this mean for the average Greenburgh citizen? Simply, don't stand to close to the tracks, you might get hurt as this train won’t slow down as it approaches the station. This favored method of operation by the Town Board has to change. Only when residents no longer feel as though they are being railroaded will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Et Tu?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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