Predictable Incompetence

Predictably, Mr Feiner and his Board voted unanimously to adopt their ill-conceived zoning district change. This move, again predictably, promises to embroil the Unincorporated Greenburgh taxpayers in yet another discrimination lawsuit. The new zoning amendment creates what will be known as a M-SH62 district. Simply, this represents what will be know as Multifamily Senior Housing for 62 year old people and over. Commissioner Garrett Duquesne claims this will create much needed new senior housing.

The zoning change is being made for a specific intent, affecting specifically, the housing structures located at 48, 50, 54, 56 and 58 Manhattan Avenue. This housing is currently considered part of a low-income scatter-site housing complex that is next to the Theodore Young Community Center. Many people who spoke at the Town Board meeting endorsed scatter-site housing as well as low-income housing. Many also endorsed the rebuilding effort as neglect and a lack of maintenance, a hallmark of the Feiner Administration for over 24-years, have cited the need for improvement.

During the Town Board meeting, one younger woman who stated she lives in one of the apartments, begrudgingly got up to speak after she and her neighbors did not receive an accurate account as to what was happening with the project or exactly what was going to happen to their place of residence? Then she stressed while she had concern for her neighbors, she wants to know how she, specifically, would be affected. Again, different answers abounded with Town Attorney Tim Lewis seemingly having the final, although apparently not correct, word in the matter.

During the meeting, Mr Feiner requested Raju Abraham, Executive Director of the Greenburgh Housing Authority, to come to the podium and clarify a few points. Yes, 4 families will be moved out as they won't qualify to be a resident there under the new zoning code. He also acknowledged that the tenants will be moved to a newly renovated apartment with new appliances in a different Greenburgh Housing Authority facility in another part of Town. This sounds like they are being bribed to just shut up and go along with their eviction. He also stated they could move anywhere in the Country as they are Section 8 voucher recipients and they can use the voucher anywhere. Section 8 requires a tenant to spend 30% of their income towards rent. Simply, this is nothing more than subsidized housing.

Commissioner Duquesne has stated the plan is to demolish the currently occupied five buildings and ultimately relocate four of the five families as they are under 62 years of age. Clearly, this is another form of discrimination once this bill was voted through! So much so, in fact that several speakers (of the G10) reiterated the point several times during both comment periods and the hearing itself. Ignoring the advice of attorneys and other well-regarded residents, the Town Board went along with the flawed bill and adopted it anyway, virtually ensuring a lawsuit for $25 million. 

What does this mean? Several things. 

First, this new spot-zoning change is more of the same throughout the Town. We’ve been witnessing spot-zoning by Mr Feiner and his Board with wanton regularity. They've done it with Westhab in Fulton Park, Brightview in Glenview, Shelbourne in Edgemont and so many more locations. Virtually every neighborhood, except Mr Feiner’s gated community of Boulder Ridge, has felt the spot-zoning wrath of Mr Feiner and crew. So, with this new zoning code change specifying by law an age restriction, the Unincorporated Town should expect to be in court again.

Second, is the illegality of creating a law that restricts people of a certain age from being able to move into a neighborhood. In fact, replace “62-year olds” with any other group and see if you can more easily understand why this is wrong on so many levels. Had the Town left out the “age of 62 and older” from the bill now passed into law, and left the onus on the Greenburgh Housing Authority or the group the Town is contracting these apartments with to build, we would not have to worry about going to court for another discrimination lawsuit. In fact, zoning guru Ella Preiser suggested at numerous times that the bill could easily be changed and the liability eliminated. Instead, Councilman Jones took to the bully pulpit to berate and rudely shout down Ms Preiser. Shortly thereafter, Town Councilman Sheehan would jump on the bully pulpit and attack Ms Preiser as well when she got up to speak again. 

Immediately before the rudeness by Mr Jones, Bob Bernstein explained in great detail why the change in this proposal could easily be corrected, but must be done before its adoption. He further explained why this will wind up in court and expose the Unincorporated Town taxpayers to a $26 million dollar discrimination lawsuit. An interesting aside witnessed here again was several audience members, new to the sham known as open government , were actually engaged in a back and forth discussion by the Board members. These same Board members usually refuse to discuss anything with their critics and detractors. And, as we witnessed this night, chose to be rude to regular attendees instead.

There’s already a lawsuit against the Town from S&R (Steven and Richard Troy) Development, who changed their original proposal from luxury houses (2 or 3 McMansions) to an affordable housing proposal on Dromore Road in Edgemont. In an effort to halt the Town from going deeper into the discrimination hole the Board was digging for themselves, Mr Bernstein suggested Mr Feiner and his Town Board hold off passing the “neg dec” for another project after Mr Bernstein warned them not to, as their motion to dismiss the discrimination lawsuit by Dromore Developer's S&R, would be going in front of Judge Cathy Seibel, who cited when reading her decision not to dismiss it, that the Town, Mr Feiner and Board had already been found guilty of discrimination, destroying evidence and lying under oath in the Fortress Bible law suit.

Since the motion to dismiss the S&R lawsuit against the Town was, ahem, dismissed, and the lawsuit moving forward, the Town should tread carefully when they make such decisions as to zoning with the intent to limit who can and cannot move into a specific area of the Town. While decisions like these are terrible for the Town financially, they're embarrassing to the taxpayers who support developing various types of housing throughout the Town. It's also completely understandable why Edgemont residents are actively pursuing incorporation. Who would want to be part of this circus at Hillside Avenue? The numbers are growing. At least the villages are insulated from a good part of this. It has to end. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Counterpoint To Year In Review, Part 2

Each year Mr Feiner sends out his list of “accomplishments”. Since Mr Feiner has a difficult time with facts and truthfulness (he was convicted for lying under oath) ABG posts the other side of those same “accomplishments”. This is part 2, our responses are in blue.

31. Painted water tanks--addressing infrastructure concerns.  Others will be done also.

Maintenance is typically ignored by this administration, so it was surprising and possibly more costly because it had been ignored for so long. Sadly, Mr Feiner is bragging about something that was long overdue.

32. Opened new dreamcourt basketball court at Old Tarrytown Road Park.

It’s a basketball court.

33. 3,400 LED street lights installed - to cut streetlight energy usage by 61%.

The cost of this energy savings was over $600,000. The return-on-investment was never mentioned. While the Town may save 61% (there is no substantiation of this number), it may have been better to phase these in as existing fixtures and bulbs failed.

34. Greenburgh Shopping Center on Knollwood Road improves striping in their existing parking lot.

This effort was brought up by, carried by and seen through fruition by the Council of Greenburgh Civic Association after they pointed out many illegal aspects of what had been done to the lot by the owners without the proper permit and approvals processes performed by the Town. It’s amazing that the building department, whom we're told is woefully overwhelmed with work, was able to stumble upon a Fulton Park resident’s minor construction but missed an entire shopping center's parking lot renovation. The Fulton Park resident had the charges against her dismissed in court.

35. 11 year old reporters from Greenburgh Xposure have their own radio program.

The Exposure program is not a Town run program.

36. Our Greenburgh Police Department is first law enforcement agency in the county that committed to outfitting each patrol officer with their own individual body camera.

The Town’s Police Department is among the best there is. We believe it can only have a positive outcome.

37. Organizing a new initiative: musicians to perform for homebound elderly.

Please focus on infrastructure, lowering taxes, have more police on patrol and stop with the publicity stunts. There are plenty of people already doing this.

38. Proposal submitted to lease former Scarsdale A&P to a 24 hour fitness facility on Central Ave.  Application is before the Planning Board.  Hyundai car dealership approved and opens on Central Ave.--first new dealership since we approved the use on Central Avenue.

While approving the use of Central Avenue for car dealerships, the new taxes levied on gas stations has forced the closure of two long-time service stations as their profit margin on gasoline was pennies. As far as the Feiner administration is concerned, this was never about helping businesses that have been in the Town for years, paying taxes and helping the Town.

39. Town Board adopts law that will enable the town to close down illegal massage businesses that employ unlicensed masseuses.  A lawsuit filed against the town in NYS Supreme Court was dismissed.

While enacting this law, originally written by Edgemont resident and former Town Supervisor candidate Robert Bernstein, the Town attorney watered it down and diminished its viability. It also has not been put into practice in over a year.

40. Town Board approved parking on East Hartsdale Ave. during winter months, with exception of snow emergencies.

The Town Board has repeatedly said that enacting special parking permits that are not useable Town-wide was illegal. What changed? Actually, nothing. This appears to be selective governing based on what's popular at the time.

41. Discussions with community - new possible look in 2017 for Manhattan Avenue: trees and islands in middle of road to reduce speeding and make the avenue look more like a boulevard.

It’s interesting that the same neighborhoods receive an inordinate amount of attention, focus, money and renovations while others cannot even get sidewalks to keep pedestrians safe.

42. We plan to repair indoor pool at the Theodore Young Community Center.  An attractive new roof will be constructed on the building in 2017- providing pool patrons with natural light.

While we enjoy the TYCC and appreciate that things need to be repaired, recent years have witnessed a lot of spending on what seems to be the same things over and over again. Perhaps low-bid and the Town running these projects isn’t providing us with the best results.

43. Working with Westchester County Association- pushing for high speed broadband gigabit service that is 14 times faster than current service.

We still are at a loss as to how and why the Town needs to be doing this.

44. Trader Joe's to expand on Central Avenue.  A compromise was reached with some members of the community.  No driveway will be built at North Washington Avenue.  Expansion of a medical office building near Best Buy approved.

There was no compromise. Mr Feiner caved into the developer's wishes after appearing to be concerned about the area residents complaining about the added traffic that would bombard their neighborhoods once residential roads were opened up. 

45. Town Board appointed new Town Comptroller, Roberta Romano, after former Comptroller retired.

Congratulations.

46. Former Commissioner Bill Carter, who led the Theodore Young Community Center, passed.  Former Deputy Commissioner Andre Early appointed as new commissioner.  Steve Fraietta appointed as Building Inspector after John Lucido retired.

Congratulations.

47. Town Board approves creation of a Beautification Committee for East Hartsdale Avenue.

The Beautification Committee is not a paid position(s) and may result in a positive impact to the area.

48. Town Board appoints additional members to the newly formed Human Rights Committee.

There is a redundancy here that simply doesn’t need to exist since there are County, State and Federal Human Rights Commissions already. This is a politically calculated move only.

49. Greenburgh Police Department holds our first annual successful National Night Out at Town Hall, a wonderful police-community event.

Congratulations.

50. Board approves resolution against SPECTRA AIM pipeline 105 feet from Indian point Nuclear Facility.

This is a useless and empty political effort that will bear nothing for the Town. 

51. Town obtains $225,000 grant from the New NY Bridge Community Benefits Program and used it to purchase a new rescue vehicle.

What is this new rescue vehicle replacing? If it’s not replacing a vehicle, it means there is an added cost to stock, equip and maintain it. How is all of that being paid for?

52. Town received a $55,000 grant from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services for a new SWAT vehicle that was purchased.

Mr Feiner is being disingenuous by claiming the area fire districts are over-taxing residents and wasting their money, while he is not. The County Police maintain a SWAT team that the Town could use at no cost to them when needed. And, the County also maintains a Hazardous Materials Response Team and a Technical Rescue Response Team that also costs nothing to utilize – yet the Town pays for this duplication of services and Mr Feiner condones it by allowing this overtime generator to continue.

53. Town received a grant of $15,880 from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, to train our officers in the specialized area of Elder Abuse.

This seems like a good thing. 

54. Greenburgh Housing Authority plans to build affordable 62+ senior housing on Manhattan Avenue that will have no impact on local school district. 

The reality is that the Greenburgh Housing Authority's plans to build affordable senior housing is simply to replace it. So, unlike the artfully worded sentence, this is not an addition in housing units.

55. Hartsdale Parking District created pay stations at two sites, a convenience for motorists.  The district is looking at alternative ways for users to pay metered parking rates.  (Some parking authorities let people pay by phone.)  District is independent of town government.

First, why comment on something that is independent of the Town? Second, having the pay stations requires less maintenance and labor to collect money from separate meters.

56. Greenburgh Nature Center became the first nature center in Westchester to achieve the green best business practices certification. The Nature Center worked in partnership with the Edgemont School Foundation and Moses Feldman Family Foundation to implement a materials management/recycling/food waste composting program at the school district’s three campuses. The Nature Center, with the support from the St. Faith’s Foundation, delivered over 150 programs to students at R.J. Bailey.  And sponsored an indoor exhibit (with support from Con Ed) “A Forest’s Life” to highlight the importance of forests for maintaining the health of our environment.

The Greenburgh Nature Center is an independent organization that rents the space from the Town and is merely a tenant. What they do and the programs they run is up to them and not controlled by Mr Feiner.

57. The Greenburgh Nature Center - with the generous support of Cathy Capasso and Steve Sprague, constructed a Native American longhouse and wigwam, to support a new and exciting education platform, The Native American Experience.

See #56.

58. The Nature Center continued the development of our Native Plant Meadow and completed construction of a uniquely designed Butterfly Arbor, which sets the natural stage for our yearly Butterfly Exhibit.

 See #56.

59. One of the most successful Summer Jazz Series to date sponsored by the Department of Community Resources named for William L. Carter featuring Grammy award winning and local artists that entertained record attending music enthusiasts.

 These were good and honoring Bill Carter was as well.

Counterpoint To Year In Review, Part 1

Each year Mr Feiner sends out his list of “accomplishments”. Since Mr Feiner has a difficult time with facts and truthfulness (he was convicted for lying under oath) ABG posts the other side of those same “accomplishments”. Our responses are in blue.

1. Finally, after years of controversy, the Frank’s nursery property that the town acquired via foreclosure is being sold to a developer—with community support!  A 101 unit 115 bed assisted living facility will be built at the site on Dobbs Ferry Road.  The developer agreed to offer ten affordable units to Greenburgh residents at a 20% discount!  Assisted living facilities are expensive.  We are pleased some units will be more affordable.

After years of controversy indeed! The controversy was created by Mr Feiner and his Board when they attempted to violate County and State law by gifting the property to his friends from GameOn 365 for much less money than it was worth instead of selling it as required by law! The surrounding neighborhoods were incensed, organized and fought this injustice. By law, a municipality cannot be a landlord and must sell any properties they receive through foreclosure. Convicted of discrimination, lying under oath, destroying evidence and more in the Fortress Bible Discrimination Lawsuit, Mr Feiner is no stranger to violating the law.

2. We installed solar panels at Town Hall and expect to save $622,000 over a 30 year period.

What he doesn’t state is why the payback will take so long and how he came up with that number? Like most of his numbers, he always overpromises and under-performs.

3. We dedicated a beautiful new park at DeSanti Plaza on East Hartsdale Ave in honor of our veterans.  A great enhancement –a terrific first impression of Greenburgh & Hartsdale.  150 half hour interviews with veterans can be viewed on demand by accessing www.greenburghpublicaccess.com.

Beauty is in the eye of the holder. Most who have seen this “park” have compared its stone monument to an unattractive tombstone and claimed it is not a monument.

4. Installation of 103 additional ADA-compliant curb ramps around the Town, making sidewalks more accessible.

Had these not been required by law, we're sure these would not have been installed.

5. More sidewalks are being built around town: Seely Place (almost done) in Edgemont, Fort Hill Road (work started), Sprain Road (work started), Benedict Ave. (work to start soon).

Much more funding exists for sidewalks that could be built throughout the Town. Unfortunately, Mr Feiner has only finally applied for some of this money because of the Edgemont threat of incorporation and has to at least appear concerned about that community. Should Edgemont incorporate, a major portion of the Town tax revenue would disappear. Given the high costs to taxpayers of Mr Feiner's lawsuits during his 24-year tenure, the Town needs all the income we can get!

6. Town Board complies with tax cap in approving 2017 budget.  The Town Board has complied with the tax cap every year since the cap was implemented.

While technically correct, the NYS 2% Tax Cap is exempt from many aspects of the budget and is not truly a 2% cap. Regardless, the Town Board can go beyond or exceed the tax cap by a majority vote at a Town Board meeting without having their feet held to the fire.

7. We obtained CDBG funding for a sidewalk on Secor Road near the Greenburgh Housing Authority development.  Pushing for private funding for a sidewalk near the Community College on Knollwood Road and Grasslands Road.  Applied for grants to build more sidewalks on Central Avenue.

 All good. Why did it take so long to start applying for these grant monies? See #5.

8.  From April 2016 through November 2016 the Town paved approximately 12.46 miles of Town Roadway.

Paving our streets is but one of the functions of government and we should be seeing all of our streets repaved as part of an infrastructure planning schedule.

9.  Received the Automobile Club of the Northeast’s highest award - one given to only four communities in the northeast for our proactive efforts promoting pedestrian safety: digital radar speed signs, using message boards, more enforcement, promoting motorcycle safety, analyzing traffic locations that need safety improvements.  We are organizing a new effort - encouraging pedestrians to wear bright clothing in the evening.  Have been distributing free reflector arm bands so motorists can see pedestrians walking.

Should we be rated for spending money on signs advertising a lack of police presence or should we have more police on patrol? Of course, we want to see more officers on the road addressing speeding, inappropriate vehicles driving through our residential neighborhoods, illegal housing and controlling our safety through enforcement. The police department's new traffic control officer is not addressing speeding on many of the streets known to host speeding. This needs to change as residential speeders know there is no longer any enforcement and no consequence for breaking the law. Wearing wristbands and bright clothing are smart, time-proven ideas. So are sidewalks and the safety they provide by getting pedestrians off of our dangerous streets.

10. Our first annual new residents’ reception and pool party at the Theodore Young Community Center resulted in an opportunity to highlight some outstanding programs and resulted in new enrollments.

The new residents’ reception is a good idea but the rest is nothing but blatant and shameful campaigning.

11. Moody's and Standard & Poor's both reaffirming town's Aaa and AAA bond rating --the highest rating a government can receive. Our bond ratings have gone up a few times during my administration and results in six figure savings when we borrow.  We have continuously received the highest ratings since 2008.  Moody’s based their ratings on our “sound financial position with strong fiscal management, low debt profile, and manageable pension liability.”

What this really means is Mr Feiner has no problem dipping into taxpayer pocketbooks whenever he has been found guilty and needs to pay a fine. Moody's gives him that bravado.

12. Progress with county on WestHELP to convert WestHELP into 54 affordable 62+ senior housing units.

Mr Feiner was the one who did not renew the contract with the County for WestHelp which provided $1.2 million a year to the Town He is the one who instructed Town employees to leave the facility open furthering its ruination so he could use the property for political leverage and try to tear it down and “hawk” it as the future site of a handicapped facility for a school in Yonkers looking for a new location. Not only did that plan fall through for legal reasons, but as Mr Feiner continued to be in violation of the contractual terms in place, the County has decided to take back control of the property, losing $1.2 million a year in revenue!

13. Building Department initiated plans to demolish an abandoned hazardous home on Teramar Way and is inspecting other abandoned properties.

This goes back numerous years. Why does the Town continue to ignore their fiduciary responsibilities as well as the safety side by ignoring their responsibility to the taxpayers?

14. Comprehensive plan approved---first in town history.  Will include more town-school partnerships in land use reviews.

This is not the Town’s first Comprehensive Plan. Regardless, the Comprehensive Plan could have been a document that truly created a vision for the Town’s future. Instead, the majority of the Steering Committee chose to make a political statement with it and squandered a tremendous opportunity for the future of our Town. Instead, it perpetuates the zoning quagmire that Mr Feiner relies on to do his spot-zoning.

15. Regeneron plans a 1,016,190 sq. ft. expansion-- nine new research and development buildings, consistent with the Town’s Comprehensive Plan.  Greenburgh is becoming the center of biotechnology in New York State.  Expansion will generate jobs and significant revenue for the town.  TIME MAGAZINE named Tarrytown/Greenburgh bio tech corridor as the "40TH MOST GENIUS PLACE IN AMERICA."

While Regeneron will generate jobs, Mr Feiner and his Board ignore the fact that a lot of the property in the Greenburgh side will be 9 buildings and 5 parking structures of impervious space, adding to the flooding downstream in Elmsford and the 9A corridor. Time magazine, no longer a substantive periodical, can call it whatever it likes. It just doesn't mean it’s true.

16. Greenburgh and 19 other localities in Westchester signed an agreement to purchase electric power in bulk fromWestchesterpower.org.  During the first six months every ratepayer saved some $$ money!

There were several problems with this deal made by Mr Feiner without taxpayer input. First, he took it upon himself to enroll every taxpayer of the Town into this program – without their permission! Second, he continually stated that taxpayers would save between $400 to $600 a year. Actual math, obviously not Mr Feiner's favorite subject, has shown that most taxpayers have only saved about $30 at most while he claims “every ratepayer saved some $$ money”. Third, the original deal promised by Mr Feiner was for electricity and gas. When the final deal was made, it was only for electricity transmission! Finally, he made this deal with Westchesterpower.org, a paper company of investment lawyers creating a template with Greenburgh so they could roll-out their program nationwide. This startup, not for profit will change to a for-profit company once their experiment in Greenburgh is completed.

17. Town turned over land previously used by Pets Alive over to Paws Crossed – a no kill animal shelter – which opened up last summer.

The Town's Building Department condemned the facility, stating it was too dangerous to occupy. Then, after much publicity, which ABG believes was the entire purpose of this; the building was miraculously habitable once again.

18. Judge signs order turning over to town 60 properties that haven't paid taxes.  In 2013 over 370 parcels representing $19.9 million in delinquent taxes was on the books.  We reduced the amount of delinquent taxes by almost $13 million.

The Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations has been urging the Town leaders for years to initiate foreclosure proceedings against delinquent taxpayers. Finally, we are seeing some action. What has been done with the 60 properties since the Town took possession? Until disposed of, they will continue to receive Town services - garbage pickup etc., costing the taxpayers thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

19. Governor signed into law legislation approved by NY State Legislature authorizing the town to phase in assessment increases for tax purposes for property taxpayers whose assessments increased by more than 25% as a result of reassessment.  This new law, which Greenburgh was the first to adopt in NYS, will ease the impacts of reassessment for about 1000 households.  Most of the villages are in the process of adopting the town's tax rolls, reducing duplication (previously they had their own assessor).  This is the first reassessment in over 60 years.

It is the first reassessment in over 60 years. The last 24 of them were during Mr Feiner’s tenure. We’d like to know why he waited so long? Had he done the revaluation sooner, the lopsidedness of increases and even decreases would not have been so severe. Plus, the people who were overpaying are being further penalized while Mr Feiner tries to appease those who got clobbered by his 24-years of inaction by making them wait even longer to get their over-taxation corrected.

20. Created a new committee to help recent college graduates who can't find work find employment.

It is sad that there are no employment agencies located in our area. It’s also sad that after spending a ton of money for schooling that these colleges don’t offer any kind of placement assistance. Oh wait, they do and there are employment agencies in the area. If you have a degree in a viable subject and are flexible, you will probably find a job – with or without Mr Feiner’s assistance.




21. Southern Westchester BOCES agreed to help the town restore the 911 wall (1600 murals on Central Avenue).  They are providing the town with recommendations.

Too bad the job wasn't done correctly the first time or the second time by the professionals Mr Feiner swore would fix this. This is another example of Mr Feiner going to non-paid interns for solutions when he has none. It also allows him beau coup publicity campaigning to tout the wonderful work they are doing, regardless of how successful they are.

22. Created a new committee to promote motorcycle safety.

This seems like something the Police Department should be doing, not Town Hall.

23. Treated Crane's pond and it worked--not a lot of algae.  We installed a second water fountain.

The same answer as it relates to Edgemont in #5 applies here.






24. Added new pavilion at Anthony Veteran Park.

There may be a need for more shaded areas there.

25. The former Greenburgh Health Center on Route 119 will be demolished.  Construction of a new 15,000 sq. ft. retail building with related site improvements/landscaping to take place.  Building will be occupied by Harbor Freight Tools.  Joyce Leslie building at 250 Tarrytown Road undergoing enhancements.

While we welcome Harbor Freight coming into Greenburgh, the Town has made starting and opening a business so costly with regulations and fees that small retail businesses are few and far between. It's why we are only seeing big box and chain stores come to Town. And yet, we still hear the administration saying they’re business friendly.

26. Installed new spray pad at Massaro Park in North Elmsford.

This is a minor park improvement, however the security cameras Mr Feiner repeatedly promised and postured about to the civic association there have never materialized.

27. William L. Carter Foundation gave 4 scholarships to worthy students...offered student musicians a free summer jazz clinic...started a mentoring program and took young people to Madison Square Garden.

Kudos to the William L. Carter Foundation.

28. Enrollment in Greenburgh Central has gone up due to improved reputation of the school district.

The enrollment, whether increasing or not, is not quantifiable as no breakdowns were provided. Enrollments in area private and parochial schools are also up.

29. Westchester County Parks Foundation implementing a suggestion I made last year to organize a graffiti busters initiative.
While anyone can make suggestions to anyone else, we'd prefer Mr Feiner work on cleaning up the graffiti throughout our Town. 


30. Controversial Jefferson application near the Village of Ardsley was withdrawn.  Residents were very concerned about the impact the proposed 272 rental apartment complex would have had on the local school district and traffic.

This is misleading as it was the Ardsley residents who organized the protest that they took to the Town Board after proposals were made that caused it to be withdrawn. In fact, in an unprecedented move, the Ardsley Mayor and several trustees spoke against 
the project along with the Ardsley residents. Mr Feiner and Ms Juettner were against the project because it was in their backyard. Can you say NIMBY?


Do It Anyway

In yet another unsolicited campaign mailing at $.46.5, Mr Feiner bemoaned the vacant store fronts throughout our Town on our commercial streets in Fairview. He continues on that that’s why many are pleased with the economic development on Rt 119 in the Fairview section of the Town. What he doesn’t mention is that his policies have helped to create the suburban blight we see in many sections of the Unincorporated portions of Greenburgh. And, in particular to the Fairview section of Town, he has purposely created a specific area within the Town that will always remain depressed by being choked with an over-abundance of those requiring assistance for the homeless, DSS, prison release re-entry, and others in distress and need. And, while we feel compassion for these people, perhaps Mr Feiner has avoided putting them in more affluent neighborhoods as a means to control votes?

The former Greenburgh Health Center on Rt 119, actually owned and run by a Mount Vernon, NY, based agency, has remained closed and unoccupied for several years now after moving into their newer and larger facility on Knollwood Road. The building remains just as lifeless in appearance as it had when it was being used. The difference now is there are fewer women with strollers and kids-in-tow trying to cross Rt 119 in a suicidal attempt to get to the other side as well as dodging vans pulling in and out with patients.

The Greenburgh Planning Board, with all its appointees approved by Mr Feiner and his Board, recently granted site approval to demolish three existing buildings in the area, including the Greenburgh Health Center in October 2016. Demolition of the site should begin in October 2016 and building construction completed in July 2017, when a new store, Harbor Freight plans to open. Apparently, with all of these vacant stores in our commercial areas, Mr Feiner was unable or unwilling to provide Harbor Freight with a suitable alternative and recycle/reuse existing buildings. And, while the former Joyce Lesley facility has been vacant for some time, they will be getting a facelift without a new or confirmed tenant. Might this have been a viable site for Harbor Freight?

Next in this campaign mailing was his confession that he has been unable to convince supermarkets to move into the area, while ABG believes he has been successful in making them leave. How? When Pathmark, owned by the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) closed its doors, we spoke with a representative who said it was about the high cost of union personnel and the lowest of margins on their products coupled with high rates of theft. He continued that other stores in their chain had success with non-grocery items such as picnic sets, beach chairs etc., but that this particular store’s clientele did not have the spendable cash from which the others benefitted. Consequently, their low profits, theft, utility costs, taxes and fees made it impossible for them to continue at that location. As an aside and blame not cast on Mr Feiner, in the 1970’s the A&P Distribution Center on Warehouse Lane was closed in the north Elmsford section of Unincorporated Greenburgh with that operation transferred to a New Jersey facility in an effort to break the union. 

Now there are also discussions to raze the current housing off of Manhattan Avenue and create a new senior housing facility in its place if the Housing Authority can acquire the necessary funding. So, in classic Feiner-speak, this is not something that is going to happen, just be talked about. He also speaks of this housing being incorporated into a mixed-use development which would include a small supermarket. Not a bad idea, but with rents, taxes, fees, permits and health codes in abundance, anything small would probably not survive.

Another suggestion he made in tandem with creating a small supermarket is to have the Theodore Young Community Center create a training program for young people and out of work residents as to how to start and manage a business. This is also a good idea and need not be dependent on any of the above taking place. Although, Mr Feiner only suggests starting the program if there is a supermarket built with this senior housing. We are concerned that there are already too many programs run at the TYCC and they may be hard pressed to be able to accommodate another, no matter how good an idea it may be. Also at issue is what is required to start a business. There is a lot of paperwork involved and the need for money to proceed with permit fees, applications, incorporation, attorney and accounting services to name a few – can be staggering. While we understand that Mr Feiner is hoping to throw out many ideas in this campaign mailing and hope something “sticks”, his sincerity to create any of these is suspect if past performance is an indicator of future results. Start the business start-up program now and help those people before worrying about future funding, demolition and construction. Once we do, we’ll begin to see A Better Greenburgh.

Update To Preventing Public Access to Conference Rooms

ABG posted an article on January 23rd, about the Town enacting a new policy when the public was not present, severely restricting the use of Town Hall’s assorted conference rooms for neighborhood meetings. We believe this is nothing more than another ploy by the Town politicos to hinder public interaction with Town Hall. Seemingly operating covertly and under the cover of darkness, this move is exacerbated by an already untrustworthy administration.

We posted: 
“In an unexplained move that we’re told originated from the Town Clerk’s office, the public is no longer allowed to utilize Town Hall conference rooms for meetings!”  We were told that this originated where we said. However, in the comments section of that previous article, Town Clerk Judith Beville posted this statement:

“Dear All;
Please be informed that changes in the use of meeting rooms at Greenburgh Town Hall absolutely and unequivocably did not originate with the Office of the Town Clerk. The official resolution on this matter was approved on December 22, 2015 and is posted on the Town's website. Once again, these changes did not "originate" from the Town Clerk's office nor is the Town Clerk authorized to make such changes. Thank you for this opportunity to share a comment and thank you, too, for your attention to my note of clarification regarding this misconception.
Best regards to all,
Judith A. Beville
Greenburgh Town Clerk”

We will not refute the statement and in the interest of fairness, accept Ms Beville’s comments as correct.

Another comment we made in that same article was regarding a question we had posed to the Police Chief, Chris McNerney. We had said:
“The Board has supplied a nicely written list of “Whereas’s” to cover themselves, it “states” and uses the Police Chief as a scapegoat, saying this is being done upon his recommendations. We reached out to the Police Chief for information but did not receive a response.”

We have finally received a response from the Police Chief and share it below:

“ I hope all is well with you. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. 

The lack of security and porousness of Town Hall have been concerns of mine for a long time. Town Hall is considered critical infrastructure and must be protected as such. This includes limiting after hour use by non-essential individuals. In doing research on public use of municipal City, Town and Village Halls, I only found public use of a “Meeting Room" when the specific room was designated as a "Community Room". We have a Community Center. I was unable to find a City, Town or Village Hall in Westchester that permitted open public use of their government headquarters during non-business hours. If you know of one please let me know. Common sense dictates, it’s a bad practice.

All Town Boards, Commissions, Committees and Councils will still be using Town Hall. 

Other municipal buildings in the Town are staffed during non-business hours and have designated public meeting rooms. The Library is converting some space to add an additional public meeting room. 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,

Chief McNerney”
  

While we can appreciate the Chief’s concern, we also realize that there needs to be some give and take from Town Hall. Once Mr Feiner invited the Hamas members to use Town Hall for an anti-Israeli meeting, he opened the door for numerous problems ethically, financially and security-wise. Yet, the most upsetting part of this is the disruption it causes to the numerous legitimate organizations that utilize Town Hall for their meetings, such as support groups, civic associations, etc.

Town Hall belongs to the taxpayers - period. Access to meeting rooms, and reasonable restrictions to certain areas is what is needed here, not an entire cordoning off to all residents. Surely there can be a happy medium. Mr Feiner and his Town Board suggest that residents and taxpayer groups use meetings rooms at the Theodore Young Community Center, Veteran Park and the Greenburgh Library instead of Town Hall. 

ABG went to the Greenburgh Library, identified why we were asking about availability for meeting rooms. We were told that all of the Library’s meeting rooms were booked through April, with one exception being the large community room for March 17th. ABG was asked if we'd like to look into future months but was assured the result would be similar. The representative we spoke with mentioned it was a bit unfair to residents to take away the use of Town Hall and then dump these people onto the Library who would be forced to refuse their requests. No fee schedule was available at the time, however, there is a charge for the use of rooms if and when they are available.

We then went to the Theodore Young Community Center (TYCC) and asked about availability there, both daytime and night. We were basically told the same thing. The representative we spoke with also agreed that Town Hall belongs to the taxpayers and people should be allowed to access its meeting rooms if they are available. This representative stated that the facility has some rooms open during the day, “But is usually booked up way in advance, so if you have a specific date and time you need a room, get your request in right away.” Then it was explained how the XPosure program also impacts the center's availability. Both locations stated they will not pre-book regular events such as monthly meetings.

Rental fee schedule for the Theodore Young Community Center

We haven’t contacted Veteran Park representatives but are pretty sure we’ll run into the same issue. Apparently, Mr Feiner's decision to surreptitiously shut the public out of Town Hall and shun them to unavailable venues is another example of circling the wagons against growing criticism and failures. Instead of closing off all of Town Hall to the people who pay the bills and pay the judgements for his illegal behavior, they can simple close and lock doors to offices, cordon off areas they don’t want the public entering, and make other simple adjustments that allow the reasonable use of the building by resident taxpayers. After all, we now have security guards in the building after the fiasco he created with the anti-Israeli meeting. His bad behavior must end. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.