Formation Shelborne Should Go

We’ve previously written about the Formation Shelbourne scam that Mr Feiner and his Town Board have thrust and continued to perpetuate upon the residents of Edgemont and the Town. Prior to his leaving the Town as our Planning Commissioner to pave over greener pastures in Stamford, CT., Thomas Madden assured the management team from Formation Shelbourne that their assisted living project would sail through the process, guaranteeing the proverbial “done deal”. Mr Feiner was also a willing participant and he too assured project approvals and a resistant-free project from the Town.

Others have also reported this egregious violation of public trust and spoken about it at Town Board meetings. The fallacy of doing this is the wanton lack of attention paid by the Board members as they have appeared to have been instructed by Mr Feiner to ignore the concerns of the residents. In fact, if it weren’t for Town Attorney Tim Lewis’ berating of residents who go past the emperor's allotted three-minute public speaking constraint, there might not be any Board involvement with the public. Complaining, questioning and offering suggestions as often as is done by residents results in the Town Board only feigning deafness.To help get these issues out in the forefront, another frustrated resident, Edgemont resident Jeff Sherwin, has created a new website to address some of these illegalities.See it by clicking on this link:
https://www.greenburgh-zoning.org/#greenburgh-is-spot-zoning

The silence from Town Hall about doing the right thing with this project has almost been deafening. It is blatantly obvious that Mr Feiner and his instructed Board will not alter their support of a project laden with many needed zoning variations, questionable neighborhood concerns and safety issues. The property in question, owned by the Al Krautter family, currently houses the Sprainbrook Nursery. They are continuing to operate the nursery while the conditioned sale stagnates during the Town’s mishandling of this oversized proposal. Should they cease the nursery's operation, the current zoning that allows the business to operate under a "grandfathered" zoning clause, would revert back to residential, ending the Formation Shelbourne’s ability to utilize the property for their proposed assisted living facility. And, quite probably, wind up terminating the sale of the property.

Many examples of concern have been given as to why the proposal should not be approved and continued. But closed-door promises were made - as has been done for the last 24 years - and must be honored at all cost, no matter how ethically or legally improper those promises might be! You’ll recall the Town Board beaming and postulating as they passed the Brightview Assisted Living Center-written bill specifying assisted living proposal conditions for future projects. The trouble with it was it was written to Brightview’s specifications for their project! Obviously flawed, adopting it is just another misstep made by this administration.

Trying to circumvent the new zoning regulations for their own profit, Formation Shelbourne is seeking variances to the requirements of being within 200 feet of a state right of way and being built on a minimum of 4 acres. There are other conditions to be met, but these are the two most glaring that should easily negate this proposal. The property is less than the newly adopted zoning law's required 4 acres and is more than 6,000 feet from the nearest state right-of-way. Mr Sherwin’s website video drive proves the distance is miles away, not feet. Mr Feiner has again violated the the trust of the taxpayers and residents. He should immediately resign if he wishes to show any kind of good faith toward the residents and prove he is not in the pocket of these and other developers. But rather than step down, we're sure he will "step it up" and do several more Town financed mailings and email blasts lauding this project. 

Regardless of what he does, there promises to be another lawsuit on the Town's horizon over this project. There are many projects in the Town that may have merit. There will be more in our future that will also be good. But illegal promises made by Mr Feiner behind closed doors and condoned by his Board should put an immediate end to this project. We hope that some day, this Board will find a moral compass and try to do the right thing. Until then, we keep seeking A Better Greenburgh.

Death of The Solana

Much has been said about the Sprain Brook Nursery property. There have been two suspicious fires within the period of time the owner, Al Krautter was looking to retire and/or sell the property. The fires may have been coincidental, but they highlighted the lack of water supply for the area, according to fire service representatives. In fact, he closed the nursery in 2012 to put the property on the market. When he was unable to sell it, Krautter reopened the business as a more scaled down operation focusing on organically grown products..

Enter Formation-Shelbourne, a company interested in developing the 3.7 acre parcel of property into an 80-bed assisted living facility. ABG is convinced that once the assisted living concept gets all the Town approvals, it will get built. Once built, it will flourish as most assisted living facilities appear to do. Then, characteristically, profits will shrink, costs will rise and after all kinds of hullabaloo, their management will announce Chapter 11, Chapter 13 or something threatening the bankruptcy route. Then they will say they need to change their model and become either a co-operative apartment or a condominium complex. We’ve seen this in White Plains (which has lower city taxes) with the former assisted living facility, The Esplanade. We’re also experiencing this currently with the Hebrew Home next to Westchester Community College on Grasslands Road.

Regardless of how Formation-Shelbourne proceeds (or not) with their proposed assisted living facility called The Solana, they will need a number of variances as well as clearing a number of hurdles created by Mr Feiner and his Town Board. You’ll recall when the Brightview Assisted Living management team was pitching their mega-building at Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue, they wrote the ordinance for allowing assisted living facilities in our Town. Never heeding complaints from the G10 or other residents, Mr Feiner and his Board unanimously passed the new ordinance.

Several issues in the new ordinance were specific to Brightview, including size, location and various other requirements. Never to be swayed by public opinion, logic, facts or qualified information, Mr Feiner and his Board did as they always do, ignored valuable information from residents, and plowed through the new ordinance for assisted living facilities. It never mattered that the ordinance restricting the building height matched exactly the  Brightview specifications. It didn’t matter that the footprint was on 4 acres of land – the exact size Brightview purchased. Nor did the need for proximity to a state road of 200 feet. That’s because their building was thought to be 200 feet from Rt 119, a state road. It was discovered in the eleventh hour that the site was actually more than 200 feet from Rt. 119, and wording of the ordinance was changed by the Thomas Madden behind the scenes to read 200 feet from a state right-of-way. Much to the disappointment to many residents, passage of this new ordinance also created a major change throughout the Town by now allowing Assisted Living Facilities to be built in residential neighborhoods. There’s more to this, but let’s go back to The Solana.

The proposal for The Solana, which would be constructed on the current Sprain Brook Nursery property, is required to be located within 200 feet of a state or county “right-of-way”. That does not include parkways and interstate highways as qualifiers of this “right of way”. This requirement was put in place to ensure emergency medical vehicles could get to these types of facilities quickly, and not have to travel through residential neighborhoods at all hours, since assisted living residents are apt to need emergency medical services often.

The Formation-Shelbourne management balked and stated a small strip of land owned by NY State constituted the requisite “right-of-way”. A challenge from the Edgemont Community Council’s President Bob Bernstein to the Building Department’s Building Inspector disagreed, saying only a state or county roadbed or a proposed roadbed, not a small parcel of state-owned property constituted a “right-of-way”.

The building inspector had also ruled last summer that no variances were needed. However, the ordinance states that these type of facilities must be at least four acres in size. Finally, after four public hearings in as many months, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) took a straw vote which is unofficial, yet reasonably representative of the final vote and ZBA members present unanimously agreed that the building inspector was wrong. Now, while everyone was relieved to learn that the ZBA got it correct, the Formation-Shelbourne attorneys and management company can still apply for variances and proceed with their project. Since the approval will fall to the Town Board, and Mr Feiner favors the project, he could instruct his Board to approve it. If it should get approved, the other issues raised can easily be mitigated as well.

While this project can easily be fast-tracked through the process, which many believe have failed them, there is another perspective this time that is in play. Mr Feiner has been exhibiting quite a bit of sympathy and empathy towards the Edgemont Community. In fact, he has gone above and beyond to placate them, even going so far as to apply and receive grant money for sidewalks in Edgemont – something he will not do for less affluent communities! So, he may go to bat for Edgemont again to allay any thoughts they may have about seceding from the Town and incorporating into a Village. It remains to be seen. These kind of shell games must end. All neighborhoods deserve the same treatment from Mr Feiner and his Board. Allowing this type of discrimination, something Mr Feiner has been found guilty of doing in the Fortress Bible Church case, must end immediately. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.  

Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Gets Blasted

The Town of Greenburgh seems to thrive on limiting the access of its residents and taxpayers, allowing developers and our elected officials to almost do as they please. This has been witnessed time and again throughout the Town. Then there are certain developer/law firm/friends of Paul that have unfettered access to the corner office. Once the meeting/phone call takes place, the yellow brick road is magically transformed into gold for them.

Breaking from Town tradition, the Town's Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee (CPSC) offered numerous public opportunities for the residents to raise questions, points, criticisms, and such of the plan. In fact, Mr Feiner wanted the Committee to travel to different areas of the Town doing a dog-and-pony show. The Committee resisted so as to be able to hold the meetings at Town Hall and be both recorded and televised. We applaud the Committee's decision to do this.

Under the guidance of former Town Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden, who has since left our Town to do something in Stamford, CT., and the Chairmanship of Francis Sheehan, Town Councilman, there were many ideas incorporated into this plan that were unwelcome. One such idea of major concern was that of incorporating the use of "nodes"* in the future. During the first round of public sessions, the CPSC heard from many concerned citizens. But did they listen?

Apparently not. Resident after resident, especially from the Edgemont area, which will see beau coup nodes in their area, took to the podium to bemoan that after a year of waiting, little has changed with the unveiling of the revised Comprehensive Plan. Many stated they heard but didn't listen to what was being said. Noticeably absent were two very engaged citizens from the Committee, Madelon O'Shea and Ella Preiser. Could they have been boycotting this meeting? ABG doesn't know for sure. However, we do know that neither favored the "node" conception. That idea was the brainchild of former Town Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden. Many believe he is responsible for many of the negative changes taking place in the Town including the idea of nodes and are glad he is gone.

Town Councilman Francis Sheehan, Chairman for the CPSC, sent out this email following a morning and evening public session to get feedback from the public on the latest offering:

"The Town's Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee (CPSC) heard more than six hours of comments and questions Tuesday (4/28/15) 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. on the Second Draft of the Comprehensive Plan. The turnout at both sessions was terrific. Everyone who wanted to speak was given unlimited time to do so, even after the end time had passed.

Rather than continue the Public Hearing on May 14, 2015, as previously scheduled, the hearing will be postponed to a date to be determined and later published. The Committee wants to consider the six hours of comments in the coming weeks and edit the document to address issues raised. The edits will be made available before the Public Hearing is continued so we may receive comments at that hearing on the Plan as edited.

The CPSC appreciates everyone who took the time to attend the meeting yesterday. The Public Hearing worked as it should: we heard from the public and we will be acting on what we heard.   

Francis Sheehan, Councilman

Chair, Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee"

Mr Sheehan's email is correct about the turnout, although the evening session had more people than the earlier session. To their credit, they let everyone speak for an unlimited amount of time and there was an occasional back-and-forth with speakers and Committee members. Mr Sheehan's email closes with, "we heard from the public and we will be acting on what we heard." We certainly hope so. There is some good information in the Town's proposed Comprehensive Plan. Yet, it might all be for naught if the Committee only heard what was being said but didn't really listen. If they did, this plan may help us curtail Mr Feiner's wholesale gifting of Unincorporated Greenburgh to developers and friends. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

*The Town would create what's known as overlay zones called  "nodes" to allow for retail/multi‐story, mixed use buildings that would include residential units and flexible parking standards (no or very limited parking). Picture 4-corner intersections along Central Avenue and later the Unincorporated Town as a whole as having these nodes. It is claimed that the overlay zone should also include design guidelines or standards to foster a uniform standard of high quality development throughout the corridor.

2014 Year In Review - The Rest Of The Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ABG: Congratulations to both Houses of Worship!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Impassioned Plea To Maintain Segregated Neighborhood

Several Planning Board meetings ago found a discussion on a proposal made by a family that is looking to combine three parcels of property into one and build a 2400 square foot home on it. The zoning for the neighborhood would allow for a 2800 square foot house. 2400 square feet is not an unwieldy, garish and/or oversized home as new homes go. This project would have most likely gone under the radar for approval except for one speaker. As the Board opened the “hearing” to the public to speak, the first speaker voiced their opinion against the proposal for several reasons which he proceeded to explain. Next up was Town Clerk Judith Beville.

She took to the microphone and speaking softly, introduced herself, stating that she was the Greenburgh Town Clerk. She began discussing “her” community and requested the Board “join” her in imagining going to her neighborhood and proceeded to ask the Board to envision how close her home was to the projected new home proposed across the street from hers. She stated that this was a woodlands, wetlands, nature preserve and protected environment that they would be allowing to to be disturbed. he left out wildlife preserve. The neighborhood is comprised of small colonial style houses. This home will stand out and not blend with the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. Living directly across the street from the proposed home, Ms Beville asked the Board, “ I want you to ask yourselves, ‘would you want this house built near you?’ ”

She proceeded with an impassioned plea saying this was a direct exploitation of this long-time African-American community.There it is. When all other arguments fail, bandy the race card to win the NIMBY argument. How disappointing it is to once again witness discrimination, this time in the form of racism through NIMBY-ism from another member of Mr Feiner's administration. Ms Beville has supported Mr Feiner and his Board's multiple construction projects against the wishes of many more people than the few in attendance this night. You may recall packed Town Hall meetings where neighborhoods protested Westhab, WestHelp, 88 North Rd, Frank's Nursery, Avalon Green, Toll Brothers, Dromore Road. The list goes on. What is different for her than what these other resident taxpayers were seeking to limit? Absolutely nothing!

Her claim was that this home shouldn’t be built because it would be a change to this long time African American community. Interpretation? Her racially segregated neighborhood should stay as it is. This is an example of reverse racism coming from another community leader and member of the Feiner administration. We’ve previously posted that the Feiner Administration condones racism from within and now it’s becoming more exposed. 

We invite you to watch these videos linked below from the meeting and ask you to decide. Here are two links we found on YouTube of her speaking at the Planning Board meeting. By the way, these are not videos that ABG produced or created. 

Watch her plea here:

TOGPB 04 16 2014 NIMBY Beville
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5a2n-AjUXY

The Board later detailed what constituted a wetland – this property was not. They explained a nature preserve – this property was not. They explained all of her other postulations only to summarize that the space she bemoaned as a waterway was determined to be a drainage ditch that occasionally collected water. They went through each of her points of objection and detailed how she was incorrect.

The Board’s response:

TOGPB 04 16 2014 NIMBY Beville QA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yHPu1HE-zw

It’s interesting to watch how the "Greenburgh elite", or "1%-ers", who are used to getting their way for what they want, react when something is going to affect them more directly. This time it is Ms Beville and a project across the street from her home. When Westhab was proposing their building in Fulton Park, the residents didn’t say “No” to the proposal. They only asked the Town Board to not change the zoning and keep its size within the confines of the existing zoning. They had worked with the homeless at that location for years while it was a homeless hotel. The Fulton Park Civic Association President, who lived directly across the street, just asked for a more reasonably sized building and a buffer. Ms Beville felt Westhab should be built regardless of the residents concerns and publicly stated as much. But Ms Beville is saying she doesn't want anything built there. That's just wrong.

When Mr Feiner decided that a new Stop and Shop on Rt 119 would be a good thing on Rt 119 and the Glenville Neighborhood objected, they were summarily dismissed. When the Parkway Homes neighborhood found out they were getting yet another group home at 88 North Road, there were two issues at play: the first was that Mr Feiner led the state to that piece of undeveloped property and second, Councilman Jones failed to inform his neighbors and former neighborhood association. When Mr Feiner realized he could get Valhalla votes by letting WestHelp rot, he instructed somebody at the Town to leave it open. Now it needs millions of dollars worth of repairs to be habitable. Why are Valhalla residents, who live at least one mile away from this facility against this affordable/low income housing?  
 

Some of the reasons people object to the developments throughout the Town are invariably told that it will raise our property values, increase diversity, increase tax income and make the Town more vibrant. The reality is usually not what we are told. Objections to the Dromore Road development is about overwhelming the school district, not about low income residents. Objections to the Comprehensive Plan's "nodes" is not about low income residents, but of urbanizing the Town and overwhelming the school system with more kids at an undervalued tax income as apartments pay less in taxes than single family homes. Of course, the elephant in the room is the continued racism emminating from our Town administration. Once this stops, we'll finally have A Better Greenburgh.