Town Board Violates Law, Approves ShopRite

On Wednesday, May 13th, the Greenburgh Town Board, via a Zoom meeting, unanimously and we believe illegally approved a site plan application by Lewis Masters Holdings LP to demolish the multiplex cinema at 320 Saw Mill River Road (Route 9A) in Elmsford across from Sam’s Club and build a ShopRite supermarket. 

There were 2 Public Hearings held on the ShopRite development. The March 11th Public Hearing, held at Town Hall, had public participation but the April 22nd Public Hearing via a Zoom meeting was presumed to be illegal because of limited participation by the public. Numerous letters of concern were sent to the Town Board which were not acknowledged or heard by the public. 

The site, which had other retail space and still has the KFC and Taco Bell restaurant, covers 10 acres and is in between 9A and the Westchester Hills Condominium. Old Country Road, which runs uphill from Route 9A(east) is a well-traveled road used by school buses from 4 different public school districts as well as Private and Parochial Schools, residents and pedestrians. 

The roadway was originally the only access and egress for the 215 Westchester Hills Condominium owners until Executive Boulevard was created and joined Old Country Road at the top of the hill. Pocantico Park scatter site housing which is run by the Greenburgh Housing Authority, lies to the north. That is the side of the property where the developer plans to build the entrance way which will circle up to the new building.

The ShopRite supermarket will be 75,711 square feet including an accessory interior restaurant space together with approximately 10,765 square feet of attached separate retail space after they tear down the existing National Amusements multiplex cinema and other buildings which contained a number of small businesses.

The application was first submitted to the Town Board on April 15, 2019. However, Mr Feiner instructed the developer to meet with the area residents to get their buy-in. They met at the Westchester Hills Condominium’s Recreation Center. The room was full. And, full of it. Mr Feiner snuck in after the meeting had begun with his Town Board members. Once recognized, he took a lot of hits from residents. While most were okay with a ShopRite coming in, they emphatically insisted that they did not want a curb cut on Old Country Road with the subsequent truck traffic and even car traffic as it’s already a congested road. 

Another major concern raised by the residents of Orchard Lane, which abuts Old Country Road, is the issue of blasting and rock chipping. Their homes were built on cement slabs which contain pipes for radiant heat and water. This issue must be continuously monitored as demolition and construction proceeds.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said, “This is positive news for the town especially during this difficult time in our history when so many residents are out of work due to COVID-19. There will be significant construction jobs and permanent job opportunities after the supermarket opens up.” There may be people out of work due to Covid-19 but Mr Feiner also favors keeping the economy shut down which would limit who and how many people may get construction jobs from this project. Our guess would be very few from the area.

The approval contains a number of conditions that the developer must meet. Some of these are:
• The use of LED and motion activated lighting;
• Putting in new sidewalks;
• Making modifications to Old Country Road such as mountable curbs and shifting lanes;
• Designing and installing public improvements such as an updated bus stop and traffic signal modifications;
• Planting additional evergreen screening and repairing fencing;
• Restricted hours for truck deliveries and operation of the trash compactor

All of the claims by the Town Board to not want to vote for this resulted in what was expected: a unanimous vote approving another one of Mr Feiner’s pet projects. The phony compassion from this Board has to stop. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

ESCO Probably Costing You Money Instead Of Saving It

From Ella Preiser,  Communications Administrator, Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations

A Message to All:

At this time when so many people are out of work and small business owners are concerned about their survival, some Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations (CGCA) representatives are deeply troubled that the Greenburgh Town Board has not taken the opportunity to inform people about a possible way to save some money.

The CGCA urges you to check your monthly Con Edison bill.  If the bill indicates your electricity supplier is Constellation and your supply cost is 7.709¢ per kWh, you were probably enrolled in this ESCO (starting January 2019) by the Greenburgh Town Board.  If enrolled, you have been paying considerably more than those of us who “opted out” of this ESCO.  Please review the attached table which provides information on the kWh costs per billing cycle for seven different property owners who did “opt out.”  These figures were taken from actual Con Edison bills.  The first five properties are residences. Properties #6 and #7 are small businesses.

For anyone who isn’t familiar with the “history” of the Town’s involvement with this ESCO, attached is information you may find helpful.  At the very least, skip to the last lines of the document below which illustrates the cost savings ($37.15 and $115.53) for a single month for two different properties.  Paying the higher price could be very costly over the two-year contract.

The Greenburgh Town Board is not alone.  Twenty-six other Westchester municipalities participate in this CCA.   The concept was good but it is not working to the advantage of electricity users.  The ESCO named Constellation is raking in millions of dollars from residents and small business owners.

If you are paying too much, contact the Town Board for an explanation of why they did not keep you informed.  Feel free to pass this message on to your neighbors.

Stay safe and well.

Ella Preiser, CGCA Secretary

First Document:

First CCA Contract – How it began – Modest Savings

In 2015, the Town Board discussed with residents the possibility of participating in a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program.  The concept was simple and good – if a large number of users joined together to purchase huge numbers of kilowatt hours of electricity, they could negotiate a cheaper price. Supervisor Paul Feiner issued an email blast 9/29/15 claiming that participation in a CCA could reduce our Con Edison bills by “hundreds of dollars.”  

In January of 2016, the Town Board passed a local law granting Westchester Power authority through a CCA program to procure electric supply from an ESCO (Energy Supply Company) for a two-year contract for all unincorporated Greenburgh residential and small business users who did not “Opt Out.”  The program began with June 2016 meter read dates at a fixed cost of $0.0738 per kWh for the “Basic Supply Option” or $0.0768 for the “Green Option.”  The cost was subsequently increased for residential users to $0.0770 per kWh for the “Basic Supply Option” and $ 0.0800 for the “Green Option.”  There was no penalty to “Opt Out.”

In April 2018, residents received notice from Westchester Power that the rate of the soon-to-expire contract would “remain in place until your January 2019 meter read date.”  No approval for this extension was given by the Town Board. Once again residents were made aware they could “Opt Out” of the program without penalty.

Resident Ken Stahn had opted out of the program. Despite his repeated requests to the Town over the two-year period, no information was provided to the thousands of residents and small business owners the Town Board had enrolled in this ESCO. Thus, unincorporated Greenburgh electricity users had no way of knowing whether they were actually saving money and/or whether they should take advantage of the “Opt Out” provision.   The Council of Greenburgh Civic Association (CGCA) was asked to get involved.  Following a unanimous vote at the June 19, 2018 CGCA meeting, a letter was sent to Supervisor Feiner seeking information.  

The CGCA received a response.  In an email blast on July 24, 2018, Mr. Feiner reported that over the 25-month period from June 2016 through June 2018, residents in the “Basic Supply Option” had saved an average $7.78/month, residents in the “Green Option” saved $6.00/month, small business owners in the “Basic Supply Option” saved $2.01/month, but it actually cost small business owners in the “Green Option” 22 cents a month.  

However, for the very first time the public learned that only 52.67% of the savings actually came from the supply cost per kWh that had been negotiated.  Much of the total savings (47.33%) came from a $1.20/month billing and processing payment charge to each customer and sales tax avoidance (3% for residential and 7.375% for small businesses) on the delivery portion of the monthly bill. Savings from avoiding these two charges had never been mentioned earlier.  And, these two savings were not unique to the ESCO in which the Town enrolled users, but rather were available to any customer enrolled in any ESCO.  

Second CCA Contract – Huge Loses

Although the savings had been modest, the Town Board nevertheless voted to continue participation in the CCA for another two-year contract.  Beginning with the January 2019 meter read date, all residential and small business owners were enrolled for electric supply in the “Standard Option” at a cost of $0.07709 per kWh with the ESCO Constellation unless they “Opted Out.” 

Resident Ken Stahn, who had opted out again, noted each month his Con Edison per kWh costs were lower than the 7.709¢ per kWh costs charged by the  ESCO in which the Town had enrolled residential and small business owners. Mr. Stahn’s continued requests to the Town to provide information to the public were ignored.

Finally, on October 15, 2019, Westchester Power was invited to make a presentation at a Town Board work session.  At that meeting it was revealed that the Town had enrolled a total of 11,777 unincorporated Greenburgh residential and small business owners in the ESCO Constellation.  At the meeting, there was brief acknowledgement that the default Con Edison price for electric supply was at a historic low, but more time was spent blaming higher bills on Con Edison delivery charges.  Praise was given for the metric tons of carbon saved – although Greenburgh deserved little credit since few were enrolled in the “Green” option. It was stated electric supply costs would probably increase next year and reference was made to saving money regarding a Community Solar Project.  The need for a public update was mentioned, but there was no follow through. 

Some CGCA representatives who had opted out of the CCA contract felt the Town Board should inform the public about the higher costs to them.   Data was collected from the actual Con Edison bills of eight properties – five residential and three small businesses – from different areas.  Seven of those properties had opted out of the CCA contract but one business was enrolled.  The data revealed that the seven properties that had opted out had saved between $50 and $700 over the 12 billing periods starting in January 2019.  The one business property enrolled by the Town in the ESCO actually paid more than $1,000 in additional costs over the 12-month period.  Rest assured, that business promptly opted out when presented with this information!

At Mr. Stahn’s request, the Town Board invited Westchester Power to make another presentation at its March 10, 2020 work session.  The representatives again acknowledged that Con Edison default rates were at historic lows. The presentation included a slide showing that those enrolled in the ESCO paid $1,133,210 more for supply, with the additional monthly costs being between $5.71 and $6.92 for residents and between $4.46 and $10.07 for businesses.  However, it was emphasized that those enrolled still had savings over the past three years.  Also emphasized was the amount of carbon saved, likely Con Edison cost increases later in the year, the community solar project and how helpful Westchester Power could be to utility users.  

Ella Preiser, Dorrine Livson and Ken Stahn attended the meeting.  Two tables were presented showing the data collected for the eight properties. Westchester Power representatives were dismissive of the data provided because it contained actual (four-decimal place) per kWh supply costs and did not include a small “Merchant function charge.” They emphasized Con Edison’s rates were unpredictable and the bill was difficult to read.   The Town mentioned the need to provide information to the public.  The next day (3/11/20) at the regular Town Board meeting, Mrs. Livson mentioned the more than one million dollar cost to Greenburgh users and tens of millions to other Westchester County electric users. She asked the Town to release such information.  The Town once again remained silent.

At the April 22, 2020 meeting, held via Zoom, Mrs. Livson again asked the Town Board to inform the public about the electric costs.  The Board agreed to invite Westchester Power to the first work session in May.

ARE YOU PAYING TOO MUCH?

See the attached table which has been revised and lists the one-decimal place costs Con Edison recommends to compare ESCO charges. To determine if you are paying too much, examine the electric supply page on your Con Edison bill and compare the cost per kWh with those shown on the table for the seven properties.  

Contrary to the information presented on March 10, it may be costing you far more than the $6 to $10 per month Westchester Power mentioned.  Just as an example, following is computation illustrating the cost differences of recent bills for Property #5 (residential) and Property #6 (business).  As you can see Property #5 saved $37.15 in just one month and Property #6 saved $115.53 in one month.

1374 kWh @ 7.709¢/kWh = $105.92 + 4.24 (4% sales tax) = $110.02           

1374 kWh @ 5.100¢/kWh = $  70.07 + 2.80 (4% sales tax) = $  72.87

4086 kWh @ 7.709¢/kWh = $314.99 + 26.38 (8.375% sales tax) = $341.37

4086 kWh @ 5.100¢/kWh = $208.39 + 17.45 (8.375% sales tax) = $225.84

                                                                                               

Also note:  Westchester Power cannot rely on 47% savings from other sources on this contract.  The $1.20 per month billing and processing fee remained at $1.20 for businesses but was reduced to 60¢ per month for residents in 2019 and is now 64¢ per month.   Since last spring, the monthly bills no longer mention sales tax avoidance (now 4% for residential and 8.375% for small businesses) on the delivery portion of the bill. 

Democratic Primary, Not So Cut And Dry

The Democratic primary will be held on Tuesday. For a change, while not the actually election, there are some choices other than the tenured members of Club Democrat. Each candidate has produced the requisite position draft and the incumbents have touted their “accomplishments”. Fact or fiction? You’ll have to decide. Worth noting: there is an ethics complaint that’s been filed against incumbent candidate Councilman Ken Jones by Rodney Lederer-Plaskett, that relates to the Greenburgh Housing Authority(GHA), and Mr Jones’ participation while working for the law firm that represents the GHA, working as the Town Board liaison to the GHA, and that that same law firm, Bozeman Law firm of Mt Vernon, also sues the current residents and past residents of the GHA facilities!

Read the details of the complaint:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IiCywtfceH00lS2GBwecVJeH71yMoLqF
(if the link doesn't automatically take you to the document, copy and paste the link into your URL address field)
Read the details of the exhibits:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DLPUd39IJgRwdTC-DsMsc_7-AWkYtfHR
(if the link doesn't automatically take you to the document, copy and paste the link into your URL address field)

If that weren’t enough, new candidate Gina Jackson, recently returned from living in Atlanta Georgia, utilized the GBList (Town email list), violating court rulings established in the judgement in Livson v Town of Greenburgh. You may recall that Ms Livson took the Town to court after being refused the GBList from Mr Feiner and the Town Attorney. They stated it was confidential and didn’t want it used for political (really anti-Feiner) purposes. In short, Ms Livson was battling Mr Feiner and GameOn 365 and believed he was sending out false information to residents via the GBList and wanted to be able to present the other side to the many arguments and statements being made and the truth to residents. She won the court case with a determination that the list would not be used for political or commercial purposes.

Ms Jackson is on Team Feiner, which means the rules and laws don’t apply to her or them. We watched Mr Feiner disregard the law whenever he found it to be a nuisance or simply inconvenient. The GBList was used by her for political purposes several days ago to solicit campaign funds. That was wrong. But the beauty of being on Team Feiner is that there are enough Democrat District Attorneys and Judges that will not do anything about this. So even if someone were to hold her feet to the fire, nothing will come of it. She may have even asked (we doubt it) Mr Feiner about using it to which his reply would be to not worry about it, we’ll beg forgiveness. It’ll go no where. In fact, Ms Jackson sent out a second email utilizing the GBlist.

New candidate Eric Zinger appears to be the only candidate unencumbered by the politics of politics and appears to be the one honest candidate who has followed the letter of the law, played by all of the ridiculous rules designed to favor the incumbents and is doing this for the right reasons. In fact, when the Democrat Club shunned him as he sought a Town Board nomination, he went out on his own and got the required petition signatures necessary to qualify for a run in the primary anyway. This is the kind of drive that should impress voters of any party. 

At the end of the day, this election should be about what our Town Council is doing for all resident taxpayers and business taxpayers and not about special interests, returning favors and/or ignoring the laws. The current Town Board does what it wants with impunity and without regard to what the taxpayers want or need. Instead of complaining about President Trump or the federal government this or the state government that, we need to focus on not getting sued all the time and losing. We need a real Town Legal department that will guide the Town officials to make legally sound decisions and not because it’s something they want but because it’s the right thing to do. If we had new people filling these positions, not the same old, same old, year after year and not under Mr Feiner’s thumb and reliant on his campaign machinations, funds and GBList, maybe we’d see a change that the Town so desperately needs. It needs to start with this primary. It’s the only way to get A Better Greenburgh.

Misdirection, Lies and Ethics

It's no secret that our incestuous Town Board lies whenever convenient and makes decisions based on those lies. Mr Feiner, including then-Town Councilwoman Timmy Weinberg, was found guilty of discrimination in a Federal Court case that the Fortress Bible Church brought against the Town a number of years ago. Included in the 7-guilty verdicts were lying under oath and destroying evidence. Those lies cost the taxpayers $5.5 million dollars after the insurance paid $1 million. So it comes as no surprise that the autonomous inbreeding on Hillside Avenue has finally come to fruition. Now the rats are attacking themselves. 

Watching the Town Board meeting of May 22nd showed some of this infighting. Case in point was over TB1 and TB2 on the agenda. Below is the summary of each of those:

TB 1 - 5/22/19 Resolution authorizing the Town Supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh to enter into a Municipal Fee Agreement with Manhattan Avenue Senior LLC whereby Manhattan Avenue Senior LLC will pay a fee to the Town in the amount of $100,000 as reimbursement for the costs and expenses related to the development of up to (#units) residential housing units for seniors aged sixty-two (62) and older [#units still needs to be determined by the Town Board-- 66 or 82] (Held over to Town Board Meeting of June 12, 2019) 

TB 2 - 5/22/19 Resolution authorizing the Town Supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh to enter into a Tax Exemption Agreement with Manhattan Avenue Senior Housing Development Fund Corp., a New York not-for-profit corporation, which will hold title to the property located at 48, 50, 54, 56 and 58 Manhattan Avenue, currently owned by the Greenburgh Housing Authority, for the benefit of Manhattan Avenue Senior LLC, a for-profit entity that is a party to the Agreement, for the purpose of exempting an affordable housing project for seniors aged sixty-two (62) years and older from all local and municipal taxes (meaning all real property taxes levied by the Town of Greenburgh, the County of Westchester, the Greenburgh Central School district or any other taxing jurisdiction), other than assessments for local improvements and special district taxes, 100% of the value of the Property and Project for a period of thirty (30) years.(Held over to Town Board Meeting of June 12, 2019) 

It begins to get interesting at eight or nine-minutes into it after Bishop Preston took to the microphone and accused the Board of dragging its feet on approving the Municipal Fee Agreement with the Greenburgh Housing Authority (GHA). Bishop Preston proceeded to complain that it should not take this long to approve and that the Board should give a tax exemption or do a P.I.L.O.T. (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) program in hopes of expediting the program before the Board, adding what they were doing was disrespectful and dishonorable to the seniors. He claimed that it had been pushed back numerous times again and again.

Mr Jones pontificated about being the Greenburgh Town Board liaison with the Greenburgh Housing Authority and that he was very aware of what was going on and that the agreement should be voted on, adding the GHA have come before them with their professional representatives and there is no reason not to take this vote. It’s just the tip of the iceberg and that this should not be held over. He then moved to vote on it. After being newly appointed that same night, Town Councilwoman Hendrickx fell in line and seconded the motion. 

True to his flawed character, Mr Feiner originally had postponed the vote late in the day but now confronted by an irate Jones, jumped on his bandwagon expressing his support for it, saying it was not a perfect agreement and we’ll have a real crisis if they don’t move forward with this. He continued that this is a crime that Greenburgh is not leading the way and voted yes. He also referenced the lack of funding for WestHelp and how it is wallowing due to a lack of funds. He neglected to mention that the entire WestHelp debacle and its current state was caused by him and his complicit Town Board. This too has cost taxpayers millions of dollars every year! 

Then Councilman Sheehan began to speak about the reason this resolution had been pulled from the agenda which was to give the new Board member (Hendrickx) time to study it before voting on it and got into a verbal back and forth with Councilman Jones. Mr Jones stated he knew nothing of the resolution being pulled from the agenda. Sheehan said that since Mr Feiner advertised this as being pulled from the agenda, many have not attended that night's meeting. He went on to discuss the affordable vs low income categories and the lack of paperwork that he's requested for at least two years to support the verbal commitments made to the Board. They’ve received nothing. 

Both Mr Jones and Bishop Preston (from the audience) stated the paperwork couldn’t be drafted until their petition was approved. If this was true, the paperwork could have been drafted, submitted and held contingent upon approval of the application. Mr Sheehan also stated he sees this lack of paperwork as contributing to the destruction of the Greenburgh Housing Authority. Frankly, it appears that this paperwork could have easily been drafted and submitted during that two year period. This seemingly small stumbling block could have been easily addressed during that time and this point would have been moot. As a matter of fact, taking two more weeks or so after over two years seems more than reasonable. 

Mr Sheehan then stated that the Housing Authority and the developer are using the same attorney, Lucia (last name unknown). Mr Jones interrupted him and said, “No they’re not. No they’re not. That’s a misrepresentation.” Mr Sheehan said she represents both, to which Mr Jones responded she represents the development company that both the Housing Authority and Georgica Green Ventures have formed together. The GHA has separate counsel. Mr Sheehan asked Mr Jones twice if they've actually formed that company and he did not answer. Once again, from the audience Bishop Preston could faintly be heard saying not until they get this resolution approved. 

The meeting seemed to devolve even faster from that point, especially when Mr Sheehan pointed out that a Board member went to the Ethics Board to find out if they should abstain from voting on GHA issues. That woke Mr Jones up who loudly told Mr Sheehan that that statement was not true and that he did not go to the Ethics Board. Mr Sheehan responded by saying he had not mentioned anyone by name. So we wonder, was Mr Jones feeling guilty about just lying to everyone thinking we wouldn’t find out?

Below is an excerpt from the Ethics Board’s May 8, 2018 meeting minutes which we made blue to distinguish it and bold to highlight the pertinent facts:

MINUTESTown
> of Greenburgh Board of EthicsTuesday,
> May 8, 2018 6:30 p.m.Town
> Hall, Steven Belasco Conference Room
>
>
> Board
> Members Present:
> Doris Friedman, Esq.; Carol Sarcinella, EdD; Blase Spinozzi,
> Craig Zumsteg.
>
> Volunteer
> Counsel.
> Joseph Malara, Esq.
>
> Also
> present:
> Ken Jones and Francis Sheehan
>
>
> Meeting
> was convened at 6:38 p.m. A quorum of the Board of Ethics
> was present.Adopted the Agenda.Adopted the Minutes of the March 20, 2018,
> meeting.The Chair Doris Friedman, Esq. thanked Carol
> Sarcinella for filling in during her absence.Correspondence. The e-mail received from the Town
> Clerk, Judith A. Beville and the response were
> noted.The Advisory Opinion regarding David Cannon’s
> request will be discussed at the next meeting.Ms. Friedman will write to Steve Grant inviting
> him to the next meeting of the Board of Ethics.Financial Disclosure. Blase Spinozzi reported that
> David Fried, Esq. stated as of May 2, fifty-nine percent of
> the employees and twenty-eight percent of Boards and
> Committees were in compliance returning disclosure
> formsEthics Training. Blase Spinozzi said David Fried
> will discuss with the Town Board the possibility and date
> for the ethics training presentation. Ken Jones
> made an informal request for advice on how to proceed in
> future decisions involving his position on the Town Board,
> his liaison with the Greenburgh Housing Authority for the
> Town Board, and the legal firm he serves “of counsel.”
> The Board of Ethics recommended that he recuse himself from
> any decisions involving his firm and the
> Town.

This clearly shows that Mr Sheehan's assertion was accurate and Councilman Jones is not telling the truth. The legal firm he is referring to is Bozeman Law firm (see pic below), which we just captured Sunday from their website (https://www.bozemanlawfirm.com/profiles.htm). 

Mr Jones could argue that he left his firm in the Spring 2019, a few weeks  prior to the vote in question and that technically his May 2019 vote was not barred by the Town Ethics Ruling. Unfortunately, the Town Ethics Code does not directly address a “cooling off” for private sector matters. However, the NY State Joint Commission on Public Ethics “plain language guide”  is very clear with its “reverse two-year bar” for public officials in dealing with matters that involved a former private sector employer. Again, technically, the NYS employees ethics rules might not bind town employees, but that is a very weak “ethical” position for Mr Jones to take. Perhaps he subscribes to Mr Feiner's methodology to ignore any laws or standards he doesn't like? By the way, Mr Feiner appoints all Ethics Board members which gets ratified by his Board.

Below is an excerpt from of the NYSJC Public Ethics rule. We made it blue to distinguish it and bold to highlight the pertinent facts:

REVERSE TWO-YEAR BAR
If you are entering State service from the private sector, the “reverse two-year bar” may, depending on the circumstances, require you to recuse from matters directly involving your former private sector employer for a two- year “cooling off” period.
The Commission interpreted Public Officers Law § 74 to contain this “reverse two-year bar” in Advisory Opinion Nos. 98-09 and 07-04.
In practice, the “reverse two-year bar” prevents the appearance that you, in performing your State duties, may give preferential treatment to, or be unduly influenced by, your former private sector employer.

If your Ethics Officer or JCOPE determines that recusal is appropriate, it runs for two years from the date that you terminated employment with the private sector employer. 
Link:

https://jcope.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2018/10/jcope-plain-language-guide-ethics-law-91018.pdf

Watching the Town Board meeting shows just how dysfunctional this Board has become. Mr Jones made a motion for the Board to vote on the proposal and it was seconded by newly appointed Councilwoman Hendrikx. Mr Sheehan said, we believe correctly, that any Board member can move to hold-over any item without cause and he was doing so. Mr Jones objected. They argued some more and finally Town Attorney Tim Lewis, referred to as the Board's Parliamentarian, suggested suspending the rules -- basically to thwart Councilman Sheehan's request to pull the resolution -- and allow the vote that Councilman Jones wanted. Not only can you not vote to suspend your rules so you can have a favored or controlled outcome, but doing so may violate the Town charter. So after they voted to suspend the rules (Yes vote by Hendrickx, Jones, Feiner) Juettner abstained saying they've never done this before, and Sheehan voted no, they then voted for the the original resolution with the same comments and counts. Suspending or changing the rules to control the outcome is like passing a law to say murder is not illegal so you can't be found guilty of murder after you've killed someone. 

What probably most important here is that Mr Jones worked for Bozeman as an attorney while he was a Town Councilman and the GHA liaison. Bozeman represents Georgica Green Ventures which is comprised of the Housing Authority and the developer. Ken Jones should have recused himself because his employer was involved with the Town whether directly or indirectly. Mr Feiner should have removed Mr Jones as the GHA liaison due to the conflict of interest and Town Attorney Tim Lewis should have also asked Ken Jones to step down as liaison for the same reason. But this is “Bizarro Greenburgh” where rules apply to others, not the elite few in Mr Feiner’s inner circle. And, with the forcing of the suspension of rules to make a decision go the way he wanted, Mr Jones has placed the Town in another risky, contentious and possibly criminal position with Ms Hendrickx, Mr Feiner and Mr Lewis.

There are three candidates running for two Board seats in the Democratic Primary on June 25th. Those Board candidates are incumbent Ken Jones(D) seeking re-election, Eric Zinger(D) and Gina Jackson(D) vying for Mr Jones’ and Kevin Morgan’s seat. There are two candidates running for Supervisor position in the general election on November 5th. Lucas Cioffi(IND) is running against incumbent Mr Feiner (D) for the Supervisor's position. We know Mr Zinger and Mr Cioffi and are hoping to sit down with Ms Jackson soon and invite all the candidates to submit position papers to us for publication. Without position papers we believe any of the new candidates would be a breath of fresh air, a welcome change and long overdue. It’s the only way we can begin to get A Better Greenburgh.

Leadership Remains Stale as Ideas and Creative Thinking Wither

As the Shelbourne assisted living saga continues to drag out with both sides knowing the probable outcome after all of the lawsuits, we’re faced with other construction proposals elsewhere. By the time the public learns of these other projects, we usually uncover that Mr Feiner has had secret meetings with them long before the breath of public knowledge. They pitch their ideas in the corner office, seeking help, advice and strategies. Such was the case with GameOn 365, friends of Mr Feiner who would be positioned by him for a windfall property gain at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, the former Frank’s Nursery property. Regardless of the tactics employed by Mr Feiner, the neighborhoods surrounding the property were able to beat him at his own game, stood united and thwarted the illegal deal he made with them.

Now we have the Shelbourne assisted living proposal that has already visited the halls of justice. Mr Feiner openly stated he was for the assisted living facility before the Edgemont community protested and then he was against it. It also appears that Mr Sheehan has publicly stated he is against the variances that were granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals. You may also recall Mr Sheehan chaired the questionably received Town Comprehensive Plan, making it nothing more than a weak politically correct statement of current events – none of which can be certified scientifically – and not a vision for the Town’s future. It was a golden opportunity whose capital was squandered away for a brief moment of political acknowledgement. Sadly, this seems to be what our past 25 years of stale leadership is providing the Town. If misery loves company, we’ll not alone.

After some 20-years of dormancy, the former General Motors assembly plant site in Sleepy Hollow, seems poised to begin construction of the Edge-on-Hudson mega-development. After completing remediation (none of which Town Attorney Tim Lewis offered to provide estimates for) the below-ground infrastructure needs were addressed. With that completed, vertical construction should finally proceed at an estimated $1billion cost. It is a joint venture between two developers, SunCal of California and Diversified Realty Advisors of Montvale, New Jersey. But what are they proposing to build at the end of Beekman Avenue that Toll Brothers, a Pennsylvania company, will be constructing?

Once again, this mega-development will include 1,177 units of condominiums, townhouses and rental apartments; a 140-room boutique hotel; 135,000 square feet of retail space and 35,000 square feet of office space. This proposal has the hallmarks of touching every issue for any community that entertains a developer’s vision: increased traffic, flooding, increased school enrollment, increased emergency services call volume for police, fire and ambulance, the need for more parking, bus and taxi services, undersized roadways and traffic systems to name a few. They’ll also include millennial favorites such as a state-of-the-art exercise facility, a pool, community room and a coffee shop. There will be limited parking as the developers will insist these same millennials do not drive – usually disproved as the sales and rentals steadily increase. How long will it take before we start seeing For Rent signs in these new vacant retail spaces that becomes the status quo?

Every developer we’ve ever listened to provides a traffic study after their initial proposal utilizing the state’s figures for the size of the development. What it doesn’t account for is the fact that Sleepy Hollow, like all of the other river towns, can only have 180 degrees of access as it has the Hudson River utilizing the other 180 degrees of that travel circle, effectively halving their span of attraction, a factor that all river town businesses suffer from. Consequently, Edge of Hudson begins its struggle with a half-capacity for traffic relief right out of the gate. But, not to worry – millennials don’t own cars or drive. Regardless, the traffic study will reflect what the developer needs it to be: a marginal increase in traffic during the 7am through 9am and the 4pm through 6pm rush hour periods.

Most of the developments nowadays appear to have first floor retail space on most, if not all of their ground floor buildings. Why stay with this staid and non-functioning model if brick-and-mortar retail is dying? It’s simply because first floor units are the least desirable to live in. Hence, the use of the old standby for retail space. So more coffee shops, nail salons, dry cleaners, Subway-like fast food businesses and dollar stores. It’s absurd! Yet community leaders will continue to discuss the changing landscape of retail – while having absolutely no experience or direct knowledge of running a business for profit – and tell us how the internet is changing the shopping paradigm. With this being the case, shouldn’t we look for a different and more viable plan? Of course we should.

The office space seems like a fairly innocuous offering. Are zoning changes being made to accommodate these retail and business inclusions into this residential housing? Are they really necessary? While 35,000 square feet isn’t that great a space, what happens to it if it cannot be rented out? And what of the hotel that will be constructed on the property? What will be the daily impact of its operation to the area? Will traffic conditions affect the flow of traffic in just Sleepy Hollow or will it also attack Tarrytown, Elmsford, Pocantico Hills, Scarborough, etc.? We’ve been told repeatedly that millennials don’t drive. If they do own a car will they drive their cars back and forth to work? Will the hotel have customers walking to them or only taking their shuttle from outer points because it doesn’t allow or have enough parking? Will there be docks that boaters can use? If there are, who will oversee them?

This project isn’t in Greenburgh per se. However every project done in one location can be easily cannibalized and imported to another. Just look at the Shelbourne project on the heels of the Brightview assisted living monstrosity that was inflicted at Benedict Avenue and Rt 119. If it happens in one neighborhood, it can happen in yours. A true Comprehensive Plan could have spared us this type of real estate debauchery. Instead, we were given platitudes about global warming and 500-year storms that are happening every year. This stale thinking needs to change – everywhere. But it needs to start here and then be moved to other neighborhoods just like the bad developments have. Only then can we get A Better Greenburgh.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

In an entirely predictable move by Mr Feiner, he officially ruled the Edgemont Incorporation petition was not sufficient and cancelled the hope of a proposed incorporation referendum for the Edgemont community. Mr Feiner had said all along that he was against the incorporation citing a loss of revenue, approximately $17 million out of the Town budget that would be Edgemont’s portion. Regardless, what Mr Feiner and any elected official should be doing, is entertaining different ideas and listening to their constituency. Clearly that did not happen. To quote the old Gomer Pyle TV character, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”

Mr Feiner claimed that the Edgemont Incorporation Council (EIC) had been careless with the petitions, referencing failed boundaries for the proposed village – all of their documentation stated they were utilizing the Greenville Fire District boundaries. He referenced the EIC petition not including minors in their list of inhabitants – although we would assume that would be two-fold: one to protect children’s identity and two because they cannot vote and subsequently don’t “count” toward this event.There’s additional supposed reasons Mr Feiner ruled as he did but these other issues will, unfortunately, flush out in court. That said, he ruled many of the signatures invalid. If anyone could fabricate a reason or a way to invalidate petition signatures, it’s Mr Feiner and his Board.

“Forged signatures falsely sworn to by a witness in front of a notary is a legal violation that invalidates all the signatures collected by that witness,” Mr Feiner said. Wow! His incredible statement is ironic given his own conviction by a Federal court for lying under oath in the Fortress Bible case, destroying evidence and discrimination! Could we ever witness more hypocrisy in government? It’s almost as if Mr Feiner practices doing the wrong thing to see how he can get out from under it.

He floundered helplessly several times during the hearings without his Town Board to keep him from speaking too much. Normally, they would intervene and keep him from going down the proverbial rabbit hole. We can only wonder if this time they knew what he was doing was wrong and decided to err on the side of caution and stay far away. This by no means excuses most of their bad behavior and we even believe Mr Feiner might have told them, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this one. You can stay away.” But not after they agreed to spend $50,000 to hire attorney Robert Spolzino!

“The Town had to develop the facts,” Mr Feiner said. “Otherwise it wouldn’t be a real decision.” Actually, what he should have said was the Town needed to invent the facts and in lieu of actual facts and create what they needed to kill the petition. How? He enlisted his troops from his core of regular supporters, Mona Freitag, Martin Payson, Planning Board appointee Hugh Schwartz and his wife, Town Attorney Tim Lewis and his wife, along with others. The sad part is now that he’s decided to invalidate the petition, a new petition will invariably be filed expanding the area to include portions of Hartsdale parking district – backfiring on Mr Feiner big time! At the same time, it is expected that a lawsuit will be filed by the EIC against the Town and Mr Feiner for ruling the way he did. 

The elephant in the room is that Mr Feiner, with a modicum of assistance from Councilman Ken Jones at one of the public meetings about incorporation, was against the Edgemont incorporation from the get-go. At the first hearing, Councilman Kevin Morgan could be seen whispering in Mr Feiner’s ear after he lost control of the meeting. Instantaneously, Mr Feiner said, “We’re adjourned.”

At no point did he hide his disdain or opposition for the incorporation, claiming routinely that it just wouldn’t work. ABG staffers always believed his end game was to delay the petition until after the (re)election in November, knowing that people would tire of this and he could do what he always does: wear down the opposition while he campaigns against them and rally enough votes to squash everyone in favor of incorporation.

If they don’t tire of the incorporation movement, he’ll simply assume they would forget about. He knows voter memory is minuscule at best. That strategy might have worked had he not hired retired justice Robert Spolzino, who in turn hired private investigators to try to trick pro-Edgemont incorporation residents into signing an affidavit that would invalidate their previously signed endorsement for incorporation. It was so unbelievable that one resident supplied a nanny-cam video with sound that proved what was being done to dupe residents. Watch the resident’s video here: https://youtu.be/MBR3L16s3_s

One detrimental move was when Mr Feiner adjourned the first hearing after losing control of it following his mandate that pro-incorporation residents could not speak at the hearing, only anti-incorporation residents could. At the second hearing, adding insult to injury, he allowed the President of the security firm that they hired to speak during objections, followed by Town Attorney Tim Lewis reading affidavits from the surveyor he hired and the Title search attorney he hired, all during the objections. 

The second detrimental move was when Mr Feiner held the second hearing the day before the hearing was scheduled to close the record, not giving residents or the EIC an opportunity to review statements, evidence or information presented by anti-incorporation proponents. More importantly, at the second meeting Town Attorney Tim Lewis read the previously read statements already entered into the record and then called the same anti-incorporation proponents up to the podium to re-read their statements again. The reason was surely to eat away at the precious time the pro-incorporation proponents would try to utilize for their cause, further thwarting their efforts.

As always, there were no surprises with this announcement. The one surprise we would have enjoyed would have been one where Mr Feiner did the right thing, didn’t force another lawsuit for the Town taxpayers and allowed the petition to go through. Had he done the right thing, we might have gotten A Better Greenburgh, smaller, but better.

Announcing Nothing Says It All

All they want to do is vote. All they want is to become a Village. All they want is to control their destiny. All they want is to get out from under the incompetent, illegal, and bad decisions repeatedly made by this Town’s mismanaged and incapable Town Board. Hey, wait a minute... we all want this. But we all can’t afford to do what the Edgemont Incorporation Committee (EIC) has undertaken. Be it the expense, the lack of expertise or the support that doesn’t exist elsewhere in the Town, most of the rest of Unincorporated Greenburgh is saddled with what the EIC has confirmed is a problem. The Town not acting in their/our best interest.

In another calculated move this week, Mr Feiner chose to announce he had reached a decision as to the sufficiency of the EIC petition but would not make it known publicly until after he met with his Town Board early this week. If the decision has been made, why not just announce it? The legal requirements involved are simple: determine the sufficiency (or not) of the petition and let the EIC specifically, and the public in general, know the decision. But Mr Feiner, the Master of Deflection, the King of Compounded Confusion, the Purveyor of Publicity, the Convolutor of Crappola, decided early on that he was against the incorporation and attempted to thwart this effort at every juncture. Hence, the delayed announcement. But again, why?

The EIC’s move to incorporate and the efforts against it may or may not be legitimate. There are other events at play that factor into the Master of Deflection’s suspect actions. Take, for one instance, the Town’s maneuvering with the Dromore Road fiasco; or another instance to get the Shelbourne Assisted Living facility approved by any means necessary and take some of the attention off of the EIC case. The reality however is that it highlights the exact reason the EIC is seeking to incorporate!

What's also interesting is that Feiner Planning Board appointee Hugh Schwartz has been a vociferous proponent on the anti-incorporation side of the fence. Mr Schwartz has publicly positioned himself as being recused as a Planning Board member from the Shelbourne project because his wife works for the law firm representing Shelbourne. However, we came across this piece of information that may indicate otherwise where he requests to talk to Town Attorney Tim Lewis about it. Hmm, this makes us wonder.

Mr Feiner usually has many irons in the fire, enabling him to dance from one controversial issue to another. What he fails to publicize is why. We believe it is simply to be able to change any conversation from the question raised to something else, hence the moniker, Master of Deflection. The issue at hand, beyond Edgemont's right to vote for incorporation, is what else is he doing?

Some have said Edgemont activists fear Mr Feiner will reject the petition, and is conferring with his Town Board to plan a response once the announcement is made. We've also learned from some in Hartsdale that the EIC is considering circulating a new petition, and expanding the boundaries of the proposed village to include parts of Hartsdale, including the hamlet's parking district. The boundaries must be determined by the proponents of the village incorporation. Not the Town, an existing fire district map or school district map. In fact, it can be drawn by a kid with a crayon and agreed to by the EIC and submitted as final. Clearly, there is more going on and wonder how much is from the corner office?

Strangely, when questioned at numerous meetings about what preparations were made by the Town should an incorporation take place, Mr Feiner hesitated and said, “Nothing, because I don’t believe it will pass.” Many were taken aback. Shortly after one of the last meetings about Edgemont incorporation, Mr Feiner said he wanted a citizen’s group to look into what the Town could do should incorporation takes place. He subsequently appointed Luis Polit to chair the Greenburgh Unincorporated Area Citizen’s Contingency Committee which would be tasked with seeking solutions. 

One condition of acceptance was that Mr Polit would receive no interference from the Town or Town Board and get to appoint all of the committees members. While this sounds above-board, a documented video exists of Mr Polit physically pushing Robert Bernstein after a disagreement the two had while serving on a different Town committee. Additionally, Mr Polit recently made this statement after being forced to cancel a meeting with department heads and town commissioners, “I suspect they were told not to participate in this meeting until the petition gets resolved, so I kind of read between the lines.” Obviously, while Mr Polit might believe in preparedness, open government and independence, Mr Feiner is clearly not interested in any of these!

Mr Feiner’s ability to “game” the political system to his advantage is well-known and he surely has another ace up his sleeve. Or, he’s looking to delay this until after the (re)elections. It remains to be seen exactly how this will play out. All bets at this point indicate that Mr Feiner will reject the petition on the grounds of some obscure or undefendable technicality. It will warrant yet another taxpayer lawsuit that didn’t have to be. That is not acting in the best interest of the Town. What is in the best interest of the Town is for this administration to step down. With or without a seventh village, it’s what will help us get A Better Greenburgh.

So, What's Next?

The Edgemont incorporation fiasco needn’t be. Mr Feiner could simply find sufficiency in the Edgemont incorporation petition and schedule the referendum to take place. But then again, Mr Feiner is leading this publicity campaign with the hopes of being able to swoop in and save the proverbial day – from himself – and gain another major media exposure extravaganza. What is obvious to those following this sham is that the Edgemont Incorporation Committee (EIC) has dotted their “i’s” and crossed their “t’s”. So, why not just let it happen? Control. Mr Feiner, without the benefit of public input, also decided with secret meetings to hire an attorney and private investigators without telling the taxpayers. Remember this, you’ll see it again.

We spoke previously of an Edgemont resident who had initially been against the incorporation until he learned of the private investigators hired by Mr Feiner and his Board to try to invalidate resident petitions in favor of incorporation. Once he learned of this he changed his tune and said he was disgusted by Mr Feiner’s actions and changed his position. Many that we spoke to at the different hearings echoed these sentiments. Had Mr Feiner left the process to run itself out, followed the law, not tried any of his typical shenanigans, actually done his due diligence, etc., the proposition probably would have died a natural death.

This is not the first time we’ve seen Mr Feiner “muck up” the process. You’ll recall the former Frank’s Nursery property debacle that did not play out as it should have. Years ago, when the former Frank’s Nursery was operating at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, they defaulted on their taxes. Many have speculated as to why. Some said it was just the natural progression of a company failing and ultimately going out of business. Others claimed they walked away from the property because it was laden with contaminants and cheaper to take the loss on the property than to remediate it. After several years, though, the Town acquired the property through foreclosure. And, Town Attorney Tim Lewis stated the cleanup would be no more than $100,000. Not an environmental attorney, or an environmental anything, he was very wrong.

New York State and Westchester County laws mandate that a municipality cannot be a landlord. As such, the Town is required to sell the land or turn it into a park or utilize it as Town property. Mr Feiner, without the benefit of public input, also decided in secret meetings (here it is again), emails and phone calls with GameOn 365 that he and his Board would lease the property to that commercial entity. In fact, email communications acquired under the Freedom of Information law (FOIL), exposed Mr Feiner's promise to supply the land to GameOn 365 at a ridiculously low rental price. The catch was that instead of selling the property, which is required by law, he wanted to lease it to them to install an 83-foot inflatable bubble. That's 8-stories high. More importantly, it is illegal!

But the property in question was zoned residential. By ignoring the contamination and leaving the property dormant for many years instead of selling it as required by law, Mr Feiner made the situation worse than it needed to be. Then again, Mr Feiner enjoys a tradition of ignoring laws he doesn’t like or wants to follow. And, it appears his Board condones these actions. Consequently, the property reverted back from the special business zoning it had enjoyed for decades back to residential! Oops! But Mr Feiner also knew he would make his Board the lead agency and able to change the zoning to whatever GameOn 365 needed it to be. What he hadn’t factored in was the civic associations and the unity of the neighborhoods around the property. Because of their due diligence, they thwarted both Mr Feiner and GameOn 365 and kept the property zoned residential.

Then there’s the Westhelp debacle created by Mr Feiner strictly to manufacture another event to garner publicity at the expense of a school for the handicapped. We are unsure as to the reasoning behind Mr Feiner deciding in secret meetings and without the benefit of public input (here it is again) to not renew the lease from the County of Westchester for the Westhelp property on the Westchester Community College campus. This was affordable housing for homeless mothers built under now-governor Cuomo’s reign in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The property was then turned over to the Town of Greenburgh with a yearly income to the Town of $1.2 million.

There’s nothing wrong with having elected officials who are independent thinkers, unless their thinking doesn’t help their constituents. The Edgemont incorporation issue has become just another one of Mr Feiner’s side shows. Regardless of the impact the people of Edgemont may cause the Town by incorporating and becoming another village in the Town, they have followed the law to get to this point. It would be nice if we had a Supervisor who also followed the law. Perhaps if we did, the people of Edgemont might not be seeking incorporation. Mr Feiner must make a determination this coming week. Hopefully, he’ll do the right thing by all Greenburgh residents. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Failing To Deliver

It should have been a stunning upset at Monday night’s Edgemont petition hearing. Mr Feiner could have simply found the Edgemont Incorporation petition sufficient for a referendum. Instead, he exhibited classic Feiner behavior, making up the rules as he went along to favor those opposed to incorporation. In fact, his bad behavior from the last public hearing held at the Anthony Veteran Park was such a disaster that even his ardent supporters, his own Town Board, were absent this night! He calculated his moves trying to shun responsibility and pawn it off to his hired gun, attorney Robert Spolzino, now a retired judge. After detailing what he felt were sufficient rules, he turned the hearing over to Mr Spolzino. Many objected, shouting once again, that the fix was in.

Scheduled to start at 7:30PM, Mr Feiner did his classic late start at 7:45PM. He couldn’t do any presentations, songs or poetry readings, his usual time-delaying tactics to diminish the amount of time he would have to spend listening to those pesky residents whine for incorporation, so he stacked the deck. First, he had Town Attorney Tim Lewis read the objections from the previous meeting and what had been submitted since. This just ate up valuable time from those who came to speak after abruptly being shut down at the first hearing. Second, he scheduled previous speakers from that first hearing to speak first, further limiting the opportunity for those in favor of incorporation from being heard. 

In fact, when Mr Feiner confidante Mona Freitag approached the podium, the room erupted, people jumped to their feet, vociferously objecting to her being given a second chance to speak even before others had a first opportunity to be heard! He was quickly losing control of the second hearing just as he had with the first. After being embarrassingly called to task by his cavalier dismissal of his own rules, Mr Feiner was convinced to allow her to speak after everyone had spoken. This time he flailed helplessly as there were no Board members able or willing to come to his rescue. 

At one point, Daniel Bernstein spoke to object to an objection filed by Ms Janet Lin at the last hearing regarding his residency. She is the wife of Greenburgh Planning Board appointee Hugh Schwartz. And, while humorously doing so, he received the heartiest round of applause for the evening. As he returned to his seat, Mr Schwartz flipped Mr Bernstein “the bird”. Clearly Mr Schwartz was upset about the comments made about his wife. Many in the audience chastised Mr Schwartz for this less than sophomoric gesture.

The evening progressed with many residents from the Town who stated they would be from within what is now being considered the boundaries of the new Village of Edgemont and that they were registered to vote in Greenburgh elections. We kept thinking, “But did they vote?” If they haven’t, we have a feeling they will this year. At one contentious point, EIC proponent Jeff Sherwin walked up the isle booming, “You are not allowing due process!” It’s a bit ironic because Mr Feiner uses numerous, hollow, buzz-phrases and the Edgemont incorporation has prompted his resurrection of the “due process” catch-phrase. Mr Sherwin was correct.

At another point, former Edgemont Community Council President Michelle McNally said she F.O.I.L.-ed (Freedom of Information Law) the latest submissions at 4 PM prior to this meeting, but was given nothing. Interestingly, Town Attorney Tim Lewis read objections received as late as that same day (Monday). Huh? If he had them, why was Ms McNally denied the information? Separately, Mr Lewis later said the maps submitted were too big and difficult to copy. Could the real reason be because Mr Feiner told him not to release them?

Many objections were read at the beginning of the 2nd hearing, this time held at Town Hall. Mr Feiner also stated the video of the meeting would be posted the following day. Not surprisingly, the video has not been posted by the end of the following business day. In fact, the video and the minutes of the first public hearing on April 5th also have not been posted! But the real trickery still at play here is that Mr Feiner purposely scheduled the second hearing just one day before the 20-day period deadline for public input. Why is this significant? Because it does not give the pro-incorporation people an opportunity to counter any misinformation, bogus statistics or factual shortcomings submitted by anyone from the anti-incorporation side! Mr Feiner knows this full well but will do his best to thwart the pro-incorporation people from achieving their goal: the right to vote to decide if they should incorporate or not.

It is hard, almost impossible to put Mr Feiner’s bad behavior, missteps, unethical practices and trickery aside. The bigger issue is not about incorporation, tax revenue, boundaries, police protection, self-destiny, garbage pickup or any of that. It’s about an elected official not following the law. It’s about the rights of citizens’ being trampled upon. It’s about voters and taxpayers not being allowed to have their due process under the law. It’s about their due process being unnecessarily influenced, coerced and bastardized under the guise of Mr Feiner and his corrupt interpretation to “follow the law”. We know better having witnessed his previous actions. This kind of behavior has gone on for far too many years. This has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.