Elmwood Country Club - Ridgewood Development

I find it necessary to respond to “Hartsdale Resident’s” August 30, 2018 comments in response to my Letter to The Editor of August 25, 2018.

The first comment regarding the reservation of parkland or payment of fees in lieu thereof is premature. Such discussion properly takes place during the final stage of approval of subdivision and/or site applications regarding residential developments.

And, according to both NYS enabling legislation and the Greenburgh Code, it is the Town’s decision, not the developer’s, whether parkland should be reserved or recreation escrow fees paid. In the Ridgewood case, no subdivision or site plan application has been submitted.

Hartsdale Resident accuses the Town Board of “holding the developer  hostage,” requiring the developers “to submit plans for something  they have zero intention of doing,” and delaying projects  “for months if not years before referring projects to the planning board.”

Hartsdale Resident is misinformed. This application does not require  Planning Board input at this time. The only application Ridgewood  has submitted is for rezoning property and amendments to the official  Zoning Map. Zoning changes are discretionary actions that properly  belong before the Town Board. If it so chooses, the Town Board can decide not to entertain the application.

Hartsdale Resident is agreeing with me when he/she states that "the exploration of alternative uses for the site and their impacts  should be done during the SEQR review.”

If the Town Board chooses to consider this application, the following  steps, previously used when considering other large projects  (The Jefferson, Regeneron, Avalon, Stop & Shop, GameOn)  should be employed:

• Issue an Request for Qualifications (RFQ) or Request for Proposal (RFP) for an outside independent consultant Interview replying consultants

• Declare Town Board intent to be Lead Agency under State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) and identify the action as a Type I

• Choose the consultant

• Affirm Lead Agency status, issue a Positive Declaration, order that a DEIS be prepared and direct the consultant to prepare a draft “scope”

• Hold public scoping session(s)

• Refer the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) when prepared to the Planning Board and other involved agencies for review and recommendations

• Hold public hearing(s) on the DEIS

• Prepare an Final Environmental Impact Study (FEIS)

• Prepare Findings

Dorrine Livson

President

Worthington Woodlands Civic Association

Letter To The Editor

To A Better Greenburgh,

A Scarsdale Inquirer article of 8/10/18, concerning the proposed development of the former Elmwood Country Club by the New Jersey based company, Ridgewood Realty, contained mis-information and omissions.

The “pre-submission conference” with the Planning Board that was requested by Ridgewood should NOT have been granted because there is no provision in NYS Town law enabling legislation or the Code of the Town of Greenburgh that allows an applicant seeking a map change and proposed rezoning to bypass the normal procedure of first going to the Town Board. According to the Code of the Town of Greenburgh, this type of meeting is allowed for site plan or sub-division approval only. It is not allowed for projects that require changes of zoning. All zoning changes must be approved by the Town Board.

In a July 3rd letter to the Planning Board, Ridgewood blames the Town Board for delaying action on their application. The problem of the delay is not the fault of the Town Board. At a Town Board Work Session, a request was made to Ridgewood to submit their plans (site plans, landscaping, water course, steep slopes, utilities, roads, etc.) for the as-of-right 119 Single Family Homes development. To date, they have only submitted an engineer's rendering of the Single Family Homes. Ridgewood is the problem for the delay, not the Town Board.

In the article, Ridgewood claims that the Town House Condo proposal, an Adult 55+ Community, will generate $350,000 more tax revenue (Town, School, Fire District, etc.) than the Single Family Homes proposal. That statement is incorrect because of the fact that Town House Condo units are assessed at between 50-60% of their value as compared to 100% assessment of Single Family Homes. At comparable selling prices, the 119 Single Family Homes will generate more tax revenue than the 175 Town Houses.

Ridgewood also states that their traffic engineer says that “the traffic generated from the 175 unit development proved to be less than the traffic generated from the as-of-right 119 unit single family home plan”. At our Civic Association meeting, the Ridgewood CEO, made the statement that people over 55 do not go to work. That claim was strongly disputed by the association members. If that assumption is being used as a criteria for the traffic study, there is a major problem.

Our community strongly believes that a full comprehensive SEQRA review of the project should be conducted by an outside, independent consulting firm to study all the issues concerning this development: financial, density, environmental, traffic, alternative development options, etc., as has been done previously by the Town for major projects such as The Jefferson (JPI) and Regeneron.

Dorrine Livson
President
Worthington-Woodlands Civic Assoc.

Former Frank’s Nursery Finally Sold

It was announced by Mr Feiner, in conjunction with the daily newspaper of record for Westchester County, that Greenburgh town officials finalized the $3.5 million sale of the old Frank's Nursery property. He also touted the future opening for a new assisted living facility at the site. Having lost his battle to develop Dobbs Ferry Road into a sports corridor, his carefully worded explanation avoided all hints of the calamity he created with the property.

The 7-acre property on Dobbs Ferry Road had been vacant since the nursery shut down. In 2011, the town foreclosed on the property and took possession. From that point on, Mr Feiner made the property a political football. The property was required by County and State law to be sold as municipalities cannot be landlords. What Mr Feiner tried to do was “gift” the property to his new friends from GameOn 365. So egregious and offensive was this move, it forced residents to organize and form the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association!

He said, “It’s significant because now, for the first time, it’s not town property and it’s back on the tax rolls. The construction of the assisted living facility will start. They’ll start with the remediation of the contaminants.” The remediation was promised by Town Attorney and pseudo-environmental expert Tim Lewis to cost no more than $100k to remediate. And, while Mr Feiner was trying to illegally lease the property to GameOn 365, he had insisted the Town would pay for remediation. In actuality, the Town will be responsible for $1,899,283 million of the cleanup.

During the entire time of this bad behavior by Mr Feiner, he enraged the group of people he should have been representing! Instead, he created a tug of war with the area civic associations and taxpayers for the sole benefit of an out-of-state for-profit company. During this time, secret emails between Mr Feiner and his friends at GameOn 365 were uncovered. One damning statement from GameOn 365 to Mr Feiner was that they should stop the email communications and only discuss things by phone as emails are subject to F.O.I.L. requests and phone conversations are not. They did just that!

After a proposal for a sports and recreation facility fell through, the town reached a deal in 2015 with Capitol Seniors Housing for an assisted living facility. That deal was finalized Thursday with the closing of the sale. The sports facility proposal didn’t “fall through” as Mr Feiner wants the uninitiated to believe. The proposal was out and out rejected by all the residents in the area! Once Mr Feiner and his Board ignored the property beyond 6-months, during which point he could have legally given it away, it reverted back to residential zoning. Since the adjacent residents have a right of refusal, they did just that. As Mr Feiner scrambled to meet with residents individually and in small groups to persuade them to acquiesce and support the GameOn 365 proposal, they stood united!

Mr Feiner said the new facility is expected to generate $500,000 in property taxes. But he doesn’t say if that is yearly, as a lump sum from the sale or how he’s come up with that figure. He routinely throws out figures without corroboration, validation or proof, hoping for the sensational and unsubstantiated reproduction in print newspapers. He also said, "I think it’s going to be a big asset to the town having an assisted living facility at that location. The neighborhood supported it.”

Actually, the neighborhood did and does support it. All along they insisted that the only proposal that could be acceptable at that site was residential housing. He even tried to propose other commercial activities at that location. The civic associations saw what he was trying do. If they said yes to that proposal he could use that to make the argument that there is no difference from placing one type of business over another at that location. The civic associations remained steadfast and eventually won out! It’s this kind of civic involvement that makes for A Better Greenburgh.

David Vs Goliath: A Victory For Open Government

A major ruling on Wednesday from the Supreme Court of the State of New York found in favor of a challenge by Ms Dorrine Livson, against the Town. The Town had been ordered by a lower court to supply Ms Livson with a copy of the now infamous GBList used by Mr Feiner to only send information he wishes to present to residents. Ms Livson, President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association (herein WWCA), had submitted a Freedom of Information Law (herein FOIL), request for a copy of the email list used by Mr Feiner to promote or denigrate proposals, topics of his choice or projects within the Town he either favors or not. He also used it for personal attacks, such as those he made against now retired Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice and others. 

Here’s a little history:

WWCA President Dorrine Livson had requested the email list in 2014 so she could counter some of the misinformation being put forth by Mr Feiner regarding the 8-story (83ft) inflatable sports bubble that private investors, known as GameOn 365, had agreed to build on the former Frank’s Nursery location on Dobbs Ferry Road during secret conversations with Mr Feiner. This was the proverbial “back room deal”. Once Ms Livson got wind of these conversations with Mr Feiner and Mr Hewitt, she FOILed emails from Mr Feiner and received one email in particular from GameOn 365 owner, Martin Hewitt. Mr Hewitt asked Mr Feiner to cease all email communications with him and only do telephone calls because phone calls could not be FOILed and emails could! But the damage was already done. After discontinued use of 6 months, the property was no longer grandfathered as commercially zoned and reverted back to residential zoning. Then Mr Feiner promised $5 million dollars in tax revenue which turned out to be another exaggeration. But since he wanted the GameOn 365 project to go through no matter what, he pushed to have the project on a referendum at the upcoming election, asking all residents of Greenburgh to vote on this one project in this one neighborhood. He sent out numerous emails using this same email list to promote its passage. This was exactly what Ms Livson was upset about and why she sought the email list – to counteract these types of actions by Mr Feiner. 

With the elections underway with the “new” voting machines – seemingly crayons and poster board, many people were not voting for the referendum as they didn’t know it was on the back of the voting ballot. He sent out an “emergency” email using the same email list telling residents to flip over their ballots and vote for the referendum. He was out of control. But, he garnered 22,000 votes in favor of the bubble. 

Back to the present:

The Town denied the request on the basis that the Webmaster stated that there was neither a print or extract function with the software that can reasonably create a list of email addresses. Undaunted, Ms Livson contacted Cit-e-Net on or about March 11, 2014, and was informed that Cit-e-Net could provide the Town with a digital copy of the gblist, upon request by the Town! Ms Livson subsequently appealed the denial which ironically gets reviewed by, ahem, the Town Board – the same people already denying her request. Regardless of how absurd this might be, they denied her appeal. Undeterred, Ms Livson filed what’s called an Article 78 proceeding against the Town, the Town Clerk and the Town Board with the assistance of Edgemont Resident and Attorney Robert Bernstein.

The Supreme Court reviewed the Article 78 filing and found in favor of Ms Livson. The Town refused to turn over the email list even after ordered to do so by the Court and appealed. Yet, although the court found in favor of Ms Livson, the Town stated afterwards they were now concerned with the confidentiality of the people on the list. Our understanding is that this argument was not made during the Town’s original court presentations and was without merit as an argument now! 

Mr Feiner’s abuse of the GBList is well known by those who follow Mr Feiner’s shenanigans and not what he writes in his press releases. All of this could have been avoided had Mr Feiner and the Town Board complied with the original FOIL request by Ms Livson. Once again, the court has found in favor for Ms Livson and has ordered the Town to produce the email list to her – again. They have also been ordered to pay court costs as well. Congratulations to Ms Livson and Mr Bernstein on a job well done! While ABG is certain other civic organizations will be filing for copies of this, it remains to be seen how the Town finally responds. It’s another dark day in Greenburgh that did not have to come to pass had the Town done the right thing. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Sports Bubble Bursts

We previously wrote on February 17, 2014 about the apparent safety issues with sports bubbles being more common than we were led to believe by the Town Administration and other proponents of sports bubbles. However, the bubbles they all referenced were smaller than the proposed bubble originally slated to be inflated at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, the former Frank's Nursery property. Other safety concerns were quickly dismissed by Mr Feiner. Contamination cleanup of the property was also quickly placated by Town Attorney Tim Lewis, an unacknowledged and unknown hazardous materials remediation specialist.

Worthington Woodlands Civic Association members were not against development of that property. Yet their one constant was that no commercial entity be allowed to use the space and that it be utilized as zoned, for residential housing. Mr Feiner continued to assault the neighborhood with plans of an eight-story, 84-foot tall sports bubble as well as other commercial endeavors. WWCA balked and maintained their ground. 

Safety issues continued to be the topic du jour when discussing the use of the property. It seems there is an active proposal to develop the property as an assisted living facility. The WWCA has endorsed this project as it conforms to the zoned usage and will be used as intended, for residential housing. 

The sports bubble that had been proposed by GameOn 365 for that location then decided they would locate it next door to the Visioli's Golf Driving Range. The safety issues still remain regardless of the location. As was just witnessed this past weekend, a severe snowstorm hammered our area. With about two feet of snow, many roofs collapsed in traditionally built structures. In fact, crews for many businesses could be seen clearing their flat roofs of snow to lighten the stress the snow was placing on the structures. 

In Mt Vernon the Sports Underdome, often referenced by Mr Feiner and others who supported (pun intended) using a dome at the former Frank's Nursery property, had a collapse due to the crushing weight of the snow. Fortunately, no one was hurt. This same dome had had previous collapses in February of 2003 and December 2010. Third times a charm? In an ad hoc interview, the newly elected Mayor of Mt Vernon stated the owners should have cleaned the dome off during the storm. Classic politician response.

No doubt sports bubbles can provide a respite from inclement weather if used judiciously. Utilizing a sports bubble for 15 years, as has been proposed in our Town, is an aberration of the intent these flexible devices allow. We should remain adamant that resident and guest safety is too important to allow people to be put at risk through the use of sports bubbles. We would support a change in our code disallowing them and keeping people safe. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Must Someone Else Die?

Many residents have indicated that speeding is an issue on their neighborhood streets. Occasionally, the police department will send a car to monitor and maybe even write a couple of tickets. But the fact is, there are too many streets, too many cars and too few police officers to stop them. We won’t bother discussing whether or not ticket quotas exist because most people already have an opinion about that. What we will discuss is that common, small infractions seem to either go unnoticed or unticketed because they are a nuisance to the police. Infractions such as illegal lane changes, using a cell phone while driving, failure to signal and so on are the ones routinely excused - unless if there's an accident. 

An officer we spoke to said he was doing speed control but only issued one ticket and about half a dozen warnings after radar-checking one particular neighborhood for an hour. He said he gave warnings to those speeding between the posted 30mph speed limit and up to 40mph. His hope was it might filter back to family and friends, with word ultimately getting back to them to slow them down. He also said that every neighborhood he does this in finds the residents are among the many speeding culprits! Either we don't have enough police officers doing traffic enforcement or enough resources for them - or both. It all comes down to money.

The Town’s Police Department budget is controlled by the Town Board. The Police Chief submits his budget request to Mr Feiner and his Town Board. Then the dance begins. Actually, the dance happens with all of the assorted Town Commissioners each year at budget time. The past several budgets have been trumpeted by Mr Feiner as being below the New York State 2% Tax Cap. Sadly, the public is being scammed by Mr Feiner’s well-honed lie originated in Albany and perpetuated here in Greenburgh that while we stayed under the 2% Tax Cap, our tax increase (this year) was 3.4%. Caveat emptor or willfully ignorant.

Regardless, the Police Chief submits what he needs and during the subsequent dance, perhaps even before and after it, Mr Feiner tells the department head to find something to cut so he can issue multiple press releases about how he found fat and made cuts in the budget. Then there's several other press conferences and releases about the budget being under the tax cap again, once upon a time Greenburgh was the 80th best place to live, essential services were maintained while staying under the 2% Tax Cap and so on. Publicity Paul will use a host of press releases, interviews and physical mailings. He'll also use the illegally held GBList. That's the email list that he and the Town are stalling the release of to Dorrine Livson of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association after going to court and being court-ordered to give it to her under the Freedom of Information Law.

Mr Feiner's latest folly is a new traffic sign that announces how many tickets have been issued on a particular street supposedly for speeding. The issue at hand with this is that the Town is abdicating their responsibility for traffic enforcement by relying on a sign, crossed fingers and the hope that drivers will slow down. This very definitely compromises our residents and guests' safety and well-being. Also, Mr Feiner has over-advertised the new sign as his panacea for publicity, informing speeders town-wide that there are no cops nearby and speed away! So as drivers barrel on down the road,we have Publicity Paul (aka Pinocchio Paul, Posturing Paul, Federal Felon Feiner) to thank. If speeding is to be controlled by a sign, what's our next policing move? Another traveling sign to announce how many break-ins a particular neighborhood has had? By posting a sign and advertising there are no police nearby, will crime now rise?

Another conversation with a Town police officer said Feiner's sign publicity has started a firestorm of requests at police headquarters. Apparently, since Promising Paul has been asking for suggestions on its placement, the police have been inundated with requests for the sign. While we tip our hat to Preposterous Paul for another great deflection and latest the publicity coup, these requests indicate the seriousness of the speeding problem throughout the Town and the residents' desperation for relief. The Town Board has green-lighted almost every project for the last 22-years, the tenure of multiple Feiner Administrations, without having a coinciding traffic plan to control flow of traffic, speeding, parking and the like.

Similarly, many neighborhoods ask for speed bumps/humps, stop signs, rumble strips, even red light cameras to try to slow speeders. Each time the subject is broached with Town leaders and police representatives they are given a plethora of reasons as to why their requests cannot be delivered. They're told speed bumps can't be used to control traffic, they hold water and increase flooding on our already flood-prone streets. They're told you can't put in rumble strips, you can't have an officer doing speed control because of budget constraints. They're told they cannot install stop signs to control traffic. We can't do this and we can't do that? But what can they do? Apparently, more they tell us.

In one of his almost daily campaign mailings, Mr Feiner said the following:

"Speeding on South Road and North Road has always been a concern of residents of Parkway Gardens and Parkway Homes. The Greenburgh Town Board will vote on Wednesday, October 14th to accept the Police department’s recommendation to add an “all way” stop sign at South Road at the intersection of Jackson Place and at North Road at the intersection of Jackson Place.  Earlier this year there was a fatal hit and run accident on South Road. It’s the desire of the Greenburgh Police department and Town Board to make all of our roads safer and to improve the quality of life for residents. Greenburgh Police Chief Chris McNerney and his traffic safety officers deserve our thanks for their follow up on this important safety initiative and for meeting with community members prior to making this recommendation."

It appears that stop signs can be installed to control traffic flow. This is exactly what residents from several neighborhoods have been asking for. It's just so sad that a death had to occur for this to happen. The real point however, is while the stop signs may help control traffic in the future, would they have prevented this unfortunate death? Must someone else die before we see the installation of stop signs, traffic lights, controlled pedestrian crossing areas and other solutions? 

With elections approaching, this will be one of the best pieces of campaign fodder Mr Feiner has dreamed up. He will have the signs installed, send out multiple press releases, have several press conferences at the sight, posture about it at numerous Town Board meetings and lament that they cannot do this in more neighborhoods because he's limited in spending due to the NYS 2% Tax Cap - which his Town Board could vote to ignore. He'll continue on that he is committed to safety and improving our neighborhoods. Look for another sign saying that since the stop signs were installed, "X" amount of tickets have been written and "X" amount of lives have been saved.

There are serious traffic issues growing with every development Mr Feiner and his Town Board approve. Coincidentally, corresponding traffic control is noticeably absent. As our budget resources dwindle, our police department is being pushed to do more with less. Let's see how many more of the signs Mr Feiner plans to distribute throughout our Town affecting your safety and the safety of your families and visitors. Must someone else die to get action throughout our Town? This has to change. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Frank's Nursery Debacle: Board Tables Auction Again

The former Frank’s Nursery property on Dobbs Ferry Road has been Mr Feiner’s personal political monkey, whether on his back or out in front dancing with him since the property was acquired by the Town through foreclosure. The property has been used by him for deflection from critical issues as well as grandstanding whenever possible. In fact, it has been the one property where his only goal seems to be to gift the property to his friends from GameOn 365, a paper company with no assets, no investors and no hope - save one: Mr Feiner’s largess.

The first attempt at gifting the property to GameOn 365 was in the form of an illegal lease shortly after the Town acquired the property through foreclosure. When residents rallied through the threat of another lawsuit, Mr Feiner withdrew his lease offer to his friends. You see, foreclosed upon property must be sold by the municipality that acquires it. Mr Feiner, a non-practicing attorney probably knew this but forced the residents to vociferously point it out.

Mr Feiner then placed a referendum on the election ballot promising the Town $5-million if the public would pass the referendum. They did, giving Mr Feiner new ammunition to sidestep another law he didn’t like nor wanted to obey. What he hadn’t explained was the $5-million was over the course of 13 years and would allow GameOn 365 to “flip” the property once they purchased it. Mr Feiner insisted they wouldn’t do that. Hmm, how could he know what they would do in the future? Ultimately though, GameOn 365 decided to not move forward with leasing the property.

Regardless, he then tried to sell the property to them and at the 11th hour, another offer, in cash and twice as much was submitted to the Town with another threat of a lawsuit. During all of this, residents kept informing the Town of various contaminants and possible carcinogens that would be found on the property if they only looked. Mr Feiner ignored them all. The public insisted the Town remediate the contaminated property and Mr Feiner said, “No, we’ll make remediation a condition of the sale by the purchaser.” What he never publicly told anyone was the the Town may have acquired the property through foreclosure, but the Town never received a clear title for the property. Consequently, they could not sell it. This partially explains Mr Feiner’s initial attempt to illegally lease the property than to sell it.  

Under the guise of pretending to care, the Town authorized incredibly limited environmental testing be done where the two old heating oil storage tanks had been. Surprise, surprise, they found the soil in that area contaminated with, you guessed it, heating oil. Keeping their heads in the sand, the Board went along with Mr Feiner's scheme to now sell the property as is, requiring the purchaser to clean up the contamination. Ironically, Town Attorney Tim Lewis insisted the remediation would not cost any more than $100,000. Forget remediation. The testing alone blew right past pseudo-environmental expert Lewis’ number of $100,000. Unfortunately, while residents continued to clamor for more testing, Mr Feiner and crew just dug their heels in even deeper.

Amazingly, the Town Board continued the ruse by saying we should sell it to initiate the testing required for a sale. Sounds a bit like the famous Nancy line, “We have to pass it so we can find out what's in it.” Lo and behold, Harold Bordwin of GA Keen Realty, the Town’s chosen auctioneer for the property, said that prospective bidders were reluctant to bid on the property because of several unknowns. Unknowns such as what contaminants are on the property, how much of it is there, what the cost for remediation would be (Mr Lewis’ “expertise” aside), and then what steps would need to be taken to make the property whole again for development. The other consequential issue is the ever-present power lines that run adjacent to the property. As such, the figures for the property being discussed by developers were significantly less than the $3.5million offered two years ago by House of Sports in Ardsley for the property.

Another key factor in the entire debacle with what could have been a simple sale if Mr Feiner had followed the law is that of zoning. But out of the 60 or so developers expressing any kind of interest in the property, only 15 have signed confidentiality agreements to move forward with participating in the auction. But between the property’s soil contamination, groundwater contamination and zoning limitations, there was a lot of information that was intentionally not provided by the Town for bidders to move forward. Additionally, the neighborhood residents are adhering to their desire for the property to be used within the zoning that is currently in place for the property (R-30), which can be used for single-family housing, assisted living, public safety oriented buildings, libraries, and such.

After much anticipation, mostly awaiting the excuse that would be used to delay the auction this time, the Town Board held a special Friday meeting on October 31 to again postpone the former Frank’s Nursery property auction! It has already been postponed several times and many in the Town were curious when he would announce this postponement and the reason why? ABG staffers were convinced as were many others that the auction would be postponed or canceled because Mr Feiner could not control gifting the property to friends at GameOn 365. Regardless, this postponement was a fait accompli, a done-deal never going to see the light of day. It seems that several months will be needed to complete the real testing of the Frank's Nursery property before an auction or sale can take place. It’s disappointing because after the months pass, Mr Feiner will return to say the zoning must change for the Town to sell the property.

Many people with the best interest for Greenburgh at heart repeatedly told Mr Feiner and his Town Board that further, more encompassing testing and remediation would be needed before we could proceed. Mr Feiner and his Board refused to listen, instead believing Mr Lewis because his was the answer Mr Feiner told them they sought. Again, it’s disappointing. We as taxpayers deserve and should expect better from the Town’s elected officials. If we don’t receive it, we should vote differently in the next election. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Resident’s Crusade Wins Lawsuit Against Town Arrogance

Lawsuits against our Town seem to be a dime a dozen. Some are frivolous in the hopes of exacting small sums of money from the taxpayers’ coffers. After all, many in the Town are fed up with paying for everything for everybody and having Mr Feiner get the credit as though it was due to his largess. Then there are the people who will file suit against the Town and Mr Feiner in particular because they honestly believe wrongdoings were committed. Such is the case this time.

What began as a simple FOIL request from one resident would soon become her crusade. In February of 2014, Worthington Woodlands Civic Association President Dorrine Livson, requested a copy of the Town's email list, known as the GBList from Mr Feiner and the Town. The GBList contains approximately 2,500 email addresses that are the property of the Town but that Mr Feiner uses as his personal list at his discretion. This time, Mr Feiner had once again sent out another one-sided email and she wanted the other half of the story told, allowing for a balanced discussion with her organization's members.

Mr Feiner uses this list to push issues with only his point of view, go after residents and taxpayers who disagree with him as well as shield himself from the media with his one-sided accounts of his facts. Mr Feiner and Town Attorney Lewis turned down Ms Livson's request. As usual, the Town Board remained silent during all of this. No need to bite the hand that feeds them.

Ms Livson FOIL-ed the list under the Freedom Of Information Law which allows citizens to officially request files, documents and such from their community, county, state and federal government. Her FOIL request should have to be fulfilled by the same people now refusing to supply her the file. She then filed an appeal with the Town Board again, who would once again be the decision makers from which she was requesting the file. No surprise here, the appeal request was also denied. There was only one thing left for her to do.

Telling Ms Livson “No” to all of her requests caused her to become more determined than ever to get a hold of this elusive GBList. With the refusals and the appeal denial under her belt, she knew she was being forced by Mr Feiner and Mr Lewis to file an Article 78. An Article 78 allows individuals who have been refused FOIL requests to appeal the denial in court. Knowing the key players with many of the lawsuits against the Town, Ms Livson reached out the uber-legal team of Keane and Beane, who has successfully won the Fortress Bible Church Discrimination lawsuit against Mr Feiner with a $6.5million dollar fine that Unincorporated taxpayers must pay! Ms Livson had hoped it would never come to this and always held hope that Mr Feiner would change his position. Since he would not, and armed with the facts, Ms Livson and her legal team went to court referencing a 2008 case which ruled in favor of the Committee on Open Government that email lists are Town records and must be disclosed!
 
One piece of evidence used in court was an email from March 3, 2014, from Town Clerk Judith Beville on behalf of other Town officials who wrongly denied Ms Livson’s FOIL request saying there was not a print or extraction function on the software that can reasonably create a list of email addresses. Ms Livson contacted the vendor who maintains the GBList, Cit-e-Net, and found out that pending Town approval, the list could in fact be printed and the email addresses supplied. Ms Livson again approached the Town Board with this new information only to have Mr Lewis fabricate new concerns and deny her appeal.

In the end, the judge dismissed most of the Town’s positions as either incorrect or not germane. Mr Lewis, the head of the legal department for the Town, did not cite the correct cases, did not address whether the GBList was a private list, and that concerns about sharing the list with Ms Livson were never invoked as reasons for the denial in court. Basically, the Town Supervisor, Attorney and Clerk were telling Ms Livson one thing and the court something else. 

The Town “leaders” routinely and arrogantly deny many people or groups access to information - unless you're in their golden circle. Ms Livson finally got through all of their illegal maneuverings because they forced her hand. She never wanted to have to go to court and always hoped the Town leaders would do the right thing. They would not - until now. Disappointingly, they will be forced by the court to do the right thing because they are being told they must. It’s a shame that Ms Livson had to go to court to be proven correct.

The Town has about a month to appeal the decision against them. ABG is convinced they will although this case has significant ramifications. While Mr Feiner will say he disagrees with the court’s ruling but will comply, it also opens up the path for civic associations, neighborhood groups and individuals to gain access where none has previously existed. Mr Feiner may put a line mentioning this decision in one of his daily email blasts to the 2,500 or so addresses he has. Ms Livson will now be able to add more than one line and help balance the arguments, discussions and information. This is yet another black eye for the Town of Greenburgh. It’s sad to see these leaders behaving badly. They must go. It’s the only way we'll get A Better Greenburgh.

All Quiet On the Real Estate Front, Just Don’t Get Fooled Again

The property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road has been condemned by Mr Feiner and his Town Board. They have decided to let it languish, contamination and all, and continue to help his favored “paper” company, GameOn 365. As you have read here previously, Mr Feiner has been trying to create a new zoning classification called Recreational. Mr Feiner’s plan, not the plan of the community, especially the surrounding neighborhoods, of both residential and business taxpayers, ignores the wants and desires of everyone but he and his friends from GameOn 365.

Throughout this ordeal that Mr Feiner has manufactured by unethically, although not illegally, acting behind closed doors, Mr Feiner had secret meetings and communications with GameOn 365, well before the Town acquired the contaminated property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, the former Frank’s Nursery. Almost immediately thereafter, when Mr Feiner announced the Town would (illegally) lease the property to GameOn 365, he began fabricating stories about other possible developers who protested the proposed lease and land usage. But the bully pulpit has always worked for Mr Feiner, his complicit Board and others.

The G10 exposed to the public that the property was contaminated from numerous sources throughout the years while it had been owned by several companies. The back end of the property was used as a dump for construction debris from the White Plains Urban Renewal projects when the original Macy’s and surrounding White Plains area was demolished. Then there were numerous nurseries on the property, with the last two being FlowerTime and then Frank’s. Almost immediately, Mr Lewis started the litany of lies that the remediation would cost under $100k. Mr Lewis is not a noted expert in hazardous material contamination, remediation, litigation and/or related issues. Nor does he have a level of expertise in environmental anything. Mr Feiner continued to claim the Town had a AAA Bond rating. But alas, the two points would never meet and the Town would not remediate the property so as to sell it at a true and fair Westchester piece of property. Rather, Mr Feiner would try to finagle a way to have the new owner/lessee/mark/sap to pay for it.

Since the Town has engaged in an illicit relationship to consistently assist GameOn 365, a for-profit company, we were not really surprised when the venue for their oversized proposal was moved to the Golf Driving Range next door and Mr Feiner supported it. The property, owned by the Vizioli family for years, has a few homes on the property, the driving range office and is flanked on two sides by homes. The Vizioli family had not paid their taxes from approximately 2008 until several months ago. And, they only recently made a down payment and entered a schedule to pay of the rest over several years with the Town. Even though they were known tax cheats, the Town never initiated foreclosure proceedings against them - which is the case with many others as well. It’s interesting that when they didn't have the money to pay their taxes, Mr Feiner and the Town didn’t pursue them for payment and as soon as a buck could be made by them by either selling or leasing the land, they hastily “found” money to start paying the bill. ABG wonders how many other properties have had this preferential treatment?

They say Yonkers is the City of Hills - where nothing is on the level. If that’s the case, Greenburgh is a close second, mostly because of the shenanigans executed with impunity by Mr Feiner and his Board. Mr Feiner and the Town passed a resolution about two months ago promising to sell the former Frank’s Nursery property only to prospective bidders who agreed to comply with existing residential zoning for the property. Now he simply has decided to change the parameters and accept bids instead from anyone, regardless of intended use.

Mr. Feiner said the decision to reverse course was prompted by “legal issues” raised by the Town Attorney that might have interfered with the property’s sale. ABG understands this is all a scam to ensure his friends from GameOn 365 are the (intended) winners of the bid process.  Mr Feiner had naturally declined to say what the legal issues were or why they were not raised before. Previously, he had enlisted the assistance and cooperation of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association promising “complete transparency” in the upcoming sale. As he is usually wont to do, he changed the "game" in the eleventh hour, changing course and doing so at a work session which ensures no public comment, feedback or repercussions.

After this last rope-a-dope by the leaders, residents are left wondering what is going on behind the scenes and no one has heard anything. Typically, when there is a quiet before the storm, maneuvering by Mr Feiner is taking place behind the scenes. Why does ABG believe this is the case? Like the ads say, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” Except in Greenburgh. Something is afoot. The auction has been pushed farther back into November as each month finds a new change that mysteriously “must be made”, typically in a non-resistant Work Session.

The Town is continuing down a slippery slope of poor or non-existent ethical behavior by several elected officials in the Town. While their behavior has intended outcomes for some, it has unintended outcomes for the rest of us. Its time for Mr Feiner to practice what he preaches and start operating openly and without favor to his developer friends and others. Only then will we begin to see A Better Greenburgh.

Town Hall Suspected of Bid Rigging - Updated!

In a stunning and yet typical closed door, about-face move, our Town Board is unceremoniously moving swiftly albeit effortlessly toward scrapping the entire proposal constructed for the former Frank's Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road! The multi-million dollar question is why? In particular with this previously passed  proposal was the fact that the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association had participated with significant input into the proposal, actually correcting numerous mistakes pre-final draft. Could the explanation for this move be that Mr Feiner realized he was losing control to gift the property to GameOn 365 and felt he/they needed to move before the "auction" began? Remember, past performance doesn't guarantee future results, but it sure does provide an extremely accurate indicator.

On the Agenda as TB-1 in this Special Town Board Meeting to be held on August 5th at 10:30AM, the Town plans to rescind TB-8, adopted on July 15, 2014 which authorized the marketing plan/budget of GA Keen Realty Advisors related to the sale of the former Frank's Nursery property located at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. Why?

With the second agenda item, TB-2, the Town Board plans to turn right around and approve the marketing plan/budget, information sheet, information memorandum, non-disclosure agreement and bidding procedures document for the auction of 715 Dobbs Ferry Road (Formerly Frank's Nursery) and authorizing a marketing plan/budget appropriation amount not to exceed $27,000 to GA Keen Realty Advisors, the Town's Real Estate Advisor. What changed and why?

What the Town Board is doing is removing the unanimously agreed upon stipulation that any bids on the property strictly utilize the R-30 zoning requirements to develop the property! Translation: Bid rigging. For example, GameOn 365 would have to follow the permitted uses of R-30 zoning such as residential housing, assisted living facilities, private clubs, etc., if they were to bid on the Frank's Nursery property. Similarly, this would apply to anyone else as well. And, we all know that what Mr Feiner wants is what will happen, regardless of the hoops he or others must jump through to accomplish it.

Mr Feiner's allegations of citizen bid rigging during the lease/sale/auction debacle with GameOn 365 still rings hollow as the Town Board again tries to change the playing field to benefit GameOn 365. They are still only a paper company with a small handful of investors relying on Mr Feiner's back room agreement for them to purchase the property while more significant offers are ignored. Is this just another ploy in Mr Feiner's bag of tricks? Will we see something added into the new proposal that removes the definition of a qualified bidder, or removal of the adherence to the R-30 Zoning?

You'll recall Mr Feiner tried to illegally lease the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to GameOn 365 about four years ago. Only after residents and civic associations threatened to sue the Town ala, "If you don't like what I'm doing, sue me," to stop his illegal actions did he back down. Fortunately, their threats to sue was enough to stop the runaway Mr Feiner and his Board from breaking yet another law.

Mr Feiner recently reached out to the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association claiming the owners of the Apple Farm, located in the shopping center on Rt 119, expressed interested in purchasing the Frank's Nursery property after the decision to rescind the proposal. The reply from neighborhood's Civic Association was firm: the only way they would agree to the sale of the property is if any bidder adheres to the R-30 zoning codes for the property. Mr Feiner wasn't happy and needed a way to push the Civic Association aside. In fact, ABG believes this could be why there is a special meeting with new proposals being introduced. By the way, given the amount of items on the Special Meeting Agenda, these should have all warranted a regular meeting. However, it would also have warranted the requisite public comments and slowed down the process Mr Feiner seeks to control, exposing their real motivation.

UPDATE, Sunday August 3rd:
In an email forwarded to the ABG offices, Mr Feiner replied to the query as to why the change. His answer below, is vague enough to appear legitimate but is really Mr Feiner thumbing his nose at the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association and their involvement with the entire process that HE insisted they participate in. Here's his email quote:

"RE: Resolution TB-1  08/05/14

we were advised that this requirement would not be legal and could jeopardize the sale of the property.  My understanding is that the town has more leeway re: decision as to who we're going to sell the property to, after the auction take place.  PAUL"

"We were advised" means that Mr Feiner made a decision and is not providing specifics because by remaining vague, his feet won't be anywhere near the fire, let alone held to it. The "more leeway" dumps the ball he temporarily "lost hold of" back in his lap, allowing him to cherry-pick to whom the Town sells the property after the auction. This will allow him to say no to bidders he wants out of the way until he gets to, for instance, the GameOn 365 bid. Since he can't control the bid, he needs to control the awarding of it. This rescinding of the proposal will allow that control to be his. 

Also on the agenda worth mentioning is AT-1, a resolution authorizing tax certiorari settlement with Westhab, Inc./22 Tarrytown Road Housing Development Fund Corporation for a total of $28,901. It's sad that a) the Town granted everything on Westhab's wish list when they sought to build; b) they utilize the police, fire and sanitation services while being a not-for-profit-but-very-well-paid organization; c) they don't have to contract with a carting company for garbage, recycle and trash removal while all other businesses must and are seeking a refund while utilizing Town services. Is this their idea of being a good neighbor, forcing the other residents to pay their share? And where are the financially concerned Fire Monitor participants and why aren't they looking at these expenses and/or behavior?

Having community involvement is critical for the success of the Town. Open government, real open government should be the cornerstone of how government works. Sadly, while Mr Feiner knows how to say and use the buzzwords about open government, he doesn't practice what he preaches. We'll have to wait and see what the changes are in the auction proposal contracts and learn why after the change takes place. Hardly open government. But in Greenburgh, it is our goverment. Only when the willfully ignorant become involved will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Building Failures and Sports Bubbles

As our staff was researching the sports bubble collapses, we stumbled upon additional information regarding fixed structures with their roofs collapsing. One of the commonalities with these buildings and their collapses was that many of them employ a newer style of construction method called truss construction. As we delved into truss construction, the safety information we came upon was overwhelming. Trying to digest it all was a pretty good challenge.

Truss construction has been around for a good number of years. It has been seen by most people in bridge construction and in warehouse roof construction. Here’s a few picture examples of its usage in bridges.

Finally, here’s one we believe you will be most familiar with:

That’s right, its the Tappan Zee Bridge in the Hudson River. 

When truss construction is in the design phase of a project, its usually being considered for several reasons. Those reasons might be time-savings to construct the frame, lower costs than traditional methods and stronger ability of lesser materials. By this we mean if a traditional roof were to be constructed of 2x6’s or 2x8’s, a truss roof, which is considered an engineered roof, can be made from 2x4’s and rated to hold the same weight (and possibly more) due to its geometric triangular shape, which is inherently stable under ideal conditions. Others reasons to use truss construction is quality control. Like a manufactured home that is built in a warehouse (usually with a truss roof) the conditions are controlled and more precise. When you build outside in the elements, with what is called “stick” construction, many factors affecting the construction’s outcome can come in to play, such as weather, materials, labor, etc.

Since we are looking at all of the sports bubble collapses, however, we’d like to focus on roof structures, what they offer and their detriments. A roof must be rated to sustain a certain amount of weight and pressure, referred to as Loads. There are dead loads, live loads, impact loads, static and repeated loads, wind loads, concentrated loads, axial loads, eccentric loads and torsional loads. Even with conventional stick construction methods, we’ve seen an increase beyond using standard-sized wood from trees of many sizes and types. We’ve also evolved from very early building methods to newer and more engineered methods. So while many aspects of construction have remained the same, much as evolved and changed. But is it necessarily better or something we should allow or use?

Greenburgh used to have two bowling alleys. One was the Skytop Lanes on Knollwood Road and the other was the Elmsford Lanes on Saw Mill River Road. Both suffered from roof collapses many years ago from excessive weight from snow. Skytop was eventually torn down and replaced with an office building. Elmsford Lanes was repaired and eventually morphed into Sportime, which continues to operate today. Large expanses of indoor property have always posed a construction challenge, whether it be a gymnasium, bowling alley or warehouse. Go into Sam’s Club on Rt 9A and look up. What you will see is truss construction.

Truss construction has benefits and detriments. One of the benefits is a financially cheaper way to construct a commercial building as well as a residential one. The loss of attic space in a home is detrimental to some homeowners but of no concern to others. The open air feel for a warehouse is obvious. The open air feel in a home, while faster and cheaper with truss construction can be achieved with “stick” construction as well, albeit usually at an increased cost. One problem that exists with truss construction is that the 2x4's are joined together with metal plates with quarter inch deep "teeth" that are pressed in the wood to join the pieces together. The stability of these plates can vary from installation to installation. Another issue with truss construction is firefighting.

It is well known in the fire service that truss constructed roofs collapse mush sooner than traditionally constructed roofs. One reason is the failure of the aforementioned metal joiner plates. Another is the fact that each piece in the truss is dependent on the others for its strength and stability. Loss one piece of a truss affects the overall integrity of the entire structure. The numerous firefighter line-of-duty-deaths (LODD) due to truss construction has caused the fire service to research and change the way the fire service fights fires when truss construction is used. They will cautiously enter a building, if at all, because truss construction failures happen so quickly, giving firefighters little time to exit to safety. Traditionally constructed buildings often give warnings when structural failure is imminent.

Truss constructed buildings give little or any signals of impending failure when involved in fire. Their failure is swift, usually without warning and does not allow firefighters much time to exit. Installed fire sprinklers will help control the fire scene usually by controlling the spread of fire, even extinguishing it. At a truss construction fire, firefighters will often be forced to execute what’s know as a “surround and drown” operation, where they do not enter the building and pour water into the fire scene. You’ve probably seen this type of operation on large building fires on the news. Obviously, if there are lives at stake firefighters will attempt a rescue, however, not if truss construction poses too much of a risk to firefighter lives.

The reason we have touched on truss construction is with all of our engineering marvels on the one hand, there are engineering failures on the other. The sports bubble collapses throughout the sports bubble industry are happening frighteningly too often, too uncontrollably and are proving too risky given the lack of safety standards that do not exist with this industry. Just because someone is able to create an inflatable tent the size of the one proposed by GameOn 365, doesn’t mean the Town or its residents must approve it. If buildings with fix roofs collapse under the weight of snow and because of other weather events, we don’t need to see what will happen with a “temporary” structure. Its only when the Town’s leaders cease to entertain pipe dreams like this sports bubble in a residential neighborhood that will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Deflection 101

As time progresses, more of Mr Feiner’s covert actions have crept into the light. Some of those were the guilty verdict from the Fortress Bible Church discrimination lawsuit, his back room deals with GameOne 365 to mention two. During both of these, he has spun other issues out into the public's “eye” in hopes of deflecting attention from his own bad and often illegal behavior. You’ll also recall his pitch for the Tappan Zee Bridge to become a high-line park, be named after Pete Seeger and to have a Denny’s with a water park on it. Ok, the Denny’s part belong’s to our Cindy.

But his trying to take attention off of the fact that he, along with Diana Juettner and other former Town Board members discriminated against the church, destroyed evidence and lied under oath! One of those would be Steve Bass, now in County government on the 8th and 9th floor. Ouch! Let’s talk about anything but promoting bad civil servants. Thankfully for Mr Feiner, Mr Seeger’s passing provided him the deflection topic he needed. When that could no longer be played front and center, the Fairview Fire Commissioners conveniently decided to fill a temporarily unfilled Assistant Chief’s position. He was able to use the Town’s email list, which he treats as his own property, to alert the public about the meeting. The issue is that he did more than just alert the public to a meeting. If he had stopped there, it would have been fine. But he injected his “personal” opinion and insisted, incorrectly, that this was a new position that was being created and too costly for taxpayers. It was just another lie. Since he hasn’t returned any of his salary to the Town for non-performance, a clever hoax from his past, we assume he too is feeling the tax pinch in his gated community of Boulder Ridge.

Now that the GameOn 365 megaplex proposal has hit the skids yet again, Mr Feiner has begun touting the 100+ acre development proposal on the Landmark at Eastview property. Mr Feiner has continually insisted that maintaining the GameOn 365 request for a Recreational Overlay Zone change would be good for the Town. The neighborhoods in the area disagree. Mr Jones, perhaps trying to keep in line with his boss, suggested rezoning the former Frank’s Nursery property. This is illegally known as spot-zoing. The vote passed by three to two, with Mssrs Feiner, Morgan and Jones in favor of openly spot-zoning the property for the benefit of a single applicant. See the video in our previous post for proof of this. Its almost like a bad joke: two lawyers walk into a bar and sit down with a retired cop. The reality is they made and approved a motion to spot-zone an individual property for a particular developer.

In an interview about a complaint levied by Robert Bernstein and two community leaders against Mr Feiner and the Town Board in the Westchester Business Journal, we quote: “Feiner called Bernstein ‘the Joe McCarthy of Greenburgh. He likes to smear people’s reputations.’” Wow! Mr Feiner has some nerve to make a comment like this! Unlike Mr Feiner, the one thing ABG recognizes about Mr Bernstein is that he doesn’t lie when he is discussing issues before him. And, when Mr Bernstein makes a mistake, he owns up to it and apologizes. Speaking of apologies, this statement by Mr Feiner warrants a public apology to Mr Bernstein. ABG believes Mr Feiner is getting a little testy as more and more people are exposing his questionable actions with developers, town assets and personnel.

Mr Feiner has been beating the drum for the GameOn 365 proposal for several years now, constantly applying his deflection tactics to wear down any opponents to the project. Those opponents seem resolute in their determination to fight the proposed megaplex, regardless of Mr Feiner’s deflection efforts. Worthington Woodland Civic Association President Dorrine Livson, the Town’s newest, self-proclaimed real problem solver, suggested the proposal be scrapped on Dobbs Ferry Road and moved to the Landmark at Eastview location where the zoning and the open space that Mr Feiner is so desperately seeking to eliminate, can handle to project. Ms Livson is correct with her assessment of where the megaplex should be built. The Town Board should listen. Only then will we begin to see A Better Greenburgh.

Spot Zoning House of Cards

The Town Board screwed up by pulling the GameOn 365 Recreational Zoning Overlay Request from the March 12th agenda. GameOn 365 may have screwed up by hiring the law firm they did. The Landmark project that Mr Feiner says will bring us $5 million dollars in tax revenues a year was presented yet again at the public hearing. He screwed up the numbers. By pulling the GameOn 365 Overlay Zone proposal from the agenda, it moved the Landmark at Eastview proposal to the forefront, highlighting several issues. One of those issues is that the Landmark proposal projects recreational facilities on the 100+ acre development. In fact, Worthington Woodlands Civic Association President Dorrine Livson made the introductions. She said that the law firm and the planners for GameOn 365 are the same as the Landmark proposal and suggested they introduce the two parties so this sports bubble megaplex can go onto that property, legally zoned for it. She also stated she is the Town’s new Problem Solver!

The attorneys for the Landmark Project screwed up. They are the attorneys for Landmark project, and complained that they weren’t happy about having to re-present the project to the Board after Mr Sheehan referenced some procedural issues that were incorrectly done. Interestingly, those same attorneys were overheard responding to the question before the meeting if they were at tonight’s meeting representing GameOn 365? Their collective response in the vestibule area was, “Not tonight!”

It’s well known that Mr Feiner often and cavalierly spews numbers and fictional information as needed to make his argument for or against something. He’s also known to often put his foot in his mouth. He has previously stated that the Recreation Overlay Zone that GameOn 365 authored and requested be implemented for their sports bubble project, specifically for the former Frank’s Nursery property, is not spot zoning. Councilman Ken Jones has said the tax revenues from the sports bubble megaplex proposal would amount to more tax income for the Town than if homes were built on the property, similar to those on Westchester View Lane. He’s wrong. Mr Feiner said the Landmark proposal will generate $5M per year in tax revenue. He’s wrong. How do we know? Numerous people have run the numbers and they don’t gel with what Mr Feiner or Mr Jones have said! 

At the Town Board work session of October 8, 2013, Councilman Ken Jones made a motion at the 32-second mark in this video “to authorize Thomas Madden to begin to investigate the possibilities of rezoning to recreational the Frank’s Nursery property for the December 3rd, “as is” auction, not withstanding.” “For recreational purposes,” added Mr Feiner. The vote was 3 to 2 in favor of having Mr Madden investigate the possibility of a recreation zone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THvRema-2Xs&feature=youtu.be

This was clearly an endorsed motion for spot-zoning for a particular piece of land. The three Board members in favor of the change are now backpedaling to cover their southern exposures after the outcry from the public has exposed their blatant intent. Apparently, in an effort to circumvent time, public hearings, criticism and general taxpayer resistance, Mr Madden went ahead and worked with the GameOn representatives to draft the Recreational Zoning Overlay zone change. There was no “open” discussion with the Town Board or the public as to what might be nice to have, required, necessary or unnecessary with a study. Their was no conference with the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee who intentionally left overlay zones out of the soon-to-be-proposed Comprehensive Plan for a reason. The existing Comprehensive Plan discussed Overlay Zoning but decided against it.

But, the Town administration either knows better than the public or simply doesn’t care about the public. ABG believes the latter to be the case. Because of the apparent collusion that seems to be taking place between GameOn 365 and the Town, we suspect they do know more than the public. They know all the closed-room deals that have been made, regardless of how many times Mr Feiner says he is telling the truth. After all, he was found guilty of lying under oath by a federal court. The public, however, continues to dig and uncover more. Why not just be honest and, dare we say it, open with the public?

The former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road is the intended and unintended casualty of all of this deflection by the Town administration with GameOn 365’s ludicrous proposal. It remains contaminated with carcinogenic debris and waste and has been ignored by the Town since they acquired it through foreclosure. By leaving it alone and focusing on the GameOn 365 proposal on the Golf Driving Range, the property will not only languish, it will become the bastard stepchild of the Town. No one will want the property should the GameOn 365 proposal move forward. We believe Mr Feiner will begin the woe-is-us story about how the Town is lucky GameOn 365 has agreed to take the former Frank’s Nursery property off the Town’s “hands” and will use it for a parking lot for their sports bubble. We hope this doesn’t happen. In fact, we hope the Town with its AAA Bond Rating, will float a bond, remediate the property and then sell it at market value. If that doesn’t happen, Mr Feiner has often said he has ten or more parties interested in purchasing the property, as is, out of the other side of his mouth. He refuses to say for what use these offers are interested in using it for. We believe its because there are no offers and this is just another delaying tactic to find a way to give the property to GameOn 365. Open government? Miscommunication? Misinformation? Non-Transparency? Hidden Agendas? A Board out of control! You decide. Only then can we get A Better Greenburgh.

One Problem The Problem Solver Won’t Touch

A concerned citizen reached out to ABG and asked if we would publish his letter to the editor. After discussing it with us and that he had already sent it to another media outlet, we made an exception to run it because it touches on an extremely sensitive topic in Greenburgh. That subject is that Mr Feiner routinely and repeatedly uses Town resources for his own agenda. Here is Mr Hirsch’s letter, unedited and in it’s entirety:

Town Supervisor Feiner would like everyone to view him as a leader who runs the Town “openly” but the reality is far from that truth. For years I have written how Mr. Feiner is a master at controlling the media which enables him to control the message. The media I am most often referring to is his control over the Town resources he employs to communicate with his constituents (email distribution lists, Town website, televised meetings, etc.). Personally I don’t believe that Town resources should be used to help keep him in office but it truly offends me when Mr. Feiner uses these same town wide resources to sway public opinion in support of his agenda. It should be noted that these same resources are NOT available to residents (nor am I suggesting that they should be) but it’s awfully hard to speak out on issues when the Supervisor has a good lead on controlling their outcome.

Although I have over 20 years of history from which to pick, Mr. Feiner handed me the perfect timely examples to highlight his selective reporting style.

For weeks Supervisor Feiner has been using town resources to sway public opinion on last night's [March 4th] Fairview Fire District Vote. Included in today's email [March 5th] he stated that “The room was packed with residents of the Fairview Fire district-the overwhelming majority of attendees objected to the funding of another administrative position.” I'll agree that out of context this is a factual statement but I am merely borrowing some of its words to help make my point.*

The 2/26/14 Greenburgh Town Board meeting was also “packed with residents” where most (all save I) spoke up against the board approving resolution CD1-2/26/14 (zoning change study for GameOn). Putting both issues aside and sticking to my point, there was NO such email or story reporting on this event to the public. Also, if you listen to Mr. Feiner at the 3/4/14 Town Board work session, while he acknowledges the event he also continues to move his agenda forward even claiming that residents he has since spoken to are no longer against the proposal. There he goes again changing the message with the town wide resources primarily available to him.

The days of “Control the Media, Control the Message” have got to end and I implore the Town Board to finally create, initiate and follow Policies and Procedures for town wide communications from how we choose to disseminate information (mail, email, website, etc.) down to reviewing guidelines for acceptable content.

Below are the other communications Mr. Feiner chose to write about the vote for the Fairview Fire District while at the same time selectively withholding to write about the opposition surrounding the zoning change for GameOn on the Dobbs Ferry Road corridor (Please excuse the typo's, I wanted to share Mr. Feiner's communications verbatim).

* Unlike my example above, on 2/24/14 Supervisor Feiner wrote regarding Fairview “I believe that this proposed expenditure is a big waste of taxpayer dollars. I encourage residents of the Fairview fire district to attend the meeting on Tuesday March 4th.” This would directly support my notion of how Mr. Feiner shares his thoughts to help sway public opinion towards his objectives.

Town Board Pulls Recreational Zoning Request

Shortly after parking their personal vehicles on the Vizioli’s parking area, two community leaders waiting for the Channel News 2 van were forced to move to the entrance of the former Frank’s Nursery. Once Channel 2 News’ Lou Young arrived with his cameraman Chris, Young immediately began peppering the two with questions. Shortly following, other leaders arrived and joined them as they walked to the Golf Driving to record his report.

Asked “on air” by Lou Young to explain what was going on with the Golf Driving Range property, the requested Recreational Overlay Zone and the installation of an 83 foot tall inflatable and temporary sports bubble, Worthington Woodlands Civic Association President Dorrine Livson explained the proposals using a mock up she had constructed. She explained that every neighborhood resident she discussed this with was against the Recreational Overlay Zone, against the sports bubble megaplex with two outdoor fields, ice hockey rink and 80 ft tall lights. Finally, they want the former Frank’s Nursery property remediated of carcinogenic contaminations and sold. Young also spoke with Robert Bernstein at a different location about these three issues. As this was all taking place, the Town Board Work Session was underway and found the Board postponing the Recreational Overlay Zone vote scheduled for tonights Town Board meeting.

After speaking with the community leaders, Young then went to speak with Mr Feiner, who tried to convince Young, as he has tried to do individually with residents, that this project should proceed against the wishes of the residents and civic associations. We’re sure Young doesn’t recognize Mr Feiner’s Divide and Conquer strategy. Nor does he understand Mr Feiner’s deflection or delay tactics. This is “routine” for those in the know. The neighborhoods have spoken out loud and clear, but once again the Board is doing what they want, not what the residents want.

Here are two links for this story from CBS Channel 2 and from News12:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/video/9934771-proposed-sports-complex-has-some-westchester-residents-up-in-arms/

http://westchester.news12.com/news/greenburgh-expected-to-sell-abandoned-frank-s-nursery-soon-1.7360974

 Whether the real issues remain in the forefront or are disguised and dismissed as rants by an elected and privileged few, we know the issues are real, tangible and will affect our people and their largerst investment: their homes.  When Lou Young asked Mr Feiner on camera if he had any connection with this company or project at all, he replied, “Zero.” Mr Feiner has been found guilty of lying under oath in Federal Court in the Fortress Bible Church and 6 more counts. Why should we believe he’s telling the truth now? We can’t. It’s time for a change in Greenburgh where residents and taxpayers are treated fairly and given preference over outside developers. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.