Opaque Transparency

The Merriam-Webster definition of transparency is shown below. We purposely decided to show it rather than type it out so as to, ahem, be transparent.

A screen capture of the definition of the word, transparent, from
the Merriam-Webster digital dictionary.

Staffers at ABG thought the most accurate definition was #2a: free from pretense or deceit :frank. As in the nursery? Seriously though, free from pretense or deceit accurately sums up the machinations taxpayers have been punished with as Mr Feiner seeks a way to steer the multi-contaminate property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to his chosen beneficiary GameOn 365.

Mr Feiner routinely espouses transparency whenever the topic is broached, usually at a Town Board or similar meeting. His online “go-to” guy is Councilman Francis Sheehan. You’ll recall during Mr Feiner’s preliminary attempt to remove his then-opponent for Town Supervisor Democratic Primary candidate Bob Bernstein, he threw Mr Sheehan under the proverbial bus. Mr Feiner alleged Mr Sheehan’s listed home address on the ballot signature petitions was a lie. Mr Feiner went forward with this accusation knowing that Mr Sheehan and his family had moved into a temporary residence while his home was being remodeled to make it handicapped accessible for his aging mother, who has since passed away. While its unfortunate that Mr Feiner engages in such unscrupulous behavior, this time his wrath fell upon Mr Sheehan. Mr Sheehan’s more recent actions and conversations have caused speculation by some that he might be positioning himself to run for Supervisor against Mr Feiner in the next election. Although at last night’s Town Board meeting he reverted back to saving Mr Feiner from himself as he spoke. The answer might become apparent if Mr Sheehan gets “Sonya’d” by Mr Feiner.

The previous Town Board meeting found several topics discussed by the G10 and others. Mr Feiner and crew also let everyone know that he postponed the Frank’s Nursery “auction” from the previously posted date of December 3, 2013 until some time in 2014. He declined requests to specify a date or explanation as to why he has delayed this again. Ah, transparency. He subsequently mentioned that two other parties have expressed interest in possibly purchasing the property for more than the Town-stipulated minimum bid of $3.5 million. This means he is in communication with others, possibly affecting the outcome of any sale. But what of Mr Feiner’s goal to create a recreational zoning category to ensure limited bid participation for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road? He needs a way to ensure delivery of the property to GameOn 365 and this would certainly keep the amount of participants to a minimum. Ah, transparency.

Residents and taxpayers have said if this property’s sale were properly advertised and marketed we might get more than the paltry $1.7 million (with the Town “carrying” $1.3 million spread out over 13 years at a rate of 2.6%) from Feiner-annointed developer GameOn 365. Ardsley’s House of Sports upped the ante by offering $3.5 million dollars for the property, thwarting Mr Feiner’s easy gifting of the property to GameOn 365. In fact, numerous FOILed emails between Martin Hewitt, a principal for GameOn 365, and Mr Feiner, found them agreeing to cease sending emails and only have verbal contact to avoid having their communications FOILed by outside parties! They agreed to that strategy. Ah, transparency.

One concern highlighted by several residents was that they repeatedly asked for a Request For Proposal (RPF) for the property after Mr Feiner attempted to illegally enter into a lease with GameOn 365 for the 715 Dobbs Ferry Road property. Why an illegal lease you might wonder? Any law Mr Feiner doesn’t like is simply ignored under the old adage to beg forgiveness rather than seek approval. Under Westchester County and New York State law, any property acquired by a municipality must either be developed for the municipality’s use, such as a park, office or other facility (police station and library being the most obvious). If that is not done, the municipality is required to sell it. Mr Feiner’s excuse for the lease was so the Town could keep the property and fifteen years from now be able to “take it back” when it is worth more and do what they will with it. That’s simply not legal to do. We often heard, “If you don’t like what I’m doing, sue me!” from Mr Feiner. So, once again, several neighborhood organizations sued Mr Feiner to stop another illegal action by him. Days before scheduled to go to court Mr Feiner, realizing he would be losing yet another lawsuit, dropped the lease scheme.

Needing to deflect attention away from his illegal actions, he made an announcement that he would put the property up for a referendum and let the voters decide what should be done with the property. Knowing the predictability of Greenburgh voters, he worded the referendum in such a way that would almost guarantee passage. He was right, it did pass. He followed up with a non-stop barrage of hallelujahs that the voters had spoken. What he always purposely avoided saying (as in the truth) was that only the minuscule portion of voters who voted in this election favored the referendum. Disingenuous? Sure, but it took the focus away from Mr Feiner’s illegal lease deal with GameOn 365! Ah, transparency.

So now there is a new sign on the property that says the property is For Sale. No other information is posted, such as whom to contact if one is interested in purchasing the property. The sale has been purported by Mr Feiner to be sold “as is”, referring to the known multiple contaminations on the property from a heating oil spill, carcinogens from being used as a dump for the White Plains Urban Renewal, herbicides, pesticides and whatever else. The fill was placed near the rear of the property, where the property historically floods. Concerns have repeatedly been made about water runoff and the spread of contaminates and carcinogens. Town Attorney Tim Lewis, the “unofficial expert” repetitively informed concerned citizen taxpayers that the contamination was not that bad without conveying specifics. Ah, transparency.

A forthcoming surprise announcement of the sale of the property by Mr Feiner should be entertaining if nothing else. Many have bandied about different ideas and directions the Town might take to make the favored GameOn 365 sale happen. Mr Feiner has often displayed his own brand of shrewdness and misdirection to get what he wants and is probably working on a new plan without input from the Town Board to ensure GameOn 365 success. Unfortunately, this is what we have often come to receive from Mr Feiner.

We’re hopeful, but not confident, that the Town Board will do the right thing and abandon the scheming to ensure only one purchaser for the property. Having an auction with sealed bids is not the spirit or intent of an auction, although legal. Postponing the sale to have time to change the zoning is not the spirit or intent of doing the right thing for the taxpayers and the Town.

The Town Board and Mr Feiner have a fiduciary responsibility to get the largest amount of money for this property. Period. He should abandon these games - pun intended - to award GameOn 365 the property and figure out how to pay back the money he has continued to cost the taxpayers: $8M (Fortess Bible Church), $1.2M/yr (WestHelp), $21M (tax arrears), $3.5M (Frank’s Nursery property), $4M (water meters), 10% salary increases, the list goes on. Mr Feiner rarely respects what is right for the neighborhoods, ultimately degrading the quality of life in those neighborhoods. He should embrace honesty and tell the truth about why he is doing what he does and maybe we can start to see transparency in A Better Greenburgh.

Report To The People Offers Little

As if schooled by The Paul, we received a recent “Report to the People” campaign piece that said little, but managed to produce a collage of pictures with the sender posing with several politicos and others from the public, all under the pretext of performing legislative service. The reality is, he is short on substance and long on hyperbole. By the way, we’re not using his name to keep from promoting his lame record and abuse of mailing privileges. We hope that others will view this and other campaign mailers with a more critical eye.

On the front page of the campaign piece is “his statement” in response to the Newtown murders of twenty-six people. These murders were truly horrible and ABG means no disrespect toward those victims, families and friends who are suffering from this. It’s a shame that he would use this as a political opportunity to issue a statement “in response” to the Newtown shootings, when nobody asked him for one and he has nothing to add. Sadly, it’s pure politics. His plan? Keeps guns away from those who would misuse them, ban military style weapons, register all guns, their transfer, mandate their secure storage, carefully license every gun owner, train them in gun safety, and check on them periodically. Then he wants to utilize more mental health professionals in the community to minimize the likelihood of violence. Of course, he fails to mention how to pay for all of this or any real strategy for implementation.

ABG is always saddened to see anyone injured or killed. In fact, several of our staff members volunteer in the Greenburgh community in different capacities and recognize first-hand the horrors that people inflict upon others. We also recognize that most of his talking points are strictly designed to appear to promote a call to action while merely promoting himself. The reality is nothing will happen and in particular, he will do nothing but continue to talk about it. The shooter in Newtown appears to have a history of mental illness. For that matter, his mother, whom he also killed, must have had something wrong too, since she legally purchased and kept weapons in the home, and took her mentally ill son to the firing range to “bond”. He didn’t use military style or assault weapons. In Webster, NY, the shooter of the two firefighters was obviously deranged and then killed himself. Could the talking points our representative have made a difference? We’ll never know. Lets examine his points individually.

1) Keep guns away from those who would misuse them. It’s great to say, but how to you propose to do this? Will he introduce another unenforceable law that he can brag he co-wrote or co-sponsored? You can’t control who gets a gun unless that person is a law-abiding citizen. It’s like putting locks on doors; hence the saying, ‘locks are for honest people’. The amount of people who own guns versus the amount being murdered is being disproportionately represented.
2) Ban military style weapons? They are. It was not a military style weapon that was used in the Newtown killings. It was an over the counter automatic rifle. But okay, ban military weapons. How?
3) Register all guns? Good luck making that happen. Handguns are currently required to be registered, rifles are not. Since the police are prohibited to enter your homes by the constitution, this would be a voluntary program at best, is unenforceable, and limited to the law-abiding. However, if we should attempt to have all guns registered, amend the current law to include rifles. It’s a start in the direction he claims we need. We agree it needs to start.
4) Regulate gun transfers. Again, how? An example was given by a friend whose grandfather gifted a shotgun to his teenage grandson. He took the time to train him in the proper use of the gun, the grandson took a gun safety class and became a remarkable target shooter – not a hunter. As a familial transaction, government would never know about it.
5) Carefully license every gun owner. We already have this law on the books and again, normal law-abiding citizens are never the issue. In fact, the Newtown shooter’s mothers guns were legally registered. Sometimes, bad things happen by bad people that no amount of legislation will stop.
6) Train them in gun safety. Good idea. And yet, government has mandated every new driver take an 8-hour driver safety class before they can take their driving test. Yet once licensed, many of these new drivers still drink, text, and drive under the influence even though they were told them it wasn’t safe to do it. And which group has the highest accident rates? New drivers. So, how much of government mandated training is going to produce the results he seeks?
7) Check on them periodically? Could this be more ambiguous? We hear of child abuse victims all the time who are neglected because a case-worker was overworked or unable to effectively investigate the parents. So, now he proposes hiring more people onto the government payroll that is already bloated? Can you say tax increase? His response, of course, will be, “If we save just one life, any cost was worth it.” That’s debatable.
8) Stop glorifying violence. Many talk about needing anti-violence, especially the Hollywood crowd. Aren’t they the same ones that make and star in the violent movies for gazillions of dollars? The movie industry’s been in a slump and then the action-packed, violent, James Bond “Skyfall” movie sets records for attendance. Add to that The Expendables, Transformers, Batman (repeatedly) etc., proving the law abiding public wants these films because movies are an escape from our everyday lives. Hollywood is being disingenuous, not wanting to bite the hand that feeds them. Good luck with stopping that.
9) The group he works with passed legislation requiring micro-stamping bullets to assist in tracing weapons back to their owner. Didn’t the police know who was doing the shootings in most of these killings. Feel good legislation? You decide.

There were several other items he “worked” on. Or did he? Actually, here’s some of the mailing’s legislatiive topics that was passed into law but not necessarily written by our legislator: DNA Databank, Domestic Violence protections, Cyber-Bullying, Micro-stamping, I-Stop (Internet - System for Tracking Over Prescribed drugs), Water Protection (accidental sewage discharge notification into waterways, sponsored by him), Health (prohibits smoking within 100ft of a school - because our police officers need to be busier), Hydro-Fracking (requires studies of the health impacts of hydro-fracking, co-sponsored by him).

Finally, to the back page of the campaign piece. He claims we need to replace ConEd as their Hurricane Sandy storm response was “totally inadequate, a management fiasco, a poor plan, poorly executed.” He’s calling for hearings into ConEd’s poor response. Why? We know their response was as good as it could be given the magnitude of damage and their current staffing. ConEd called in for help and the ConEd unions turned some of the non-union utility workers away. What results could hearings possibly render? The committee’s 30-page report summary will state that ConEd was woefully understaffed, the size of the storm was unpredictable, and the amount of damage into the billions of dollars and the federal government, along with FEMA must do more. This is strictly grandstanding on his part. The Paul will want to get in on the media frenzy and issue a press release commending the committee, berate ConEd again (he’s already done this), and say we should do away with county government.

He has introduced legislation for an idea that many have offered before him to put a height restrictor at the entrances of our parkways to deter trucks from accessing the roadways. He doesn’t even allude to how much will this cost? Regardless, it does have merit. Currently, the bridges that get repeated hits on the Hutchinson River Parkway cost us little if anything but time to address. When a bridge hit in Mamaroneck happens, the County Police respond (paid, on duty), the Mamaroneck Fire Department (no cost, volunteer) responds, a wrecker responds (big cost, insurance pays) and tickets and fines are issued. Virtually no cost to the tax payer except for the time delays. Now, we’ll be paying for some elaborate study, then prototype development, testing, changes and installation. Worth it, or another government boondoggle? Whatever the cost figures are that are presented to the public, triple the number and you’ll have the final cost. Watch for the federal and state subsidy slight of hand with the accompanying claims of low cost to the taxpayers because the feds are picking up the bill. YOU are the feds picking up the bill!

He also is requesting a discounted rate for all Westchester residents who use the Tappan Zee bridge. ABG, as well as everyone else we discuss this with, recognizes that the tolls will skyrocket once the bridge is completed, so this is highly unlikely to happen. He is still insisting on only building one bridge and keeping the original bridge as a park and bus use. Apparently, it’s been designated as maintenance-free and no longer needs demolition. He should pay more attention when he’s at his part-time job supposedly representing us to what’s already been decided. There will be two bridges, no park and dedicated bus lanes. But he’ll be able to say look what I tried to do for you – and with a straight face.

He brags that he was able to get legislation approved to allow Greenburgh (really The Paul) to lease Town property to a private, for-profit business, undoing the safety net provided by law to protect the Unincorporated residents of the Town. Another legislator from the other side of the building was participatory in the unraveling of this law. Then his last tidbit is that he joined with the Pleasantville mayor, other local officials and numerous residents to stop the installation of cell towers there. Funny, we wonder why he didn’t help the Irvington residents trying to accomplish the same thing? ABG’s guess is that The Paul wanted the towers and he was afraid to go against his eminence.

All of these talking points make for a nice generic mailer/campaign piece that does nothing but continue to aid incumbents with their off-season campaigning. Change a few pictures and this template will surely be used by other legislators. They keep their name out there, ensuring little chance that the electorate will vote for a new candidate come election time. Ultimately, they are doing little for the prized salary and perks they receive. It needs to change. We can only hope.

Aurora Borealis and SPF-40

We hope many were busy with family and friends enjoying the holidays and this time of year. A recent forage into the wonderlands of Eastchester brought us to an interesting version of their sports bubble, located at the Lake Isle Country Club and run by the infamous bubble kings, Sportime - sans The Paul. You’ll recall how The Paul petitioned his Albany buddies Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Tom Abinanti to covertly get the Finneran Law changed in 2012 in the wee hours of the legislative morning, allowing the Town (really The Paul and his Stepford Board) to install sports bubbles at will. This was a scheme The Paul had been planning since about 2005.

As we ventured southbound on Rt 22, we knew the Lake Isle Country Club would be on our left. Unsure exactly where it was, we were suddenly awed by what could only be considered Westchester’s version of the Aurora Borealis, aka our northern lights! With a marker like this, the space shuttle could have navigated a landing. As we pulled into the parking lot of the Lake Isle Country Club, we couldn’t find a roadway that led to the bubble. We decided to drive to the next street south of the entrance we had entered and see if we could access it from a different side. We could not. But as we got lost in a seemingly well-to-do neighborhood of middle to large sized homes, we were always able to get our bearings from “the glow” of the bubble.

We returned to the Lake Isle Country Club parking lot and decided to walk toward the bubble. The walkway was not illuminated by light fixtures and yet the amount of light provided by the bubble was more than adequate for us to proceed. As we got a bit closer, it got brighter and we discovered the bubble was in fact three bubbles! These were not as large as what has been proposed at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road by GameOn 365 and The Paul. The GameOn 365 bubble will be approximately eight and a half stories high in a residentially zoned neighborhood! ABG is realistic and knows that since The Paul wants this project at all cost, he will make sure his Stepford Board “rubber stamps” the zoning change to whatever GameOn 365 requests – and then some.

You may recall the proposal from GameOn 365 ends if the zoning or planning boards vote against it? Well, don’t hold your breath, especially now that The Paul is touting an unethical, but technically legal, sale of the property without putting it out to bid. He insisted on holding a referendum for the done-deal that many opposed stating that the referendum was needed to see what the people wanted of the property. The Paul’s reality has nothing to do with “the people” and everything to do with what he wants. He wants the bubble and so he’ll find a way to make it happen! Unfortunately for the residents that live in the area, The Paul discarded their opinions and opened the decision to the entire Town. This was an underhanded, low-blow to the Worthington Woodlands communities. The neighborhoods opinion toward decisions that directly affect them should always be paramount and respected by our “elected representatives” and not tossed aside to get the outcome The Paul sought. In a real version of Greenburgh, The Paul would work for us, not developers and campaign contributors!

Once we arrived at the bubble’s entrance, we joked about needing to apply SPF-40. We entered an empty lobby with a receptionist who said hello and went back to what she was doing. We ambled over to a window overlooking two tennis courts with what appeared to be a clay court. A young employee with a Sportime shirt came over to see if he could help us. We asked numerous questions, such as how high is the bubble? “Gee, I don’t know.” We guestimated the height to be between four to six stories at the pinnacle. What are the hours of operation? “It varies.” Do they own this facility? “No, Lake Isle Country Club does.” Do they operate it year round? “No, only during the winter when the bubbles are ‘up’.” Lake Isle operates it during the summer, although their goal is to take over the operation year round.” Do the neighbors complain about the light “No, it’s during the winter when they are inside and don’t see it.” Who owns the John McEnroe Tennis Academy; is it Sportime, Lake Isle, Eastchester, or John McEnroe? John McEnroe “owns” it and Sportime operates it.” As we talked he seemed personable, pleasant and knowledgable about the tennis program but nothing regarding the operational side of the business.

As we exited, this same young man walked with us toward our cars, continuing to answer what questions he could. One of us commented on the brightness of the illumination from the bubbles. He told us because of the transparency of the material, and its ability to transfer light, if the sun is out they don’t even turn the interior lights on because it provides enough light inside. ABG staffers in attendance commented that the luminosity of the bubble would be amplified with a larger-sized bubble.

ABG is not against a bubble if it is in the correct venue. The Sportime bubble in Eastchester is located in the middle of a country club and not surrounded by homes. Rather, it is surrounded by a golf course. Sportime was going to install their bubble model in the Anthony Veteran Park, but has decided not to. The Paul won’t discuss it, but ABG believes it was because The Paul and the Stepford’s placed so many mandates on them that they realized the project would not be cost effective. While The Paul doesn’t understand Return On Investment, Sportime does. It’s why they walked. So while The Paul was able to get his Albany cohorts to amend a law that at one time protected the Towns Unincorporated residents, the change has rendered the amendment counterproductive for the Town but not GameOn 365. ABG believes the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road should stay residential and be developed as such. If the GameOn deal is so good for the Town, it should be located on Town property, perhaps in Veteran Park. Sell 715 Dobbs Ferry Road through a legitimate assessment, bid process and then take the highest bid for the land, not a deflated price arbitrarily created by The Paul. For once, we’d like to see the Town to do the right thing. We can only hope.

Proposition #1 Passes With More Contamination Than The Site

The fix was in, the deal was done, the bed was made and the lights turned out. The lease process began well before the Town assumed ownership of the foreclosed property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, the former Frank’s Nursery. Once the ownership passed hands, The Paul let it fall right through his. While everyone familiar with the property acknowledged and explained the hazards and toxicity of the site to The Paul and his Board, he and they ignored them. Those who understand The Paul’s methods of how he operates knowing that once he makes up his mind to do something, he will not back down, no matter how illegal, immoral, dangerous or costly the project is or will be for the Town.

When nearby resident Simon Cohen launched the ‘HelpBurstTheBubble’ movement, he was uninitiated in Greenburgh politics. He portrayed the contaminated site and The Paul’s actions with logical, real and tangible reasons why it shouldn’t be done. In the end, it didn’t matter as The Paul began and continues to ignore the law mandating the sale of foreclosed property. He ignored all of the points raised by not only Mr. Cohen, but others. The G10 (formerly G8) stated and gave proof of contamination, flooding issues, traffic concerns and so on. Unfortunately, it’s the same litany we’ve repeatedly witnessed being ignored by the Town Board, aka Lead Agency, for project after project. Many had asked for a referendum to find out what the residents wished the Town to do with the property. The Paul ignored them. Then, as the opposition started to gain legitimate inroads toward stopping the ill-conceived project, The Paul then decided to hold a referendum only to have or not have the GameOn 365 bubble. Shrewd.

In classic form, The Paul began his deflection methods to distract from the bubble and began talking about all things unrelated. The media, complicit with him, routinely play along, ignoring their role as fact-checkers and reporters (in the strictest sense) of what all and any of our politicians do – legal or illegal. ABG is convinced we will never have any Watergate-type exposé except when the media is seeking to destroy an existing candidate or politician that is from the “other side” or opposes their agenda. Regardless, ABG will continue to champion the truth as much and as often as we can.

So what’s next? A lawsuit against the Town had already been initiated to stop the referendum bubble deal. As others have aptly stated, The Paul will now trumpet his mantra that the people have spoken and it’s democracy at it’s best, blah, blah, blah. Frankly, it’s a shame The Paul and his Board have so little regard for doing the right thing with people’s health. What’s worse is The Paul’s and his Board’s unbridled willingness to move forward with this dangerous, deceitful and problem-ridden project.

Just as importantly, not doing a thorough and proper site evaluation, remediation cost bidding and finally a site remediation before doing anything with the property for political expediency is unconscionable. It appears our elected officials abandoned a moral compass for a buck some time ago. Yet, to knowingly proceed is nothing less than criminal. Let’s hope the (yet another) lawsuit against the Town will force them to stop and do what is truly the right thing. We can only hope.

Stealing Town Hall

One way to ensure illegal activities go unnoticed as well as for them to continue is to not be open and forthcoming about these activities. With a Town Supervisor who touts open government whenever a reporter is within earshot, or more importantly, an uninitiated and unknowing resident, he is noticeably absent now. By his own decision and circumventing all checks and balances he would normally ignore anyway, he has been allowing the democratic party members unfettered use of Town Hall as a phone calling bank for the current President and ABG is sure for his next campaign. Why would he do this? It’s simple really. He is disliked by most democrat party leaders and this buys the Democratic Party’s support in his next year’s run for supervisor!

While many may cry foul, The Paul realizes most people are civically under-involved. Consequently, this, like his other transgressions and illegal activities will allow him to eventually just slither away unscathed. Since an article about this also appeared in the pro-Feiner, Greenburgh Daily Voice (Gannett owned as well as the Journal News), there will be no follow-up story, no investigation, no use of interns to monitor or collect fees for Town Hall usage, and certainly no admission of guilt by any of the usual suspects in the administration.

Similarly, what does our Town Clerk do when she’s not planning veteran’s barbecues and Town Board meeting concerts? We can’t answer that. We do know that her staff is hard-working. So, here’s a suggestion of something for her to do. Post a white board in the lobby of Town Hall listing all the daily meetings that are taking place. She can list the group utilizing the room, what room they are in and the time range for their meeting. This way, anyone coming into Town Hall can easily see who is there, where they are meeting and how much money the Town should be charging/making with each usage.

To cover-up his illegal actions, he has now offered the use of Town Hall to the Republicans for the Feiner-fee, magically created from who-knows-where? Perhaps he determined this scale of income utilizing the Tim Lewis Environmental Cleanup knowledge base? His generosity and largess was not voted on by the Board, not advertised to the public and certainly not put out for a phony referendum. Nor is asking the Republican Party if they want to do the same illegal thing the democratic party is, a way of neutralizing his first illegal action. But now Feiner believes all is well in the Town Hall Bizzaro World and will continue the well crafted charade of his “woe is me” persona. This is just one more example of what is wrong with the administration and our Town.

The Town has lost $1.2 million yearly by The Paul abandoning the WestHelp contract. The Town “lost” 19 laptops from the Theodore Young Center. The federal courts upheld the Fortress Bible guilty verdict against the Town and The Paul for up to $8 million. Then there’s the missing $4 million dollars from the Water Department. There’s the continued duplicate expenses of maintaining two Recreation Departments and staffs. There’s also the GameOn 365 Bubble Debacle that will cost the Town in a lost property sale and the subsequent tax payments thereafter. Finally, there’s the several hundreds of thousands of dollars lost through the certiorari adjustments the Town pays out at every Town Board meeting because The Paul and his Stepford Board refuse to perform a revaluation in Greenburgh. And that’s just some of this year’s interesting happenings around Town.

The Paul’s actions must be stopped. We need management skills, leadership skills and true open government in Greenburgh. Maybe it exists in a Greenburgh somewhere, but not in 10607. We can do better. We can only hope.

New Neighborhood Association to Form in Worthington & Dobbs Ferry Roads Area

Each effort by The Paul to cater to a developer is typically met with resistance or protest from a select group of residents we affectionately refer to as the Greenburgh 8, or G8 for short. They are usually at every Town Board meeting to scrutinize The Paul’s actions, whether the Town Board meetings start with Town business or the campaign circus The Paul and his Stepford Board are so fond of. They are the speakers at every Town Board meeting, reading staggering facts and information to an aloof, unengaged and seemingly bored Board. Is it possible that there no other residents are concerned with the costly, illegal and unethical actions of The Paul and his Stepfords? ABG thinks not.

Apparently, there are others trying to affect changes for the benefit of the Town via neighborhood civic associations. Another in the never-ending list of The Paul’s debacles is the GameOn 365 sports bubble that has been proposed to built on contaminated Town-owned property “for a song”. We’ve posted before about the reasons this “done-deal” developer-centric deal should not happen. Most of the Town’s assorted civic associations are against this project for a host of valid and discernible arguments. But, it doesn’t matter to The Paul, as he keeps this project moving forward at full-steam. Knowing he has done so many things with this project which are either illegally or morally wrong, he has decided to do what he does best: deflect! Ever the shrewd politician, he decided to take the moral and legal onus from his shoulders and dump it in the lap of the public by offering the GameOn 365 for public referendum.

To the uninitiated, you may be thinking putting this to a referendum is a good thing for the Town and democracy at it’s best. Had it been done first, ABG might agree. Most are not seeing or realizing this is still a bad project for the Town because of all the issues, problems, illegalities and future considerations that have been raised about this project. They will not go away just because the project was put out for referendum. Here’s the kicker: The Paul knows he will get a minimum of 7k votes for this project at the next election and perhaps even more because it is a major election and more people will be voting. He knows this because when he ran unopposed for supervisor he received about 7k votes! That means that 7k voters will either blindly vote the party line and whomever is running on it as the endorsed candidate or for whatever the “project” or referendum is, without bothering to investigate the facts or look at other factors simply because they maintain differing party affiliations and ideas. ABG would hope this time might be different. We can only hope.

Worthington and Dobbs Ferry Roads’ residents had gone to the meetings about “The Bubble”, concerned about the 8-story (83 ft tall) sports bubble to be installed as a temporary(?), 15 YEAR, structure on the contaminated dump, formerly Frank’s Nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road. Prior to Frank’s Nursery it was Flower Time Nursery. Prior to that it was used as a dump for the city of White Plains. When Frank’s Nursery defaulted on their taxes, the Town assumed ownership of the foreclosed property and left it to languish. Then, as The Paul began costing the Town more and more money through guilty lawsuit verdicts, expired income-generating contracts and the like, he began doing what he always does, putting more and more hare-brained, off-the-wall ideas “out there” in hopes of making back some of the money the Town is hemorrhaging through his incompetence and bad actions.

After seeing how incredibly dysfunctional and problematic our Town’s operational government is, an incredulous group of neighbors tried reaching out to each other and began to see that they were not alone. Deciding to formalize and create a Worthington & Dobbs Ferry Roads Civic Association, they sought a location to meet and were instructed by other civic associations to use Town Hall for their meeting venue. They began distributing flyers for their first meeting and have decided to meet this Monday evening on October 1st, at 8PM at Greenburgh Town Hall on Hillside Avenue in the main meeting hall. We hope they are successful in having their neighbors participate. While The Paul’s bubble fiasco is certainly one topic for concern, there are many others requiring discussion. This promises to be an interesting evening, regardless of where you may stand on Town issues. We hope they start at the appointed 8PM time, unlike the other meetings held in this hall and the neighborhoods respond and support this effort. We can only hope.