Town Taxpayers Continue Losing

Mr Feiner won again and the Town lost. The upcoming elections that he will run in unopposed, will garner him 7k+ votes. Back in the driver's seat again, he'll do what he does at every Town Board meeting and adjorn to Executive Session when the public pushes too hard. Secretly, do the Town Board members give "high-fives" when they adjourn to Executive session? They seem to adjourn regularly into Executive session to address “personnel issues” and leave the audience to wonder what's transpiring in the back room. Amazingly, the one personnel issue they’ve never addressed is the appointed Tax Assessor’s racist remarks during a meeting with subordinates. If you haven’t read our previous post, here’s an excerpt of a complaint letter that arrived to ABG recounting racist remarks made by Tax Assessor Edye McCarthy. Warning: this may be offensive to many:

This employee’s original letter was addressed and delivered to Tax Assessor Edye McCarthy and carbon copied to the Union President and most importantly Mr Feiner. ABG's understanding is that Mr Feiner, nor the union, took any action to address these racist remarks then or now. This speaks volumes of the duplicity, favoritism and disparate treatment of the “chosen” people within the Feiner administration and the rest of us. ABG has had conversations from others speaking about various wrongdoings within the Town.

One question that has been raised by many is why isn't the Journal News or any of the weekly newspapers pursuing this racism in Town Hall under Mr Feiner? They chose to ignore Mr Feiner’s bad behavior, condoning racism, and then create a series of stories about intolerance in Mahopac! The Journal News is also the first place many will go to champion separatism, under the guise of individuality, segregation, under the guise of cultural heritage, and uniqueness under the guise of personality. Do you recall the 1960’s when the mantras of the times were “give peace a chance”, “love is the answer”, “power to the people”, and “don’t trust anyone over 30”?

The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time of joining together and fostering a “oneness” with all people. Yes, there were problems .There was also disdain for those who would act prejudiciously towards others as the generations then sought to better our circumstances. New and sometimes radical ideas of equal pay for equal work, affirmative action to right the wrongs of the past, tests for civil service positions to remove nepotism and favoritism with job appointments were the talk of the decade. Great strides were being made as our society moved to better ourselves. The anti-war movement begot the environmental cries to “save the planet” and healing in our country between races, religions, gay/straight, and so on finally seemed on the mend. Schools were now teaching that we were all “one”. So what happened?

One thing that was mentioned was our eagerness to hyphenate into groups, losing the uniqueness we enjoy by being Americans – and to a degree, political members within the Greenburgh communities became more divisive and isolated than ever before. Theodore Roosevelt’s speech on hyphenated Americans rings true in some depth of what is going on in these times. We refer to his speech* tendered on May 31, 1916 in St Louis as it related to fighting abroad in other countries and allegiances to the United States. While the model was used toward countries that were escalating toward the first World War, we can see a parallel to what is going on today.

Mr Feiner goes out of his way to deflect attention from his own bad behavior toward others. He’s manufactured issues by writing incendiary op-ed pieces about closing Indian Point without  suggesting alternatives. He went after a fire chief who said something derogatory about him years ago and apologized continually utilizes Greenburgh Town Hall as his personal bully pulpit without paying the costs associated with keeping it open or staffing it to foster, some say fester, unworkable proposals such as a High Line Park. And when questioned about rising Town expenses by concerned and tax weary residents, he ignores them. At meetings he simply looks down and plays with his phone.

It was he who created a fervor over keeping the old Tappan Zee Bridge “up” as a high-line style park, a la NY city’s own, completely different and easily maintainable high-line park. He lost traction with that hype once Governor Cuomo put his foot down and said, “No!” He conveniently “forgot” how he had earlier decried the need to replace the aged bridge because needed maintenance was too costly and the bridge was unsafe and could collapse at almost anytime. Not true. His administration is filled with experts; he with nuclear power and bridge construction and Town Attorney Tim Lewis with Hazardous Materials contamination and remediation.

When the WestHelp debacle began, it was he who decided to make illegal payments to the Valhalla School District, condoned by his Town Board. Town residents questioned Mr Feiner as to why even make those payments? He simply whipped out his cell phone, looked down and ignored those questioning his motivation and illegal behavior. It was he who decided to violate the WestHelp contract with the County. He decided to toss away $1.2 million per year, forcing Town residents to make up the difference. In the Fortress Bible Church case, even a Federal judge found his actions illegal, finding him guilty of discrimination, lying under oath, destroying evidence and more! That episode ended up costing the Unincorporated taxpayers $5.5 million ($6.5 million in total)!

It was Mr Feiner who insisted on eliminating the after school homework assistance program for the costlier and instituting the supposedly “better” Xposure program and then told Commissioner Carter he needed to raise income at the Center. Homework assistance ceased as did use of the Theodore Young Community Center while the Xposure program was running, effectively shutting the center down to the non-participating Xposure members of the community. This list is endless.

Of course, we haven’t mentioned all of the bad and illegal decisions Mr Feiner has made to cost us income. The list continues to grow as we witness more and more of his costly and disrespectful actions toward Greenburgh taxpayers. It must stop. Only then can we have A Better Greenburgh.

*Access President Roosevelt's speech here: http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/txtspeeches/672.pdf

Town Cowards

The last Greenburgh Town Board meeting found the G10 as well as other seeking answers. They left with none. The residents in the room sought apologies for those residents who were treated rudely or spoken about in derogatory ways by the Board. They left with none. In fact, the daily newspaper even printed some of these same derisive comments. Why? Shouldn’t the “reporter” offer a balanced and even handed story? Perhaps in times past. But what does it say about a Town Board who cannot own up to their actions and simply admit wrongdoing and apologize? Of course, promising to no longer perform the same actions would really be what residents seek. By not doing any of these we see them for what they really are: cowards.

Growing up and attending school, we all knew who the school bullies were. We avoided them whenever possible, sometimes acquiescing minimal submission to avoid greater pain. This time, in Greenburgh, the bullies are those we would have normally avoided: the Town Board. Bill, the founder of ABG, had nicknames for the Town Board members. While they certainly may have accurately ABG described those members, we will no longer use them. It’s akin to how Mr Feiner treats the residents and how he has slowly manipulated his Town Board members to perform. Wanting to be part of the group and be up to speed as quickly as possible, newest Board member Ken Jones went above and beyond his indoctrination, shouting at a resident to, “Sit down! Sit the F*** down!” Cowards.

Speaker after speaker took to the podium describing the poor behavior of Mr Jones and this time the Board all remained silent. Resident upon resident continued requesting an apology for the abhorrent behavior and endured continued silence. In the corporate world this behavior would result in a trip to the Human Resources Department, probably some intense retraining and the event would be recorded into the person’s work file – haunting that person’s career ad infinitum. Or, they would be terminated as the company maintains a zero tolerance policy toward this type of behavior. The latter would more than likely be the action of choice as one travels up the corporate ladder. The Greenburgh ladder is markedly different. ABG is pretty sure whenever this Board wants to “high-five” each other, they adjourn to Executive Session! Cowards. 

Hiding in Executive Session to openly discuss topics that would either embarrass themselves or prove admission of illegality of their actions has grown into a disappointing norm for this Board. Once they learned that this “out” would get them off the hook, they began to abuse it. Mr Feiner had developed a new phrase about two years or so ago, paraphrasing, “There is a small group of people who are against everything we try to do.” Once he had a comfort level with it, he must have sent a memo to the Town Board members to use it as well. Dutifully, his scribes at the daily newspaper began to run the quote often. Now, however, his new catch-phrase is, “This is bid-rigging.” The G10 has taken to their new catch-phrase, “You owe the people of Greenburgh an apology.” But again, no apologies. Cowards. 

At the last Town Board meeting, Mr Jones moved to hold over the vote for the sale of the former Frank’s Nursery at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road for a week. Smart move. Why did he make this motion? Only his conscience, attorney and possibly a spiritual leader will ever know for sure. But Mr Feiner’s actions regarding the proposal from GameOn 365 from inception to this point, have been discussed ad nauseum by the G10 and others. In fact, the illegalities and wrong-doings were pointed out by Town Supervisor candidate Robert “Bob” Bernstein to Mr Feiner and the Board. The Elm Street Sports’ attorney pointed them out. Retired Justice Herb Rosenberg made the case. Residents and speaker after speaker continued the education for this Town Board in desperate need of, if not legal, at least moral, assistance. It’s not as though they missed one comment as they left for the restroom. Their insistence on maintaining their bravado and the status quo with this gift to another developer and ignoring advice from so many is troubling. It’s the school yard bullies thinking they will never be deposed from the swingset. Cowards.

ABG recognizes all too well that Mr Feiner has become a political machine in Greenburgh. His failed bid for Congress years ago proved then that he was a small fish in a big pond incapable of moving beyond our Town – unfortunately. Now however, as the big fish in a small pond, he’s crafted a niche for himself that is imploding. His Ponzi-like schemes cannot support each other enough any more. School-age reporters are easily lost as Mr Feiner dazzles them with his deflection skills, oblivious that they are being “conned”. The majority of the Democrats appear to have had enough of his bullying, proven by their overwhelming nomination of Mr Bernstein for Town Supervisor. Regardless of the winner in the November election, the G10 will remain ever vigilant. ABG is starting to see more residents and beleaguered taxpayers at Town Board meetings. They are becoming more vocal and involved. The schoolyard bully syndrome from the Town Board is wrong for Greenburgh. Their ruse of wearing down concerned citizens is not working any more. Cowards.

What do we want in our Town? You’ll have to decide.

Supervisor Bid-Rigging Proves Lucrative In Greenburgh

With another scandal haunting our corrupt Town administration, its purported that the Board was instructed to go along with the sale of the former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to Mr Feiner’s pre-ordained, unproven, on-paper “company” of choice, GameOn 365. ABG believes under the cover of darkness (really just one more of their all too common Executive sessions), Mr Feiner probably instructed the Board that half could disagree and vote against the proposition, offering a tie. He would deal the final vote to break the tie. Open government?

At every meeting, any questions that arose as to why choose GameOn 365 had been routinely dismissed with his already worn-out new phrase, “The Town Board is doing it’s due diligence and cannot comment about an on-going negotiation.” There were no negotiations. There was nothing “on-going”, except for Mr Feiner’s desire to award a rigged bid to his favored new friends at GameOn 365. All everyone asked for was an explanation of the parameters he and the Board sought for the sale and to publicly and openly discuss them. And still the entire Board remained silent – again! If the residents pushed too directly and the prickly situations got too uncomfortable for these “leaders”, Town Attorney Lewis would intervene on Mr Feiner’s behalf and use his standard line, “We cannot negotiate Town contracts in public.” Again, there were no negotiations. If there were, they were behind closed doors and in private Executive sessions, hidden from public review. Open government?

Earlier in the meeting Ms Lynette Bass, a Director with the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association read several email correspondences between herself and Mr Feiner. It seemed to be a lopsided mating dance that bore nothing but frustration for Ms Bass as Mr Feiner refused to directly answer her request for her organization to meet with the Town Board – no surprise there. While the Town Board rarely if ever engages in conversation with any speaker, Ms Bass was somehow granted special dispensation from Mr Feiner and again asked when and where they could meet. Mr Feiner insisted she pick the time and place and perhaps all the Board members would attend. She asked him to make the arrangements and would the entire Board attend? Perhaps, perhaps not; he couldn’t say. The same thing happened with Mr Bock when he commented on speeding on Old Kensico Road, and Mr Feiner suggested Mr Bock send a letter requesting to see if Old Kensico Road residents would support the installation of a sidewalk. Mr Bock was happy to do so but thought it better for the Town to send the letter, accommodating any legal requirements he might be unaware of. Mr Feiner crafted an very accusatory letter against Mr Bock and mailed it out to Old Kensico Road residents. This was reminiscent of a similarly poised referendum to elicit a specific response regardless of how people voted. Open government?

A concerned resident, Mr Hal Samis, challenged the Town Board at their last Board meeting while Mr Tom Bock was addressing the Board. He was the last speaker who was begrudgingly allowed time after several residents vociferously complained when several Board members tried to end the testy meeting without giving him his five minutes under the public comment session. Mr Samis approached the dais while Mr Bock was speaking and loudly challenged the entire Board who were focused on their electronic devices. The newest Town Board member, Mr Ken Jones, unwittingly responded to Mr Samis’ challenge by standing up, leaning forward onto the dais, the and yelling at Mr Samis to, “Sit down. Sit the f*** down!” Mr Jones seemed hostile toward Mr Samis, and dangerously out of control! While Mr Samis’ breach of meeting protocol may have shaken up the meeting a bit, it did highlight the constant poor behavior of the Board members and their incessant addiction to their devices while ignoring the public during their limited time to address them! Not knowing how to properly react to Mr Samis’ challenge, the Board abruptly ended the meeting as well as Mr Bock’s time at the microphone. Open government?

In the course of a mere 7 days, after two long years of foot-dragging, and as Mr Feiner faked his intent to meet with the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association to discuss the plans and progress with the former Frank’s Nursery property, ABG believes Mr Feiner knew he had to act and to hell with the Worthington-Woodlands group! He must have panicked and insisted on polling his Board for a vote – now! So while the results of the final vote was 3 in favor and 2 against, it remains another secret as to whose vote went for and whose vote went against the deal. Our best guess is Morgan and Juettner voted in favor and Juettner only because she is joined at the hip with Mr Feiner and the Fortress Bible guilty verdict. Sheehan had been waffling on a decision and may be seeking to distance himself from the next lawsuit. After the verbal “beat-down” Jones took from Mr Bob Bernstein about being a member of the NYS Bar Association and his incumbency to assure no illegal actions befall the Town, we think Jones may have made the right move but for the wrong reasons. Open government? Nah, strictly CYA.

ABG finds the race to approve this deal questionable amidst lawsuits, the public’s lack of information and involvement, the required remediation, increased financial offers, illegal leases and so many other issues. ABG is guessing there will be more activity on this unsettling deal that seems to delve into more dark areas than an Army proctologist. Open government? Nah, simply another lie!

Due Diligence, Colorful Language and “Sit the F*** Down!”

The first round of public comments where residents get only three minutes to speak seemed to pick up the pace of the Town Board meeting. Two service station owners spoke of multiple violations by a gentleman named Ali, who is running a gas station at Central Avenue and Old Army Road, and would like the Town to look into his sign violations, auto repairs and more. Their request to the Town Board is to have the playing field leveled by mandating the owner comply with all laws that they are all required to follow and cease his illegal operations. Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis stated they would look into these complaints and get back to them in two weeks. We wish them luck with having the Town make the owner comply and then getting a response from the Town.

Installing sidewalks seemed to be a popular subject as the cost of maintenance and installation of sidewalks was not in the proposed capital budget, also on the night’s agenda. One resident discussed the need on Old Kensico Road for sidewalks as they have witnessed a significant increase in speeding now that the Town has repaved the road. The Paul agreed. One advantage of the repaving was the “lowering” of the road surface which returned a viable curb for the homeowners, preventing water on the street from entering their yards and homes as it did previously. That speaker finished with a criticism of the WestHelp bid by the Town Board, while complimenting them on the New Resident Event held earlier in the evening.

The Paul decided to expound on how aggravated he was over the controversy with the WestHelp bidding process. He started out calmly and then became more agitated as he continued, stating the Town will get $1.5 M within months of signing the lease and there were millions of dollars at play and we’d get several million dollars less if we went with the next bidder(s) on the list. Apparently to The Paul, his logic justifies the Town’s acceptance of an illegal bid to make a few million dollars more over the course of the 18 years. One good thing, borne from a bad thing, is still bad; and it sounds just as illegal. 

Then The Paul brought up Ferncliff and Harbor View, which was the developer mentioned above that dropped out of the bid, and claimed members of the public were trying to stop the highest bidder from working with the Town. He distorted these facts while ignoring reality. His actions were what caused Ferncliff from not happening, as they were never a financially viable candidate for the WestHelp property. Harbor View backed out of the deal because there was an internal conflict with the two partners, with one working secretly with The Paul and the other kept in the dark. They also didn’t want to be in the middle of a public feud with The Paul, the County and the State.

The Paul commented, “Now there’s an attempt to, um, smear the reputation of the third bidder; someone who is offering significantly more money than anyone else. Um, what concerns me, the issue that concerns me even more is the ramifications that this is going to have on every bidding process.” While this sounds very authentic and perhaps a bit sincere, what The Paul fails to mention is that all of the WestHelp bidding process circumstances were created by his actions and condoned by his Board! The fact that the applicant from Group MRH lied to get the bid and subsequently admitted he lied to the Journal News reporter is the single-most damning ramification – all created by the applicant! In fact, the public’s only involvement prior to this was that they were doing the real due diligence and found the discrepancies in seemingly all of the information being presented to the Town.

The Paul’s tirade continued about a resident contacting him because he was appalled that a reporter went to the bidders home and took a picture of him in an undershirt. This same person said he would never bid with the Town to not have his reputation defamed. First, The Paul never mentioned if this person he spoke of would ever be submitting a bid on anything in the Town anyway or was simply making a point that The Paul would seize upon. Second, Mr. Harris let the reporter into his home. Third, what he was wearing was insignificant to the reporter and he could have taken a moment to “suit up” if his appearance were of concern. Third, and probably most importantly, the home address was the one provided as the business address on the bid. As such the reporter went to the business address supplied to the Town in the bid. If he didn’t want people to contact him at home, he should have listed another address for the business, perhaps one where he could share office space for a fee.

The next statement is the phrase we believe will be the new catch-phrase of the day from The Paul and his Town Board we’ll be hearing often. “So what’s going to happen because of all this controversy is we’re basically… I consider this a form of bid rigging. And I’m saying it is bid rigging. It is bid rigging because what we’re basically doing is we’re discouraging the highest bidder from getting an award from the Town.  The aim of all this character assassination is to encourage people who win a bid successfully to drop out of the process and what’s going to happen its not only this project that counts. It’s going to be all these other projects.” Then he rambled on without offering any proof but claimed to have letters that the public hasn’t seen validating his position. It was an amazing exchange and then he reiterated, “I am convinced that this is a form of bid rigging.”

The second public comment, where the public is given five minutes to speak, became the liveliest and testiest. The first speaker, Robert Bernstein detailed point after point of the submitted information, explaining the incongruities he found and the apparent falsehoods throughout. At the end of his time, Mr. Bernstein chastised Councilman Jones as a lawyer and member of the NYS Bar reminding him that he has a duty to make sure no fraud takes place in the Town of Greenburgh. Councilman Jones appeared visibly shaken and was sweating profusely. Once Mr. Bernstein’s time was up, he concluded, “Ladies and gentlemen, you have a duty to do the right thing. You have a Supervisor out of control. You need to put a stop to this.” The Paul responded that they have a duty to make sure there is no bid rigging in the Town; to which Mr. Bernstein countered with, “Sir, you have faked this offer. The only one who is bid rigging is you!”

Resident after resident came to the podium to highlight discrepancies in the bid for the WestHelp property, the process, the illegalities of same, and occasionally other issues involving the Town.  Toward the end of the evening in what turned into more and more absurd responses from our Town “leaders”, Ms Preiser asked numerous questions of the Board and had a short dialog with them. When the last speaker, Mr. Bock asked for his turn at the podium, the Board begrudgingly conceded. As he was speaking, several Board members were busy with their electronic devices and not paying attention to what he was saying. Mr. Samis approached the dais and said loudly, “Mr. Feiner isn’t listening to you! He’s playing with his machine.” Councilman Jones told Mr. Samis  to sit down. Mr. Samis then repeated himself. Councilman Jones responded, “Sit down! Sit the f*** down!” Mr. Samis remarked that, “Mr. Jones spoke and he never speaks during a meeting.” Jones insisted that Mr. Bock was speaking. The Board immediately rose and they simply said in unison the meeting was over and exited. Mr. Bock’s final comment in disgust was, “This is Open Government at it’s best.”

The language used by Councilman Jones, no matter how frustrated he may be, is inexcusable for any of our Town “leaders”. We understand that sanctions should be placed against Mr. Jones, but know in “Bizarro Greenburgh”, he will probably be receiving an award at the next Town Board meeting. ABG noted several Board members were outside after the meeting by their parked cars laughing. 

Please watch the two Public Comments portions of the meeting to be enlightened as to what is happening to our Town by our “Leaders”. To see the part where Councilman Jones loses control, go directly to the last view minutes of the Second Public Comment section. But don’t sell yourself short; and watch the whole event:

http://greenburghny.swagit.com/play/05082013-689

Westhab Refusal Stuns All

Perhaps The Paul was moved by our post entitled, Is Westhab Being “A Good Neighbor”? Or perhaps he slept on the right side of the bed last night. But in a stunning reversal from his typical “everything goes” for developers, especially Westhab, he stated openly that he was against granting Westhab’s financial request excusing them from paying the Recreation Fee required of developers. Go ahead and pause; breathe; continue ...

Westhab petitioned the Town Board to exempt them from having to pay the Recreation “fee” for their project in Fulton Park. Every developer building in Westchester’s infamous goldmine Town is charged this fee. Thanks to the Town Board making themselves the lead agency for almost all projects throughout the Town, spot-zoning is never an issue and done at the drop of a hat, the Building Department can be pushed aside for the right sign of good faith (i.e., the Fairview FD receiving a new Rescue vehicle or new fire engine), and projects anointed by The Paul, will receive less than a cursory amount of due diligence. In fact, after hearing about all of their due diligence for the past two years, you’d think nothing would ever get done in the Town!

The Paul stated at this work session meeting that he was against granting the request for Westhab as they never brought it up during the planning and public hearing stage of the project and that would have been the time to do so. Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan said he went back through the transcripts of the public hearing and meetings and recreation was discussed and there was no mention of exemptions from the fee. Once learning the waters were safe to venture into, Kevin “Henchman” Morgan, Diana “Sleepy” Juettner concurred, with Ken “Newbie” Jone also jumping on board seconds later. Morgan then Announced it was unanimous.

ABG is smart enough to realize that one correct decision may have just been a fluke. If we see a decision to sell the property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to the highest bidder, and not the lowest, that would be a coincidence. After that, if we saw more correct decisions made for the protection of existing homeowners and business owners by this Board, we might assume things might be changing here in Bizaro Greenburgh. We can only hope.

Greenburgh To Pay for Initial Remediation at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road

An admission was made in an email (shown below) to the Worthington-Woodlands Civic Association President, indicating the Town of Greenburgh will probably pay for the remediation of the oil spill at the former Frank’s Nursery site at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. The contaminated property has languished  since before the Town acquired the property years ago. ABG has maintained throughout this boondoggle that ultimately it will be the Unincorporated portion of the Town, The Paul’s “whipping boy”, that will foot the bill for cleaning up this property. This letter from the New York State DEC’s Todd Ghiosay confirms what ABG has said all along.

Todd Ghiosay
NYSDEC
Division of Environmental Remediation
Spill Prevention and Response
100 Hillside Avenue - Suite 1W
White Plains, NY  10603-2860
Phone (914) 428-2505 ext. 361
Fax (914) 428-0323>>> 4/19/2013 4:15 PM >>>

Dear Todd,

Thank you for meeting with us on Wednesday, April 17th.

Do you have any information for us regarding the property we discussed?

Sincerely,

Dorrine Livson

REPLY:

Mrs Livson

Victor Carosi returned my call and informed me that his consultant did have an informal meeting with someone at DEC but he did have a name.  He also said that the town is evaluating whether the property will be sold "as is", leaving it up to the buyer to do the remediation or whether the Town should do the cleanup.

Victor did say the he believes that the town will be handling the oil spill cleanup to clear the spill number. 

The last line of his letter is the real indicator of the Town’s intent. ABG is not sure whose decision it was for the Town to pay for the cleanup but doubt it was Mr. Carosi’s. ABG wants to know when this decision made? There’ve been no open discussions about this at any public meetings that ABG is aware of. Was it made during another one of the now-routine Executive Sessions the Board has become so desperate of utilizing? The Paul and his Stepfords have no difficulty shoving their hands down our pants to get at our hard-earned money every time they get more proverbial egg hurled onto their faces due to an impending financial penalty, fine or judgement headed their way. Hold onto your wallets.

If you’ve watched any Town Board meetings within the last six months, you’ve noticed anytime a difficult question is asked or an embarrassing judgement/decision by the Board may be exposed, the secret signal (think The Sting) is given. The designated Board member makes the motion to adjourn to Executive Session, the others stumble over themselves to offer a second to the motion and keep the public from knowing what The Paul (Mr. Open Government) and his Stepford Board will soon discuss behind closed doors.

There are several issues at play here for the Town residents (and several Attorney Generals) that our loyal followers already know. First, The Paul entered into secret negotiations with GameOn 365’s principals long before the Town acquired this property through foreclosure. Can you say collusion? Second, after the Town had acquired the property, a discussion ensued about how the library construction would impede the public’s use of the library facility and the former Frank’s Nursery was proposed as a temporary library site. That suggestion quickly screeched to a halt once it was learned that carcinogens, a fuel oil leak, and the earlier use of the property was uncovered as a dump for White Plains’ Urban Renewal waste. Ironically, the overhead high tensions wires bordering the property seemed to be of little concern.

Third, collusion with GameOn 365 began the illegal scenario but was by no means the only misplay by The Paul and his Stepfords. Once GameOn 365 finalized their Sports Bubble plan, they needed investors to pull this pyramid-like scheme off as their organization is made up of a bunch of stock brokers without the funds to proceed. GameOn 365 needed the lease to promote the offering to potential investors. They winked and explained to The Paul of their plan to erect a gigantic, 8-story (83ft tall) inflatable bubble on the site, make a few outdoor fields and pay the Town $5M. They had him hooked once The Paul heard he could make $5M dollars. The Paul had lost so much money with his screw up of the WestHelp deal, Fortress Bible guilty verdict (and others) that he began salivating like a vampire at a blood bank. GameOn 365 went in front of the Town Board as a formality and officially pitched the plan. The Paul told them to love it, so they did! Shrewdly, The Paul offered to lease the property to them for 15 years for a total of $5M. That breaks down to about $300k per year – an amount The Paul was unwilling to accept for the WestHelp property that the Town doesn’t even own.

The Paul has been pushing sports bubbles in the Town for years but could not proceed because of a restriction through the Finneran law. What to do? Wait a minute... The Paul asked his buddies Tom “Proclamation” Abinanti, now a NYS Assemblyman and NYS Senator Andrea “Platitudes” Stewart-Cousins to railroad an amendment to the Finneran Law allowing bubbles through their respective chambers during the “it’s getting late and we have to hit the road” final minutes of their respective legislatures. Done (deal)! The Paul could proceed with his promises to illegally offer the lease.

The Paul even had one of our Recreation Commissioners (there are two – just like our magic tax-cap number), Gerry Bryne, speak to Greenburgh’s need for more sports fields. Rather than remediate the property and develop it as a sports field if we truly need more sports fields, The Paul sought this illegal lease. Then The Paul decided to add insult to injury and hold a referendum for the illegal lease deal, trying to validate his illegal deal. Knowing the public is clueless, he knew if he worded the referendum “properly”, adding in yard signs and newspaper ads, voters would read it for the first time at the voting “booth” and it would pass – which it did. But illegal is still illegal even though he successfully duped the majority of voters into approving it.

ABG readers also know that anytime someone disagrees with what The Paul is doing, his classic response, “If you don’t like what I’m doing, you can sue me.” So they did – again. Another sports-oriented company with a different clientele and business model, House of Sports of Ardsley, NY, initiated a lawsuit along with several others, to block the illegal lease. The premise for their lawsuit was that NY State and Westchester County law mandates any property acquired by a municipality must be sold or utilized by that municipality. GameOn 365 littered the landscape with yard signs claiming this deal would bring $5M to the Town. How could this be bad for the Town?

The saga continues, but is now on hold as The Paul claims the Town is doing its “due diligence” regarding the two offerings. Read: stalling. The Town Board members have been instructed to say the same thing, so they do. As they parrot what The Paul tells them to say, the property sits unremediated and unused. The site is about the size and scope of the WestHelp property that The Paul insisted should be used for the Ferncliff School for the Developmentally Disabled. And mysteriously, he has never suggested using 715 Dobbs Ferry Road for the Ferncliff School. Why not? ABG continues to insist the Town do the right thing and ask for a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the site and see what else we might get?

ABG has previously predicted the Town’s decision will be to sell the property to GameOn 365 – even though House of Sports has offered double the amount of what GameOn 365 has for the site and promised to pay for the remediation. The Paul and the Stepfords will site all kinds of excuses but they will be irrelevant. GameOn 365 can’t “up the ante” because they have no “ante”. House of Sports has cash in hand. ABG continues to predict the Town will wind up paying for remediation of the property either directly or through credits of some sort once GameOn 365 gets the property. ABG doesn’t really care what is built on the property but acknowledges it is zoned for residential housing and should remain that way. We can only hope.

An Excuse to Perpetuate Illegal Offers

ABG has just acquired two letters (below) delivered to the Town of Greenburgh in advance of the impending Town Board Work Session slated to be held on Tuesday at 9:30AM. The scheduled meeting would invariably not start on time as the audience members, applicants and viewers would be forced to wait until the Board finally shows up. The work session meetings, which typically never start on time, would have included several topics that are generically listed on the posted agenda on the Towns website. But the waters had gotten even murkier for The Paul in short time. Subsequently, while the Elm Street Sports proposal for double the amount GameOn 365 offered, was slated to be discussed, The Paul was running scared and eliminated it by canceling the meeting!

Because Councilman Morgan had a funeral to attend, The Paul thought it appropriate that Town business be halted and foregone because one Board member would not be present. While we appreciate the sentiment, the Board should meet and carry on the Town’s business – less one. It didn’t seem to stop them at all when rookie Councilman Ken Jones was sick for several meetings that were slated to contain votes on the GameOn 365 proposal. ABG believes Jones decided to take some “sick time” to avoid having to take a position on the various GameOn 365 votes, which we hope he, along with many others of the public, recognized as illegal and more importantly, unethical. Too bad he wasn’t there to vote his conscious – something this Town has been missing for numerous years under The Paul’s rule.

If you have followed the GameOn 365 debacle for the last two years or so, you know that The Paul was exposed to having secretly met with GameOn 365 owners to broker a secret back-room deal for the former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. During this time, the Elm Street Sports Group, owners of the House of Sports Facility of Ardsley, NY, had purchased the property at 2 Elm Street, in Ardsley. This had been a former tennis facility and the home of Selecto, a food distribution warehouse which suffered a catastrophic fire years ago and the death of an employee. Selecto would never return to the location. With the purchase, renovation and opening of House of Sports, they have added to the Ardsley landscape, infused the tax base and vitality of an otherwise languishing local economy.

To ensure GameOn 365 every advantage and unfair “edge” they might need to build their proposed “sports bubble”, The Paul stacked the deck in GameOn 365’s favor. He agreed to a proposed fifteen year lease for the knowingly contaminated site, aware it was the acknowledged White Plains Urban Renewal dumping site! When area residents contested The Paul’s strategy with a lawsuit, following his own advice (“If you don’t like what I’m doing, sue me!”), he changed tactics and finally decided to follow the law. Simply, the law states that the supervisor must sell any land acquired through foreclosure, or use it for Town purposes if they decide to keep it. Morally bereft and challenged, our Town Board decided their spines, and political careers, should remain out-of-play. So they went along with The Paul to get along and not be “Sonya’d” out of their generous part-time jobs.

Interestingly, the Town had a property appraisal recently performed for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road and the amount of the appraisal was the amount that GameOn 365 was offering! Hey, wait a minute... is it possible to to stack the deck any more than it already is? Well, The Paul tried. Since The Paul’s illegal actions were bad enough, Elm Street Sports decided to up the ante, so to speak, and took a page out of The Paul’s playbook. They made an public offer to the Town to also purchase 715 Dobbs Ferry Road for roughly double what the GameOn 365 organization offered the Town! The difference between the “real business” that Elm Street Sports operates versus the “paper business” GameOn 365 talks about, is that GameOn 365 is still searching for investors for business model that GameOn 365 hopes to operate with someone else’s money. Elm Street Sports has the capital to purchase and remediate the site now. GameOn 365 is a pyramid scheme designed to operate only after they raise the money necessary to purchase for their possible business.

While the choice over which proposal should be accepted is obvious to the vast majority of people, one speaker at the last Town Board public session stated that he overheard a conversation where Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis stated to the effect that while the Elm Street Sports proposal might be better for the Town, they gave their word to GameOn 365. While giving and sticking to one’s word is laudable, this was one wrong, illegal and unethical move after another for a project destined for failure under the law.

This new opportunity affords the Town Board a facility to right many wrongs, whether intentional or not (ABG is being generous). The Town has lost about $1.5M in taxes on that property. The offer for $1.5M in total from Game On 365 only negates back taxes. In effect, the Town is giving them use of the land for free. The proposal from Elm Street Sports pays the $1.5M in back taxes and gives the Town a profit of $1.5M. And, while GameOn 365 was positioned to appear to pay for remediation of the property, they simply do not have the money to do so, cannot raise what will be needed, and have the opportunity to exit the deal when things get too problematic for them. All of the money that will be needed for the remediation will be provided by Elm Street Sports, something GameOn 365 won’t agree to. This is a no-brainer – even in Greenburgh.

It is incumbent on the Town to accept the best offer for the residents of the Town, regardless of how much “keeping your word” can be used as an excuse to perpetuate illegal offers. Elm Street Sports’ offer is in the best financial, ethical, zoning, planning and neighborhood-centric interests of the Town and the community. Another obvious solution out of this predicament is a legitimate sale process with a new RFP. ABG urges the public to contact The Paul and the Town Board with phone calls, letters and such to let them know you support Elm Street Sports’ proposal or a new RFP. Giving and keeping one’s word is only important when the word is for something legal and morally just. Let’s hope the Town Board understands the difference. We can only hope.

Letter from Elm Street Sports:

Letter from the Elm Street Sports attorneys:

Carcinogens at Frank’s: Should We Ignore?

Resident Hal Samis, having recently retired from the real estate industry, posed these questions to the Town Board and several news media outlets. The Greenburgh Town Board seems to rarely, if ever, answer questions that residents raise at the Town board meetings. ABG felt obliged to publish these as Mr. Samis’ GameOn 365 questions are germane to the public’s right to know. The lamestream media will ignore them to insulate The Paul. Here are Mr. Samis’ unedited questions:

Could these questions be answered? And such preventive action/notice, as would be required or deemed prudent, be undertaken IMMEDIATELY?

1) When does the Lease become effective? I am not asking when rent commences but at what point or date certain that the Tenant (GameOn 365) takes possession of the property and assumes standard Tenant responsibility?

2) Whatever entity controls the property, be it the Town or the Tenant, now that it has been determined that the site is contaminated, i.e. evidence of carcinogens, shouldn't the Landlord and/or Tenant, the responsible party(ies), immediately see to it that the property is properly sealed off from allowing unrestricted entrance and that signs warning of contamination be posted immediately. In its present unsecured state, visitation to the property is both possible and permitted with little effort and assuredly without reliance upon hazmat outerwear.

3) Given that there is no Bonding or even Rent Security required of the Tenant (normally found in all Leases), at the time that the Tenant accepts the Certificate of Occupancy and opens its doors to the Public:

a) over the course of the Tenant's rent paying 15 year term, should discovery find the site to be still contaminated and this to the harm of the visiting and unknowing public (had a less than comprehensive plan of remediation been chosen), who is responsible for such damages as may result from successful litigation by harmed plaintiffs?

b) were the Tenant, GameOn 365 and its successors or assigns, to be found liable by a Court, what assets, other than the existing site improvements net of liens, does the Tenant possess to satisfy such judgements? Since the Town presumably conducted due diligence into the finances of the Tenant and found them to be ready, willing and ABLE to enter into this Lease, I would assume that by unannounced side agreement (albeit contrary to the Lease "this constitutes the entire...") that some sort of escrow arrangement of future profits is required. Am I correct regarding the existence of such?

c) if both the Town and the Tenant, jointly are found liable and, should the Tenant be found lacking in assets, will the Town then be solely responsible for the payment of damages?

d) were the Town and the Tenant, singly or jointly, give consent to a sports facility which will recruit children as paying clientele AND to do so without first seeking all cures and remedies currently available to the Town and the Tenant to cure known contamination, are both the Town Board and the Tenant subject to criminal prosecution?

Please prepare specific answers to the specific questions ready for delivery at the next Town Board meeting. This should require little effort as I'm certain that the Town Board would already know these answers having voted to execute the Lease, having voted to expand the Phase II Study and having accepted the language of the Referendum Proposition.

Hal Samis

Referendum Scheduled AFTER Bubble Contract Passes

Thankfully, the Town’s video system was working last night and it wasn’t necessary to go to Town Hall to witness the GameOn 365 “done deal debacle”(DDD) happen at about 9:45 PM. ABG has maintained that the GameOn 365’s recreational “bubble”, a problem-ridden concept from even before day one, was another of The Paul’s done deals. The ethics law for the Town are being “dumbed down”, eliminating a good amount of consequence for unethical behavior by Town employees. Coincidence?

Once the DDD locomotive got up to full steam, the meeting started a half an hour late, as usual. Recently, residents have been forced to endure all kinds of crazy hours for meetings with Town officials. But the conventional media never seem to question this. Why not? ABG’s guess is because as school children the “reporters” had been instructed not to question their elders and this is just a carry-over from that. It’s so sad. It’s part of the faux-learning system indoctrination our youth is being subjugated to. How nice it would be to have a reporter actually challenge The Paul and his Stepford Board.

Regardless, after sitting down and hastily reading the items on the Agenda for this Special Meeting, The Paul made motions and Kevin “The Henchman” Morgan seconded them. While the vote was “unanimous”, once again Councilman Ken Jones was absent. He was also absent previously and the caused a rescheduling of an important vote on this proposal and once again he bailed. Could it be he did not like this DDD proposal and was trying to escape being cornered into a vote he didn’t want to make? We'd like to think so, but also are sure he’s already in the tank for The Paul. Council members Jeuttner and Sheehan sat by quietly, hardly squeaking out their vote in favor of this debacle. “Yes we’ll vote for it, whatever you say, M’lord. Please don’t treat us like Sonya.”

The Paul also moved to have the resolution go to a public referendum, after voting in favor of the contract! We could barely hear a few residents question him as to why they would not have the referendum first and then vote? He claimed in order to hold a referendum, there must be a contract. Don’t be fooled. Even if the referendum mandates not doing this proposal, he will say we already have a contract and it doesn’t matter! Apparently there are two types of referendums. Organizers against the GameOn 365 bubble have been acquiring signatures to force the Town to put this proposal on a referendum. By moving to do this first, The Paul again takes the power away from the people and continues to pull the strings of this game regardless of the referendum’s outcome.

The date for the next vote is August 29th, to put the GameOn 365 proposal on the ballot for a November referendum. While this is still a done deal, the kids from the traditional media are probably clinging to The Pauls every word and believing the referendum will happen, possibly even pass this, and justice will be served. But the referendum is moot. With or without it, the uninvested investors, having no skin in the game and no investment in the Town, will get their piece of contaminated and undervalued property in the center of the most expensive real estate market in Westchester County. The Town will pay for the property’s contaminated soil cleanup and then they will have a market value piece of land for pennies on the dollar. The Paul? He’s getting something, indirectly of course, that will fall through the cracks as well as the newly edited ethics law. The Paul has to go. We can only hope.

He's Lying Again!

Most projects in Greenburgh take years before a shovel even touches the ground, but Supervisor Feiner wisked Westhab’s publicly funded, 4-story apartment building, squeezed onto a .7-acre piece of land, through the process in months! When it's a pet project of Feiner, all rules and regulations are summarily waived. When, not if, someone objects, he finds a way to either remove them from the equation or will deflect attention from himself to something else, such as a bridge or two percent tax cap.

This Westhab project will overwhelm the transitional space from light commercial to residential into the small residential neighborhood of Fulton Park. Supervisor Feiner promised them a senior assisted living facility if the homeless were ever to leave. Lie! Then he promised workforce housing for Greenburgh employees. Lie! The neighborhood favored workforce housing for Greenburgh employees but wanted it scaled to fit the property. The Paul said no, siding with Westhab, saying that it had to be big for it to be cost effective. One resident at one of the hearings, which are only a nuisance to Feiner and his projects, asked to see the final offering from Westhab so the community wouldn’t have to repeatedly waste their time coming to different meetings and hearings to see the newest plans. 

The neighborhood learned that Feiner repeatedly and routinely lied every step of the way! It turns out that this project wasn't for Greenburgh Municipal employees. In fact, it was not for anyone from Greenburgh, employees or not! All lies! He stated the project was needed there because it would be a convenient location for the residents to go to Central Avenue restaurants, the train station, bus stops. Originally, he had a different tune, one where these residents would walk to nearby supermarkets. Well, those are closed and now he’s touting workforce residents dining at Central Avenue restaurants, not about closed supermarkets or people needing food at home. How much spendable money do these residents have to use on recreational dining? 

In a recent press conference held by Feiner, he now states, “Something is going to be built here and I think this is the best option.” What? Are there new plans – or did he re-re-rezone the space for them yet again? He and the Town Board have routinely changed zoning and requirements most people could only dream of or read in a fictional novel about government deceit, greed and corruption.

Unable to rent these tiny apartments at market rates, Westhab will approach DSS and rent them to Section 8 recipients. When the public refuses to rent these overpriced, postage stamp sized apartments, they’ll be used to house parolees, addicts and worse. It’s a well paying business model for Westhab. It a sham for us and a shame for this neighborhood to be punished like this after tolerating the homeless there for over 25 years.

Fulton Park is still reeling from Tropical Storms Irene and Lee with no relief from Feiner and crew. They’ll see a permanent increase in flooding, traffic, noise, crime and gangs to a once beautiful little neighborhood. Crime and Section 8 housing go hand-in-hand. Think, North Memphis, TN.

More of Feiner’s lies equals more pain for another already neglected and suffering neighborhood! I wish them luck!

Guest Commentary submitted by Whitney P. 

Greenburgh, Supporting the Low Income Resident with a 65.5% Tax Increase

   We will experience a tax increase that will be seven times more than last year's double-digit increases because, according to Supervisor Feiner, the town couldn’t sell the property he was banking on selling and budgeted as revenue in this year's spending plan.

   The Town Board has approved a $15 million budget, including both unincorporated Greenburgh and its six villages that calls for a 65.5% increase for village homeowners.

   Under this year’s adopted budget, the average village homeowner with a $15,000 assessment will pay an additional $45.41, bringing the average tax bill to $114.75. The village residents of Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown receive their services from their respective village government.

   The Town Board also approved a $64.2 million town budget, serving unincorporated Greenburgh, that increased the property-tax rate about 6.9 percent. Under the budget, the average homeowner in unincorporated Greenburgh with a $15,000 assessment will pay an additional $161.28, making the average tax bill for town services $2,516.40.

   At no time did the supervisor or his merry Board of fools decide to make real cuts. Why not? Probably because PF wouldn't accomplish the necessary pandering to maintain his lifestyle if he did. And the Board is too afraid to think and act independently and/or go against him. So the taxpayers suffer, the seniors move out and our kids shake their heads in disbelief as they migrate out as well.