Brownfield Application 5 Years Overdue

In the latest daily press release by Mr Feiner, he states that his Town Board has, "authorized the submission of an application to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to clean up contamination found at Frank's Nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road." What does this mean to the overburdened Greenburgh taxpayer, the auctioneer of the property, the Town, and whomever the purchaser winds up being? Quite a bit actually.

Mr Feiner also claims, "We are also  making good progress regarding our efforts to sell Frank's nursery to an assisted living facility (the property is currently zoned for that purpose) but all the details have not been finalized as of yet." That's because NO details have been finalized. As Mr Feiner continually used the former Frank's Nursery property as a political football and media bonanza, it appears that he never had any intention of selling the property to anyone. By not selling the property, it allowed him unfettered access to the media for self-bloviation as well as self-publicity. The irony is that he needs to do neither, what with his own website, the Town website, the Town's energy website and the Daily Voice's website. Ever the political huckster, he remains fervent in his self-promotion without actually accomplishing anything (other than said self-promotion).

The gist of the Brownfield Application is italicized below:

Brownfield Cleanup Program Public Notice

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has received a Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) application from the Town of Greenburgh for a site known as Frank’s Nursery, site ID #C360151. This site is located in the Town of Greenburgh, within the County of Westchester, and is located at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road.

Comments regarding this application must be submitted no later than September 25, 2015. The application can be reviewed at: Greenburgh Public Library, 300 Tarrytown Road, Elmsford, NY 10523; 914-721-8200.

Information regarding the site, the application, and how to submit comments can be found at http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/60058.html or send comments to the Project Manager, James Candiloro, NYSDEC, Division of Environmental Remediation–Bureau C, 625 Broadway-11th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-7014; james.candiloro@dec.ny.gov; or call 518-402-9662.

The difficulty with this application is that it is just that, an application only. It does not ensure the Town will receive any monies to apply toward remediation of the former Frank's Nursery site. Nor does it mean there might even be some relief for the beleaguered Greenburgh taxpayer. If any money is acquired, and is applied toward remediation of the site, only that amount will benefit the taxpayer. All other costs will be assumed by the Unincorporated taxpayers!

What Mr Feiner has not said, which typifies his email publicity campaigns, is that he and the Town should have applied for the Brownfield grants when they originally acquired the property through foreclosure in February 2011. At that time, there were many more residents and more importantly, Town employees who knew about the arrangement with the D'Agostino property being used as an urban renewal demolition dump by the City of White Plains! What he didn't say, is that the Town could be approaching the City of White Plains for aid with the property's cleanup. What he didn't say was what will happen if the application is denied.

At one point several years ago, Mr Feiner attempted to initiate an illegal lease with GameOn 365 for the property for 15 years. You'll recall that GameOn 365 are the friends of Mr Feiner that he bent over backwards trying to gift the property to at an undervalued price. Fortunately, many in the Town objected and the deal was killed only after Mr Feiner was threatened with legal action. Municipalities cannot be landlords nor can they lease property acquired through foreclosure. They are required by New York State and Westchester County law to sell any and all such property. You all know that Mr Feiner routinely ignores any law he doesn't like, knowing that no one will go after him.

In the end, ABG hopes the Town gets the long overdue Brownfield funding. Even the Town's auctioneer informed the Town that no one would bid on the property because of its contamination and the costs associated with cleanup. Sadly, Mr Feiner thumbed his nose at a $3.5 million dollar cash and all remediation/cleanup expenses offer because it would have taken the property from his friends at GameOn 365. We continue to wonder why he would do this? It was also about the same time he and his Town Board began parroting the phrase "doing their due diligence". Later, it was "faith in the process" and then they included "fiduciary responsibility" among others. And whenever possible, they utilized the expressions as conjunctives, trying to get more bang for their buck. What they really wound up exposing according to many is their lack of transparency and collusion with a would-be developer.

It's time for this administration to do the right thing - sort of a foreign concept in this Town. We have a lot of great employees in the Town of Greenburgh. Yet, it seems not from the elective process. Knowing how to scam the voters this well has taken over 22-years worth of effort. Alas, it has paid off, making Mr Feiner a millionaire and then some, through his salary alone. It's time for the electorate to pay attention and stop these shenanigans. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Another Slice of Greenburgh Going, Going Gone - Welcome to Pepe Factory and Prison - 2269 Saw Mill River Rd

Spring 2014, Pepe Auto Group bought the old Sonotone office building on Saw Mill River Road (Route 9A), near the Elmsford Little League Field.  Pepe is applying for the Greenburgh Town and Planning Boards approval to build a new vehicle preparation operation and car storage facility for their 6 auto dealerships (two Mercedes Benz, Infiniti, Porsche, Sprinter, and Cadillac). Their hours of operation at this site will be 7am to 6pm Monday through Friday with half-a day on Saturday and some Sundays! How lucky are we!!

Approximately 750 cars will be stored on the property (650 outdoor parking lots, 100 indoor in the prep building) and delivered-monthly to their dealerships. Pepe stated that 3-5 car carriers (tractor trailers) will be processed daily (Mon.-Sat.); that will be 260 tractor trailers a month using Saw Mill River Rd/9A (5 trailers x 26 days/month x 2 round-trip).  Pepe says 15 cars will leave this facility daily for customer deliveries at their dealerships either driven individually or by flat-bed trailer. But his math doesn’t compute! 15 cars per day x 26 days is only 390 cars per month, 4 tractor trailers a day times 26 days a month with each truck holding 8 vehicles is 832 vehicles per month Other times Pepe states that his entire inventory will turn once a month, that would be 750 cars.  Which calculation is accurate?  If 750 cars turnover in a month, then at least 750 cars are to be delivered to the dealerships then 750 cars need to return to the facility with the original drivers.  That will be an additional 1500 cars either using Saw Mill River Rd/9A or our local neighborhood streets (15 cars x 26 days/month x 2RT).  Pepe stated there will be approximately 30-50 employees at this site, that equates to 2600 employee trips a month not counting possible lunch trips, nor occasional Sunday openings (50 employees x 26 days x 2RT).  In Supervisor Feiner’s letter to Greenburgh residents he only compares the proposed employee trips of this facility to an office building.  He fails to multiply and include in his calculations the additional vehicles from daily deliveries to the dealerships, car deliveries via tractor trailers, box trucks for vehicle parts inventory, gasoline tanker trucks or garbage and refuse trucks.

As part of the car preparation process, each auto needs to be washed and fueled; therefore Pepe will be installing two 10,000 gallon gasoline tanks with a fueling station on this property.  At approx. 20 gallons per car x 750 cars delivered per month that’s 15,000 gallons of gasoline per month used, Therefore that would be at least 4 gasoline tanker trucks using Saw Mill River Rd monthly (regular and premium gasoline)  An average gasoline tanker truck holds 8500 gallons, 2 tankers x 2RT.

At least 40 box trucks delivering car parts a month (5 dealerships x 1 weekly x 4 x 2 RT).  This is for all non-factory installed accessories oil, coolants, etc. used as part of the new car preparatory process.  Garbage, recyclers and trash haulers – Per Pepe, a lot of cardboard and Styrofoam delivered with new cars.  Most probably twice a week garbage and recyclers, 16 ex-large trucks monthly (2 x 4 x 2RT)

Their hours of operation will be 7am to 6pm Monday through Friday with a half-day on Saturday and Pepe admits to even some Sunday openings!  This operation is not at all similar in size, building architecture, or prior business operations anywhere in Greenburgh! We all know how busy and crowded Saw Mill River Rd/9A is; Do we REALLY need this extra car and truck traffic?

This increase in allowable traffic seems to be contrary to what Paul Feiner is advocating in his 2015 Agenda Posted on Greenburgh’s website January 6, 2015 # 12 Lobby NYS for 9A bypass to reduce traffic congestion on 9A in the vicinity of 119- working with villages and business community and #13 Support commercial vehicle enforcement detail for vehicle scales to preserve town roadways.

As part of this site renovation, Pepe wants 2 separate 8 foot chain-link fences installed around the circumference of the property, spikes in the driveways and over 100 overhead 14’ LED light poles in the lot, camera and motion detectors with all flood light lights immediately activated upon an intrusion.  When asked, how will these flood lights be turned-off once activated?  Pepe had no answer.  Do the residents need to bear lit baseball stadium lights until someone comes to turn them off?  Our quality of life not to mention sleep disturbances are not considered or addressed by the Town Boards?  How safe does 8ft chain link fences make our visitors and future business investors feel?  Pepe wants to make our residential community feel like a ghetto!  He says second to parking as many cars on this property as design allows, is to have this property look like maximum security operation, and deter intruders.  The look and feel of the property’s surroundings for the local residents was not a concern of Pepe or his architects.  There are proposed subdivisions on Worthington Rd and at 1952 Saw Mill River Rd. with new homes selling in the $1.5+ million range.  Would you invest your money in a new home with this facility and operation in your neighborhood?  We have never had a prison in Greenburgh, and we don’t want one now!  Pepe won’t be looking at this eye sore of a building every day and night.  We will!  Pepe won’t be around if there is a security breach, (even it’s a deer jumping the fence) or god-forbid a gas explosion.  We will!   But wait we will have a large illuminated “Pepe” sign on the front of the building even though Pepe swears customers will not be visiting this facility.  Then why does this facility need such a prominent sign on the building?

The increase in traffic presents many hazards.  Large tractor trailers can’t turn right from Route 119 to Route 9A, but there’s no guarantee they won’t try, blocking both RT119 and 9A until all the cars on 9A clear out.  Have you ever seen this happen?  Yes.  Locals don’t try it, but Pepe’s contractors?  Pepe says they will request the tractor trailers operators to access Tarrytown Rd/RT 119 from I-287 Exit 4, or I-87 to Ardsley’s Exit then on to RT9A.  Supervisor Feiner dismisses the I-87 alternative and only states that the tractor trailers will use I-287 Exit 4 making a right turn at Staples/Tarrytown Rd through Main Street in Elmsford and making a left turn by the Elmsford Post Office.  A tractor trailer will NOT be able to turn on these roads without using both lanes in both directions leading to more congestion, gridlock, traffic tie-ups, accidents etc. 

What about pedestrians?  What about people at bus stops up and down Route 9A?  No road shoulders or bus shelters.  Bus stops are marked by bus stop poles by the white lines on road edges. What about people crossing RT9A and 119 to transfer to other bus routes?  It’s already hazardous!  Traffic lights even now don’t give pedestrians enough time to cross the street.  Adding more tractor trailers, trucks and cars turning can only cause more blockage and hazards.  Ask the bus drivers!  Car carriers versus pedestrians - guess who wins!

What about people driving their kids to and from the Ann & Andy Day Care Center on Saw Mill River Road?  What about kids running to and from the Elmsford Little League Fields?  What about children walking from the local streets to school in Elmsford, especially during the winter months when the mornings and late afternoons are dark?  Here, like Edgemont there are no sidewalks nor road shoulders.  How will our children be safe when all this extra traffic runs up and down RT9A?  Parents will then decide to drive their children and more traffic will ensue.  The memorial crosses beside Saw Mill River Road/RT9A are there for a reason.

The residents also feel there has not been a proper environmental study on this property. Since WW II, the former Sonotone Facility had their vacuum tubes, Nickel cadmium battery and battery chargers plant and research facilities at the building Pepe proposes to demolish.  We need a detailed environmental study done at this particular building as well as on other parts of the site before demolition begins.

What’s Pepe, Town Boards and Supervisor Feiner’s answer to the residents’ issues?  Silence.  And this time it isn’t golden for Greenburgh’s residents!

Guess What? On January 28, 2015, the Town Board approved under AT 1 a resolution authorizing tax certiorari settlement with petitioners Elmsford Executive Park Co/2269 SMRR LLC (name for legal purposes) for $635,036+/-.  I guess we get to pay for the property renovations too!  Not to mention, part of Pepe’s renovation of this site is to demolish a building for additional parking.  How much would this decrease the future tax revenue on this property?  No answer again…

Why are they rushing this project through?  Why aren’t they asking New York State DOT to prepare a traffic study?  Why is the Town concerned only about Pepe’s interests?  Why are the residents last on their list?  Why aren’t they asking these questions? 

PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 11 at 7:30pm GREENBURGH TOWN HALL

Right On Track For The “Gift-Away”

It was a convoluted plan. The players agreed to the time span. They may have been coached as to what to say and do. They were also told that this would take time. Like every plan Mr Feiner hatches, he is rarely, if ever, stopped. We blame that mostly on the willfully ignorant electorate. We’ve written about them before. They are what we call OIMBY’s, only becoming involved when something crops up in their neighborhood, or Only In My Back Yard.

The Town acquired the former Frank’s Nursery property through foreclose at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road. As required by County and State law, any municipality that acquires property through foreclosure must sell it. Except in Greenburgh. Why the exception? If Mr Feiner doesn’t like a law, he simply ignores it. Knowing he was required to sell, Mr Feiner could have just done a private sale with his friends from GameOn 365 and be done with it. But that would have cost GameOn 365 much more money than was agreed upon. So he offered to illegally lease the property to them. This illegal charade was uncovered and Mr Feiner had his hands caught in the proverbial cookie jar, he put the lease up for referendum in the last election.

We can imagine the Town Board going into Executive Session high-five-ing Paul with his strategic genius. It’s easy to see him as a genius when you are not. GameOn 365 then populated the Town with less than forthright yard signs, promising amounts of money to the Town that were simply fictitious. The referendum passed, giving Mr Feiner the fodder he needed to push his illegal deal. But still, he was unable to proceed. The Town never got the title for the property due to a bank lien. That’s why Mr Feiner went the route of an illegal lease!

The G10 pointed out that the property had contaminants on and in it and insisted the property be remediated before anything be done with it. In fact, the G10 pointed out that the Town had wanted to utilize the property as a temporary library while the award winning, wasted space, ski-jump was being built. There was an uproar then that the property was contaminated and could not be used. Think of the children - the horror, the horror. The same thing was said when it was suggested that the Town police station and courts could be located there. Again, the Town did nothing. They didn’t remediate the property nor did they relocate the police department, the library or courts there.

The G10 Town activists who attend Town and other Board’s meetings and community neighborhood meetings, challenged Mr Feiner and his complacent Board at multiple meetings, ultimately threatening another lawsuit to stop him. Undaunted, Mr Feiner forged on. That is, until the date of a court appearance was upon us and he finally acquiesced. But he now had the attention of the media and that was his goal all along. There were periodic deflections along the way, but his grand plan to gift the former Frank’s Nursery property to GameOn 365 was on track.

Once Mr Feiner threatened to take bids on the property, Elm Street Sports, owners/operators of the House of Sports in Ardsley surprised everyone when they offered almost twice the amount of money in cash ($3.5M) for the property than GameOn 365 ($1.8M). Plus, Elm Street Sports promised to assume full remediation of the property. Mr Feiner began a smear campaign that Elm Street Sports’ offer was not genuine. Say it enough times and it will become the truth. Eventually, the complicit media began purporting what Mr Feiner had been saying, helping his smear campaign against Elm Street Sports.

After being pushed and prodded by the G10, neighborhood civic associations and residents, Mr Feiner announced there would be an auction for the property “as is”, meaning any remediation needed would be paid for by the purchaser. After numerous excuses, delays and postponements, the auction is off again. Our original contention was that an auction would force Mr Feiner to forfeit the ability to control who is awarded the property. Since he had promised GameOn 365 the property back in about 2010 (maybe earlier), he is doing what he can to thwart the sale by normal means.

After hiring Harold Bordwin of GA Keen Realty, the Town’s chosen auctioneer for the property, he informed the Town that prospective bidders were reluctant to bid on the property because of the contamination and the lack of extent, effort and money that would be required to remediate it were they to purchase the property. Residents, G10 and assorted stakeholders all insisted the Town remediate the property to make it whole before trying to do anything with it. Mr Feiner and the Town Board ignored those suggestions.

It has been our contention that this was all part of Mr Feiner’s grand scheme after concerned residents derailed his illegal lease. We envision his new scheme to be the rope-a-dope he is currently doing. He offered the property for lease and was shot down. Then he tried to sell it directly to GameOn 365 and Elm Street Sports loused up that deal. Then he said it would be auctioned off and all types of stipulations, caveats and conditions were embedded in the deal and it waned. Then we believe Mr Feiner told GameOn 365 to go to the press and say they have an “option to purchase” the tax-evading Visioli’s Golf Range. It’s not really a sale, just publicizing that there could be one. Purely semantics. During all of this, Mr Feiner kept insisting that the property would be sold “as is” and adhere to the current zoning that’s in place, per the request of the area civic associations.

During all of this, GameOn 365 began canvassing the neighborhoods to garner favorable support from residents and they’ve started doing it again as of last week. They began donating money to different events to make it appear that they are community oriented and involved. For a paper company, they were doing just as we believed Mr Feiner might have told them to do. Mr Feiner on the other hand, continued to say many people/businesses have expressed interest in purchasing the property. But, as usual, he wouldn't divulge who – a typical ploy he uses so often that many no longer believe what he says is true.

The latest ploy by Mr Feiner is to play up the fact that interested parties whom might be interested in purchasing it won’t because of the remediation required and the lack of information provided. Eventually, he will drag this out until the playing field (pun intended) is down to two and maybe even just one player, Elm Street Sports and/or GameOn 365. OR, he will say there is no interest and GameOn 365 will take the contaminated property off of the Town's hands, paying taxes, offering jobs, etc., pave it, effectively sealing the contamination from the public and have done the residents and Town a great favor. And, like WestHelp, the lesser amount of money we now make will be someone else’s fault, not his. In the end, this has only been about making sure GameOn 365 gets the former Frank’s Nursery property. It’s time for this kind of thing to end. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Semantics or Another Lie?

Last Friday ABG as well as others in the media fell for Mr Feiner’s classic use of words reporting that the Town Board voted in favor of selling the former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road to GameOn 365. You’ll recall that Mr Feiner violated his much-touted open government policy as he secretly met with GameOn 365 principals to close a deal even before the Town acquired the property through foreclosure. The they met to work up a lease for the property since GameOn 365 could not afford to purchase it outright. As Mr Feiner craftily tried to slip the lease through the Town Board’s well-greased approval process, an alert and vigilant G10 slammed on the brakes!

It turns Supervisor Paul Feiner said Friday afternoon the town had “decided” to sell the property to Game On 365 for $3 million. Mea culpa – we should have known better. Mr Feiner added that the developer would pay for the site’s environmental remediation, a sticking point with residents who originally fought the proposed illegal lease with a lawsuit. At a press conference to be held at 2:15PM today (real start time is 2:45PM based on past experience), Mr Feiner and his Board plan to account for the supposed 3 to 2 standing with the Board in favor of selling to GameOn 365. It’s not always good to be correct, but ABG predicted this outcome for quite some time now. Still, there never was a public vote to sell to GameOn 365!

At the mid-afternoon press conference to be held at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, Mr Feiner and crew intend to explain their rationale to accept a $3 million bid from Game On 365, bypassing a $3.5 million offer from Elm Street Sports Group, who operates a sports training facility in Ardsley. Here’s a sampling of what ABG predicts will be said to some degree or another, “The Town Board wrestled with which offer to accept for the property. Or, we did our due diligence and tried to get as much money as we possibly could for the land. Or, we had a fiduciary responsibility to the Town and were able to get more money from GameOn 365. Or, GameOn 365 has always be our company of choice because (and here is where excuses won’t matter) they offered to develop the land when no one else would; or, they have a terrific track record with their smaller facilities; or, I see this area being developed as a sports oriented area and as soon as we can drive out the other nurseries and driving range, we will spot zone the property for any developer who stays with a sports theme. Or, we, uh, I mean GameOn 365 will pay for all remediation and we haven’t decided if we’ll give them rental credits for doing so. Or, we have nothing against House of Sports; or, House of Sports is a fine company, but we needed to let someone else have a shot; or, we weren’t sure House of Sports was serious with their offer and Francis said that publicly numerous times; or, I made this decision years ago and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let anyone stop me!” Choose whatever line works the best for you.

So at this afternoon’s meeting, ABG hopes that the press will truly question the motivations by those leaders in the Town, why they are ignoring the better offer, and what other elements of this deal will be costing the residents and for how much? Whatever it is, it will surely have a proctological outcome for the Unincorporated Greenburgh residents. Why is everyone ignoring them?. 

No Smoke, No Mirrors, No Breaks

We’ve been treated poorly. Yet, we’ve waited. We’ve hoped. We’ve cajoled, complained and practically begged – all to no avail. We’ve hoped to learn what the criteria was as the Town Board routinely stated they were doing the “due diligence” regarding the WestHelp property that had provided a $1.2M annual “gift” to the Town. The Paul made a non-public decision to not renew the lease. Then he insisted it was the former Westchester County Executive’s decision, not his. Several phony emails later, it was shown to be The Paul who in fact refused to renew the lease, not the County Executive.

The implementation of the covert WestHelp plan from The Paul, aka “Mr. Open Government” with his media buddies, was underway. He had “someone” leave doors and windows of the facility kept open to allow the site to be pillaged of appliances, piping and other components. It also increased the likelihood that mold, animal infestation and weather would further degrade the facility. But for what reason? Once WestHelp ceased to use the facility, The Paul lost the  $1.2M annual golden goose and knew he needed to replace it. Money woes in the Town continue spiraling out of control for The Paul. On top of the lost WestHelp $1.2M annual payments, there was the Fortress Bible Church guilty decision, reaffirmed by an appeals court that could cost The Town upwards of $8M. There was the $4M water department deficit, the “windfall” of returned monies from the Valhalla School District for illegal payments The Paul and his Board made yearly are a drop in the proverbial bucket. And where was his complicit Stepford Board? Nowhere to be found unless they were rubber-stamping all of The Paul’s actions!

The latest move by The Paul and his Board is during almost every meeting, someone will make a motion to adjourn to “Executive Session” so they can collude unimpeded and get out from under the scrutiny of the public eye. The G10 performs the watchdog function long ago abandoned by the media as its members attend various meetings held at different times and locations throughout each day. As they report back we can’t always learn of the misaligned decisions the Board has made due to secrecy. They seemingly violate laws as well as the public trust, and we’re made aware only after it appears on a Town agenda. For a Town administration that espouses open government, there surely seems to be an inordinate amount of secret meetings and decisions taking place.

One decision that was asked about over and over again was the criteria being used in seeking investors for the former Frank’s Nursery property, the WestHelp property, the Brightview Assisted Living property, the Eastview (former Union Carbide) property and others. We’ve received shrugged shoulders and silence to our questions. Franks’s Nursery’s property is contaminated with numerous pollutants, oil and debris (underground). The Paul tried to illegally lease the property to GameOn 365. When the project met resistance from residents, he “offered” it for a referendum at the upcoming election. The referendum passed. A lawsuit followed because the referendum was illegal and he withdrew the lease. Legally, the Town must sell the property. To bolster his desire to give the property to his favored vendor, GameOn 365, he had an appraisal done by a firm that does other work for the Town. The appraisal came in at the exact amount of money GameOn 365 had proposed to pay for the property! Ironically, Elm Street Sports, which operates the House of Sports in Ardsley, has offered roughly double for the property. The Paul is doing whatever he can to stall the higher bid as it does not include GameOn 365.

The property at Eastview has been undergoing constant expansion in the last several years. During all of this expansion there has been no attention paid to the flooding this will cause south of the site. The Rt 9A corridor floods with any steady or significant rain storms now as the Saw Mill River quickly overflows it’s boundaries. It wreaks havoc on the residents and businesses that parallel the river. The Paul made a big deal of cleaning out the river once a Village of Elmsford trustee mades arrangements to do so. The Paul has been asked to do the same thing for the Greenburgh residents along the Bronx River. As with most Fairview needs and no news crews present, The Paul does nothing.

The WestHelp income of $1.2M annually is forever gone for the Town. The Paul had a plan to buy the votes of the Valhalla people by removing those pesky low-income, single, female parents with children that lived there, endearing himself with those voters. He proposed putting a self-contained developmentally disabled school in the space. Funded by New York State, the state said, “No!” A side benefit for The Paul would be to charm the county’s Republicans Rob Astorino, Michael Smith, Ned McCormack and others. This would be a win-win for The Paul. Shady operations? Racism? Sure, but The Paul knows he’s guaranteed to win re-election as there are no democrats strong enough to challenge him from within the party and the republicans have written off the Town of Greenburgh as forever blue!

This morning’s work session promises to raise the Town-wide use of Tums for many residents. Slated to begin at 9:30AM, we’re sure a 10AM start is more realistic. Today is the day The Paul has promised to pick a developer for the WestHelp property. There are several deals being offered and what we don’t know are the deals being made behind closed doors. Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis has claimed it wasn’t fair for the Board to disclose information to the public because these were sensitive negotiations that required secrecy. There were no contracts signed, just proposals. So they could have shared information but chose to remain silent – again. The Paul said they would keep information from the public because a resident spoke with one of the developers, a childhood friend of The Paul. His company subsequently withdrew their offer. Was The Paul’s “deal” so fragile that one conversation would cause its collapse? ABG thinks a more likely scenario was that once the bidder learned of all the misplays, misdirection and illegal activities that The Paul and his Board were doing with this property, they thought it better to exit post haste!

ABG is not convinced a decision will be made this morning. If one is, it will be interesting to see which one they accept. ABG also believes the Board will jump into executive session after exhausting themselves with one decision to hide the rest of their meeting from the public. ABG has also predicted that The Paul will award the sale of Frank’s Nursery to GameOn 365 with some babbling excuse as to why they should get it. Fortress Bible’s financial determination is about to land in the Town’s lap. The Saw Mill River and Bronx River neighborhoods are still flooding. Aging infrastructure collapses can’t keep up with the speed of The Paul’s decisions. More and more bad decisions seems to be the norm from this Town Board. The Paul’s further insulating the public from a truly open government through Executive Sessions and closed door meetings with developers. It has to end. We can only hope.

Media Complicity or Just a Lie?

Similar to the never-ending “games” The Paul likes to play for his own skewed reasons, GameOn 365 decided to take a page out of his play-book and issue a misleading press release that was printed by a weekly newspaper. It was a small, under-the-radar press release that went unnoticed by many but was caught by our vigilant Christina, an ABG researcher who was startled to read the incredulous title, “Greenburgh Sports Bubble Is a Go”. This small and misleading press release was from Martin Hewitt of GameOn 365, which stated the Greenburgh Sports Bubble project is back “on”. The reason it’s back on? He states the reason is because the lawsuit by Elms Street Sports, owners of the House of Sports facility in Ardsley, and other petitioners has been dropped due to the unmentioned counter-suit GameOn 365 launched. This “article” seems more like an example of the media being complicit with The Paul and another of his pet projects.

He continues his claim that the lawsuit was dropped due to GameOn 365’s motion receiving sanctions and a dismissal of the suit. This is simply a lie. ABG has detailed quite extensively how and why we believe Hewitt has distorted the truth in the past while maintaining an arrogance when speaking with or to residents. But for him to say he, GameOn 365, or their attorneys caused the lawsuit to be dismissed is altogether not accurate! The lawsuit was maintained by the petitioners even after The Paul announced he was withdrawing the lease “deal” (he had concocted) with Hewitt long before the Town ever acquired the foreclosed upon Frank’s Nursery property. Once his Stepford Board officially voted upon the withdrawal, the petitioner’s dropped their lawsuit. The issue with the lawsuit was that the Town and The Paul were in violation of County and State laws that said a municipality that acquires property through foreclosure may sell it in a public or private sale.

 GameOn 365’s motion claimed that Elm Street Sports had several contradictory statements in it and that Simon of HelpBurstTheBubble.com, had a financial arrangement with Elm Street Sports and it’s owners. While these points may or may not be true, the fact of the matter was that the Elm Street Sports lawsuit was dropped after the Town decided to drop the lease proposal with GameOn 365 – the only reason the suit was initiated in the first place! In reading the GameOn 365 petition, it sounded like the best response they could muster was the old playground ditty, “Nah, nah, na-nah nah!”

Hewitt was quoted as saying, “We are glad that the frivolous litigation is now behind us, and we look forward to making our indoor sports facility a reality for everyone to enjoy.” We wonder why the article’s author never asked even a few pertinent questions? Those might be: 1) Many have stated that GameOn 365 is a “paper” company with no financial resources, is that true? 2) Are you ready to purchase the property right now? 3) Elm Street Sports has an operational facility in Ardsley with financial resources and claims to be prepared to purchase immediately, how does this affect your decision to continue? 4) Claims have been made that you need investors to proceed, have you been able to gain any investors to date? 5) The remediation costs made by Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis were capped at $100k but persist going higher. The escalating remediation costs and a lack of investors from GameOn 365 point to an inability for you to proceed. Is this is not the case, would you explain why not?

The list of questions could continue on, but ABG believes it is pointless. All indicators have pointed to a cold reality for the GameOn 365 organization. They cannot get investors, funding or enough money to proceed. The Paul and the Town Board have dragged their feet with every aspect of this parcel of land with every excuse they could muster. At one Town Board meeting, Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan stated he wasn’t looking for the highest bidder for the property. Why not? The fiduciary responsibility of the Town representatives to the taxpayer is to pay the back taxes on this parcel and sell it for as much money as the market can bear. That amount seems to be lost on this Board. We have previously predicted the Board will give this deal to GameOn 365 after all the excuses against doing so are dismissed. Elms Street Sports has offered the Town double the amount of money and full remediation cost coverage to what GameOn 365 has offered. How can they justify taking $1.6M over $3.5M for the property? This would be a no-brainer for any Town Board, except ours.

If the Town cannot see the forest for the trees or cannot figure out which way to go, we agree with the solution many have offered numerous times. Put the property up for a Request For Proposals (RFP) and see not only what offers comes in, but how much others, beyond GameOn 365 and House of Sports might be willing to pay. Those offers may bring something else to the table that everyone wants. 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:

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.

Vote NO – Carcinogens Found on Proposition #1 Site

In a stunning release by Woodard and Curran, the company doing the environmental study for 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, they reported contaminates that exceed acceptable levels for state cleanup criteria for commercial use were found at that location. This is the site of the proposed Proposition #1 which would (illegally attempt to) authorize the GameOn 365 sports bubble project. Numerous concerned Town residents objected to the proposition and repeatedly pointed out the site was believed to be packed full of contaminants and toxic debris, some originating from White Plains construction sites and others from two long-time nurseries.

Due to this finding, The Paul had his Town Board authorize additional money to be spent to investigate the property to the tune of $69,670 more dollars. Not $69k or $70k, but $69,670. Residents had been told by Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis that the Town would only need to spend $100k for site study and cleanup. This no longer seems to be the case with this new discovery. Regardless, The Paul, Tim “Remediation” Lewis and Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan had stated at numerous Town Board meetings that the costs for testing and remediation would be capped at $100k. It appears that the inside information they failed to share with the public is slowly escalating to an amount that was previously unforeseen.

In arrogant defiance while being caught with his pants down, The Paul insisted this Proposition is still good for the Town, he insists the Town should proceed as he planned. Interestingly, it was The Paul, when pushed by residents at the last two Town Board meetings, who said that the safety of the children is paramount and the Proposition as well as the lease would not go through if anything was found that deemed the property dangerous to children and their parents. Ironically, no mention was ever expressed for concern of the employees.

It appears that the concerned residents of the Town were correct in their widespread criticism of the actions of The Paul and his Board regarding Proposition #1 and the GameOn 365 sports bubble. The overwhelming evidence confirms what the long-time residents had warned everyone about. Another critic of the Proposal #1, Simon Cohen, who organized the HelpBurstTheBubble movement, was berated by many at numerous meetings and is owed an apology.

Here again is the video the concerned Greenburgh residents made against Proposition #1:

While ABG is pleased that so many were on the right side of this issue for the right reasons, it is discouraging that our elected representatives are not representing the residents’ best interests, but those of the developers. This has to change. While none of our Town elected officials are running for office, ABG joins many others in asking for their resignations. We can only hope.

They Should Resign

Rain, rain, go away, come back another day. Everyone should recognize the lyrics from this old nursery rhyme. The Paul sings a somewhat different tune, “Residents, residents, go away, come back another day.” It seems The Paul repeatedly takes the proverbial wrong courses of action at every turn and every venue regarding the Town’s involvement, finances and now tenuous future. According to him, it’s the residents that continually get in his way of doing what he wants. Although the residents are probably singing, “Paul, Paul go away, don’t come back on any day.”

Flooding
The weather experts claim we are scheduled to be hit with another 100-year storm two months after the one year anniversary of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. It defeats the purpose of calling it a 100-Year Storm if it’s happening every year, doesn’t it? Speaking of experts, one year ago, The Paul hired Jonathan Raser, an engineer and expert specializing in flood mitigation to review the conditions in the Town and seek assistance for the flooded residents. After collecting his somewhat substantial fee, and securing absolutely no funds for the residents or the Town, Mr. Raser hi-tailed it back to New Jersey whence he came, offering no resulting help, funds, or hope! The sum of his efforts? A letter to the flood-prone residents of the Town that they do not qualify for any aid and basically they are on their own. As he was leaving, he might have been overheard saying, “My bill is on The Paul’s desk, see ya suckers!” 

This once again imbues the well-known deflection tactic of The Paul seeming to care. When the flooding from Hurricane Irene hit the region and Greenburgh in particular, it took The Paul quite some time to leave the stately Boulder Ridge gated community to visit his serfdom. But once he received word that the news cameras, reporters and crews were out covering the effects of the storm in Greenburgh, he sniffed them out like a bloodhound that caught a scent. He visited Hartsdale, Fulton Park and Babbitt Court, offering any affected and suffering flood victims another false hope, this time of FEMA home buyouts. He corralled numerous Town employees, working for four years without a contract, to receive a little overtime picking up debris. These dedicated workers came through as usual and then The Paul did what he does best, deflect, ignore, babble on and disappear.

In spite of The Paul intruding with the victims’ cleanups spewing vague ideas that accumulated no traction, his next best idea was to request every other politician do something to help these beleaguered and beaten residents. After all, he’s done everything he can, which in reality was nothing. In fact, he wrote, talked and postured about how many other politicians he contacted deluging various residents with daily mailings stating as much. After the media left, so did The Paul - back to his sanctuary of the secure confines of Boulder Ridge, where flooding, traffic, homeless people, sports bubbles, over-sized stores, concerned citizens, environmental studies, and projects that devalue our residential areas are not an issue.

But why do these areas have such frequent flooding where there never was any? Overdevelopment! The state renovated I-287 and the Bronx River Parkway, routing their water runoff into Fulton Park. The Town has done nothing to address this. Nothing! The Paul helped develop the 9A corridor with more to come, routing that water into Babbitt Court. You might ask, “Don’t we have a Planning Department to oversee and control the development throughout the Town?” We used to. Most projects they “touch” mysteriously become bigger and bigger with the Commissioners involvement. They have even helped developers to find ways around zoning and planning limitations. Quietly, without fanfare they changed the departments name. It’s now known as the Department of Community Development and Conservation. The name change, slightly sexier and more encompassing with political correctness sudden makes things all better. The cost in damage to residents: MILLIONS.

WestHelp
When the County leased the WestHelp facility to the Town, it was a financially secure and rewarding deal for the Town. People in need of housing had a brand new, extremely nice place to live and the Town was earning $1.2 million a year in income. It was a sweetheart deal for then School Board President Michael Smith, now a Republican County Legislator representing the same area. Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association former President, Ned McCormack, who is now Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino’s Communications Director, was also against the WestHelp deal. You see, they were both on the Valhalla School Board and protested putting those horrible homeless people on the campus of Westchester Community College and into the Valhalla School System without “something in return” for them. Did you know that County Executive Rob Astorino has now endorsed The Paul’s convoluted and illegal plan to tear down the facility to lease the property to a school for fifty years? Why? Why would Rob Astorino do that when all of the County Legislators are against it and trying to optimize housing for the low income and homeless population throughout the county? Partisan politics? Hardly. The County Executive is trying to help his Director of Communications and one of only a few minority legislative allies he has in the County Legislature get along with this neighborhood and get votes through a payback. Payback? Why? 

Not to be outdone, or to lose a vote, The Paul reached a financial arrangement with the Town Board, with no checks, balances or scrutiny to pay off the Valhalla School District. Essentially, he provided them a bribe, under the guise of an “educational grant” to accept these kids. There’s your reason. How they would use the money would be up to the school board for the school district - in essence for the children. So, what did they do with the money? They took a cruise and forced the taxpayers to foot the bill! You can read more at: valhallavoice.blogspot.com/. Fortunately, the Town of Greenburgh had two residents that pursued legal action to overturn this illegal deal in court and won! Now the Valhalla School District will have to return a portion of the monies to the Town in an agreed upon settlement. Something is better than nothing. The cost for this screw-up: $1.2 MILLION per year.

Referendum/Sports Bubble
Before Frank’s Nursery defaulted on their taxes and before the property was foreclosed upon with ownership assumed by the Town, The Paul met with several people representing themselves as a company called GameOn 365. Knowing of The Paul’s non-existent business acumen, they salivated over the possibility of acquiring that property from the Town for a song. These are stockbrokers apparently tired of competing with Charles Schwab and web-based competitors for peanuts and saw this as their big jump onto “Easy Street”. Knowing how to manipulate people into buying worthless stocks, they must have thought it easy to convince a bunch of their stockbroker-jock friends to invest in this deal. The Paul met secretly and communicated with them to position them to be the preferred recipient of The Paul’s good graces when it became time to unload said property.

Immediately after the Town assumed ownership, the public cried for the property to be used as a temporary library. Unassuming as most people in the Town are about what motivates The Paul, many decried foul knowing the history of this property as contaminated. What to do? If The Paul pushed for the library to relocate, they would be exposing “the children” (as well as adults) to toxic chemicals and who knows what else. The Paul quickly needed to deflect; so the talk turned to using the land for a new and larger police station and court. At the last Town Board meeting, Councilman Morgan stated to a resident that the neighborhood overwhelmingly was against this. When did the Town Board start listening to it’s residents? You may recall at about the same time, The Paul announced his newest no/low cost plan to financially save the Town by having interns process millions of dollars worth of back-logged traffic tickets. Deflection at it’s best? You decide. The cost for this illegal deal: MILLIONS.

Fortress Bible

Back when Tom “Proclamation” Abinanti was a mere 20-year career County Legislator, he enjoyed a relative safe haven where he resided. Then an African American church from Mount Vernon, the Fortress Bible Church, purchased property nearby. Ever the close friend of The Paul, he may have mentioned to him his concern of their nearby move. What did The Paul do? He put up road blocks, delays, fees and requirements for them to have to meet in order to proceed ahead with their plans. What were their plans? They simply wanted to build a church and a school on the property they purchased.

Tim “Remediation” Lewis, not wanting to publicize his strategy for fighting the Fortress Bible case in court, remained silent. We’re sure this was mostly on the marching orders of The Paul. But silent he remained; and, so did the others in The Paul’s administration. Perhaps if they had shared their strategy, the residents might have been able to help them. Unfortunately for the Unincorporated residents of the Town, they LOST the court case and were found guilty of discrimination, perjury, willfully destroying evidence and more! The cost for this debacle: upwards of $8 MILLION.

The Paul’s entire administration is a model for mismanagement, misjudgment, misdirection, misspending and missed opportunities. The Paul has exhausted most normal routes to help the residents of the Town preserve what little is left of it. He and Town Planning Commissioner Thomas Madden are on a track to overdevelop what little areas of green is left in Greenburgh. Not sure about this? There is much more about The Paul’s and his Stepford Board’s actions that are crippling our Town. ABG has written repeatedly about it. The Paul and the Board should help the Town. They will do this when they resign. It has to end. We can only hope.