Scam Alert

Local business in the Village of Tarrytown and the City of Rye was recently scammed. A person presenting themselves as the Fire Inspector from those Communities appeared and demanded cash to pay a Village inspection fee, which was paid to them. No municpal employee will never ask for or accept cash or other payment in the field. This kind of scam and other similar scams could happen to anyone – a homeowner or a business owner – and could also happen in the instance of someone posing as a representative from a utility like Con Edison or Verizon, a Federal agency such as FEMA or the Small Business Administration (SBA) or some other company or organization.

To avoid being scammed, please keep the following tips in mind:
· Always ask for official identification.
· No Village employee will ever ask for payment, especially of cash, in the field. All documents and payments should be submitted at Village Hall and by check made out to the Village of Elmsford.
· Do not give out personal or confidential information such as your birthday, social security number, bank account number, or other personal or confidential information.
· If anyone attempts to demand cash or other payment from you on behalf of the Village of Elmsford, or another community, please call your Police Department to report criminal activity.
· If you have surveillance cameras, please retain and preserve the information and share it with the Police Department to assist in the investigation.
· Do not allow anyone to coax, coerce or bully you into buying or paying for something you do not want and/or did not ask for.
· For help with dangerous or possible criminal activities, please call your Police Department.

This message was provided by the Village of Elmsford.

Upcoming Supervisor Candidate Debates

If you live in Greenburgh -- including Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Hastings, Irvington, Tarrytown, or unincorporated (Edgemont, Hartsdale, Fairview) -- this is the first time you can vote for a new town supervisor in a general election in over a decade. Challenger Lucas Cioffi, an Independent candidate, is running against Paul Feiner for Greenburgh Town Supervisor November 5th.

You are Invited to these three debates:
• Oct 21: League of Women Voters Debate, Greenburgh Public Library (300 Tarrytown Rd, Elmsford) @ 6:30pm
• Oct 22: Hartsdale Neighbors Association Forum, St Paul's United Methodist Church (130 N Central Ave, Hartsdale) @ 7pm
• Oct 28: NAACP Candidates Forum, Theodore D. Young Community Center (32 Manhattan Ave, White Plains) @ 7pm

Please mark your calendars.

Early voting starts Oct 26th: details about early voting and absentee ballots.

Lucas Cioffi’s simplified message about his campaign. Please share with your friends and neighbors:
1. Place a two-year freeze on town tax levies
2. Use real community involvement to get the budget and spending under control
3. Significantly increase openness and accountability
4. Implement term limits

Here is his full 8-page platform for your consideration. For info:

Lucas Cioffi
Candidate for Greenburgh Town Supervisor
Greenburgh, NY
Website: https://www.greenburgh.us

PS - You are receiving this email, because you receive our town's email updates. The New York State Committee on Open Government has confirmed that candidates running for office in Greenburgh may use the email list as long as we do not use it for fundraising purposes.  Please let me know if you'd like to unsubscribe, and thank you for your time!

Benefit Car & Truck Show Honors Firefighter

Suspicious Incident in Irvington

An important message from the Superintendent of Schools,  Dr. Kristopher Harrison

May 22, 2018 Good evening, Please see the important public safety alert that was just released by the Tarrytown Police Department. "This agency is investigating a suspicious incident which took place on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at approximately 0810 hours, near the intersection of Meadow Street and Millbrook Ave.  A 10 year old child who attends the Main Street School, Irvington School District was standing near this location waiting for the school bus when a late model Honda Civic Four Door Sedan, bearing an unknown New York yellow color "Empire" style plate, traveling North on Meadow Street pulled up and stopped near the child.  Child reports a male white possibly in his twenties or thirties with dark hair and short goatee spoke to the child through an open passenger side window. The male asked, "Do you need a ride to school?" When the child said "No" the male pulled away travelling North on Meadow Street towards Route 119." Below is a picture of the actual vehicle involved: Any individual who can assist in identifying the above pictured vehicle, or who has had similar activity is asked to contact the Tarrytown Police Detective Division at (914) 631-1514. Please be assured that the Irvington School District is in consistent communication with our law enforcement partners to ensure the safety of our students.  Very truly yours, Dr. Kristopher Harrison Superintendent of Schools

Leadership Remains Stale as Ideas and Creative Thinking Wither

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Market Opens To Favorable Crowds

Mega supermarkets seem to be today’s norm. The Super Stop and Shop on Rt 119 near the borders of Elmsford and Tarrytown is the latest testimony of this. While it is certainly huge and offers a tremendous selection, there are days when you just need a few basics or just a bit “more”. The Apple Farm, also on Rt 119 nearer White Plains, is focused primarily on produce, fish and deli items, and always seems to be busy. H-Mart offers a more specified focus to the Asian community and it too is usually busy.

Sustaining what could be termed “regular” supermarkets in our area has proven to be a challenge at the very least for the A&P. Fraught with issues of sustainability and viability for years, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company again filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its Westchester (and then some) based stores. The A&P franchise included the brand names A&P, Food Emporium, Pathmark, Waldbaums and others. However, the stores at the crux of this bankruptcy were popular in our area and impacted many people when they were closed.

Smaller food retailers seem to thrive when focusing on a specific market. Turco’s in Hartsdale did well for years. After they decided to close and focus on the northern demographic, Morton Williams took over the space. Owned by ShopRite, with several stores of the same name in NYC, they never seemed to catch on as Turco’s had. Having a limited run, they soon closed as well. Finally, Mrs Green’s, a natural and health food store closed their smaller Scarsdale location and opened in this location. Alas, their fate was predetermined as the health food market was not a viable one at this new location.

After a quick makeover of the store, the new owner of the space, Best Market, stocked shelves, cleaned and put their touch onto the facade. They have not only moved into the same space as the previous food retailers, but they’ve made a great first impression! Visiting the store has seen lines at the cash registers as their new employees master the checkout systems. Assisted with senior personnel, the lines kept moving. Walking through the store found a good mix of reasonable prices as well as somewhat higher, although not prohibitive prices for certain items.

Everyone in the store seemed to enjoy that the staff was friendly and seemed interested in helping those looking for assistance. ABG staffers visited the deli department and were asked by a younger employee how we liked the store? Whether this was instructed to the staff or he was genuinely interested didn’t really matter. He came across as sincere and sparked a bit of a longer conversation. Regardless of why the conversation took place, he represented the store and his employer well!

Judging on the crowds, the positive chatter throughout the store and a varied selection with good pricing that should engage the neighborhood, we are hopeful for a long and prosperous run for Best Markets. It’s helping to make A Better Greenburgh.

Fund Raiser Scheduled to Help Trevor

Our Residents Need Relief

A Sunday story ran about Industrial Development Agencies in New York and the “positive” affect they are having on business. While ABG doesn’t agree with IDA’s for numerous reasons, the article highlighted one company in particular, noting that they are the “Poster Child” for IDAs. That company is Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical developer at the Eastview campus of the former Union Carbide site on Old Saw Mill River Road. It has the hidden beauty of a Tarrytown (mailing) address while being in the less glamorous Town of Greenburgh.

Back in the heyday of Union Carbide, the site had several mansions on it, a holdover from the Rockefeller days when many parcels of land were owned and utilized by the Rockefeller Empire. But as we’ve previously posted, the site has been a hot bed of building activity with the projected blessing from The Paul and his Stepford Board to increase the traffic and flooding by encouraging 400-plus new condominiums be built at the location, in addition to the newly erected office buildings to the west of the “spine” that links the two sides together. Additionally, there will be another 400-plus condominiums built as part of Avalon 2 on Taxter Road. Across and farther down Rt 119 near Benedict Avenue will also see the 90 unit Brightview Senior Living Center* begin construction.

Do the prospective tenants of these condos realize the site was a chemical development and testing site many years earlier? It was replaced with the MSG training facility, occupying a larger footprint than the previous building. One of the biggest fires the area has seen was when the automotive products testing building ignited and exploded in the early evening in the late 1970’s – early 1980’s. Can you hear the gasps and outrage after the new condo owners find out they may be exposed to toxic automotive chemicals? They can query Town Attorney Tim “Remediation” Lewis as to how much testing and cleanup may cost based on his SuperFund knowledge.

One of the tenants across the street from the projected condos is Regeneron, a medical testing and creation laboratory. They have been touted as “one of the most successful IDA-backed projects in the region with nearly 1,000 employees in Greenburgh and annual revenue of $446 million,” said former Entergy Public Relations Officer and current Westchester Economic Development Director, Laurence Gottlieb. He went so far as to say Regeneron is “the poster child for a great IDA project”. Maybe it’s great for everyone at the IDA and at Regeneron, but what about the Greenburgh residents? Gottlieb claims they “just keeping adding employees left and right.”

Are the employees working at the Regeneron location in Tarrytown, actually Greenburgh residents or are they people relocated from Regeneron’s other locations in Basking Ridge, NJ, or Rensselaer, NY? If they are transferring from these other two locations, do they really “count” as adding jobs “left and right” and do they know about The Paul and how he is slowly reducing Greenburgh to nothing but affordable housing without any supermarkets near the populace? The question remains are Greenburgh residents being hired by Regeneron?

There is always an economic upside when businesses move to an area, bringing increased purchasing and property tax income to those communities. Tax income is a hot topic in the Town because of the misguided actions of The Paul. But doesn’t the IDA bring jobs and spending to an area? Sure – at the expense of the existing residents through property tax abatements, reductions and other tax incentives! In the case of Regeneron, their pharmaceutical failures frequently found them at the brink of and even in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. So are we to marvel at a company that seems to often be at the edge of insolvency that finally scored big with their macular degeneration drug or just shrug our shoulders? ABG is glad they’ve survived. Can Greenburgh?

There are millions of dollars shelled out every year by Westchester, Rockland and Putnam’s ten IDA’s that many believe could be better used to rebuild crumbling infrastructure or invest in our schools. Even with the artificial 2% Tax Cap the State passed this past year, practically every municipality has seen increases in their school taxes. Not to be outdone, County Executive Astorino recently created his own Westchester IDA because apparently his rhetoric of cut, cut, cut, is catching up to him politically as he cannot dole out money to various special interest groups in hopes of maintaining existing voters and “purchasing” new ones. Could The Paul be far behind?

Critics of IDA’s say IDA tax exemptions often temporarily lower the sales and property taxes those companies will pay, reducing revenue to the localities, county and state. This creates shortfalls that must continually be offset by residents. It’s also argued that IDA’s are said to help New York state compete with lower-costing states, as New York has a recognizably higher cost of doing business. Could it be that New York’s massive taxes (and regulations) are overburdening business in general, any of which politicians are quick to bail out, make concessions for, and promise a virtually rent-free existence? Of course they are! These same politicians do nothing of substance for the existing businesses who may find themselves silently struggling. Yet they turn their collective backs on the rest of us who could use a break but continue to pay our mortgages, rent and taxes as well as all their other bills on time! It’s disingenuous and needs to change! 

We want to see our Greenburgh companies succeed as well as our residents. We are happy that Regeneron was finally able to turn things around through the IDA’s help. The Paul, his Stepford Board and his administration continue to help his developer friends. And, IDA recipients are doing very well for themselves while Greenburgh constituents are suffering through some of the worst economic decisions made in the last twenty years. Regeneron and others continue to receive lower sales and property taxes, forcing the Town and it’s residents to pick up the difference of the reduced revenue to the Town and school districts. It’s time for companies who we have helped for so long to step up and make it on their own. We don’t want them to be abandoned, but stop dipping into the residents’ pockets that have been carrying them for years and then rubbing it in our faces. The residents need an IDA to help them! Vote; and vote differently for a better outcome. Our residents need relief. We can only hope.

* A meeting for this will take place at the Marriott Hotel, Thursday, Oct. 18th, at 6PM.

Stop and Shop or Stop and Steal?

The new 67,500 square foot Stop and Shop Super Center store will be opening this week. The location of the new supermarket is actually where the old Premier Theater had been located many years ago. The difference today is when the theater had been there, with the amount of impervious space it had, there weren't any other buildings in the area. Water drainage was not a problem back then! According to The Paul, and we quote, “Unlike many development application projects that experience significant opposition from the community - this supermarket had an enthusiastic group of immediate residents behind it from day one. I received many calls and e mails from residents expressing a desire for a quality new supermarket.” It's only a true statement when you study how the question of the new Stop and Shop was posed. 


When asked if people would favor a new supermarket offering? The answer was usually yes. Would you be in favor of a new super center style supermarket with a larger variety? Larger variety? The answer was yes. So, as people were polled about a new supermarket, the carefully asked questions guaranteed certain positive answers. No one was asked if closing the existing Stop and Shop would impact the neighborhood negatively. No one was asked about the amount of impervious space that would be created, affecting the water runoff in the already saturated and heavily flooded areas – except the Glenville Community Association, the Babbitt Court Residents and the business and home owners along the 9A and Rt 9 flood zones along with the G-8. 


Many in Tarrytown’s Rt 9 and surrounding area who were able to walk or bike or take a bus  to the existing Stop and Shop (formerly First National, and then Finast) were vociferously against the new Stop and Shop! The Paul prefers to ignore this in his post. Once the existing Stop and Shop closes, the space will be used for yet another CVS. Apparently, we don't have enough drug stores in the area. We have nothing against CVS, but there is a claim that they will have an “expanded convenience food department”. What, more Twinkies?


Also in the mix, as part of Thomas Madden’s job security initiative, are plans to create an assisted living facility nearby. This effort, along with The Paul’s devaluing of the Unincorporated Town space, has been proposed to create multiple apartment buildings, actually twelve, along the Rt 119 corridor. This all dovetails into the proposed train, bus, car corridor they plan to develop Rt 119 into with the expansion of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement.


An issue ABG has with this expansion is not to utilize mass transit in the area, but we are a suburban area they are trying to develop into a more urban setting. There will condemnations and eminent domain utilized to take over homes and businesses properties to make this happen. The goal of the  separate elevated bus route is to have a bus stop for pickup/drop offs at all of the bus stops every five minutes and then have the buses all exit (near exit five of I-287) onto Rt 119 and proceed to the White Plains Transit Center. After this visit, it starts all over again. If you think there’s congestion on Route 119 now, just wait!


The Paul has assisted in closing two major supermarket outlets. While we recognize he didn’t do it alone, the soon-to-open HMart in the old Pathmark location will serve a limited clientele. That’s okay. But the A&P that closed in the Crossroads Shopping Center is continuing to devalue that neighborhood. As the store stands vacant, and falls into disrepair, fewer new tenants will be interested in revitalizing this store or the neighborhood. Unfortunately, it’s the neighborhood’s residents that suffer. Since The Paul and his Stepford Board have declared the Manhattan Avenue area low income in perpetuity, ABG believes little will be done by the Town to improve this area - stealing it’s future. We can only hope!