Town Approves Assisted Living Zoning Change; Disregards Residents Input – Again!

In an unsurprising and calculated move to assist yet another developer, the Town Board ignored countless amounts of input by residents warning of the numerous pitfalls of adopting the proposed zoning law change written by the developer, to assist them in building the Brightview Assisted Living Center. The developer apparently wrote the zoning amendment and gave it to the Board to vote upon. Can anyone say collusion? Also apparent is that the Town’s Legal, Planning and Building Departments are collectively incapable of working with our Zoning Board or crafting an addition to our Zoning Laws and thus left the “heavy lifting” to the developer’s attorneys. The facility will be a 3-story building off of Tarrytown Road, opposite the Sheraton Hotel at Benedict Ave with a Tarrytown mailing address in the Unincorporated Greenburgh. Now that the Town has approved the law, Brightview will be unimpeded to proceed with their project. Let the variances begin!

By the Town Board approving and amending this local law at the Town Board meeting on February 13, the zoning ordinance for the town was changed by adding a definition of assisted living facilities. It also creates a special permit criteria for such facilities. The problem with allowing the zoning change is that it will carry throughout the Town and allow buildings that would otherwise be inappropriate for residential neighborhoods. While the zoning map has already been amended to reflect the change, the result of this zoning change is that it will allow up to 100 bedrooms to be constructed in an “assisted living facility” on four acre sites within 200 feet of a state or county road. This should not be confused with a Senior Living Center or Senior Assisted Living Center.

Brightview will not accept those on Medicaid needing an assisted living center’s help. To cover that blunder that went unnoticed by Town Board members until residents pointed it out at one of the hearings, the town altered the conditions that will allow them to issue permits for facilities that accept medicaid. This was the Town Board’s appearance of being concerned that they want to help the poor. But those Greenburgh residents who are either poor or on Medicaid will never see the inside of Brightview unless they are going to visit someone there. We’re sure The Paul will have a bus readied at the Theodore Young Community Center for any seniors, poor or Medicaid recipients wishing to tour what they cannot afford.

The Board also factored in their right to deny permits to facilities if they will have an adverse impact upon the town. This is the “scapegoat clause” they put in place to placate everyone who objected to this zoning change that has now became Town-wide. Since we have yet to see The Paul say no to any developer, we doubt there will ever be any activity with this clause. It’s only there so they can say, “Look, we have the right to say no to any project.” Like that’ll ever happen.

Brightview, an assisted living facility, is going to overwhelm the small little neighborhood in the Glenville section of the Town because the zoning law The Paul and the Brightview developer crafted allows it. The Paul doesn’t care. The Town Board had many public discussions/hearings on the proposed zoning change before the new law was adopted. They’ve ignored every point that was made and passed the law the developer needed to proceed.

This was never about protecting a neighborhood for The Paul. It was never about creating a Town-wide assisted living provision in the zoning law for The Paul. It was never about trying to house our aging, less fortunate residents in a facility that can help them for The Paul. It was only about The Paul getting past any restrictions, limitations or laws that would keep one of his developer friends from getting to build what they wanted. They got it! This must change. We can only hope.

State Study to Waste $50K

Every couple of years state or federal money becomes available to conduct consolidation studies usually between two diametrically existing entities for some convoluted idea that someone suggested. The last time this happened was for the proposed consolidation of the Town of Greenburgh and the Dobbs Ferry Police Departments. Out of the seven departments that could have participated, ABG still doesn’t understand how Greenburgh was picked to consolidate with Dobbs Ferry? ABG believed part of the reason was that the grant money available for the study was specific to those two police departments – and that’s it. Ironically, once former Chief of the Greenburgh Police Department John Kapica had retired, he confirmed our suspicions that the only reason the study was performed was because the grant money was there and it didn’t cost “us” anything to do. ABG begs to differ as our tax dollars, at any level, shouldn’t be urinated away as “found money.”

Now the consolidation is for two river towns’ Departments of Public Works. Again, the favored Dobbs Ferry, with new candidate, Hastings-on-Hudson. Ironically, Dobbs Ferry DPW has a brand new, state of the art highway garage and Hastings has a dilapidated garage on highly desirable real estate that the Village believes it could sell for a sizable profit. But then what? Before they sell the property, the land would need some type of remediation performed to make it “whole” again. They need to find a new location for the garage, float the necessary bonds to construct a new building, and even if the various neighbors agree to it, relocate everything to the new location. It seems a daunting task that would certainly see an interruption of service. And that’s assuming everything goes correctly.

The savings that consolidations produce are only talk right now. Greenburgh residents are promised to see a press release almost any day now from The Paul, stating the value of this. However, the $50k to study will require the hiring of a consultant “expert” who will come back to say the two Villages will save hundreds and possibly thousands by consolidating. The posturing will create a bit of news buzz with the weekly newspapers, one article in the Journal News and then it will be over. Hopefully, the people will see the futility of this after wasting the $50k from the state and say no to this fantasy study.

The Villages within the Town already participate in a purchasing consortium and work extremely well together with equipment cross-utilization, purchasing, mutual aid, etcetera. The Town of Greenburgh does not. When ABG asked one Mayor why the Town doesn’t participate, he couldn’t say. He excogitated that ego may be a factor. ABG believes it’s more arrogance than ego. Regardless, we’re disappointed that purchases of asphalt used for blacktopping can be had more inexpensively by the Villages than the Town; or that specialized equipment already owned by one Village may be lent to another but not the Town.

There is certainly room for collaboration between the Villages and the Town of Greenburgh. There may even be room for consolidation. But by picking departments out of thin air to “consolidate” is disingenuous whether the state supplies the funding for it or not. The Consortium of Villages proves that inter-agency savings can be had if done right with leadership that “gets it” and are trying to do the right thing for their community. The Paul isn’t interested in doing the right thing for the Town anymore. It’s time for him to go. We can only hope.

Floating Dollars & Bronx River Flooding

ABG offices sit high atop Greenburgh overlooking the beautiful landscape covered in the proverbial blanket of white as Town vehicles appear to be about the only ones on the road. There seems to be a calm enveloping the area. Our copy of the daily newspaper may have been delivered but promises to remain undiscovered for weeks. We had received our copy of The White Plains Examiner before the storm which featured an article about the County’s move to address flooding with the Bronx River within the Town of Greenburgh. It a topic ABG has often posted about.

We’ve heard and seen the posturing before, so it remains to be seen if this time will be any different. County Executive Astorino announced the County is ready, “with an $800,000 capital project to restore over three acres of wetlands and riverbanks just north of Fisher Lane and east of the Bronx River Parkway in Greenburgh.” Translation? The County will throw a pittance toward an issue that needs addressing from at least the Kensico Dam southward into the Bronx, where the water continues it’s final exit. This will be nothing more than “photo ops” and press conference “attaboys” garnered to get political points, press coverage and accomplish little else.  This was exemplified by County Executive Rob Astorino, who said in a prepared statement, “It is important that we target achievable projects in problem areas in order to reduce and prevent future flooding.” Translation? As an “achievable” project, they mean they know they won’t fix the problem, but will be able to say upon the project’s completion that they completed the project. Government double-speak? You decide.

Last year the Astorino administration chose this site in Greenburgh as just one of the seven capital projects as part of a $9 million effort to address chronic flooding along the Bronx River and Sound Shore. The bond act has been sent to the Board of Legislators for approval. And while we assume the bond will be passed, the effort may all be moot if the entire river corridor is not attacked as a global entity. An inspection of the river from the Greenburgh area into the Bronx shows too numerous an amount of blockage to document. 

An effort made in Westchester that will contribute to creating a better and/or increased water flow, without participation from all points south of Westchester County, renders the money spent, the effort of little consequence and tantamount to floating dollars down the river. The people who suffered from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene have finally given up any hope of receiving funds from FEMA even though they are mandated to pay flood insurance to them; all the while new applicants hammered by Hurricane Sandy are just learning this lesson.

What’s needed is a consolidation of bipartisan leaders who run the length of the Bronx River to establish a plan with a concerted effort to tackle this vexing problem. We also need leaders which are willing to begin upgrading everyone’s aging infrastructures to help increase water flow created by all the development from the last twenty or thirty years. It’s not an easy task but one that will reap huge rewards for every community. We can only hope.

Pedestrian Struck on Knollwood Road

Sure, there’s a snowstorm happening as we post this and we expect accidents to happen. As we sit in our offices looking over the Town, our police scanner is busy with all the usual calls plus those created by the weather. Numerous police and fire departments along with ambulances have been scrambling about the County as well as the Town to accidents of various degrees of severity.

The Broadway Civic Association has long complained that the Town is shirking its responsibility by not insisting to install sidewalks in numerous places, but specifically leading to the newly built and just-opened Greenburgh Health Center on Knollwood Road. In fact, the Town Planning Board approved a sidewalk at 275 Knollwood Rd, the location of The Knolls at Pinewood, a 15-unit luxury condominium, of which 13 are complete. But ‘The Knolls’ doesn’t want sidewalks built – neither does The Paul! And, of course, since The Paul doesn’t want it, his Town Board doesn’t want them either.

Interestingly, when The Paul, his Town Board, County Executive Rob Astorino, his aide Ned McCormack and County Legislator Michael Smith were all pushing to destroy WestHelp for Valhalla votes, Kevin “Henchman” Morgan suggested the need to build sidewalks on Knollwood Road from WestHelp’s property toward Rt 119 because it would be unsafe for Ferncliff residents to walk on Knollwood Road without them. The irony is that the Ferncliff residents and day students would never be walking anywhere. They would have a van transporting them wherever they might be going. The Henchman must have misspoke.

The point? At about 2PM today, Friday, a pedestrian was struck by a car walking on Knollwood Road at the entrance to the Westchester Community College. There is no sidewalk. At the other end of Knollwood Road, the new Greenburgh Health Center has opened. It’s only a matter of time that a pedestrian gets hit by a car at this new address. The old Community Health Center on Rt 119 across from the former A&P in the Crossroads Shopping Center, found many of it’s clients crossing Rt 119 with kids, strollers and shopping bags, etc., in all kinds of weather and traffic. The dangerous situation that existed at one area has been shifted to another. Even though it is a different area, the same risk still exists for the health center’s clientele, just at their new home. There is no sidewalk.

The Paul had championed the illegal sale of the old Cooke’s Florist property to the Mount Vernon Medical Group that runs the medical center doing business as the Greenburgh Health Center. He spot-zoned the property and has trumpeted not installing sidewalks for this location. While we hope no one ever gets hurt coming or going to this new location, the amount of traffic that frequents the area almost guarantees it. Many will recall how The Paul continually bragged about the Town’s AAA Bond Rating some months ago. Perhaps if we utilized some of it by borrowing the necessary funds and building sidewalks throughout the busy streets in our Town, we can save people from being involved in an unnecessary accidents and injuries. We can only hope.

Town Votes To Object To State Against Group Home

After another presentation from the Richmond Community Services, the state agency seeking to build a group home on 88 North Road in the Parkway Homes section of Fairview, the neighborhood made their case again for the over-saturation and changing landscape this project would cause if built. ABG noted previously that Councilman Ken Jones neglected to inform his neighborhood of this proposal. ABG isn’t sure if he was feeling guilty for that or truely believes what his neighbors were saying, but he made the motion today for the Town to officially object to the State to this group home being constructed at 88 North Road. As expected, and clearly unable to recognize and vote for adhering to Town law, The Paul voted against the motion. His reasoning was that he was for group homes. Unable to see that this was not what the motion was about, Councilman Jones explained that he heard the neighborhood speak and is following local Town law about having a minimum distance of at least 2000 feet between group home facilities. Councilman Sheehan concurred, saying the nearest property was just over 1,000 feet away. Had this been 2001 feet, he would have not voted in favor of the motion to object.

At this point, proceeding with the home is temporarily put on hold until there is a hearing with the State. There is an agreement in place to purchase the property assuming the State gives the green light for this project. While the arrogance of the State representative at the last Town Board meeting should shed no light on the possible outcome, we can only hope that the State sees the error in choosing this property and looks to situate near similar sized homes where there are no group homes or facilities – say in Boulder Ridge. The residents got their message across to enough Board members this time. The Paul clearly insisted that he wasn’t interested in representing the constituents, only his own personal views towards group homes. Sometimes, as a representative, you must go against your own beliefs and do the right thing. This would have been one of those times as the four to one vote to object was based on Greenburgh law. We can only hope.

Assaulted From Every Level

The Paul decided a previously thought-to-be untouched neighborhood should have a group home for the developmentally disabled located in it at 88 North Road. He also decided to keep his goal from the neighborhood he was about to punish. Had he included the Parkway Homes neighborhood with his plan in the beginning, he would have learned there were other group homes in the immediate area. The Paul’s actions highlights why we need term limits. The Paul has been in office for so long now, he’s in his 21st year, he has forgotten that he is there to serve the public, not himself, his developer friends, the county or the state! And since the electorate cannot seem to stop reelecting career politicians after a few terms, mandatory exiting through term limits would keep the abuse from perpetuating.

So while The Paul “ghettoizes” Fairview (Alfreda Williams, January 14, 2013, WestHelp Forum in White Plains) with more and more not-for-profits, building homeless/affordable/low-no income/Section 8 and any other type of housing that will not pay taxes, the State has decided to implant it’s own housing in Greenburgh. Why aren’t our elected Greenburgh officials standing up for what our residents want? Did The Paul invite the State to purchase 88 North Road or did the owner of it seek them? Could the State merely have been stumbled upon it? Doubtful. ABG believes The Paul reached out to the State agency and “suggested” 88 North Road to them, promising they will sail right through the approvals/zoning changes, et al, once he makes his Board the project’s lead agency.

In another seemingly shady move, this time from Westchester County and CE Rob Astorino, the County has entered into a deal with a church in Mount Vernon, namely the Friendship Worship Center, on Lincoln Avenue to create a homeless shelter in their basement. The hours of operation for this “warming center” are 9PM until 6AM each day. There are four schools in the nearby vicinity. So once the homeless are asked to leave at 6AM, they will probably be running into teachers, students and their parents arriving at school. It seems we are being assaulted at every level of government with low income and homeless housing. We have the Federal HUD mandate, NY State building out of place group homes in residential neighborhoods, this “paying of churches” by the County, and The Paul saying we should tear down the 108 units in Valhalla that were built specifically for the homeless population. Why so much? Because everyone knows where the money is and simply needs to form a not-for-profit company to jump on the government gravy train.

The homeless problem has lessened a bit in Westchester County, although the frigid weather brings the reality of it right back to our doorstep. Legislator Lyndon Williams made several excellent points in his letter to the County Executive. Here’s an excerpt:

“Addressing the homeless problem is a County obligation that requires a comprehensive long- term, county-wide solution, not a patchwork of fixes in which the homeless population is targeted for tolerant communities like Mount Vernon. Moreover, many of the homeless persons are in need on mental health services, and yet your Administration has closed the County’s mental health clinics that provided such services to this vulnerable population.

Perhaps more than any other community in Westchester, Mount Vernon has done its part in cooperating with the County to address the problems of the poor and vulnerable. However, this City cannot continue to be the dumping ground for all of the social problems of Westchester County, especially when considering that your Administration has eliminated from the 2013 County Budget many of the worthwhile programs that benefit Mount Vernon, like funding for at- risk youth initiatives that have been proven to be quite successful.

I do not want to simply point to the problem without proposing a solution. Therefore, I suggest that the $120,000 awarded to Friendship Worship Center to house the homeless be used instead by the Church to run programs that serve at-risk youth in Mount Vernon.

The shelter program for the homeless, in turn, should be located in the county-owned housing located adjacent to the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla. This facility consists of 108 units of housing that are presently available and unoccupied. The fully equipped facility, which was constructed under the administration of former County Executive Andrew O’Rourke, was intended to house the homeless and that intention should be fulfilled by using it to solve the homeless problem in Westchester County.

It is truly a disgrace that housing specifically constructed to address the problem of homelessness remains vacant while these most vulnerable members of our communities are left to wander the streets, sleep in doorways of buildings and even die in cars in which they reside by necessity. Mr. Astorino, you have an opportunity to change the plight of the homeless by implementing this solution.”

ABG agrees with Legislator Lyndon Williams and hopes the County Executive will heed his plea to not pay off his friends and cronies, use the County taxpayer money properly and reopen the WestHelp housing that sits hostage under The Paul. We can only hope.

Mayor Ed Koch Passes

After battling numerous illnesses for some time now, iconic New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch succumbed to congestive heart failure while at New York Presbyterian-Columbia Hospital. He was 88. He is perhaps one of New York’s best known and perhaps beloved Mayors. Having spent three terms in office, he was known by his standard question, “How’m I doing?” When he lost his bid for a fourth term, he turned to radio and other interests to stay active. He maintained a terrific sense of humor and an honesty that we lack with most of todays politicians. Callers to his radio program would often ask when was he going to run for mayor again? His answer was always the same, “The people threw me out and now they must suffer!” We are all suffering a bit today with the loss of “our” Mayor Ed Koch.

Mt Vernon Meeting Tonight Against Shelter

The County issued a press release regarding this contractual move with a church, the Friendship Worship Center. Here is one portion quoted from it: “The drop-in site is simply a humane response that allows the homeless to get out of the cold and into a clean bed for the night. It protects some of the most vulnerable in our society from freezing outdoors and does so in a cost-effective way. Westchester County has a long history of taking care of the less fortunate and providing shelter for the homeless.” What the press release neglects to discuss is the humane approach to our children that is of the utmost importance.

In the never-ending saga of politically correctness, but ignoring common sense, the Astorino administration has moved forward with putting this homeless facility, aka warming center, in a daily-use area for children on Mount Vernon’s Lincoln Avenue. Documents received by ABG and posted here show the blatant disregard for Mount Vernon’s youth with a communication from County Legislator Lyndon Williams. While nothing may ever happen between the kids and the homeless adults, ABG doesn’t believe Astorino and his administration should take that chance.


It’s well known that many of today’s homeless population have mental challenges and pose risks to themselves and others when left to fend for themselves. And while we recognize the need to address the homeless population being outdoors with this frigid weather of late, ABG also recognizes the harsh realities that come with not addressing these people’s needs properly. Legislators have passed laws to treat the mentally challenged population more humanely and like they are normal. We’ve seen their actions force the closure of psychiatric facilities and clinics that would normally help them.

After witnessing the carnage in Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School, our heightened concern for school children questions just how prudent it is to place the homeless population in immediate proximity to the four surrounding schools’ children? The school’s church opens to receive the homeless only at night (9 p.m. to 6 a.m.) and during colder months until mid-April, releasing them into the neighborhood that has the children coming to school each morning. The Mount Vernon YMCA used to provide this service for the homeless until they were forced to close their doors. Even though a church may be a good spot to help the homeless population, it needs to be a church that can be utilized away from children. 

A statement from community leader Donna Jackson sums up the issue rather well. “I'm against the placement of this shelter in this facility, considering that it would be placed smack dab in the middle of a residential zone surrounded by 4 schools (one of which exists in the same building of the propsed shelter).  Mount Vernon's mental health, medical and social services have been slashed and dismantled thanks to Astorino (so how would our community service these people from the COUNTY?), if there was a real genuine, heartfelt need to "save a shelter" or expand a shelter, the county should have (a) not closed the Greenburgh facility or (b) if there was funding available, they could have helped Mount Vernon invest in and shore up the homeless shelter at the YMCA.  The placement of this shelter at Friendship, without appropriate social service supports, and without advanced public input is a slap in the face to Legislator Lyndon Williams, and this portion of taxpaying voters of Westchester County.”

ABG was disturbed to find a link between Greenburgh, Mount Vernon, The Paul and Astorino. Bishop Edwers, is a County Transportation Board member. His wife works with the County Youth Bureau, where Astorino recently appointed faithful Republican and County Legislative candidate Iris Pagan, to a commissioner position. ABG understands there have been other interactions that Astorino has had with Edwers, showing him other favors in the past. The church is a big building and Rev. Edwers needs to pay a mortgage, heating and electric bills, and so on. This seems like another done-deal the County walked “winked” toward with an old friend, angling another pawn in this strategic Greenburgh/Feiner/Astorino chess game of collusion and compromise. We need politicians with a moral, ethical and legal compass. Just skirting the boundaries of the law must stop. We can only hope. 

The Scent of Blood

There was a palpable tension in the air. The crowd entering Town Hall was angry. Everyone in this crowd was upset from being disrespected and bypassed. This crowd wanted answers. No, this crowd demanded answers. This time the crowd was not in the mood to let The Paul or his Stepford Board off the hook. The Town Board Work Session had spilled over from earlier in the day to a night-time continuation with every seat in the audience filled. The scent of blood was unmistakable. The Paul had done it to another neighborhood again.

The carryover meeting was to discuss the group home proposed to be built on 88 North Road on a now vacant lot. The Paul had been informed of New York State’s intent to build a home there. But The Paul refused to inform the neighborhood. Neither did newly elected Town Councilman Ken Jones, an officer with the Parkway Homes Civic Association! This is a project that The Paul wants built and he made no bones at the work session stating such. He had Tim “Remediation” Lewis even hand out a list of group homes in the Greenburgh area. Ironically, there were no group homes in Boulder Ridge. Know who lives in Boulder Ridge?

The Paul yielded the floor to the two representatives from the State, who laid out their plans. There were several audience members who shouted out comments of displeasure as these two arrogantly stated that New York State can do what they want based on NY law, regardless of what the neighborhoods want or say. It sounded just like The Paul with his pet projects. But the male representative said that even though Towns, Villages and neighborhoods protest, the State agency always wins the case because the New York State law trumps local law. The woman representative said they don’t need to follow local codes and then contradicted that statement later by saying they follow local codes. They tried to say anything to confuse the audience or simply will say what they think people want to hear.

Speaker after speaker took to the podium to explain why they didn’t feel this project should be built at this location. Several speakers asked why some group homes already in the area were not on the list? They were told by these state representatives that sometimes they might miss one. Might miss one? How can that be? But, there seems to be more group homes in the area than the NYS representatives would have us believe. One reason they can get away with this, beyond the reason that they “might have missed one” is semantics. These people were here to build a group home for developmentally disabled men with The Paul’s blessing. That’s considered different than a group home for mentally handicapped or physically disabled men – even though they can be interchangeably defined based on what you need the cause to be. It’s like numbers. You can always manipulate your numbers to give the result you want based on semantics. It’s how The Paul justifies his illegal actions for  the $12M in losses the Town has experienced in the last year, beyond certiorari refunds.

The entire two and a half hours of this meeting found everyone in agreement and not wanting this group home. Everyone. While numerous valid reasons were stated, The Paul insisted that the neighborhood association have a few people sit down with the Town Board, whom we know will feign concern for the neighborhood and then go along with The Paul’s desire to have this built. The fact is, this is a Done Deal! The Paul purposely neglected to inform the neighborhood until it was too late for them to stop this from happening! The decision must be rendered by the Town to the State to accept or reject the proposal by February 1! The Paul wants it and he was doing everything he could to block the public from standing in his way of making it happen. Could he be doing this to placate Governor Cuomo after requesting Governor Cuomo’s HUD housing project WestHelp, be torn down?

The Paul unsuccessfully continued to convince this packed room to compromise with the State representatives and to meet again privately with the Board and the State representatives to come up with an acceptable solution for both the State and the neighborhood. The Paul’s insistence on making this happen, trying to schedule more meetings and run down the clock is conclusive proof that this group home has been preordained and he is going to make this happen. Occasionally, Francis “Back Pocket” Sheehan would add a comment, Diana “Sleepy” Juettner just sat there and Ken “Newby” Jones mostly sat there, probably realizing he betrayed his neighborhood for the ultimate aphrodisiac – political power. No matter, the neighborhood will forget this in a few months and he’ll be re-elected.

The Board adjoined to Executive Session after abusing the audience to discuss and make decisions they are too embarrassed to have the public witness. Once in the back room for their Executive Meeting ABG can only wonder the verbal beating the Board received from The Paul.

The Paul sent an email out today:

The Greenburgh Town Board met last night with representatives of Richmond Community Services and the community to discuss a proposed group home for six developmentally disabled individuals, some wheelchair confined, others with limited mobility.  The home is proposed to be located at 88 North Road. According to NYS law the Town Board has a specific number of days to determine if the Board wants to object. After listening to community concerns the agency has agreed to a one week extension of the Padavan notification timetable till February 8th, 2013.  They will be meeting with their architects to discuss the size of the proposed home and landscaping issues. Some of the Board members expressed concern about saturation of group homes/non profits in the Fairview section of town.

What this email says is what the neighborhood of over a hundred residents wants doesn’t matter. The Paul has decided that this is a done deal because he wants this group home built here. There is no doubt that The Paul pointed this piece of property to the bloodhounds at the Richmond Community Services and said, “Go for it! I'll make sure nothing gets in our way.” His email says “the Town Board has a specific number of days to determine if the Board wants to object.” There is no need for the neighborhood to meet with The Paul and his Board again. They were definitive during the meeting as to what they want the Town Board to do: OBJECT! He continues, “After listening to community concerns the agency has agreed to a one week extension of the Padavan notification timetable till February 8th, 2013.”  After listening? They didn’t listen. If they did, they would not have to ask for an extension, they would just OBJECT! “They will be meeting with their architects to discuss the size of the proposed home and landscaping issues.” This again indicates that The Paul isn’t interested in saying, “NO!” to the State, simply finding a way to get what he wants.

The issue at hand is not whether the group home has value. The issue is that The Paul and his Board, and specifically Councilman Ken Jones, predetermined what should happen in the Parkway Homes neighborhood, didn’t inform or include the neighborhood in the decision-making process, made a deal with the state agency and disrespected an entire community. Frankly, ABG is not surprised at The Paul and his Stepford Board’s behavior or decision to circumvent the neighborhood. While not surprised, we are nevertheless disappointed. The residents in Greenburgh are owed, deserve and should receive better from the elected officials. We can only hope.

Oops! I Did It Again

The January 22nd Town Board meeting found The Paul with his back against the wall – again. This time he neglected to notify the public and specifically the neighborhood, that New York State was moving forward to purchase the vacant property at 88 North Road. Their goal is to build a 3,000 square foot group home for developmentally challenged men. This seemed to be an averaged size crowd of about twenty or so people one expects for a hearing, even though this wasn’t a hearing. It also had some of the G10 in attendance. As we would later learn from every speaker, they had only just found out about this purchase either that day or the day before this meeting.

Richmond Community Services had two representatives speak on behalf of their proposed purchase. They explained that they have 11 similar group homes throughout Westchester. This home would house, “Six young men who have ‘aged out’ from the residential schools they were in as they have all turned 21 years of age.” The term “young men” was used throughout the discussions. ABG finds the use of “young men” somewhat disingenuous in these discussions. While developmentally “young”, these are still men, aged 21 and older who will reside in this home as their permanent residence, for as long as they are alive. The house to be built will have six bedrooms with multiple exits and be handicap accessible.

That these future residents in this future home will be profoundly developmentally disabled and possibly suffer from other medical issues, the representatives claim that their medical needs will be tended to by on-site staff. When pushed a bit, the staff could be specially trained high school graduates. At no point did the representatives state that a live-in nurse, paramedic, EMT or other medically trained professional would be on site. Not allaying neighborhood residents’ concerns whatsoever, the representatives claimed their would be no need for either the police or fire departments to respond to medical emergencies at this location. And while we don’t mind our emergency services responding here, the neighborhood can’t really handle it as a regular occurrence.

After the initial presentation, residents of the Parkway Homes Civic Association and surrounding area spoke. Curiously, ABG’s understanding is that Town Councilman Ken Jones is a Vice President of the Parkway Home Civic Association. Assuming this is true, why didn’t he inform this neighborhood via his position as either Vice President of the Parkway Homes Civic Association or as a member of the Town Council or even individually as a resident walking throughout the neighborhood, telling everyone of the states plans to acquire this property? We can only wonder if he didn’t because The Paul instructed him to stay silent? This isn’t the first time The Paul has not informed neighborhoods of things about to happen and yet he seems to have no problem sending emails at the drop of a hat to boast of an idea for the Tappan Zee Bridge or the Library with a broken furnace.

Speaker after speaker bemoaned the fact that there wasn’t enough time for the neighborhood to respond to this revelation and berated The Pauls behavior toward them regarding such an important change to their neighborhood. Alicia Ford, the President of the Civic Association said the area maintains a Historic Designation, that our taxes are high enough without adding more tax-exempt properties to the Town’s rolls. She stated that there were other group homes in the area, the closest one being on Wyndover Woods Avenue, with 14 residents. She asked what the neighborhood could expect to see after the state decides they no longer wants to house developmentally disabled men there?

Patricia Brown said she lives adjacent to the property and is concerned about the increase in taxes that she, a retired senior citizen, would have to pay to make up for what this home will not pay. “It just isn’t fair to do this to us after working so hard for all of our lives.” Most people agreed that any project that goes onto the 88 North Rd site must be tax generating, otherwise it should not be allowed.

The Paul defended not informing the residents of this proposal as, “It is all my fault for not telling everyone sooner.” The state can come in and simply take over the land with a kind of eminent domain for any property they want and the Town cannot stop them. The only thing they may accept as a reason to not build is a saturation of group homes in the area. Most people are not against group homes if done within reason. If they are going to build a 3K square foot home, it will not match any of the existing houses in the vicinity. It will not blend and actually stick out like a sore thumb.

Fulton Park suffered with a similar problem that Parkway Homes is going through now. The Paul decided that a .7 acre parcel of land should be used by Westhab to build a seven story apartment building and decided that Fulton Park (as well as any neighborhoods) be damned! He spot-zoned the property to accommodate Westhab and like a blitz never seen in our Building, Zoning, and Planning Departments, saw a two-year application and permit process reduced to six months. The Parkway Homes neighborhood has a legitimate complaint. But as we all unfortunately know, The Paul doesn’t care about this neighborhood, only Boulder Ridge – which doesn’t have a group home in it. Maybe the state will change their mind, maybe not. We can only hope.