Chief’s Wife Fights Back!

Our previous post discussed the most recently convened Fairview Fire Commissioner’s meeting. That meeting found a Board of Fire Commissioners armed and ready with facts and figures to counter a plethora of false information that originated from Town Hall and being propagandized at meetings and in the media by hand-picked operatives. At this same meeting, the Chief’s wife had signed up to speak. Since the attacks had been made against her husband, Chief Anthony LoGiudice, she had remained on the sidelines. But after a letter was sent by resident Milt Hoffman to the Civic Associations, she told ABG she felt compelled to act. She also stated that she was not a public speaker and asked another resident to read her letter, which he did. 

Immediately below is the letter Mr Hoffman sent out to Civic Associations and community groups. What we have intentionally omitted for privacy concerns is Mr Hoffman’s contact information. Following his letter is a letter from Kathy LoGiudice, wife of Fairview Fire Department Chief Anthony LoGiudice.

Mr Hoffman’s letter:
“Dear Neighborhood Assn. Leader: ).
I am one of the coordinators of the newly formed Fairview Monitors who are feed up with increasingly higher property taxes in the Fairview Fire District and want to take back control from the Fiefdom called the Fairview Fire Commission. To accomplish that, we need the help of all the neighborhood associations.

You may have heard about the latest attempt to create an unnecessary and costly position of executive deputy fire chief just as we were receiving our tax bills calling for a 5.7 % hike, atop the 6% last year, and 4.3% the year before. During the two-year period, our district taxes increased from $10,924,627 to $12,424,074, a gain of$1,499,447. During the same period, pension climbed $777,000. And we don't have enough firefighters. Costs soar because men are-brought back on overtime. We have the costliest independent fire district in the state due in part to past decisions to grant huge pensions and health care benefits, each now costing about $2 million a year and accounting for a total of 32 percent of all spending. (One commissioner, Michael Cotter, was on our side.)

What riled people just as much as the proposed new job: the son of a commissioner was among those in line for the position that would have cost us $200,000 a year. The threat of more spending and revelations of nepotism prompted about 70 of our residents to show up at a commission meeting and protest. Some of us created an alliance and quickly circulated a petition signed by 319 residents demanding that the commissioners scrap the proposal and take steps to reduce spending--for example by Fairview and Hartsdale fire departments share one chief for departments now with 45 and 39 men respectively. The chiefs now make over $200,000 a year, more than the chief of the New York City Fire Department with thousands of firefighters, and more than the governor. The three independent fire districts in Greenburgh spend almost as much as Greenburgh spends for police, public works, sanitation, library, parks and other services. 

The commissioners did shelve the executive deputy chief position. However, given the opportunity to join with Hartsdale with one chief for both departments because the Fairview chief was retiring after being criticized for profane and racist remarks and sued for discrimination in hiring, the Fairview commission quickly appointed a deputy as new chief and moved the son of the commissioner into the deputy's vacated slot.

For decades, the Fairview Fire Commission of five has kept our people in the dark, failing to let us know when elections for commissioner are held and raising and spending taxpayer money with impunity. One of our main goals is to elect a taxpayer-friendly commissioner or commissioners in December and keep the pressure on the commissioners by attending Commission meetings. We hope you and others from your association will join us this coming Thursday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at fire headquarters, 19 Rosemont Blvd.

In the meantime, please contact me by email or phone WE MUST BECOME UNITED OR OUR TAXES WILL CONTINUE TO SOAR.”

End of letter.

Ms LoGiudice’s letter:

I sat through last month’s meeting of the Board of Fire Commissioners in Fairview waiting for the Board of Fire Commissioners to correct a lot of misinformation that was being given out by audience members.  It never happened.

Milt Hoffman recently sent a letter to the Civic Associations.  Much of it was the same misinformation spouted at the last meeting.  Perhaps I can address some of the incorrect information in his letter.

First, there was no attempt to create an unnecessary and costly position of Executive Deputy.  That position already exists, it was just not currently filled.  Furthermore, when Tony held the position of Executive Deputy, he was the lowest paid officer in the dept., including Captains. There was one regular Deputy Chief one year that made almost double the Executive Deputy and even more than the Chief.  The Executive Deputy, like the Chief cannot make overtime unlike all the other officers.

As far as calling back guys on overtime when an emergency necessitates it…Greenburgh is a large town made up of mostly volunteer depts.  When one of them has a fire and calls Fairivew, Hartsdale, or Greenville, they show up.  And, yes, they do call people back on overtime if the emergency requires it for both themselves and other depts..

Michael Cotter may be on the taxpayers side but so are all the other commissioners, they all live here.  Michael Cotter is a retired firefighter and may hold some grudges against people still employed in the dept.  One must always be careful about other people’s agendas.  Where else can you retire from your job and get elected to be a boss?  Perhaps a better idea may be to see if there is a way to stop retirees from coming back to be commissioners in a dept. they were employed by.  Mike Cotter was never an officer in this dept. and had no idea what it entailed.

Next point was Eryk Simmons being promoted to Deputy.  When someone retires, they need to be replaced.  Eryk was number 1 on the list and had an impressive resume and had proven himself more than ready for the job in his performance as a Captain.

Milt also mentioned nepotism.  Let’s go there.  You are now concerned with a Commissioner’s son being promoted to deputy, even though that commissioner recused herself from voting.  For years, there was a Malone on the Board of Fire Commissioners.  First there was Gene Malone Jr., followed by his wife Marie.  I’m guessing they also recused themselves from voting when it came to their sons, son-in-law, daughter-in-law’s brothers, grandchildren, etc. being hired or promoted.  No one screamed nepotism then, so why now?  It was no secret.  For years Fairview was known as the Malone Fire Dept. because there were so many of them.  And now it’s a problem?  Generally speaking, the firefighting profession often attracts members of the same family.  Every candidate must take the Civil Service Exam and prove themselves.  Nepotism is not really an issue.

As to Milt’s remarks about Tony retiring after being criticized for profane and racist remarks and sued for discrimination in hiring, the timeline is correct.  Tony is retiring but it is not because of the above.  First let’s address the hiring.  The Chief does not hire.  The Board of Fire Commissioners hire.  So it doesn’t even make sense that the Chief is even named in the suit.  It’s actually unfathomable.  But, this is today’s America, anyone can sue anyone for pretty much anything.

There is no one that wants Tony to retire, especially right now, except perhaps Paul Feiner, Milt Hoffman, and Mike Cotter.  And, we did consider staying, however, if you read the other information I have provided*, you will see that firefighters don’t generally live very long after retiring.  Tony already has one of the cancers caused by 9/11.  It is generally a very slow-moving cancer except for in cases like the first responders down at the Twin Towers.  It moves very quickly so we saw no reason to stay longer than we had originally intended so we moved forward with our retirement plan.  Tony had informed the Board he would retire sometime this year but definitely by the end of the year because we were waiting to see what his health options were.

As to the Fire Dept. budget.  It is unfair of anyone to say anything at all about it with no information other than their own tax bill.  Also, it cannot be compared to the Police budget which is broken up and shared amongst other town expenses.

As to the Commissioner elections, it is always printed in the paper.  Not sure why Milt is trying to pretend now that it isn’t.  He’s brought lots of people to vote in the past.  Last year, someone at Town Hall had misinformed residents and told them it was a budget vote.  People were quite annoyed that they bothered to come out to vote for an unopposed commissioner. 

So the commissioners have not kept anyone in the dark.  They have been busy keeping the fire dept. out of Paul Feiner’s hands.  He wants to use the fire dept. budget for other town expenses.  He will cut our services.  Fairview does EMS.  Nine times out of ten they will respond much quicker than the police are able to.  Fairview’s response time is approx. 5 to 8 minutes from the time they are notified.  The police response is approx. 12 – 15 minutes.  If you have ever needed to call 911 in Fairview, you will generally have the fire dept. pull up first.  If you want to save money, they can discontinue being EMTs and leave that to the police but do you really want to take that risk?  The Fairview Fire Dept. has a long-standing history of supporting the town in EMS, Tech Rescue, and Code Enforcement.  The Town receives all the fine money from Code Enforcement, not the Fire Dept. The Fire Dept. is also not reimbursed for any training for these things and not reimbursed for supplies either.

Milt also mentioned dispatching by 60 Control.  This was already implemented.  As a matter of fact, Fairview was one of the first to be dispatched by 60 Control.  It was a disaster.  Only by the Grace of God, no one was killed or injured.  Also, Milt stated that the dept. dispatchers are paid overtime to handle the dispatching.  Not true.  This is handled by the duty crew for the most part.  Very often by someone who is on light duty.  The firefighters are put on light duty if they are injured.  They are going to be paid anyway, so instead of having them sit around the firehouse and do nothing, they cover the desk (dispatch). 

Someone also mentioned that the guys that went down to the World Trade Center for the 9/11 Tragedy were paid triple time.  That is ludicrous.  Many career firefighters volunteered to go down on their time off.  This was totally unpaid, hence the word volunteer.  I do not know about the NYC firefighters, I’m guessing they probably did get paid, as well they should have.

Milt also keeps mentioning the Chief of NYC and his pay.  I have printed out the organizational chart of the NYC Fire Dept.*  Please take a look at it.  Your Chief is in charge of almost every box on that chart and goes to every major call in Fairview 24 hours, 365 days a year.  He doesn’t  have a “staff”.  Take a look at the chart.  My goodness, your Chief is underpaid by Milt’s standards.

I ask you to support Chief Reiss and the Fairview Fire Dept.

End of letter

Providing bits and pieces of information or saying what people want to hear under the guise of informing the public or rallying the troops does not do anyone a service. It is nothing but propaganda for their own “end game”. ABG has continued to detail the specifics of the Fairview Fire District and the Fairview Fire Department directly, the fire service in general and numerous NY State laws that affect both the fire service and the taxpayer. No other media outlets are providing this information.

Many people have accused ABG of being against fire service consolidation, lower taxes, curbing of high salaries, high pension payouts and more. The reality is quite the contrary – we actually support real consolidation. But real consolidation can only work and work well if it will be implemented throughout a Town-wide level, inclusive of "cherry picked" departments and agencies in the Town. Real consolidation must not applied to just a few departments here and there. It can only succeed if the effort is applied equally, with an even implementation unencumbered or politicized by elected officials.

The taxpayers of Greenburgh deserve more honesty and real open government from our officials. We should seek term limits for all elected officials, and a process that invites and welcomes all legal residents to participate in the process. Greenburgh has yet to see any of this with the majority of our elected officials. Once we do, we’ll finally get A Better Greenburgh.

* Editor’s Note: ABG will be highlighting this information which was not included and will appear in an article currently in progress.

Fire Commissioners Fight Back!

Misinformation and deflection are the cornerstones of the Feiner Administration. Mr Feiner’s underlings know that they need to do several things to keep whatever position they occupy in the Town. First, always make sure to bail out Mr Feiner when he puts his foot in his mouth. Second, fall on the sword when a policy or decision he mandated gets exposed. This was last highlighted in our article posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2014, entitled Just Another Broken Law, where Town Comptroller Bart Talamini dove on the sword admitting that he and he alone violated NYS law and withheld the tax payments to the fire districts to the tune of $10M. Third, anytime there is an issue that could be interpreted as embarrassing to Mr Feiner in a meeting, a Town Board member is required to make a motion to hold it over, keep it open, pass it to a commissioner or say it will need to be investigated further. The list goes on but you get the point.

There is another group of “Feiner-ites” that also serve the master unconditionally. One example is a resident and convicted felon, appointed by Mr Feiner to the Deputy Town Supervisor position. There was no Civil Service exam that had to be taken for the position. There was no election for the position either. It was simply a nepotistic appointment arbitrarily made from one friend for another. This underscores the glaring lack of standards and abuse of positions and rank at Town Hall. More importantly, it reeks of the nepotism Mr Feiner himself has accused the fire district of practicing. Shame. On. Him. Why doesn’t the mainstream media report on any of this? We can only assume its because they share similar agendas.

Another “Feiner-maton” is also a resident with his own small cadre of drones that will say whatever they are instructed to say whenever and wherever they are needed. The one distinction between these two men is that this one was not appointed to any position by Mr Feiner. He just believes in the failed social engineering plan known as Westchester 2000. It was never adopted because it was too enormous, bureaucratic and costly to ever be implemented, run or successful. He continues to carry that torch while doing Mr Feiner’s dirty work. He’s also gotten quite a bit of media coverage himself by the Feiner-friendly media and with their complicity, helped him spread a good deal of the lies, misinformation and distrust being groomed from Town Hall. Being retired from the mainstream media guarantees a certain amount of cache with them and knows they will listen to him and print whatever he says. Fortunately for Greenburgh, he is selling his home to move out of Greenburgh – a telling gesture if there ever was one!

The Town of Greenburgh’s hiring policies leave a lot to be desired based on what we’ve witnessed by Mr Feiner cavalierly “appointing” people into positions of consequence. Claims by Mr Feiner and his minions of nepotism in the Fairview Fire District would almost be laughable if the mainstream media had not been so complicit with Mr Feiner’s ruse instead of honestly investigating the allegations. If nepotism exists, it can certainly be found with our own “Pinocchio Paul”. Much has been said about Fire Commissioner Vikki Simmons’ son being promoted to Deputy Chief. Much has also been said about retiring Chief Anthony LoGiudice. And most of what has been fabricated was done to further Mr Feiner’s agenda as well as deflect attention from the Town’s crippling financially-induced problems caused by Mr Feiner. 

What the media hasn’t reported is that everyone working in a firematic capacity for the fire department/fire district had to start the process by taking and passing a Civil Service exam, subsequently being put on a numeric list by score before the Fire Commissioners could even interview and/or hire them! This is the same exam that is used throughout the County by all other paid fire departments and fire districts. In fact, it’s known in firematic circles as the “County Test”. What also hasn’t been reported is that every firefighter who is promoted must also take and pass another Civil Service test just to be put on another numeric list by score before they could be interviewed and chosen for promotion.

Just passing either test and being on the list doesn’t guarantee being hired or promoted - it only opens the door. And, the lists have a finite life span. So passing and being on the list is a temporary opportunity. If and when the list expires and a civilian wants to be considered for a position or a firefighter for a promotion and didn’t get “made” the first time around, they must take a new test again and pass it to be placed on a new list. There is also no guarantee that they will pass the new Civil Service exam just because they passed it previously, nor any guarantee they'll get “made” this time around. 

Last night’s Fairview Fire Commissioner’s meeting saw a 180° turnaround from the previous meeting. Armed with handouts, information and facts, the Board was in control of this meeting! ABG has learned that before the previous meeting held in April, the Board had been instructed by the District’s attorneys not to comment on any of the accusations that were made, giving the false appearance that the Board of Commissioners had something to hide. Whether this was a good idea or not remains to be determined. Several opponents rallied around resident Milt Hoffman once again; although his entourage was significantly reduced to just a hand full of residents.

He made several comments, with some being good points: the fire departments website is lacking and needs to be improved to disseminate information to the public and the need to extend the voting hours for fire commissioner elections. He also stated that now that a new Chief has been appointed, they lose the ability to have the Hartsdale Chief take over command of the Fairview FD. Ms Simmons explained to Mr Hoffman that NY State law does not allow anyone to be a member of two or more fire departments and they are required to have a Chief officer. He looked stunned when she replied. For any officer to give an order to a Fairview firefighter and have it be followed, the superior officer would need to be a member first and then a ranking officer in the Fairview FD, unless they were operating in that departments jurisdiction under mutual aid.

Much had been said about Commissioner Simmons last month. This month she was having none of it, keeping Mr Hoffman in check and countering every one of his ramblings with real facts. When he tried to highlight the eight-year old Michaelian Report as an example, Ms Simmons held up her copy and promised to give it to anyone who wanted to see it and countered the information as Mr Hoffman tried to make it pertain to the Fairview Fire District. The highlight of the night came when "First Lady" Kathy LoGiudice, the outgoing Chief’s wife, was called on to speak. She rose and stated she was not a public speaker and had prepared a letter that another resident would read on her behalf. We will post her letter in our next post. In it she countered much of what had previously been said as the anti-Fire Department/District/Chief crowd were attacking everything and everybody with the Fairview Fire District and Department.

After the letter was read, one Commissioner felt the need to respond as his name was mentioned in her letter. Commissioner Simmons, with over 20 years of service as an unpaid commissioner, let him speak. When he was finished, Mr Hoffman said he wanted to respond to what had been said about him. She told him he had had plenty of time to speak tonight and they were going to move on with the meeting. As he began to protest, another commissioner stepped in and told him a resident gave an opinion and if he has an issue with that, he could take it up with her after the meeting. They proceeded with the regular order of business and adjourned to Executive Session to discuss personnel issues.

ABG and many of the residents wish Chief LoGiudice and his family well in his retirement. We hope the cancer he contracted at Ground Zero will be held in check and again thank him for his years of service to Fairview, Greenburgh and our respective communities throughout.

ABG also congratulates Chief Howard Reiss on his promotion to Chief of the Department. We know that with his firematic background, knowledge, history and compassion for others, he is the right choice for this job.

It seems as though the firestorm started by Mr Feiner for his own political benefit has been extinguished. Maybe things will change at Town Hall in the next election and we can stop these games and finally have A Better Greenburgh.

Upcoming School Board Elections on May 20th

Much has been said about where our tax money goes. Mr Feiner routinely lies about keeping the Town budget under the elective NY State 2% Tax Cap. Our Town taxes are increasing this year by 3.4% – hardly under 2%. Mr Feiner also made a pretty big case for not “creating” an Executive Deputy Chief’s position, which ironically already existed but had not been filled and claimed that this position would put the Fire District over the 2% Tax Cap. Frankly it would not have done so and the Fire District was once again able to come under the 2% Tax Cap – at 2%, not 3.4% as Mr Feiner has done.

The bulk of our property taxes in Greenburgh are comprised of a number of taxing entities that have unfettered access to our wallets. Misinformation from Mr Feiner and others creates great headlines but does nothing to ameliorate the problem of killer taxes in the Town. Your fire taxes and your school taxes followed by the Town and then the litany of others is where you money is going. Two people running for School Board positions are shown below. The school elections are May 20th. Please make sure you go and vote and then attend school board meetings. This way, when the propagandists at Town Hall are doing their best to push their agendas, you’ll be better prepared to deal with the misinformation they spew.

Happy Mother's Day!

Our apologies for not posting this sooner. We hope
Mothers everywhere have a great day.

The Grand Plan: Ultimatums To Promote Ill-Conceived Consolidation (Part 3)

Lest anyone believe the talks of fire consolidation by Mr Feiner are genuine, please read the letters posted below, authored by Town Councilman Francis Sheehan. The first letter with the heading “Memo” is the letter Mr Sheehan sent to the 2008 Consolidation Board, Fire Districts and Board of Fire Commissioners, detailing why he resigned from the Consolidation Committee. When you read the body of the actual resignation letters, it becomes abundantly clear to all that Mr Feiner is acting consciously to coerce the direction of the vote endorsing fire consolidation with the Towns paid fire departments of Fairview, Hartsdale and Greenville.

Mr Feiner has threatened and is proposing to push a referendum toward consolidating two of the Town’s three paid fire departments. Since his orginal proposal, Mr Feiner has jettisoned Greenville from the consolidation “mix”. We’ve already explained why he is no longer including the Greenville Fire Department, however we’ll quickly recount the reason. Simply, he cannot afford to upset the Edgemont community, already anxious to incorporate and become their own village, because he needs the revenue their taxes generate, the higher value homes and most importantly, the attractiveness of their school system to attract people to move to Greenburgh. Since Edgemont has been rather vociferous about Mr Feiner’s actions, opinions as to what they plan to do abound. Mr Feiner has good reason to adjust his takeover plans.

The Greenville Fire District, and the Greenville Fire Department has its fire station on Central Avenue near the A&P Supermarket and Curry Chevrolet businesses. Loosely speaking, they provide fire protection to the southern and eastern area of Greenburgh. Specifically, they provide fire protection for the relatively affluent portion of the Town known as Edgemont, among others. The moderately wealthy Hartsdale Fire District and Hartsdale Fire Department protects the correspondingly adjacent area mostly north and west of Greenville’s fire protection district. Finally, the balance of the Unincorporated area that is protected by a paid fire service is the heavily populated with low-income and 49% tax-exempted Fairview section of the Town, protected by the Fairview Fire District  and Fairview Fire Department.

Reading the resignation letter Mr Sheehan wrote and sent to the Consolidation Committee, Fire Districts and Board of Fire Commissioners is an eye opening tale of coercion, Tammany Hall politics, and political chicanery not seen or felt before this administration matured in the Town of Greenburgh or even Westchester County. In it Mr Sheehan touches on several points: what he has learned about firematics while on the committee, the distrust many have for him as a Town Councilman (with this undertaking) placed on this committee and the Town Board in general. He comments to Mr Feiner’s purposeful recruitment and placement with a committee comprised of individuals with no fire knowledge or background. 

On page one of the opening salvo to Mr Feiner, Mr Sheehan states he is resigning specifically to resolve the conflict which Mr Feiner created. This deal was a tit-for-tat, one hand washing the other, or more succinctly, politics at its worst. Mr Feiner was blackmailing Mr Sheehan into giving Mr Feiner the fire consolidation report findings he sought in return for approval to amendments to the antenna law Mr Sheehan was working on. Mr Feiner threatened that “Any recommendation other than the fire district consolidation could foster delay in the adoption of the proposed amendments to the antenna law or further retaliation against the Antenna Advisory Board, which would ultimately harm the community.”

During the time the Consolidation Committee was meeting, Mr Feiner was not getting the intended outcome from Mr Sheehan, et al, so Mr Feiner took it upon himself and “authorized Town staff to prepare a Request For Proposal (RFP) to hire consultants, not only to review the proposed amendments, but to assume all duties of the Antenna Advisory Board...” This move was a clear attempt by Mr Feiner to usurp Mr Sheehan and ensure the results he had tasked the committee to produce.

Throughout the two page resignation letter from the Consolidation Committee tendered by Mr Sheehan to Mr Feiner are references to arm-twisting by Mr Feiner. Mr Sheehan decided to step away from the Consolidation Committee to be able to pursue the best course of action for the Town with regards to antennas throughout our Town. Admirable. The Consolidation scam Mr Feiner is perpetuating against the Town will have dire financial consequences throughout the Unincorporated Town if allowed to happen. We must stop Mr Feiner's blatant toying with bits and pieces of the Greenburgh landscape with developers, spot-zoning, discrimination, and other deflections designed to position him as a leader. Real leaders don't need to play these games. Real leaders lead by setting good examples. Greenburgh needs real leaders. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Hypocritical Supervisor – Anti-Jewish: Bad, Racist: Best of The Best

Lawsuits are a dime a dozen nowadays, especially in Greenburgh. Mr Feiner certainly knows about that! In fact, controversy is a common feature regarding just about everything Mr Feiner touches. He sort of has the Midas Touch, only in reverse. This time however, we find that another community leader is under attack, and without Mr Feiner’s instigation – but he is involved. You’ll recall Mr Feiner needed to get attention away from his mismanagement of Town finances and decided to take advantage of a comment made by a disgruntled former Fairview firefighter under oath.

This time it seems Greenburgh Schools Superintendent Ronald O. Ross (seen earlier, left) and members of the Board of Education, individually, are on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by a number of Greenburgh Central School District employees. While the charges in the lawsuit have not been substantiated, this is Greenburgh and a little detail like that isn’t really necessary! Plaintiffs in this action are one of the schools principals, the human resources director, two guidance counselors and four teachers, all of whom are suing the Superintendent for having created what they claim is a hostile workplace rife with harassment and filled with racial, religious and sexual slurs. They have included the School Board in the lawsuit as they also claim that they knew of the situation but did nothing to address it. Damages have not been specified so we’ll have to wait and see how this all shakes out.

According to court papers, Ross (more currently, left) has used numerous variations of slurs to refer to colleagues and subordinates. Some of these include: “White Bitch,” “Whining White Bitch,” “Black Bitch,” “Old Black Bitch,” “Old Fat Black Bitch,” “Nazi Bitch,” “Jew Bitch,” “Midget Bitch,” “Old Black Bitch,” “Old Fat Black Bitch,” “Nosey Jew Bitch,” “F—–g White Bitch,” “Fat White D–e Bitch,” “White D–e Bitch,” “Deaf White Bitch,” and even “Racist White Bitch” and “Racist Brazilian Bitch.” Other derisive monikers where the word bitch was not included are: “Aunt Jemima,” “Clarence Thomas,” “White Uncle Tom,” “White Devil,” “sell out,” “crackers,” “trailer trash,” or “Oreo.” Clearly there is enough here that this should not be easily dismissed with a wave of the hand as one off-color (no pun) remark made in confidence or privacy.

Below is a copy of two emails sent by Mr Feiner to select School Board members. Both emails are shown below. In the first email (top), he asks the School Board members to not seek to replace Superintendent Ross. He closes the email with the sentence, “If I did not think that Ron was the best of the best – I would not write this note.” The second email (bottom) again finds Mr Feiner is disappointed to learn of an effort to replace Superintendent Ronald Ross, claiming Ross is hard working, and he really cares about “our” children. Mr Feiner does not have children who attend the Greenburgh schools, so “our children” seems a bit contrived. In closing with the second email, he says, “I would be happy to meet with you to discuss why I think it’s important to keep Ron Ross working for our community.”

There’s no doubt that the charges leveled against Mr Ross are significant even if they haven’t been substantiated. Fortunately, he has Mr Feiner’s support and endorsement. The people who have initiated this lawsuit are not rank-and-file workers with a beef against their boss or received a bad review. So there might just be something to this lawsuit after all. These also don’t appear to be disgruntled employees trying to get “even” with their boss as former Fairview firefighter Darryl Leake seems to have done against Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice. Mr Feiner couldn’t move fast enough to crucify Chief LoGiudice in email-blasted court of public opinion over an anti-Jewish statement the Chief made years prior. When an apology was requested by Mr Feiner, the Chief apologized in person and in writing. But that wasn’t enough for Mr Feiner. Now that he had the media blitz in full swing, he needed more, so he resurrected his phony consolidation plans with faulty information, open lies, and a task force of bitter retirees in hopes of fanning his fire of desperation.

In our article entitled “Selective Racism Condoned By Supervisor” on April 8th, we quoted Mr Feiner as saying, “We cannot, as elected officials, allow discrimination to rear its ugly head.” Yet he endorses Superintendent Ross, openly practiced discrimination himself against the Fortress Bible Church when the Church purchased property and sought to construct a new church and school on it just off of Dobbs Ferry Road. He and the Town Board have ignored the use of the “N-word” in Town Hall by Tax Assessor Edye McCarthy with other employees present. We posted an excerpt of a letter of complaint from the offended party in that same article. The complaint was summarily ignored by the Town.

More importantly, why is it acceptable for Mr Feiner to be offended about a comment made years ago and seek to destroy one mans career while it is acceptable for Mr Feiner to be endorsing the bad and reprehensible behavior of another? Of course, the charges need to be substantiated. Especially disturbing is to hear of this in our learning institutions. Why does Mr Feiner’s administration allow the insulting use of the “N-word” within the offices of Town Hall but do nothing about it when complaints are made? Why can the Town Comptroller withhold funds to the taxing entities, knowingly breaking the law, and have no punishment, retribution or consequences for his illegal behavior? And, if Mr Feiner is his boss, why are they both not thrown out on their ears? Why can Mr Feiner offer an illegal lease to a private company without the Town having a clear title and pay no consequence for it? Finally, since Mr Feiner is concerned with the Fairview Fire Chief’s $200,000-plus salary, why has he remained silent about Mr Ross’ equally high $200,000-plus salary? Regardless of what is transpiring with the fire chief and the superintendent, both of whom are trained for their positions, they’ve never criticized Mr Feiner for the ratio of work-to-pay that he is paid.

The Fortress Bible Church discrimination case against Mr Feiner and the Town speaks volumes regarding their illegal activities and how they treat “some” people, while treating "others" much differently? Why does the populace, our willfully ignorant, not demand more from our elected officials? Why does the public tolerate Mr Feiner and the Town Board turning a blind eye toward discrimination and even practicing it? We’ve seen Mr Feiner and his Town Board selectively pick and choose which outrage they will focus on. Its a shame they will not simply do the right thing and unequivocally stand for what’s right. If and when they do, we’ll begin to see A Better Greenburgh.

Just Another Broken Law

Something was brewing in Gotham. The Town Board’s work session agenda was noticeably absent from the Town web site. Why would that be? If you asked someone at Town Hall, you might have received a reply that they were still working on it, there were technical difficulties or it had never been submitted for posting. Mr Feiner was wearing a suit.

Regular business was discussed. In particular was the lack of sidewalks at the Mount Vernon Health Center building (doing business as the Greenburgh Health Center) along Knollwood Road. This issue has been ongoing and trumpeted by the Broadview Civic Association. Broadview President Robert Renniger joined the Board and several department heads at the table and proceeded to again detail the need for sidewalks, first as fulfillment of the contractual agreements from the Health Center’s proposal, second to match the drawings on the Comprehensive Plan – which show completed sidewalks, and finally from a safety issue given the amount of pedestrian patients going to and from the health center. Mr Renniger pointed out that as a federally funded facility there are inherent ADA issues that must be addressed and the Town should help ensure the safety of people accessing the health center. Town Attorney Tim Lewis, not a Board member, was the only one who responded that the Town would continue to work with the Broadview organization.

Attendance for this meeting was unusually heavy. Why? Word had been leaked to Mr Feiner that this meeting promised to be intense since he had illegally withheld the tax money ($10M) collected by the Town slated to go to the three fire districts because the certiorari adjustments hadn’t been paid ($700k). How do we know this was leaked to Mr Feiner? He wore a suit and tie. He knew well in advance that the three firefighter unions as well as their treasurers, officers and other interested parities would be in attendance as he strode in, uncharacteristically bedecked.

The Town is the collecting agent for the three Fire Districts, the Sewer District, the School district and all the other taxing entities within the Town. By law, they are obligated to simply collect the funds on behalf of the respective districts and forward those monies to them immediately, or no later than May 1st. This year however, the Town decided to play games and withhold the money from the districts. This is against the law! Why would they illegally withhold the money? ABG is convinced it is due to the shenanigans being played by the King of Deflection, our own Mr Feiner. We await the press release from Mr Feiner that bemoans the Town having to “pay” all this money to the Fairview Fire District, even though by rights and by law it is theirs, not his or the Towns. ABG believes this is all part of his plan to consolidate the fire districts even though all documentation proves his model to be more costly in the long run. Next he will issue a press release grieving the amount of money he has to give the Fire District and how the money they owe is crippling the Town. There’ll be no mention of Fortress Bible, Franks’s Nursery property, WestHelp and so on.

One thing every Commissioner appointed to their position in the Town knows going into the job is at some point they are expected to “fall on the sword” for their boss, Mr Feiner. This time it was Town Comptroller Bart Talamini’s turn. He was remarkably quick, acting without hesitation when people in the audience pushed for a simple answer to the question the Board danced around: Why were the Fairview Fire District’s tax funds withheld this year, unlike all previous years, and not paid as usual by May 1st, as required by law? What changed? Almost immediately, without getting the requisite nod or wink from Mr Feiner, Mr Talamini said it was his decision and his decision alone to withhold the money! Mr Feiner must have been so proud, thinking, “Yes! I got away with breaking the law again! I'm still untouchable and can put out my press release.”
 
Regardless of which music was being played for Mr Feiner’s deflection dance, the real answer to what was transpiring was simple: they were nervous about getting caught with their illegal actions again! Town Comptroller Bart Talamini will remain unpunished for “taking it upon himself” to not transfer the money to the three fire districts as it was he who broke the law. Realistically, we believe he was instructed to. We'd like to note that once the fire representatives showed up to the meeting, Town Board members fell all over themselves to say Mr Talamini was transferring the funds as they waited and he was awaiting written confirmation of the transaction. When he did finally walk in, he immediately handed the paperwork to the fire representatives.
 
Mr Feiner and his band of misfits are attempting to take over the fire service in Greenburgh. The reasons can only be surmised based on previous bad behavior. Mr Feiner has recently and singlehandedly cost the Town taxpayers a lot of money: $6.5M-Fortress Bible Church; $3.6M-WestHelp; $3.5+M-Frank’s Nursery; $12M/yr-Certiorari refunds; the list goes on with Dromore Road, illegal fund raising letters and the like. But he and his press buddies such as Milt Hoffman avoid discussing that small fact. Greenburgh is proof that it is turning into a different kind of place to live, just not one of the best. It has to change. When we do see a change at Town Hall, maybe we'll see A Better Greenburgh.

Feiner Wins, Fairview and Hartsdale Lose: The Grand Plan (Part 2)

Our previous post explored the antics and lies of Mr Feiner regarding the career(paid) fire service in the Town of Greenburgh. So what is the Grand Plan? It’s simple, really. But to figure this all out, you’ll need to read and/or understand the Comprehensive Plan (remember this as it will be mentioned again), the budget shortfalls caused by Mr Feiner and the reshaping of our Town he seeks to destroy. Conspiracy theorists will do well to pull up a chair to this table as they are about to learn quite a bit.

Mr Feiner is pushing several seemingly unrelated issues throughout the Town. The mainstream media will publish what he provides, crafted well enough to appear to be standalone initiatives that are unrelated and innocuous directives for the Town. The fact that the media is abdicating its role as the public’s watchdog is not only sad, but one of the reasons sites like ours and others exist. It’s also why crooked politicians are able to scam their constituency and push their own agendas.

The first issue for Mr Feiner is to push a merger of only the Fairview and Hartsdale Fire Departments. When his handpicked Consolidation Committee was first tasked with developing a plan that would validate his predestined need for consolidation, all three paid fire departments in the Town were included, Fairview, Hartsdale and Greenville. Why limit the consolidation now to only the two? The report, committee and information has not changed since the original report was contrived. What changed?

Originally, Mr Feiner was touting a consolidation of the three paid fire departments, Fairview (the poorest), Hartsdale (reasonably affluent) and Greenville (affluent). Each time one of Mr Feiner’s illegal moves costs the Town more money in guilty verdict payments, the Edgemont section of Town, covered by the Greenville Fire District (affluent), protest and threaten to secede and incorporate as a Village. They have the money and expertise to do so. This would severely and negatively impact the Unincorporated Town’s finances and attractiveness for those financially able to move to Greenburgh. You’ll recall that Villages are for the most part immune to Mr Feiner’s illegal and bonehead behavior as they have a Mayor and Village Board of Trustees protecting them. We have Mr Feiner and his “gore-some foursome” hammering the Unincorporated taxpayers.

If Mr Feiner leaves the Greenville Fire Department out of the consolidation mix, he appears to be playing nice with Edgemont. But, beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While Mr Feiner will not admit it, the Greenville FD has more resources, vis a vis Edgemont, than Hartsdale and certainly Fairview. In fact, Fairview maintains a staggering 49% of tax-exempt properties like a proverbial noose around their neck, forcing homeowners and other business owners to make up the difference in funds. Couple this with the money lost through the Fortress Bible Church multiple guilty verdicts settlement for $6.5 million (10 yrs of payments), the WestHelp affordable housing debacle for $3.6 million so far ($1.2M lost yearly), the failed Frank’s Nursery sale for $3.5+ million and remediation, the millions of dollars the Town and other taxing entities are forced to return to businesses through tax certiorari challenges each month. The list is long – too long and expensive to keep Mr Feiner in office. With all of his illegal, unethical and costly blunders, he knows the mainstream media will choose to follow his finger pointing and not his soiled path.

Mr Feiner has gone out of his way to attack many good, conscientious public servants, such as Chief LoGuidice, Fire Commissioner Simmons, her son Captain Simmons and others. While Commissioner Simmons was not required to recuse herself for the promotion of her son, she did abstain from the voting to promote him to Deputy Chief! Interestingly, Captain Simmons did recently pass the Civil Service exam for Deputy Chief and scored the highest score out of all of the candidates! Unlike Mr Feiner, unpaid Commissioner Simmons understands what doing the right thing means and recused herself although she was not required to do so. Ironically, Mr Feiner’s $140+ thousand dollar salary would be a better place to begin a consolidation effort instead of the Fire Districts. After all, we have Commissioners running each of the Towns Departments who routinely recognize the handicap of having Mr Feiner at the helm and interfere with their operations. In reality, Mr Feiner is nothing more than a talking head that we simply do not need. Those readers old enough to remember might make the comparison of Mr Feiner to Jerry Mahoney: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeJdMuOAZkw).

If Mr Feiner pushes the consolidation proposal through with a referendum, which he has the power and funds to do, things will change for the worse for Fairview residents first and Hartsdale residents next. While they'll appear to improve for Mr Feiner as he assumes control of the newly formed Greenburgh Fire Department, similar to the Greenburgh Police Department, They won't. Mr Feiner will have control and access to, and be able to screw up, the fire budget and funds as he has done with the Town for the last 22 years. But his real end-game will be to close the Hartsdale Fire station on Central Avenue near the four-corners. This will result in an opening of the space for affordable housing "nodes" per the Comprehensive Plan. This administration has mapped out their plan for themselves behind closed doors, without written correspondence to ensure no information “gets out” through the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests via concerned and informed citizens.

Rather than focus on one central avenue (pun intended) of change for the Town, Mr Feiner is juggling multiple schemes to reach his end goal. ABG doesn’t know why he is doing this but can see what is happening and will continue to expose it. Fire consolidation could be viable if an honest and truly independent study was done. Unfortunately, interested and informed residents will never know because of Mr Feiner’s agenda. Town-wide consolidation would also be a more viable option and is actually under the purview of Mr Feiner and his Board, so we know this will never happen!

There are many games being played throughout our Town and they are costing the taxpayers millions of dollars every year. They are the culmination of illegal actions taken by Mr Feiner as well as others in his administration. The unfettered internal “pay to play” schemes Mr Feiner has fostered in Town Hall has killed the morale of Town employees. It's also affecting the residents beyond just their wallets. It’s time for a change. Only then we we get A Better Greenburgh.

The Grand Plan: Feiner Wins, Fairview Loses (Part 1)

When we learned that Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGuidice had stepped down from his position of Chief, which he has held for three years, we were saddened because Mr Feiner, his media machine and his faux-concern for the Fairview residents have again triumphed through his willingness to exploit our willfully ignorant Greenburgh voters. The Fairview community in general will suffer with the loss of expertise and knowledge Chief LoGuidice offered. 

Mr Feiner has spread copious amounts of false information about the Chief, the Fire District, Commissioners and its members. Mr Feiner, et al, have continued to maintain their adherence to an ill-conceived, outdated, intellectually flawed and unauthorized consolidation study. The consensus in the fire service and from community leaders is that Chief LoGuidice should not have received the treatment he did from Mr Feiner or the media. Mr Feiner consolidation talks is simply more of his deflection tactics to shield the public from his administrative inaccuracies, failures and guilty criminal behavior.

Ironically, the same transition issue that started with Chief Robert Mauro getting ill and retiring with then-Deputy Chief LoGuidice being appointed Chief and thrust into the position is precisely what Chief LoGuidice was trying to avoid with his successor. Chief LoGuidice explained to ABG that when he took over, he really could have used some help getting up to speed with what needed to be done; he figured it out eventually but the learning curve would have been quicker if he had had time to work with Chief Mauro.

Mr Feiner illegally used the Town's confidential email list to mount a personal vendetta against the Chief and the Board of Fire Commissioners, even though he has no jurisdictional involvement, control or say in the Fairview Fire District. That's exactly what he is looking to change and why he is mounting these attacks. Not able to act heroically himself, he must be content to resorting to attacks using his bully pulpit as Supervisor! It's similar to when he runs for office and has an opponent. The first thing he says is he welcomes the competition and then instructs others to get his opponent disqualified! Mr Feiner doesn't live in the Fairview Fire District and his gated-community home is protected by an all-volunteer department. The difference in cost for him compared to being served by a career fire department is about $150/thousand (career) as opposed to roughly $15/thousand (volunteer). And with a million dollar home in a gated community, well, you do the math.

Chief LoGuidice is suffering from cancer incurred while working at the 9-1-1 Ground Zero site and has experienced complications from his numerous medications along with a continued debilitating change in his health. Consequently, he has decided to leave his position before he becomes incapable of properly performing his job. Chief LoGuidice's actions to do what is best for the Department, District and taxpayers is something Mr Feiner has never done for the taxpayers. We wish the best for Chief LoGuidice in his retirement and hope his health will maintain long enough for him to enjoy a long retirement. Perhaps some day we’ll witness a heroic act performed by Mr Feiner. Until then, we’ll let Chief LoGuidice, a real hero, hold that torch.

Now that Chief LoGuidice has stepped down, Deputy Chief Howard Reiss has been appointed acting Chief of the Fire Department. Chief Reiss began his early firematic career with the neighboring Elmsford Fire Department, an all-volunteer department. He took the fire test, passed and was subsequently hired by then-Chief Robert Mauro for the Fairview FD. ABG also recognizes this as to be a positive sign that the volunteer members of the Fairview Fire Department will continue to flourish as they did with Chief LoGuidice. We also hope their Explorer/Venture Post program of junior firefighters continues as well. ABG endorses the Fire Districts decision with this appointment and congratulates longtime public servant Chief Howard Reiss as probably the best candidate for this position.

Speaking of volunteers in the Fairview Fire Department, the small group of critics of the Fairview Fire District bemoaned the high salaries of the officers and chiefs several meetings ago and yet continue to say they “support” the firefighters. Sorry, but they can’t have it both ways. These same detractors do nothing to help the fire district except to criticize it at Mr Feiner's behest, but never step up to be part of the solution. What they could do is become a volunteer member in the fire department and help to control their taxes first hand. They could "put their money where their mouth is" - but they haven't and probably never will. In point of fact, Mr Feiner has never volunteered in his Village's fire department or ambulance corps. He will however, volunteer to ride his bicycle to Albany. We just wish he would stay there.

Mr Feiner has gone out of his way to attack many good, conscientious public servants, such as Chief LoGuidice, Fire Commissioner Simmons, her son Captain Simmons and others. When asked at a Commissioner's meeting if she should recuse herself from voting to promote her son from Captain to Deputy Chief, Commissioner Simmons said she was only one vote on the Board and not required to recuse herself. It was asked if her son could run for the Chief's position by people who don't understand how the Civil Service system works. She explained that he did not qualify to run for the position as it requires a certain amount of time served as Deputy Chief or Executive Deputy Chief and is required to take and pass a Civil Service exam to qualify for either. Captain Simmons recently did pass the Civil Service exam for Deputy Chief and scored the highest score out of all of the candidates! Most importantly, Commissioner Simmons abstained from the vote to promote Captain Simmons to the position of Deputy Chief. Unlike Mr Feiner, unpaid Commissioner Simmons understands what doing the right thing means and did it. Ironically, his $140+ thousand dollar salary would be a better place to begin a consolidation effort instead of the Fire District.

The Town has had its share of costly and unnecessary blunders by Mr Feiner and his Board. Rather than address these self-induced and crippling problems, which cost the Unincorporated taxpayer millions of dollars every year, he's chosen, as he usually does, to go after others that he has no control or involvement over. His deflection tactics work because the populace in Greenburgh, along with his Town Board, allow him to. His talk of consolidation cannot work for numerous reasons but more importantly will never be implemented where it should be – at Town Hall. Why would that be? Because Mr Feiner has his own agenda that doesn't include actually helping the taxpayer. This must stop. Only then will we have A Better Greenburgh.

State of The County Address

County Executive and gubinatorial candidate Rob Astorino gave his mandated yearly State of The County address Thursday night. Joined in the front row by his wife and three children, this invitation-only event was a who’s who of Westchester County government and Republican party members. Although, numerous Democratic representatives were absent for this event, several of the Democratic representatives were in attendance. He covered numerous topics affecting the County and either had memorized his speech or utilized a prompter. Regardless, he appeared relaxed, polished and confident as he spoke.

Of particular interest to ABG was the proud announcement of the “great partnership” with the New York Knick’s developmental team, who would be using the County Center for their home games. In general, this is good news, except for Fulton Park, the small community that has been besieged by or abused and ignored by Mr Feiner and the County for years. It reminds us of when political leaders brag about the deals they make for tax savings and incentives they offer big businesses to stay in our county and towns. He made mention of that as well. They never discuss how the residential taxpayer must offset that money. Nor do they ever discuss or seem to help struggling small businesses with similar deals.

The County had used the former King’s Inn Motel for homeless and then a transitional prisoner release location for years, adding to a crime and general lower quality of life for the neighborhood. ABG has recounted the tales of “quickie” sex in cars parked nearby with hookers, empty crack vials and “baggies”, depleted alcohol bottles and used condoms on neighborhood lawns. The County’s solution to these issues was to park a County police car on the street outside the facility. Since then, Mr Feiner “gave” the property to Westhab, as well as the former Fulton Avenue, the increase in traffic for this neighborhood has been staggering.

Now that the Knicks will arrive, the street congestion promises to increase as the $7 parking fee is easily avoided on the north side of the building. With this free parking on the streets in their neighborhood, the Fulton Park Civic Association has reached out to the police department in hope of ameliorating this situation before it gets even worse as the Knicks arrive. The County, along with our Town, doesn’t appear to look beyond the immediate gratification and publicity of new deals.

Astorino mentioned that ticket prices will be only $10 and not require a second mortgage to take your family to a game. So while the $10 ticket price is attractive, and the $7 parking fee is not a killer, traffic and parking issues in this already congested area get worse when there is an event at the County Center. The effect of these events is that roadways backup in all directions, frustrations increase, automotive accidents happen and the event impacts more than just the immediate area. The solution for the County is to spend overtime and place County Police officers to direct traffic. The last time we checked, the County Police’s overtime budget was $8 million.

There was quite a bit said regarding the HUD settlement by Mr Astorino, which elicited not only applause, but several standing ovations. He focused on his actions being driven by the law and legal standing. He also announced a new initiative for the County in that they will replace the HUD money themselves so as to not be held to HUD mandates and standards, maintaining control of what we do in the County under “Home Rule”. An interesting idea whose time may have come under duress, Mr Astorino claimed the cost to residents would be $1 each.

He discussed the increasing Hispanic population to Westchester, speaking a brief time in Spanish and announcing that his Deputy Chief of Staff, Katie Delgado would be starting in an additional new role of Immigrant Services Liaison. He touched on her family’s background and thanked her in Spanish, saying, “Katie, pro favor, levantese (get up).” Whether this was a cheap parlor trick or Mr Astorino actually speaks Spanish remains a mystery.

Mr Astorino took the opportunity to brag about the contracts his administration has worked out with seven of the eight unions of the County’s workers. Then he highlighted the one union that failed to ratify their contract, the CSEA. He thanked the others as they made the concession to pay into their health benefits as everyone else does. He discussed the findings offered by an independent fact finder that the union and how he disagreed with some of the findings but was willing to accept and agree to it. The CSEA apparently was not and has still refused to ratify the contract – “We will continue to negotiate.”

Finally, Mr Astorino discussed his “run” for governor. He discussed that 85% of the Westchester Tax levy will go to Albany to pay for nine NYS unfunded mandates. The County taxes paid to NYS amount to $450 million and the County receives back about $250 million. He referred to this as “Albany math” that is compounded by the crippling 2% NYS Tax Cap. The time to act is now. He said, “The issues of Westchester and New York State are one in the same. Jobs, taxes, education, the environment, preserving the social safety net and bringing some sanity to the burden of unfunded mandates all desperately need attention right now.”

Obviously, this was a receptive and friendly crowd for Mr Astorino. Not everybody applauded or participated in the several standing ovations. His message touched on all of the major points but revealed little unknown information. Acknowledging numerous members of the audience, Mr Astorino played the crowd as good as anyone could. He is correct that he had lowered taxes by 2% in his first year and held the taxes at a 0% increase since then. Eventually, as everyone knows, everyone’s taxes will go up. The hopeful news is that we can get other politicians to follow Mr Astorino’s lead and work to hold taxes at “no-increase” level. We certainly need this in Greenburgh. If and when this happens, we’ll start to see A Better Greenburgh!