Gordon Parks lived in Greenburgh. He was a (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director. He is best remembered for his photo essays for Life magazine and as the director of the 1971 film Shaft. There is a growing movement in the town to name the new library, which is set to open in December, 2008 in honor and in memory of Gordon Parks.
The auditorium at the library could be named for another great american--Cab Calloway. Cab Calloway, the world famous musician, also considered Greenburgh his home. Our town is rich in history. The new library should highlight the contributions of some of the people who lived in our town who made a lasting impression on the world.
What do you think?
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70 comments:
No, don't name the library other than Greenburgh Public Library. But do name individual rooms and such. (Though isn't this a library board matter, not a town matter?)
Years ago, when some people wanted to name the old library "the Alvin Suchin Library", they were told by the Library Board that this Library could not be named after a individual. So what is it?
No WE are paying for it...Keep it in Greenburgs name.
Paul you are loosing your mind.
We the residents paid for it therefor it belongs to the town.
There you go again Paul taking up sides. When will you learn that you have to stop treating one segment of town different from the other.
The library was and will remain Greenburgh so long as you collect the funds to pay for it.
If you want to change the name let the people that are promoting this cause pay for the entire project .
READ MY LIPS NO! NO! NO! NO!
A THOUSAND TIMES NO!
If those that are pushing for the change in name let them pay for it.
Not only are you making Cab Calloways home a landmark which takes it off the tax roll now you want to name part of the library after him.
Why don't you take a sleepng pill to go to sleep then and only then maybe your head will be a little clearer in the morning.
Give us a break.
Maybe you need a good vacation to put your thoughts together and maybe you could realize what harm you have done and what you are capable of doing to ALL the taxpayers in Greenburgh.
You are making it very easy for us come the next election to get you and two board members out.
Keep this up and you will be looking for a job too.
better yet - call it what it is - the library of folly (not the future)
tear down or sell this heap of the past
what a fiasco!
10:26 TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN.
What's coming up next in this circus town.
Paul you fail in running the town so much that you are now pulling on straws to make sure that you are in the race for the next election.
FORGETTABOUTIT.
boycott the library when it opens
None of you get it.
Paul is just making up another one of his "look how progressive I am" ploys. They emerge, disappear and reappear as though they were is his tickler file. Scratch that, they are in his tickler file.
In the world of MAD MEN, the phrase used to be "let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes".
"THERE IS A GROWING MOVEMENT..."
Is this no different from "a lot of residents have asked me..."
Or, "I get calls..."
For once, let's see the names behind the quotes.
Since all of these "citizens" feel they are backing a good cause, who are they? Bloggers know the story when they see "anonymous" here.
How come readers don't catch on when it occurs as frequently offline?
What about naming it for Walter Winchell? He lived in Greenburgh for a long time too.
Ooops, he was white.
Hi. Copies of the many e mail responses I have received (some for the renaming, others opposed) are on file with the Clerks office. Like everything in town - there are people on both sides of this issue. Personally, I think that naming the library for Gordon Parks and highlighting the significant contributions that many Greenburgh people had on the world could help us raise funds for the library and help us make the library a special place.
As many of you know, I did not vote for the referendum. I had issues with the Library. However, now that the library has been built I feel that it is important for us to do everything possible to make the library a success. We paid for the library. Now, make it the best. Let's see if we can raise significant outside dollars from private donors to enhance programs/services. There is so much history in Greenburgh. Let's promote it.
PAUL FEINER
Has anyone offered to donate money to the library if it were named for Gordon Parks? If so, how much? If not, then Mr. Feiner's assertion that naming the library for Parks would help the library raise money is speculative at best and pandering at worst. With a whopping new tax increase for unincorporated Greenburgh apparently on the way, and Feiner unwilling or unable to face reality and make the budget cuts that are required -- he's not cutting the community center for example -- this kind of pandering to one segment of the community is what we can expect. No wonder Feiner signed his post "Feiner98" -- his campaign moniker from a few years past -- this is all politics and has nothing to do with raising money at all.
Does one need to file a FOIL request to read them?
Darn tootin'. You betcha. Also.
Paul, when you say that some letters are for it and some are against it, it is a dodge to cover the fact that you want it. It will do nothing to help the library or the town and plenty to cause irritation and division. Drop it.
Stop the BS Paul your trying to pick up votes by giving in again to the residents of Fairview.
What will make you understand that we want you to stop this favoritism because it has cost the residents so much money and you know as well as we know the money is not accounted for.
That's why you are seeking a way to borrow money to cover up the wrong doings of the center and the other facilities in Fairview.
Why is it that you do not answer the question if the Housing Authority paid back the money due to the residents for the private protection of the Greenburgh police.
Let the ones that made yhis request pay for it,they have saved a lot of money getting all the freebees that were offered to them.
feckless.
Dear 98,
Many?
Many letters?
Many letters in favor?
"Many" per the dictionary:
a large number,
the great majority of people.
meanwhile...
How much is that doggy at the Library?
The one with the ski-sloped tail,
How much is that doggy at the Library?
I do hope that it is for sale.
the market closed down over 700 points today. monday's "gain" is gone. nearly every portfolio is down between 20-50%. theses losses are staggering. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
we cannot afford the library. the public library is an anachronism. make it private and see who uses it.
the end is not near. it is now.
Paul if you could find a company to put it's name on the library for a nice price that would save the tax payers money do it.
Only if they pay for the naming rights. Look at these ballparks being built. Use you mind Paul and put politics aside.
Donations to Feiner 98 are still being accepted.
Corporate donations are particularly welcome.
Choice naming opportunities are still available - call now for the best selections.
Perhaps re-name Adams Place as Gordon Parks Place; perhaps name the film/photography section of the library after him; but it would be ridiculous to name the entire multimillion dollar library after him or anyone else. Just name it what it is - North Greenburgh Public Library.
If you name it what it is, "North Greenburgh Public Library," can Edgemont be excused from having to pay? We didn't vote for it, most of us have since adjusted to using other libraries, and if we become a village, maybe we can establish our own library -- one that actually serves our residents. Imagine that! A library we get to pay for that actually serves our own residents.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
and
NO!
How about: Evangeline Cory Booth,John Logie Baird,Felix Warburg, John Odell, Frederick Philipse............ I could go on. These are just a few from Hartsdale.
Warburgh never got the recognition he deserved in Greenburgh for donating his land and Booth is would be a fine candidate to have a library named for her.
read about Hartsdales Booth:
http://www.answers.com/topic/booth-evangeline-cory
All which goes to show that there should be no special name for the library.
Personally, I think that naming the library for Gordon Parks and highlighting the significant contributions that many Greenburgh people had on the world could help us raise funds for the library and help us make the library a special place.
Riiight! Sure! Did Gordon Parks ever give back anything to this community? No. Do you really think "people" are going to donate money because of his name? No. Come on now.
He ain't no Denzel Washington who GIVES BACK TO HIS COMMUNITY! He's done nothing for Greenburgh and naming our very costly library after him is WRONG!
Paul don't name the library after anyone wait maybe the honor will be yours since you only help the residents of fairview.
The plaque will probably read he was the worse supervisor who spent our money on this white elephant and he gave all the freebees to this area.
I would happily name it the Paul Feiner Library as a tribute to Paul should he commit to retiring from Greenburgh politics at the end of the current term.
Dear 6:27: You claim Edgemont didn't vote for the Library. Susan Wolfert, VP of the Library Board is from Edgemont. Bob Bernstein, ECC President, campaigned hard for the expansion.
I have a great name for the Library
FOR SALE
I am very upset that this would ever be considered. This library has been built off the the sweat of hard working people of Greenburgh. This IS The Greenburgh Library, paid for now & in the future of those living in Greenburgh.
Until you get a substantial donation (millions!) from the Parks family or other, this would be the only time to even consider naming this or any facility after someone else.
Who is Theodore D. Young? Lee F. Jackson? I know who they where and frankly, you can't even find a small piece of information on either on the internet. Why? Because their contributions to society we at best minimal yet our tax dollars are poured into facilities named after these people.
Paul, you offend both the black & white community when you do what you do here. People should have the honor of being recognised by something like naming a facility after them, based on the merits of their contributions to society (the country) or the town of Greenburgh, not because they're black, dead, and of some notoriety and happened to have lived in Greenburgh at one time or another.
Gratuitous and insulting to all people of Greenburgh. Why? Because you clearly make decisions based on peoples skin color.
While I am not sure that the Library Building should be named for anyone in particular, if the Town were going to consider this, one name(s) that ought to be very high on the list should be Thomas and Agnes Carvel. As many people know, Mr. Carvel was a long time resident of unincorporated Greenburgh, even though he had an "Ardsley" address (I hope that doesn't disqualify him). His business contributions not only to the Town are well known. But even more important, through his charitable foundation, he and his wife have been benefactors of public libraries and other public good. His foundation thought enough of the Village of Ardsley's small library, that they contributed a very substantial amount of money to build the children's wing of the Ardsley Library, which is named after both of them. So maybe if the Town is interested in contacting the Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation, who knows? Just something to think about.
Dear 7:17 how true is your comment You make decisions according to skin color.
Paul gives away the house to the blacks in Fairview.
Everything is in their corner.
At yesterdays work session he kept his mouth shut on many of the things discussed for the centers agenda.
Sonya Brown had the nerve to ask if Con Edison would consider to give the center a reduction in price since the area in a poor area.
We will be getting a 41% rate hike why not fight for all of Greenburgh not only the center.
Feiner was also asking the chief of plice about not charging the poor people for EMS when their serves are used.
The answer was No we cannot charge some and not the others.
Here too Feiner was trying to get a freebee.
Nothing has been said about restitution of over one half million dollars owed by the housing authority for police protection. This too Feiner has kept it quiet.
Someone else had the answer to put the building up for sale.
The Fortess church could use this building for their services. Plenty of rooms and parking. No one would object .You keep it within the family.
I would like to know if the greenburgh librians wear a uniform since I have seen the representative at the work session wearing the same top at every session.
Just curious.
Math lesson for Paul: Hartsdale.
Median HH income for Hartsdale :
99.4K
Average Home price:
560.0K
Assuming 10% down on a home, that would still make a morgage+taxes payment of approximately 5K per month.
To net 5K per month a HH needs to earn 8.6K GROSS salary per month or 105K per year. (-6K per year)
No food, no utilities, no clothing, no car, no NOTHING!
READ THIS VERY CAREFULLY. Do you honestly think that there are no other needy people living in Greenburgh?
You should be run out of town if not for your stupidity, surly for giving away money some DO NOT HAVE to those NOT IN NEED.
Dear Mr. Feiner,
If you must suck up to voters from the Afro-American community, how about choosing the least offensive location?
Rename Taxter Ridge, Gordon Parks
I don't think he's sucking up to Fairview at all. I think he's just sticking it to the majority of Greenburgh who happen to be white. Many very much in need. Many much more needy than some in Fairview. I don't think he gives a crap about any one group. He's just sticking it to as many as he can & Fairview provides a great conduit!
It's the only rational explanation because his actions, despite the outpouring of objections, make him appear like he's a lunatic!
He's just trying to screw as many people as he can. He's acting vindictive and he is abusing his power.
Or....maybe he really has gone completely insane.
Paul Feiner "TROLLS" his own blog!
Troll:
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they — and the troll — understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.
Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community. Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling — where the rate of deception is high — many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation."
If the supervisor had a chance he would give Fairview the air that we beathe.
Wwith this supervisor we do not stand a chance anymore .He is anti white and has been for a few yeats.
He does not understand that we white folk are hurting too.
We are the poor ones not the ones in Fairview. We get nothing for free.They get free food, free housing free access to the centers and free baby sitting to top the cake free medical because that goes along with welfare..
You take our tax dollars so they can live in the life of riley.
There are many people here in the other parts of town thaat cannot afford to pay for medical insurance.
Do you care No?
PAul stop this nonsense there are no poor people in Fairview. YOU make them poor in your mind.
Now you have assistance on the board with Sonya.
Was she not elected to represent all the residents of the town. Listening to her at meeting she is only in the Fairview area and what she can get for them.
Big mistake..
Paul, I invite you to go to the center one afternoon around 5:00pm and just take notice of the cars that pull in to pick up their kids from the free day car you provide, whoops I mean that we the tax payers provide. Mercedes, BMW's, Cadilac's. Please stop refering to them as poor.
pop quiz
can sonya name the mayors and village managers of each village?
can sonya tell us the average income and the population of each village?
can sonya find taxter ridge?
Do you think that he will spot check the daycare and the center. FORGETABBOUTITT.
He may offend them by doing so.
His motto is let sleeping dogs sleep.
If you have to pander, transparently, and pander you must, wh not cut out the middleman and name the library:
THE FAIRVIEW-FEINER FREE LIBRARY.
If you want to sell naming rights, pick a living person with lots of disposible income, and a penchant for philanthropy.
If you want to rile up the 78% of us who don't live in Fairview, BLACK & WHITE, keep exercising your addled brain.
Go back to Scarsdale and gadfly your way on the pension you earned screwin over the people who've made your pension possible.
Why don't you name it the "Greenburgh Video Store". Not too many people take out books anymore. Put parking meters in for extra money and charge $1 for non-book items.
Nien, non, αριθ, não, нет, nr, いいえ, 아니다, 否, NO!
I'm pretty sure that anonymous at 2:44 pm 10/16 is a fake. The writing is so over-the-top in its racism and illiteracy, it must be a plant by some Feiner ally to discredit Feiner's critics.
6:35 I am not a plant.
I am speaking the truth .
Sorry that I cannot write as good as some people but not having the proper education I think I am doing ok.
Paul you put new laws on the books one being NO LEAVES TO BE PLACED ON THE ROADWAYS,may I ask who is enforcing this law?
Check the roadways to see how many gardners have already piled the leaves half on the roadways.
They have orders from home owners whom they are employed by not to put the leaves on their lawns.
The gardners are following orders .
The home owners should be the ones receiving the fines not the gardner.
SHAME ON WHITEHEAD
How dare you go around saying they "gave" the position to William Carter! Are you kidding us? Dr Carter, in the most extreme contrast possible to you, got the job based on merit, qualifications, and established a work related track record. You on the other hand received a gift. You deserve credit for one thing and one thing only, selling a bill of goods to Sonia Brown. Don't feel too bad Sonia, she's fooled many others before you. While many dedicated staff worked hard at their jobs, you gave Sonia a steady stream of lies which misrepresented your limited abilities. You're doing the same now to Dr Carter.
Ok, fast talkin' got you the job, but then you BLEW IT! Taxpayers had to settle for an under qualified person placed in her FIRST leadership position at the Center. However then you introduced your personal problems to the Center. You dragged the whole Department in your mud. Why should Teddy's name be tarnished because you felt a need to hand out no show jobs? Many of our young men need jobs and are willing to work hard when they receive an opportunity. But no, you had to hand over paychecks to felons! Did you really think you could trust them based on their past history? Everyone knows they have been milking you for years.
The Whitehead freebies: $10,000 for a one day trip to Playland; Free all you could eat BBQ at Family Day (Imagine doing that at Veteran's Park?); Full staffing when the building was closed to programs in September. You're very generous with Taxpaper's money!
You could have been Deputy. You could have done something that would have made a name for yourself. You could have retired with honor and respect. You could have respected Paul and Sonia. You decided to embarrass the Town Council, the Center, your Church, and the Community, by your shady wrong doings. Now the place is under police investigation because of you.
Hay Girlfriend, they had a party for Hopeton and William, they ain't gunna have nothin' for you except scorn. Everyone will look back at your time as temporary Head as the worst chapter in the Center's history.
The only reason you're still on payroll is due to Paul's charity.
RESIGN NOW!!!!!
If panderig were an olympic sport, Paul Feiner would somewhere between Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz-7 1/2 gold medals. Not quite the record. And with any kind of epiphany by the voters of Greenburgh, he won't have the chance to break the record in the 2012 Olympics.
How much longer will this "made-for-TV" politician continue to fool 50.1% of the voters in our town?
I know records are made to be broken, but records of futility should have a line drawn in the sand behind which is a 15 foot electrified fence.
10:40
The rest of the town wants to hear what is going on with police investigation. If the library were being investigated for criminal acts, Paul would have it on front page.
There are so many investigations going on here in Greenburgh that it is a disgrace.
No one in town government wants to admit it nor tell us the outcome.
Our money has been and is being spent like it were water and no one wants to admit the wrong doing.
Great town and great representation.
Whether we say no or yes Feiner will dedicate the library to a black person.
We all know what he wants and that is votes in quest for reelection.
If Feiner is doing everything in his power to skew toward Fairview, to get the votes for his re-election, the balance of the unincorporated and the villages have an additional incentive to vote him out of office.
Yes we can do something about it. We can prevent him from ever doing it again. The same goes for those on the board who vote with him.
The reason he can do as he pleases, is because he is there- and we( definitely NOT ME) put him there. The same goes for the other four.
We put them there!
If you're as disgusted as I,and many other blogers seem to be, DON"T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN!!!!
Vote HIS and THEIR asses out of office. If we're lucky maybe we'll finally stop the "avalanche of insanity," from depleting what little is left in our wallets.
The problem is not Fairview. The problem is the supervisor and the board.
If someone is willing to pay an athlete tens of millions of dollars to play a child's game, what do you want him to do, REJECT IT because it's "UNFAIR?"
You folks keep blaming FAIRVIEW,it's not thier lobbying, it's the boards fecklessness in giving in.
Edgemont lobbies. Edgemont gets zip.
Hartsdale lobbies and get twice as much as Edgemont..2 X 0= 0
The same goes for every other part of town.
I really don't think Fairview has more adept lobbyists than anyone else.
So the "ARROW" keeps pointing in one direction. THE SUPE & THE COUNCILPEOPLE WHO VOTE WITH HIM.
Wake up, PLEASE. We have the power of the "ballot box," let's use it, and stop bitching about that which we, without question, have no control over. i.e. 22 Tarrytown Rd., as disgusting as it may be, all signs point toward "them" passinng it.Despite the intelligent presentations by well meaning people-not all of whom live in the section effected-to the contrary.
samis for supervisor
samis for juettner's seat
samis for sheehanigns' seat
tora tora tora
samis samis samis
*stands up and claps hands wildly for Ed Krauss*
There are already numberous sites in Greenburgh named for Gordon -
Harts Brook PARK, Taxter Ridge PARK, Rumbrook PARK, etc. The list of expensive, non-revenue producing properties with the name PARK is seemingly endless.
Why add the library to the list - even though it fits the pattern?
Ed,
What I don't understand is that there are only 2,100 people in Fairview of voting age and approx.66,000 of voting age in Greenburgh entire.
It can't be possible that he is pandering for votes. I suspect something more complex that requires years of therapy to sort out. He is litteral shoving money at Fairview and throwing it all in our faces!
He's created a monster and has done Fairview a great disservice in doing so.
Dear Broke in Hartsdale,
Pauls modus operandi has been to throw scads of money at Fairview, and not charge the villages for anything.
The rest of Greenburgh has to show up in droves next election.
clapping is great
voting is better
Jheeeez! Vote for who? can't we put up a candidate that gives a crap about the average Joe in this town? Someone who really gives a $hit?
Who would want this freaken job after the mess we are in.
Does anyone realize that we will be looking at double diget taxes for a few years to come.
The cause is Feiner and the board.
Greenbugh has fallen off the wall and there is no one that can bring it back to being somewhat normal.
How about "The Peoples Library"
PAUL,how about naming it after Nick Russo.
OH I forgot he was white and Italian.
I wish we could all skip over RACE in this blog, as well as in our lives, if at all possible.
As I've said before, if freebies are thrown at Fairview, African Americans and/or others, should they reject it? Would You?
No! The problem is the "THROWER/S" not the "RECEIVER/S."
I know you may feel like "patcies," watching your hard earned tax dollars disproportionately spent on Fairview. But your anger is misplaced if you blame the folks in Fairview from taking advantage of the "goodies" cast in their directon with no strings and no check at the "end of the meal."
By now, after all these years, you must know I can't stand what Feiner stands for; how he misruns(if there is such a word) our town and has no clue about finance.So when I blame Feiner, you may be quick to say, "Krauss doesn't like him so he's always carping on him."
With no insult intended, YOU'RE WRONG! What I say about Feiner is not personal- and never has been- as Marlon Brando said,it's "business."
He doesn't know what the F#(K he's doing. As such, you get angry with Fairveiw when you should be angry at Feiner AND those that vote all those goodies to Fairview.
In two weeks, we will be voting for President of the United States...at one of the most tense periods in our history. And in 2009, we'll be voting for Supervisor of Greenburgh, at one of the most tense (back-to-back-to-back 20% tax increases) periods in our history.
The RACE you should be focusing on is the POLITICAL RACE-in 2008and 2009.
Do you want eight more years of BUSHISMS or two more years of FEINER FOLLIES?
You see, part of the solution for your anger, is in your flick of a lever. Even if the "good guys" lose, you'll know you did your part by voting for them.
But, if they win, the light at the end of the tunnel will no longer be an 18-wheeler.
Oh Yes, please vote...in 2008 and 2009.
TDY C/C ACTING COMMISSIONER UNDER POLICE INVESTIGATION
FACTS
Police arrive at Community Center on Sept 13th
Upon their arrival, Valerie Whitehead abruptly leaves Center.
She doesn't return until 5 days later.
She doesn't contact staff.
At least 15 staff members are asked to report to Greenburgh Police for questioning.
Center’s security tapes taken by Police.
Time cards taken by Police.
5 p/t staff including Whitehead's nephew somehow put in 50 hours per week.
The Center is closed for evening programs during September.
Whitehead authorized these hires and their excessive hours without the knowledge of the Town Board.
Whitehead stops staff meetings.
Whitehead attempts to block transfer of James Robinson to Center.
Whitehead offers no statement on occurrence or explanation.
HAL SAMIS IS RIGHT, THE PUBLIC DESERVES ANSWERS.
PAUL WE ARE WAITING.
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