Thursday, December 10, 2009

SNOW ANGELS, BUDGET WORK SESSION, FUN ACTIVITIES

SNOW ANGELS WANTED--If you are interested in volunteering some time this winter helping a senior citizen or disabled resident shovel their driveways (or walkway) after it snows - please e mail me at pfeiner@greenburghny.com. Over 18 years ago I formed the Greenburgh snow angels program. Volunteers help their neighbors. We're looking for volunteers who will help seniors/disabled residents at no cost. We are also looking for names of people who would be willing to assist for a fee. During the winter months I receive a number of calls after each snow storm from residents who need help.
If you are a senior citizen with special needs or a disabled resident and want to be added to the list of people we will try to find snow angels for - please e mail me.


Next Tuesday's work session begins at 9:15 AM at Town Hall. The work session will be devoted to the 2010 town budget. The Town Board will hold our third and final budget hearing on Tuesday evening at 8:15 PM.

http://www.rivertownsguide.com
- Opening Reception: Artist Wineke Gartz, White Plains
- Alycea Singer performs, Irvington
- Opening Reception: The First Annual Student/ Faculty Exhibition, Garrison
- Comedy: Brian Regan, Tarrytown
- Chanukah Party! @ Toast, Hastings
- Nutcracker Now 2009! Sleepy Hollow
- "Bring Your Wish List to Santa Claus, Hastings
- "Trains-- Your Ticket to the Great Outdoors" GNC, Scarsdale
- Margaret Slovak performs, Hastings
- Holiday Book Signing, Galápagos Books, Hastings
- SteveSongs, Mamaroneck
- Artist Reception: Nora Scarlett, Dobbs Ferry
- Holiday Showcase, Sleepy Hollow
- Hanukkah Puppet Show and Party, Tarrytown
- Cimarron Holiday Festival of Afro-Latino Roots, Mount Vernon
- Victorian Tree Decorating Party, Yonkers
- Hanukkah Concert: The Mama Doni Band, White Plains
- "The Transformative Power of Live Performance", Irvington
- Jessie Lambiase performs, Hastings
- Menorah Lighting Ceremony, Irvington
- Lou's Blues, Ardsley
- Closing Exhibit: Jean Duquoc, Tarrytown
- Matt Turk performs, Hastings
- Judy Collins, Irvington
Please be sure to click through to the “Local” and “What’s Happening” Pages for even more.

Upcoming Films in the Area
Irvington Town Hall Theater
-- "The Nutcracker": Saturday, December 19 @ 11:30am
-- "L’Orfeo": Sunday, December 27 @ 1pm
-- "Leonard Cohen at The Isle of Wight (1970): "Wednesday, December 30 @ 8pm
-- "Don Carlo": Saturday, January 2 @ 11:30am
-- "The Conversation": Wednesday, January 6 @ 8pm
-- "I Puritani": Sunday, January 24 @ 1pm
Memorial Concert
Saturday, January 23 @ 8pm | The First Annual Jonah Maccabee Dreskin Memorial Concert | Bet Am Shalom Synagogue, White Plains | A phenomenal double bill featuring Josh Nelson and Dan Nichols. Two of contemporary Jewish music’s finest artists. Come hear these great performers for a night of entertainment and community as we carry forward the legacy of Jonah Maccabee. Proceeds will help provide URJ summer camp scholarships to WCT member families. To purchase tickets, go to http://wct.org/jonahmaccabeememorialconcert. If you cannot attend but would like to support the Jonah Maccabee Fund, go to http://wct.org/jonah_dreskin
Battle of the Bands
Your band could be selected to perform in front of a live audience at the Westchester County Center this winter. The event will be held on January 23, 2010. Amateur musicians, 15 – 20 years of age only. Deadline for Submission of audition CDs is Tuesday, January 5 Call Kevin Cook for details 914-864-7064 or http://www.countycenter.biz/

Looking for the H1N1 Vaccine?
Contact: Urgent Care of Westchester, 155 White Plains Road, Suite 101 Tarrytown, NY 10591. 372-7171 or http://www.ucofwestchester.com
ANOTHER GREAT WEBSITE: THEHUDSONINDEPENDENT.COM---www.thehudsonindependent.com has some interesting articles about the town of Greenburgh's recent approval of the Stop & Shop supermarket/retail zoning application. There's another good article about the Con Ed tree clearing and its impact on the community. They also have a good calendar of events.
PAUL FEINER

2 comments:

klondike bar said...

with all that is going on in this list, the town board has incredible audacity to keep the "arts council" as a taxpayer funded operation.

its not needed.
we cannot afford it.
its another example of the duplicate government that plagues westchester and new york state.

why part of ASTORINO dont you understand?

hal samis said...

Written Comment #2/Budget Hearing

For the written record and hopefully causing an explanation to follow.

In the budget for the Public Works Department on page 128,
line item 425.0, Gas, Grease & Oil is shown as $12,555 in 2009 and $7,200 for 2010.
A substantial reduction, albeit an estimate, for 2010. Taxpayers are grateful.

Given the presumption that all Town Departments which include GG&O in their budgets, it is my assumption that they obtain GG&O from the same source and are charged at the same rate.

So, whereas it is great news to see that Public Works is "saving money" this does not seem to be consistent with other Town Departments that are likely to be larger users of GG&O. Included in the following are two Departments that are run by Public Works.

department 2009 2010 net change

Police $160,000 $195,000 + $35,000

Highway $130,000 $135,000 + $ 5,000

Sanitation $225,000 $225,000 nc

Given that the Police Department operates a fixed fleet of vehicles on an annual 365/24/7 basis to the limits of its patrol ability dependent upon manpower which has been shrinking, I don't understand how these costs could increase so much in the absence of higher GG&O costs which would seem to be a reasonable conclusion when compared with the other Departments which incur these charges.

Note that Highway constitutes a large network of already existing roads, the same roads which are traveled by the Police Department but with greater frequency. None to few miles of roads were added during 2009.

Sanitation also travels these same roads on a continuing and renewed basis throughout the year.

Both the Highway and Sanitation Departments operate larger and heavier vehicles which consume greater quantites of GG&O on a per mile basis than the Police fleet. So, whereas the roads are traveled with a greater frequency by the Police, their GG&O consumption should be less per mile.

However, this written comment is not about which Department uses more and which less but instead about the variance in estimate with the Police Department alone showing a significant and costly increase for what can be assumed to be the same job year to year.

When the Town Comptroller and the Town Board review the Department budget requests, does neither body charged with the review do so with any scrutiny or on a comparative basis?

When the Police request a 22% increase in GG&O, does no one detect a red flag?
Unless you can assure me that you intend to add patrol personnel to the Police roster in 2010, I must conclude that this increase is a completely bogus request and meant to inflate expenses with the intention to obtain funding for disbursement by budget transfer to uses of a more controversial or dubious nature.

Try and blame it on the departed Police Chief but that won't excuse the lack of oversight over the submitted numbers. Try and blame it on the new head of DPW because he is new and I remind you that you hired Mr. Nana back at an enormous increase ($24,000) because he was indispensable during the transition period.

Either that or the Town Board and Town Comptroller don't have a clue when they review the Budget.

Of course there's always the bossa nova.

It is a shame that with the Department Heads in attendance during the Public Hearing on the Budget that the Town Supervisor did not see fit to call on them to answer questions posed by the public.