tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33594888.post1534817544705732100..comments2023-10-30T06:13:34.382-04:00Comments on Supervisor Feiner: valhalla loses WESTHELP lawsuitPaul Feinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087805120754057844noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33594888.post-35535011335159211322011-11-28T07:11:50.410-05:002011-11-28T07:11:50.410-05:00abinanti also voted for taxter ridge and supported...abinanti also voted for taxter ridge and supported feiner against the fortress bible church<br /><br />feiner and abinanti - career politiciansgaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10016521045323409061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33594888.post-84975738635189833522011-11-22T13:17:52.852-05:002011-11-22T13:17:52.852-05:00To Anonymous: Steve Bass and Eddie-Mae Barnes, bot...To Anonymous: Steve Bass and Eddie-Mae Barnes, both of whom are no longer on the board, voted for this, although they have both admitted they were wrong; not excusing them, but just providing full disclosure. Francis Sheehan was on the board the second time that it came up, and he voted in favor. He has since admitted that it was wrong to do so.<br /><br />Greenburgh County Legislators who voted to transfer the lease payments from the county to the town for the purposes of paying off the Valhalla School District, were Sue Swanson, Tom Abinanti, now an Assembyman, and former chair Lois Bronz. Former County legislator from Yonkers, Andrea Stewart Cousins, who now reps Greenburgh in the state senate, also voted for this.Terry Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07910648537042900430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33594888.post-10524001994531686962011-11-22T10:30:22.237-05:002011-11-22T10:30:22.237-05:00feiner and juettner should both resign or be charg...feiner and juettner should both resign or be charged with violating their oath of office to defend the constitution of the state of new york as well as for their violation of the us constitution in the fortress bible case.garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10016521045323409061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33594888.post-22374581613252216592011-11-22T07:30:37.672-05:002011-11-22T07:30:37.672-05:00Mr. Williams, who else besides Mr. Astorino voted ...Mr. Williams, who else besides Mr. Astorino voted for this deal? Which Democrats should join in resigning, besides Greenburgh's Mr. Feiner and Ms. Juettner, the only two remaining on the Town Board who voted for it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05619406009158847932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33594888.post-17404866831131420292011-11-21T15:28:03.067-05:002011-11-21T15:28:03.067-05:00Mr. McCormack was one of the leading proponents of...Mr. McCormack was one of the leading proponents of this grant, while Mr. Astorino, who served on the Westchester County Board of Legislators, voted at least once to renew the awarding of the money to the Valhalla Union Free School District; Sue Swanson, who he succeeded in that position, introduced the initial legislation. For a person who positions himself as an independent voice, it would have spoke volumes about Mr. Astorino’s character and intellect (it’s not rocket science that this was illegal) if he had voted no while on the board. <br /><br />Given the current fiscal crisis facing the county, and the potential fines for violating the affordable housing settlement with the federal government, can we afford to have Messrs. McCormack and Astorino in leadership positions? Their track record says no; just ask the taxpayers in the Valhalla School District who will have to foot the bill.<br /><br />Mr. Astorino, who ironically ran of a platform of fiscal responsibility, should ask Mr. McCormack to resign immediately. And if Mr. Astorino fails to do so, Mr. McCormack should tender it. He has failed miserably in his duties as communications director, chif of which is to protect the reputation of the county executive. As for Mr. Astorino, he would be well advised to re-examine who is giving him advice, lest he be taken for a puppet.Terry Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07910648537042900430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33594888.post-49386750571112161092011-11-20T13:55:44.011-05:002011-11-20T13:55:44.011-05:00Two town residents, Bob Bernstein and Herb Rosenbe...Two town residents, Bob Bernstein and Herb Rosenberg yesterday won summary judgment in New York State Supreme Court dismissing the Valhalla School District's $4.5 million claims against the Town for breach of contract and they have also won summary judgment for the Town on their $1.8 million counterclaim for indemnification from the school district for the return of all funds illegally disbursed by the Town under the so-called "grant agreement" under which Feiner illegally agreed to give away up to $6.5 million of town revenues. <br /><br />Mr. Bernstein, the former ECC president, and Mr. Rosenberg, a former village justice from Dobbs Ferry, last year successfully intervened in the lawsuit that Valhalla brought against the Town after arguing that Feiner's s support for the illegal grant created a conflict of interest in the town attorney's office that prevented the Town from fairly representing the Town's taxpayers. Among other things, the Town had allowed Valhalla to submit a copy of the grant to the court without including the indemnification provisions that were the basis of the counterclaims that Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Rosenberg brought.<br /><br />The court found the grant to be illegal and unenforceable and further found that the risk of illegality was assumed by the school district when it agreed to the indemnification provision in the original grant, as well as when it agreed to a second indemnification provision when the grant's legality was under review by the state comptroller. The state comptroller subsequently ruled the grant to be illegal, but its legal opinion was not legally binding on the parties.<br /><br />Feiner agreed to the Valhalla grant in 2004 as a means of rewarding town residents of the Valhalla school district who lived near a homeless shelter on the campus of Westchester Community College for not opposing Feiner's decision in 2001 to allow the shelter to remain in operation for an additional ten years in exchange for $1.2 million a year in rent. The court noted, among other things, that the grant served a school purpose, not a town purpose, that the town had no legal authority in New York to give away town revenues for a school purpose, and that, in any event, the grant could never have served a town purpose because, as the interveners pointed out, two thirds of the residents of the school district do not even live in Greenburgh. <br /><br />The court did not enter judgment yet for the specific amount of the counterclaim because of minor discrepancies in the amount. However, the school district conceded that it had received $1,864,151.80, which means the amount of the judgment, when it is entered, will be at least that amount.garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10016521045323409061noreply@blogger.com