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Another Paul Feiner initiative to make Greenburgh the most open government in the United States!
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The views expressed in this blog are the personal views of the participants who post comments on the blog and are not those of the town, town employees or town government. The Supervisors views are his alone.
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50 comments:
The automated phone answering system is a real nusiance. It takes for ever to get in touch with a real person. I feel like I am calling some huge corperation with thousands of employees. Their is no simple Operator extension.
Given the parade of scandals in the latest term of supervisor paul feiner, what possible justification is there for him to be running for yet another two years on top his exisiting 16 years in office? We need fresh ideas and a new set of eyes to address the town's problem. We dont need a supervisor for life.
Yes, of course we need term limits. In the meantime, I'd hope that he'd be wise enough and caring enough about Greenburgh to know not to run again.
Maybe this week (or month or year) the median strips along Central Park Avenue will be cleaned?? It's such an embarassment, especially having been neglected for at least two years now. (From the Yonkers city line to just north of Ardsley Road, and then at Mt. Joy and at Underhill/Old Army.)
I don't care if it's a state road or a hamlet road or whatever; the TOWN should take action, either by doing the work (simple but now time-consuming due to neglect) or mandating that the county or state do it.
The cleanup is best to do now, before all the weeds grow back. All that's needed is a blower, a weedwacker, a few gallons of weedkiller, a few pushbrooms - followed up by a street cleaner. It's not a complex task. No one expects it to look nice like Yonkers, but come on, we shouldn't look so nasty.
I'm surprised that the Edgemont community organizations haven't demanded that this neglect be addressed over the past two years (at least) of accumulated debris.
Dear term limits: Did you read the NY TIMES article (page 1) on Monday. The paper discusses civility re: blogs and how people misuse blogs and write nasty comments. This blog is not alone - bloggers on other sites also have been misusing the privileges of blog-democracy. Some people suggest that bloggers identify themselves. Please be civil, please stick to the issues. Please don't focus on personalities.
not sure how i feel about the issue, but here's the NYT article ...
A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/technology/09blog.html
Here is what the NY Times actually said about Mr. Feiner in September 2005:
Mr. Feiner was a precocious politician many years ago, but his tenure -- 13 years and counting -- is now well into F.D.R. territory. This page is not at all fond of term limits, but in this case, a decade and a half feels about right. There is a weariness in Greenburgh -- not in Mr. Feiner's eyes, which light up whenever he talks about a new initiative to extend town services in some creative way -- but among voters who have tired of the battles, the secession talk, the lawsuits, the whole Feiner factor.
After all this time, the position and the person of the Greenburgh town supervisor have blurred together. Town government calls to mind a terrible political marriage being kept together for the sake of the constituents. That is not a good thing.
"Term Limits" blogger said nothing wrong or improper.
The anonymous Feiner supporter who was offended by the comment -- perhaps it was Feiner himself -- either didn't understand what the NY Times article was saying, or doesn't understand the meaning of the First Amendment in this country.
The NY Times article was about the difficulty a so-far unregulated blogosphere has in protecting against anonymous posts containing libel and slander, which is not protected by the First Amendment, while at the same time encouraging the free flow of political debate, which is.
Here, however, there was nothing in the "term limits" post that anyone would consider libelous and slanderous.
In a blog inviting comments about town issues, an anonymous suggestion that the town should consider adopting term limits, that the town needs fresh ideas and a new set of eyes, is precisely the kind of political discussion the internet was intended to encourage.
Others might argue, however, that the town doesn't need to impose "term limits" if what's needed are fresh ideas and a new set of eyes.
All that's needed for that is a candidate who offers these things. It looks like we may get that this year.
"All that's needed for that is a candidate who offers these things. It looks like we may get that this year."
From Who???? Suzanne Berger, fresh from her payola scandal with Sheehan???
Susan Berger should stay at home and bake cookies. She is not fit to run Greenburgh.She already started on the wrong foot ,that being, contributing $1000,00 to Sheehan.What comes next.
Feiner is using a $250 contribution that Suzanne Berger gave Francis Sheehan in 2005 as a smokescreen to hide Feiner's own far more serious ethical lapses.
In the last few years, Feiner has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from developers, their lawyers and professional consultants -- all with active applications before the town.
Feiner then acted as a private lobbyist for these applicants -- never once disclosing the money they paid him.
In one fundraiser alone, in March 2004, Feiner raked in more than $32,000. So many developers, lawyers and consultant were in atttendance at that affair it was a veritable "Predator's Ball" for Greenburgh.
When these contributions came to light, Feiner refused to return the money and recuse himself from voting on these applications.
Can you imagine if a village mayor or trustee were caught doing what Feiner has done, how long that person would remain in office?
To 2:03 P.M.
Can you explain what Feiner did for these developers. What exactly did the developers get for these contributions. Clearly, Sheehan paid Berger back by landing her firm a $500,000 to $1,000,000 contract.
Great question, Anon 3:30. I have been reading these charges being hurled arounbd (almost always in the same writing style, so it is probably a well-known person) but nobody has ever said what Feiner supposedly got.
Every politician gets constributions from people who have some interest. If it was illegal, then let us know about it. If Feiner did something in return, let us know about it. If it is just Feiner-beashing, then we have had more than enough.
The conspiracy minded comments about Sheehan and the contribution he received is beyond laughable. It was made at least 18 months before Sheehan took office. The Bryan Cave firm - which again Ms. Berger has no partnership or ownership interest in - was selected as the best firm by the Town's professionals. The assertion that there was some sort of quid pro quo is as obvious as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or as nuts as saying Sheehan is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby girl.
I never knew that Mr Sheehan even dated Anna Nicole Smith.
Should we all have a new found respect for him?
Anonymous 4:59 aks "I never knew that Mr Sheehan even dated Anna Nicole Smith. Should we all have a new found respect for him?"
No. It is just another example of his bad qualities.
To 4:37
What is exactly laughable about Berger giving Sheehan a contribution and once in power, Sheehan returning the favor by gettin her law firm a $500,000 to $1,000,000 contract? Sheehan and his supporters say the Town Professionals came up with Berger's firm. I would be concerned with who gave them the parameters by which they were to conduct their "investigation." It is very simple to set the standards of an inquiry in such a way as to get the desired result. Just how open minded were these Town Professionals.
Sheehan didn't give Berger anything in return for her contribution.
As Feiner likes to say when people blame him for the town's mismanagment, it takes three votes for the town board to do anything. Sheehan was only one vote.
Also, if Feiner had a problem with the Bryan Cave firm, he should at least have interviewed the other two law firms that applied for the job. He never bothered.
That shows that this issue is just the latest in a series of red herrings that Feiner is raising in a desperate attempt to shift public attention away from his having gotten caught taking tens of thousands of dollars from developers with applications pending before the town for approval on projects worth tens of millions of dollars.
Dear 12:29 AM
"it takes three votes for the town board to do anything. Sheehan was only one vote."
What you fail to acknowledge is Sheehan is running Greenburgh, not Feiner. Sheehan was able to secure the contract for Berger's firm because Barnes and Juettner do whatever he says. When was the last time Bass and Juettner didn't vote along with Sheehan? Juettner's turns her head to look at Sheehan so much during the meetings I fear it will spin around one day like in the "Exorcist." She clearly is completely in Sheehan's camp. I give Bass credit for voting against Sheehan on this obviously suspicious Berger contract.
Dear Anonymous 4/10/07 at 1PM -
Please take your sexist comments and join Don Imus in his quest to return to the 19th Century. Don't forget to take enough penicillin with you in your time machine - you'll need it as syphllis was a common disease, especially among ignorant men.
The Journal News reported that the town board was meeting yesterday in a work session to respond to the Comptroller's office about the Westhelp situation. Anyone know what happened? There wasn't anything in the paper today.
Anonymous at 7:37 sounds just about as sexist in attacking Ms. Juettner and Ms. Barnes, as yesterday's anonymous at 1 pm was in suggesting that Ms. Berger should stay home and bake cookies.
What's with these Feiner supporters and their problem with women?
This anti-women comments bring to mind all the women over the years who told the NY Times they had problems working with Feiner ... like the former town comptrollers Ms. McAvoy and Ms. Berg, and the former town attorney Ms. Mancuso.
Nothing can be more anti-woman than Sheehan ordering Gil Kaminer to tell the women shool superintendent not "to make a circus" at the Town Board meeting. Depriving people of their basic rights of free speach is a first step toward ending our democracy.
Edye McCarthy, our assessor, is a credit to the town. Glad that all our elected officials think the world of her!
It is not sexist to point out that Juettner and Barnes seem to be run by Sheehan. It is a fact that they rarely speak, as Sheehan always does, and they never disagree with him or offer any point of view after he makes his statements other than to second whatever he says.
It is a pity. Sheehan originally came across as an intelligent reformer, but his hatred of the Supervisor has caused him to become dictatorial and insulting. The mutual deprecation between Feiner and Sheehan (Sheehan is the more guilty)has made Town Board meetings into a sideshow. The public be damned.
2:36 truer words were never spoken.It's about time Sheehan steps down,so the public could once again become part of the town meetings.Sheehan ,give us back our meetings. We have had enough of you, together with the Edgemont civic association.
2:36 truer words were never spoken.It's about time Sheehan steps down,so the public could once again become part of the town meetings.Sheehan ,give us back our meetings. We have had enough of you, together with the Edgemont civic association.
The Town Board meetings have always been the best free show in town. Before there was Sheehan there was Samis,Bernstein,Siegal, Garfunkel,Reninger,O'Shea and Preiser - and mumbling, harrumphing and stammering through his ringmaster's duties, the inimitable Paul Feiner. All the sound and fury signifying nothing.
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose.
surely you jest. sheehan is a breath of fresh air and is clearly not the type of rubber stamp feiner and his supporters desire. hallelujah!
The biggest mystery in Greenburgh right now is why Ms. Juettner and Ms. Barnes, two intelligent women with years of experience, have barely uttered a word of English since Frances Sheehan took the throne at Town Hall, hired his own personal assistant/goon at taxpayer expense, and then began to methodically hack away at Paul Feiner and dozens of other victims who have had the TEMERITY to question his omniscience.
A word of caution to the Town Board members who have unwisely aligned themselves with Mr. Sheehan -- not a good idea, expecially if you're planning to run again. He's clearly burning bridges behind him everywhere and you won't be able to cross those bridges once they're burned.
Mr. Sheehan and his personal assistant have acted unethically over and over again, to win the war they've decided to wage against Mr. Feiner. They have knowingly published or passed along false information, they knowingly lied to the State Comptroller, they have spread false rumors about private individuals in Greenburgh. They use the local press, which is always first on their list of contacts when they make a decision. By the way, it's no secret that a vocal member of the Greenburgh Central 7 school board who has vocally opposed the WestHelp Partnership agreement just happens to be married to a reporter at The Journal News.
Mr. Sheehan -- you might be fooling some people, but you're not fooling the rest of us. We know what you've been up to, and it's underhanded, unethical, and just plain nasty.
Dear Fit to be Tied @ 5:11
So ye think that our favorite Town Council member, bonnie Prince Sheehan is a "breath of fresh air" and the likes of yourself be quoting this from those ads for "Irish Spring" soap?
Come clean now yourself, lassie; stow your blarney and be thinking of us little people who suffer the blows from Francis' shillelagh.
As for me self, I be telling you that things in loch greenburgh be not much better for all the donnybrook that me eyes be a witness to. Begorrah, let us enjoy Spring, the return of the first heather and start looking for the pot 'o gold at the end of Feiner's rainbow.
I watched the Town Board meeting last night. Couldn't believe my eyes when Sheehan made a motion to shut Feiner up when Feiner talked about a tougher ethics law. Who does he think he is. Feiner was elected just like Sheehan. Sheehan has a double standard. He wants an ethics law that he can wiggle out of.
Sheehan did the right thing.
Sheehan and the other board members let Feiner stammer on for nearly an hour in support of his utterly ridiculous idea to ban political parties and other political groups in Greenburgh from making contributions to candidates before making a motion to table the discussion and cut off the debate.
Political parties and other political groups in America have a First Amendment right to raise money and contribute to the candidates of their choice.
Feiner should be ashamed of himself for thinking government can prevent political parties from doing what the First Amendment guarantees they can do.
Amen. Sheehan's motion to table Feiner's babble was rightly seconded. Feiner, showing how ignorant he is, then protested that his first amendment rights were being violated. Feiner needs to read the constitution which he swore to uphold and abide by. The first amendment protects citizens against their government. Feiner is the government. Despite sixteen years at the helm, Feiner still doesnt understand this. This illustrates a serious problem with Feiner - he thinks the law does not apply to him as can be seen by his ongoing efforts to champion the illegal WestHelp deal and his taking of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from agents of those with applications before the town board or other town departments in violation of the town's code of ethics. We knew Feiner was lazy and corrupt. We can add ignorant and perhaps dangerous to the list of his problems.
"it's no secret that a vocal member of the Greenburgh Central 7 school board who has vocally opposed the WestHelp Partnership agreement just happens to be married to a reporter at The Journal News."
Are you insinuating that Terry Williams, who wrote that biased op-ed piece in the Journal News, is married to one of their employees? I do not remember seeing that disclosed in the newspaper. Other newspapers have an ombudsman to deal with those types of ethic problems.
Jeeze , here we thought that only ethically challenged in our fair town was the big boss of the board and his woman-threatening "aide de camp". Just goes to show you that you can learn something new every day.
The next time Mr. Feiner goes on and on at a Town Meeting, would the council please ask, is there a motion on the floor, and if no motion and second move on.
This is elemantary Parlimantary procedure. No one in stepping on Mr. Feiner's free speach rights. He can speak. Just not at Town Meetings. He can put notices up here etc.
Mr. Feiners right to free speech does not interfere with my right not to listen ad infinitum.
Sheehan has no respect for democracy- he is not our supervisor and keeps trying to prevent Feiner from speaking at meetings.
To the blogger who doesn't want to listen to Feiner. You can shut the TV off.
I dont turn off the tv becasue I want to hear the town council meeting, NOT THE PAUL FEINER SHOW. He does not own that time slot.
Sheehan came into office and so did the circus.SHAME ON YOU,the only way you know how to act is like the bully that you are.
I wonder who Frances will turn to and bully should Paul lose in November. Will it be you Mr. Bass????????
Hey Sheehan,I watched the rerun of the circus and I noticed you had your laptop out again. What is it ,is your mind shot, that you need assistance from your aid as to what to say.It was lovely hearing you praise your goffer that night too. Most goffers are volunteers , this one is paid with our tax monies in doing what.
And now, re ethics, Feiner continues to stall rules to prevent him from taking money from developers and their lawyers (are we in for another "predators ball"?)
I am only hoping the developers will realize that Feiner can no longer get projects approved and stop giving him money. But I guess he has to save for his retirement.
So is anyone running for Council this year on the Feiner "dream team"?
Will sheehan give back the money he received from suzanne berger since he gave berger's law firm a big,big,big,contract without competitive bidding.
Or--does sheehan want the matter referred to the ethics bd?
Paul Feiner and the Town Board state there is a Code of Ethics.....However I find it unethical that A Greenburgh 18B lawyer Felix DeVito has aided his longtime girlfirend Lisabeth Hoagland to secure a job at Greenburgh Town Court as A criminal assistant court clerk handling the very same criminal cases that are awarded to the 18B Greenburgh lawyers on a daily basis. All three Judges are aware of this unethical behavior as well as all the employees of the court. IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT SHE HAS STARTED AS ONE OF THE HIGHEST PAID ASSISTANT COURT CLERK. A FOIL REQUEST WOULD ANSWER THIS QUESTION.....
It seems Feiner will do anything he can to divert attention away from the serious ethics investigation underway about practice of taking thousands of dollars from developers with applications pending before the town.
Now he's telling his supporters that Sheehan voted with two other board members to hire a law firm without competitive bidding.
In fact, as Feiner well knows, there were two other law firms that bid for the assignment, and Feiner himself could have interviewed either of them, but he didn't bother.
And oddly enough, the law firm representing the developer on the other side of the table will be a firm that has given Feiner thousands of dollars in campaign contributions over the years.
Who exactly has the ethical problem here? His name is Feiner.
The entire Town Board should have interviewed the law firms - not just Feiner. Sheehan, Juettner and Barnes wanted to get on the good side of Suzanne Berger, chair of the democratic committee. That's why her firm got the six figure contract from the town. These councilmembers are going to be seeking the endorsement of the Democratic party (which berger chairs) this year or in two years. That's why their action was ethically challenged.
has sheehan decided whether he is going to bring the berger matter to the attention of the ethics board?
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