The Greenburgh Town Board will vote to appoint William Carter as the next Commissioner at the Theodore Young Community Center (Department of Community Resources) tonight at our 7:30 PM special Town Board meeting. We expect Mr. Carter to start working for the town on November 15th. Mr. Carter indicated that prior to his appointment he will be meeting with community center staff and residents.
Bill is well known and respected in the community. He has been an advocate for our youth and coordinates county funded youth initiative programming. He has been responsible for insuring contract compliance of youth services providers contracted by the county and facilitates all aspects associated with resource allocation of over 8 million dollars in youth development funding.
Bill has also worked with the Educational Opportunity Center of Westchester and with the White Plains Youth Bureau. He currently teaches at Westchester Community College (Adjunct Professor) and worked at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls School and Family Service of Westchester.
Bill has outstanding education credentials. He received his MSW from Columbia University School of Social Work and was the recipient of the Eveline Burns Scholar in Social Policy Fellowship. He graduated from Dominican College of Blauvelt (Summa Cum Laude), with a BS in Social Work. He has been invited to give presentations to colleges, educators around New York State and St. Lucia.
He is active in African American Men of Westchester and received his license from the State Education Department as an HIV Test Counselor. There is much, much more I can say about Bill’s background. He was one of the three finalists of our Search Committee –and is highly regarded by those who know him. I think he will be an outstanding Commissioner and look forward to working with him. The town is lucky to have him as our next Commissioner
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LORDIE! Is this the same Carter? *&^%$#@&^!@$%^&$#!!!!! I'll bet it is and I can't imagine he will have the best interests in mind for ALL of Greenburgh. While I applaud his accomplishments, I'm pretty speechless at the choice for many reasons. I'LL LEAVE IT AT THAT.
From the Streets to the Classroom
New York Times
BuzzPermalinkBy JOSEPH BERGER
Published: September 15, 1996
When William Carter started doctoral classes last week at Columbia University's School of Social Work, it was hard to imagine that not so many years ago he was homeless and slept on subway platforms and park benches.
It is hard even for him to imagine.
''In some ways it seems like a long time ago and in some ways it feels like it was yesterday,'' he said.
Still, in the last six years Mr. Carter, 42, has pulled himself from the slough of drunken binges, makeshift beds and jail and has swiftly acquired a college education and a master's degree, not to mention an apartment. The methodical schedule of a student has been a satisfying contrast to the aimless descent that had lasted on and off for 12 years.
''I would go into a place like McDonald's and go to sleep,'' he said. ''I would go into a bar at night and find me a corner and go to sleep. The seasons changed and I never noticed. Time had no meaning. There was no distinction between day and night, winter, fall, summer, spring. There was a sense of timelessness, despair. My life was centered on what time the liquor store opened.''
In some ways Mr. Carter's story is a model for rescuing people from homelessness and addiction; in other ways it is a mystery that depends on the singularity of Mr. Carter's life and character. He is a child of West Virginia's mountains, raised by a formidable grandmother who gave him what he describes as ''an impeccable value system'' and an esteem for learning. The sour rebellion that lasted into his mid-30's was his own, he says, but when he resolved to reshape his life the lessons of his upbringing were there to be tapped.
At the same time, Mr. Carter was fortunate that when he completed a six-month sentence in the Westchester County Jail for selling drugs, there was a program in Westchester that made it easy for welfare recipients to take classes at the local community college -- a state program that has since been cut back by four-fifths in the drive to make recipients work, rather than allow them to study -- and there was a shelter staffed by counselors who also had lived his experience and come out the other end. These things do not help many addicts. But they helped Mr. Carter.
His social work adviser at Columbia said that while few homeless people rise to the level of Ph.D. students, Mr. Carter's recovery should come as no surprise.
''Our whole profession is based on the notion that that is a possibility,'' said the adviser, Judith Marks, the coordinator of special programs. Columbia officials said the school has had a number of students over the years who had overcome addictions and other problems and whose ordeals drew them to social work.
Mr. Carter is an imposing man, 6 foot 5 and 340 pounds, with a survivor's ability to chuckle at his follies but with a voice whose sometimes sad edge betrays the bruises of his past. His parents split up when he was a baby and his mother migrated permanently to Peekskill, N.Y. There is a rose-tinted quality to his memories of his grandmother's home in Prince, W.Va., a hamlet he remembers as cradled in a green valley embraced by mountains. ''It was just like an explosion of nature saluting you in the morning,'' he said.
As in many country places too small for ghettoes to form, blacks like himself and whites got along, he said. Racial animus was something he became familiar with later.
''People kind of helped each other out, so when the vegetables grew, and someone had a bumper crop of string beans and squash or potatoes or something, they would just come by and say, 'Go ahead! Take some stuff from my garden.' ''
He was a fine student as a youngster, but his grades began to plummet toward the end of high school, around the time his mother died of emphysema brought on by her smoking and aggravated by drinking. He started West Virginia State College, he said, but was drawn more by partying than classes and soon dropped out. He became what he calls ''a hell raiser.''
''After visiting New York and being exposed to racial injustices, I had grown a big Afro, I was loud about my blackness, I was an advocate of black power. Plus I liked to partake of the grape. I would end up getting half-sloshed and getting into arguments and it was usually racially motivated fights with some real hard rednecks.''
Worried about his safety, his grandmother shipped him to Peekskill to live with his older sister, Jennifer. He got a job as an orderly at the nearby Franklin D. Roosevelt Veterans Administration Hospital. Although he drank heavily -- ''I was a wino,'' he said -- and at times shot heroin, he managed to hold the job for 10 years. One day, suffering from withdrawal-related shaking and hallucinations, he lost the will to work.
His sister and friends tried to pull him out of his spiral. It did not work. ''You have an inability to hear what people say to you,'' Mr. Carter remembered. Eventually, he said, Jennifer ''had to step back and let whatever happened, happen.''
Without a job, and with relatives no longer willing to cushion him during his slide, he began a long spell of homelessness.
''It was a natural progression,'' Mr. Carter said. ''I went from apartments, to rooms, to homes of friends. Then I went to abandoned buildings. Then I went to park benches. Then I went anywhere I could lay my head. As the bottom fell out of my life, it became less important to me where I was sleeping or whether I had any place to go. You keep lowering your expectations until you reach a point where you don't expect things to change. You don't care.''
He does not blame his mother for his problems. ''I'm sure that somewhere along the line there were some Freudian implications with my father breaking camp, my mother leaving, but I never remember feeling it,'' he said. He does wonder, however, if there was a genetic element. Not only was his mother alcoholic, but his father died of a heart condition hastened by drinking.
On July 5, 1984, he recalls, he woke up under bushes in a park outside Peekskill and decided he did not want to die. He joined a rehabilitation program. But weeks before he was finished, he quit to be with his grandmother, who was mortally ill. When he returned to Peekskill, he took a job as a cleaning crew manager at the Indian Point nuclear plant. He got an apartment, shared with a girlfriend. While he never resumed drinking, he started smoking crack.
Within weeks, he lost the job, broke up with his girlfriend, sold everything in his apartment and was homeless once more, sometimes sleeping on subway platforms in New York City to be near a drug supplier. To support his new habit, he became a drug dealer. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to an attemped sale. In the Westchester County Jail, he resolved again to change his life. This time, the resolve stuck.
Paroled, he was sent to Open Arms, a 38-bed men's shelter sponsored by Westchester churches and synagogues, where he stayed for eight months. Ron Mitchell, the director, said that Open Arms's virtues were that it is small and, in addition to meals and shelter -- ''three hots and a cot'' -- offers a staff studded with veterans of Alcoholics Anonymous and homelessness as well as educational counselors.
The counselors steered Mr. Carter, who was tired of dead-end jobs and confident he had more to offer, into a workfare program, then called ''Moms on the Move'' but also open to some men, which enrolled him in Westchester Community College. Dr. Margaret P. Olson, the two-year college's director of special student services, said he got straight A's except for a B in psychology. ''His flip answer about the B is that 'it keeps me humble,' '' she said.
Mr. Carter felt drawn to social work because, he said, ''Every person who has been through hell wants to become a person who will help other people come through hell.'' He received a full scholarship to Dominican College in Rockland County, which offers a bachelor's degree in social work, and graduated at the top of his class. He was accepted with advanced standing into Columbia, where he completed his master's and received a state social work certificate. Impressed professors at Dominican have hired him to teach a course in group dynamics, but he also returns to Open Arms to counsel homeless men and tutors at the nearby Coachman Hotel, a residence for homeless families.
Meredith Hanson, a professor of social work who supervised Mr. Carter's field work at Columbia, said Mr. Carter had the elusive ability to advise clients without having to remind them about his own recovery. And teachers at all three schools praised him for an intelligence and iron will that may have been muffled by his drinking and drug use but that were there to be reawakened.
Mr. Carter, who is pursuing a Ph.D. because he wants to teach aspiring social workers and other professionals full-time, says that sometimes ''I feel kind of small'' in a prestigious school like Columbia but ''that passes real quick.''
''Life is funny,'' he said. ''Millions of people wish they could have the chance to start all over again. For me it did happen. Sometimes I think my life is predestined because I never had these type of plans. It just happened. So my job is just to show up and let the process continue.''
Hiring convicted felons, drug addicts, gang members and, to run its after school program, a mystery man without a resume seems to be what the Town of Greenburgh does these days since Feiner got his "team" elected last year. This kind of hiring may be good for one very small segment of the town's population, but how is this prudent management for the Town as a whole?
Can you imagine the risks that are being assumed here?
I am rarely surprised, and always saddened, that there is a group of residents -- small, I hope -- that always finds a way to put someone down, through chracater assassination, finding the small flaw (often no longer a flaw) instead of the big accomplishments, and dwelling on these destructive attacks week after week.
I don't know Mr. Carter. I have never met him or seen him. I don't know how the Young Community Center is managed. But if he is the person who is the subject of the 1996 New York Times article, then I already admire him and wish him much luck -- with the expectation that he will succeed in the political quagmire which is the Community Center.
People who have never had to deal with real adversity (and I mean REAL adversity) do not begin to understand how strengthening it is to overcome such adversity. They cannot begin to understand what intellectual and physical discipline, emotional growth, empathy and thoughtfulness it takes to come from where Mr. Carter was to a PhD from Columbia University (even people who have lived on easy street cannot imagine the hard work which is involved in getting a PhD from Columbia University).
The first two bloggers should applaud the town government for hiring a person with Mr. Carter's history and qualifications and not do their usual dumping.
Or is that asking too much from this destructive bunch.
I wonder if Mr. Rosenberg would feel as fortunate as he thinks the people of unincorporated Greenburgh should feel, if Mr. Carter had been placed in charge of community services in Dobbs Ferry.
I also wonder whether Mr. Rosenberg would feel as fortunate as he feels the taxpayers of unincorporated Greenburgh should feel if the taxpayers of Dobbs Ferry were also required to pay for the community center's operations.
Inasmuch as the community center is open to the entire town, including Dobbs Ferry, the idea that Dobbs Ferry might have to pay is not that far-fetched.
I wonder how Mr. Rosenberg would feel then.
To Anonymous 3:59
I have commented many times that no matter what the question, some people alsways turn it into an A budget or B budget question. Since the blog and my earlier comment relate to Mr. Carter's appointment as Executive Director of the Community Center, and not to A/B budget matters, I will not deal with the anonymous' question about how I would feel about A/B matters.
As to Mr. Carter's appointment, I would have the same opinion about Mr. Carter being in charge of Dobbs Ferry's community services as I do about the services at the Young Community center, and that is whether he is the right person for the job. As I tried to make clear (and I think I was clear), the fact that Mr. Carter's early life had many troubling issues seems to have been overcome by really extraordinary accomplishments later. It seems nasty in the extreme for the first two bloggers to suggest that what may have been problems in Mr. Carter's youth should forever disqualify him, no matter how outstanding his life has been afterwards. Although I am not a Catholic, I do believe in redemption.
Put another way, Mr. Carter's appointment should have been based (as it seemingly was) on the Town Board's careful determination of who can best serve in the position, and not on the unforgiving nature of the supercritics of whatever the Town Board does. Time will tell, and soon enough, whether the Town Board's decision was a good one or not. Of one thing I am fairly certain -- whether Mr. Carter succeeds or fails in the position, his early troubles will have had nothing to do with it.
Does he have significant adminstrative experience? Do we care?
You know I have sat here and read so many comments and find some funny, some sad, some true. I work for the Town and no first hand of the politics that goes on. While I have to say Paul is a good supervisor, I feel he needs to go back to some of his "old" ways and "tighten" his grip on department heads, board members, etc. It is funny how the "little people" meaning employees are made to suffer because of the "higher ups" mistakes.
Rampant spending of money in budgets, use of the capital budget for misc. items, management abusing their authority ex. taking town cars home,etc. Taxpayers do not want their tax dollars going towards "frivolous" spending.
I personally feel that Paul needs to "fine tooth" ALL departments budgets and cut them drastically, only "essential items" should be purchased. Why aren't we looking into more grants?
I know that a lot of us are looking to settle a contract we need to keep in mind that we have a job with benefits, we should count our blessing, be a little more patient, who knows what 2009 will bring. Look at what just happened on Wall Street.
Finally, Mr. Carter has made mistakes, but the man was honest enough to write about his past issues and rise above his mistakes. I am pretty sure he knows that he is going to placed under a "microscope" by taking this position. For all the "negative" bloggers; how good of a job could you do if you were in charge of the Community Center?
Interesting that the Town Board was in such a rush to approve the Xposure contract when appointing a new Commissioner was imminent.
Did the Town Board ask candidates if they would go along with hiring Mr. Thomas, was this a deal breaker to be hired?
Frankly I don't have a clue as to on which side of the controversy Mr. Carter inhabits. However, I find it unusual for any organization to commence a major program on the eve of appointing a new head of the organization.
Common sense would dictate that the new department head would come on board free of new, binding commitments. Now, Mr. Carter has no choice but to "love" the new after school program.
Love makes the world go round and a well-greased wheel goes even more slickly.
Paul have you realized how much ill rest this center has brought to our area.
What are you waiting for to either close it or sell it to the highest bidder.
Things cannot and will not run smooth anymore.
Stop babying the center .
It will never be a good facility for this town.
It could have been good years ago but now it is the pits.
Stop stealing our hard earned money to keep this place alive.
If people are aware of cars being taken home against town policy, please provide me with specifics. Each specific incident will be investigated. PAUL FEINER
Dear Paul,
Are you suggesting that we should slander town employees here?
Interesting. *pages Dr Freud*
To 10/2-1:06pm omg - We (many) of the employees of the TDY Community Center welcome a seasoned professional. Whatever Mr. Carter humble beginning were it appears he has worked hard to become educate and has worthy credentials to hold the position of Commissioner. Welcome Mr. Carter.
Many challenges face you as you embark on this new journey and you will have the support of the Aquatics Director, Senior Citizen Coordinator, Activites Coordinator and many, many staff.
The past seven months have been pure torture and a living hell. We have survived under the corrupt Whitehead and welcome her being replaced and hope the truth will surface about all her stealing with an indictment.
Help restore the diginity and pride at TDYCC!
Please keep an open mind and judge all on their own merits.
TDYCC seems to be important for Fairview and Elmsford, but not the rest of the town. So why not sell it to an organization like the Y since it's not an essential service for most of the town. I'm not saying to close it; just get it out of municipal hands and use the funds for townwide services.
It would be great if we sold TDYCC -- or gave it away -- and sold Taxter Ridge.
Why not just take the loss and give our share of Taxter Ridge to our "partners"?
At least Greenburgh might unburden itself of the overhead which it bears solely.
The downside is that the Supervisor would have to reduce his bragging rights accordingly.
WHITEHEAD IS WRONG
It made my morning to see a post complementing Whitehead’s work. I couldn’t stop laughing for ten full minutes! Remember, this is the same person who does not have minimum qualifications, who was not supported by staff, not supported by the center’s advisory board, not supported by the community, who has brought morale down to its lowest level, and is now being investigated by police.
So who would support her? Perhaps one of the six people who are alleged to have worked excessive hours yet couldn’t be found on the premises. Now they’ll support her!
Did competitive interviewing take place for any of the employees who put in these excessive hours over the summer? No!
Was Family Day a success? Yes! Good work Lee & center staff!
(In fact, Whitehead didn’t attend Family Day since 1983.)
Can someone name one outstanding accomplishment of her (Whitehead’s) record in her former position which warranted a free pass to the head of the department? Name one! Bad choice. Close the chapter.
Remember – it’s not slander or character assassination when the facts can be supported with truth.
TIME TO GIVE THE TDY ADVISORY BOARD A PINK SLIP
Congratulations to Mr. Carter. Your appointment is a breath of fresh air!
Please consider letting go of the present advisory board. This suggestion is not made with any vindictiveness or mean spirit, but out of a genuine concern about the future of the Center. It has become painfully obvious that no one on that board is committed to the betterment of this organization. They have proven to be committed to their own personal agenda. If you were to ask any member of that advisory board what they accomplished in support of the community center you would draw blank stares. Cora Carey has done the most damage. When we see her coming, we duck for cover. She is an angry, critical, mean spirited person that has nothing good to say about anyone or anything. I would personally pay for her to enroll in an anger management workshop. Don’t listen to her, don’t give her any audience. She will hurt you. She hurt Valerie, she hurt Barbara, and needless to say she will continue her record of hurt. She is a hurt expert.
There are many people throughout the Greenburgh community, who would welcome the chance to serve on a functioning advisory board. The new people must have one agenda: What can I do to contribute and improve programs and services at the TDY Center? Simply put, not what perks or advantages can I get from being on the advisory, but more importantly what can I do for the Theodore D. Young Community Center?
Many, many years ago, that was the prime goal of the advisory board. The advisory board needs to be the strongest advocate for the center. They should be the ambassadors of good will and have definitive responsibilities related to carrying out the center’s mission. Right now, the advisory board is missing in action. The community doesn’t know who they are, not does anyone know what they’ve ever done?
Mr. Carter, at the top of your list is to have some people who are caring, responsible, and willing to make a contribution. We wish you much success in your new position.
Demand fair payment for use of facilities, including the pool by the Silver Streaks.
No more freebees and maybe the fight will be over. Paul you know dam well that the ones that use the center and the daycare center could very well afford what ever the fees are but you want to say and let the rest of town residents believe that there are poor people in Greenburgh.
SHOW ME WHERE.
If these two buildings don't come up with money to hold their own then you should see them to a private concern or close then completely.
We cannot affor to go along with those that say they have nothing when they have the best of two worlds that being whatever they can get for free and working good jobs at the same time.
Gay Silverman made a big deal that Silver Streaks is a 501(c) organization and information is filed with the IRS. I went to www.guidestar.org, which accumulates this informaiton and it indicated that no annual report was filed as the income was less than 25,000. Yet others have said that children pay over $1,000 each to participate. I think we need a better understanding of the Silver Streak finances, and why no IRS filing. I dont think we should be renting out the TDYCC pool at less than market to a private group, certainly not without a better understanding of the groups finances. Why is nothing in Greenburgh transparent? Why doesnt the Town check these things out?
Once again the proof is in pudding. The right decision has been made in relationship to the appointing of Mr. William "Bill" Carter. This is a man that has proven to "ALL" that no matter where the journey may strat you "kep on keeping on". As an employee of the Community Center I welcome Bill to what he does best. A chage agent of purpose and direction. The Community Center was a place for me that started many life directions. I celebrate the memory of Mr. Young and I celebrate men and women like James Harris, Marie Roberts, Mr. Washington, Strickman, Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Mary Young, Wiliam Bland, Hopeton White and James Robinson. All of them and many nameless others have provide a safe and secure place for youth, famlies and the entire community of the Township of Greenburgh. I have read in previos blogs; the idea that the Community Center needs to be sold to private parties. That might be a good idea or it might not. However when I come to work I see not only the faces of people that come from my race, but I also see asian, indians, whites that make up this community that is call Greenburgh. A former US Sentor called it a "melting pot". I am not trying to sound like Rodney King, but the truth of the matter is "we need to get along". In a few more days the USA will select the next leader of the "Free World". No matter who wins there will change that will hurt, but in the end it will cause healing. Please allow the change at the TDYCC to occur. Allow the season of cut thoarting come to an end. Please allow the staff to come together with our new boss. Allow him to share his vision and directives. Allow him to correct the errors of the present and the past and take us {TDY Staff} to a new and refreshing place. The entire Town of Greenburgh deserves a Community Center that welcomes everyone. REGARDLESS!!! Allow the Community Center to once again become the National Example of Community Centers. I believe that we have the right man in place. For all of the naysayers about the Community Center and Ms. Whitehead I ask you to step back and take a real good look at what has been created sense this maddnes was birthed last November 07. What has it gotten us? Who has benefited the most from it? And lastly who on the staff of the TDY has been helped or encourage in their present position? Nicco an employee at the Community Center always ask this question "What about the children? What about them? He does not ask about the white children, black children or asain children? They are all children and we need to embrace all of them. Lastly, in regards to Ms. Silverman, I just say do what is right and fair and leave it at that. To my fellow staffers, lets move on and be the professional experts that we are. Demonstrating nonprofessional attitudes in offices or hallways speaks volumes of where your heart is. And that your journey, please stop inviting other staffers into your bitterness and hurt. I know you are better then what this negative time and season has brought us through. It's a new season and change will only come when we be come the Change Agents like our new boss. Welcome Bill Carter I am ready to follow your leadership and direction. Bill don't only take the seat, but take control of the purpose,mission and destiny of the Comunity Center.
NO justice no peace!
Blood suckers - Silver Streaks been draining Town $$$$ and resources for years.
No Justice No Peace
PS - Has Silver Streak paid her bill????
SALUTE TO THE HARD WORKING TDY CENTER EMPLOYEES
Congratulations on your appointment as permanent Commissioner of the TDY Center. There is truly a great opportunity which can be yours to share with staff, with the community at large, and even on a national level. It goes without saying that the building itself is a tremendous resource, envied by many other communities. The center is unique in that it serves a diverse population. This diversity isn’t reflected by just the use of space throughout the building, but more importantly working hand-in-hand plus becoming a focal point of positive exchange and fellowship. There is no reason for this Department to ever be second best to anyone and that includes other departments within the town that have placed segregation over a commitment to expanding their audience.
But more importantly, you have outstanding staff, who have endured six months of friendly fire by an ego driven political placement. It has become clear that operational process only moves forward based on whether one is liked or not, as opposed to serving the public interest. If I don’t like you, I find ways to block your work. No thought is given about how this will damage the department, or ruin our public image. Yet the majority of staff have put in herculean efforts to overcome purposeful blockages to getting their work done. To add insult to injury, the efforts of the staff have been stolen by a temporary political placement whose goal was to gain permanency in her position. That self-centered direction doesn’t garner support from anyone. The agenda of making this center the best it can be regardless of whether I like you will in fact gain the respect via achievement and accomplishment in which the staff is capable of, but until now has not been allowed to perform at optimum levels.
Yes, the staff has had hallway and office conversations, which are not focused on gossip, but rather centered on exchanging ideas and strategies to get the job done within the situation we have been saddled with in this most unfortunate time. We have had no choice but to defend ourselves and the good work we do, while others in the building have come and gone as they please, are unaccountable, and unqualified. We are truly a tail of two cities. The one standard, that being getting the job done and serving the public interest has been dropped by the wayside. What can be more damaging to staff, than to have the people who are truly committed to serving the public be the brunt of relentless attacks while the click gets a free pass, gets a free ride, puts in as many hours as they like and are not even seen at the facility.
Also in the climate of raising taxes, how is it that Gay Silverman has 1: not paid her bill? 2: is being disruptive to our patrons? And 3: is paying a rental feel far below the market value of pool usage? What does this do to staff morale? As we are faced with possible layoffs, a freeze on pay increases, and paying a higher percentage of health care costs, why is the wasteful allocation of services allowed to continue? Then there is the Exposure program, which is also attacked by friendly fire. The mechanisms for this program were set in place last May. Yet the public was only informed of the change two weeks ago. The question remains, was the public not informed of the program due to an oversight or was this more of purposeful sabotage by people who placed their personal agenda over serving the public interest?
Mr. Carter, many people are banking on your success for a turn around. There are great challenges in front of you. The TDY staff deserves a true leader. If they have performed well under this type of adverse condition for six months, imagine what they are capable of when treated with respect, dignity, fairness, and with a focus that places the public interest first. You have a virtual goldmine waiting to be untapped by people who sincerely want to do the best job possible and take the community center to new heights.
May God bless you and give you guidance.
We need criminal charges filed against anyone who participated in no show jobs.
We also need some criminal charges brought upon the Housing Authority for not returning the money paid out for their private ploice protection.
Paul you and your previous board have dirty hands as far as the center,day care,housing authority,Westhelp and affordable housing and above all the library.
You all turned a deaf ear to all the concerns of the taxpayers.
Now not only are we in trouble with the economy but what will be proven by all that you did to have double diget taxes for years to come.
You all made it your business to favor the residents of one particular area without thinking of the consequences down the line.
You kinow that there has been corruption in the above facilities for some time but your thinking was that it will go away.
Well now the problems are in full bloom how will you respond to the residents that cannot pay their bills .I guess we come last as far as the boards concern goes.
You all have made it so that when comes election time we may not have anyone who wants to raise the sunken ship{town of Greenburgh} so we will have to settle with the failures that we have at the moment representing us.
Come back to reality and see how many mistakes you all made along the way.
We are not all perfect but we do not use peoples money the way that you allocated funds to put us close to bankruptcy.
TDYCC Staff
The staff of TDYCC is one of the greatest set of persons with talents and gifts. Now is the time for us to turn our backs on the madness of 8 months and reach a new level of assignment and direction. WE OWE IT TO THOSE THAT PAVE THE WAY FOR US!!!!!! Those that tried to break us, only made us stronger. Those that tried to hold us back, found out that we would not go back. Those that tried to bring useless programs that made no sense in the world, found out that we are the nails that hold the building together. And lastly, persons on the Advisory Board that looked at us and said that we were not worth the money that we are being paid, have found out "We know how to take a beating and kept on stepping." I will never forget the attacks after William and Hopeton were told that their services were no longer needed. The clouds of darkness and negative powers took up residence over the community center. One new hire employee came to the Community Center talking a whole lot of trash. However at the end of the day "HE" now knows what it feels like to have your programs blocked and not to mention no real funding for the ideas that you might have. For him while he looked from the outside it seem like the staff was doing nothing. However now you know. It takes more then a idea on paper to make a program happen. It takes the person that is your boss to say yes to it. The TDY staff have passed every test and now we look forward to fresh air. One more thing "NO STAFF MEMBER WENT TO THE POLICE WITH INFORMATION.... THEY CAME AND GOT US...Keep up the good work fellow staff members. Our best days are yet to come.
Why must you always state in your summaries concerning new hires for the center the color of their skin.
Does color make a difference how things are run.
You have had black people in charge of everything that is standing in Fairview which they all have proven to be complete failure.
This gentleman may be your answer but stop telling us what the color is .So long as a good job is done to bring in revenue he or she could be any color on this earth.
I'm Blessed
Lion king Lee Trolinger
Lion king Lee Trolinger
Paul
Has any other person other than black submitted a resume for the position at the center.
Could it be that this position has to be filled by a black person alone.
If the purpose of TDYCC was to improve race relations, it has failed. It is time to bring in a party such as the YWCA, which truly respects all, and does not condone waste, fraud or abuse in its faciliites.
question - if the tdy center is open to everyone in the town why is it paid for only by unincorporated greenburgh taxpayers?
the last blogger is correct - the tdy is a racial throwback. It has no place in Obama's America.
time for someone with guts to speak the truth.
One key purpose of the merge of the Hartsdale & Woodlands school districts was to desegregate. That's a huge failure too.
The Administration at TDYCC and at Woodlands have made it clear that only one race is acceptable for any leadership positions. And in doing so, they do a disservice to people of all races. And the fraud is an insult to all.
Amen 7:19. it is a very sad, sad thing indeed.
I was proud of my choice to move into Hartsdale as the diverse population appealed to me. It only took a few short years before I realized that being white here, means you are sh**t out of luck in the schools and with the town. You are at best invisible, at worst hated.
It always makes me sad when I think about how divided this part of town really is. It makes me sadder to know that both the school district and the town council perpetuate it.
as well as the tdyycc
close or sell this pork project npw
its a disgrace.
If this were a white establishment the supervisor would have closed it a long time ago.
We know that we a stuck with it until someone checks to see how a place like the center and daycare can stay opened without making money to cover their expenses.
Could it be possible that everything in the north end of town have to be supported by our tax dollars only.
Is this the way a town runs a business.
Sell what facility is a failure.
We cannot pay for the people that constantly insist that they are poor when they live off the fat of our land.
I’m not trying to stir the pot but can anyone really answer these questions?
Why do we have a Commissioner for the TDYCC? Why isn’t the Greenburg Parks & Rec commissioner (Gerry Byrne) responsible for TDYCC and have a manager there who reports to him?
Why is there duplication of programs and services at TDYCC like camps, senior programs…….?
Would there ever be say a “Hartsdale Hal Samis Community Center” or a “Edgemont Bob Bernstein Community Center” open for business, operating at a deficit, with duplication of programs, anywhere else in Unincorporated? Would the Fairview community ever stand for something this? Would they pay for it?
The reason why we have a Commissioner for the TDYCC is that many years ago Barbara Perry wanted to be a commissioner and the Town Board, as usual, caved in and created the TDYCC as a separate department.
We sure would be a lot better off if Gerry Byrne were in charge of the TDYCC as was the case before Barbara Perry's ego trip.
I guarantee you any Hal Samis or Bernstein Center would not have no show jobs, a swim program that apparently doesnt pay its way, or a tutoring program where we cant even get a resume from the head of it.
Well it seems that the recreation commissioners projected budget encompasses the children of Fairview .
Here to everything is going to that one area.
Could someone explain why our tax dollars in this department are directed to Fairview.
Are they the chosen people of Greenburgh.
We one day will refuse to pay taxes because the town is not fair with their method of disbursement.
The Community Center has been crippled by the Town Supervisor and Board members.
For all the TDYCC critics - stop in and visit the place. The diversity, the programs are what happening at the center, it's a great place!!
Merging the department services of P& R and TDYCC maybe one answer, but it will keep Gerry, Joe and James from playing golf everyday.
The Parks and Recreation department is a joke too!
Programs operate three months out of the year - Nothing done during the months of October to March. Oh Halloween. Cut a few lawns, one senior program, one special needs program - Separtism was created because we (caucasion) did not want to mingle.
Racism is rampant in Greenburgh -perpetualed by town board members, motivated by being re-elected.
Let's raise fees of non-residents who use our facilities at rock bottom prices, structure the programs at the Center/P&R to be self sufficient and stop doing favors for people who are supposed to pay fees.
Get it right Paul and Board members; Nov 2009, 2010 will be here before you know it - Then it's over!! smile Greenburgh taxpayers
Close the Community Center and Edgemont will be begging for Police help.
Crime will increase -what will the children do. Let's get real Greenburgh. When the economy tightens and jobs become few - CRIME goes up - That what DARE and other social programs address. Unfortunately, Paul played politics by appointing Whitehead months ago- He set the Center and programs backwards.
Race, Race, Race, WOW...WOW....WOW
The heart of mankind will always betray who they are truly ....WOW...I thought that we had come farther then this joke and mess. Lord help our children. For if you write such mess and hate, and are around the children I am concerned about them. WOW
JIM CROW IS DEAD>>>>REMEMBER THAT!!!
To the racists that see things through the eyes of David Dukes....Move to a land that awaits your arrival
Hey 10:41 -
You are really racist. Your post suggests that if there was no TDYCC the young people it serves would turn to crime. Do you really believe that? OR is it just an excuse made to prevent sharing the pain of the current economy?
Even if it were true that the young people would turn to crime, why would they go to Edgemont? Most crimes within Greenburgh are committed within Fairview - and sad to say it is mostly crimes against black people committed by black people. Edgemont would have nothing to fear, only the previously spoiled by politicians trying to disenfranchise black voters community of Fairview would suffer. By turning us against each other in a fight to the death for survival Edgemont and Irvington and Dobbs Ferry and Hastings and Ardsley would all safely propser.
Some of those places can't even be reached by public transportation - and the criminals your worried about don't have shiney new wheels.
Paul, when is James Robinson going back to the TYCC? He can't follow Gerry around anymore. You do not need 3 commissioners to run the parks. If Gerry can't do it without the help, get a new commissioneer
Three commissioners to run the parks dept.
You have got to be kidding.
The reason why we spend too much money in the parks and rec is because they don't know what they are doing.
Take the center for instance --how much money was given to them for maintenance which never took place.
Parks being refurbished every year for the same problems over and over again. Has anyone ever checked?
The problem with your staffing is that there are too many chiefs and the indians don't know what they are doing and above all why should they work nobody is watching them.
Talk about political favors come to Greenburgh where these positions are numerous.
When someone wants to get votes they will do anything to get the slot that they are running for.
Well that is why all the facilities will remain opened in Fairview.
Here the entire board is guaranteed of the votes needed to be reelected.
The center should be closed because it does have duplicate programs that are being run in the schools and by the way it cannot stay opened without the tax dollars taken from the public.
Paul tell all of us why must we pay taxes to keep the centers going for the benefit of those that claim they are underpriveledged.
Paul this is 2008 where are these people that cannot survive without help.
These centers [community and daycare]cannot pay for themselves so they should be closed.
Maybe if you thought about what you are doing to the other residents ,correct your methods and maybe you will get the votes needed for the win in the next election.
To tell you the truth things at this moment look very bad for the reelection of the board.
Maybe you should leave a slot opened for yourselves to continue working in this town because I don't think you're all gonna make it.
A new commossioner is not needed for a failing institution.
Stop the baloney and close the dam thing.
It's costing taxpayers too much money to keep it afloat.
Dear Mr. Carter -
Congratulations on being appointed Captain of the Titanic.
Did you hear the latest A $10,000.00 price tag was given to the comptroller to pay for bus service from the summer camp to Conneticut??????
Sheehan questioned this and was not given an hones answer.
Supposedly there were three hundred childen which means not one paid a dime .We the taxpayers are paying for the children,the programs the workers the food and whatever is available for FREE.
Paul hAS BEEN SENDING SOME OF US TO THE POOR HOUSE .Now let's see how much he can spend when we reach a point that we cannot pay taxes or withhold them.
He can't spend if we stop giving.
As a long time resident of Greenburgh, who happened to have benefited from the programs in the 80's, I am so happy the TDYCC finally have someone who can bring a fresh approach.
The community center has only benefited the few in recent years. Should anyone chose to review the ethical background of Mr. Carter under a microscope, there would certainly be a long line of people in front of him that would need to be examine first.
Let's be real, Mr. Hopeton White was ineffective and the only people crying are those who were "looked out for". Dare we open Mr. White's professional and personal file for all to see. And everyone knows what I'm talking about. Dare we look at past and present employees...let's not. Move on and prepare for another day.
Like Obama says, it's time for a change. Whether people like it or not, there will be change and the community can begin to all participate and benefit again.
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!!!!!
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