The Town Board will discuss final changes to the 2009 budget Tuesday and will be voting on the budget Thursday evening. The work session begins at 2 PM and will be televised live.
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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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62 comments:
Today's Scardsdale Inquirer editorial hits the nail on the head:
Try Harder
Supervisor Paul Feiner and the Greenburgh Town Board need to put more effort into trimming next year's budget. The cuts they have made, necessary even before the economy went down the tubes, are the obvious, easy ones.
It's relatively easy to cut police positions by attrition, but is it wise? Chief John Kapica says retirements and long-term disabilities are likely to bring the department roster down 16 or 17 positions next year and the town board does not plan to hire any new officers. This weakening of police protection coincides with a frightening rash of burglaries in Edgemont.
Leaf pickup and snow removal may not seem like safety issues, but they are. Piles of unpicked up leaves and uncleared snow and ice in the streets are hazards for drivers and pedestrians alike. These are not services that should be scaled back, especially when the town is gaining development and losing the two men who have run the public works department so ably for so long.
The town should not cut the most visible services to dramatize its pain. Rather, the board and staff should put their heads together, banish politics from their thoughts, and ferret out duplication, obsolescence and waste.
" ... ferret out duplication, obsolescence and waste."
Obselescence and waste are particularly noteworthy in Unincorporated Greenburgh. Neglect in everyday municipal management is another.
HELP WANTED
COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS
TOWN OF GREENBURGH
SALARY UP TO $135,000 DOE
Was the editorial in the Inquirer written by a reporter who also wasn't reappointed to the Library Board and is angry?
The Inquirer editorial makes no sense.
The paper wants more cutting. They also want less cutting. Can't they be specific?
The Town Council never said they would cut 16 or 17 police. Doesn't the Inquirer check before they write?
It's not the National Inquirer!
Tell the Inquirer that we shouldn't pay for legal notices in the Inquirer! How much advertising does the town give to this rag?
just want to let all you town tax payers now how you have a fire dept. in your town that (1) has a fire chief that is (4) years over the state required retirement age and the board of fire commisioners and the state keep approving him for a (2) year extension he now 74 or 75 his wife is his secretary and sit's in on the commisioners board meetings which is her job and you don't think she goes home and tells him what goes on which is a major confict of intrest..
(2)fire fighters get unlimted sick time which means if i go out after work crash my car & can't work for 6 months i get full pay i do not go on disabilty and another fire fighter works for me at time and a half is that a great job or what...
The Inquirer editorial was just quoting what Chief Kapica said in last week's paper. That with retirements and disabilities, the town may be short 16-17 police officers next year, with no authority to hire anyone new. Kapica is saying that the loss of police manpower next year will compromise public safety and it's clear that Feiner and the town board don't agree with Kapica and could care less. Does anyone have any idea how much more it will cost next year and the year after to restore police staffing to its proper level after these cuts through are attrition take place? This is Feiner recklessness at its absolute worst.
The Inquirer is not always accurate. No one on the Town Board ever threatened to eliminate 16-17 police. This could not be done.
Have you put away any money for your workers (CSEA) like you did this year? This way you can spend on other items again just like you did this year instead of giving it to them!
"The Town Board is to discuss final changes to budget Tuesday."
Like this is news to those who attend Town Board meetings or even read this blog.
The SECRET TIMETABLE has always been to present the REAL budget AFTER the Public Hearing has been CLOSED. In the meanwhile, the Public might just as well comment on last year's budget for all the relevancy that current discussion will have on a budget that has not yet been shown to the Public during the time that the hearings were open.
In fact, there have been no changes (other than error correction) to the budget to date.
What does this mean?
That the Public Hearings on the budget (held after 10:30pm at two Town Board meetings so that few would hang around to comment while those very important and timely distractions (flute performance, police promotions with photos, Xposure presentation, history of the Tappan Zee Bridge, etc.) were performed at the beginning of the meeting.
So, at the work session which is the exclusive turf of the Town Board, should any changes be made to the budget, there will not be any opportunity for Public Comment on this, the final budget.
If the Town Board thinks that open government is a window facing a brick wall, then what they are doing regarding the budget is consistent. To others, it is recognized as a deliberate auto da fe culminating with the adoption of this unchallenged budget on Thursday.
The Public deserves this treatment because this is how the Feiner team operates. The Public needs this shock to the system to jar it out its stupor and get rid of the whole pack on the dais by the only means available. 2009 is an election year and three of the five are up for re-election. Three of the five Council members constitute a voting majority. Three new faces can rock your world. Three new faces can bring in professional town management by hiring someone, for a change (Comptroller excepted) with skills. Seasons Greetings.
Hal, it could be worse. They could hold these meetings at 10:00 o,clock in the morning when the working person could never attend.
Hal,
You, more than anyone, supported with your "just 3 votes" giving Feiner unquestioned decision making. The first step, admit you were wrong.
I don't think Hal was wrong. Getting rid of Steve Bass and Eddie Mae Barnes was an important first step.
12:21
How have things improved?
Sonya Brown pushed for a new head of TDYCC. We now have no show jobs and no bid contracts. We fired the squealer who complained when the Silver Streaks wasnt paying their bills?
so please tell me how they have improved?
Unless you are Paul are part of the Paulitboro, how have things improved?
Dear 11:36,
I don't think you get it.
"Just three votes" was to remind residents that, by himself, Feiner doesn't run the town. All of the Resolutions, code changes, budgets, cert settlements, appointments of department heads or members of various town agencies etc. must have the support of an additional two Town Board members, these votes come from the Town Council. Without three votes, nothing happens. The past reality of Greenburgh is that residents have not been presented with a credible, serious candidate to oppose Feiner. Thus the only practical way to neutralize Feiner is by getting three desirable candidates on the Town Board.
To bring this problem into focus, the idea was to let voters witness firsthand the worst of all possible worlds -- just five votes. This was realized by the completion of the Feiner team, abetted by the elections of Morgan and Brown. For Feiner, things just can't get better with the complete support of his team. For residents, things just can't get worse. And so far, the prophecy has proven true, Feiner & Company has proven this issue after issue, just five votes after just five votes.
Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will the rebuilding of Greenburgh happen overnight.
It could happen in 2009 if a capable candidate for Supervisor is fielded (don't worry it isn't me). And joined by two new members at the Town Council, the opportunity for just three votes emerges. Residents had to see for themselves exactly whom Sheehan is, that their memory of whom he was just doesn't fit today's photo.
Everyone already knew that Juettner is just occupying space while collecting a paycheck. As for Morgan and Brown, even though it was expected that they would vote with Feiner, what was not anticipated was that Morgan would be such a nasty thug and that Brown would be so ignorant of everything outside of Fairview. For awhile asking questions disguised the reality that she was never going to put to use what she "learned". She gets to rule Fairview but she best leave the rest of the Town to Feiner and Sheehan. Never mind, if the 2009 lection is successfull, these two will be toast in 2011.
As someone else was kind enough to point out, Bass and Barnes were no big deal either. Barnes sat around like Juettner collecting her pay and preaching "harmony" and the only time that Barnes and Juettner were heard from was to book end the "moment of silence". However, you can't maintain a successful career just hoping for someone to die in Greenburgh. Sorry, I forgot about the Chief of Police. As for Bass on the Town Council, a person without conviction or cohesion, slipping from one County, State, national or international event to the next while neglecting what was happening Greenburgh. In any case, Bass and Barnes failed to see which way the wind was blowing and were booted off the gravy train for political rather than performance related issues. Nevertheless, only after the Democratic Party fortune teller wised them up, did they make a show of opposing the Supervisor they had routinely supported by their votes over the years. Too little, too late.
In any case, everything the former Town Council supported for their 60minutes of palace revolution (15 fame minutes x 4) has turned to manure by 2008. The Library, the Ethics Code, the Fund Balance Policy, the Verizon contract, the allegiance to the Comprehensive Plan...all boastfully announced at great length by Sheehan as the best, the toughest, the dawn of a new era. Today, Sheehan helps in stamping the earth down over their mass gravesite.
And somehow, in the confusion from the elation over the victory of the now complete Feiner Five, a few residents were able to ease Mike Kolesar into the Comptroller's office. Like tv crime series, start with the money trail.
Be patient, "there's something in the air Mr. Jones."
Hal,
Your interpretation of history is a little misleading. The Democratic party did put forth a candidate at the same time that Barnes and Bass left. The combination of Feiner's fundraising, pandering to special interest groups, and not charging much to the A budget put him in. Should either Bernstein win, or Edgemont become a village, the villages will change their toon, as there will be little left to fund Feiner's follies. My guess -- the VOC is beginning to realize they should have spoke up against Taxter Ridge. More should speak up against Westhab.
Question: How come most people in the town are happy?
They are happy because they live in Fairview.
Dear 5:30,
You mentioned Barnes, Bass, Feiner and Bernstein. Yet when you were "correcting" me you wrote "The Democratic Party did put forth a candidate..."
Perhaps you have already forgotten her name, Berger.
I rest my case.
Hal at 2:56pm; Are you suggesting that you and/or some of your political cronnies somehow negotiated Kolesar into the Comptroller's office? I thought that this guy walked on water and won the job fair & square through an "Independfent Citizens' Search Committee". You aren't suggesting that the Town of Greenburgh uses the State of Illinoi's political appointment handbook, are you?
Dear 10:55,
For my part, what I did was to tell Feiner that here is a very good person who would make a very good Comptroller. Kolesar, like me, can be oftentimes abrasive but once you get over the delivery style, the right answer is there.
I told Feiner last Fall that he has a golden opportunity in Mike to put things behind him (Feiner) and use Kolesar's appointment as the starting point to put Greenburgh's financial house in order, especially when the coming national events would provide some manner of cover for the problems with Greenburgh's style of bookkeeping. And, Feiner had three successive Comptrollers to lay off some of the problems.
Remember this was a year ago, even before the worsening national crisis went into high gear. What I was concerned about then was the eventual release of just how badly the NYS Pension funds were being hurt by their ownership of the devalued or busted instruments that you have been reading about for the last nine months. NYS reports on the health of these investments but the report would not be released in time to have any effect on the 2009 budget because of a "rolling" period or reporting. What you are going to see next year is a substantial increase in the Town's (and every municipality) contribution to the retirement program to build the balance back up. Thus Feiner would have a year's grace period to "go public" and change the way the Town manages and reports on its financial affairs.
Furthermore, Kolesar has the ability to analyize and create systems to first identify, correct and finally to install means of reporting, institute goals and know whether they have been met, and to evaluate whether the departments operate effectively and efficiently.
Naturally this shock to the system was not warmly embraced by department heads. Nor was it welcomed by Francis Sheehan who saw his "leadership" challenged if not impugned because suddenly Sheehan had competition for the title of being the only one on the Town Board to understand what was really going on. The problem for Sheehan was that he (Sheehan) was now using his insider's knowledge to support the system's failings rather than expose them. Along comes Kolesar riding the white horse just at the time Sheehan had made the personal choice to join the Feiner team riding the black horse. Comments based on growing up watching 1950s westerns.
Now, as the system gets increasingly challenged by Kolesar's independent mettle, Kevin Morgan has taken it upon himself to be the Feiner team's defender. At the last Town Board meeting, Morgan responded to my criticism (the way it works is that the Town Board has the last word and the public can't correct the Town Board's lies) that the Town Board had not yet discussed the slip sheet changes to the budget and that the budget the Board would adopt was not necessarily the budget the public had seen during the Public Hearings. Mr. Morgan made a caustic reply asking how did I know the Board had not reviewed the slip sheets? That there was no way I could know that.
Sounds to me like another straw man argument. What Kevin did not do was to affirm or deny whether the Board did review the slip sheets. What Kevin did not affirm or deny was whether he, himself, had reviewed the slip sheets. What Kevin did not affirm or deny was whether the Town Board is holding secret meetings on the budget because during their public work sessions, the Town Board has not discussed slip sheet changes. Let me spell it out again: Kevin speculated that there was no way I could know; Kevin did not discuss whether my statement was accurate or false. This is how lame minds react when criticized; how bullies react when they know they can speak without the opposition's ability to counter at the same venue.
Back to Kolesar. Mike was offered a consulting position in the early Fall and I suggest that this work was also a basis to greenlight him.
Finally, once Kolesar got the position and started opening the Pandora boxes scattered about in the Comptroller's office, Feiner panicked at the enormity of what might be made public and instead of exercising a ready-made "get out of jail free" card, he returned to what is for him business as usual and reverted to the hide the bad news mode.
Observers of the Feiner team regimen since the late Spring will confirm that together their one accomplishment has been to clamp down on what information is available to members of the public and how the public can pass this on to the broader public. Hence, FOILing for the time of day became the rule and then roadblocks are thrown in the way of providing even the simplest of information. Consider that today the Library is holding a Grand Opening to a select guest list. The Library denied my claim asking for this list, I appealed and the Library is taking the full permitted 20 days to provide who they invited to today's event. And once the public has passed the hurdles of obtaining, then it faces the hurdle o making public comment at televised Town Board meetings because this too has been sharply reduced. No more do we see the 5 minute comment period at the end of the meeting because we have promotions to photograph, flute performances, Tappan Zee (NYS business to sit through) Xposure playing 3 card monte with the public, etc. at the beginning of the meeting. Public Hearings are now limited to two 5 minute participations on even the most serious of topics. In short, whether the Feiner team was pre-ordained to take the Town to the edge of fascism (is it my imagination or are we also hearing about one Police Department muck-up after another) or whether this was instituted as a result of what Kolesar was unearthing, I don't know.
In any case, the new bloodsport for the Town Board was to find ways to shut Kolesar up. Can anyone remember budget hearings that the Comptroller, sitting in the back, was so unneeded at the podium? Any resident who asks a question about garbage pick-up is rewarded with the immediate summoning of Al Regula to the podium to address the concern. Any resident who asks a question of the Town Assessor regarding her $2.4 million mistake results in these residents being put on indefinite hold.
The problem at hand is to free Kolesar from the shackles that Feiner, Sheehan, Morgan and Kapica have bound him with. The greatest fear of the four of them is that a resident might simply ask the Town Comptroller a question, much less ask for proof or be sent in the right direction for the answer. With the noose publicly tightening around Kolesar's neck, this has achieved the desired result and made other Town departments fearful of saying anything for fear of retaliation.
I (I have cronies?) was not on the screening Committee and have no idea on how they formed their recommendation.
So, 10:55, lacking any clout, there was little direct influence that I could bring to the table other than point out that the appointment of Kolesar would be an opportunistic event for Feiner to retrench and set things right; the timing was perfect and in conjunction with the launch of the Feiner team, the Town Board could start anew and do the right thing with little downside. That I could even whisper this into Feiner's ear was the result of my labors to establish that it takes "just three votes" to make things happen. That instead of pointing the finger only at Feiner, there are still four voices on the Town Board that can agree or disagree with him.
Now that the honeymoon is long past, residents can judge for themselves what has been the result of just five votes.
With Feiner's reversion to type after his and his team's 2007 victory, I wrote him off as incurable.
Being a witness at the bottom, I say things can get better but it will take a brand new set of "just three votes" to do this.
I was a member of the committee to review and recommend comptroller applicants to the Town Board. We interviewed everybody who applied. Of these applicants we recommended three persons (or four, I don't perfectly remember) to the Town Board, one of whom was Mike Kolesar. The Town Board then selected Kolesar as the most qualified and appointed him. I was pleased that they did, because he seemed to me to be the far most qualified of the applicants.
There were several reasons why the committee recommended him -- and I think that I am fair when I say that the most impressive thing that we saw about Kolesar was his ability to analyze, to create models from which to work, to create models as to hos things were actually working, and his overall command of what it meant to be a comptroller. There were more "personable" people among the applicants, but none who approached Kolesar in ability.
It is dismaying to me -- and to many others who speak but don't write -- that the Town Board is harassing Kolesar and obviously setting him up to quit or be fired. The town had suffered through a truly incompetent comptroller, and the errors in the accounting and controls have been enormous. The Board, instead of using the opportunity of having a true professional, seems to have decided that they want to continue hiding the facts and thus are shutting Kolesar up. Thus, instead of having errors corrected, these errors are being compunded.
Too bad. I thought that things would be better.
I urge readers not to let the Board stomp on Kolesar. If open government meanms anything it means being told the truth.
Perhaps if Kolesar had not made statements supporting the moochers of Ardsley being able to use Veterans, he might have more support. He should not be making polititcal statements. Yes, I realize if Veterans allowed non-TOV useage (or should I say, more non-Tov useage, as it allows non-Tov first responders and disabled to use) would result in more $$, but it is not fair. Unincorporated Gburgh bears the heavy burden of the B budget. You want to use Veterans, pay the parks and rec B budget. In no event should Ardsley be given any favorite son status, even though Kolesar lives there -- if non-resident use of Veterans is allowed, it should be highest $$ for any non-resident.
I have had occasion to say this before -- that for some people every issue becomes the Veteran Park pool. If someone wrote about the police budget, or sharing services for purchasing, or anything else, these people would raise the pool argument. If we spoke about the promise of the Obama administration, these people would raise the pool argument. That is why we never get to real problems and how to solve them.
The anonymous writer at 1:56 is one of those people. Therefore, while he (or she) yaks about the pool because Kolesar is from Ardsely, the Town Board is doing its best to see that Kolesar is being hog-tied and important informatiomn continues to be smothered.
So, you foolish person, this isn't about Kolesar. This is about you, and all the residents of the town, and especially all the residents of unincorporated Greenburgh who are governed by this Town Board. It is you and all the residents who need Kolesar so that fiscal chicanery will not be hidden. If you think that the fact that Kolesar might have different opinions about the pool should cause his departure so that the town can go back to having its fiscal situation obscured, well then you deserve living with fiscal chicanery.
Someday you will actually wake up, but by then it will be too late.
When it comes to Mike Kolesar, it seems Samis, Rosenberg, Krauss and even Bob Bernstein are singing from the same hymnal.
If Veterans isnt important, just tell Kolesar to give it up. Its not just Veterans, its all the bloated B budget items, that no one cares about. Only A budget bloat. Its no Zoning in unincorporated Gburgh. In short, unincorporated is all about paing taxes and getting no benenfit.
If Veterans isnt important, just tell Kolesar to give it up. Its not just Veterans, its all the bloated B budget items, that no one cares about. Only A budget bloat. Its no Zoning in unincorporated Gburgh. In short, unincorporated is all about paing taxes and getting no benenfit.
To 5:14.
You still don't get it and it is not worth talking to you or even wasting free blog postings on you.
Views on Veteran park and your other complaints about zoning, bloated budget items, have nothing to do with Kolesar. Direct your complaints to the Town Board, who are the ones who make policy and the budget.
Thankfully I live in a village, so if you and other fools like you permit the first competent Comptroller to be silenced, it doesn't affect me. If you are so confused that you think griping against Kolesar will have anything to do with your concerns, then you can be sold a bill of goods by a Town Board that seems to be anxious to silence Kolesar because he tells the truth.
Now goodbye. As I saaid, you aren't worth talking to, and I will ignore your future nonsense.
We finally get a comptroller who is above all very honest and we can see how Feiner and the board try to shut him up.
They don't want to know or be reminded of all the mistakes they made to put this town in turmoil.
I thank Kolesar for trying his damest to make things work out but above all he is up front with the public.
If he were dishonest he would never be stopped by the board in telling the public the lies that they have presented us right along.
Mike you have what is needed to stand up to this town board.
For the moment you are the only one that we could trust.
Keep plugging for us we do need someone who has brains to try to straighten this town .
It's going to be rough but you have what it takes to make things work.
And it came to pass that Mike Kolesar became the appointed one to be the Town Comptroller.
Hallelujah!
And when Kolesar spake out regarding Ardsley it was known throughout the land that unlike many department heads, he is a voting resident of Greenburgh and a taxpayer unto the land of Ardsley from wence he came. And be it further acknowledged that he has the right to express opinions on matters concerning his home just as often as the Town Board does for he, being a citizen and not sold unto slavery, has not forsaken those rights by being employed.
Amen!
And anyone who finds this to be hymnocryptic, then find ye another sanctuary than this temple of blog.
Of course, Kolesar can say what he wants. However, should there ever be a Town Manager position, we should all remember he is another "Vilages First"
Other comptrollers did try to warn us of issues, but as they did not have the political support of the villages they were forced out. Kolesar does not walk on water.
What would Anon 8:06 do if it became illegal to create imaginary conspiracies?
Yes Kolesar tries to speak out but his voice is silenced by the board.
they are afraid that the truth will be told that they are not capable of anything especially running a town.
Kolesar speaks the truth with no coverups as to what has been going on in this town.
20% of veteran park is in ardsley.
no taxes are paid for this land. this means ardsley taxpayers are subsidizing a park that it cannot use.
this is wrong and all the claims that muncipalities dont tax themselves are beside the point - the park is restricted in use - its not public park.
unincorporated greenburgh is stealing from ardsley the same way its library is stealing from the villages.
rosenberg is right. there is no use discussing this matter with theifs.
thieves that is.
hey unincorporated greenburgh - pay your fair share!
It's really not constructive to be calling residents of unincorporated Greenburgh "thieves" for insisting what Ardsley itself now says the Finneran Law requires -- that access to Veteran Park be limited to TOV residents.
Ardsley felt aggrieved by the Town's decision more than 25 years ago to limit access to Veteran Park, sued for a right of access and won. But the Town of Greenburgh, and all five other villages, lobbied for enactment of the so-called Finneran Law which, as the town and villages, including Ardsley, now interpret it, mandate that no village resident could have access to any town park, including Veterans Park, unless the residents of that village agreed by referendum as of November 1, 1982 to pay their fair share of the costs of all Greenburgh parks and rec facilities. Ardsley said no, and has been barred ever since -- and Ardsley agrees that that's the way Finneran must be construed.
So calling residents of TOV "thieves" is not at all constructive.
Maybe the Finneran Law will be declared unconstitutional, in which case Ardsley will get access at the price of having to pay for all of the town's parks. Or maybe the Finneran Law will be deemed constitutional, and the state legislature will amend it to permit the town to allow non-TOV residents to use town parks for a fee. But don't count on it.
Ardsley made its bed most recently by supporting the lawsuit that seeks to uphold Finneran's constitionality and by doing that, instead of trying to compromise, Ardsley's once again made its case far less sympathetic than it might otherwise have been.
thats a big tax dodge.
fact - ardsley taxpayers are subsidizing unincorporated greenburgh's veteran park pool.
the sooner you admit that the sooner a resolution can be reached.
Sorry thief, don't think you're gonna find any takers. If you've got a gripe, talk to the villages other than Ardsley and ask them why they all supported Finneran? Then ask your village mayor and trustees why then went along with an interpretation of Finneran which restricted use of Veterans to TOV residents only. Ardsley residents would like nothing better than to use a nearby town recreational facility they paid nothing for -- it would do wonders for their declining property values -- but it's not so easy.
Ardsley residents will first have to accept that they leaders and their colleagues from other villages may not have had Ardsley's best interests in mind.
spoken like a true thief.
The day will come when unincorporated Greenburgh will need something from the villages (if they don't already). I am sure that the villages will not be as cold and selfish as the unincorporated residents are.
5:51 -- don't worry, Feiner gives you all the unincorporated money he can -- marine unit -- we dont want it - swat ot for village police -- we dont need it. etc etc etc.
Ardsley,
1. Have you stepped up and said the proposed WEsthab rezoning is wrong? They bought the property, they should live with the zoning.
2. Have you stepped up and said no-show jobs and no-bid contracts at TDYCC are wrong?
You have already made it clear you care only about your own problems.
dear anon at 6:29
ardsley has nothing to do with zoning issues at fulton park - its handled exclusively by your zoning and planning board and then the town board
same is true or tdycc - its part of the unincorporated's community resources department
villages control their own zoning and planning
we dont interfere with yours
personally what is happening at fulton park is a disgrace - the same is true at the tdycc
westhab should be told no - the tdycc should be sold to a ymca
i wish someone like maria gomez of fulton park would run for office - she is terrific.
but these decisions cannot be made by ardsley's government.
veteran park is 20% in ardsley - but its closed to ardsley residents - thats wrong.
I am talking about Ardsley residents, who are just as entitled to vote for Greenburgh officials as anyone else in Greenburgh. That they have chosen to ignore these problems speaks volumes. They should not then ask for others to speak for their concerns.
Will someone please inform Ardsley resident that the town's Department of Community Resources is a town-wide department under Town Code Section 500 and that, if the Town Code were enforced, the villages like Ardsley would be responsible for their fair share of the cost. Is there someone in unincorporated Greenburgh seeking to enforce this law? Yup, there is.
TDYCC is open town-wide according to the Town Section 500 but
First, the only non-Fairview people who use it are a few people from Elmsford and White Plains.
Second, Section 500 is just as illagal as was the purchase of Tater Ridge which allowed non-residents of unincorporated Greenburgh to use it. The state law trumps our Village Code. Everybody knows that Section 500 was passed to give the Fairview community essential control over its recreation programs. That's OK, but don't kid anybody by saying that the TDYCC is a town-wide facility.
needed
a referendum on the tdycc - is it a relic from a segregated past - should it be sold to the ymca or closed?
a referendum on taxter ridge - was it a huge divisive mistake that only benefited the irvington school district
and a few others
a referendum on westhab - is there a project less deserving of approval than this one?
2009 is the year of the referendum - time to hold juettner , sheehan and feiner responsible for their votes
taxter ridge has to be opened to everyone under state and county law - villagers paid for 2/3rds of the purchase thru their state and county taxes.
the only issue is the 1/3rd greenburgh portion - thats billed only to unincorporated greenburgh and the issue of the legality of that will be decided by the court of appeals in early 2009.
The state owns one third of Taxter road dump which means that everyone in the state owns the right to get to use the park if it is ever made usable.
They deserve the right to that park also because they pay taxes to the state..
the real issue is how do we get rid of it?
anyone know the governor?
and lets not forget the county legislators like abinanti who voted for this unusable thicket
After reading 8:06 AM/12/15/08, it's obvious "the early bird" doesn't catch the worm.
Of our last four "Comptrollers"-exclding Mike Kolesar, Gisella Knight, a copy editor (nee proof reader) by profession...but a zealous Feiner supporter, left, because she moved out of town.
Nora McAvoy, who did the "heavy lifting" Gisella was incapable of, QUIT because she had enough of the heavy-handed, dictatorial, "pseudo-management style" of Kaiser Feiner I.
Ann Marie Berg, didn't have Nora's patience, so she too QUIT faster than a Roman candle.
Jim Heslop, who needed three more years for his pension, beefed up his pension taking the Greenburgh job. BUT he did as he was told. Not a "hair out out of place," nor a word ever misspokenen. And when his three years were satified, he too QUIT.
So 8:06 AM, who forced any of them out? And from whence comes Kolesar's "political support?" In point of fact he works without a safety net, in a non-partisan way (that to some of you "Kolesar Killers, means he shows no preference for TOV or V in his job),to do his job professionally( which this town has NEVER seen from that office) AND in the best interest of us all.
Don't ever let facts get in the way of your compulsive need to say or write dumb, ignorant and assinine things.
BTW, 8:06 AM, INUENDO SUCKS!
Ed,
When the town has to reach a settlement with a former employee, the employee didnt just quit. So big deal, Kolesar has political backing of villagers and former villagers and wont get forced out as easy. But the town did have to pay $$$ when at least one former comptroller and one former attoney "quit".
You don't need the governor to get an investigation started as to why Feiner satisfied a good friend of his Gold [to give him a big back yard].
The state comptroller or the Attorney General Andy Cuomo should be contacted to investigate why this purchase was done so quickly for a parcel of land that is a complete dump.
Gold wanted it and Gold got it at all the taxpayers of New Yorks expense.
diana juettner also voted to buy this parcel.
the moonies got a sweet tax deal from the town for "lowering " their price.
the open space advocates lobbied for it too.
the county legislators spend our money so the deal could be completed.
the irvington school district didnt want it developed either.
so it was purchased without a current appraisal in light of the town' new steep slopes and wetlands law that would have probably cut the price by 40 %.
illinois - meet new york.
the feds should be called in to root out the corruption oozing out of taxter ridge.
We need garbage pails with covers if you go ahead with this crazy law put forth by the out going commissioner who decided to screw the residents because the heat was getting to much for him.
He cannot run from his mistakes and what his underhanded methods were.
He together with this board has screwed the residents royally.
We have had this service of pick ups at the side of our homes for many years, I for one twenty years .
Paul do your parents bring their garbage curbside .
My parents live two roads away from me if anything happens to them while they are taking their garbage curbside I have instruted them to lay there until help comes and then sue the town.
Your ruling is crazy .
Regula bought new small trucks WHY???????????
Yeah - and let's SELL the 124 acres of Hartsbrook park in Hartsdale. NY state and Westchester County and GREENBURGH purchased it - 1/3 each. This must be investigated. It's like Illinois. Call the Governor.
If you can find it, go there and see the work of the aborists and landscapers and trail makers paid for by unincorporated greenburgh in our taxes.
oh no - I forgot - it's in Hartsdale and benefits hartsdale schools - so it must be kept. Only parks in Hartsdale and Edgemont(the Nature Center) should be paid for by the rest of us who are spread out all over unincorporated Greenburgh. The fact that we don't know where it is, or how to get there doesn't matter. It's close to you guys - and Taxter isn't - so the hell with Taxter.
I'm hearing the oink oink, hog sound from these H and E people who think the rest of us should eat dirt and die because we don't live in Hartsdale/Edgemont. Sick of it.
right now taxter and hart's brook are only paid for by unincorporated greenburgh (the operating and maintenance costs)
taxter is in east irvington - not hartsdale
however, taxter and hart's brook were paid for by all town residents by virtue of the 2/3rds contribution by the state and the county.
as ny residents we pay for national parks in alaska, hawaii, and even puerto rico - you probably will never see or use all of them
but the greenburgh way of only charging part of a town for a park everyone can use sounds wrong - the court of appeals will tell us in 2009 if its legal or not when it decides the bernstein case.
If my elderly parents lived two roads away, I'ld be a good son and take 5 mintues a week to carry their gargabe cans curbside for them.
11:13 - you make no sense. hartsdale's school system was terminated 35 years ago.
and hartsdale's decline followed shortly thereafter.....
the only real business in this part of the world is the schools -
poor schools - poor community.
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