Friday, May 04, 2012
ECC needs to be more positive--negativity hurts property values
I don't think alot of people read my blog. But, I know that when I comment on Robert Bernstein, the former head of the Edgemont Community Council, I usually get a response. Almost every day the ECC posts negative comments about the town on its facebook page. Most Edgemont residents who I speak with are upset --because these negative comments impact property values. Why would anyone want to buy a house in a community that is always featured on a neighborhood civic association page in a very bad light? There is almost nothing positive about Edgemont on their facebook page. Almost everything is negative--and it's been like that for months.
When the town received its AAA bond rating a few weeks ago from Standard & Poor's & Moody's Bob said nothing about the good news on the ECC facebook page. There are over 1,000 localities in NYS and only 15 have the highest bond rating that is given. During my tenure as Town Supervisor the bond rating has increased a few times --also something Bob likes to ignore.
Almost every day Bob reads the dailygreenburgh.com website and posts negative comments about everything we do. Nothing positive. A few years ago Bob arranged for NYC TV to interview him about burglaries in Edgemont. He exaggerated the crime problems --making people think that Edgemont was less safe than it actually is. There are burglaries in Scarsdale..there are burglaries everywhere. Do local leaders think it's in their interest to make people scared?
It's my hope that the Edgemont Community Council page will start being more balanced. They should criticize the town when we're doing things that are wrong --but they should also highlight some of the good things that the town is doing in Edgemont. Their facebook page should encourage people to want to move to Edgemont --it shouldn't encourage people to want to move out.
My guess is that Bob will respond. I hope he shows this e mail to other civic leaders in Edgemont and that they will reflect on the impact negativity is having on Edgemont property values.
The Edgemont community leadership should be publicizing the great things that are happening in their community. People invest their life savings in their own town and want to feel proud of their neighborhood.
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1 comments:
"Supervisor Feiner Needs to Be More Honest"
The ECC Facebook page generally reports news affecting Edgemont and its taxpayers. We often attach news articles that appear in other publications. But we're just posting the bad news – we're not creating the bad news.
A town supervisor who fails to comply with the law in correcting a town zoning map, thereby allowing mutlfamily housing to be built in a single family residential zone in violation of multiple state and local laws, posts press releases on the town's website favorable to the developer and then claims amnesia as to who wrote the press release and posted it, is really big news in Edgemont, as is the decision of Edgemont taxpayers to get together and fund their own legal challenge because the town's government can't or won't defend our interests.
A town supervisor who pushes a plan to demolish 108 units of affordable housing, loses $100,000 in town revenues per month in the process over seven months and counting, and then gets laughed at by county legislators for proposing a preposterous plan to sell property the town doesn't own with the town getting half the proceeds, is big news and something Edgemont taxpayers need to know about.
A town supervisor who insists on eliminating leaf pickup -- in the teeth of a cost-benefit analysis by an Edgemont resident showing the costs to taxpayers will be 30 times the Town's meager savings -- is important news in Edgemont and something taxpayers need to know.
A town supervisor who approves huge increases in our water rates, but ignores Edgemont's recommendation for a five year plan to deal with the water district's $4 million deficit and millions more needed in capital expenditures, is important news for Edgemont homeowners.
A town supervisor that insists on a zoning change to allow an abandoned gas station in Edgemont to reopen -- but then insists without explanation that all competing stations must spend tens of thousands of dollars they don't have on a special permit within a six months time frame or risk being permanently shut down if they should have to close for six months or longer, is important news in Edgemont.
A town supervisor who asks us last year to push for tax reval, then ignores us when we do so, while our school and fire district continue to pay millions of dollars a year to settle tax cert claims, is also big news that Edgemont residents need to know about.
If you find these stories negative, Mr. Feiner, it's perhaps because you have caused them to occur. We would be derelict in our responsibilities as citizens and civic leaders not to let our neighbors know the damage you are causing us. That you choose to respond to the bad news by personally attacking Bob Bernstein for supposedly being the one reporting it shows once again that you can't take responsibility for your own negative actions.
Geoff Loftus
President
Edgemont Community Council
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