February Greenburgh News Update- Assisted Living, Town Updates, and the race for Congressional District 17
Hello Greenburgh,
This is a jam packed update with a number of important updates and topics. If you have questions about any of the below please email me at Eric@ericzinger.com. Upcoming events are summarized at the bottom of the email so make sure to read all the way to the end! Please forward this newsletter to your neighbors and friends and encourage them to subscribe.
More Assisted Living Facilities
My last email had an update about the site visit to the proposed Maplewood Assisted Living Facility on W. Hartsdale Ave. Those paying attention know that this is not the only planned assisted living facility under review. In addition to Maplewood and the currently under construction Chelsea on Dobbs Ferry Road, there is a 3rd proposed assisted living facility at the Metropolis Country Club also on Dobbs Ferry Road. Those 3 facilities will all be within 1.5 miles of each other.
There will be a site visit Saturday 2/22 at 1:30pm at the Metropolis Country Club with the Town Board and the applicant. This is a great opportunity to see the proposed site, ask questions of the applicant and be informed on the upcoming proposal.
One must ask what the impact of so many assisted living facilities in such a short amount of time will have on our community. We can certainly expect increased traffic, increased EMS response requests, more impervious surfaces resulting in water runoff/flooding, and the removal of many trees in our community. It certainly doesn't appear that there is any coordination about the combined impact of these facilities and that each is being evaluated individually. That is cause for concern.
Greenburgh Town Government Updates
Greenburgh Spending- There was a recent Lohud article that highlighted that the town had overpaid attorneys hired by the town by $26k more than they had authorized. This is disturbing to hear. Not because of the specific situation(If Spolzino did work for the town and was required to be paid, then he should be paid) but more because it speaks to how the town is run.
Look at this quote from the Town Attorney "Generally we don’t pay unless we have an authorized resolution," Lewis said. How are Greenburgh tax payers supposed to trust our government, know that they are spending our funds wisely, and trust that they are being transparent, when apparently it isn't out of the ordinary at all for money to go out the door without an authorized resolution? If the Town is sending checks without a resolution, who is authorizing those payments and monitoring their distribution? How frequently does this occur? Unfortunately right now all we have is questions, and no answers.
Hartsdale Public Parking Authority-The Town Board is proposing to increase the number of members of the Board of the Hartsdale Public Parking District from 3 to 7. No specific reason has been given for this other than "increased civic participation. This requires approval and legislation from New York State. We look forward to hearing more about this.
In other HPPD news it has been told to me by a member of the HPPD board that mobile payments for parking meters on E. Hartsdale Ave should be coming soon. That is great news for the HPPD.
Dromore Road Legal Fees- The Dromore Road legal disaster continues to play out with taxpayers on the hook for ever growing legal fees. With the recent authorizations the Town has now authorized $2.97mm in spending on lawyers for the case. You can surely expect that number to grow even further.
Social Media Policy- There have been a number of advocates from the community, myself included, asking that the Town adopt a Social Media Policy. The reason I am advocating for such a policy is that it can be very unclear when representatives of the town who are posting on social media(Supervisor Feiner most frequently) are speaking on behalf of themselves, or speaking as Greenburgh employees/representatives. This puts all of us taxpayers in legal jeopardy regarding the opinions expressed in those comments. It would be best in my eyes if there was a clearly delineated policy that addressed these concerns.
Democratic Party Update
CD 17 Race-Most Greenburgh residents live in Congressional District 17 and with Nita Lowey's retirement, the campaign to fill her seat has been heating up. There are a number of serious contenders and at least 16 declared candidates. Dan Weinfeld of Hartsdale has started a blog that is covering the race and has already provided some great analysis. Read it here. I will be covering this race in more detail in an upcoming email dedicated exclusively to this topic.
Westchester County DA- There will also be a contested Democratic primary election for Westchester County District Attorney which pits incumbent Anthony Scarpino versus challenger Mimi Rocah. Scarpino was given the County party endorsement by the narrowest margin at the recent County convention. Scarpino celebrated the endorsement while Rocah has framed the tight result as a win for her campaign as well. Expect a close race between the two.
Voter Registration Cutoff- Reminder that tomorrow 2/14 is the last cutoff date to change your party affiliation in order to vote in the upcoming Democratic Party Presidential Primary. Learn more here.
Upcoming Events
2/22- 1:30pm Metropolis Country Club- Site visit for the proposed assisted living facility at 289 Dobbs Ferry Road.
2/26- 7:30pm Greenburgh Town Hall- Town Board Meeting
4/25- Greenburgh Nature Center 50th Anniversary Earth Day- Get your hands dirty at the Greenburgh Nature center planting, weeding and clearing trails. Event registration and additional activities for Earth week can be found at www.greenburghnaturecenter.org
Eric Zinger
www.ericzinger.com