SECOR HOMES CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC.
P.O. Box 550, Ardsley, New York 10502
FEINER REFUSES CIVIC ASSOCIATION DEMAND TO STEP ASIDE ON CONFLICT OF INTEREST ISSUE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 8, 1999
The Secor Homes Civic Association (SHCA) demanded that Paul Feiner, Greenburgh Town Supervisor, remove himself from an upcoming vote at the March 10, 1999 Town Board meeting because his involvement with a cellular applicant constitutes a conflict of interest. Feiner’s planned vote would most likely decide an issue to the detriment of the Secor Homes community.
Feiner’s involvement would also jeopardize the Town’s future appeal rights in a court case brought by the cellular applicant, Nextel, because of his ill-timed and inappropriate comments made at a recent Town Board meeting. At that meeting the Supervisor directly linked the pending antenna amendments to the Nextel application now before the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). Such linkage would undermine the Town’s position in future litigation if Nextel failed to win ZBA approval of its application to place 12 more antennas on the WFAS radio tower, located on Secor Road in Hartsdale.
Based on Feiner’s clear conflict as well as his inappropriate comments, the SHCA, at a March 2, 1999 meeting with Feiner and Town Board members, requested that he recuse himself on the antenna amendment vote. Mr. Feiner categorically refused to step aside.
SHCA members noted that Paul Feiner is a personal friend and recipient of campaign funds from Synder and Synder, attorneys for Nextel. SHCA also noted that Mr. Feiner has publicly acknowledged trying to help Synder and Synder expedite the Nextel/WFAS application even though it failed to conform to Town standards. Principals at Synder and Synder also served on Feiner’s congressional campaign committee. Mr. Feiner has previously stated he needs $600,000 to $700,000 for his next congressional campaign.
The amendments to the Town’s Antenna Law, as proposed by the Antenna Advisory Board and approved by the Town’s Planning Board, would strengthen the Town’s position when dealing with cellular providers determined to locate cellular antennas in certain residential neighborhoods. The amendments would also remove discretion regarding antenna application processing by the Town’s Building Inspector, who has allowed illegal activities at the WFAS site as well as other sites.
SHCA has been strongly supporting the amendments to the antenna law and has voiced its repeated endorsement of the Antenna Advisory Board. Proposed amendments would require all existing antennas on a lot to be legalized before additional antennas are approved, to avoid the situation now existing at the WFAS site, and would require setbacks from the property line equal to the height of the radio tower to safeguard against falling towers.
Stephen Gosik, President of SHCA, stated that it is inexcusable for an elected official to deliberately ignore the community in order to finance his political campaign and future career objectives. "Mr. Feiner maintains that he is against additional antennas at the WFAS site, and says he believes in strong enforcement of existing zoning. Then why has Feiner been orchestrating the approval of the Nextel application and the delay of community-endorsed amendments to the existing antenna code that protect residential areas?" states Mr. Gosik. Feiner’s refusal to remove himself on the vote for the antenna amendments along with his attempt to bury the proposed amendments with last minute minutiae clearly demonstrates Feiner’s conflict of interest, according to Mr. Gosik.
Even Town Council member, Ms. Eddie Mae Barnes, liaison to the Antenna Advisory Board, has apparently been frozen out of the information stranglehold Paul Feiner has placed on the upcoming amendment vote. According to Catherine Lederer-Plaskett, Chair of the Antenna Advisory Board, at a recent meeting to discuss the amendments with Town officials prior to Wednesday’s vote, Ms. Barnes was kept out of the loop in a last ditch attempt by Feiner and his staff to load the proposed amendments with twelve pages of conditions. Thus, Ms. Lederer-Plaskett notes: "Paul is so determined to help his friends, who have active business before the Town, that he bypasses Ms. Barnes, a governing member of the Town Council and an esteemed representative of the Town, including its minority community."
The antenna law amendments proposed by the Antenna Board have widespread community support, including SHCA. The Town’s Planning Board, the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, representing 34 Greenburgh Civic Associations, the Town’s Conservation Advisory Council and the Edgemont Community Council all have endorsed the amendments.