FRANCIS SHEEHAN DECLARES CANDIDACY FOR GREENBURGH TOWN COUNCIL
Contact: Carol Wielk*
Telephone: 212 686-9147
Fax: 914 693-1792; 212 779-9307
E-mail: FSheehan99@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 4,1999
Francis Sheehan, 45, long-time community advocate and member
of the Town of Greenburgh Zoning Board of Appeals and the Antenna Review Board, officially
announced his candidacy for Town Council in the upcoming Democratic primary in Greenburgh.
"It is time for a change on the Greenburgh Town Council," Mr. Sheehan declared. "The current Town Council does not represent the diverse Greenburgh community. The members generally vote as a bloc and rarely support the homeowner or resident from the continuing assault by developers. They even refuse to campaign as individuals, preferring to accept the largesse of the Town Supervisor, instead of presenting themselves to the voters as independent representatives of the people," Mr. Sheehan stated.
"This ‘the people be damned’ approach," Mr. Sheehan continued, "violates open and democratic government and has had devastating consequences for our Town. The impact of this Town Council's decisions has resulted in overdevelopment of open spaces in Greenburgh, destruction of greenery and tree growth, unrelenting traffic congestion and unsightly urban sprawl."
Mr. Sheehan noted that people did not move to Greenburgh to face all the ills of urban development. Rather, they sought to escape the woes of urban living.
"The time for an independent voice on the Town Council is NOW. I can be that voice," Mr. Sheehan avowed. "I will not be beholden to campaign contributors who have active business before the Town or to personal political ambitions outside of Greenburgh," Mr. Sheehan said.
Francis Sheehan has an outstanding record of community service. Since moving to Greenburgh in 1983, he established himself as a leader and proponent of the local community. In 1994, in response to neighborhood concerns over a proposed mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery, Mr. Sheehan researched the height requirements in the Town’s building code and uncovered a violation that had gone unnoticed in the site plans which called for a building seven feet higher than permitted. The site plans were corrected when the error was pointed out to the Building Inspector.
Continuing his role as the local hero who saved the community from an unsightly commercial building, Mr. Sheehan's diligent research revealed that a title change in 1971 for a nonconforming property in a residential area prevented the current owner from building a maintenance garage near residential homes. Mr. Sheehan prepared a document almost two inches thick, proving to the Zoning Board of Appeals that the owner could not meet the state-mandated requirements for the variance needed. The commercial building was never built.
Mr. Sheehan also led the fight to prevent any new mausoleums from being built on the Ferncliff Cemetery when again in 1994 he lobbied the Town Board for a change in the Zoning Ordinance to effect this requirement, arguing that without such a change in zoning the building density in the cemetery could be greater than that permitted on Central Avenue!
Mr. Sheehan subsequently founded the Secor Homes Civic Association, Inc. and served as its first President. The strong organization structure of the association that he helped create continues today to be extremely effective. Mr. Sheehan relinquished his Presidency when he was appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) in 1995 and rapidly became the voice of the community in analyzing the real impact of applicant proposals for development that came before the ZBA. His penetrating questions regarding requests for variances to the Zoning Code by major developers or their agents soon became the standard for consideration of an application. His thoroughness with professional builders is matched by his compassion for the average homeowner who needs relief to build a deck or shed, and he initiated and chairs a committee to make the ZBA bylaws more resident-friendly.
Mr. Sheehan's ability to obtain objective findings has caused other civic associations to recruit his help. For example, when a tax-exempt property was being proposed in the Fairview Fire District, the residents objected, claiming that there was a disproportionate number of tax-exempt properties in that fire district. Mr. Sheehan obtained the tax assessment records for all properties in each of the three Fire Districts and proved definitively that the Fairview Fire Department was indeed overly burdened. The data was so convincing that the siting agency vowed to not site any more of their tax-exempt facilities in the Fairview Fire District.
His most recent and truly outstanding success was co-authoring the nationally recognized Greenburgh Antenna Law that has been so effective in protecting our residential neighborhoods from needless antenna sitings, and recently caused the removal of illegal antennas mounted on the WFAS radio tower in the Secor Homes area. Mr. Sheehan is consulted by environmental groups and other municipalities regarding antenna legislation.
Since July 1998, Mr. Sheehan has been working closely with Scenic Hudson, an environmental group, and other state-wide environmental and municipal organizations, on state-wide legislation which would permit municipalities state-wide to retain local control of antenna tower sitings and ensure scenic areas throughout the State are protected from unsightly towers. He recently proudly announced the alternate antenna legislation was introduced in the State Senate and State Assembly.
Mr. Sheehan also helped obtain additional police coverage for the Town of Greenburgh when he organized a meeting designed to highlight police understaffing levels and then petitioned the Town Board and Town Supervisor to seek available federal funds to hire three more police officers. Prior to Mr. Sheehan’s involvement and assistance to the Police Chief, the Town Board was effectively ignoring the police department’s budget request for this urgently needed additional police coverage.
On Jennifer Lane in the Secor Homes area, Mr. Sheehan uncovered a massive illegal soil and gravel business operating in the heart of a residential district. When he brought this matter to the Town's attention, it was found that the Town was supplying the material for the illegal business. As the result of Mr. Sheehan's involvement, the Town has since stopped providing material to the illegal business and has taken legal action against the operator.
Mr. Sheehan’s quest for office is principally prompted by the upcoming deliberation of the Town's MASTER PLAN, which will soon be considered. "The Master Plan is the Town's blueprint for land-use decisions for the next 20 to 30 years. It is the most important document the Town will ever generate. It will contain written findings on what uses will or will not be appropriate in the different zoning districts. It will totally revise our zoning code. We cannot afford to make mistakes and we certainly cannot afford more "developer-friendly" decisions which needlessly infringe on our neighborhoods," Mr. Sheehan warned. "In fact, the consideration and adoption of the Master Plan during the next election cycle is too important to be left to the current ‘developer friendly’ Town Council," Mr. Sheehan cautioned.
In conducting his campaign, Mr. Sheehan pledges to accept NO political contributions from major developers or those working for them, to vote for a moratorium on development pending adoption of the Master Plan, to commit to a Master Plan that protects neighborhoods and strengthens property values, and to serve out a full term of office. "I am running for Town Council because I want to be on the Town Council. It is not a stepping stone to some other office," Mr. Sheehan said, referring to stated ambitions of other Town Council members.
"How can you have elected officials committed to the Town’s best interest when one or more of those now running for reelection do not intend to complete their term and be around to see the Master Plan through to completion," admonishes Mr. Sheehan, who added, "I will make sure the Master Plan is adopted, that it has teeth, and that it is enforced to protect residential neighborhoods."
Francis Sheehan, a Democrat, is a tenured lecturer of Criminalistics (forensic science) and Chemistry at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He has been married to his wife, Millie, for eighteen years and they have two children, 12 and 9
*President, Secor Homes Civic Association, Inc. Civic associations, as an entity, are prohibited from endorsing candidates. Affiliation is shown for identification purposes only