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GREENBURGH, N.Y. – For the last three weeks, members of Iron Workers Local Union 40 have been protesting the use of out-of-state workers building the foundation for a new Greenburgh Health Center on Knollwood Road.
The demonstration is just one of many issues that have plagued the project over the last seven years. The Broadview Civic Association feels it has been "poorly planned" and will have a negative effect on property values, traffic, safety and quality of life in a predominantly residential area.
"There's so many concerns there," said Linda Dowdell, a member of the association. "It's a narrow two-way street that's very dangerous and there's no space on the road to build a sidewalk."
The more than 25,000-square-foot facility is being constructed next to the Social Security building at 295 Knollwood Road. The center will be affiliated with health centers in Mount Vernon and Yonkers, but Supervisor Paul Feiner said it will operate in the same way as the existing Greenburgh Health Center on Route 119.
"It's just like any other health center. Most of the people who use it will be Greenburgh residents," Feiner said. "I never see crowds at the center. You don't even know it's there."
Dowdell said Feiner and other town officials have been unresponsive to the concerns of residents.
"I don't think Paul Feiner is working on behalf of the citizens but on behalf of the politicians and those who have a stake in the building," she said.
Feiner, who noted the developer has two years to install a sidewalk before a certificate of occupancy will be issued, said residents of the townhouse complex moved in after the health center was already approved and are just upset they weren't aware of it.
"Many of them didn't know. It was not like it was a secret," Feiner said. "We had dozens of hearings on it. I don't think it will be a problem."
As for the protesters, David Levy, a 25-year member of Iron Workers Local Union 40, said the contractor should be using workers from New York State, not Connecticut. He also claimed proper safety guidelines were not being followed with the project.
"There are people out of work in New York who could do this. Why do we have to use people from Connecticut?" Levy said. "We'd like to make local Greenburgh residents aware of what is going on with their taxes. We could have had this project done already."
Comments (7)
I guess now it is "no secret" that Mr. Feiner expressed the same arrogant lack of responsiveness during the "dozens of meetings" that ignored community concerns and ushered in the approval of this project. For 7 years that the Broadview Civic Association implored the town to consider other locations for the Greenburgh Health Center while Mr. Feiner insisted that "I never see crowds at the center. You don't even know it's there." ...Talk about a done deal"! He doesn't live across the street or next door. He has the privilege of residential zoning to insulate him. Guess what? As its structure casts a shadow over our homes and dominates our once picturesque view, WE KNOW IT IS THERE!....
Let's hope Mr. Feiner posts some messages here.
As usual, Feiner is being disingenuous, substituting a half-truth for reality. Consider:
1) Yes there were Public Hearings but Feiner is saying, in effect, that the resident "came late to the game".
However, at these Hearings the Town Board deliberately refused (ignoring those citizens who do participate) to make an absolute condition that a sidewalk would be in place before the doors open. Given that the ability to produce a sidewalk is an iffy thing (the Health Center does not own the two intervening properties and thus neither it nor the Town can guarantee that the such construction will occur. Were the Town Board really concerned, beyond lip service, the sidewalk issue would have been the very first issue to be resolved before a shovel ever went into the ground. If readers believe that the Town Board will not allow a newly built "Health Center" serving the community to open just because of a missing sidewalk component, then you should stand in the line of those ready to make their down payment to purchase the Tappan Zee Bridge.
2) the above leads to the second part of Feiner's deception. Feiner coyly says that the Health Center won't receive a certificate of occupancy if the sidewalk isn't built. But what he doesn't say is that he is referring to a permanent CofO while what the Town Board did ensure in a recent vote revising "building department regulations" is that the Building Inspector can continue to renew expiring "temporary" Cof O's INDEFINITELY. These code revisions were also the subject of Public Hearings and those that attended and spoke out were witness to a Town Board which refused to limit the number of renewals even though the Health Center sidewalk problem was cited as the example of what would happen.
So, if you still trustingly believe that Feiner is really, REALLY concerned about the SAFETY of those walking to the new Health Center, you should remember to bring a certified check when you make your Bridge down payment.
Hal Samis
Before the Town grants the Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center even a temporary certificate of occupancy, either the Town or the MVNHC must construct an ADA sidewalk on private property and not in the very narrow shoulder of the NYSDOT roadway. An ADA compliant sidewalk must be built from Tarrytown Road (Route 119) up to and including the entire front property line of the health center at 295 Knollwood Road because the health center estimates that the majority of the clients will reach the health center by public transportation. NYSDOT has declined to build the sidewalk as originally promised.
The Broadview Civic Association has repeatedly requested Supervisor Feiner and the Town Board to initiate construction of the sidewalk now so that safe pedestrian access will exist when the health center opens for business. The Greenburgh Town Board has not answered or addressed our request for a sidewalk before the center opens.
The failure to install safe sidewalks in a timely manner will create enormous safety problems for both pedestrians and motor vehicle operators. If anyone is injured walking on an obviously unsafe sidewalk, the Town of Greenburgh and its taxpayers will be exposed to significant municipal liability.
Robert Reninger, Chairman
Broadview Civic Association
They tend to be towards their country side;