dc2t

Answered Final Alarm
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Posts posted by dc2t

  11. Posted

    FEINER BLOCKS RELEASE OF FAIRVIEW FIRE TAX REVENUES

    Town Supervisor Paul Feiner is refusing to release to the Fairview Fire District more than $10 million in fire taxes collected from fire district taxpayers because of a dispute over $700,000 in tax certiorari payments which Fairview says are not due to be paid to the Town until the end of the year and which Mr. Feiner is demanding be paid now.

    By law, the Town was supposed to release the tax revenues it collected to the fire district on May 1. By not releasing the funds as required by law, Fairview will not be able to meet payroll and other financial obligations, which means fire personnel will not be paid their salary and benefits, thereby putting residents of the fire district who need fire and rescue services at risk.

    Legal authorities say that the Town has no legal right to withhold any money it collects for the benefit of sister taxing jurisdictions, no matter what dispute there may be between the town and another taxing jurisdiction.

    Alarmed by the threat Mr. Feiner's actions have created to public safety in Fairviee, the fire district is calling on residents and firefighters to call Mr. Feiner and demand he release the funds. They are also encouraging residents to appear at tomorrow's town board work session to demand that the money be released.

    Because the release of the money is a non-discretionary act required by state law, Fairview may be required to bring an Article 78 lawsuit against Mr. Mr. Feiner in order to obtain an court order requiring the release of the money. And because it appears that Mr. Feiner's actions have no legal support, the fire district may also be entitled to legal fees.

    Mr. Feiner's actions are the latest in a campaign he has been waging personally against the Fairview fire district. This most recent action comes on the heels of a fatal fire earlier today in Poet's Corner in Hartsdale, where Fairview responded, along with Hartsdale, Greenville and Scarsdale.

    Bnechis likes this

  14. Posted

    So why not compose a district that covers the unincorporated Town just like PD. Take over all three districts and all fire protection districts. A shoot from the hip approach will not work. Too bad the town owes 5.5 million lawsuit against the A church. The money could be well spent on a in depth study. Too many non experts think they know the answer. Why does a single person who has no idea how to run a fire dept thinks he has the answer.

  15. Posted

    Greenburgh Update

    9 hours ago

    FAIRVIEW FIRE CHIEF TAKES EARLY RETIREMENT FOR HEALTH REASONS AS NEW FIRE CHIEF IS APPOINTED

    Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice, who just a few weeks ago said he would retire by the end of the year, last night said he would retire now -- and was replaced as chief by longtime Fairview Deputy Chief Howard Reiss.

    Chief LoGiudice, 58, decided to take early retirement because, like many firefighters from Westchester, he suffers from cancer caused by exposure to the toxins at Ground Zero following 9-11. His decision to retire now, rather than at the end of the year as he had previously announced, was apparently prompted by side effects from a required change in medication.

    Town Supervisor Paul Feiner meanwhile issued a press release tonight taking credit for Chief LoGiudice's decision to retire now, rather than at the end of the year, claiming it was due instead to Mr. Feiner's having once again proposed that the Fairview and Hartsdale fire districts be consolidated.

    Mr. Feiner is not a resident of either the Fairview or Hartsdale fire districts and seems not to care that financial analysis shows that if Fairview were to consolidate with Hartsdale, Fairview's fire taxes would increase by at least five percent.

    Instead, Mr. Feiner argues that fire chiefs in Fairview and Hartsdale (and for that matter in Edgemont's Greenville) are paid too much and that there should instead be only one paid fire chief to serve all three fire districts.

    However, eliminating the $200,000 salary of the Fairview fire chief would not result in any appreciable savings and may even result in substantially higher costs for a combined Fairview-Hartsdale fire district.

    A savings of $200,000 in salary in a combined Fairview-Hartsdale budget of $23,116,357 is a savings of less than 1%. But the combined district would still need senior personnel to assume command and control 24/7 at four different fire houses and that would require hiring and paying for more senior officers.

    Fire chiefs in Westchester are singlehandedly responsible for taking active command at major fires, assigning firefighters to stations and shifts, recommending the purchase of equipment and supplies, planning and directing training, supervising the investigation and causes of fires, directing and inspecting the maintenance of all firefighting equipment, preparing and presenting the annual department budget, and coordinating with other municipal departments and agencies. Each fire chief in Fairview and Hartsdale is assisted by one secretary.

    Under a combined fire district, though, these functions would double and would almost certainly require the hiring of additional administrative personnel.

    Finally, Mr. Feiners own fire district consolidation study of a few years ago showed that consolidation results in a reduction in the number of firefighter volunteers which, in turn, tends to increase the need for more salaried manpower to ensure enough personnel are on hand to man fire apparatus when needed in an emergency.

    Mr. Feiner, who does not live in either the Fairview or Hartsdale Fire districts and has no firefighting background, has not explained why he thinks these additional costs would not be incurred or why he thinks the elimination of a one of the two fire chiefs would result in any net savings that would reduce, rather than increase Fairviews fire taxes.

    Instead, he and his allies have been waging a political campaign designed to undermine public confidence in the Fairview Fire District and distract attention from Mr. Feiners own problems, including the $550,000 per year in damages Greenburgh taxpayers must pay for each of the next ten years because Mr. Feiner violated the constitutional rights of a church, which will force the Town to either exceed the state tax cap or cut services. Mr . Feiner has also lost the WestHELP property, which was once the largest single non-tax source of revenue to the Town, and he has failed to sell the former Franks Nurserty property, more than three years after the Town acquired it in a tax foreclosure sale.

    As part of his political campaign against Fairview, Mr. Feiner has publicly accused Chief LoGiudice of making anti-Semitic remarks about him, which testimony showed was not true, and he has been assisting the politically well connected would be Fairview firefighter, David Hecht, the 45-year old Village of Elmsford resident who claims he was denied an entry level firefighter position in Fairview because of alleged age discrimination.

    Fairview has a residency requirement for entry-level firefighters.

    vwwh1 likes this

  16. Posted

    Check out the Greenburgh Update seems there are two sides to the story

    Greenburgh Update

    JOURNAL NEWS ADMITS REPORTING "INCORRECT INFORMATION" IN STORIES ALLEGING ANTI-SEMITIC SLURS

    The Journal News admitted today that its front page stories concerning allegations that Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice made "anti-semitic slurs" against Town Supervisor Paul Feiner contained "incorrect information."

    Specifically, the Journal News admitted that it had erred in reporting several times that Chief LoGiudice "denied making derogatory remarks about Feiner in his deposition in the case."

    In fact, Chief LoGiudice was never asked any questions in his deposition about Mr. Feiner, let alone asked whether he had ever said anything derogatory about him.

    The errors in the Journal News story had conveyed the false and misleading impression that Chief LoGiudice had lied under oath when first confronted with such allegations.

    The allegations of anti-semitic slurs first arose when the Journal News reported that retired firefighter Darryl Leak had testified in an unrelated age discrimination suit against the Fairview Fire District that Chief LoGiudice had privately called Mr. Feiner on several occasions a "c**ksucking Jew bastard."

    The questions about Mr. Feiner did not appear to have any relevance to the age discrimination suit and appeared to have been raised in a last-ditch attempt to elicit embarrassing testimony which the lawyer in the case apparently thought he could use to pressure the Fairview district into giving his client a generous financial settlement of his claim.

    The plaintiff in the age discrimination suit, David Hecht, is not Jewish.

    Mr. Hecht, who is 45 years old, claims he was not hired as a firefighter because of his age. The suit itself is considered weak because Fairview has a longstanding policy administered by Westchester County of hiring firefighters who live within the district and Mr. Hecht is a resident not of Fairview, but of the Village of Elmsford where, according to the Village website, he is currently a member of its Zoning Board.

    The Journal News also incorrectly reported that Deputy Chief Howard Reiss, who is Jewish, had likewise testified in his own deposition that Chief LoGiudice had used "anti-semitic remarks" when referring to Mr. Feiner.

    In fact, Mr. Reiss gave no such testimony. His testimony was that Chief LoGiudice had called Mr. Feiner a "c**ksucker" and did not recall whether he had been called that more than once. Mr. Reiss thus never testified that Chief LoGiudice also used the word "Jew" or any slang term for "Jew." Nor did he recall hearing him called a "bastard."

    Mr. Feiner compounded the false reporting by declaring in press releases that he had actually read the deposition testimony and claimed it showed two firefighters confirming the use of anti-semitic slurs against him on multiple occasions. If Mr. Feiner had actually read the deposition testimony, as he has claimed, it appears he was falsely characterizing what it said in an effort to promote himself at Chief LoGiudice's expense.

  18. Posted

    It's kind of ironic that Fairview has a LARGE Jewish Community Temple right down the street from Station 2, and the separate Hebrew Hospital Home campus on the other side of the district, which donated their former Rescue 3. Wonder what they think?

    I also find it lame that the Chief had to read a letter to apologize while in a face-to-face apology with the Town Supervisor? Really, he couldn't have come up with something more genuine?

    Let's also not forget the age-discrimination lawsuit brought against them last week.

    Man Sues Fairview Over Age Discrmintation

    Or the fact they want to create a new "Executive Assistant Chief" position for $135,000 a year in order to "groom" the Chiefs replacement, one of which is the son of the District's longtime secretary and companion to the late Chief Mauro.

    Fairview fire commissioner sounds alarm on proposed $135G executive position

    Get the facts straight