Bernstein's announcement of his candidacy for Town Supervisor

This evening, Manor Woods' intrepid cub reporter ventured out to attend Bob Bernstein's announcement of his candidacy for Town Supervisor.  About 45 to 50 people gathered among the weeds emerging from the cracking pavement in the parking lot in front of the dilapidated former Frank's Nursery building.  The event got started at about 7:35pm. John Coleman and Mark Lafeyette gave brief and adulatory introductory remarks.  I had never met Bernstein and had not heard him speak before.  I expected something like the ogre described by Feiner's supporters over the years in comments in lohud.com, Feiner's former blog or other webpages.  To my surprise, Bernstein spoke in a calm, fluid and amiable style but also sufficiently dynamic to keep this listener's attention.  He started off by saying that there are great things about Greenburgh, but then listed four major concerns: Westhelp, Fortress Bible, Valhalla schools deal, and Frank's Nursery.  Bernstein launched into an attack on Feiner, stressing that Feiner has cost the town large amounts of revenue through failure to renew the Westhelp contract ($12 million in lost revenue) and the Fortress Bible judgement which, marked by the town board's violation of a church's constitutional rights, will not be covered by insurance and will probably cost taxpayers $7 milllion.  In this two situations alone, Bernstein claimed, Feiner had cost the town $19 million.  This lost money could have been put to use, Bernstein remarked, emphasizing flood control measures in various parts of the town and help for seniors during crises such as Storm Sandy.  He stressed again that the federal judge in the Fortress Bible decsision found that the board had destroyed evidence and that Feiner was not credible. Bernstein reiterated that payment of the judgment will come out of taxpayers' pockets and that Feiner had never apologized for his actions in that case. Bernstein continued on to discuss the Westhelp situation in more detail and how Feiner had allowed that property to deteriorate rather than renew the housing contract with the county. Bernstein returned to the Valhalla school payment deal and how this was a payment to appease a community group in the Valhalla school district  - and mostly not in Greenburgh - because a county shelter was housing poor, mostly minority women a mile distant.  Bernstein observed that Feiner had "lost his moral compass."  Then Bernstein addressed the Frank's Nursery deal  and how Feiner's conduct demonstrated that he believed he was above the law.
Bernstein then pivoted from attacking Feiner's record to review his own role in defending - along with Judge Rosenberg (?) - at their own expense, the town from the lawsuit brought by Valhalla to enforce its deal with Feiner.  Bernstein observed that Feiner had sided with the "tea party" position in Valhalla and had again cost Greenburgh home owners money.  Bernstein claimed that his defense of the suit - together with the judge - had recovered $1.1 million for the town.
Bernstein concluded by stating that he was the candidate of the town's Democratic Party and that he would bring "competence, consistency and common sense" to town government.   He then quoted from Feiner's statement on www.paulfeiner.com (reviewed on an earlier post) asking for more money and predicting a  contentious and vicious campaign.  Bernstein remarked that Feiner already had $150,000 and was asking for more money, while Bernstein had not yet collected any funds.  He added that Feiner was desperate to hold on to his job and that if anyone would be "contentious and vicious," it would be Feiner.  He warned his audience to be prepared for smears from Feiner.  In conclusion, Bernstein stated that it was time to end Feiner's "twenty-two year reign of error." (A pretty good line you have to admit).

At the end of the talk I approached Bernstein to ask him to respond to Feiner's attack that he intended to cause Edgement to secede from Greenburgh.  Bernstein responded as I anticipated: he stated (I'm paraphrasing) that Paul Feiner's management of the town had prompted the secession movement and that removing Feiner from office would remove the reason for Edgemont to secede. [Again, this is my paraphrase and not a direct quote!!!]

After listening to Bernstein make his case, it seems to me that Bernstein's risk in taking this approach is that the controversies he cited to challenge Feiner's record are complex.  From my experience in my section of Manor Woods, very few of my neighbors appear conversant about Bernstein's four major attack points. (Over the ten years I've lived on Mercer Ave, I've heard very little discussion of town politics or affair - other than schools, but that's an issue another post).  I suppose that it's easiest for Bernstein to describe the Fortress Bible judgement which has a straightforward narrative and will potentially cost the taxpayers between six and eight million dollars.  The Frank's Nursery deal might be familiar to many because of the recent referendum on the sports bubble (not to be confused with the tennis bubble proposed for Veterans Park), but the details of the competing proposals for the site are known to few.  Westhelp and the Valhalla deal require a lot of explanation.  It might be hard to convey these points convincingly during a summer campaign when few have the focus for such complex matters.   I might guess that there is only a small core of Greenburgh residents who are already familiar with these contentious points and that these individuals comprise the small group who pay close attention to town affairs generally.  These people have probably made up their minds already if they are with or against Feiner.  Bernstein may have been "preaching to the converted." Reinforcing this last point in my own mind, I was struck that among the 45 to 50 in attendance, I didn't see a single familiar face from the Manor Woods neighborhood.

Feiner has built up a committed group of supporters over 22 years whom he can rely on to turn out for primaries. I doubt that Bernstein's arguments will change the minds of the three thousand or so voters who've grown accustomed to pulling the Feiner lever (or filling in that circle) eleven times over more than two decades.  It will be seen whether Bernstein can communicate his message and motivate the mass of residents who pay little attention to town board matters (especially the residents of the river towns) to come out and vote for him.   This will be Bernstein's fundamental challenge.