Community Update: The Fight Continues
This past weekend, despite your numerous calls and emails, our own efforts, and the stalwart work of our Assemblymember Amy Paulin, the State legislature pushed through two last-minute bills that dramatically re-write the village incorporation law. The bills are now awaiting the governor’s signature.
As we warned, the bills create a new requirement that a vaguely defined fiscal study be performed before any incorporation vote can occur. One of the bills also creates a new, unelected panel of bureaucrats who have essentially unlimited power to decide whether any future incorporation petitions can go forward — essentially taking the decision out of the hands of voters entirely. So much for government by consent of the governed.
The good news is that both bills contain language that exempts in-progress petitions like ours from some of the new provisions. The bad news is that — as we also warned — the bills create new opportunities for Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner to abuse the law under the guise of “interpretation,” to serve his own political ends and deny us the opportunity to vote, forcing us to remain under his thumb.
It is important to understand that the process is not over. Ms. Paulin, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie are continuing to work on additional language that will preclude even Supervisor Feiner from playing his usual games.
As reported by Politico here, Ms. Stewart-Cousins noted in a Town Hall meeting last month: “When we do something like [change legislation], it can’t just be one thing for one group, and it can’t be based on what I think will stop something from happening in a particular place.”
We thank our representatives for recognizing that mid-game changes unfairly affect the Edgemont community, which has spent seven years seeking to vote on its preferred form of self-governance.
Click here for video of Assemblymember Paulin’s speech on the floor about Edgemont and the bills.
In the meantime, we are continuing the extensive work that is necessary to file our petition, following the guidance set forth in the previous court decisions, and we look forward to collecting even more signatures before we do so. If you haven’t signed our current petition seeking a vote on Edgemont’s incorporation (or if you’re not sure if you have), please email Sharyn Lewis at sharynlewis@optonline.net to arrange a time.
Thank you, everyone, for letting our representatives know how important this is, and for making yourselves heard. The fight is not over; it is just getting started.
-The EIC
