Recently, Supervisor Feiner has claimed that the House of Sports is to blame for the issues surrounding Game On 365’s at the former Frank’s Nursery. Nothing could be further from the truth.
is riddled with so many issues due to the Town’s actions ranging from a tainted RFP process, entering into a financially irresponsible deal at the expense of residents, the drafting of a lease lacking standard commercial terms and protections for the Town and lastly not realizing after 1½ years of work that the Town doesn’t even have the authority to lease the land and any such lease is illegal.
Westchester County Code provides that Towns must sell land acquired via tax foreclosure. Feiner has chosen to ignore this law. As a smoke screen for his unlawful actions, he has suddenly proposed that residents should vote on a referendum for the lease. Such referendum will be invalid and illegal since the Town does not have the authority to lease the land. It is a complete farce that Feiner is using to look like he wants Town input when he is really trying to save face for his mistakes.
The House of Sports is a family-owned business that is making a very large investment in Greenburgh. We will be paying hundreds of thousands in taxes, hiring over a hundred employees and providing a fantastic asset to the community. All we have asked for is that the Town not favor one business over another.
We are more than happy to compete on a level playing field. But it is very reasonable for us to demand that our tax dollars not be used to subsidize a competitor. The Town’s recent actions of favoring one business and disregarding the law will deter other new businesses from coming to Greenburgh.
We would have no grounds to object to the Town’s actions if they were doing everything properly and legally. It is shameful for Feiner to blame a local business for his own errors in judgment, incompetence in execution and illegal actions.
The likely litigation on the legality of the lease will take many years during which Game On will be unable to raise money (since the lease will be found to be null and void) and the Town will not be able to monetize this property.
It’s time for Supervisor Feiner to look for a lawful use for this valuable town asset.
Irin Israel, Principal, House of Sports
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