This week, our State Assemblyman Tom Abinanti introduced a bill that would rewrite New York village law to prevent Edgemont’s court-ordered incorporation vote from ever taking place.

Recall the Town Board’s shameful effort last summer to pass a special law that would change the rules for incorporating a village — but only in Greenburgh. The Town Board tried to sneak it through without any meaningful notice to the public. When its actions came to light, the Town Board called an impromptu hearing on the evening of Father’s Day (pictured above).

Despite the inconvenience, hundreds of residents — and not just from Edgemont — showed up to express their outrage.  Exactly zero residents spoke in favor of the Town’s effort to deprive Greenburgh residents of their rights to determine their preferred form of local governance.

A grassroots letter-writing and phone campaign by unincorporated Greenburgh residents mercifully killed that bill in Albany. But, like the villain in a horror film, it has now come lurching out of the grave in an even more ghoulish form.  

The new Abinanti bill would similarly create insurmountable hurdles to incorporation, including subjective veto power by the town and a majority vote by not just the residents of the proposed village, but also residents outside of the village. Those requirements would even apply to petitions, like Edgemont’s, that courts have already found to be legally sufficient and for which a court has ordered an election.

This new version of the law would apply to 6% of towns in the state, but only if the town chooses to opt in. Since Greenburgh is the only town in which a petition is currently pending, the law effectively applies only here.

Residents of unincorporated Greenburgh should not sit by and let their elected officials ignore court orders, subvert our constitutional rights, and forever take away our only remaining leverage with the Town. By filing this bill, Abinanti is effectively conceding what Feiner already knows: that the petition is indeed valid, the Town’s appeal from the court’s order is frivolous, and the Edgemont incorporation movement is real and likely to pass.

Indeed, when Feiner appealed, Abinanti didn’t comment on the merits of the appeal, but simply said: “This could give us enough time.” That statement should be troubling no matter where you stand on the broader issue of Edgemont’s incorporation. From Abinanti’s new amendment, it's clear that he and the Town needed more time--not to prepare a judicial appeal or provide data to inform voters, but to change the election law itself so as to get the outcome that suits them (courts and voter rights be damned). If citizens can’t rely on the courts to protect their voting rights, we’ll all be at the mercy of the very same politicians who are making it all but impossible to incorporate in Greenburgh. That’s the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse.

The newly proposed amendment to last year's bill may be found here: http://bit.ly/2IKlBrI

To voice your objection, please email the legislators below. Explain that you oppose Abinanti's Assembly Bill 8423 because citizens who legally petition their government for a referendum on incorporation, and have a court order for an election, shouldn't have to worry about politicians changing laws because they don't like the potential outcome. Furthermore, village incorporations laws that are good for one area of NY State should apply to all areas of NY State, and the incorporation rights of NY State town residents shouldn't change from town to town, and should certainly not be based on the unilateral decision of a 26-year incumbent Town Supervisor who wishes to remain in office for yet another term.

Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins: scousins@nysenate.gov 
Click here for an email link with the above language.

Assembly Speaker of the House Carl Heastie: speaker@nyassembly.gov
Click here for an email link with the above language.

Assemblyman Tom Abinanti: abinantit@nyassembly.gov 
Click here for an email link with the above language.

Thank you,

The EIC.