Your Letters: Inaction and Fear Do Not Constitute Leadership

Over four months since the Ryan reval train wrecked into Scarsdale, Mayor Mark and the Board of Trustees continue their weary Greek chorus, 'we cannot do anything or we will upset other residents.' Had Alexander the Great been gripped by fear like the Mayor and BOT are, Greece would never have become a great empire and Alexander the Great would have died unknown in his birthplace, Pella.

The Citizens Nominating Committee (CNC), its ardent fans of establishment politics, and prospective CNC candidates should take note when they try to pick the next mayor and trustees. Inaction and fear of the unknown do not constitute leadership.

At the October 13th Committee of the Whole meeting, Trustee Stern yet again brought up the Tyler reval. I reminded him what I said on June 14th in quoting statistician George Baxter, 'all models are flawed, but some are useful.'

There are clear differences between the Tyler and Ryan valuations that seem to escape the Mayor and Board of Trustees. Of course, there were complaints about the Tyler valuation. After over four decades of numerous boards neglecting their responsibilities of conducting a property assessment, those people's properties which went up in value were understandably upset. Moreover, at the higher and lower ends of the market, one challenge in a model can be less available sales data, which can cause distortions. For the record, my husband's and my property went up during the Tyler reval and even more under Ryan's 'finger in the air guess.'

Under Tyler there were numerous public meetings where residents could ask questions. Under Ryan, there were two meetings, one which was little publicized. At those meetings, Trustees Finger and Samwick asked Ryan questions which showed that Ryan was innumerate; Mayor Mark and the trustees never compelled Ryan to answer questions properly or to produce his work before the June 1st tentative assessment roll deadline.

Under Tyler, there were physical inspections of homes. To date no emails have been uncovered showing unethical behavior at the Assessor's office during Tyler like there were under Ryan. Tyler was a competed project; emails show how Assessor Albanese wanted Ryan to do the 2016 reval and his was not a competed project. Under Ryan, an unlicensed appraiser arrested for criminal trespassing and threatening, while living with a convicted felon, spent less than three and a half minutes looking at our homes from the public way trying to guess at construction grades. Under the terms of the contract, Assessor Albanese was required to vet any of Ryan's subcontractors; she never vetted this unlicensed appraiser, and in fact, gave him access to village computers. One of her staff members even offered Ryan and his subcontractor her password to access the Village system.

Starting in August, the Mayor and Village Manager finally admitted that the Ryan reval was a mistake. Moreover, they have publicly stated that they are exploring bringing a legal action against Ryan for not fulfilling his terms of the contract. Presently, they are withholding almost $50,000 in fees from Ryan. Further proving how wrong Ryan's valuation was, the New York State's Office of Real Property Services' valuation was $1.2 billion higher than Ryan's.

No legal action was ever even considered by the Village against Tyler. When I asked the Mayor at last week's meeting if payment was withheld from Tyler, the answer was 'no.' I have repeatedly asked 'If Trustee Stern or other trustees were so concerned about the Tyler reval's results why didn't residents or they call for an independent investigation? Why did they not take legal action against Tyler?' I have yet to receive an answer. What type of logic are the Mayor and Board of Trustees employing? 'Tyler made some people unhappy, so now let us sit here and have Ryan make hundreds of people unhappy even though we know that the Ryan reval and how he was hired are flawed?'

For anyone who can stomach reliving this summer's trustee meetings, much can be learned from the July 12th Board of Trustees meeting. At minute 62.06 in the video, Trustee Stern in explaining to resident Robert Harrison that there is nothing that the Board can do about the Ryan reval, says 'our hands are in handcuffs by the rules and laws of the state of New York.' Not at that meeting, nor at any other meeting in the last four months have Trustee Stern or any of the others proven what New York law prevents the board from invalidating the Ryan reval.

Trustee Stern also stated that he 'felt residents' pain' and that the Board and he 'were very upset about the reval.' When questioned by Harrison, Stern admits that under Ryan, his assessment declined. To this day, neither the mayor nor any trustee has ever apologized to the residents for the angst that they have inflicted on us. They have also not been held accountable for not solving the self-inflicted Ryan fiasco. Given that the CNC selected the Mayor and trustees, does the CNC ever hold them accountable?

Very elucidating is the exchange that Trustee Finger has with Harrison at minute 64.14, when responding to why the Board of Trustees will not invalidate the Ryan reval. Trustee Finger stated that 'if we take a plainly illegal action and the Village is sued by the other 4,000 homeowners or any one of them and it costs all the residents hundreds of thousands of dollars to lose and be right back where they started, will that make people feel better?' Those present at the meeting responded loudly 'yes.' To this date, Trustee Finger has not proven that it would be illegal for the BOT to invalidate the Ryan reval; he has yet to prove what residents might sue the Village if the Board were to invalidate the reval. And if other residents were to sue the Village, it would be their burden of proof to prove why they are suing the village?

The sad truth is that the Mayor and BOT largely ignored my team and other quantitative residents' analysis until we revealed, through emails obtained under the Freedom of Informational Law, Assessor Albanese's in appropriate behavior. Despite all the quantitative analysis that was brought forth, we have been pilloried by Village leaders and even in a couple of Scarsdale10583.com's editorials. Some residents, hiding under anonymity previously provided by Scarsdale1058.com's comment section, called us moochers and others told my husband and me to leave Scarsdale.

The irony is that the only good thing about the reval is that we now have met hundreds of residents personally or over email. Even though I am stunned at the opacity, and sometimes arrogance of key Scarsdale institutions, I could not leave. I now know such a cross section of kind and smart Scarsdalians of from every walk of life. They are my neighbors and many are now my friends. I meet not only the over assessed but also the under assessed. Interestingly, even people whose assessments stayed flat or declined are appalled by the misconduct of the Assessor's office and lack of leadership at Village Hall. The Mayor and Board of Trustees would be well-served to solve the Ryan reval. This debacle has been going on for over four months. In case they have not noticed, over assessed residents and I have not gone away and will continue to pursue justice.