Legislative update- Contact the Governor!
The Saving Greenburgh Coalition met with Assemblywoman MaryJane Shimsky in February and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins in March 2023. At that time, the Senator indicated that she would not sponsor or support legislation to give voting rights to all Unincorporated Greenburgh residents in an incorporation referendum: any new legislation would have to be applicable state wide and would be based on the findings of a study of the village incorporation process conducted by Pace University. We also met with Assemblyman Fred Thiele (Suffolk County), Chair of the Committee on Local Governments, through which any proposed legislation would need to pass.
When we did not hear back from the Senator within the promised timeframe, we started a series of community meetings to educate the community, the first of which was attended by both the Senator and the Assemblywoman. At the meeting, the Senator pledged to continue her work in Albany to help the Greenburgh Community. We also collected over 350 letters to our legislators and more than 500 signatures on a paper petition. Our Change.org petition, the paper petition and the letters from the constituents were delivered in June. We immediately thereafter learned that the Senator was writing legislation to address incorporation.
The Senator introduced Senate bill S7537 which was passed by the Senate and the Assembly in the closing days of the legislative session in June. This bill, which would go into effect Jan. 1, 2024, would create a Village Incorporation Commission at the State level to oversee the incorporation process. HOWEVER, a section was added to the bill which would EXEMPT ANY PETITION STARTED PRIOR TO JAN 1 from the requirements of the new law. This means that the petition currently being circulated by Edgemont Incorporation Committee would be allowed to go forward under the current law- Greenburgh residents would have no voice in the matter.
This is a betrayal of the majority of the residents of Unincorporated Greenburgh- all of us who signed the petition asking for the right to vote.
The bill is now waiting to be sent to Governor Hochul for signature. We have met with a member of the Governor's staff to express our concern about the unfairness of the language in the bill and asking that the Governor take steps to have the Edgemont exemption removed from the bill.
Please use the following web address to send an email to the Governor asking her to use her power to have the legislation changed so the needs of all Greenburgh residents are addressed by changes to the Incorporation law.
https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form
You can contact the coalition at: savinggreenburghcoalition@gmail.com. Please be aware that we are not the recipients of any contributions that are made on this website.