Greenburgh’s Feiner marches on
Supervisor Paul Feiner”™s hobby is seeking out ”“ and implementing ”“ innovative ideas.
The Greenburgh town supervisor was the first in Westchester to post online videos featuring town services and local businesses. Now, he is one of the first in the nation to have an electric car, rented to the town by MINI of Westchester.
“I”™m going to be setting up, not at the town”™s expense but I am going to fund it on my own, a new web site that”™s going to highlight innovative ideas that work around the country,” Feiner said. “I thought if I had a web site that just focuses on big ideas that work here and could work elsewhere, we could become the focal point for other communities around the state and the nation. I”™d like people to say, ”˜Greenburgh”™s the most creative.”™”
The electric car, which Feiner said costs about $10 a month to rent, takes a full day to charge up for about 100 miles of travel.
“I think we”™re only one of 500 communities in the country that have it, so I”™m excited about that,” he said.
Nathalie Bauters, a spokesperson at MINI USA, said the company is renting the cars, which normally would lease for $850 a month, to “various individuals and organizations” around the U.S. and in Europe as part of a field trial.
“The reason we did that is we wanted to receive feedback from a wide customer and usage base,” Bauters said. “This is the first step to Project I, a team that worked to research and develop new mobility solutions for the future, especially for the growing cities of the world. Basically we”™re doing this to get feedback on the viability of electric vehicles, and we can use the information before we start the mass production of electric vehicles.”
In addition to the electric car, Feiner drives his own car, a “mobile problem-solving unit” around town.
“Greenburgh is an interesting community because you don”™t really have a downtown main street like White Plains or New Rochelle,” he said. “You have 119, you have Central Avenue, East Hartsdale Avenue ”¦ you have big-box stores and you have mom-and-pop stores and the biotech companies. It”™s a whole variety.”
This summer, student interns videotaped interviews with local business owners and employees and posted them on Youtube.com and at Greenburghbusiness.blogspot.com, a web site designed to promote local businesses.
“We found that it was actually harder than we thought to interview the businesses because a lot of the stores are chains, and they need permission from their parent companies,” Feiner said. “However, this will be an ongoing project. It”™s an overwhelming amount of work and if you have interns just for a couple of weeks they can start it but hopefully in the fall we”™ll re-activate it with more student interns and keep making it better.”
Last summer, Feiner posted videos on Youtube featuring town employees discussing services. The business interviews grew out of that initiative.
“It evolves and keeps expanding and it changes a little bit, but I think it”™s important for people to see all the great things that the town has,” he said.
Realizing that many people get their news and information from the Internet, Feiner uses social networking sites such as Facebook to help unemployed Greenburgh residents find jobs.
“I have a list of more than 100 people looking for work, and every day I email them all the job openings I”™m aware of,” Feiner said. “I know it”™s helping people, and even if it doesn”™t help them directly, they feel it”™s not hopeless.”
When someone does land a job, Feiner shares the news on LinkedIn or Facebook.
As for the state of business in town, Feiner said there”™s positive activity on Central Avenue.
“You have some construction going on; there”™s a new restaurant that”™s going to be opening up,” he said. “I also think the town is really a go-to place for biotech companies, and I think the addition of OSI (a biotech relocating from Long Island to Greenburgh) will attract other biotech companies as well if they feel they”™re being treated nicely ”¦ I anticipate that there will be more good news sooner or later.”