It wasn’t unanimous, but very close to it. Carlucci was up 150-2 over his three rivals before tired Rockland Democratic Committee members pleaded that they would rather endorse the Clarkstown Town Clerk by acclamation. Candidate Grant Valentine received two votes. Lou Tharp and Tuxedo Town Supervisor Peter Dolan received no votes before the Committee switched to an acclamation vote.

To get the endorsement, a candidate needed 122 votes, just over half of the number of those in attendance plus known proxies being carried.

Although Carlucci won the endorsement of the committee by a decisive landslide, some political leaders in Ramapo are unhappy with the way the evening played out.

County Legislator Bill Darden and Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence led a very small group who sought to block the gathered Democrats from backing any one candidate. Their effort failed when a motion was made on the floor to force the vote to go through with large majority of those present backing it.

Ironically as this drama played out, Rep. Eliot Engel made a passionate speech from the floor, and one of its main themes was Democratic Unity. Engel’s speech received resounding applause, but I think the message was lost to some.

This effort by a small faction of Democrats to change the rules int the middle of the game was disappointing. And after their efforts failed, St. Lawrence and several Ramapo Committee members left the Convention as the votes were tallied. Many Ramapo Democrats, however, stayed to vote for Carlucci.

The Rockland’s convention fast on the heels of the Orange County Democrats’ and Rep. Nina Lowey’s resounding endorsements of Carlucci.

Valentine, Tharp, and Dolan all appear to be remaining in the race.

The next major event on the State Senate contender’s schedule is the Meet the Candidates night at the Nyack Public Library on June 7 at 7 pm.

Without even something as simple as a business plan or a building permit, the Town has already bulldozed a notable section of the 61 acre drainage basin on Route 45, cutting down trees and paving it over. However, neither the Board nor Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence has been able to provide any hard evidence that the wooded site is in fact blighted and worthy of being classified as an urban renewal zone. But by declaring it one, the Town can easily move ahead on development and construction without going through typical bureaucratic processes.

But has St. Lawrence and the Ramapo Board played fast and loose with the legal definition of blighted to skirt State law?

New York’s Constitution (Article XVIII, Section 3) uses the precedent established by Yonkers v. Morris to define blight as follows:

* Factors to be considered in determining if area is “blighted” and thus subject to urban renewal condemnation include such diverse matters as irregularity of the plots, inadequacy of the streets, diversity of land ownership making assemblage of property difficult, incompatibility of existing mixture of residential and industrial property, overcrowding, incidence of crime, lack of sanitation, drain areas makes on municipal services, fire hazards, traffic congestion and pollution.
* For an area to be termed “blighted” and thus subject to urban renewal condemnation, degree of deterioration or precise percentage of obsolescence or mathematical measurement of other factors do not have to be arrived at with precision, since combination and effects of such things are highly variable.

Further, the New York Development Corporation Act defines a “substandard or insanitary area” as:

[I]nterchangeable with a slum, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating area, or an area which has a blighting influence on the surrounding area, whether residential, non-residential, commercial, industrial, vacant or land in highways, waterways, railway and subway tracks and yards, bridge and tunnel approaches and entrances, or other similar facilities, over which air rights and easements or other rights of user necessary for the use and development of such air rights, to be developed as air rights sites for the elimination of the blighting influence, or any combination thereof and may include land, buildings or improvements, or air rights and concomitant easements or other rights of user necessary for the use and development of such air rights not in themselves substandard or insanitary.

I think an interested party stands a good chance of challenging this development and stopping its progress in court. After all, wouldn’t the Town of Ramapo have to prove that the area has the potential to degrade the quality of nearby property or is itself in the process of deterioration? And what proof would they present?

Aerial photographs of the site show the property to be a healthy, attractive wooded area with a stream running through it. Only the area that was bulldozed and paved over by the Town of Ramapo seems to mar it. However, the Town claims the site is polluted and filled with trash, such as abandoned cars. But those that have visited the area, including Preserve Ramapo‘s Michael Castelluccio have found the site to be “pristine” and devoid of trash. The Town has even admitted that the levels of mercury, DDT, and arsenic on the site are not highly toxic.

By insisting this wooded area is blighted and by designating the site an urban renewal zone, the town allows the Ramapo Local Development Corporation, a quasi-governmental agency chaired by St. Lawrence, to forego numerous protocols typically used in the development and construction stages. It also assists the corporation in seeking state and federal grants, including real property tax abatements. After the stadium is built, it would be owned by St. Lawrence’s corporation, which would lease the stadium to tenants.

Even after it’s built, Ramapo residents would continue to be taxed diffusely for this new stadium, picking up the slack for the tax abatements that the Ramapo Development Corporation will enjoy. While the developers could have 10 years of real property tax abatements through New York’s Empire Zone program, Ramapo residents will be footing the bill for the additional police, public works, and sewage resources this stadium will demand. In addition, the rest of taxpayers in Rockland can expect to pay for the the Development Corporation’s share of county taxes into the next decade. In short, residents of other towns will end up paying for a project that they didn’t approve. And that’s taxation without representation.

Further, it has been pointed out by local newspapers, bloggers, and activists that the surrounding roads, especially the two-lane Route 45, will be inadequate in handling the traffic to the area, possibly causing back-ups and gridlock that would extend outside of Ramapo and into Clarkstown and beyond. The Orangetown newspaper Our Town said in a recent editorial that:

The downside of Ramapo’s headlong rush to get into the sports business is the traffic impact and the investment in road improvements necessary to support a minor league baseball team and stadium. That could be spread around a much larger number of people who have no say in the matter whatsoever. All towns that could be affected should have an opportunity to review and comment during the planning process.

I couldn’t agree more. I’m calling on the Rockland County Executive’s office to take the lead in this matter, considering that this stadium could have a potential negative impact throughout all five towns.

The Town of Ramapo is playing the entire County as suckers and taxpayers need an advocate. It is the County Executive’s duty to use the bully pulpit of his office to review land use, public works, and taxation issues that can have a dire consequences on the welfare of the County. We need Scott Vanderoef to lead the County a public forum, or if need be, a suit filed by the on behalf of Rockland’s residents to stop the Town of Ramapo from moving forward with this subterfuge.

Dear Friend,

As an East Ramapo School District parent and a school board member who has served two terms, I am more apprehensive than ever before about the future of our district. Whether or not you live in the district, what happens to the East Ramapo students impacts all of us in Rockland.

While I am not seeking a third term, I ask you to help elect three strong candidates who are running on May 11th: Suzanne Mercer Young, Stephen Price, and Antonio Luciano. This election is nothing less than a turning point where the public school community could lose all of its representation on the school board. This would be totally unacceptable! People from the public school community understand the programs students need in order to thrive in our increasingly challenging world; they will fight to maintain the crucial instructional services which are so vital for our students. East Ramapo is the only high needs, low resource district in our county; our students who face the greatest hardship are being hurt disproportionally. Proposed cuts by the board will result in termination of proven programs, essential services, and overcrowded classrooms—not a rosy future a district where 2/3 of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. East Ramapo students must have access to the same programs that enable students in other Rockland districts to excel.

With your help we can maintain balance in East Ramapo. Otherwise we face a future where members of the private school community will occupy every seat on the board, leaving the public school without any voice. It is not my intent to suggest that members of the private school community do not have a place on the board, but with total control by the private sector, the public school community risks becoming completely disenfranchised. This is a winnable election, but only if turnout in the East Ramapo public school community is high. As with any election, getting out the vote can only be achieved with funding and volunteers.

A check for $25, $50–or more if you can–will cover the enormous expenses a campaign like this requires. Please make out checks to: “Gordon and Gordon” and mail to me, Mimi Calhoun, 36 Dogwood Lane, Pomona, NY 10970.

Your time is equally valuable. We have a record one-hundred volunteers from East Ramapo knocking on doors and making phone calls. To win we need at least two hundred more volunteers. Only one afternoon or evening to talk to voters at their doors or on the phone will make an enormous difference. The Door-to-Door campaign is taking place from now until May 9. The major push for the phone bank will be the last four days before the vote: from May 7 – 10. Anyone can sign up to volunteer on our website: www.poweroften.us I am happy to help you find the right volunteer niche and answer any questions. Please call me anytime at 845-354-8838 or email me at mkc2@mac.com.

East Ramapo students need everyone’s help in order to enable the public school community to have a voice on the East Ramapo school board. Your interest and willingness to help out will be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!!

Mimi Calhoun

This time, former district student Lorenzo Labitigan, who now attends Yale University, spoke about the critical importance of the school district’s advance placement programs, which are rumored to be on the chopping block. When Latigan criticized the board for hiring D’Agostino, who is quite a bit more expensive than the previous school board attorney, D’Agostino flipped his lid and verbally attacked Labitigan.

Just a few months back, D’Agostino rushed a parent who dared to question the wisdom of hiring a lawyer who is currently under investigation by the State Comptroller. When Antonio Luciano said the decision to hire D’Agostino “stinks,” the $500 an hour lawyer rushed Luciano, screaming “I’m putting this man on notice” and then he shoved a finger in his face and threatened, “I will have you in court by Friday.”

There are First Amendment issues involved when government agencies, even as small as a school board, try to squelch criticism by shouting it down, intimidation, and even adjourning meetings.

Beyond these legal issues, I have to question the emotional state of Albert D’Agostino. His actions go far beyond unprofessionalism. He seems to have incapable of controlling his anger. People prone to such outbursts are frightening to say the least. I worry that this showdown between families in the East Ramapo School District and its self-serving Board have not yet reached a climax and that we will see more, perhaps worse behavior by the board and especially D’Agostino.

The best that we can hope for is that voters come out in the next school board election in East Ramapo and vote in sensible board members who will better deal with their lawyer’s anger issues. Luciano, along with Stephen Price, and Suzanne Young-Mercer are running for the school board.

Tomorrow, March 21, they will have a fundraiser between at 3 pm and the residence of Paul and Rabia Nagin at 23 Dogwood Lane in Pomona. The suggested donation is $50. Please attend and support the health of our public school system in Rockland County.

Please read the article from the Mid Hudson News:

NEW CITY – Rockland County Legislator Joseph Meyers wants the legislature to review the history of the County Health Department’s oversight, inspection and enforcement of the existing 5,000 square foot New Square poultry processing facility in light of recent federal action against the operation of the existing New Square facility.

Late last month, federal authorities, through the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, filed a complaint against the existing poultry plant alleging that New Square Meats had violated the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act. Federal Judge Stephen Robinson in White Plains agreed and ordered the slaughterhouse that supplies all the poultry to the Hasidic village of New Square padlocked. Federal authorities said New Square Meats has been selling uninspected poultry since 2002.

Meyers said there appears to have been some “funny business” going on about the inspection process.

“The plant operator announced to the State of New York that it no longer had to do inspections because the plant was processing enough chickens to fall within the federal regulatory framework, so then the federal regulators would be inspecting, but then they never filed the appropriate paperwork with the federal authorities to have the federal regulators inspect. So, they got the state to sit back and the state stopped inspecting, but then didn’t file the paperwork to get the federal government to inspect them,” he said.

As a result, Meyers wants to know what the county Health Department did or didn’t do regarding the plant.

Meyers would also like the state withdraw the $1.6 million grant awarded to the project under the Empire State Development program “Restore New York”.

According to court papers filed by federal authorities which led to the ordered closure of the plant, federal investigators said they found poultry residue on walls and light fixtures and in the manager’s office. Employee restrooms had no soap or hand sanitizer. There was mold on walls and overhead areas, and rubbish and foul-smelling pools of water were found outside the plant. A chiller tank lacked running water, even though it was full of processed birds. A plant official told inspectors in 2005 that an unrefrigerated van was used to transport product.

In October of last year, Meyers introduced legislation now pending before the Legislature, objecting to the new 25,000 square foot poultry processing facility that is proposed to replace the existing facility and be built on Route 45 in the Village of New Square.

In a missive to State Democratic Committee Members and Democratic elected officials, St. Lawrence said:

We need leaders who will reform Albany and breathe new life into New York.

St. Lawrence masquerading as a candidate of reform is the greatest political irony of 2010 so far, considering a litany of alleged backroom deals, accusations of political imprudence and cronyism, lying about his educational background, inexplicable silence on important town matters, and alleged shady dealings regarding town development, chronicled by the grassroots, non-partisan Preserve Ramapo Web site. It’s hard to imagine St. Lawrence making it through any vetting process by a Gubernatorial candidate.

St. Lawrence continues in his letter (and those familiar with St. Lawrence and his cronies please contain yourself from punching out your computer screen):

[We need] people who can extricate the state from the financial crisis that has befallen us. People who will save taxpayer dollars by streamlining government and making it more efficient. People who will ameliorate the crushing property tax burden we face. People who will champion open and honest government and make it more accessible and accountable to the public.

St. Lawrence is doing nothing more than trying to take advantage of the grassroots reform movement taking place across New York. In Rockland and Ramapo, he is

establishment politician; even St. Lawrence’s allies must admit to that. For St. Lawrence to position himself as some sort of champion of reform is just making a mockery of the reform movement sweeping the State.

Read more on the NY Daily News political blog.

The group, led by Mariel Farlow and Steve White want to make it clear that the “Spring Valley Concerned Citiziens Coalition” had no ties to the mailer, even though a similar name, “Concerned Citizens of Spring Valley,” is on the literature. The mailer was sent to registered Democrats.

According to the Journal News:

The flier characterizes Levine as a longtime beneficiary of political patronage jobs and makes reference to well-known troubles in the village.

The permit stamp on the mailing came from the Monsey Post Office. Farlow visited the office to identify the permit owner, but was told to fill out a Freedom of Information (FOIL) request. Unfortunately, the primary election will be long over before Farlow and White can identify the culprits.

Source: Campaign attack mailer angers Spring Valley environmental group | LoHud.com | The Journal News.

Onderdonk Pond on the Pascack Brook

NOT pretty.  NOT natural.  A direct result of lots of digging.  OK, once in a while people will cause some sedimentation, BUT this is happening EVERY time there is a heavy downpour for about the last 3 or 4 years. It is not normal for an area which is already built out to experience such a dramatic amount of digging.  This is due to HUNDREDS of individual site approvals ALL of which have to pass in front of supposed environmental watchdogs on zoning boards and at the county level.

Why should you care?

1. Rockland has spent millions of your tax dollars dredging this stream.  YOU will be taxed to dredge it again.
2. Aquatic life has been impaired.  Over the last 15 years I have been living by this stream we used to have many herons, different kinds of Ducks, and even Kingfisher.  Now there are usually no birds on the water.  There used to be many Bass and Perch.  Now it is mostly Carp.  The degradation of Aquatic life has been documented by the DEC (below)
3. The Pascack Brook feeds the Hackensack River and the Meadowlands.  Our negligence is harming our neighbors downstream.
4. Of the 402 acres of Historic Wetland in the Upper Pascack Brook only 96.4 remain.

The Pascack is a protected brook according Rockland County.  Does this designation have any meaning?

This crap is defined as a pollutant by NY State, but is never accounted for as local government routinely declares “negative” environmental impact at zoning boards.  And yet, THERE IT IS- environmental impact!  This stuff kills whatever is living in the stream.  It results in increased tendency to flooding costing those downstream millions in flood damage and costing the taxpayer to pay millions to clean it up to avoid further damage.

Pascack Brook and tribs, within NYS (1501-0015) Impaired Seg
Waterbody Location Information Revised: 07/01/2008
Water Index No: NJ- 5 Drain Basin: Hackensack-Ramapo Rivers
Hydro Unit Code: 02030103/160 Str Class: C*
Waterbody Type: River Reg/County: 3/Rockland Co. (44)
Waterbody Size: 16.2 Miles Quad Map: PARK RIDGE, NJ (Q-24-3)
Seg Description: entire stream and tribs
Water Quality Problem/Issue Information (CAPS indicate MAJOR Use Impacts/Pollutants/Sources)
Use(s) Impacted Severity Problem Documentation
AQUATIC LIFE Impaired Known
RECREATION Impaired Known
Type of Pollutant(s)
Known: – - -
Suspected: SILT/SEDIMENT, UNKNOWN TOXICITY, D.O./Oxygen Demand, Nutrients
Possible: – - -
Source(s) of Pollutant(s)
Known: – - -
Suspected: URBAN/STORM RUNOFF, Industrial, Municipal
Possible: – - -
Resolution/Management Information
Issue Resolvability: 1 (Needs Verification/Study (see STATUS))
Verification Status: 2 (Problem Verified, Cause Unknown)
Lead Agency/Office: DOW/Reg3 Resolution Potential: Medium
TMDL/303d Status: 3b*
Further Details
Overview
Aquatic life and recreational uses in Pascack Brook are impaired by unspecified pollutants attributed to municipal/industrial inputs and urban/stormwater runoff.
Water Quality Sampling
A biological (macroinvertebrate) assessment of Pascack Brook in Pearl River (at West Washington Street) was conducted in 2002. Sampling results indicated moderately impacted water quality conditions. Biological communities were dominated by facultative filter-feeding caddisflies and species richness was low. Impact Source Determination indicated municipal/industrial influences were the likely source of the impacts. (DEC/DOW, BWAM/SBU, June 2005)
Section 303d Listing
Pascack Brook not is currently included on the NYS 2008 Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waters. However this updated assessment suggests it is appropriate to include this waterbody on the 2010 List. Due to the unknown nature of the specific pollutants causing the impairment, it is recommended that the listing be added to Part 3b, as a waterbody for which TMDL development is deferred pending the verification of the pollutant/cause. (DEC/DOW, BWAM/WQAS, 30
June 2008)
Segment Description

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The news and diaries posted on the Rockland Progressive Dems site are the  individual opinions of the members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus. They appear on this Web site to provide a progressive forum for Rockland County residents. While the Executive Committee of the caucus may edit some of these posts for clarity, length, and accuracy, it does not necessarily endorse the contents of each post. All members of the Rockland County Democratic Caucus are invited to share their viewpoints and comment on those viewpoints on this site.

This piece…goes beyond the usual attempts to dupe the public. It, in fact, places the academic reputation of a publisher at risk, and, worse, it portrays the FBI as an organization that doesn’t have a clue when it comes to crime statistics.

The recently posted crime statistics for Ramapo on the state online index don’t seem to line up with the fraudulent claims from the Supervisor that the FBI thinks the Town is the “safest place in the country.” The data for 2008 (the most recent year for which the state has complete data) shows an increase in every crime category kept by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, from car theft (up 21%) to a frightening increase in forcible rape (up 500%).

Read more at the Preserve Ramapo Web site.

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The news and diaries posted on the Rockland Progressive Dems site represent the individual viewpoints of the members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus. They appear on this Web site to provide a progressive forum for Rockland County residents. While the Executive Committee of the caucus may edit some of these posts for clarity, length, and accuracy, it does not necessarily endorse the contents of each post. All members of the Rockland County Democratic Caucus are invited to share their viewpoints and comment on those viewpoints on this site.