www.preserve-ramapo.com
Tonight’s Chestnut Ridge CUPON February meeting is at 7pm at the William P. Faist Ambulance Corps, 3 Red Schoolhouse Road.
The Village Places of Worship Vote by the Village Board will be Thursday Feb. 21 at 7:30pm at the Chestnut Ridge Middle School, 892 Chestnut Ridge Road.
For more information visit www.cuponchestnutridge.org.
Micheal Miller (Photo: Peter Carr/ LoHud
“Micheal Miller faced down snarling dogs and armed police as a teenager during civil rights marches and sit-ins while growing up in North Carolina in the 1960s.
Miller said police arrested him 26 times for his civil disobedience.
So, the founder of Rockland’s grassroots movement against illegal development and over-development is not easily intimidated.
“When you have faced police and dogs and taking on bigots, you become immune to nasty name-calling and the wishes and powers of the establishment,” the 73-year-old civic activist said.
Miller has his sense of right and wrong, and he’s tried instilling those beliefs earned on the civil rights battlefields to members of Citizens United to Protect Our Neighborhoods — known as CUPON. [Read more…]
“Mayor Alan Simon has been disbarred as an attorney after 50 years for the ranting, threatening behavior that got him stripped of his robes as a judge.
A state Supreme Court Appellate Division released its decision on Wednesday disbarring Simon immediately. Simon had been admitted as an attorney on Dec. 18, 1968, according to the decision.
DECISION: Alan Simon disbarred
The court’s decision stated: “Ordered that the respondent, Alan Michael Simon, is disbarred, effective immediately, and his name is stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law.” [Read more…]
“An acting state judge rejected an Orthodox Jewish congregation’s legal action claiming Airmont violated its own zoning laws involving a synagogue hit with violations during a village wide building moratorium.
Mayor Philip Gigante applauded the village’s vindication in state Supreme Court, as he also has denied allegations made in two separate federal lawsuits claiming the village discriminates against Orthodox and Hasidic Jews.
The congregation’s legal action – called an Article 78 – has nothing to do with the two civil rights lawsuits. [Read more…]
The meeting will consider several large-scale development projects in the Northeast Sector of the Town of Ramapo, and comments from the public will make up much of the evening’s agenda.
Time: 6pm Wednesday January 23
Location: Pomona Middle School, 101 Pomona Road, Suffern, NY
The Northeast Ramapo Strategic Plan Study Area Map and the November 29 Open House Presentation can be found here.
“Even as local officials consider a hotly contested zoning law that would permit houses of worship in houses in residential neighborhoods, a coalition of ultra-Orthodox Jews filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Ramapo village.
The legal action – filed hours before Tuesday’s fourth public hearing on the proposed law – states the village’s five-acre minimum for a house of worship was “onerous” for religious freedom. [Read more…]
Special Village Board Meeting, Tuesday January 15 at 7:30 PM at the Chestnut Ridge Middle School, 892 Chestnut Ridge Rd., Spring Valley. This meeting is another continuation of the special hearing on proposed large scale zoning changes.
We want to thank everyone who attended the previous meetings, we had 1000 people at the first and over 600 at the second meeting
We need to attend this meeting because the board is getting close to making a final decision! [Read more…]
The Suffern Quarry Image courtesy Rosspilot
“Town officials continue to wrestle with the future of properties once bought for profit and for green and historic preservation as part of an ambitious plan to prevent development.
With the town facing an estimated $8.5 million deficit, officials are contending with new financial realities as demands for more housing clash with demands for open space.
On Monday night, five of those dozens of properties were discussed during a public hearing that lasted several hours and was attended by dozens of residents who packed Ramapo Town Hall. [Read more…]
Tonight at 7pm, the Town of Ramapo Asset Review Commitee (TARC) will hold a meeting to gather public input on its intention to sell the following properties:
Tilcon Quarry, 15 Tilton Road, Suffern;
40 Pinebrook Road, Chestnut Ridge;
Hamlets of Ramapo, Lake Street, Hillburn;
Ramapo Cultural Arts Center, 66 Main St. Spring Valley; and
96 Camp Hill Road, Pomona.
No doubt, these properties are likely to end up in the hands of developers. If you would like to be heard, or further informed on what the Supervisor and Board have in mind, be there at 7 tonight.
Robert Rhodes Chairman Preserve Ramapo
Our housing market is broken. Improving economic conditions have not led to the construction of affordable housing. The cost of two-bedroom apartments in Manhattan went up by 30 percent in 2016 and the outer boroughs were not far behind.
As rents have increased the marginal middle class is moving down into less desirable housing and paying more and more money for housing while competing with poorer families. This is what happens when more money chases the fixed supply of an essential product. [Read more…]