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Archives for March 2016

Sheldon Silver disbarred

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NYS Three Men in a Room

On Tuesday, March 29, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Siver was disbarred by the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan. His license to practice law was pulled because of his felony convictions for fraud and extortion, successfully prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Silver is scheduled to be sentenced this month on April 13, the same day that former NYS Senator Dean Skelos will be sentenced. The two who made up 2/3 of Albany’s troika known as the “Three-men-in-a-room” will hear their sentences read in separate courtrooms.

 

Century-old law may derail bi-state Pilgrim Pipeline, groups say

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Path of pipeline through Rockland

Path of Pilgrim Pipeline marked in blue

“A coalition of conservation groups want to use the New York Transportation Corporation Law, first passed in 1909, to stop Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings LLC’s proposal to build two parallel running pipelines 178 miles between Albany and Linden, New Jersey. Kate Hudson, director of cross watershed initiatives for Riverkeeper, said the law gives villages and cities “veto power” over anyone who seeks to build pipelines on their lands.
“Corporations have to come to the cities and villages, and ask permission to build a pipeline through their borders,” Hudson said. “That’s the specific language of the law.” [Read more…]

Rockland legislator wants Eisenpress donations probed

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A Rockland County lawmaker is calling for federal and/or local authorities to investigate the sources of tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to Family Court Judge Sherri Eisenpress’s 2011 campaign.

Legislator Charles Falciglia said he is requesting the probe because Eisenpress’s campaign received near maximum contributions from more than 20 individuals and companies during a four-day period. The majority of those donors never previously donated to a candidate. [Read more…]

Hotel Pomona? Ramapo eyes Hilton across from ballpark

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The Town Board on Thursday unanimously approved transferring 25 wooded acres at 301 Pomona Road to its Local Development Corporation for commercial and/or mixed use.

The land is located in the Village of New Hempstead, which would have to grant all zoning, environmental and building approvals. Town Board member Pat Withers said the RLDC has had informal discussions with New Hempstead and with potential private developers who expressed interest in the site, including Hilton. [Read more…]

Patrick Farm developer pays $385,000 delinquent tax bill

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Just a day after being threatened by Rockland County with foreclosure, owners of the controversial Patrick Farm properties forked over more than $385,000 in back taxes.

On Wednesday afternoon, a title insurance company representative for Scenic Development LLC dropped off two checks covering $385,426.57 in delinquent taxes, which stretch back to at least 2013. This represents money owed on three parcels along Route 306 in Ramapo near the Pomona border. The Monsey developer owns a host of other parcels on the same site. Read the complete Journal News story here.

Appeals Court: Ramapo Yeshiva Provided no Proof of Bias

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A Ramapo yeshiva that had accused several villages of anti-Hasidic bias never provided any evidence to support its accusations, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in dismissing its civil rights lawsuit.
The latest decision will likely end the yeshiva’s long legal fight against Pomona, Chestnut Ridge, Wesley Hills and Montebello and their officials, according to attorney Greg Saracino, representing Pomona. “I don’t expect the yeshiva to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, as there are no novel constitutional issues at play,” Saracino said Wednesday. “It’s a clean ruling with no dissent. Simply, the plaintiffs failed to come forward with any evidence of discrimination from the villages. The case was entirely based on innuendo and opinion.”  The yeshiva accused the communities of incorporating as villages to curtail the expansion of Hasidic neighborhoods through restrictive zoning. It also claimed the villages tried to hide behind environmental laws in an attempt to block the construction of housing and a study center on Grandview Avenue — a use allowed under the town of Ramapo’s adult student housing zone. Read the complete Journal News story here.

Community View: State’s Inertia Fails East Ramapo

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Community View in The Journal News
by Lou Grumet, March 23, 2016

New York leaders once again ignore problems, just as they did in early days of Kiryas Joel divide
For over a dozen years, or more than the entire education of an individual child, the political decision-makers of the State of New York have failed to find a solution to East Ramapo school district’s difficult problems.
One side talks about not having sufficient resources; the other talks about discrimination against minority children. Both may be right. Meanwhile, the state performs periodic investigations, but does little to resolve the issues, including dwindling education quality for public schoolchildren, poor management of the district’s limited resources and a rapid growth of a private-school community that demands resources.
There is a sad sense of deja vu to those of us who watched a similar lack of resolve in Kiryas Joel school district, not far away. Indeed, the connections between the two school districts are more than coincidence — most of the disabled children in Kiryas Joel were placed there by East Ramapo, instead of serving them in the home district. [Read more…]

Day Moves to Foreclose on Patrick Farm, other Parcels

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Rockland also plans action against about 125 parcels
Rockland County has taken the first step toward foreclosing on dozens of properties — among them Patrick Farm, which officials called the largest tax-delinquent non-residential parcel in the county, owing more than $350,000 in back taxes.
The pastoral 208-acre parcel just outside Pomona is the flashiest target in an offensive to recover about $3.3 million in back taxes owned on 125 properties across Rockland’s five towns.

[Read more…]

JN Editorial: Room for all in Ramapo?

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  • Female FBI Agent

    Photo: John Meore/ Journal News

    “Last week brought another FBI raid in town, with another round of accusations that federal monies had been misappropriated by those affiliated with the Orthodox Jewish community. Ongoing tension over zoning regulations, or lack thereof, builds. The distrust continues in the East Ramapo school district, where years of mismanagement by an Orthodox-dominated board have brought efforts to install a state monitor to provide oversight. Tensions have run high in town for a while now, and it’s only getting worse. Some leaders in the Orthodox community cite East Ramapo critics as spewing anti-Semitism; some town residents find instances of probes, like Wednesday’s raids, as proof of rampant corruption among all people of a certain group. Neither passes the smell test. [Read more…]

FBI Probe Raises Questions about Yeshiva Funding

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“Chutzpah comes with power,” said Samuel Heilman. “When it comes to fraud and crime, the people who do it think they’re smarter than everyone.” The FBI raids this week on Ramapo-area yeshivas have given new ammunition to critics who question both the quality of secular education in that slice of the Jewish educational system, and how those private religious schools spend public money.

[Read more…]