• Document Cloud
  • FOIL–Your Right to Know
  • See Through NY
  • Tax Exempt
  • Environmental Justice
  • Campaign Finance Reports

Preserve Ramapo

www.preserve-ramapo.com

  • Home
  • Join our email
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • The Archive
You are here: Home / Aron Wieder / “Anti-Semitism,” Racism, and Growth in Ramapo

“Anti-Semitism,” Racism, and Growth in Ramapo

October 17, 2019 by Michael Castelluccio

Commentary from Robert I. Rhodes, Ph. D., Chairman, Preserve Ramapo

Ramapo has a hero in the county legislature.  His name is Aron Wieder.  A man of great courage, he has taken on the burdensome defense of our Hasidic community.  Whenever it is suggested that high density housing is overwhelming Ramapo’s resources he goes on the attack.  This argument, he charges, is an anti-Semitic slur directed against his community.

But Wieder is not a hero, he is a racist.  He knows that much of the housing that has been built in recent years for his community was built on land formerly occupied by modest homes owned by Black and Brown families.  They were block busted out of their homes.  Most of the rest of the high-density developments in Ramapo were built on vacant land that had been drastically down-zoned as a gift to Hasidic developers.

As long as Black and Brown residents of Ramapo were the primary victims of the massive growth of high-density development political resistance was relatively limited.  But now we have a Hasidic population of perhaps 50,000 that may double in the next ten years.  This demographic reality has led to a political dog fight.

Aron Wieder and his close associate Ramapo supervisor Michael Specht, our, are fronting for the Hasidic developers who have done exceedingly well buying land zoned for single family homes and getting outrageous variances that allow them to build apartment houses.


What is going on here?

Almost twenty years ago after the death of Ramapo Supervisor Herbert Reisman Christopher St. Lawrence became our supervisor.  He lost little time before he announced a new comprehensive [land use] plan for Ramapo.

The new plan tripled the growth that would be allowed in Monsey but protected low density areas in the north end of unincorporated Ramapo.  Almost immediately, even the modest limits defined in this plan were ignored as high-density housing was approved by our most cooperative planning and zoning boards of appeals (ZBA).  Their members were, of course, appointed by St. Lawrence with the approval of his stooge town board.

While our zoning was the victim of death by a thousand cuts, Michael Specht, Ramapo’s town attorney to the ZBA, provided the boiler plate for hundreds of illegal variances that allowed very high-density building in blatant violation of our comprehensive plan.

Shortly after St. Lawrence’s conviction for federal bond fraud, Michael Specht was rewarded for his loyalty and became our new town supervisor.

The Hasidic builders who control Ramapo believe the time has come for high-density housing throughout Ramapo. So, Michael Specht and his supine town board have launched the first phase of this plan.

The primary justification the town cited for the high-density Pascack Ridge project and its associated zone change was that the town’s population was growing so rapidly that the town had no choice but to meet the demand for housing created by the population explosion.

Consider the obvious result if we build ever more high-density housing.  Ramapo can’t support a population that at its current rate of growth may soon double every decade.  We are facing a demographic, environmental and fiscal disaster.

Though Wieder cries anti-Semitism, the reality remains that our infrastructure was built for a low-density residential community.  Routes 45, 59 and East Maple Avenue have become a traffic-choked disaster.  Most of Ramapo’s other roads are old and narrow two-lane roads.  They were not designed for heavy traffic

Flooding is exacerbated by overdevelopment.  Our sanitary sewers were not designed to deal with flooding and we have few storm sewers.  Despite the wide-spread illegal sump pumps that send water from flooded home basements into our sanitary sewer lines, flooded basements and roads are now common in Ramapo.

Hasidic leaders assure us that G_d will provide.  This is not a rational response.

Housing is the most critical need of the Hasidic community Young people are expected to marry at a very young age and have large families. Yet the shortage of housing for young Hasidic families is severe.   Many of these young people are angry because they know the cost of housing is a rip-off.   Nevertheless, the desperation of young people and their parents supports the highly profitable business of our Hasidic developers who are also encouraging more young Hasidic families to move into Ramapo.  Housing costs are high here but they are much higher in Brooklyn.

This is how the highly profitable business of our Hasidic developers works.  Let’s take a simple illustration:  In Ramapo it is possible to buy a modest three-bedroom home that was built forty or fifty years ago for $400,000.  The developers know that after consolidating a lot with four of these homes into a larger lot they can build a hundred-unit apartment house.  Their total land cost is $1.6 million.  If we divide this by one hundred, we have a per unit land cost of only $16,000.  This very low cost per unit enables them to make a very large profit while providing housing at a relatively affordable price.  Of course, this housing would be cheaper still if most of the savings in land cost were passed on to the purchasers.  Moreover, as open land becomes increasingly scarce, our town fathers are extending their generosity to the developers by downzoning whatever land is still vacant.

The protection money developers return to the community through their support of schools and shuls discourages rabbis who might otherwise complain about the excessive profits that are made at the expense of their community.

Preserve Ramapo tried to limit the political influence of the developers by creating a ward system.  Its defeat in a rigged referendum has made political opposition to Hasidic expansion in Ramapo very difficult.

Aron Wieder wants us to condemn “anti-Semitism” in Rockland.  This is a smokescreen to discourage an honest discussion of development. He wants us to debate the extent of our “anti-Semitism” rather than the racism and gross irresponsibility of the Ramapo town board and the Hasidic developers who control it.

Robert I Rhodes, Ph.D., Chairman, Preserve Ramapo

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Aron Wieder, Overdevelopment

Preserve Ramapo tree no border

Preserve Ramapo online since 2003

Recent Posts

  • East Ramapo announces mid-year teacher layoffs, combined classrooms
  • East Ramapo Board of Trustees Voting Results
  • Finally, a choice for East Ramapo voters
  • What’s Ahead for Northeast Ramapo? Town Board Unanimously Approves Moving Forward to Change Code
  • VOTE! Special Election–East Ramapo School Board

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015

Calendar listing for Posts

February 2021
M T W T F S S
« Jan    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Facebook

Other Links

Airmont,

Pomona,

Montebello,

Suffern,

Sloatsburg,

Hillburn,

Spring Valley,

Chestnut Ridge,

New Hempstead,

Wesley Hills,

Town of Ramapo,

Town of Clarkstown,

Rosa4Rockland,

Rockland Water Coalition

East Ramapo Central School District

Power of Ten -- East Ramapo for the Children,

Strong East Ramapo,

East Ramapo Videos,

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in