www.preserve-ramapo.com
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…]
Samuel Tress when he was a member of the Ramapo Zoning Board of Appeals
“Councilman Samuel Tress was arrested Thursday afternoon for voting to back a zoning change on a housing development he held a financial stake in — even though he had signed an affidavit stating he wouldn’t profit from his decisions as a Zoning Board of Appeals member. Tress, 71, who has a previous felony conviction, faces a felony charge of first-degree offering a false instrument and a misdemeanor count of official misconduct, according to the Rockland District Attorney’s Office.Tress faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the top count. [Read more…]
“Neighbors of the Manny Weldler town park have taken Ramapo to court for planning to sell what they believe is a portion of the park to a developer. Town Attorney Michael Klein, however, says the 5.64 acres of land at 24 Grosser Lane has never been part of the park, even though paved walkways on the property are connected to the park. “We’ve had the piece of land that’s been unused for decades,” Klein said. “The town decided to surplus the property and sell it.” The Article 78 filing is pending before state Supreme Court Justice Victor Alfieri. [Read more…]
Obvious efforts were made to keep the process as far from public view as possible. The Town Clerk’s Office failed to honor Freedom of Information Act requests for copies of the proposed budget in time for the meeting to which the public had been invited to participate in a public discussion of that budget. The meeting time had been changed, and it was inconveniently scheduled for the day after the election, November 4. But it didn’t really matter because without the numbers–projected taxes, debt payments, salary increases–what was there the public could add to the discussion? The few who were present did ask questions, but those were summarily dismissed by Supervisor St. Lawrence, manager-in-charge of Ramapo’s mole-tunnel democracy: “We’re here to listen,” he said, “not to answer questions.” [Read more…]
November 4, 2015 Ramapo Town Hall: 7:06 PM It was the first official act of Supervisor St. Lawrence following his re-election the day before. The meeting time had been changed, but it didn’t matter, it was not an optimal day for a big public turnout, the day after an election. Most certainly, the bad timing was intentional, and it worked–only a few members of the public were there along with a small group of students from Suffern High School, there to fulfill a requirement for their Government class. [Read more…]
August 18, 2015 Last week, there was the rally in Spring Valley’s Memorial Park with parents calling for the removal of Bernard Charles from the East Ramapo School Board. Then a video showing wife Brendel hurling profanities at some of the good citizens of the Town, another video of Bernard threatening some of the locals, and a clip of his aggressive response when he was served with the lawsuit papers naming him with the other school board members for the profligate legal fees. And now, with a press release today from Town Councilman Daniel Friedman, there’s a call for Bernard’s removal as Ramapo’s Recreation Activities Coordinator. Friedman’s reasons are a virtual grab-bag of what’s wrong with Ramapo politics—they include nepotism, incompetence, lousy test scores, improper behavior, malfeasance, and not showing up for work. Daniel wants an up-or-down vote at this Thursday’s Town Board meeting. [Read more…]
July 7, 2015 “A Monsey-based energy company accused of ripping off people by falsely promising lower rates is being forced to repay $1.25 million to 25,000 customers, the state attorney general said Monday. After an the introductory rate, customers of HIKO Energy LLC saw their electricity bills soar, the AG said in a news release. The settlement amount, which includes fines, resulted from an investigation by the office’s Consumer Protection Bureau. The office found HIKO lured consumers with false promises of lower rates of 10 to 15 percent and then fleeced them with much higher bills.” The company had a contract with the Town of Ramapo and donated to the campaign funds of St. Lawrence, Daniel Friedman, and Ilan Schoenberger. Complete Journal News story here.