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“Elissa Berkowitz walked to synagogue with her parents while growing up on Staten Island.
Her dream has been to do the same with her children, raising them in the same Orthodox Jewish lifestyle.
“Growing up, it was beautiful to have a safe walk to synagogue with my mother and father to pray and be part of youth groups and a community,” the 33-year-old married mother of three said.
“I want that for my children,” she said. “I was in shock how this will become a reality for us.” [Read more…]
“The village has agreed to review a Hasidic Jewish school’s expansion plans, after settling a federal civil rights lawsuit which claimed the village discriminated against and blocked the project.
Under the agreement reached in U.S. District Court, Central United Talmudical Academy of Monsey gets a promise that its updated expansion plans will be reviewed in a timely manner by the village land-use boards, while the village gets the school’s promise to follow village procedures.
Airmont also is relieved of a legal burden. The village still faces a federal lawsuit from a coalition of the congregations and civil action by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. The village previously lost two cases involving discriminatory zoning blocking residential houses of worship and dormitory housing involving Hasidic and Orthodox Jews since the village’s 1991 incorporation. [Read more…]
“The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider an appeal involving a Hasidic Jewish congregation’s 13-year-old plan to build a rabbinical college with apartments for students and their families amid 130 acres straddling routes 202 and 306. [Read more…]
There is a CUPON Chestnut Ridge meeting Tuesday night, Jan 14, at 7pm at the William Faist Ambulance Corps. There are six items on the agenda:
“A federal appeals court Friday upheld a judge’s ruling that village officials adopted discriminatory zoning to block an Orthodox Jewish congregation from building a dormitory college for rabbinical students and their families.
As a result, Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov Inc. plans to file site plans and seek variances now that it has clear sailing for a college amid 130 acres straddling Routes 202 and 306, the congregation’s attorney, Joseph Churgin of Nanuet, said Friday. [Read more…]
That headline is not a misprint. At this Thursday’s Village Board meeting (July 18, 8pm–Village Hall) the Mayor and Board will consider allowing residents to bury human remains on their property with little more than an application to the Planning Board, such as you might submit for putting up a shed on your property.
The following letter was sent out by CUPON explaining the proposed change to the municipal law and also recent controversies created by local school buses. [Read more…]
The reasons for our endorsements follow here:
This year there are two open seats on the Suffern School Board and four candidates running for those seats. The candidates are Jeanette Kunow, Cheryl Valenti, Matt Kern, and Dr. Chris Nicpon. All four candidates willingly agreed to an interview and described their qualifications, positions on the issues, and motivations for running in an honest and open manner, without reservation. We believe that all four candidates are valued members of the community with good intentions who will make excellent school board members if elected.
It was a tough decision but after much discussion we ultimately decided to endorse Jeanette Kunow and Cheryl Valenti. [Read more…]
The next CUPON of Chestnut Ridge meeting will be held on May 7, 2019 at 7 PM at the Faist Ambulance Corp Building at 7PM. Please join us and bring a friend, someone who has not attended before. We want to increase our numbers and ensure that everyone is aware of issues that impact all who reside in Chestnut Ridge. [Read more…]
“The newly elected mayor and trustees in Airmont had a tough first day in office following their close March 19 victory over the write-in campaign led by former mayor Phil Gigante.
The newly elected Mayor Nathan Bubel took the oath of office at noon and then presided over his first Board of Trustees meeting hours later. However, few could have foreseen what was coming. [Read more…]
Chestnut Ridge Board Photo: Carucha Meuse/The Journal News
“During a contentious and emotional meeting, the Board of Trustees adopted a three-tier zoning law that allows houses of worships in residential neighborhoods.
The law adopted Thursday night before dozens of people will be challenged in court by CUPON-Chestnut Ridge, an attorney for the grassroots group said Friday.
Steve Mogel said the board ignored basic environmental impacts on residents by essentially allowing unlimited houses of worship and crafting the law to cater to the Orthodox Jewish Coalition, which suggested the zone and has since filed a civil rights lawsuit accusing the village of violating religious rights.
“I think the way they crafted the resolution defined their bias,” Mogel said. “What they did … throughout the whole process is they made it clear that they would pick and choose among the statements made to support their pre-conceived determination to pass the resolution regardless of how bad it might be for the overall community.” [Read more…]