www.preserve-ramapo.com
Massive piles of dirt from the Rockland Sewer District No. 1’s decade-long expansion project that were placed in Sloatsburg’s Community Field nearly a decade ago have been removed.
(Photo: Michael D’Onofrio/The Journal News)
If the high-profile contaminated soil case goes to a jury trial, jurors will have to decide if Ramapo removed any contaminated soil as it was contracted to do and if it billed the local sewer district for the work regardless, a judge ruled this week. [Read more…]
Midnight, Sunday, December 10
The petition to the Court considering the sentence for Christopher St. Lawrence closed with 1,299 signing. Thanks to everyone who signed. We will send the final total to Judge Seibel early Monday morning to become part of the record for the sentencing hearing.
The monthly meeting of the Chestnut Ridge CUPON will be Monday November 6 at 7pm at the South Spring Valley Fire Department, 26 Red Schoolhouse Road. There will be updates on all ongoing issues and more. And don’t forget to vote Tuesday Nov 7, and make some phone calls to friends and relatives–this election is critical.
Judge David Zuckerman Photo/The Journal News
“Anthony Mallia, the former Ramapo building inspector charged with 188 counts of undercharging contractors for permits and shortchanging taxpayers by $150,000 in the process, won’t serve jail time and won’t have to make restitution, a judge decided today.
Mallia, 53, pleaded guilty to two counts. He pleaded guilty to first-degree tampering with public records, a felony, and was promised by the judge a sentence of five years probation. He also pleaded guilty to official misconduct and will received three years probation. The sentences will be be served concurrently when Mallia is sentenced Oct. 31. He waived his right to appeal. [Read more…]
St. Lawrence trial day four: Steve Lieberman The Journal News
“On the stand: Thomas Myers, a private attorney who worked with the RLDC and the town on the stadium bond completed his testimony this morning. Next up was Lee, who worked for Moody’s on their ratings on Ramapo bonds from 2010-2012. The latter part of the afternoon was mostly taken up with the testimony of Ken Lehner, managing partner and president of Bottom 9 Baseball, the corporation behind the Rockland Boulders baseball team. The last witness of the day was Councilman Patrick Withers, who had only just begun testifying when court broke for the day.
Key testimony: Lehner described efforts to build the stadium, which he said was dogged from the start by a challenge by Preserve Ramapo, and later faced funding and financing problems. [Read more…]
The Chestnut Ridge CUPON monthly meeting will take place on Monday February 13 at 7PM at the South Spring Valley firehouse. Our mayor will be attending to address some of our recent concerns and no doubt encourage residents to vote in the upcoming Village elections.
The date for St. Lawrence’s federal trial is fast approaching. Jury selection will begin on April 17, and Judge Cathy Seibel has declared there will be no further delays granted to St. Lawrence’s lawyers. There are 30 witnesses who will paint a pretty vivid picture of the corruption in the Town of Ramapo, and the trial will likely last more than a month.
We still have some of our Resign Now lawn signs. You can request one by sending your name and address to spookrock@gmail.com.
Plant one in your front yard to remind the neighbors and those driving by that the dismantling of the corrupt Ramapo machine is under way. [Read more…]
The second shoe has dropped. As the County Legislature prepared to make way for the removal of the auditing firm tainted by the federal fraud charges filed against Ramapo, the company decided to quit before they could be fired. Next is an account that needs some serious additional scrutiny. O’Connor Davies has done the East Ramapo audits for a school board already accused of misplacing millions. [Read more…]
Press Release from the SEC — Washington, DC Oct. 31, 2016
Firm and Partner Charges with Issuing Fraudulent Audit Reports
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a New York-based audit firm and a senior partner agreed to settle charges that they issued fraudulent audit reports in connection with municipal bond offerings by the town of Ramapo, N.Y., and its local development corporation. The SEC’s order finds that PKF O’Connor Davies and Domenick F. Consolo allowed Ramapo to record a $3.08 million receivable in its general fund for a property sale that Consolo knew had not occurred. [Read more…]
Congregation V’yoel Moshe on Maple Avenue in Monsey (Photo: John Meore/The Journal News
Exponential growth: Ramapo
“Nowhere is the expansion of religious exemptions as pronounced as in Ramapo, a Rockland County town that is home to a rapidly growing Orthodox Jewish population.
“You could feasibly have a situation where there are no properties on the tax rolls,” West said of Ramapo. “If you do the math and extrapolate it out, there’s only so much land.” [Read more…]