Fourth village coming for Monroe?

News
Fourth village coming for Monroe?


By Chris McKenna
September 09, 2006
Times Herald-Record
Monroe — Now that village fever has taken hold in neighboring Blooming Grove and Woodbury, the first rumblings have begun about creating a fourth village in Monroe to shake up the political order.

The citizens group Save Monroe dips its toe in these turbulent waters in its latest newsletter, soon to be distributed to town residents.

"What do the citizens in the Towns of Woodbury and Blooming Grove know that Monroe doesn't?" the group asks.

"Isn't it time we investigate the pros and cons of a new village — one that would represent the 50 percent of Monroe's population that resides outside the Village of Kiryas Joel?"

No boundaries for this hypothetical village have been drawn. Save Monroe President Theresa Budich said yesterday that her organization is merely seeking input and has taken no position on the issue.

The idea comes on the heels of overwhelming votes by residents of southern Blooming Grove and Woodbury to incorporate villages.

In both places, voters wanted to prevent the high-density housing of Kiryas Joel from spreading into their towns.

In Monroe, the idea has arisen because of Kiryas Joel's dominance in town elections, not its potential expansion.

The Hasidic community's voting blocs have kept Monroe's Republican incumbents in power in the last several elections, despite huge support for their challengers in areas outside Kiryas Joel.

"Kiryas Joel has their own village, and obviously I don't vote in their elections," Budich said.

"They determine their own destiny. I think a large part of the population would like the same right to determine their own," she said.

The first step in creating a village would be to submit a petition signed by residents of the area that would be incorporated.

If the town supervisor determines the petition is valid, the proposal would then be put to voters in a referendum.