Sunday, September 10, 2006
Saturday, September 09, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Reverberations of a Baby Boom
August 27, 2006
Reverberations of a Baby Boom
By FERNANDA SANTOS
KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y., Aug. 22 — As the administrator of this village in southern Orange County, Gedalye Szegedin knows that much of his job revolves around a simple equation: the number of girls who get married is roughly equal to the number of new homes this community will need to accommodate its rapid growth.
Last year, Mr. Szegedin oversaw the construction of 200 houses and apartments, mostly on the outer-lying lots along the eastern edge of this 1.1-square-mile community, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclave about 60 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. By the end of this year, he said, the village will most likely have 300 new homes.
“There are three religious tenets that drive our growth: our women don’t use birth control, they get married young and after they get married, they stay in Kiryas Joel and start a family,” Mr. Szegedin said.
“Our growth comes simply from the fact that our families have a lot of babies,” he added, “and we need to build homes to respond to the needs of our community.”
But developable land is a finite resource here, and not much of it is left. And as Kiryas Joel pushes up against its borders, nearby neighbors in the towns of Blooming Grove and Woodbury are moving aggressively to prevent the community from expanding by incorporating into villages of their own.
“We still have huge tracts of open land in Woodbury, and we want to keep it that way,” said Woodbury’s supervisor, John P. Burke, who grew up in the Bronx and moved to Orange County in 1969.
“We want to make sure that no outside community is able to completely transform the character and the look of our town,” he said. “If we need a village to do that, so be it.”
Kiryas Joel’s population leaped to 18,300 last year from 13,100 in 2000 and 7,400 in 1990, making it one of the fastest growing places in the state, according to the most recent estimates by the Census Bureau. For two years, developers and local officials have been searching for private parcels in surrounding communities, hoping to expand the village through annexation for the third time since it was incorporated in 1977 as an offshoot of the Satmar Hasidic sect of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
After its incorporation, most of the growth was driven by migration from New York City. But now, new arrivals are mostly babies and grooms coming to marry one of the local women.
Worried residents in Blooming Grove, which lies northwest of here, and Woodbury, which lies east, have voted overwhelmingly in the past two months to approve the creation of two new villages. State law allows villages to be established within towns and to set their own zoning regulations, and area officials say the new villages would be able to restrict the multifamily, high-density building that predominates in Kiryas Joel.
Many of the families in those towns also fled the crowded streets of New York City, moving here for the cleaner air, the safer communities and the open spaces, where the closest neighbor may not be so close.
“We’re hard-working people who decided to move up here to pay less taxes and enjoy the quietness of country,” said Garry Dugan, a retired New York City detective and the president of the South Blooming Grove Homeowners Association, the group that began the drive to create one of the villages.
“It’s a shame that it has come to us and them, but we feel like we had to form a village for no reason other than preserving our quality of life,” said Mr. Dugan, who has lived in Blooming Grove for 26 years. “This has nothing to do with their religion.”
It is not the first time that Kiryas Joel and its neighbors have clashed.
Over the years, there have been disputes — over a water pipeline Kiryas Joel sought to build, for example, and whether the state should pay for a school system for its disabled students. There was also an argument in 1986 when 600 Kiryas Joel boys refused to board school buses driven by women. (The drivers are now all men.)
The Satmar Hasidim share what they call a deep mystical connection to Kiryas Joel. They were led here by their founder, the Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, who saw in it the ideal place for his followers to raise large families away from the influences of the outside world. Hence the name of the village, which means Town of Joel.
About 3,000 families live here, many of them in boxy wood-frame homes built close to one another, with up to a dozen apartments stacked in four floors.
The village has no parks or public playgrounds, so children play with their colorful plastic toys on small front yards.
A network of sidewalks twirl across the village, so the women, who do not drive, are able to walk to the clinic and supermarket. Baby strollers seem to be everywhere: in the lobbies of buildings, on sidewalks, outside the stores.
“This is a great place to raise our children; it’s easy to keep them away from the distractions of the city,” said Judith Greenfeld, 34, whose family moved here from Williamsburg two decades ago.
All but 3 of her 12 siblings live here.
Mrs. Greenfeld and her husband, Joseph, 35, have five children, three boys and two girls, ages 3 to 13. The median age is 15, compared with 35 for the nation, according to the 2000 census. The village has one of the lowest median ages among communities nationwide with more than 5,000 residents.
The Greenfelds live on a dead-end street, in a third-floor apartment across from a girls’ school. Like most families here, they speak more Yiddish than English and have no radio, computer or television at home. Mr. Greenfeld owns a tile shop in Monroe, just outside the village borders.
His wife helps him run the business, which makes her a rare exception among Kiryas Joel’s women, who are married soon after they graduate from high school, work until they give birth to their second child and then become stay-at-home mothers. The men, meanwhile, board yellow school buses every morning and ride to New York City, to jobs in the diamond district or at B & H, the photo and video store near Herald Square.
Because of the sheer size of the families (the average household here has six people, but it is not uncommon for couples to have 8 or 10 children), and because a vast majority of households subsist on only one salary, 62 percent of the local families live below poverty level and rely heavily on public assistance, which is another sore point among those who live in neighboring communities.
“We just don’t understand why they have to keep pushing their expansionist ideas on us,” said Charles J. Bohan, who is the supervisor of the Town of Blooming Grove and a resident of the new village, named South Blooming Grove.
On Sept. 21, South Blooming Grove will hold its first election for mayor and for a four-member board of trustees. The state must still certify the results of the vote to create the village in Woodbury before elections there can be held.
Mr. Szegedin, Kiryas Joel’s administrator, said his community was not deterred.
"We have several different developers that want to sell land to Kiryas Joel, but if they can’t do it, we can build up,” he said. “We can change our zoning code to allow high-rise apartments. The creation of these villages are not going to stop the growth in the village of Kiryas Joel."
Mrs. Greenfeld agreed.
“People don’t understand the conception of our people, of our religion,” she said. “There’s no government or land or any other authority that can stop us from having babies,” she said while her husband put out a plate of cheese blintzes, strawberries and sour cream.
“If there’s not enough land, families will double up. There’s always going to be room for the new families,” Mrs. Greenfeld said. “And if I have to slice up my apartment in two, I’ll do it, without doubt or hesitation.”
Reverberations of a Baby Boom
By FERNANDA SANTOS
KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y., Aug. 22 — As the administrator of this village in southern Orange County, Gedalye Szegedin knows that much of his job revolves around a simple equation: the number of girls who get married is roughly equal to the number of new homes this community will need to accommodate its rapid growth.
Last year, Mr. Szegedin oversaw the construction of 200 houses and apartments, mostly on the outer-lying lots along the eastern edge of this 1.1-square-mile community, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclave about 60 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. By the end of this year, he said, the village will most likely have 300 new homes.
“There are three religious tenets that drive our growth: our women don’t use birth control, they get married young and after they get married, they stay in Kiryas Joel and start a family,” Mr. Szegedin said.
“Our growth comes simply from the fact that our families have a lot of babies,” he added, “and we need to build homes to respond to the needs of our community.”
But developable land is a finite resource here, and not much of it is left. And as Kiryas Joel pushes up against its borders, nearby neighbors in the towns of Blooming Grove and Woodbury are moving aggressively to prevent the community from expanding by incorporating into villages of their own.
“We still have huge tracts of open land in Woodbury, and we want to keep it that way,” said Woodbury’s supervisor, John P. Burke, who grew up in the Bronx and moved to Orange County in 1969.
“We want to make sure that no outside community is able to completely transform the character and the look of our town,” he said. “If we need a village to do that, so be it.”
Kiryas Joel’s population leaped to 18,300 last year from 13,100 in 2000 and 7,400 in 1990, making it one of the fastest growing places in the state, according to the most recent estimates by the Census Bureau. For two years, developers and local officials have been searching for private parcels in surrounding communities, hoping to expand the village through annexation for the third time since it was incorporated in 1977 as an offshoot of the Satmar Hasidic sect of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
After its incorporation, most of the growth was driven by migration from New York City. But now, new arrivals are mostly babies and grooms coming to marry one of the local women.
Worried residents in Blooming Grove, which lies northwest of here, and Woodbury, which lies east, have voted overwhelmingly in the past two months to approve the creation of two new villages. State law allows villages to be established within towns and to set their own zoning regulations, and area officials say the new villages would be able to restrict the multifamily, high-density building that predominates in Kiryas Joel.
Many of the families in those towns also fled the crowded streets of New York City, moving here for the cleaner air, the safer communities and the open spaces, where the closest neighbor may not be so close.
“We’re hard-working people who decided to move up here to pay less taxes and enjoy the quietness of country,” said Garry Dugan, a retired New York City detective and the president of the South Blooming Grove Homeowners Association, the group that began the drive to create one of the villages.
“It’s a shame that it has come to us and them, but we feel like we had to form a village for no reason other than preserving our quality of life,” said Mr. Dugan, who has lived in Blooming Grove for 26 years. “This has nothing to do with their religion.”
It is not the first time that Kiryas Joel and its neighbors have clashed.
Over the years, there have been disputes — over a water pipeline Kiryas Joel sought to build, for example, and whether the state should pay for a school system for its disabled students. There was also an argument in 1986 when 600 Kiryas Joel boys refused to board school buses driven by women. (The drivers are now all men.)
The Satmar Hasidim share what they call a deep mystical connection to Kiryas Joel. They were led here by their founder, the Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, who saw in it the ideal place for his followers to raise large families away from the influences of the outside world. Hence the name of the village, which means Town of Joel.
About 3,000 families live here, many of them in boxy wood-frame homes built close to one another, with up to a dozen apartments stacked in four floors.
The village has no parks or public playgrounds, so children play with their colorful plastic toys on small front yards.
A network of sidewalks twirl across the village, so the women, who do not drive, are able to walk to the clinic and supermarket. Baby strollers seem to be everywhere: in the lobbies of buildings, on sidewalks, outside the stores.
“This is a great place to raise our children; it’s easy to keep them away from the distractions of the city,” said Judith Greenfeld, 34, whose family moved here from Williamsburg two decades ago.
All but 3 of her 12 siblings live here.
Mrs. Greenfeld and her husband, Joseph, 35, have five children, three boys and two girls, ages 3 to 13. The median age is 15, compared with 35 for the nation, according to the 2000 census. The village has one of the lowest median ages among communities nationwide with more than 5,000 residents.
The Greenfelds live on a dead-end street, in a third-floor apartment across from a girls’ school. Like most families here, they speak more Yiddish than English and have no radio, computer or television at home. Mr. Greenfeld owns a tile shop in Monroe, just outside the village borders.
His wife helps him run the business, which makes her a rare exception among Kiryas Joel’s women, who are married soon after they graduate from high school, work until they give birth to their second child and then become stay-at-home mothers. The men, meanwhile, board yellow school buses every morning and ride to New York City, to jobs in the diamond district or at B & H, the photo and video store near Herald Square.
Because of the sheer size of the families (the average household here has six people, but it is not uncommon for couples to have 8 or 10 children), and because a vast majority of households subsist on only one salary, 62 percent of the local families live below poverty level and rely heavily on public assistance, which is another sore point among those who live in neighboring communities.
“We just don’t understand why they have to keep pushing their expansionist ideas on us,” said Charles J. Bohan, who is the supervisor of the Town of Blooming Grove and a resident of the new village, named South Blooming Grove.
On Sept. 21, South Blooming Grove will hold its first election for mayor and for a four-member board of trustees. The state must still certify the results of the vote to create the village in Woodbury before elections there can be held.
Mr. Szegedin, Kiryas Joel’s administrator, said his community was not deterred.
"We have several different developers that want to sell land to Kiryas Joel, but if they can’t do it, we can build up,” he said. “We can change our zoning code to allow high-rise apartments. The creation of these villages are not going to stop the growth in the village of Kiryas Joel."
Mrs. Greenfeld agreed.
“People don’t understand the conception of our people, of our religion,” she said. “There’s no government or land or any other authority that can stop us from having babies,” she said while her husband put out a plate of cheese blintzes, strawberries and sour cream.
“If there’s not enough land, families will double up. There’s always going to be room for the new families,” Mrs. Greenfeld said. “And if I have to slice up my apartment in two, I’ll do it, without doubt or hesitation.”
Sunday, August 27, 2006
County gives motel tax break; Woodbury gets ‘bupkis’
County gives motel tax break; Woodbury gets ‘bupkis’
By Tony Houston
Woodbury - “It’s an outrage and a disgrace that this project that was approved by the Town will be granted tax abatement by another government.”
Those are the words of Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz pertaining to the proposed financial assistance to the Hampton Inn hotel project by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA).
The three-story, 136-room, 80,000-square-foot hotel and related improvements are planned for a 16-acre parcel of land at 25 North Drive behind Kohl’s in Woodbury Centre off Route 17.
The OCIDA’s proposed financial assistance includes a sales and use tax exemption, a mortgage recording tax exemption and a partial real property tax abatement. The real property tax abatement would result in property taxes from zero percent (in the first year) to 90 percent (in the tenth year) of the otherwise full amount; there is an increase of ten percentage points each year.
This arrangement would result in the property owner paying only 45 percent of the full amount over the first ten years. Beginning with the eleventh year, the full amount would be paid annually.
“Orange County is sticking it to the Town of Woodbury again,” Aronowitz said. “It’s bad enough that we get so little from Woodbury Commons; now they are screwing us twice.”
Aronowitz is concerned that the County is not just exempting the project from county taxes, but from town and school taxes as well. Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke and Monroe-Woodbury School District Superintendent Joe DiLorenzo have expressed the same concern.
The OCIDA is one of seven IDA’s in the County. There is a local IDA in one of the county’s villages, in two of its towns and in all three of its cities. The purpose of financial assistance from an IDA is to attract development and jobs to a location that would not be developed otherwise or would not be chosen otherwise by a specifically targeted developer.
“These tax breaks are not needed to encourage the Hampton Inn development,” said John Staiger, the assistant superintendent for Business and Management Services for the Monroe-Woodbury School District. “They would build here with or without the financial assistance being offered. The OCIDA is not acting in the best interest of the school district.”
This matter is especially galling to the school and town officials. The school district and the town both decided long ago not to participate in a statewide tax-incentive program — a program far less generous to developers that the one being offered by the OCIDA.
“The county wants more shoppers in order to get more revenue,” said Aronowitz, “A hotel goes up here to house the shoppers and we won’t get the full property taxes.
“Woodbury puts up with all the headaches like traffic and policing — and we get bupkis,” Aronowitz added.
The OCIDA will hold a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 28, on the matter of financial assistance for the Hampton Inn development at 1 p.m. in the Woodbury Town Hall at 511 Route 32 in Highland Mills.
OCIDA Administrative Director William Trimble will preside and OCIDA Attorney Philip Crotty will be present.
By Tony Houston
Woodbury - “It’s an outrage and a disgrace that this project that was approved by the Town will be granted tax abatement by another government.”
Those are the words of Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz pertaining to the proposed financial assistance to the Hampton Inn hotel project by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA).
The three-story, 136-room, 80,000-square-foot hotel and related improvements are planned for a 16-acre parcel of land at 25 North Drive behind Kohl’s in Woodbury Centre off Route 17.
The OCIDA’s proposed financial assistance includes a sales and use tax exemption, a mortgage recording tax exemption and a partial real property tax abatement. The real property tax abatement would result in property taxes from zero percent (in the first year) to 90 percent (in the tenth year) of the otherwise full amount; there is an increase of ten percentage points each year.
This arrangement would result in the property owner paying only 45 percent of the full amount over the first ten years. Beginning with the eleventh year, the full amount would be paid annually.
“Orange County is sticking it to the Town of Woodbury again,” Aronowitz said. “It’s bad enough that we get so little from Woodbury Commons; now they are screwing us twice.”
Aronowitz is concerned that the County is not just exempting the project from county taxes, but from town and school taxes as well. Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke and Monroe-Woodbury School District Superintendent Joe DiLorenzo have expressed the same concern.
The OCIDA is one of seven IDA’s in the County. There is a local IDA in one of the county’s villages, in two of its towns and in all three of its cities. The purpose of financial assistance from an IDA is to attract development and jobs to a location that would not be developed otherwise or would not be chosen otherwise by a specifically targeted developer.
“These tax breaks are not needed to encourage the Hampton Inn development,” said John Staiger, the assistant superintendent for Business and Management Services for the Monroe-Woodbury School District. “They would build here with or without the financial assistance being offered. The OCIDA is not acting in the best interest of the school district.”
This matter is especially galling to the school and town officials. The school district and the town both decided long ago not to participate in a statewide tax-incentive program — a program far less generous to developers that the one being offered by the OCIDA.
“The county wants more shoppers in order to get more revenue,” said Aronowitz, “A hotel goes up here to house the shoppers and we won’t get the full property taxes.
“Woodbury puts up with all the headaches like traffic and policing — and we get bupkis,” Aronowitz added.
The OCIDA will hold a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 28, on the matter of financial assistance for the Hampton Inn development at 1 p.m. in the Woodbury Town Hall at 511 Route 32 in Highland Mills.
OCIDA Administrative Director William Trimble will preside and OCIDA Attorney Philip Crotty will be present.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Woodbury hotel up for $1.5M tax break
News
Woodbury hotel up for $1.5M tax break
By Chris McKenna
August 25, 2006
Times Herald-Record
The developer planning a Hampton Inn hotel near Woodbury Common would save at least $1.5 million in property taxes over 10 years under a generous new tax abatement Orange County is dangling to attract high-paying employers.
With days to go before a public hearing on the proposed tax break, no one has released an official estimate of how much the Monroe-Woodbury School District, Woodbury and the county would lose in taxes, because no one knows how much the assessor will decide the proposed 136-room hotel is worth.
But you can calculate the bare minimum by taking the assessment of the 127-room Hampton Inn in Wallkill, translating it into Woodbury property values and plugging in current Woodbury tax rates.
By that yardstick, the discount totals $1.5 million — if tax rates remain where they are now until the abatement runs out.
The estimate is highly conservative because the Woodbury Hampton Inn will be larger than Wallkill's and because taxes will undoubtedly rise, even before the hotel opens.
Developer Martin Milano's Hampton Inn is one of the first projects in line for a juiced-up tax break for new businesses that the county adopted in May. The county's Industrial Development Agency — its economic development arm — created the incentive to compete with neighboring counties and states for big employers with high-paying jobs.
According to the agency, four or five businesses have already applied for the abatement, which waives property taxes for one year and then phases them in at 10 percent increments. The total savings over 10 years is 55 percent.
Hotels are explicitly excluded under the tax break, but Milano — the owner of a Hampton Inn in Newburgh and a Hilton Garden Inn that will soon open in the same town — is seeking to qualify as "tourism-related," one of many industries the policy targets.
Local officials are on the warpath because both the town and the school district eliminated a smaller, state-imposed tax break years ago but have no say over this new one.
Whether Milano gets it will be up to the Industrial Development Agency. Its seven-member board will hold a hearing on the proposal at 1 p.m. Monday at Woodbury Town Hall. The board is expected to make a final decision in September.
Woodbury hotel up for $1.5M tax break
By Chris McKenna
August 25, 2006
Times Herald-Record
The developer planning a Hampton Inn hotel near Woodbury Common would save at least $1.5 million in property taxes over 10 years under a generous new tax abatement Orange County is dangling to attract high-paying employers.
With days to go before a public hearing on the proposed tax break, no one has released an official estimate of how much the Monroe-Woodbury School District, Woodbury and the county would lose in taxes, because no one knows how much the assessor will decide the proposed 136-room hotel is worth.
But you can calculate the bare minimum by taking the assessment of the 127-room Hampton Inn in Wallkill, translating it into Woodbury property values and plugging in current Woodbury tax rates.
By that yardstick, the discount totals $1.5 million — if tax rates remain where they are now until the abatement runs out.
The estimate is highly conservative because the Woodbury Hampton Inn will be larger than Wallkill's and because taxes will undoubtedly rise, even before the hotel opens.
Developer Martin Milano's Hampton Inn is one of the first projects in line for a juiced-up tax break for new businesses that the county adopted in May. The county's Industrial Development Agency — its economic development arm — created the incentive to compete with neighboring counties and states for big employers with high-paying jobs.
According to the agency, four or five businesses have already applied for the abatement, which waives property taxes for one year and then phases them in at 10 percent increments. The total savings over 10 years is 55 percent.
Hotels are explicitly excluded under the tax break, but Milano — the owner of a Hampton Inn in Newburgh and a Hilton Garden Inn that will soon open in the same town — is seeking to qualify as "tourism-related," one of many industries the policy targets.
Local officials are on the warpath because both the town and the school district eliminated a smaller, state-imposed tax break years ago but have no say over this new one.
Whether Milano gets it will be up to the Industrial Development Agency. Its seven-member board will hold a hearing on the proposal at 1 p.m. Monday at Woodbury Town Hall. The board is expected to make a final decision in September.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Volunteers Needed!
There is a dramatic change in Woodbury these days and we need experienced leadership. We have a chance to make a tremendous difference. But it cannot happen without you. This is your campaign. Together, we're going to make the new Woodbury Village a better place to live, work, and play.
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
Volunteers Needed!
There is a dramatic change in Woodbury these days and we need experienced leadership. We have a chance to make a tremendous difference. But it cannot happen without you. This is your campaign. Together, we're going to make the new Woodbury Village a better place to live, work, and play.
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Why Woodbury needs one village now
Why Woodbury needs one village now
By Colleen Campbell
I believe that by voting for the Village of Woodbury, you are providing the best defense against the inevitable changes that will occur.
As a former councilwoman, I strongly supported the five local laws recently re-enacted. This was the first step toward maintaining our current style of housing. The second step is to incorporate as a single village. By voting yes for the current incorporation, you minimize the impact of future zoning and boundary changes to the territory we live in.
A perfect example is Kiryas Joel. It's own incorporation allowed its residents the ability to build as they chose without complying with Monroe's zoning. They built according to their own standards. KJ is up front about its need for high-density housing.
It needs additional lands to continue to grow, so it purchased Ace Farms. It is very likely that KJ will attempt to annex those lands into the existing village. If it can't, it could create another village in Woodbury. I believe if KJ created a village in Woodbury, you would quickly see other villages popping up throughout Woodbury.
Highland Mills, close to KJ "2," would most likely choose to create its own village to prevent further encroachment. Central Valley residents may then decide they need to create their own village to protect their interests. Not only would we now have three to four villages throughout Woodbury, but also only certain villages would contain the tax ratables. Most of the business district would be centralized in the Village of Central Valley, where most of the money would be. How would this impact the taxes of the other newly formed villages? What would they have for revenue?
The best way to prevent this dissection is to vote yes for the current village proposal Aug. 10. This village would prevent any future villages from popping up, because you cannot create a new village within an existing village. This proposal would allow all the revenue to continue to be shared equally by all. It would be the closest scenario to maintaining what we currently have.
While it is truly unfortunate that we are faced with this dilemma, faced with it we are. To sit back and do nothing is to allow forces beyond our control to control us. Working out the details of how a single village would operate within the Town of Woodbury is a heck of a lot easier than three to four villages vying for their piece of the pie.
Oh, and let's not forget that the village with the most inhabitants would control the vote. Just look at Monroe. We need to be proactive and seize our own destiny. We can do that by voting yes for the village incorporation Aug. 10.
Colleen Campbell of Central Valley is a former Woodbury councilwoman.
By Colleen Campbell
I believe that by voting for the Village of Woodbury, you are providing the best defense against the inevitable changes that will occur.
As a former councilwoman, I strongly supported the five local laws recently re-enacted. This was the first step toward maintaining our current style of housing. The second step is to incorporate as a single village. By voting yes for the current incorporation, you minimize the impact of future zoning and boundary changes to the territory we live in.
A perfect example is Kiryas Joel. It's own incorporation allowed its residents the ability to build as they chose without complying with Monroe's zoning. They built according to their own standards. KJ is up front about its need for high-density housing.
It needs additional lands to continue to grow, so it purchased Ace Farms. It is very likely that KJ will attempt to annex those lands into the existing village. If it can't, it could create another village in Woodbury. I believe if KJ created a village in Woodbury, you would quickly see other villages popping up throughout Woodbury.
Highland Mills, close to KJ "2," would most likely choose to create its own village to prevent further encroachment. Central Valley residents may then decide they need to create their own village to protect their interests. Not only would we now have three to four villages throughout Woodbury, but also only certain villages would contain the tax ratables. Most of the business district would be centralized in the Village of Central Valley, where most of the money would be. How would this impact the taxes of the other newly formed villages? What would they have for revenue?
The best way to prevent this dissection is to vote yes for the current village proposal Aug. 10. This village would prevent any future villages from popping up, because you cannot create a new village within an existing village. This proposal would allow all the revenue to continue to be shared equally by all. It would be the closest scenario to maintaining what we currently have.
While it is truly unfortunate that we are faced with this dilemma, faced with it we are. To sit back and do nothing is to allow forces beyond our control to control us. Working out the details of how a single village would operate within the Town of Woodbury is a heck of a lot easier than three to four villages vying for their piece of the pie.
Oh, and let's not forget that the village with the most inhabitants would control the vote. Just look at Monroe. We need to be proactive and seize our own destiny. We can do that by voting yes for the village incorporation Aug. 10.
Colleen Campbell of Central Valley is a former Woodbury councilwoman.
Hearing on cluster proposal set for Aug. 1
Hearing on cluster proposal set for Aug. 1
By Tony Houston
Highland Mills - The Woodbury Town Board, having passed five local laws this month amending zoning ordinances, is holding a public hearing Tuesday, Aug. 1, which may result in two more local laws affecting zoning.
The hearing is on the application by Legacy Ridge at Highland Mills, LLC, to build 287 single-family detached 4-bedroom homes on 749 acres. The proposed site is located on both sides of Trout Brook Road between Smith Clove Road and Route 32; the average cost of a home is expected to be $625,000.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement, completed by the applicant and accepted by the Town Board, addresses the impact of both the proposed development and the two laws. Issues addressed in the draft environmental report include traffic, schools, water, sewers, grading the land, vistas and the impact on plants and animals.
“Legacy Ridge is not currently in front of the Planning Board,” said Planning Board Chairman George Sewitt in a telephone interview. “The project is in front of the Town Board as lead agency on a matter of conservation cluster development.”
One proposed local law would change the zoning of the Legacy Ridge site from R-3A to R-2A. The other would designate Legacy Ridge as a Conservation Cluster Development. The effect of the two laws would be an increase in the number of housing units allowed, the clustering of the 287 units on lots averaging 1.11 acres each on 319 developed acres, and the preservation of the remaining 430 acres as open space.
“The law relating to the Conservation Cluster Development deals, in part, with senior housing,” said Woodbury Supervisor John Burke, “but this project doesn’t include any senior housing.”
Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz, whose change of mind resulted in the passage of this month’s five local laws, discussed the Legacy Ridge proposal in a recent interview.
“I will examine the application and local laws and listen to the public comment before I make my decision,” he said. “We must be sure of a benefit to the citizens of Woodbury and anyone else affected.”
One entity affected is the Cornwall School District, in which the Legacy Ridge site is located. Residents of other towns in that school district have complained that this project in the Highland Mills section of Woodbury would overload the Cornwall district.
“Many homes are going up in other towns within the Cornwall Central School District,” said Councilman Aronowitz. “We are not the bad guy.”
The public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the IBEW Training Center at 67 Commerce Drive South off Route 17 North in Harriman.
By Tony Houston
Highland Mills - The Woodbury Town Board, having passed five local laws this month amending zoning ordinances, is holding a public hearing Tuesday, Aug. 1, which may result in two more local laws affecting zoning.
The hearing is on the application by Legacy Ridge at Highland Mills, LLC, to build 287 single-family detached 4-bedroom homes on 749 acres. The proposed site is located on both sides of Trout Brook Road between Smith Clove Road and Route 32; the average cost of a home is expected to be $625,000.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement, completed by the applicant and accepted by the Town Board, addresses the impact of both the proposed development and the two laws. Issues addressed in the draft environmental report include traffic, schools, water, sewers, grading the land, vistas and the impact on plants and animals.
“Legacy Ridge is not currently in front of the Planning Board,” said Planning Board Chairman George Sewitt in a telephone interview. “The project is in front of the Town Board as lead agency on a matter of conservation cluster development.”
One proposed local law would change the zoning of the Legacy Ridge site from R-3A to R-2A. The other would designate Legacy Ridge as a Conservation Cluster Development. The effect of the two laws would be an increase in the number of housing units allowed, the clustering of the 287 units on lots averaging 1.11 acres each on 319 developed acres, and the preservation of the remaining 430 acres as open space.
“The law relating to the Conservation Cluster Development deals, in part, with senior housing,” said Woodbury Supervisor John Burke, “but this project doesn’t include any senior housing.”
Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz, whose change of mind resulted in the passage of this month’s five local laws, discussed the Legacy Ridge proposal in a recent interview.
“I will examine the application and local laws and listen to the public comment before I make my decision,” he said. “We must be sure of a benefit to the citizens of Woodbury and anyone else affected.”
One entity affected is the Cornwall School District, in which the Legacy Ridge site is located. Residents of other towns in that school district have complained that this project in the Highland Mills section of Woodbury would overload the Cornwall district.
“Many homes are going up in other towns within the Cornwall Central School District,” said Councilman Aronowitz. “We are not the bad guy.”
The public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the IBEW Training Center at 67 Commerce Drive South off Route 17 North in Harriman.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Legacy Ridge next in line
July 19, 2006
Legacy Ridge next in line
Woodbury sets public hearing
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Woodbury - The town spotlight now shifts to a second proposal for a gated community seeking zoning accommodations similar to those Bill Brodsky got last month for his 451-home WP3 project.
Town Board members have set an Aug. 1 date for people to weigh in on 287-home Legacy Ridge after determining that the developer's seven-binder draft environmental impact statement was complete.
The houses would be built on slightly more than 300 acres off Smith Clove and Trout Brook roads, a quiet area near Cornwall in the northern part of town. All would have four bedrooms and cost $625,000 on average, according to the environmental statement. Most lots would be a little more than an acre.
The Legacy Ridge proposal surfaced in November 2004 at the same time as Brodsky's project. Like its twin across town, Legacy Ridge is seeking a reduction in the minimum lot size and classification as a "conservation cluster development" to increase the number of homes allowed.
In the case of Legacy Ridge, that would mean building 287 houses instead of the 164 allowed under current zoning.
In return, Millennium Homes, the Livingston, N.J., builder behind the project, is offering to donate 430 acres to the town for open space and upgrade an aging sewage plant that would serve its 287 houses. The developer would also turn over the water supply and water storage tanks it would build. Though smaller, the project has aroused some of the same concerns about traffic and school taxes that Brodsky's proposal raised. Some of the strongest criticism has come from neighboring Cornwall, the school district that Legacy Ridge children would attend.
The public hearing is set for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at the IBEW training center, 27 Commerce Drive South, Harriman. The environmental statement may be viewed at www.hdrprojects.com/legacyridgeeis/.
Legacy Ridge next in line
Woodbury sets public hearing
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Woodbury - The town spotlight now shifts to a second proposal for a gated community seeking zoning accommodations similar to those Bill Brodsky got last month for his 451-home WP3 project.
Town Board members have set an Aug. 1 date for people to weigh in on 287-home Legacy Ridge after determining that the developer's seven-binder draft environmental impact statement was complete.
The houses would be built on slightly more than 300 acres off Smith Clove and Trout Brook roads, a quiet area near Cornwall in the northern part of town. All would have four bedrooms and cost $625,000 on average, according to the environmental statement. Most lots would be a little more than an acre.
The Legacy Ridge proposal surfaced in November 2004 at the same time as Brodsky's project. Like its twin across town, Legacy Ridge is seeking a reduction in the minimum lot size and classification as a "conservation cluster development" to increase the number of homes allowed.
In the case of Legacy Ridge, that would mean building 287 houses instead of the 164 allowed under current zoning.
In return, Millennium Homes, the Livingston, N.J., builder behind the project, is offering to donate 430 acres to the town for open space and upgrade an aging sewage plant that would serve its 287 houses. The developer would also turn over the water supply and water storage tanks it would build. Though smaller, the project has aroused some of the same concerns about traffic and school taxes that Brodsky's proposal raised. Some of the strongest criticism has come from neighboring Cornwall, the school district that Legacy Ridge children would attend.
The public hearing is set for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at the IBEW training center, 27 Commerce Drive South, Harriman. The environmental statement may be viewed at www.hdrprojects.com/legacyridgeeis/.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
What is a strategist inflection point?
Many people have asked me about my comment other night on what is a strategist inflection point?
Strategy formulation and implementation is an on-going, never-ending, integrated process requiring continuous reassessment and reformation. Strategic management is dynamic.It involves a complex pattern of actions and reactions. It is partially planned and partially unplanned. Strategy is both planned and emergent, dynamic, and interactive. Some people (such as Andy Grove at Intel) feel that there are critical points at which a strategy must take a new direction in order to be in step with a changing business environment. These critical points of change are called strategic inflection points.
Strategic management operates on several time scales. Short term strategies involve planning and managing for the present. Long term strategies involve preparing for and preempting the future. Marketing strategist Derek Abell (1993), has suggested that understanding this dual nature of strategic management is the least understood part of the process. He claims that balancing the temporal aspects of strategic planning requires the use of dual strategies simultaneously.
Strategy formulation and implementation is an on-going, never-ending, integrated process requiring continuous reassessment and reformation. Strategic management is dynamic.It involves a complex pattern of actions and reactions. It is partially planned and partially unplanned. Strategy is both planned and emergent, dynamic, and interactive. Some people (such as Andy Grove at Intel) feel that there are critical points at which a strategy must take a new direction in order to be in step with a changing business environment. These critical points of change are called strategic inflection points.
Strategic management operates on several time scales. Short term strategies involve planning and managing for the present. Long term strategies involve preparing for and preempting the future. Marketing strategist Derek Abell (1993), has suggested that understanding this dual nature of strategic management is the least understood part of the process. He claims that balancing the temporal aspects of strategic planning requires the use of dual strategies simultaneously.
Resident asks: ‘Are you prepared to fight?’
Resident asks: ‘Are you prepared to fight?’
To the editor:
When questioned as to why he changed his mind and subsequently his vote on an issue that he once opposed not so long ago, Councilman Michael Aronowitz of the Woodbury Town Board cited preserving the quality of life as one of the main reasons he voted in favor of the WP3 project, slated to be built along Nininger Road in Woodbury.
This project, when combined with the planned Legacy Ridge development, also in Woodbury, will add 738 homes and in my estimation will bring 1,200 to 1,500 more vehicles to a town already strangled by traffic and to an area that has one of the worst air quality ratings in the state.
That’s not what I would call preserving the quality of life. Not when you consider that the children of our community, while attending the nearby schools and who represent our very future, will be forced to breathe in additional amounts of extremely unhealthy air.
Over the next five to ten years the impact on the environment along with the associated increased health risks will be devastating. With the amount of children contracting asthma and other chronic illnesses due to increases in air pollution at an all time high in this country, it makes his decision to vote in the affirmative all the more disturbing.
With that in mind, I would like to know if his supposed concern extends to all of Woodbury or just a few select areas, The reason I ask is because it has come to my attention that the municipality of Kiryas Joel is already putting together a petition to annex property which they own in Woodbury into their village. This parcel of land lies along Bakertown Road extending west and is very close to where my family and I live. I have already spoken to Town Supervisor John Burke, the lone dissenting vote on the aforementioned projects, about his position in regard to this issue. He assured me that he is prepared to fight annexation in any part of Woodbury for as long as it takes.
So my question to Mr. Aronowitz and the other three Town Board members is: Do you share Mr. Burke’s values and are you prepared to fight to protect the interests of those of us who live in this area and are under the constant threat of properties in close proximity to our homes being annexed into K.J., thus affecting our quality of life? Are you prepared to fight now and in the future for all of the residents along County Road 105 including the Sisters who reside at Bethany Retreat? Are you prepared to fight for the residents of Bakertown Road, Blueberry Lane, Campbell Avenue, Seven Springs Road and anyone else who might be affected by this? Are you prepared to fight annexation no matter what or do you plan to tell us that we’re all expendable?
I would hope that as elected officials you are committed to protecting the sanctity of Woodbury and EVERY citizen who resides within its boundaries.
Bob Reveille
Highland Mills
To the editor:
When questioned as to why he changed his mind and subsequently his vote on an issue that he once opposed not so long ago, Councilman Michael Aronowitz of the Woodbury Town Board cited preserving the quality of life as one of the main reasons he voted in favor of the WP3 project, slated to be built along Nininger Road in Woodbury.
This project, when combined with the planned Legacy Ridge development, also in Woodbury, will add 738 homes and in my estimation will bring 1,200 to 1,500 more vehicles to a town already strangled by traffic and to an area that has one of the worst air quality ratings in the state.
That’s not what I would call preserving the quality of life. Not when you consider that the children of our community, while attending the nearby schools and who represent our very future, will be forced to breathe in additional amounts of extremely unhealthy air.
Over the next five to ten years the impact on the environment along with the associated increased health risks will be devastating. With the amount of children contracting asthma and other chronic illnesses due to increases in air pollution at an all time high in this country, it makes his decision to vote in the affirmative all the more disturbing.
With that in mind, I would like to know if his supposed concern extends to all of Woodbury or just a few select areas, The reason I ask is because it has come to my attention that the municipality of Kiryas Joel is already putting together a petition to annex property which they own in Woodbury into their village. This parcel of land lies along Bakertown Road extending west and is very close to where my family and I live. I have already spoken to Town Supervisor John Burke, the lone dissenting vote on the aforementioned projects, about his position in regard to this issue. He assured me that he is prepared to fight annexation in any part of Woodbury for as long as it takes.
So my question to Mr. Aronowitz and the other three Town Board members is: Do you share Mr. Burke’s values and are you prepared to fight to protect the interests of those of us who live in this area and are under the constant threat of properties in close proximity to our homes being annexed into K.J., thus affecting our quality of life? Are you prepared to fight now and in the future for all of the residents along County Road 105 including the Sisters who reside at Bethany Retreat? Are you prepared to fight for the residents of Bakertown Road, Blueberry Lane, Campbell Avenue, Seven Springs Road and anyone else who might be affected by this? Are you prepared to fight annexation no matter what or do you plan to tell us that we’re all expendable?
I would hope that as elected officials you are committed to protecting the sanctity of Woodbury and EVERY citizen who resides within its boundaries.
Bob Reveille
Highland Mills
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Wi-Fi access across upstate
Schumer unveils plan to promote Wi-Fi access across upstate
In light of the rapid growth of wireless internet access in major cities across the country, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer Tuesday announced a new plan to bring wireless, including “Wi-Fi” (wireless fidelity), high speed internet access to homes, businesses, and communities across upstate New York.
The state currently ranks 31st among all 50 states in percentage of households with an internet connection. Dozens of communities across upstate are looking to create Wi-Fi networks in public places, and even, covering the entire region. Schumer’s plan includes creating a federal resource for local communities who are looking to create wireless networks and tax incentives for individuals and businesses that purchase broadband or Wi-Fi equipment.
Right now, most wireless “hot spots” are limited to chain restaurants, coffee shops, and hotels (McDonalds, Starbucks, and Best Western provide Wi-Fi access). However, some local governments across upstate New York, as large as Buffalo and Rochester and as small as Tivoli and Oneonta, have contracted with private companies to create wider-scoped networks to cover public places and entire communities.
There are currently 797 Wi-Fi hotspots in all of upstate New York. There are 18 wireless high-speed internet “hot spots” currently active in the Hudson Valley. The counties with urban centers typically have seven high-speed internet providers and the more rural counties have 3 or less.
In order to promote the expansion of Wi-Fi networks in communities across upstate New York, Schumer announced a new three-point plan to direct federal resources and expertise to help local governments establish wireless networks, and provide broadband service to rural and underserved communities.
Create a Comprehensive Federal Resource for Communities Looking to Start Wi-Fi Networks: Schumer is calling on Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez to create a series of federal standards and best practices for creating wireless networks so communities who want to create these networks can navigate through any potential problems and can create a system that suits their needs.
Schumer also called on the Commerce Department to coordinate with the FBI to craft a set of specific security standards to protect wireless users and prevent criminals from taking advantage of public internet services.
Tax Breaks for Broadband and Wi-Fi Expansion: Schumer is pushing the bi-partisan Broadband Tax Enhancement Act, led by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), which passed the Senate Finance Committee last week. Schumer’s legislation would permit individuals and businesses to deduct from their taxable income costs associated with the installation and connection of broadband and wireless networks in rural or underserved areas. This could significantly reduce the cost of creating Wi-Fi networks and expanding existing broadband networks for consumers and businesses.
Federal Funding to Expand Broadband in Rural and Underserved Communities: Schumer announced his going to offer an amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would increase by $50 million, or a 10 percent increase, funding for the Rural Development Broadband Loan and Loan Guarantee Program.
In light of the rapid growth of wireless internet access in major cities across the country, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer Tuesday announced a new plan to bring wireless, including “Wi-Fi” (wireless fidelity), high speed internet access to homes, businesses, and communities across upstate New York.
The state currently ranks 31st among all 50 states in percentage of households with an internet connection. Dozens of communities across upstate are looking to create Wi-Fi networks in public places, and even, covering the entire region. Schumer’s plan includes creating a federal resource for local communities who are looking to create wireless networks and tax incentives for individuals and businesses that purchase broadband or Wi-Fi equipment.
Right now, most wireless “hot spots” are limited to chain restaurants, coffee shops, and hotels (McDonalds, Starbucks, and Best Western provide Wi-Fi access). However, some local governments across upstate New York, as large as Buffalo and Rochester and as small as Tivoli and Oneonta, have contracted with private companies to create wider-scoped networks to cover public places and entire communities.
There are currently 797 Wi-Fi hotspots in all of upstate New York. There are 18 wireless high-speed internet “hot spots” currently active in the Hudson Valley. The counties with urban centers typically have seven high-speed internet providers and the more rural counties have 3 or less.
In order to promote the expansion of Wi-Fi networks in communities across upstate New York, Schumer announced a new three-point plan to direct federal resources and expertise to help local governments establish wireless networks, and provide broadband service to rural and underserved communities.
Create a Comprehensive Federal Resource for Communities Looking to Start Wi-Fi Networks: Schumer is calling on Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez to create a series of federal standards and best practices for creating wireless networks so communities who want to create these networks can navigate through any potential problems and can create a system that suits their needs.
Schumer also called on the Commerce Department to coordinate with the FBI to craft a set of specific security standards to protect wireless users and prevent criminals from taking advantage of public internet services.
Tax Breaks for Broadband and Wi-Fi Expansion: Schumer is pushing the bi-partisan Broadband Tax Enhancement Act, led by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), which passed the Senate Finance Committee last week. Schumer’s legislation would permit individuals and businesses to deduct from their taxable income costs associated with the installation and connection of broadband and wireless networks in rural or underserved areas. This could significantly reduce the cost of creating Wi-Fi networks and expanding existing broadband networks for consumers and businesses.
Federal Funding to Expand Broadband in Rural and Underserved Communities: Schumer announced his going to offer an amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would increase by $50 million, or a 10 percent increase, funding for the Rural Development Broadband Loan and Loan Guarantee Program.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Residents mobilize
July 10, 2006
Residents mobilize against KJ By Chris McKennaTimes Herald-Recordcmckenna@th-record.com
In southern Blooming Grove, residents pour into a firehouse and vote overwhelmingly to form their own village, even if that means placing another layer of government - and taxes - over themselves.
A week later, two other momentous votes: one to stop Kiryas Joel from erecting water storage tanks on Orange County parkland and the other to let a developer build 451 homes in neighboring Woodbury.
Three closely watched votes in the space of a week, all tied directly or indirectly to Kiryas Joel and its growth. Each outcome reflected, to some degree, a growing determination by neighbors to prevent the village from encroaching - even if that meant extraordinary steps.
Take the decision in Woodbury.
It's almost unthinkable that people in Orange County would mobilize in support of a housing development, much less a big one that needs zoning breaks. The usual course would be to wage war against it.
But Thursday night, a crowd cheered as the Woodbury Town Board cleared the way for 451 new houses. Why were they celebrating? At least partly because it meant those 400 acres would never sprout something worse, in their view: Kiryas Joel-style condominium buildings.
"Granted, it's going to create more volume," supporter Steve Gunset reasoned after the board vote. "But if Kiryas Joel were to get it, it would create 30 times that volume."
Kiryas Joel's diminished clout has been evident since 2004, when opponents pressured the county government into challenging the village's plans to tap the Catskill Aqueduct. The pendulum swung toward the critics, whose enormous grass-roots support suddenly countered the power of Kiryas Joel's voting bloc.
The three recent votes have underscored this new political landscape, one of perpetual conflict for Kiryas Joel's leaders.
"We're very concerned and nervous about the reaction of ordinary people," Gedalye Szegedin, the village administrator, said Friday. "We believe that ordinary people are misled by a few who want to use Kiryas Joel to scare people away."
But those on the opposite side of the debate make a similar charge about Kiryas Joel's leaders - that their tactics and rhetoric invite opposition, to the detriment of their constituents.
Jonathan Swiller, the Woodbury activist whose organization, OCEAN, fought the water tanks and supported the 451-home Woodbury project, regards those and the Blooming Grove votes as a repudiation of the insensitivity of Kiryas Joel's leadership.
"They are all, in one way or another, reactions to the way that Szegedin deals with his neighbors, which is to say, with disdain," Swiller said.
In the end, the growth causing so much strife comes down to an unchanging cultural pattern. Each year, up to 200 couples marry and settle in Kiryas Joel. For the leadership, that means roughly the same number of homes must be built on a shrinking supply of village land.
"Kiryas Joel doesn't want to take over Woodbury," Szegedin said. "Kiryas Joel doesn't want to take over Monroe. Kiryas Joel doesn't want to take over Blooming Grove. We want to provide for the couple of hundred marriages that take place in Kiryas Joel in a year."
Residents mobilize against KJ By Chris McKennaTimes Herald-Recordcmckenna@th-record.com
In southern Blooming Grove, residents pour into a firehouse and vote overwhelmingly to form their own village, even if that means placing another layer of government - and taxes - over themselves.
A week later, two other momentous votes: one to stop Kiryas Joel from erecting water storage tanks on Orange County parkland and the other to let a developer build 451 homes in neighboring Woodbury.
Three closely watched votes in the space of a week, all tied directly or indirectly to Kiryas Joel and its growth. Each outcome reflected, to some degree, a growing determination by neighbors to prevent the village from encroaching - even if that meant extraordinary steps.
Take the decision in Woodbury.
It's almost unthinkable that people in Orange County would mobilize in support of a housing development, much less a big one that needs zoning breaks. The usual course would be to wage war against it.
But Thursday night, a crowd cheered as the Woodbury Town Board cleared the way for 451 new houses. Why were they celebrating? At least partly because it meant those 400 acres would never sprout something worse, in their view: Kiryas Joel-style condominium buildings.
"Granted, it's going to create more volume," supporter Steve Gunset reasoned after the board vote. "But if Kiryas Joel were to get it, it would create 30 times that volume."
Kiryas Joel's diminished clout has been evident since 2004, when opponents pressured the county government into challenging the village's plans to tap the Catskill Aqueduct. The pendulum swung toward the critics, whose enormous grass-roots support suddenly countered the power of Kiryas Joel's voting bloc.
The three recent votes have underscored this new political landscape, one of perpetual conflict for Kiryas Joel's leaders.
"We're very concerned and nervous about the reaction of ordinary people," Gedalye Szegedin, the village administrator, said Friday. "We believe that ordinary people are misled by a few who want to use Kiryas Joel to scare people away."
But those on the opposite side of the debate make a similar charge about Kiryas Joel's leaders - that their tactics and rhetoric invite opposition, to the detriment of their constituents.
Jonathan Swiller, the Woodbury activist whose organization, OCEAN, fought the water tanks and supported the 451-home Woodbury project, regards those and the Blooming Grove votes as a repudiation of the insensitivity of Kiryas Joel's leadership.
"They are all, in one way or another, reactions to the way that Szegedin deals with his neighbors, which is to say, with disdain," Swiller said.
In the end, the growth causing so much strife comes down to an unchanging cultural pattern. Each year, up to 200 couples marry and settle in Kiryas Joel. For the leadership, that means roughly the same number of homes must be built on a shrinking supply of village land.
"Kiryas Joel doesn't want to take over Woodbury," Szegedin said. "Kiryas Joel doesn't want to take over Monroe. Kiryas Joel doesn't want to take over Blooming Grove. We want to provide for the couple of hundred marriages that take place in Kiryas Joel in a year."
Friday, July 07, 2006
Take the parkland by eminent domain.
July 07, 2006
Legislature rejects KJ water tank plan
Officials mull new pumping options
By Brendan Scott
Times Herald-Record
bscott@th-record.com
Goshen - Whether you see it as a victory for open space or the latest political rebuke against the Village of Kiryas Joel, Orange County lawmakers last night rejected the village's plan to build a pair of water storage tanks in a new county park.
The decisive "no" vote capped off more than a month of debate over what might have otherwise appeared a simple request for a favor: Kiryas Joel said it needed to erect the tanks in the Gonzaga property to boost water pressure for firefighting.
The towns that surround the Hasidic community, however, argued the move was an unnecessary land grab by Kiryas Joel. Thus, the water tank proposal provided yet another rallying cry against the village's explosive growth and strong political influence.
"The fact that it would be inconvenient or more expensive to the village to install pumping stations versus water towers on high ground should not scare you on this Legislature from deciding this issue for a village that builds first and plans later," said Phyllis Rampulla of South Blooming Grove, one of more than 100 in the audience.
The Legislature agreed. The proposal failed 2-17 with one absence and one abstention.
But if anything, last night's vote underscored how the political influence of Kiryas Joel's critics has eclipsed that of the village in the county Legislature. The result follows the Legislature's 2004 decision to sue the village and stall its unrelated plan to draw water from the New York City Aqueduct.
As during that vote, County Executive Ed Diana stayed silent during the water tank debate, even though he had carried the proposal to the Legislature. Like two years ago, Legislator Michael Amo, R-Central Valley, whose district is dominated by Kiryas Joel, argued that the village was being singled out.
But several lawmakers who said they might have otherwise supported the water tank proposal said Kiryas Joel failed to convince him that building the tanks on the Gonzaga land was necessary.
After the vote, Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said the village's options included building a pumping station, erecting a higher tower or trying to take the parkland by eminent domain.
Legislature rejects KJ water tank plan
Officials mull new pumping options
By Brendan Scott
Times Herald-Record
bscott@th-record.com
Goshen - Whether you see it as a victory for open space or the latest political rebuke against the Village of Kiryas Joel, Orange County lawmakers last night rejected the village's plan to build a pair of water storage tanks in a new county park.
The decisive "no" vote capped off more than a month of debate over what might have otherwise appeared a simple request for a favor: Kiryas Joel said it needed to erect the tanks in the Gonzaga property to boost water pressure for firefighting.
The towns that surround the Hasidic community, however, argued the move was an unnecessary land grab by Kiryas Joel. Thus, the water tank proposal provided yet another rallying cry against the village's explosive growth and strong political influence.
"The fact that it would be inconvenient or more expensive to the village to install pumping stations versus water towers on high ground should not scare you on this Legislature from deciding this issue for a village that builds first and plans later," said Phyllis Rampulla of South Blooming Grove, one of more than 100 in the audience.
The Legislature agreed. The proposal failed 2-17 with one absence and one abstention.
But if anything, last night's vote underscored how the political influence of Kiryas Joel's critics has eclipsed that of the village in the county Legislature. The result follows the Legislature's 2004 decision to sue the village and stall its unrelated plan to draw water from the New York City Aqueduct.
As during that vote, County Executive Ed Diana stayed silent during the water tank debate, even though he had carried the proposal to the Legislature. Like two years ago, Legislator Michael Amo, R-Central Valley, whose district is dominated by Kiryas Joel, argued that the village was being singled out.
But several lawmakers who said they might have otherwise supported the water tank proposal said Kiryas Joel failed to convince him that building the tanks on the Gonzaga land was necessary.
After the vote, Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said the village's options included building a pumping station, erecting a higher tower or trying to take the parkland by eminent domain.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Bullied kids have more behavioral problems
Bullied kids have more behavioral problems Thu Jul 6, 12:18 PM ET
Children who are bullied during their early school years may experience behavior problems as a result, new study findings suggest.
"Our results indicate that bullying victimization in the early school years is an influential experience for a child's behavioral development and mental health problems," study author Dr. Louise Arseneault, of King's College, London, and her colleagues write.
"Prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing mental health problems during childhood should target bullying as an important risk factor," they add.
According to previous research, victimization may be associated with mental health problems in adults. It is also known that some mental health problems in adults stem from poor mental health in childhood. In the current study, Arseneault and her team investigated bullying in childhood, looking at the extent to which bullying contributed to later adjustment problems.
They analyzed information for 2,232 subjects who participated in home-visit assessments at 5 years old and follow-up assessments at age 7.
Those assessments revealed that the majority of children had never bullied another child or experienced bullying between ages 5 and 7. However, 14.4 percent were "pure victims" and 6.2 percent were "bully/victims," children who had been bullied and who also victimized others. Another 1,387 children who were not involved in bullying served as a comparison, or "control," group.
Both groups of children had significantly more behavior problems and problems adjusting in school at 7 years old, compared with the control children, the investigators report in the journal Pediatrics.
Pure victims had more internalizing problems, such as being withdrawn, anxious or depressed, and were also more unhappy at school compared with children in the control group.
Bully/victims also had internalizing problems. In addition, they had fewer prosocial behaviors, such as being considerate of other people's feelings; and were less happy at school at age 7 compared with the pure victims and children in the control group.
In light of their findings, "bullying could be regarded as a stressful life event that might influence children's normal development," Arseneault and her co-authors conclude.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln
Children who are bullied during their early school years may experience behavior problems as a result, new study findings suggest.
"Our results indicate that bullying victimization in the early school years is an influential experience for a child's behavioral development and mental health problems," study author Dr. Louise Arseneault, of King's College, London, and her colleagues write.
"Prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing mental health problems during childhood should target bullying as an important risk factor," they add.
According to previous research, victimization may be associated with mental health problems in adults. It is also known that some mental health problems in adults stem from poor mental health in childhood. In the current study, Arseneault and her team investigated bullying in childhood, looking at the extent to which bullying contributed to later adjustment problems.
They analyzed information for 2,232 subjects who participated in home-visit assessments at 5 years old and follow-up assessments at age 7.
Those assessments revealed that the majority of children had never bullied another child or experienced bullying between ages 5 and 7. However, 14.4 percent were "pure victims" and 6.2 percent were "bully/victims," children who had been bullied and who also victimized others. Another 1,387 children who were not involved in bullying served as a comparison, or "control," group.
Both groups of children had significantly more behavior problems and problems adjusting in school at 7 years old, compared with the control children, the investigators report in the journal Pediatrics.
Pure victims had more internalizing problems, such as being withdrawn, anxious or depressed, and were also more unhappy at school compared with children in the control group.
Bully/victims also had internalizing problems. In addition, they had fewer prosocial behaviors, such as being considerate of other people's feelings; and were less happy at school at age 7 compared with the pure victims and children in the control group.
In light of their findings, "bullying could be regarded as a stressful life event that might influence children's normal development," Arseneault and her co-authors conclude.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Hot air, wet pants spice up election race
Hot air, wet pants spice up election race By Catherine Bremer
Fri Jun 16, 10:25 AM ET
A squawking wild turkey as president, voodoo, a dancing grandpa pharmacist and a nervous criminal urinating in his pants on television -- welcome to Mexico's election race, as wacky as it is vitriolic.
Full of colorful insults, blaring pop songs and nonsensical sparring, the campaign for the July 2 election has been based as much on personalities and petty point-scoring as policies.
Sick of weeks of mudslinging and silliness, voters have been sticking pins in voodoo dolls of the candidates, and the Federal Election Institute has axed some political ads as too slanderous to be aired.
"It's a very basic, very crude, very coarse, very clumsy election campaign," commentator Guadalupe Loaeza told Reuters.
The battle for the presidency is the first since 71 years of one-party rule ended in 2000 and fierce competition between the three main parties has sparked flaming tensions.
Probably the oddest campaign moment yet is a TV ad by third-place candidate Roberto Madrazo showing a criminal wetting his pants out of fear for Madrazo's tough stance on crime.
"For me, it's lacking in creativity. Vulgar. It's resorting to something very childish," said Loaeza.
Among outlawed ads are spots by conservative Felipe Calderon calling his leftist arch-rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador a danger and linking him to Venezuela's fiery leader Hugo Chavez.
Calderon, a balding lawyer whose hairline is inked in on his campaign posters, is in a neck-and-neck race with Lopez Obrador, a crusader for the poor who dons floral garlands and tropical-style guayabera shirts.
In their latest spat, Lopez Obrador sent Calderon's campaign office huge cardboard boxes he said contained documents proving Calderon awarded his brother-in-law lucrative contracts when energy minister.
But Calderon said the boxes were a farce, empty but for a few meaningless papers. He said his rival was a liar, called him "Lopez Hablador" (Lopez Talker) and his aides "clowns."
Rhetoric has been harsh, reflecting a nation split between left and right that is still learning some of the rules of democracy.
"If the players persist in just insulting each other, they may win the contest but could not lead the country," wrote columnist Javier Oliva in daily La Jornada.
DANCING PHARMACIST
Lopez Obrador has laid into President Vicente Fox, who he says is illegally helping Calderon, dubbing him a "chachalaca" -- a wild turkey known for its piercing squawk.
"He acts like a chachalaca, he screeches like a chachalaca," the leftist said, also accusing Fox of "verbal incontinence."
Keeping with the bird theme, he told supporters after a heated election debate last week that his rivals "came to eat pigeon, but what they got was a fighting cock."
Amid all the madness, frustrated voters have lobbed plastic bottles, paper airplanes and inflated condoms at candidates and even offered one, Patricia Mercado, a puff of marijuana.
Some of the most colorful campaigners cannot legally run because no political party will back them.
They include oddball magnate Victor Gonzalez, who has adopted the persona of his pharmacy chain's rotund and grandfatherly mascot, "Dr Simi," with fluffy white hair and mustache.
Claiming more Mexican fans than Mickey Mouse, and fond of models in mini-skirts, Gonzalez hires people to wear spongy Dr Simi costumes and dance outside his pharmacies.
"I have money but I earned it honestly. I have women but I am single. The people love these things," he said recently.
Also seeking support is Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, who gave his first live TV interview in years in his trademark ski mask and smoking his pipe to call for the overthrow of the government, whoever wins.
Fri Jun 16, 10:25 AM ET
A squawking wild turkey as president, voodoo, a dancing grandpa pharmacist and a nervous criminal urinating in his pants on television -- welcome to Mexico's election race, as wacky as it is vitriolic.
Full of colorful insults, blaring pop songs and nonsensical sparring, the campaign for the July 2 election has been based as much on personalities and petty point-scoring as policies.
Sick of weeks of mudslinging and silliness, voters have been sticking pins in voodoo dolls of the candidates, and the Federal Election Institute has axed some political ads as too slanderous to be aired.
"It's a very basic, very crude, very coarse, very clumsy election campaign," commentator Guadalupe Loaeza told Reuters.
The battle for the presidency is the first since 71 years of one-party rule ended in 2000 and fierce competition between the three main parties has sparked flaming tensions.
Probably the oddest campaign moment yet is a TV ad by third-place candidate Roberto Madrazo showing a criminal wetting his pants out of fear for Madrazo's tough stance on crime.
"For me, it's lacking in creativity. Vulgar. It's resorting to something very childish," said Loaeza.
Among outlawed ads are spots by conservative Felipe Calderon calling his leftist arch-rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador a danger and linking him to Venezuela's fiery leader Hugo Chavez.
Calderon, a balding lawyer whose hairline is inked in on his campaign posters, is in a neck-and-neck race with Lopez Obrador, a crusader for the poor who dons floral garlands and tropical-style guayabera shirts.
In their latest spat, Lopez Obrador sent Calderon's campaign office huge cardboard boxes he said contained documents proving Calderon awarded his brother-in-law lucrative contracts when energy minister.
But Calderon said the boxes were a farce, empty but for a few meaningless papers. He said his rival was a liar, called him "Lopez Hablador" (Lopez Talker) and his aides "clowns."
Rhetoric has been harsh, reflecting a nation split between left and right that is still learning some of the rules of democracy.
"If the players persist in just insulting each other, they may win the contest but could not lead the country," wrote columnist Javier Oliva in daily La Jornada.
DANCING PHARMACIST
Lopez Obrador has laid into President Vicente Fox, who he says is illegally helping Calderon, dubbing him a "chachalaca" -- a wild turkey known for its piercing squawk.
"He acts like a chachalaca, he screeches like a chachalaca," the leftist said, also accusing Fox of "verbal incontinence."
Keeping with the bird theme, he told supporters after a heated election debate last week that his rivals "came to eat pigeon, but what they got was a fighting cock."
Amid all the madness, frustrated voters have lobbed plastic bottles, paper airplanes and inflated condoms at candidates and even offered one, Patricia Mercado, a puff of marijuana.
Some of the most colorful campaigners cannot legally run because no political party will back them.
They include oddball magnate Victor Gonzalez, who has adopted the persona of his pharmacy chain's rotund and grandfatherly mascot, "Dr Simi," with fluffy white hair and mustache.
Claiming more Mexican fans than Mickey Mouse, and fond of models in mini-skirts, Gonzalez hires people to wear spongy Dr Simi costumes and dance outside his pharmacies.
"I have money but I earned it honestly. I have women but I am single. The people love these things," he said recently.
Also seeking support is Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, who gave his first live TV interview in years in his trademark ski mask and smoking his pipe to call for the overthrow of the government, whoever wins.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Reassessments bring fairness
Reassessments bring fairness
To the Editor:
As the southern regional director of the State Office of Real Property Services, I am writing in regard to the issue of property taxes.
This year, nearly 350 municipalities are conducting reassessments in order to provide fair assessments for their taxpayers. This is no easy task, especially when real estate values nationwide have increased dramatically in recent years.
As property values change, it is important for local assessors to adjust assessments - typically by conducting reassessments. When assessments aren’t adjusted to reflect changing real estate values, some property owners will pay too much in taxes while others will pay less than their fair share; in fact, some taxpayers will actually subsidize the tax bills of others.
Reassessments do not collect more taxes for school districts, counties, cities, and towns. Rather, reassessments ensure that the taxes to be collected are distributed fairly among all taxpayers.
Many taxpayers don’t realize that an increase in their assessment does not necessarily mean that their taxes will increase. After a reassessment, some taxpayers may see their tax bills decrease even if their assessments increase.
In almost all communities conducting reassessments, assessments will be determined at market value. In communities assessing at less than 100 percent of market value, the estimated market value of each property is listed on the tentative assessment roll. If this estimated market value reflects roughly the price for which you could sell your property, then you are probably assessed fairly.
Each year, property owners should check the tentative roll, which becomes available in early May in most municipalities. Of course, not everyone may agree exactly with his or her assessment. If you have questions or concerns, you should discuss them with your assessor.
To learn more about these and other topics, readers are invited to visit the Office of Real Property Services’ website: www.orps.state.ny.us.
John Wolham
Regional Director, Southern Region
New York State Office of Real Property Services
To the Editor:
As the southern regional director of the State Office of Real Property Services, I am writing in regard to the issue of property taxes.
This year, nearly 350 municipalities are conducting reassessments in order to provide fair assessments for their taxpayers. This is no easy task, especially when real estate values nationwide have increased dramatically in recent years.
As property values change, it is important for local assessors to adjust assessments - typically by conducting reassessments. When assessments aren’t adjusted to reflect changing real estate values, some property owners will pay too much in taxes while others will pay less than their fair share; in fact, some taxpayers will actually subsidize the tax bills of others.
Reassessments do not collect more taxes for school districts, counties, cities, and towns. Rather, reassessments ensure that the taxes to be collected are distributed fairly among all taxpayers.
Many taxpayers don’t realize that an increase in their assessment does not necessarily mean that their taxes will increase. After a reassessment, some taxpayers may see their tax bills decrease even if their assessments increase.
In almost all communities conducting reassessments, assessments will be determined at market value. In communities assessing at less than 100 percent of market value, the estimated market value of each property is listed on the tentative assessment roll. If this estimated market value reflects roughly the price for which you could sell your property, then you are probably assessed fairly.
Each year, property owners should check the tentative roll, which becomes available in early May in most municipalities. Of course, not everyone may agree exactly with his or her assessment. If you have questions or concerns, you should discuss them with your assessor.
To learn more about these and other topics, readers are invited to visit the Office of Real Property Services’ website: www.orps.state.ny.us.
John Wolham
Regional Director, Southern Region
New York State Office of Real Property Services
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