Tuesday, May 23, 2006
I welcome your comments….
Politics is about serving the people who elected you to office. It’s about working to improve and enhance the quality of life of all residents, despite what the uninformed have said and the misinformation and attempts to sow confusion in the minds of residents. I welcome your comments….
Voters may create village
May 23, 2006
Voters may create village
Blooming Grove petition ruled valid
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Blooming Grove - A state judge has cleared the way for residents of southern Blooming Grove to decide whether to establish the first new village in Orange County since Kiryas Joel formed in 1977.
State Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Horowitz ruled Friday that a petition signed by nearly 1,000 residents of the proposed village is valid, dismissing a litany of technical objections brought by landowners hoping to derail the effort.
The ruling compels Blooming Grove to schedule a referendum for voters in the 4.8-square-mile area straddling Route 208 that would constitute the Village of South Blooming Grove. Almost 2,800 people live in that area.
"This is very good news," Garry Dugan, a leader of the petition drive, said yesterday.
Both he and Spencer McLaughlin, a lawyer who has advised Dugan's group, said the proposal still carries momentum, despite the nearly two years that have elapsed since residents mobilized to take control of their zoning and stave off high-density building.
South Blooming Grove was one of three new villages contemplated in 2004 as people in areas outside the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel scrambled to prevent the densely populated village from expanding into their suburban neighborhoods.
Hal Greene, a key opponent of the creation of the village, said yesterday that he would leave any appeal to the investor group that recently bought a controlling interest in the 862-acre Lake Anne Country Club, which Greene's family owned for decades.
One influential member of that partnership told the Times Herald-Record earlier this year that he had no interest in appealing.
"The whole lawsuit was nonsense," said Ziggy Brach. He and his business partners hope to build as many as 300 homes on the property. Brach said he saw no reason to fight the creation of a village because he doesn't expect its leaders to tighten Lake Anne's zoning.
Greene was ambivalent about the court decision. He still worries about the zoning uncertainty if a village is formed. But he said allowing the process to move forward might lift suspicion that Brach, who is Hasidic, and the other Hasidic buyers intend to establish another "Jewish village."
A petition to transform most of neighboring Woodbury into a village was submitted in 2004 and challenged; the case is now before the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court. A third proposal, to incorporate Salisbury Mills as a village, never got off the ground.
Voters may create village
Blooming Grove petition ruled valid
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Blooming Grove - A state judge has cleared the way for residents of southern Blooming Grove to decide whether to establish the first new village in Orange County since Kiryas Joel formed in 1977.
State Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Horowitz ruled Friday that a petition signed by nearly 1,000 residents of the proposed village is valid, dismissing a litany of technical objections brought by landowners hoping to derail the effort.
The ruling compels Blooming Grove to schedule a referendum for voters in the 4.8-square-mile area straddling Route 208 that would constitute the Village of South Blooming Grove. Almost 2,800 people live in that area.
"This is very good news," Garry Dugan, a leader of the petition drive, said yesterday.
Both he and Spencer McLaughlin, a lawyer who has advised Dugan's group, said the proposal still carries momentum, despite the nearly two years that have elapsed since residents mobilized to take control of their zoning and stave off high-density building.
South Blooming Grove was one of three new villages contemplated in 2004 as people in areas outside the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel scrambled to prevent the densely populated village from expanding into their suburban neighborhoods.
Hal Greene, a key opponent of the creation of the village, said yesterday that he would leave any appeal to the investor group that recently bought a controlling interest in the 862-acre Lake Anne Country Club, which Greene's family owned for decades.
One influential member of that partnership told the Times Herald-Record earlier this year that he had no interest in appealing.
"The whole lawsuit was nonsense," said Ziggy Brach. He and his business partners hope to build as many as 300 homes on the property. Brach said he saw no reason to fight the creation of a village because he doesn't expect its leaders to tighten Lake Anne's zoning.
Greene was ambivalent about the court decision. He still worries about the zoning uncertainty if a village is formed. But he said allowing the process to move forward might lift suspicion that Brach, who is Hasidic, and the other Hasidic buyers intend to establish another "Jewish village."
A petition to transform most of neighboring Woodbury into a village was submitted in 2004 and challenged; the case is now before the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court. A third proposal, to incorporate Salisbury Mills as a village, never got off the ground.
Friday, May 19, 2006
How to File For a Review of Your Assessment
How to File For a Review of Your Assessment
A Guide for Property Owners
Printable pdf booklets:
38-page How to File booklet - includes large print and sample forms
16-page reduced How to File booklet
HTML version:
Purpose of this Publication
General Guidelines
Key Dates
Assessment Review Process (BAR)
Step-by-Step through form RP-524
sample form
blank RP-524 form (pdf)
Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR)
Step-by-Step through review petition RPTL-730;
sample form
blank SCAR Petition (pdf)
Also see: Glossary, How Estimates of Market Value are Determined for Residential Properties
A Guide for Property Owners
Printable pdf booklets:
38-page How to File booklet - includes large print and sample forms
16-page reduced How to File booklet
HTML version:
Purpose of this Publication
General Guidelines
Key Dates
Assessment Review Process (BAR)
Step-by-Step through form RP-524
sample form
blank RP-524 form (pdf)
Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR)
Step-by-Step through review petition RPTL-730;
sample form
blank SCAR Petition (pdf)
Also see: Glossary, How Estimates of Market Value are Determined for Residential Properties
NYS Office of Real Property Services
New York
NYS Office of Real Property Services. The Mission of the Office of Real Property Services is: "To lead the State's efforts to support local governments in their pursuit of real property tax equity." Appeals must be postmarked no later than 30 days after final assessment roll is filed... Dates vary see: Filing Dates. Initial grievance must be filed with the board of assessment review, upon notice of board of assessment review's determination an appeal can be filed with the small claim assessment review section of the NYS Supreme court. >A successful appeal is based upon first establishing the Market Value of your property. In order to reduce your property taxes you must prove that the value of your property is less than the valuation assigned by your assessing district (according to New York State Law, the Assessment is deemed to be correct, and the burdon of proof, falls on the petitioner-homeowner to prove otherwise). A recent bonafide arms length sale of the subject property is the best evidence. If the property was not recently purchased, or the purchase was not at arms length (as in an inter-family sale, foreclosure or other sale made under conditions of distress), An Appraisal by a New York State Certified Appraiser is the next best type of evidence, which is typically used to prove value of your home throughout the process. To determine if you are over assessed, you can multiply the estimated market value of your property by the residential assessment ratio (RAR-see listings above) that has been establshed for your assessing district. If the result is lower than your property's current assessed value, you may reasonably expect that your assessment be reduced to that amount with proper proof and timely filing in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the New York State Office Of Real Property Services.
NYS Office of Real Property Services. The Mission of the Office of Real Property Services is: "To lead the State's efforts to support local governments in their pursuit of real property tax equity." Appeals must be postmarked no later than 30 days after final assessment roll is filed... Dates vary see: Filing Dates. Initial grievance must be filed with the board of assessment review, upon notice of board of assessment review's determination an appeal can be filed with the small claim assessment review section of the NYS Supreme court. >A successful appeal is based upon first establishing the Market Value of your property. In order to reduce your property taxes you must prove that the value of your property is less than the valuation assigned by your assessing district (according to New York State Law, the Assessment is deemed to be correct, and the burdon of proof, falls on the petitioner-homeowner to prove otherwise). A recent bonafide arms length sale of the subject property is the best evidence. If the property was not recently purchased, or the purchase was not at arms length (as in an inter-family sale, foreclosure or other sale made under conditions of distress), An Appraisal by a New York State Certified Appraiser is the next best type of evidence, which is typically used to prove value of your home throughout the process. To determine if you are over assessed, you can multiply the estimated market value of your property by the residential assessment ratio (RAR-see listings above) that has been establshed for your assessing district. If the result is lower than your property's current assessed value, you may reasonably expect that your assessment be reduced to that amount with proper proof and timely filing in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the New York State Office Of Real Property Services.
KJ water-tank plan sparks hot debate
KJ water-tank plan sparks hot debate
Pedestrian killed
Goshen - No issue requiring agreement between the Orange County Legislature and the Village of Kiryas Joel is simple these days.
That's why the village's seemingly simple request to build a pair of water holding tanks on a defunct Jesuit retreat would spark a half-hour debate and inspire a heated exchange between County Executive Ed Diana and Blooming Grove Supervisor Charlie Bohan yesterday.
Placing the tanks on a hill on the county-owned Gonzaga property would improve the village's water pressure, Diana told the Legislature's physical services committee. He pressed the panel to vote on the measure immediately.
But legislators, who have been sparring with Kiryas Joel since blocking its plans to tap the New York City Aqueduct in 2004, balked. The Gonzaga property is scheduled to become a county park. Legislators had some concern about whether the plan would set any precedent for other county parks.
Things got dicey when Diana said the three neighboring towns, Blooming Grove, Monroe and Woodbury, had been notified about the project. Bohan, who was sitting in the room, angrily denied the claim. Committee Chairman Frank Fornario, R-Blooming Grove, had to call Bohan out of order.
In the end, Fornario denied Diana's requests for a vote until lawmakers could get more information. The issue will return to the committee next month.
Brendan Scott
Pedestrian killed
Goshen - No issue requiring agreement between the Orange County Legislature and the Village of Kiryas Joel is simple these days.
That's why the village's seemingly simple request to build a pair of water holding tanks on a defunct Jesuit retreat would spark a half-hour debate and inspire a heated exchange between County Executive Ed Diana and Blooming Grove Supervisor Charlie Bohan yesterday.
Placing the tanks on a hill on the county-owned Gonzaga property would improve the village's water pressure, Diana told the Legislature's physical services committee. He pressed the panel to vote on the measure immediately.
But legislators, who have been sparring with Kiryas Joel since blocking its plans to tap the New York City Aqueduct in 2004, balked. The Gonzaga property is scheduled to become a county park. Legislators had some concern about whether the plan would set any precedent for other county parks.
Things got dicey when Diana said the three neighboring towns, Blooming Grove, Monroe and Woodbury, had been notified about the project. Bohan, who was sitting in the room, angrily denied the claim. Committee Chairman Frank Fornario, R-Blooming Grove, had to call Bohan out of order.
In the end, Fornario denied Diana's requests for a vote until lawmakers could get more information. The issue will return to the committee next month.
Brendan Scott
Pedestrian killed
Goshen - No issue requiring agreement between the Orange County Legislature and the Village of Kiryas Joel is simple these days.
That's why the village's seemingly simple request to build a pair of water holding tanks on a defunct Jesuit retreat would spark a half-hour debate and inspire a heated exchange between County Executive Ed Diana and Blooming Grove Supervisor Charlie Bohan yesterday.
Placing the tanks on a hill on the county-owned Gonzaga property would improve the village's water pressure, Diana told the Legislature's physical services committee. He pressed the panel to vote on the measure immediately.
But legislators, who have been sparring with Kiryas Joel since blocking its plans to tap the New York City Aqueduct in 2004, balked. The Gonzaga property is scheduled to become a county park. Legislators had some concern about whether the plan would set any precedent for other county parks.
Things got dicey when Diana said the three neighboring towns, Blooming Grove, Monroe and Woodbury, had been notified about the project. Bohan, who was sitting in the room, angrily denied the claim. Committee Chairman Frank Fornario, R-Blooming Grove, had to call Bohan out of order.
In the end, Fornario denied Diana's requests for a vote until lawmakers could get more information. The issue will return to the committee next month.
Brendan Scott
Pedestrian killed
Goshen - No issue requiring agreement between the Orange County Legislature and the Village of Kiryas Joel is simple these days.
That's why the village's seemingly simple request to build a pair of water holding tanks on a defunct Jesuit retreat would spark a half-hour debate and inspire a heated exchange between County Executive Ed Diana and Blooming Grove Supervisor Charlie Bohan yesterday.
Placing the tanks on a hill on the county-owned Gonzaga property would improve the village's water pressure, Diana told the Legislature's physical services committee. He pressed the panel to vote on the measure immediately.
But legislators, who have been sparring with Kiryas Joel since blocking its plans to tap the New York City Aqueduct in 2004, balked. The Gonzaga property is scheduled to become a county park. Legislators had some concern about whether the plan would set any precedent for other county parks.
Things got dicey when Diana said the three neighboring towns, Blooming Grove, Monroe and Woodbury, had been notified about the project. Bohan, who was sitting in the room, angrily denied the claim. Committee Chairman Frank Fornario, R-Blooming Grove, had to call Bohan out of order.
In the end, Fornario denied Diana's requests for a vote until lawmakers could get more information. The issue will return to the committee next month.
Brendan Scott
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
High-speed E-ZPass preview next week
May 16, 2006
High-speed E-ZPass preview next week
Woodbury toll plaza first in line
By Judy Rife
Times Herald-Record
jrife@th-record.com
Central Valley - The public will get a peek next week at the New York State Thruway Authority's plan to introduce highway speed E-ZPass at the Woodbury Toll Plaza.
"We think this will not only solve the problem of congestion at the toll plaza but also improve the mobility of the interchange and the air quality in the area," said Ramesh Mehta, director of the Thruway's New York division.
In harnessing technology already in place on other toll roads, the Thruway is attempting to boost customer service as well. Upwards of 60 percent of the 45,000 vehicles that use the Woodbury Toll Plaza on the average weekday are equipped with E-ZPass.
The $50 million project, the first of its kind on the 541-mile toll road, will be the subject of an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. May 23 at the Central Valley Elementary School. The school is on Route 32 opposite Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.
The open house is a come-and-go affair without formal presentations. Thruway staff will be available to discuss project diagrams and renderings on an individual basis.
Similar projects will be rolled out at Yonkers and other Thruway toll plazas over the next five years. The changes, to higher speed and highway speed E-ZPass, are part of the capital plan adopted in conjunction with last year's toll hike.
"If it will move traffic through the area quicker, I'm for it,'' said Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke. "The pollution here, in the summer, on Fridays, on Sundays, is horrible."
David Church, Orange County's planning commissioner, said the county is "fully supportive" of the project and expects it to complement the work of the Southeastern Orange County Task Force in redesigning the intersections of Routes 32, 6 and 17 with the Thruway at the Harriman Toll Plaza.
Mehta said the project will be done in two phases and completed in 2009. The first phase will modify the entrance and exit ramps at Woodbury and Harriman where traffic now routinely backs up for miles on Friday and Sunday nights.
The modifications are designed to ease that congestion and to eliminate potential conflict between entering and exiting vehicles and through traffic, which will no longer have to slow at the toll booths.
The second phase will be the installation of the overhead equipment that will capture E-ZPass signals at
High-speed E-ZPass preview next week
Woodbury toll plaza first in line
By Judy Rife
Times Herald-Record
jrife@th-record.com
Central Valley - The public will get a peek next week at the New York State Thruway Authority's plan to introduce highway speed E-ZPass at the Woodbury Toll Plaza.
"We think this will not only solve the problem of congestion at the toll plaza but also improve the mobility of the interchange and the air quality in the area," said Ramesh Mehta, director of the Thruway's New York division.
In harnessing technology already in place on other toll roads, the Thruway is attempting to boost customer service as well. Upwards of 60 percent of the 45,000 vehicles that use the Woodbury Toll Plaza on the average weekday are equipped with E-ZPass.
The $50 million project, the first of its kind on the 541-mile toll road, will be the subject of an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. May 23 at the Central Valley Elementary School. The school is on Route 32 opposite Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.
The open house is a come-and-go affair without formal presentations. Thruway staff will be available to discuss project diagrams and renderings on an individual basis.
Similar projects will be rolled out at Yonkers and other Thruway toll plazas over the next five years. The changes, to higher speed and highway speed E-ZPass, are part of the capital plan adopted in conjunction with last year's toll hike.
"If it will move traffic through the area quicker, I'm for it,'' said Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke. "The pollution here, in the summer, on Fridays, on Sundays, is horrible."
David Church, Orange County's planning commissioner, said the county is "fully supportive" of the project and expects it to complement the work of the Southeastern Orange County Task Force in redesigning the intersections of Routes 32, 6 and 17 with the Thruway at the Harriman Toll Plaza.
Mehta said the project will be done in two phases and completed in 2009. The first phase will modify the entrance and exit ramps at Woodbury and Harriman where traffic now routinely backs up for miles on Friday and Sunday nights.
The modifications are designed to ease that congestion and to eliminate potential conflict between entering and exiting vehicles and through traffic, which will no longer have to slow at the toll booths.
The second phase will be the installation of the overhead equipment that will capture E-ZPass signals at
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Irate residents assess options
May 13, 2006
Irate residents assess options
Home value jump means tax hike
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Woodbury - Leslie Bryant stood at the tax assessor's office door, gripping the same official notice that landed with a thud in hundreds of Woodbury mailboxes this week.
Like everyone else in her townhouse complex, she wanted to know: How on earth did her property assessment go up so much?
Roland Tiffany, who may well be the least popular man in town this week, explained to Bryant what he's been telling one angry homeowner after another for the last few days: Assessments at the 453-unit Timber Ridge development were too low, so he brought them in line with other home values in town.
"They're very low," Tiffany told her. "They're undervalued. It's the assessor's job to keep everything current."
In the case of Timber Ridge, that meant raising assessments by as much as 60 percent, portending a big hit in September when residents get their next school tax bills. Residents there are furious. Bryant and others say they might move because they can't afford the increase.
Even selling their homes might be a problem, though, because the higher tax bills might scare off potential buyers, says Karen Peters, an elementary school teacher whose assessment went up to $127,600, from $94,100.
"It's going to do two things," she said. "It's going to prevent us from selling, and it's going to prevent us from living."
Since Timber Ridge is a bastion of affordability in an increasingly expensive region, residents like Peters say they are among the least able to shoulder a large tax increase. Many are retirees, widows, single parents and young people in their first homes.
But the increased desirability of townhouses in a booming housing market has boosted their sale prices, which is what Tiffany used to calculate the new assessments. He argues that Timber Ridge taxes have been disproportionately low, at a time when the owners of Woodbury's million-dollar homes are paying as much as $33,000 a year.
All told, 779 Woodbury properties, including Timber Ridge and the Brookside townhouse complex in Harriman, had their assessments adjusted this year, mostly upward, Tiffany said. He said he brought them to 40 percent of their July 2005 market value, where all assessed values in Woodbury should be.
Many owners are likely to descend on Town Hall May 23 to challenge their assessments before a local review board. They must prove that their new value is unjustifiably high to get a break. Anyone unhappy with the results can appeal to an Orange County hearing officer.
Some in Timber Ridge who have listened to Tiffany say they still think the focus on their complex was unfair.
"I live in a 1,400-square-foot home on a concrete slab; this isn't the lap of luxury here," said Mariann Stepp, a first-grade teacher whose assessment in Timber Ridge went up by 55 percent.
"My taxes will probably rise to just over $7,000 for a townhouse. I'm retiring in June, and it's a quite a big addition to my budget that I hadn't anticipated."
Irate residents assess options
Home value jump means tax hike
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Woodbury - Leslie Bryant stood at the tax assessor's office door, gripping the same official notice that landed with a thud in hundreds of Woodbury mailboxes this week.
Like everyone else in her townhouse complex, she wanted to know: How on earth did her property assessment go up so much?
Roland Tiffany, who may well be the least popular man in town this week, explained to Bryant what he's been telling one angry homeowner after another for the last few days: Assessments at the 453-unit Timber Ridge development were too low, so he brought them in line with other home values in town.
"They're very low," Tiffany told her. "They're undervalued. It's the assessor's job to keep everything current."
In the case of Timber Ridge, that meant raising assessments by as much as 60 percent, portending a big hit in September when residents get their next school tax bills. Residents there are furious. Bryant and others say they might move because they can't afford the increase.
Even selling their homes might be a problem, though, because the higher tax bills might scare off potential buyers, says Karen Peters, an elementary school teacher whose assessment went up to $127,600, from $94,100.
"It's going to do two things," she said. "It's going to prevent us from selling, and it's going to prevent us from living."
Since Timber Ridge is a bastion of affordability in an increasingly expensive region, residents like Peters say they are among the least able to shoulder a large tax increase. Many are retirees, widows, single parents and young people in their first homes.
But the increased desirability of townhouses in a booming housing market has boosted their sale prices, which is what Tiffany used to calculate the new assessments. He argues that Timber Ridge taxes have been disproportionately low, at a time when the owners of Woodbury's million-dollar homes are paying as much as $33,000 a year.
All told, 779 Woodbury properties, including Timber Ridge and the Brookside townhouse complex in Harriman, had their assessments adjusted this year, mostly upward, Tiffany said. He said he brought them to 40 percent of their July 2005 market value, where all assessed values in Woodbury should be.
Many owners are likely to descend on Town Hall May 23 to challenge their assessments before a local review board. They must prove that their new value is unjustifiably high to get a break. Anyone unhappy with the results can appeal to an Orange County hearing officer.
Some in Timber Ridge who have listened to Tiffany say they still think the focus on their complex was unfair.
"I live in a 1,400-square-foot home on a concrete slab; this isn't the lap of luxury here," said Mariann Stepp, a first-grade teacher whose assessment in Timber Ridge went up by 55 percent.
"My taxes will probably rise to just over $7,000 for a townhouse. I'm retiring in June, and it's a quite a big addition to my budget that I hadn't anticipated."
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Cornwall Politics:
http://cornball-local.com/
Cornwall Politics:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's official (sorta), Randazzo will challenge Calhoun in November
May 9 - Sources close to the administration of Cornwall Supervisor Dick Randazzo (D), have confirmed Dick will announce his candidacy for the New York State Assembly's 94th District.
Dick will run against Nancy Calhoun (R), who has held the seat since 1991.
It is expected Dick will make his candidacy official within the next two weeks.
In other news . . .
Even if Dick loses to Nancy in November, he may still come out a winner.
Sources tell us New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D), who is running for governor, may very well consider Dick as his new Insurance Commissioner if Spitzer wins in November.
Dick has extensive experience in the insurance industry and the learning curve for this position would be minimal.
If Dick resigns as Supervisor it would then be up to the Town Board to appoint his replacement.
The appointee need not come from within the Town Board and it is possible that an outsider could be brought-in to complete Dick's term until a new Supervisor is elected in November 2007.
This document maintained by Webmaster@Cornball-Local.Com
Copyright © 2006 The Canterbury Tales. All rights reserved.
Cornwall Politics:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's official (sorta), Randazzo will challenge Calhoun in November
May 9 - Sources close to the administration of Cornwall Supervisor Dick Randazzo (D), have confirmed Dick will announce his candidacy for the New York State Assembly's 94th District.
Dick will run against Nancy Calhoun (R), who has held the seat since 1991.
It is expected Dick will make his candidacy official within the next two weeks.
In other news . . .
Even if Dick loses to Nancy in November, he may still come out a winner.
Sources tell us New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D), who is running for governor, may very well consider Dick as his new Insurance Commissioner if Spitzer wins in November.
Dick has extensive experience in the insurance industry and the learning curve for this position would be minimal.
If Dick resigns as Supervisor it would then be up to the Town Board to appoint his replacement.
The appointee need not come from within the Town Board and it is possible that an outsider could be brought-in to complete Dick's term until a new Supervisor is elected in November 2007.
This document maintained by Webmaster@Cornball-Local.Com
Copyright © 2006 The Canterbury Tales. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Giuliani still pondering White House run
Giuliani still pondering White House run Mon May 1, 5:15 PM ET
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, visiting the state that traditionally kicks off the White House race, said on Monday he was still considering a 2008 presidential run but was in no rush to decide.
Giuliani, in Iowa to raise money for Republicans and to make a paid appearance at a motivational seminar, said he was gathering information on a possible presidential bid.
"It's something that I'm thinking about," Giuliani said. "It's something I haven't ruled out and it's something that really depends on where things are approximately a year from now."
Public opinion polls consistently show Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) near the top of a crowded field of possible Republican candidates to succeed President George W. Bush in 2008.
Giuliani gained national acclaim for his leadership in New York after the September 11 attacks, but his support of gay rights and abortion rights could spark opposition from conservatives who hold considerable influence in the Republican caucuses and primaries.
Iowa, which holds the nominating caucuses that kick off the presidential race, is a favorite stopping point for potential White House candidates testing their support and message ahead of a decision on whether to run.
Giuliani said the only way to find out if he could earn conservative support for a White House bid was to run.
"No one ever knows who or what the electorate wants until you offer yourself as a candidate," he said.
"We've had lots of surprises either way. We've had people elected where you never thought they'd get elected. We've had frontrunners who have fallen way behind. But the only way you find out is if you run."
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, visiting the state that traditionally kicks off the White House race, said on Monday he was still considering a 2008 presidential run but was in no rush to decide.
Giuliani, in Iowa to raise money for Republicans and to make a paid appearance at a motivational seminar, said he was gathering information on a possible presidential bid.
"It's something that I'm thinking about," Giuliani said. "It's something I haven't ruled out and it's something that really depends on where things are approximately a year from now."
Public opinion polls consistently show Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) near the top of a crowded field of possible Republican candidates to succeed President George W. Bush in 2008.
Giuliani gained national acclaim for his leadership in New York after the September 11 attacks, but his support of gay rights and abortion rights could spark opposition from conservatives who hold considerable influence in the Republican caucuses and primaries.
Iowa, which holds the nominating caucuses that kick off the presidential race, is a favorite stopping point for potential White House candidates testing their support and message ahead of a decision on whether to run.
Giuliani said the only way to find out if he could earn conservative support for a White House bid was to run.
"No one ever knows who or what the electorate wants until you offer yourself as a candidate," he said.
"We've had lots of surprises either way. We've had people elected where you never thought they'd get elected. We've had frontrunners who have fallen way behind. But the only way you find out is if you run."
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Location, location:
Location, location: Developers snatch up trailer parks By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
Wed Apr 12, 7:12 AM ET
Mobile home parks around the USA are being scooped up by developers, depleting affordable housing in many booming real estate markets and spurring states and counties to help residents being evicted.
From Las Vegas to the Tampa Bay area, the scarcity and rising price of land have made mobile home parks a hot commodity. Developers are replacing the trailer parks with condominiums, town houses, strip malls and big-box stores.
"It's the old axiom: location, location, location," says Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Manufactured Housing Institute, the Arlington, Va.-based trade association for mobile home manufacturers and park owners. "Suburban sprawl has now surrounded these communities. Suddenly you have a 10- to 15-acre property in a suburban area, and it becomes an attractive target ... for commercial and residential developers."
STORY: Paradise found, but will it be lost to condos?
About 22 million Americans live in mobile homes. Most don't own the land their homes sit on. And despite their name, many mobile homes are not movable because they have porches, are in poor condition or can't meet the standards of newer parks.
In expensive real estate markets, trailers often are the only way for working-class families or seniors on fixed incomes to afford a home.
Many states require park residents be given the first chance to buy the property if the owner wants to sell. But the park closures leave many residents with few places to go.
"I don't know where these people are going to go live," says Leo Plenski, president of the homeowners association for the Bay Pines Mobile Home Park in Pinellas County, Fla. Even if some residents get paid for their trailers, he says, "they're going to be sitting under a bridge with $18,000."
Wed Apr 12, 7:12 AM ET
Mobile home parks around the USA are being scooped up by developers, depleting affordable housing in many booming real estate markets and spurring states and counties to help residents being evicted.
From Las Vegas to the Tampa Bay area, the scarcity and rising price of land have made mobile home parks a hot commodity. Developers are replacing the trailer parks with condominiums, town houses, strip malls and big-box stores.
"It's the old axiom: location, location, location," says Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Manufactured Housing Institute, the Arlington, Va.-based trade association for mobile home manufacturers and park owners. "Suburban sprawl has now surrounded these communities. Suddenly you have a 10- to 15-acre property in a suburban area, and it becomes an attractive target ... for commercial and residential developers."
STORY: Paradise found, but will it be lost to condos?
About 22 million Americans live in mobile homes. Most don't own the land their homes sit on. And despite their name, many mobile homes are not movable because they have porches, are in poor condition or can't meet the standards of newer parks.
In expensive real estate markets, trailers often are the only way for working-class families or seniors on fixed incomes to afford a home.
Many states require park residents be given the first chance to buy the property if the owner wants to sell. But the park closures leave many residents with few places to go.
"I don't know where these people are going to go live," says Leo Plenski, president of the homeowners association for the Bay Pines Mobile Home Park in Pinellas County, Fla. Even if some residents get paid for their trailers, he says, "they're going to be sitting under a bridge with $18,000."
Monday, March 20, 2006
New Survey!
The increase in the average estimated school tax rate, based on the proposed budget, would be 5.96 percent to the homeowner. Please answer a few questions on how this will effect you?
http://mikeaforwoodbury.com/questions/survey.php?s_id=8
M-W superintendent proposes $126.5 million school budget
M-W superintendent proposes $126.5 million school budget
Spending would increase 7.17 percent, By Michelle Rugnetta
Central Valley - Monroe-Woodbury School Superintendent Joseph DiLorenzo’s first budget proposal for the district totals $126.5 million, which would increase spending over the current austerity budget by 7.1 percent.
DiLorenzo, who joined the district at the end of last year, said that less than one percent of the total proposed budget can be tied to “discretionary” purchases, such as the creation of several new teachers’ aide positions in the district and the re-paving of the North Main Street School parking lot and playground, an improvement that has been postponed since the 2004-05 school year.
The remainder of the 7.1 percent increase is tied to budget items such as increasing fuel costs, contractual obligations to staff, insurance and student services, such as special education support, provided by BOCES.
“I believe (that) this budget is the appropriate budget,” DiLorenzo said during his presentation to the School Board Wednesday night. “It maintains staff and services at current levels, while providing a safe environment for our children (as well as) exemplary programs. We gave a good hard look at it and came up with something appropriate for the community.
“I don’t know if we could have been more conservative than that,” he added.
Approximately 71 percent of the total proposed budget will fall on the shoulders of those who pay school taxes in the district. The remainder will be covered by state aid.
The increase in the average estimated school tax rate, based on the proposed budget, would be 5.96 percent to the homeowner. “But,” DiLorenzo noted, “that can be increased or decreased (by others associated with the final tax bill.).”
The budget will be submitted to voters on May 16. If the proposed budget does not pass the vote, a contingency budget in the amount of $124.5 million will be adopted, which will force a $2 million decrease to the proposed budget.
“Two million dollars is a lot of money to get to in terms of cuts,” DiLorenzo said.
Those decreases would be absorbed by capital or building and grounds expense reductions, administrative cutbacks, and program cancellations, such as extra-curricular activities.
“The additional $2 million for the proposed budget, for a homeowner who pays $8,000 in school taxes represents a total of $160 per year, or about $3 a week,” the superintendent said.
The transportation budget shows the highest potential line item increase, aimed to replace old buses with newer models that are in line with NYS school transportation regulations.
“Older buses require expensive repairs and this become cost-prohibitive over time,” DiLorenzo said. The increase, which would total $1.7 million, will be submitted for a public vote as a separate proposition on the ballot.
Two public forum sessions, where the public is formally invited to review all recommendations and make comments directly to the school board, were planned twice during this budget review process. There were no comments from the public at the forum on March 7.
An additional public forum has been planned for May 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Central School District offices on Route 32.
Spending would increase 7.17 percent, By Michelle Rugnetta
Central Valley - Monroe-Woodbury School Superintendent Joseph DiLorenzo’s first budget proposal for the district totals $126.5 million, which would increase spending over the current austerity budget by 7.1 percent.
DiLorenzo, who joined the district at the end of last year, said that less than one percent of the total proposed budget can be tied to “discretionary” purchases, such as the creation of several new teachers’ aide positions in the district and the re-paving of the North Main Street School parking lot and playground, an improvement that has been postponed since the 2004-05 school year.
The remainder of the 7.1 percent increase is tied to budget items such as increasing fuel costs, contractual obligations to staff, insurance and student services, such as special education support, provided by BOCES.
“I believe (that) this budget is the appropriate budget,” DiLorenzo said during his presentation to the School Board Wednesday night. “It maintains staff and services at current levels, while providing a safe environment for our children (as well as) exemplary programs. We gave a good hard look at it and came up with something appropriate for the community.
“I don’t know if we could have been more conservative than that,” he added.
Approximately 71 percent of the total proposed budget will fall on the shoulders of those who pay school taxes in the district. The remainder will be covered by state aid.
The increase in the average estimated school tax rate, based on the proposed budget, would be 5.96 percent to the homeowner. “But,” DiLorenzo noted, “that can be increased or decreased (by others associated with the final tax bill.).”
The budget will be submitted to voters on May 16. If the proposed budget does not pass the vote, a contingency budget in the amount of $124.5 million will be adopted, which will force a $2 million decrease to the proposed budget.
“Two million dollars is a lot of money to get to in terms of cuts,” DiLorenzo said.
Those decreases would be absorbed by capital or building and grounds expense reductions, administrative cutbacks, and program cancellations, such as extra-curricular activities.
“The additional $2 million for the proposed budget, for a homeowner who pays $8,000 in school taxes represents a total of $160 per year, or about $3 a week,” the superintendent said.
The transportation budget shows the highest potential line item increase, aimed to replace old buses with newer models that are in line with NYS school transportation regulations.
“Older buses require expensive repairs and this become cost-prohibitive over time,” DiLorenzo said. The increase, which would total $1.7 million, will be submitted for a public vote as a separate proposition on the ballot.
Two public forum sessions, where the public is formally invited to review all recommendations and make comments directly to the school board, were planned twice during this budget review process. There were no comments from the public at the forum on March 7.
An additional public forum has been planned for May 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Central School District offices on Route 32.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Cornwall's Toxic Dump Sites
Cornwall's Toxic Dump Sites -- Or where not to purchase investment property in town
With the price of real estate in Cornwall skyrocketing over the past three years, we can assure you that there is property around town that you definitely want to avoid.
Toxics Targeting Inc. has placed on the Internet a detailed toxic site map of Cornwall which shows the areas that you will not want to use for your next family reunion or soccer match.
The site map was last updated on May 29, 2003.
One of the nastiest toxic dump site in Cornwall is the old Star Expansion complex on Industry Drive located off Route 32 in Mountainville. This site map is available online and can be downloaded as a PDF file by clicking here.
The site is under constant monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency and may be returned to the national SuperFund list.
With the site contaminated with solvents and heavy metals, homes that are located nearby and north of the location should have their well water monitored on a regular basis.
Star Expansion was formerly owned by Peter Stern, the owner of nearby Storm King Art Center.
Our understanding is that Mr. Stern sold the property in or about 1997 to Pennsylvania investors who later abandoned the property when they learned the true extent of the site's contamination and the costs that would be incurred for cleaning-up the mess.
Currently the site is used as warehouse space for a chain of dollar stores. Further development of the location is pending.
With the price of real estate in Cornwall skyrocketing over the past three years, we can assure you that there is property around town that you definitely want to avoid.
Toxics Targeting Inc. has placed on the Internet a detailed toxic site map of Cornwall which shows the areas that you will not want to use for your next family reunion or soccer match.
The site map was last updated on May 29, 2003.
One of the nastiest toxic dump site in Cornwall is the old Star Expansion complex on Industry Drive located off Route 32 in Mountainville. This site map is available online and can be downloaded as a PDF file by clicking here.
The site is under constant monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency and may be returned to the national SuperFund list.
With the site contaminated with solvents and heavy metals, homes that are located nearby and north of the location should have their well water monitored on a regular basis.
Star Expansion was formerly owned by Peter Stern, the owner of nearby Storm King Art Center.
Our understanding is that Mr. Stern sold the property in or about 1997 to Pennsylvania investors who later abandoned the property when they learned the true extent of the site's contamination and the costs that would be incurred for cleaning-up the mess.
Currently the site is used as warehouse space for a chain of dollar stores. Further development of the location is pending.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Woodbury, Tuxedo approve small tax breaks for volunteers
Woodbury, Tuxedo approve small tax breaks for volunteers
Volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers in the towns of Woodbury and Tuxedo may now file annually to have a portion of the assessed value of their primary residence exempt from town property taxes.
Due to a limitation in each of the towns’ new laws, imposed by the enabling legislation of the state and county, the benefit they will receive will be small. The volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, if they file for the benefit, would be better off by about $5 or $10 per year.
Some local assessors refer to this latest course served up by Albany as “The Happy Meal” in that its value is equivalent to one Happy Meal per year from a McDonald’s restaurant.
The actions by the Woodbury and Tuxedo town boards are two of the latest notes in New York State’s governmental music. Officials said the tax break, however small, was in recognition of what volunteers contribute to their communities, particularly in the emergency services.
Volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers in the towns of Woodbury and Tuxedo may now file annually to have a portion of the assessed value of their primary residence exempt from town property taxes.
Due to a limitation in each of the towns’ new laws, imposed by the enabling legislation of the state and county, the benefit they will receive will be small. The volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, if they file for the benefit, would be better off by about $5 or $10 per year.
Some local assessors refer to this latest course served up by Albany as “The Happy Meal” in that its value is equivalent to one Happy Meal per year from a McDonald’s restaurant.
The actions by the Woodbury and Tuxedo town boards are two of the latest notes in New York State’s governmental music. Officials said the tax break, however small, was in recognition of what volunteers contribute to their communities, particularly in the emergency services.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Brotherly Bond Unites Hasidic Boxer, Black Manager
Brotherly Bond Unites Hasidic Boxer, Black Manager
NEW YORK (AP) -- The hometown fighter climbs into the ring to the thumping bass of Matisyahu, the Hasidic reggae singer. Orthodox Jewish men in black suits with long beards and unlit cigars bounce and chant to the rhythm.
``Dima!''
``Dima!''
``Dima!''
``Dima'' is Dmitriy Salita, a 23-year-old super lightweight from Brooklyn, by way of Odessa, Ukraine. He is also a Hasidic Jew.
He is 5 foot 9, and officially 143 1/4 pounds, with close-cropped brown hair and an unscarred alabaster face. His robe is black silk with white lettering: ``Dmitriy 'Star of David' Salita.''
It's a Thursday night. There's more money in a Friday night fight -- live TV and bigger crowds. But Salita doesn't fight on the Sabbath.
The Manhattan Center is packed anyway. Fans from Brownsville, Brooklyn, have come for Curtis Stevens, a hard-hitting middleweight backed by the hip-hop money of producer Irv ``Gotti'' Lorenzo and his brother Chris. Fans from Spanish Harlem are here for Edgar ``El Chamaco'' Santana, also fighting on the under card. They all mingle with the Orthodox crowd. They all scream for Dima.
Following Salita to his corner are his manager, Israel Liberow, who is the brother of the boxer's rabbi; Hector Roca, a Panamanian trainer of world champions and Hollywood stars; and Jimmy O'Pharrow, a black trainer well-known on the amateur circuit.
``With me, Hector and Israel, we've got a league of nations,'' O'Pharrow says.
O'Pharrow, known to friends as ``Jimmy O','' has been a mentor to Salita since he taught the young boxer to jab at the age of 13. Jimmy O' is 80 years old now. He's given up training on a daily basis, even with Salita, who works mostly with Roca now. But Jimmy O' follows Salita's moves closely. The boxer's career might be the old trainer's last project.
``Dmitriy and I became very close friends,'' he says. ``When he gets hit, I feel it.''
Jimmy O' wants the young boxer to be more aggressive, to follow a sharp jab or punishing left hook with combinations. Salita is the World Boxing Association's eighth-ranked fighter; his friend and trainer thinks that maybe, in a year or so, he'll be ready for a title fight.
___
Salita and his opponent touch gloves in the center of the ring. Salita knows little about Robert ``Red Hot'' Frankel. He's from Denver. He signed on for the fight at the last minute after another boxer dropped out.
It's Frankel's eighth fight of the year, another payday for a fighter with children and a day job installing carpet. He is 12-4 and said to throw 100 punches a round, which is a lot.
Salita is heavily favored, but a loss would be devastating to his chances of getting a title fight.
As the first round opens, Salita probes with jabs. The men circle, feeling each other out.
With two minutes gone, Salita bulls in close. Frankel clubs at him with an overhand right. Salita ducks, but the blow glances off the top of his head.
Salita pedals backward and lands on his back.
The referee begins to count.
``One.''
``Two.''
``Three''
Turns out, the dad from Denver has come to New York to win.
___
It's been more than 60 years since Jimmy O' first strapped on boxing gloves and 30 since he started training kids. He's tall, lithe and close to his old fighting weight. His beard and hair are gray and his long hands are wrinkled. But his jab is still quick. So is his mouth.
``Dmitriy looks Russian, he prays Jewish, he fights black,'' Jimmy O's likes to say. ``I came up with that. Don't quote it from someone else.''
Salita is focused on being a champion and Jimmy O' wants it for him. But he knows there is more to life than boxing.
In the unlikely relationship that began over 10 years ago when a smooth-faced kid walked into his gym, Jimmy O' has found a quest that gives meaning to his later years, and a second act in the sport he loves.
It sounds like a Hollywood story, and Disney has taken notice, with a screenplay in development and Eminem penciled in to play Salita.
___
In the third round, Salita starts clawing back.
He'd popped right up after hitting the floor in the first, claiming he had just tripped. But it didn't matter to the judges, who put Salita two points in the hole.
Salita is fighting like Jimmy O' taught him now. ``Hit and don't get hit,'' he always said. Jabs and hooks. Ducks, feints and dodges.
Frankel is awkward. He charges with his head down. Salita is worried about tripping again or knocking heads. An accidental butt could end the fight with a gash and douse a promising career.
___
Jimmy O's boxing story begins in the 1940's. He started fighting in the street. Then he wised-up and paid dues in Manhattan gyms, like Grubb's and the legendary Stillman's.
He's among the last who remembers seeing Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, who occasionally visited Grubb's before he was killed in a car crash in 1946.
``He seemed in all of the pictures such a large man, but he wasn't much bigger than I am,'' Jimmy
O' remembers.
The gyms were filled with GIs returning from the war. He had wanted to sign up himself, but the Army medical examiner said he had a bad heart. At 80, he laughs remembering it.
After a brief amateur career, Jimmy O' hung up his gloves, got married and found a job at a corrugated cardboard factory.
But for 30 years, he never forgot his jab.
In the mid-'70s, he moved to Starrett City, a mostly white housing project in Brooklyn, where his family stood out ``like flies in the buttermilk.''
He wanted to start a gym and asked Starrett City's board.
``Who knows why,'' he says. ``But I used to look at people, who were older and thought about people in their 80s and 90s, who were accomplishing something.''
The board gave him a modest space below a parking garage with no windows and ``nothing but the four walls.'' He focused on giving poor kids purpose; many were brought to him by the police.
``It was not just about learning how to be a boxer. It was about learning how to live, how to grow up,'' he says. ``I couldn't save every person, but I tried.''
Jimmy O's four walls became one of the country's top amateur gyms, producing dozens of Golden Gloves champions and some notable professionals including heavyweight Shannon Briggs.
One day in 1995, four years after the Salitas moved to the United States, Dmitriy was led in by his brother Michael. Dmitriy was one of the few white kids in the gym, but he didn't even notice.
``It wasn't intimidating to me,'' Salita says. ``That's how I knew America, just like my public school.''
Some of the other kids were not so color blind.
``I would put him in the ring with black boys, who said, 'Let me beat on that white boy,''' Jimmy O' says. ``Then when Dmitriy started doing what he was told, they would say, 'Uh-oh.'''
___
In the seventh, Frankel tires. Instead of charging forward, he's backing up now. Salita zeros in, scoring with combinations: jabs, followed by rights and left hooks.
Then, bang, an uppercut right on the nose. Blood streams from Frankel's nostrils. Jimmy O' and Hector Roca scream: Finish him.
But Salita can't find the knockout.
___
Young Dmitriy Salita would come home from Starrett City shadow boxing. He watched fight videos. He talked about nothing else.
His parents, particularly his mother, Lyudmila, were not pleased. They wanted a doctor, a lawyer, a nice Jewish boy. Not a boxer.
Then they met Jimmy O'.
``He's a man of dignity, character and style and finesse. He's a gentleman,'' says Salita. ``For my mother, the fact that I was around Jimmy brought her a certain amount of calmness, because she knew that Jimmy would look out and take care of me.''
So when Lyudmila got cancer, she came to talk with Jimmy O'.
``She saw things in this kid that nobody saw, that I didn't see,'' he says. ``She said, 'Jimmy I want you to take care of him.' I told her that I was, and she said, 'No I want you to really take care of him.' She knew she was dying, you see.''
Salita spent countless hours with her in the hospital. One day he met an Orthodox man attending to his own sick wife, and they debated the godliness of boxing. Salita, who had not been raised Orthodox, wondered how could there be anything immoral about the sport he loved. The man suggested he visit a Chabad Lubavitch synagogue and ask a rabbi.
The rabbi, Zalman Liberow, encouraged Salita to strengthen his faith-- and to box.
Salita was glad he found the synagogue. He was bereft when his mother died. But it helped to go say ``Kaddish,'' the Jewish prayer of mourning.
At first, it was enough to pray. But gradually, he took little steps toward the Orthodox tradition, often marked by his matches.
After one fight, he stopped turning on his coffee maker during the Sabbath, from twilight Friday until sundown Saturday. After another, he gave up the phone and the Internet while observing the Sabbath.
Jimmy O', who is Catholic -- ``Irish Catholic,'' he likes to joke -- encouraged Salita's spiritual development, though it complicated his career. At the New York Golden Gloves tournament, Salita was scheduled for Friday. Jimmy O', who carries weight in New York, spoke to the management. They rescheduled.
Salita won his weight class, but Jimmy O' told him to skip other tournaments.
``They are not going to change the whole system for you,'' Jimmy O' told him.
Jimmy O' always thought there was more to Salita than boxing, anyway. Once, he visited the teenage Salita at his Hebrew school.
``Here's this young kid talking with these learned men, with their long beards, listening and talking. It reminded me of the passage in the Bible when Jesus was in the temple with the older men, schooling them.''
Salita oozes ambition to be world champion; Jimmy O' worries that his friend will be pushed too far, too fast. Salita, he says, is a ``scientific'' boxer who has not yet learned to be mean when necessary. But he thinks the boy who came into his gym is now a man doing God's work.
``I sometimes think that God put him down here for another reason. I don't think it's completely boxing.'' Jimmy O' says. ``The fights are a gathering, you have the blacks, the Hispanics, the Jews all coming together. He doesn't know he's a leader yet, but that's what he's going to be.
``I think his mother knew it and I think she's up in heaven now, looking down saying I put my son in Jimmy O's hands and he's going in the right direction.''
___
In the 10th and final round, the exhausted boxers tap their reserves, letting their fists fly to impress the three judges. The bell clangs. The crowd is tense.
The seconds crawl by as the judges scores are tallied and Salita's career hangs in the balance. Jimmy O' is confident, but disappointed that his boy left room for doubt.
The ring announcer booms the scores:
97-92.
96-93.
96-93.
``For the winner, by unanimous decision, Dmitriy 'Star of David' Salita.''
He raises a hand high to his fans and hugs Jimmy O'.
The men in the black suits and long beards resume their chant:
``Dima!''
``Dima!''
NEW YORK (AP) -- The hometown fighter climbs into the ring to the thumping bass of Matisyahu, the Hasidic reggae singer. Orthodox Jewish men in black suits with long beards and unlit cigars bounce and chant to the rhythm.
``Dima!''
``Dima!''
``Dima!''
``Dima'' is Dmitriy Salita, a 23-year-old super lightweight from Brooklyn, by way of Odessa, Ukraine. He is also a Hasidic Jew.
He is 5 foot 9, and officially 143 1/4 pounds, with close-cropped brown hair and an unscarred alabaster face. His robe is black silk with white lettering: ``Dmitriy 'Star of David' Salita.''
It's a Thursday night. There's more money in a Friday night fight -- live TV and bigger crowds. But Salita doesn't fight on the Sabbath.
The Manhattan Center is packed anyway. Fans from Brownsville, Brooklyn, have come for Curtis Stevens, a hard-hitting middleweight backed by the hip-hop money of producer Irv ``Gotti'' Lorenzo and his brother Chris. Fans from Spanish Harlem are here for Edgar ``El Chamaco'' Santana, also fighting on the under card. They all mingle with the Orthodox crowd. They all scream for Dima.
Following Salita to his corner are his manager, Israel Liberow, who is the brother of the boxer's rabbi; Hector Roca, a Panamanian trainer of world champions and Hollywood stars; and Jimmy O'Pharrow, a black trainer well-known on the amateur circuit.
``With me, Hector and Israel, we've got a league of nations,'' O'Pharrow says.
O'Pharrow, known to friends as ``Jimmy O','' has been a mentor to Salita since he taught the young boxer to jab at the age of 13. Jimmy O' is 80 years old now. He's given up training on a daily basis, even with Salita, who works mostly with Roca now. But Jimmy O' follows Salita's moves closely. The boxer's career might be the old trainer's last project.
``Dmitriy and I became very close friends,'' he says. ``When he gets hit, I feel it.''
Jimmy O' wants the young boxer to be more aggressive, to follow a sharp jab or punishing left hook with combinations. Salita is the World Boxing Association's eighth-ranked fighter; his friend and trainer thinks that maybe, in a year or so, he'll be ready for a title fight.
___
Salita and his opponent touch gloves in the center of the ring. Salita knows little about Robert ``Red Hot'' Frankel. He's from Denver. He signed on for the fight at the last minute after another boxer dropped out.
It's Frankel's eighth fight of the year, another payday for a fighter with children and a day job installing carpet. He is 12-4 and said to throw 100 punches a round, which is a lot.
Salita is heavily favored, but a loss would be devastating to his chances of getting a title fight.
As the first round opens, Salita probes with jabs. The men circle, feeling each other out.
With two minutes gone, Salita bulls in close. Frankel clubs at him with an overhand right. Salita ducks, but the blow glances off the top of his head.
Salita pedals backward and lands on his back.
The referee begins to count.
``One.''
``Two.''
``Three''
Turns out, the dad from Denver has come to New York to win.
___
It's been more than 60 years since Jimmy O' first strapped on boxing gloves and 30 since he started training kids. He's tall, lithe and close to his old fighting weight. His beard and hair are gray and his long hands are wrinkled. But his jab is still quick. So is his mouth.
``Dmitriy looks Russian, he prays Jewish, he fights black,'' Jimmy O's likes to say. ``I came up with that. Don't quote it from someone else.''
Salita is focused on being a champion and Jimmy O' wants it for him. But he knows there is more to life than boxing.
In the unlikely relationship that began over 10 years ago when a smooth-faced kid walked into his gym, Jimmy O' has found a quest that gives meaning to his later years, and a second act in the sport he loves.
It sounds like a Hollywood story, and Disney has taken notice, with a screenplay in development and Eminem penciled in to play Salita.
___
In the third round, Salita starts clawing back.
He'd popped right up after hitting the floor in the first, claiming he had just tripped. But it didn't matter to the judges, who put Salita two points in the hole.
Salita is fighting like Jimmy O' taught him now. ``Hit and don't get hit,'' he always said. Jabs and hooks. Ducks, feints and dodges.
Frankel is awkward. He charges with his head down. Salita is worried about tripping again or knocking heads. An accidental butt could end the fight with a gash and douse a promising career.
___
Jimmy O's boxing story begins in the 1940's. He started fighting in the street. Then he wised-up and paid dues in Manhattan gyms, like Grubb's and the legendary Stillman's.
He's among the last who remembers seeing Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, who occasionally visited Grubb's before he was killed in a car crash in 1946.
``He seemed in all of the pictures such a large man, but he wasn't much bigger than I am,'' Jimmy
O' remembers.
The gyms were filled with GIs returning from the war. He had wanted to sign up himself, but the Army medical examiner said he had a bad heart. At 80, he laughs remembering it.
After a brief amateur career, Jimmy O' hung up his gloves, got married and found a job at a corrugated cardboard factory.
But for 30 years, he never forgot his jab.
In the mid-'70s, he moved to Starrett City, a mostly white housing project in Brooklyn, where his family stood out ``like flies in the buttermilk.''
He wanted to start a gym and asked Starrett City's board.
``Who knows why,'' he says. ``But I used to look at people, who were older and thought about people in their 80s and 90s, who were accomplishing something.''
The board gave him a modest space below a parking garage with no windows and ``nothing but the four walls.'' He focused on giving poor kids purpose; many were brought to him by the police.
``It was not just about learning how to be a boxer. It was about learning how to live, how to grow up,'' he says. ``I couldn't save every person, but I tried.''
Jimmy O's four walls became one of the country's top amateur gyms, producing dozens of Golden Gloves champions and some notable professionals including heavyweight Shannon Briggs.
One day in 1995, four years after the Salitas moved to the United States, Dmitriy was led in by his brother Michael. Dmitriy was one of the few white kids in the gym, but he didn't even notice.
``It wasn't intimidating to me,'' Salita says. ``That's how I knew America, just like my public school.''
Some of the other kids were not so color blind.
``I would put him in the ring with black boys, who said, 'Let me beat on that white boy,''' Jimmy O' says. ``Then when Dmitriy started doing what he was told, they would say, 'Uh-oh.'''
___
In the seventh, Frankel tires. Instead of charging forward, he's backing up now. Salita zeros in, scoring with combinations: jabs, followed by rights and left hooks.
Then, bang, an uppercut right on the nose. Blood streams from Frankel's nostrils. Jimmy O' and Hector Roca scream: Finish him.
But Salita can't find the knockout.
___
Young Dmitriy Salita would come home from Starrett City shadow boxing. He watched fight videos. He talked about nothing else.
His parents, particularly his mother, Lyudmila, were not pleased. They wanted a doctor, a lawyer, a nice Jewish boy. Not a boxer.
Then they met Jimmy O'.
``He's a man of dignity, character and style and finesse. He's a gentleman,'' says Salita. ``For my mother, the fact that I was around Jimmy brought her a certain amount of calmness, because she knew that Jimmy would look out and take care of me.''
So when Lyudmila got cancer, she came to talk with Jimmy O'.
``She saw things in this kid that nobody saw, that I didn't see,'' he says. ``She said, 'Jimmy I want you to take care of him.' I told her that I was, and she said, 'No I want you to really take care of him.' She knew she was dying, you see.''
Salita spent countless hours with her in the hospital. One day he met an Orthodox man attending to his own sick wife, and they debated the godliness of boxing. Salita, who had not been raised Orthodox, wondered how could there be anything immoral about the sport he loved. The man suggested he visit a Chabad Lubavitch synagogue and ask a rabbi.
The rabbi, Zalman Liberow, encouraged Salita to strengthen his faith-- and to box.
Salita was glad he found the synagogue. He was bereft when his mother died. But it helped to go say ``Kaddish,'' the Jewish prayer of mourning.
At first, it was enough to pray. But gradually, he took little steps toward the Orthodox tradition, often marked by his matches.
After one fight, he stopped turning on his coffee maker during the Sabbath, from twilight Friday until sundown Saturday. After another, he gave up the phone and the Internet while observing the Sabbath.
Jimmy O', who is Catholic -- ``Irish Catholic,'' he likes to joke -- encouraged Salita's spiritual development, though it complicated his career. At the New York Golden Gloves tournament, Salita was scheduled for Friday. Jimmy O', who carries weight in New York, spoke to the management. They rescheduled.
Salita won his weight class, but Jimmy O' told him to skip other tournaments.
``They are not going to change the whole system for you,'' Jimmy O' told him.
Jimmy O' always thought there was more to Salita than boxing, anyway. Once, he visited the teenage Salita at his Hebrew school.
``Here's this young kid talking with these learned men, with their long beards, listening and talking. It reminded me of the passage in the Bible when Jesus was in the temple with the older men, schooling them.''
Salita oozes ambition to be world champion; Jimmy O' worries that his friend will be pushed too far, too fast. Salita, he says, is a ``scientific'' boxer who has not yet learned to be mean when necessary. But he thinks the boy who came into his gym is now a man doing God's work.
``I sometimes think that God put him down here for another reason. I don't think it's completely boxing.'' Jimmy O' says. ``The fights are a gathering, you have the blacks, the Hispanics, the Jews all coming together. He doesn't know he's a leader yet, but that's what he's going to be.
``I think his mother knew it and I think she's up in heaven now, looking down saying I put my son in Jimmy O's hands and he's going in the right direction.''
___
In the 10th and final round, the exhausted boxers tap their reserves, letting their fists fly to impress the three judges. The bell clangs. The crowd is tense.
The seconds crawl by as the judges scores are tallied and Salita's career hangs in the balance. Jimmy O' is confident, but disappointed that his boy left room for doubt.
The ring announcer booms the scores:
97-92.
96-93.
96-93.
``For the winner, by unanimous decision, Dmitriy 'Star of David' Salita.''
He raises a hand high to his fans and hugs Jimmy O'.
The men in the black suits and long beards resume their chant:
``Dima!''
``Dima!''
Saturday, February 18, 2006
News from the seamy side of town:
News from the seamy side of town:
Will Dick run for the Assembly? Only time will tellBy Blithesome Spirit
Monday night's Town Board meeting was short and to the point. After a brief induction ceremony for some new auxiliary cops, Cornwall Supervisor Dick Randazzo ran through the remainder of his agenda in ½ hour. What I did find refreshing is that Chris Eachus, the newly elected representative for the Orange County 15th District, made it a point to show his face.
Dick Randazzo & Bill LarkinThis contrasts sharply with Alan Seidman, who represents West Cornwall in the Orange County Legislature. The only time you ever see Alan at a Town Board meeting is if there is a photo opportunity and he stands a chance of getting his name in the news. Dick is on his school tax reform kick again. He mentioned that it was his hope to get other towns and counties involved in the effort to change the method that is used by Albany to distribute aid to localities.I've said it before, and I will say it again. The only way school tax reform will work is if the electorate makes it clear to the members of New York State's Senate and Assembly that unless there is an overhaul in the system they'll be out of a job. Unless this happens, nothing will change. While I'm on the subject of the State Senate and Assembly I can't overlook the fact that this is an election year and all members of the Assembly will have their seats up for the taking. This brings me back to Dick.
As most folks know Nancy Calhoun (R - Blooming Grove) represents Cornwall in the 96th Assembly District. If you're remotely familiar with Nancy's Assembly record you'll also know she's not very effective. Dick has run against Nancy in the past and lost. This year, however, it may be different. Dick's been getting pretty good press lately and there' has been no inkling of improprieties in his administration (keep in mind though this is Cornwall and this can change at any time). If Dick decides to run for Nancy's seat in the Assembly look for him to make an announcement sometime in the spring. Where not to have a heart attack ...Okay, now I have a pop quiz for you.If Heaven forbid you or a family member had a heart attack and a heart needed to be restarted with a defibrillator (assuming that an EMT was not available), and the first responder was a cop, where do you think the patient would stand the best chance of survival?If you chose the New Windsor Police Department, you're right. New Windsor always has at least one car on patrol equipped with an AED (Automated External Defibrillator).According to Cornwall Police Chief Rusty O'Dell (as quoted in a memo I wasn't supposed to see), the CPD is able to equip all working vehicles with an AED (note the use of the word working - the CPD has a serious lack of vehicles that do not have excessive miles on their odometers). Rusty noted that not all officers are trained in the use of the AED, though he hoped to have this corrected by the end of April. Rusty also said that the CPD had a patrol car equipped with an AED on the road 80% of the time.Finally, if you live in the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, and you're experiencing symptoms associated with a heart attack, your best bet might be to drive to Cornwall, if not New Windsor.According to the memo which quotes Village Police Chief Charlie Williams, "We have one unit and it is the discretion of the officer working whether to take it on patrol or not."Have a good week everybody, and watch those carbs!
Will Dick run for the Assembly? Only time will tellBy Blithesome Spirit
Monday night's Town Board meeting was short and to the point. After a brief induction ceremony for some new auxiliary cops, Cornwall Supervisor Dick Randazzo ran through the remainder of his agenda in ½ hour. What I did find refreshing is that Chris Eachus, the newly elected representative for the Orange County 15th District, made it a point to show his face.
Dick Randazzo & Bill LarkinThis contrasts sharply with Alan Seidman, who represents West Cornwall in the Orange County Legislature. The only time you ever see Alan at a Town Board meeting is if there is a photo opportunity and he stands a chance of getting his name in the news. Dick is on his school tax reform kick again. He mentioned that it was his hope to get other towns and counties involved in the effort to change the method that is used by Albany to distribute aid to localities.I've said it before, and I will say it again. The only way school tax reform will work is if the electorate makes it clear to the members of New York State's Senate and Assembly that unless there is an overhaul in the system they'll be out of a job. Unless this happens, nothing will change. While I'm on the subject of the State Senate and Assembly I can't overlook the fact that this is an election year and all members of the Assembly will have their seats up for the taking. This brings me back to Dick.
As most folks know Nancy Calhoun (R - Blooming Grove) represents Cornwall in the 96th Assembly District. If you're remotely familiar with Nancy's Assembly record you'll also know she's not very effective. Dick has run against Nancy in the past and lost. This year, however, it may be different. Dick's been getting pretty good press lately and there' has been no inkling of improprieties in his administration (keep in mind though this is Cornwall and this can change at any time). If Dick decides to run for Nancy's seat in the Assembly look for him to make an announcement sometime in the spring. Where not to have a heart attack ...Okay, now I have a pop quiz for you.If Heaven forbid you or a family member had a heart attack and a heart needed to be restarted with a defibrillator (assuming that an EMT was not available), and the first responder was a cop, where do you think the patient would stand the best chance of survival?If you chose the New Windsor Police Department, you're right. New Windsor always has at least one car on patrol equipped with an AED (Automated External Defibrillator).According to Cornwall Police Chief Rusty O'Dell (as quoted in a memo I wasn't supposed to see), the CPD is able to equip all working vehicles with an AED (note the use of the word working - the CPD has a serious lack of vehicles that do not have excessive miles on their odometers). Rusty noted that not all officers are trained in the use of the AED, though he hoped to have this corrected by the end of April. Rusty also said that the CPD had a patrol car equipped with an AED on the road 80% of the time.Finally, if you live in the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, and you're experiencing symptoms associated with a heart attack, your best bet might be to drive to Cornwall, if not New Windsor.According to the memo which quotes Village Police Chief Charlie Williams, "We have one unit and it is the discretion of the officer working whether to take it on patrol or not."Have a good week everybody, and watch those carbs!
Friday, February 17, 2006
Residents challenge Woodbury rezoningBy Tony Houston
Highland Mills - To build or not to build, that is the question in the Town of Woodbury.
Zoning and land development, always a dominant issue there, has become white hot — with three of the town residents suing over the matter.
The year 1988 is as good a time as any to begin this tale, although the last two years are when the excitement takes place. Woodbury adopted its current Master Plan in March 1988.
The Planning Board, appointed by the elected Town Board, has the authority to approve or deny land development applications. In doing so, the Planning Board referred to both the zoning laws passed by the Town Board and the Master Plan written by the Planning Board itself.
An amendment to the Town Law of the State of New York changes the “Master Plan” to a “Comprehensive Plan,” which is to be prepared and adopted by the elected Town Board. This leaves the Planning Board with a narrower role of interpreting the zoning laws and Comprehensive Plan — both written by others.
Like the Master Plan, a Comprehensive Plan includes goals and objectives and the principles and practices to achieve them; finer details are left to the zoning laws. The Woodbury Town Board set out to write a Comprehensive Plan in July 2004.
That November, representatives of Rockland County developer Bill Brodsky of Carteret Group, Inc., asked the Town Board to amend the zoning law. The amendments, passed a year later on Nov. 3, 2005, as Local Laws 4 through 8, allowed for Brodsky’s Woodbury Suburban Project (WP3) located between Dunderberg and Nininger Roads and for increased development throughout the town.
It took 30 years, from 1973 to 2003, for Woodbury’s population to double from 5,000 to 10,000. Local Laws 4 through 8 would have the effect of an immediate pursuit of the 20,000 mark.
The allowed housing units on the 400-acre WP3 project would increase from 147 or 175 to 451, 460 or 652 — depending upon who is doing the counting. Among the other effects of the new local laws would be to allow 281 units on two-acre lots in the Legacy Ridge project, up from 164 units on three-acre lots.
Enough already, said John Seyferth, Karin Ungerer and Don Siebold, who on last Dec. 4 filed an Article 78 lawsuit against the Town Board, Planning Board and developer.
These Woodbury residents are asking a state Supreme Court judge to “annul, vacate, and in all aspects void” the Town Board’s enactment of zoning amendments contained in Local Laws 4 through 8 and the Town Board’s statement of findings pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act for the WP3 project.
Siebold is an appointed member of the Town of Woodbury’s Zoning Board of Appeals and, like his fellow petitioners, Siebold lives in the vicinity of the WP3 project. “My only concern is to preserve the character of the Town by controlled growth and not over-development, and being able to afford to live in Woodbury,” said Siebold. “The Town never mitigated the traffic.”
The Woodbury Town Board passed Local Laws 4 through 8 while it was working not only on a Comprehensive Plan, but on an Open Space Plan as well.
Released during this time was a draft of the Southeastern Orange County Traffic and Land Use Study, which recommended that the Town of Woodbury “reduce permitted intensity of residential development on land located along the north side of Dunderberg Road/Nininger Road,” just the opposite of the new local laws.
Included in the Article 78 legal papers is a Nov. 17, 2005, letter from Orange County Planning Commissioner David Church, Orange County Commissioner of Planning, in which “the petitions to rezone the subject properties (Local Laws 6, 7 and 8)” were disapproved. Local Laws 4 and 5 were mentioned in the letter, but were neither approved nor disapproved.
“That was not an oversight,” said Church. “We often remain silent on some of the issues brought to us.”
The letter of disapproval was not received by the Woodbury Town Board prior to its passing Local Laws 4 through 8. A supermajority of four votes of the five-member Town Board is needed to override a recommendation of such a disapproval.
Church’s letter referred to “significant public and private speculation” surrounding the potential sale and annexation of the 400-acre WP3 properties to the Village of Kiryas Joel if the new Woodbury local laws were not enacted. Church favored the analysis of alternative “as a means of comparing and contrasting significant adverse and beneficial environmental impacts with that of the preferred 451-unit alternative.”
The town made no such analysis, although it would have improved its case for amending the zoning laws.
The petitioners list three courses of action. The first is that the Town Board acted too soon, despite the four yes votes, by not allowing 30 days to pass after its October 21 submittal to the county. The second is that Local Laws 4 through 8 do not conform to the Town’s 1988 Master Plan. The Master Plan remains in effect until superseded by a Comprehensive Plan that has yet to be passed by the Town Board. The third cause of action would be that the Town Board failed to comply with the procedural and substantive requirements of SEQRA.
Five days after the passage of Local Laws 4 through 8, a new supervisor and a new councilman were elected to the Woodbury Town Board. The new board was seated in January of this year.
If Local Laws 4 through 8 are voided by the court, a re-vote could be quite different.
Town Supervisor John Burke defeated incumbent Sheila Conroy, who cast one of the four “yes” votes. He said this week that he didn’t know how far the lawsuit had gotten in the legal process.
“I’ve heard nothing about it since the December filing of the suit,” said Burke.
When asked about a possible re-vote if the petitioners won in court, Burke said “that is speculation — we’ll cross that bridge if and when we get there. The Town Board will sit down and decide where to go once the court rules.”
Highland Mills - To build or not to build, that is the question in the Town of Woodbury.
Zoning and land development, always a dominant issue there, has become white hot — with three of the town residents suing over the matter.
The year 1988 is as good a time as any to begin this tale, although the last two years are when the excitement takes place. Woodbury adopted its current Master Plan in March 1988.
The Planning Board, appointed by the elected Town Board, has the authority to approve or deny land development applications. In doing so, the Planning Board referred to both the zoning laws passed by the Town Board and the Master Plan written by the Planning Board itself.
An amendment to the Town Law of the State of New York changes the “Master Plan” to a “Comprehensive Plan,” which is to be prepared and adopted by the elected Town Board. This leaves the Planning Board with a narrower role of interpreting the zoning laws and Comprehensive Plan — both written by others.
Like the Master Plan, a Comprehensive Plan includes goals and objectives and the principles and practices to achieve them; finer details are left to the zoning laws. The Woodbury Town Board set out to write a Comprehensive Plan in July 2004.
That November, representatives of Rockland County developer Bill Brodsky of Carteret Group, Inc., asked the Town Board to amend the zoning law. The amendments, passed a year later on Nov. 3, 2005, as Local Laws 4 through 8, allowed for Brodsky’s Woodbury Suburban Project (WP3) located between Dunderberg and Nininger Roads and for increased development throughout the town.
It took 30 years, from 1973 to 2003, for Woodbury’s population to double from 5,000 to 10,000. Local Laws 4 through 8 would have the effect of an immediate pursuit of the 20,000 mark.
The allowed housing units on the 400-acre WP3 project would increase from 147 or 175 to 451, 460 or 652 — depending upon who is doing the counting. Among the other effects of the new local laws would be to allow 281 units on two-acre lots in the Legacy Ridge project, up from 164 units on three-acre lots.
Enough already, said John Seyferth, Karin Ungerer and Don Siebold, who on last Dec. 4 filed an Article 78 lawsuit against the Town Board, Planning Board and developer.
These Woodbury residents are asking a state Supreme Court judge to “annul, vacate, and in all aspects void” the Town Board’s enactment of zoning amendments contained in Local Laws 4 through 8 and the Town Board’s statement of findings pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act for the WP3 project.
Siebold is an appointed member of the Town of Woodbury’s Zoning Board of Appeals and, like his fellow petitioners, Siebold lives in the vicinity of the WP3 project. “My only concern is to preserve the character of the Town by controlled growth and not over-development, and being able to afford to live in Woodbury,” said Siebold. “The Town never mitigated the traffic.”
The Woodbury Town Board passed Local Laws 4 through 8 while it was working not only on a Comprehensive Plan, but on an Open Space Plan as well.
Released during this time was a draft of the Southeastern Orange County Traffic and Land Use Study, which recommended that the Town of Woodbury “reduce permitted intensity of residential development on land located along the north side of Dunderberg Road/Nininger Road,” just the opposite of the new local laws.
Included in the Article 78 legal papers is a Nov. 17, 2005, letter from Orange County Planning Commissioner David Church, Orange County Commissioner of Planning, in which “the petitions to rezone the subject properties (Local Laws 6, 7 and 8)” were disapproved. Local Laws 4 and 5 were mentioned in the letter, but were neither approved nor disapproved.
“That was not an oversight,” said Church. “We often remain silent on some of the issues brought to us.”
The letter of disapproval was not received by the Woodbury Town Board prior to its passing Local Laws 4 through 8. A supermajority of four votes of the five-member Town Board is needed to override a recommendation of such a disapproval.
Church’s letter referred to “significant public and private speculation” surrounding the potential sale and annexation of the 400-acre WP3 properties to the Village of Kiryas Joel if the new Woodbury local laws were not enacted. Church favored the analysis of alternative “as a means of comparing and contrasting significant adverse and beneficial environmental impacts with that of the preferred 451-unit alternative.”
The town made no such analysis, although it would have improved its case for amending the zoning laws.
The petitioners list three courses of action. The first is that the Town Board acted too soon, despite the four yes votes, by not allowing 30 days to pass after its October 21 submittal to the county. The second is that Local Laws 4 through 8 do not conform to the Town’s 1988 Master Plan. The Master Plan remains in effect until superseded by a Comprehensive Plan that has yet to be passed by the Town Board. The third cause of action would be that the Town Board failed to comply with the procedural and substantive requirements of SEQRA.
Five days after the passage of Local Laws 4 through 8, a new supervisor and a new councilman were elected to the Woodbury Town Board. The new board was seated in January of this year.
If Local Laws 4 through 8 are voided by the court, a re-vote could be quite different.
Town Supervisor John Burke defeated incumbent Sheila Conroy, who cast one of the four “yes” votes. He said this week that he didn’t know how far the lawsuit had gotten in the legal process.
“I’ve heard nothing about it since the December filing of the suit,” said Burke.
When asked about a possible re-vote if the petitioners won in court, Burke said “that is speculation — we’ll cross that bridge if and when we get there. The Town Board will sit down and decide where to go once the court rules.”
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Cornwall's "No Bid Zone
Cornwall's "No Bid Zone"By Tom SheppardMember, Board of Education
Have you noticed the "For Sale" signs that have been sprouting throughout Cornwall? I have, and I am concerned. While Cornwall Supervisor Dick Randazzo continues his crusade for school tax reform, his efforts are being undermined by our own Board of Education and its administration.Let me give you an example.
Aside from personnel costs, one of the largest contracts issued by the school district is for student transportation. For fiscal 2005-2006 approximately $2.6 million has been budgeted. In December private discussions were begun by the Board of Education with regard to the continuation of its transportation contract with the district's sole provider. There has been no effort made to secure bids from other vendors. On Thursday, February 2nd a potential competitor for a piece of the district's transportation contract met with Superintendent of Schools Tim Rehm. This well qualified and respected vendor made a commitment to transport special education students with equal or better service than the current vendor, and at a lower cost. On Friday, February 3rd Mr. Rehm sent a memorandum to Board members recommending that the vendor not be considered. Mr. Rehm did not explain his reasons and frankly I cannot see how he could make such a recommendation within a few short hours without doing his homework. My colleagues will undoubtedly agree with Mr. Rehm's recommendation, they always do. The point I am trying to make here is that it's the Board of Education's job to make your tax dollars do more by going further. We're making no such effort if we fail to seek alternatives that can save the district money. My other concerns are personal and pertain to my friends and neighbors. My heart aches when I hear my friends tell me they can no longer afford to pay their taxes, and the need to cut their medications in half so that they can save enough money to purchase oil to heat their homes.I am also tired and disgusted hearing the school district's administration claim recommended cost saving strategies will not be considered due to one reason or another. The people we have running our school district don't live here. We do, and we're the ones paying the bills. I applaud Dick's efforts in his crusade for school tax reform. Sadly Dick's efforts will be naught, however, if we don't take control of our own school district and demand reform from within.
Have you noticed the "For Sale" signs that have been sprouting throughout Cornwall? I have, and I am concerned. While Cornwall Supervisor Dick Randazzo continues his crusade for school tax reform, his efforts are being undermined by our own Board of Education and its administration.Let me give you an example.
Aside from personnel costs, one of the largest contracts issued by the school district is for student transportation. For fiscal 2005-2006 approximately $2.6 million has been budgeted. In December private discussions were begun by the Board of Education with regard to the continuation of its transportation contract with the district's sole provider. There has been no effort made to secure bids from other vendors. On Thursday, February 2nd a potential competitor for a piece of the district's transportation contract met with Superintendent of Schools Tim Rehm. This well qualified and respected vendor made a commitment to transport special education students with equal or better service than the current vendor, and at a lower cost. On Friday, February 3rd Mr. Rehm sent a memorandum to Board members recommending that the vendor not be considered. Mr. Rehm did not explain his reasons and frankly I cannot see how he could make such a recommendation within a few short hours without doing his homework. My colleagues will undoubtedly agree with Mr. Rehm's recommendation, they always do. The point I am trying to make here is that it's the Board of Education's job to make your tax dollars do more by going further. We're making no such effort if we fail to seek alternatives that can save the district money. My other concerns are personal and pertain to my friends and neighbors. My heart aches when I hear my friends tell me they can no longer afford to pay their taxes, and the need to cut their medications in half so that they can save enough money to purchase oil to heat their homes.I am also tired and disgusted hearing the school district's administration claim recommended cost saving strategies will not be considered due to one reason or another. The people we have running our school district don't live here. We do, and we're the ones paying the bills. I applaud Dick's efforts in his crusade for school tax reform. Sadly Dick's efforts will be naught, however, if we don't take control of our own school district and demand reform from within.
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