**BREAKING NEWS** In September 2012 Preserve Ramapo submitted two petitions to the town of Ramapo. One asked for a referendum to establish single member electoral districts in Ramapo. The other asked that the number of town councilmen be increased from 4 to 6. Instead of reviewing the petitions Chris Samson the Ramapo town clerk sat on the petitions for months. Finally Robert Romanowski and Mike Parietti went to court to force the validity of the petitions. Within two days Samson reacted. Fearful that the court would go ahead Ramapo finally rejected the petitions. Ramapo lost in the New York Supreme Court and appealed Judge Garveys decision. Ramapos lawyers were beaten in appeal after appeal by two laymen who had both a better case and better brains. The NYS Appellate Court has just ruled that there must be an election for single member districts in Ramapo. It has returned the case to judge Garvey to set an election date. Normally the judge, in this case Judg Garvey, would simply set the date. But we expect that Ramapos attorneys will keep going. They might, for example, claim that the signatures themselves are not valid. So, we anticipate that we are not yet done. It is important to note that the petitions only called for an election to decide these issues. But democracy is not something Supervisor St. Lawrence wants for Ramapo. He is desperately afraid that all parts of Ramapo will have the opportunity to elect their chosen representatives to the town board. If the Ramapo town board represented our entire community we would not now be the most financially stressed town in New York State. We would not have St. Lawrences boondoggle stadium that is losing $3 million a year. We would not have a town planning board and a town zoning board of appeals that approve everything that comes before them. We would not have an overwhelmed sewer system that regularly overflows with huge fines recently imposed by the federal government. We would not have terrible drainage problems, terrible traffic jams...The list goes on and on. I am sure a longer story and the complete text of the decision will be up on PreserveRamapo.org within the next few days. EVEN THOUGH OUR ATTORNEYS ARE WORKING WITHOUT PAY THEY MUST STILL PAY FOR COURT FILINGS AND OTHER EXPENSES WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN PAYING OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS. We are going to need substantial resources to CONTINUE THE FIGHT AND TO WIN this referendum. Please send contributions to Preserve Ramapo, Box 325, Suffern, N.Y. 10901
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 12:29:59 +0000
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