Nearly half the registered voters hit the polls Tuesday to vote. Now Rockland faces a new day as Republican Ed Day will become the county’s third County Executive, succeeding outgoing five-termer Scott Vanderhoef. Continue Reading

Collage of Rockland County Executive campaign messages.

The end is finally in sight for the Rockland County Executive candidates’ long winding race. After nearly 20 years, the county will say a collective hello to a new leader Tuesday evening.

With all the campaign yard signs and personalities in the current Rockland County election, it might be very easy to miss another important feature of Tuesday’s ballot — six proposed NY State constitutional amendments.

The usual rule of thumb on constitutional amendments proposed is to be wary, very wary. Some group or business association has spent shiny pennies to help wind a proposal through the state legislature, past the governor’s desk and onto the ballet. Bet on it. Continue Reading

A brouhaha over library services has erupted north of these parts in the Town of Monroe over Kiryas Joel’s relationship to the Monroe Free Library — and the extended Ramapo-Catskill Library System which serves Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and southern Ulster counties.

As first reported by The Photo-News’ Nancy Kriz, the New York State Board of Regents “approved an amendment to the Monroe Free Library’s charter which now excludes the Village of Kiryas Joel from its service area.”

The bone of contention between the library and village relates to years-long non-payment of taxes for library services rendered. According to Monroe Library Board of Trustees President Sandra Keltai, Kiryas Joel has not paid library taxes since 2005, when the village negotiated a tax-exempt status so that it could build its own library — which was never done.

Kriz reported that an amendment to the Monroe Free Library’s charter means residents of Kiryas Joel loose ” borrowing privileges at the Monroe library or any other public library in the Ramapo-Catskill Library System.” The Monroe Free Library currently serves residents in the Town of Monroe. The new charter would articulate the library’s service area as “coterminous with the Town of Monroe, including only the Villages of Monroe and Harriman.”

Kiryas Joel is a tiny, densely populated one square mile village in the Town of Monroe that was settled primarily by members of the Satmar Hasidic sect. According to 2008 U.S census figures, Kiryas Joel just notched out Carbondale, Illinois for the place with the highest poverty rate in the country. 

Kriz’s article has created quite a discussion in the comments section, from outrage to nuggets of interesting information.

Monroe Free Library photo courtesy of The Photo-News.

O&R responds to gas line leak during sewer construction.

Carbro Construction’s big cat strikes again. Sewer subcontractor Carbro was digging at Grant Street and Washington Avenue Wednesday when the big cat pulled loose a gas line. The Sloatsburg Volunteer Fire Department and O&R responded to the call. Gas lines to those homes without gas service on the north end of Grant Street are expected to be repaired by 11 p.m. this evening.

Bill Demarest at Nyack Free Press had the report.

O&R: Contractor hits gas main in Sloatsburg Continue Reading

View from Liberty Rock Park in Sloatsburg of Torne Mountain smoking.

The smell of smoke was everywhere in the air Tuesday, from Sloatsburg east to Suffern and Mahwah as Torne Mountain smoked and smoldered from brush fires. Continue Reading

The Sloatsburg UMC Food Pantry is heading into the high season, where holiday giving is essential for many local families to make ends meet.

Rockland Community Foundation President Pat Byrne recently said that “statistics on hunger in a county such as Rockland are staggering.” The foundation supports food pantries across the county. Continue Reading

Highlands Archeological And Historical Conference 

By Geoff Welch, Harmony Hall Curator

At least some of the best things in life are free. This Saturday, October 26, the free 27th Annual Highlands Archaeological and Historical Conference will be held at the Lautenberg Visitors Center at Sterling Forest State Park, 115 Old Forge Road, Tuxedo, New York. Continue Reading

Think of it like purchasing a big book, say, a coffee table book featuring beautiful travel pictures of places you’ll never visit — because you just can’t afford to get away.

Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoeff delivered his final budget proposal Wednesday in New City, and as Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day might have said, it’s a doozy. The $760 million plan calls for basically a 10 percent increase in property taxes, on top of the 18% increase from 2013 which came after the 2012 30% property tax increase.

“It’s still difficult for some people,” Vanderhoef said, according to LoHud reporter Laura Incalcaterra. “On the other hand, it’s less than some library tax bills, and when you consider all the services and programs the county offers, it still represents a good value.” Continue Reading

The construction grind down along Grant Street at Washington Avenue continues. And so do the water breaks.

Apparently, concrete blasting by Carbro, the Rockland County Sewer District 1 subcontractor on the job, caused a water leak at Grant Street Tuesday late afternoon. Crews are attempting to fix the break, which is the third in a series so far for the current project, which covered the area around Sloatsburg Elementary School and now along Washington Avenue and the various “President” streets. Continue Reading