Ramapo residents were storming the barricades Tuesday evening, August 7, when some 100 people gathered at the Town of Ramapo’s Town Hall (50 people according to Airmont Scoop). Promoted by activist political organization Preserve Ramapo, the rally aimed to raise support for the group and help frame local land use and other Ramapo issues.

“We are protesting just bad government,” said Hillcrest resident Michael Miller, who felt the town’s current policies are affecting the quality of life in Ramapo, with special mention of schools and property values. “This town, it’s in bad shape. And we can’t go back to where we were. But if we don’t do something, it’s only going to get worse,” Miller said to LoHud writer Mareesa Nicosia.

The general attitude of the protest was that Ramapo is mired in a mix of corruption and favoritism, with a war cry of “regime change.”

The rally comes on the heels of LoHud’s recent expose by LoHud writers Mareesa Nicosia and Steve Lieberman on the Town of Ramapo land use and building code violations by private schools operating in residential neighborhoods — which itself is part of the duo’s larger coverage of illegal housing throughout the town. Both reporters have written extensively on the subject.

Illegal housing in Ramapo has been a sore spot for Rockland County due to the associated fire and safety hazards, according to county fire and emergency services coordinator Gordon Wren Jr., who also served as a former Ramapo building inspector.

Tuesday’s Ramapo rally coincided with a visit from state code enforcement officials to Town Hall. The rally’s theme of a “regime change” in the town was a topic tailored to Preserve Ramapo’s political agenda. The activist group is currently in the process of a November ballot petition drive in support of Preserve Ramapo candidates. The group also endorsed Rockland County Executive candidate Ed Day and is expanding that endorsement under the umbrella Preserve Rockland moniker.

The group is running a slate of candidates at the county, town and village levels this election cycle.

The town Planning Board was scheduled to meet at 8 p.m. yesterday to review a private religious school site plan approval. Residents at the rally protested Ramapo’s permissive land-use laws that allow the creation of home schools on small single-family residential lots — the schools often start small and then begin to sprawl.

The issues involve taxes (or tax exemptions), property values, municipal services, and cultural collisions.

Michael Miller had specific concerns related to the issue of private schools allowed in residential areas. Miller’s concern focused on an ultra-Orthodox boys’ school on Eckerson Lane in Hillcrest that has been granted temporary approval from the town to operate out of a converted single-family home with 40 students.

According to LoHud, the Mosdos Sanz Klausenburg congregation of Monsey has been looking to build a larger school on the property for 250 students in the residential neighborhood.

The town’s Planning Board has repeatedly adjourned the matter, which it did again Tuesday night when the protesters appeared hoping to voice their opinions. The town Planning Board can either grant the school final site plan approval or vote the issue down.

“Our government here is not representative of all of the people,” said Miller in a LoHud video interview shot by videographer Peter Carr. “It’s reached a point where it’s affecting everyone. It’s affecting our ability to have decent schools, to have decent homes, to be able to buy and sell our homes at a decent price, to determine the land use within our communities.”

“This government,” said Miller about the Town of Ramapo, “does not listen to us. It has another interest that they are pursuing.”

Photos of Town of Ramapo Rally courtesy of Peter Carr and The Journal News.