by admin | Nov 19, 2016 | Uncategorized
Ward System Case—Where We Are Now November 18, 2016, Michael Parietti & Robert Romanowski. Most of you know the story. After years of trying to prevent a vote on whether we should have a Ward System, the Town of Ramapo was ordered to hold a referendum on that question on September 30, 2014. On the ballot was whether the town should establish a ward system and divide the town into six separate districts (wards), each with its own representative on the Town Board. Terrified by the transparency and accountability that a ward system of government might bring to Ramapo, town officials concocted a scheme to influence the outcome of the referendum, promoting disinformation and an atmosphere of deliberately induced disorganization. This was done in the hopes of assuring a NO vote, but also to leave open an avenue to challenge a YES vote based on the chaos and confusion they themselves created. On the day of the referendum we went to court seeking an order to impound the ballot so the canvass (count) could be conducted in an orderly manner, not the Cirque de St. Lawrence free for all still reigning at the polls. Supreme Court Judge Margaret Garvey granted our request and ordered the Rockland County Sheriff to take custody of all ballots at the end of voting hours. Then, acting on her own initiative, Judge Garvey went a step further, voiding the entire referendum and ordering a revote. The Town appealed her decision and the Appellate Division Second Department ruled that the votes had to be counted before the result could be challenged. A canvass of the...
by admin | Sep 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
UPDATE!! The original post has been updated to exclude some exhibits as they contained personal information and there was no need for that information to continue to be posted publicly. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA ADVISORY Lawsuit against the Town of Ramapo & Town Clerk to invalidate the certification of the Special Election for the Ward Referendum filed in Rockland County Supreme Court; Judge Garvey sets return date for 9/18 and appearance date 9/22; Town served on 9/14/2015. RAMAPO, NY, September 15, 2015: On Friday, September 11, 2015, a proceeding was initiated in the Rockland County Supreme Court seeking to invalidate the results of the Town of Ramapo’s September 30, 2014 special election on two referendum propositions and to obtain an order that the propositions be placed on the ballot of the Town’s biennial election to be held on November 3, 2015. An Order to Show Cause was signed by the Court yesterday morning, and the Town was served yesterday afternoon, requiring the Town to respond by Friday, September 18, 2015 and appear before the Court on Tuesday, September 22, 2015. The proceeding was commenced shortly after the Town released a “Certification of Election” on September 8, 2015, signed by Town Clerk Christian Sampson on September 4, 2015, certifying the results of a Town special election in connection with a ward system and an increase in the number of council members. Due to irregularities that could not be rectified and to preserve the integrity of the election, Judge Garvey previously invalidated the Town special election on October 7, 2014, without canvassing of the votes. An appellate court ruled the invalidation...
by admin | Sep 28, 2014 | Uncategorized
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, … Dickens could have written these immortal words to describe the Town of Ramapo and its elected government. Whether the decisions made by the Town of Ramapo’s government are great or awful, wise or foolish, make perfect sense or are utterly incomprehensible, are judgments that can only be made by its residents seen through the lens of their respective world-views. The voting data for the 2013 election of two Town Council members tells the story of two Ramapos. One Ramapo seemed satisfied with the status quo and overwhelmingly voted for more of the same; the other Ramapo overwhelmingly believed the existing Town government was doing an awful job and needed to be replaced. There is nothing inherently wrong with the two council men who were elected in 2013. They were very clearly wanted by those that voted for them; the problem remains, who speaks for the rest of Ramapo? Just looking at the map we can see that the central areas of Ramapo are consistent in what they want. But the surrounding villages want something different. Why shouldn’t there be better representation; different councilmen for the different areas? There is no reason. The extremes in voting demonstrate clearly that Ramapo needs the Ward System which is offered as a choice by the laws of NY State. Given the clear geographic divide in Ramapo – two Ramapos each wanting exactly the opposite outcome on many...
by admin | Sep 24, 2014 | Uncategorized
One of the big repeat questions that I keep running into is “Where are all the signs?” People want to see signs out along every major and minor road. The answer is that hundreds and hundreds of signs went up and hundreds have been taken down. From Sloatsburg to Monsey to Spring Valley, signs are being knocked over and stolen on a daily basis. It’s absolutely criminal. With so little time in this final week there is nothing that can be done about the street signs. It’s not worth ordering more just to put them up on Monday. So now what? Yesterday someone posted a suggestion on the facebook page to do car magnets. Well we can’t make car magnets in time either but it was an inspiring thought. Here is a new sign: I AM VOTING that you can easily print and then put up in the window of your car TODAY. Drive around with these signs for the rest of the week and continue to Get Out The Vote!! You can put them in the back window, or the side windows. So if you have a car without heavily tinted windows please print and tape these up TODAY. Can you think of something better? Bigger? PLEASE DON’T BE SHY....
by admin | Sep 21, 2014 | news
I finally laid my hands on the “Community Connections” Sept. 18-25, ’14 Issue which had 2 full page ads by a Monsey activist against the Ward Referendums on pages 92-93. This man is trying to make this an orthodox vs. Preserve Ramapo issue. I started this website because I was personally tired of everything being about the Bloc vs. Preserve Ramapo. This election is not about the bloc or Preserve Ramapo, it’s about everyone in the Town of Ramapo in all the villages representing many communities. So now the effort to whip up fear has begun. I can’t wait for this to pass just so that once and for all we can prove that real democracy is the cure for racial and religious hatred. We just need to get there first. 3:10 p.m.UPDATE: I have paid for the following response to be submitted in the Community Connections. Of course I am waiting for “Editorial Approval”.Deb Munitz – Community...
