Town of Ramapo: State of the Town Message 2002

C:Documents and SettingsDavid ReedDesktopstaticimagesChriswritting.jpg Honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:

Welcome, tonight I have the honor of delivering my second “State of the Town” address. Our diverse Town, where I was born and raised has witnessed many changes over my half-century growing-up here. Ramapo faces many challenges today - our ability to meet these challenges will greatly shape the face of Ramapo for future generations.

My friends, as I stand before you this evening as your elected Supervisor, I am proud of the fact that the Town of Ramapo is one of the most desirable areas to live in the State of New York. Businesses and young families are “Bullish on Ramapo”.

Our population has climbed from 90,000 in 1990 to 109,000 presently, an astounding 40% of our residents are under the age of 19. Twenty-three percent of all school children in Rockland from kindergarten to eighth grade live in Ramapo. The median age of all our residents is now 31 years of age. We are a young Town, with energy, vitality, enthusiasm and dreams. Our needs demand a Supervisor and Town Board that are not satisfied with merely maintaining the status quo, but rather on continually seeking to enhance the quality of life for all.

When I visit the various areas of our community, I see outstanding Town and volunteer services in action, great schools, the best recreation and park facilities in the State, a low crime rate emboldened by a dedicated “Community Policing” force, supported by dynamic, compassionate Judges, dedicated workers in Highway, Public Works and Sewers delivering efficient service to our citizens. A professional Building Department, Assessor’s Office, Tax Office, Town Attorney’s Office and Town Clerk’s Office providing the day to day function of Town Government, and most importantly, residents willing to participate in civic and humanitarian endeavors, Rescuing Our Youth Task Force, United Americans, Heritage Programs, Twinning Programs, Family Assistance Fund for our twenty two citizens lost in the World Trade Center Terrorist attack. Most assuredly, I see a community where people of diverse racial, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds are united together - under your Town’s leadership dedicated to nurturing “Strength through Diversity”.

As the humanitarian endeavors in the wake of the World Trade Center Tragedy clearly illustrate, America’s most potent weapon is its citizens working together at the grassroots level in pursuit of a common goal.

Consequently, I will continue to intensify Ramapo’s Community outreach and Unity initiatives. Perhaps the most serious problem facing our Town, our State and our Nation is political apathy. People are not simply disinterested; many are just too busy earning a living to get involved.

“If citizens don’t go to government, government must go to its citizens.”

We will continue to bring government to Town residents through our weekly cable show - Thursdays, channel 19 at 8:00 P.M., a new e-mail newsletter in conjunction with our bi-annual newsletter and an enhanced interactive website and the formation of a “Supervisor’s Advisory Council” bringing together residents representing all of our Villages and unincorporated areas of our Town to discuss and share ideas about our common concerns and propose creative solutions to common problems. I envision our meetings taking place in venues throughout the Town. A Cyber Town Hall will increase participation and increased participation strengthens democracy.

Along with management and financial goals, which I will speak about shortly, two other issues are high on my priority list.

Safeguarding of our most precious natural resource - water, and providing affordable housing for our seniors, and young families and members of our volunteer services - Police, Fire and Ambulance Corps.

FIRST, OUR WATER:

Our opposition to the Torne Valley Power Plant has underscored the need to protect (something that my Mother has told me for decades) that the most vital resource of the 21st Century is water. Water covers 70% of the earth’s surface but only 0.1% is available as drinking water. Clear and safe drinking water is a fundamental need in society. 90% of New York State is water rich, however, the southeast corner of New York, Rockland and Ramapo has experienced an extended decade long drought. We must address the storage, capacity and pollution of our water reserves. Successful opposition to the Torne Valley Power Plant will ensure that the Ramapo watershed will not be adversely impacted, however, this is only the start. To safeguard the water supply of Rockland and Ramapo, we will endeavor to own the Ramapo River wellfield. I am presently negotiating to purchase 50 acres including the wellfields for the protection of our watershed and the creation of a new Riverfront Park with fishing, canoeing and recreational facilities. I am presently preparing legislation for a Home Rule Request to the State Legislature for the creation of the first Critical Water District in New York State here in Ramapo. Next week, I will unveil our Water Preservation Plan “Ramapo 2020” - “A Clear Vision for Protection of Ramapo’s Water Resources.” Encompassing vegetation buffer zones, wetland and well protection to monitoring hazardous material traversing our sole source acquifer via interstate truck traffic and rail cars and tankers. Our vulnerability is great and our present enforcement and protection efforts must be strengthened. My goal for Sloatsburg, Hillburn and unincorporated Ramapo is to have public sewers by the end of the decade. This will safeguard the health and welfare of all our residents. Successful completion of the Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant will treat sewage effluent and replace 1.5 million gallons of clean water a day.

Open space preservation will be pursued throughout the Town by leveraging Federal, State and County dollars to preserve environmentally sensitive properties, including:

* Spring Valley by-pass acre received from Governor Pataki for $1.00
* 230 acres on Johnsontown Road in Sloatsburg
* 30 acres in Hillburn, the Erickson and Concklin Farms, the Torne Valley, and 175 acres of the Mitch Miller property as the “Ramapo Botannical Garden” all protected for future generations.

Completion of the MasterPlan, the first in 28 years spearheaded by the expertise of Councilmen David J. Stein and Harry Reiss will address the future housing needs of our residents while continuing to address the protection of our quality of life and preserving our neighborhoods. Open space and housing will both be accommodated by our new MasterPlan for land use.

Two of our other most valuable resources are: Senior Citizens and our over 42,000 young people. We have completed our new Herb Reisman Sports Complex where our children will play soccer, football, baseball, softball, basketball, volley ball, tennis and roller-blading. This year, a new Intergenerational PAL Building will be constructed, (for seniors during the day and kids in the afternoons and evenings), a 1.8 million dollar project paid for entirely by New York State with thanks to Senator Tom Morahan, Assemblymen Sam Colman and Alex Gromack. We will re-double our efforts to expand after school and summer programs and counseling services for our youth and seniors.

I am proud to announce that an Intergenerational Lifelong Learning Academy will begin in March for teenagers and adults with courses in SAT Preparation to Computers; Art and Music Lessons to Ballroom Dancing, Gun Safety to Financial Planning. I am sure that our Intergenerational Lifelong Learning Program will be a great success and will transform our Schools into Community Centers open to all our residents - in particular the 70% who do not currently have children attending school.
Within Town Hall we will expand our technological capabilities in order to increase our productivity, enhance our revenues and make available internet access to Budgets, Purchasing and Bids, Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board Agendas and access to registration for programs offered by our Parks Department. Councilwoman Frances M. Hunter will continue our efforts to make our Town facilities available and accessible to our residents.

Councilman Ed Friedman will coordinate round table discussions on economic developments encompassing downtown revitalization with civic groups employers and small business leaders to increase our tax revenues.

The entire Town leadership will focus upon a fair revaluation by the County of all our tax parcels. Phil Tisi, as my Confidential Assistant and Richard Menocker, as Deputy Supervisor, will oversee this process to assure that our taxpayers are fairly and equitably assessed.

For the past year, Ramapo has not been immune to the fiscal problems facing municipalities throughout the State. The financial management of this Town has addressed this situation head-on, we understand the burden of shifting taxation from the State to the County and the County to the Towns and Villages. We will continue to work with our leaders in County Government to establish a fair sales tax revenue sharing plan. As Chairman Schoenberger recently stated, “It is only fair to share sales tax dollars with the Towns and Villages.”

Public safety will not be compromised. A new Traffic and Safety Division will be established in the Police Department dedicated to reduce speeding and aggressive driving. We have recently received a Grant to help pay for this new initiative. In conjunction with this effort, we will strictly enforce our Commercial Vehicle Laws. We will not allow commercial vehicles to use our local roads as shortcuts. We now have a portable weight scale that will stop, weigh, inspect and fine illegal commercial traffic on our local roads.

Nat Oberman will be the Director of Finance and continue to implement budgetary cost saving strategies to stabilize taxes in the Town of Ramapo. We have the highest bond rating in Rockland County and we will once again lobby Wall Street this year to further increase our Bond status - which translates into taxpayer savings in our bonding costs, just this past month we refinanced a bond issue which resulted in a savings of $742,000 of taxpayer dollars.

This careful management of our finances will allow us to continue to deliver services to our residents in the most cost effective manner, and allow us to improve Children’s Park, Rella Park and Orchard Hill Park at minimal cost to our residents.

This year, we increased our revenue by $439,000 and reduced Department budget requests by $589,000. We will continue this trend to increase revenue through public/private partnerships such as the Chalet @ Spook Rock which will have an $800,000 improvement at no cost to taxpayers, which will result in an increase in revenue from $35,000 presently to $120,000 yearly over the course of the lease.

Last week, we approved a new Police contract that is fair to our dedicated Police Officers and fair to our taxpayers. In the past year, we have increased minority hiring in our police force four-fold. We are dedicated to having our Police Force reflect the diversity of our Town. Our Youth Academy Graduation reflects Chief Ruggiero’s dedication to increasing minority representation throughout our Community Policing activities.

Lastly, I want to thank all the Town workers for their dedication and all the volunteers who service this Town in ambulance and firematic pursuits and our residents who offer their service on the many Boards and Commissions. I thank you all and I look forward to supervising all our efforts into the future and please remember my door is always open to you.

God Bless all our departed residents and God Bless all of you.

Christopher P. St. Lawrence, Supervisor

Created by reeckt. Last modified 2004-01-03 13:29:58.