Health & Fitness
Two Blocs - 'Hasidic' and 'Preserve Rockland'?
Are there two blocs in Rockland County? Yossi Gestetner seems to suggest that the Hasidic 'bloc' is now pitted against the Preserve Rockland 'bloc' with the three other minority parties headed for political extinction.
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment - Essay to Leo Baeck by Albert Einstein
According to an Opinion Piece by Yossi Gestetner in the November 16, 2013 Journal News the newly elected County Executive, Ed Day, has a 'bloc' issue on his hands now that the grass-roots organization Preserve Rockland obliterated the expected advantage to Mr. Fried from the minority Independence Party (a 'legal racket' party according to the Journal News) and the Working Families Party.
Mr. Gestetner appears to threaten Mr. Day if he leads with the mandate of the Preserve Rockland voters. He goes on to say that the Hasidic bloc will make it tough for Preserve Rockland in four years if Mr. Day doesn't wise up. Here is a summary of Mr. Gestetner's comments in his article 'Day's challenge is to unite Rockland'
In Rockland County turnout in the Nov. 5 election was at a level not seen in years. Republicans, Democrats, Preserve Ramapo-types; liberal voters and ultra-Orthodox Jews went to the polls in high numbers. Mr. Day has a mandate to lead. The question remains how he will lead.
What pushed him over the top were the 8,000-plus votes delivered by the Preserve Rockland bloc, and herein is the challenge for our county executive-elect: balancing between the concerns of the Preserve Rockland bloc and the needs of the Hasidic bloc, despite the fact that they are clearly at the opposite ends on many key issues.
One route Mr. Day may choose is to fall fully in line with the Preserve Rockland bloc. This could antagonize the situation; it could lead to lawsuits; it could bring the U.S. Department of Justice to breathe down on his office; it could cause gridlock with the county Legislature; it could repel state-level leaders from trying to help this county; it could destroy Mr. Day’s legacy and could seriously threaten his chance of winning re-election.
Make no mistake: The Hasidic bloc in four years from now will have thousands more voters at its disposal. It will be easy for them to surpass their 2013 record turnout of 11,500 votes; likely it will be very tough for the Preserve Rockland bloc, with many disgruntled Ramapo Democrats, to repeat Tuesday’s turnout.
The second path for Mr. Day to take would be to demand that everyone tone it down and come together with solutions. The Orthodox Jewish community is 15 percent of Rockland County and the Hasidic wing within Orthodox Jewry is on pace to double the next 12 years in Rockland. These communities have serious growth needs that will be accommodated one way or another. Opening up commercial space for yeshivas and expediting the planning and building process would be a great way to consolidate growth differences and would remove any excuse to operate an establishment without proper code and zone compliance. Bringing together public and private school parents and activists to lobby Albany for help in East Ramapo would be another great achievement.
What a "Preserve Ramapo-type" of voter is one can only surmise but Gestetner may be right in his assessment that the power and influence of the Rockland County minority parties is fast becoming one of irrelevance. This development will hopefully free Rockland's elected officials at both the County and Town level to break the chains that bind them to the demands for patronage jobs and other favors from the minority parties' self proclaimed leadership.
Gestetner's threat of thousands more "voters at the Hasidic bloc's disposal" will be of no concern to the independent voters of Preserve Rockland whose own growth rate is on an exponential curve. While those voters may not be 'disposable' in future elections one can be confident that they will find much in common as independent voters in preserving Rockland as a fully integrated community whose members live in harmony, obey the local laws, and pay their fair share of the outrageous property taxes.
This blog is authored by Michael N. Hull a retired senior citizen who suggests that the time has come to bring ethics and transparency back into local government. Crony, patronage politics in local government is an expensive and unnecessary tax burden on the electorate. Hull contributes to the Facebook page Clarkstown: What They Don't Want You To Know .
Mr. Gestetner appears to threaten Mr. Day if he leads with the mandate of the Preserve Rockland voters. He goes on to say that the Hasidic bloc will make it tough for Preserve Rockland in four years if Mr. Day doesn't wise up. Here is a summary of Mr. Gestetner's comments in his article 'Day's challenge is to unite Rockland'
In Rockland County turnout in the Nov. 5 election was at a level not seen in years. Republicans, Democrats, Preserve Ramapo-types; liberal voters and ultra-Orthodox Jews went to the polls in high numbers. Mr. Day has a mandate to lead. The question remains how he will lead.
What pushed him over the top were the 8,000-plus votes delivered by the Preserve Rockland bloc, and herein is the challenge for our county executive-elect: balancing between the concerns of the Preserve Rockland bloc and the needs of the Hasidic bloc, despite the fact that they are clearly at the opposite ends on many key issues.
One route Mr. Day may choose is to fall fully in line with the Preserve Rockland bloc. This could antagonize the situation; it could lead to lawsuits; it could bring the U.S. Department of Justice to breathe down on his office; it could cause gridlock with the county Legislature; it could repel state-level leaders from trying to help this county; it could destroy Mr. Day’s legacy and could seriously threaten his chance of winning re-election.
Make no mistake: The Hasidic bloc in four years from now will have thousands more voters at its disposal. It will be easy for them to surpass their 2013 record turnout of 11,500 votes; likely it will be very tough for the Preserve Rockland bloc, with many disgruntled Ramapo Democrats, to repeat Tuesday’s turnout.
The second path for Mr. Day to take would be to demand that everyone tone it down and come together with solutions. The Orthodox Jewish community is 15 percent of Rockland County and the Hasidic wing within Orthodox Jewry is on pace to double the next 12 years in Rockland. These communities have serious growth needs that will be accommodated one way or another. Opening up commercial space for yeshivas and expediting the planning and building process would be a great way to consolidate growth differences and would remove any excuse to operate an establishment without proper code and zone compliance. Bringing together public and private school parents and activists to lobby Albany for help in East Ramapo would be another great achievement.
What a "Preserve Ramapo-type" of voter is one can only surmise but Gestetner may be right in his assessment that the power and influence of the Rockland County minority parties is fast becoming one of irrelevance. This development will hopefully free Rockland's elected officials at both the County and Town level to break the chains that bind them to the demands for patronage jobs and other favors from the minority parties' self proclaimed leadership.
Gestetner's threat of thousands more "voters at the Hasidic bloc's disposal" will be of no concern to the independent voters of Preserve Rockland whose own growth rate is on an exponential curve. While those voters may not be 'disposable' in future elections one can be confident that they will find much in common as independent voters in preserving Rockland as a fully integrated community whose members live in harmony, obey the local laws, and pay their fair share of the outrageous property taxes.
This blog is authored by Michael N. Hull a retired senior citizen who suggests that the time has come to bring ethics and transparency back into local government. Crony, patronage politics in local government is an expensive and unnecessary tax burden on the electorate. Hull contributes to the Facebook page Clarkstown: What They Don't Want You To Know .
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