It is a few weeks since our election defeat. As usual the people who stayed home decided the election.

Emilia White, Patsy Wooters, and I thank you for your support and tireless efforts throughout our campaign. And we salute Mike Parietti who challenged Ilan Schoenberger in his county legislative district and demonstrated how unpopular Scoenberger is even in his own neighborhood.

To a large extent the passivity of our electorate reflects a very unfortunate trend throughout our country, fewer and fewer people pay any attention to politics or bother to vote. While I handed out flyers at a local supermarket people explained to me that "all politicians are crooks," "the next bunch of politicians will be worse than the last," and so forth. This kind of cynicism is privately celebrated by political leaders who know that as public oversight declines their ability to enrich themselves and their friends grows.

Then, unfortunately, we had the usual vicious lies promulgated by some of the "leaders" in our religious community.

If you haven't seen my response to the Journal News editorial which charged that Preserve Ramapo is guilty of polarizing our community please do take a look at my response here. That response did not deal with important environmental issues which are worth repeating.

1. Flash flooding is increasingly serious throughout Rockland, and more particularly throughout Ramapo. You cannot continue to increase the impervious surface area of our community without serious consequences. This is not just my view, it is the official view of the U.S. Geological Survey. The last revisions to Ramapo's master plan described in beautiful detail our town's commitment to zero run-off for new developments. Of course, since then our planning and zoning boards have paid absolutely no attention to these wonderful intentions.

2. Bumper to bumper traffic which was almost unknown in Monsey in 2003 when our current comprehensive plan was passed is now the norm. This is not just an inconvenience. A few days ago I made a bad mistake. I went down route 306 instead of College Road and had to turn to the left because fire engines were blocking the entire road. As all of the drivers on this road crawled along the back roads two large fire engines traveling at the rate of perhaps 3 miles an hour moved past us as they headed towards the fire.

Reader of our website may recall the letter we printed several years ago that was sent by all of the fire chiefs in Ramapo to our villages and town hall. It pointed out that new construction was being approved that did not provide adequate access for fire fighters and their equipment. We also know that slumlords are dividing houses into deadly firetraps as they divide them into as many "apartments" as possible.

When our firemen can't respond quickly to fires, can't get adequate access, and then must contend with illegally and dangerously divided houses we have a situation that is truly terrible.

3. Housing prices have held up quite well within Monsey. And they should. When a slumlord buys a house with the expectation that he can subdivide it several apartments, collect his rent in cash and continue to pay taxes for a single family residence he can afford to pay a good price. And people who wish to worship in a particular neighborhood will pay for that privilege. But outside of this area prices are not holding up as well. This trend will continue as fewer and fewer people pay for more and more services that must be provided to the entire community. This is a dangerous situation. Is Ramapo going to look more and more like a Roosevelt, Long Island, or a Camden, New Jersey where taxes have driven out the people who previously provided an adequate tax base for our community? Needless to say, this trend is accompanied by increasing environmental degradation.

Our supervisor is clearly out of control. The decisions he makes which are approved by his rubber stamp town board, and his incompetent Planning Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals have real consequences. The only question is what will be destroyed first, his career or our community.

Of one thing you can be sure, we will continue to keep you informed on what’s going on in Ramapo. And once again, thanks to all who contributed to our efforts in the recent election and all those who came out to vote.

Robert I. Rhodes, Chairman, Preserve Ramapo