Leaders must stand up to New Square slaughterhouse plan

Community View in The Journal News (complete unedited version of the text)
October 18, 2009

The leadership of New Square has decided that it wants to build a huge chicken slaughterhouse off Route 45, directly opposite single-family homes and perhaps only a hundred yards from apartment houses occupied by New Square's own residents.

The role played by Rockland's political leaders in this whole affair can only be described as dreadful. To put it simply, it appears that our county's entire political leadership has turned its back on our residents for the continued political support of the very small group of individuals who will deliver New Square's bullet vote to properly compliant politicians.

State Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, and Democratic Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, sponsored New York's commitment of $1.6 million for this abomination. Now they are embarrassed and have disappeared from the scene.

Republican County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has nothing to say. His standard excuse in all matters of significance is that zoning and building are town or village matters. As for the fate of Jawonio's multimillion-dollar facility only a quarter of a mile away from this proposed smell factory, well, politics comes first. Jawonio is Rockland's largest contract agency and much loved in our community, and this slaughterhouse would greatly affect the nonprofit that serves the county. What can you expect from our do-nothing county executive?

Christopher St. Lawrence, Ramapo's Democratic supervisor, now sees serious political opposition to the plan, and wants to dump the issue into the lap of our overburdened state Department of Environmental Conservation. Case law has established that Ramapo almost certainly has legal standing to challenge this abomination in court, but he won't tell you this because he, too, wants that bullet vote.

Larry Dessau, the Democratic mayor of New Hempstead, has always acted as if he represents St. Lawrence, rather than the citizens of New Hempstead. Under pressure from his constituents he has paid lip service to their concerns, but he clearly wants to do nothing. He wants to see what will happen at New Square's public hearing on Nov. 10 and says that "eventually" the village may sue. By then, of course, New Hempstead will have lost its legal standing to go to court. He has also explained that the village's low taxes would be affected if it spent its precious funds protecting its residents. How pathetic. It is now about six weeks since the proposed slaughterhouse became public. Following Dessau's lead, New Hempstead's village board has done nothing. It hasn't passed a resolution against the slaughterhouse, hired an attorney or done anything that might indicate a serious commitment to protect New Hempstead.

I have heard that county legislator Joe Meyers is going to introduce a resolution in the county legislature suggesting that the county should become the lead agency in the environmental review of the slaughterhouse.  Unfortunately our cowardly legislature is controlled by Ilan Schoenberger whose constituency consists of New Square and only tiny portions of New Hempstead and Wesley Hills.  Boss Schoenberger’s entire political career has been based on his service to New Square.  I suspect that Joe Meyer’s resolution will be buried in committee to protect the entire legislature from the need to take a public position against the interests of our county’s residents.

As far as I know the only other elected political leaders who have opposed the chicken slaughterhouse are Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, D-New City, and Orangetown Supervisor Thom Kleiner, Vanderhoef's opponent for county executive in this November's election.

What a sad state of affairs!

Robert Rhodes
Chairman of Preserve Ramapo