Excerpts from March 4 - March 10, 2010 Issue
Finally! Vanderhoef Moves on MTA Issue
County taking Preliminary Look into Leaving MTA
By Dylan Skriloff
It’s been an issue hanging over Rockland County’s head for decades, and now County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and the Rockland County Legislature have made a move to study the ramifications of leaving the MTA. Such a study is one in a series of preliminary steps necessary before a plan can be set forth.
There’s a long way to go, but the county’s Planning and Transportation departments have hired an in-house consultant who will be investigating the matter. The pro’s and con’s of leaving the MTA will be analyzed, as well as legal and financial ramifications. The announcement was made at a recent meeting of the Legislature’s economic development committee.
One major hurdle is that Legislation from the state has still not been passed that would authorize the county to leave. State Senator Thomas Morahan and others introduced a bill in the Senate, allowing for counties to leave the MTA, and a similar one is proposed in the Assembly. County Legislator Ed Day, who has been on the forefront of the issue, said he believes it might be possible for the county to leave the MTA without permission from the state.
(To read the entire story please subscribe to the Rockland County Times)
Miele's Musings
By Publisher Armand Miele
HERE’S ONE FOR THE TEA PARTY: GET RID OF THE LEGAL CROOKS
Government employees: want to retire rich, at the taxpayers’ expense, and drive your city, county, and state government broke? Just join DROP, it’s legal. DROP, or the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, rewards government employees and screws the taxpayers. The idea is to offer bigger pensions to government workers eligible for early retirement, to make up for salaries that are (GET THIS) less than they could earn in the private sector. In other words, a government worker should make more than a private sector worker! This is supposed to be the way to keep teachers, policemen, firemen, engineers and other public workers on their jobs as they near retirement. What bunk this is. This is a plan put together by politicians to legally steal from the non-government, taxpaying workers. The government workers have a bonanza and in the meantime they are stealing from their own children’s future. Eventually their children will have to pay for what their parents did to them.
DROP is supposed to work this way: a government employee eligible for early retirement agrees to stay on for five more years on the same pay. In the meantime, the pension that he would have gotten paid if he had retired is put into a DROP account, bearing high interest. In five years, when he retires, he can opt to take the value of his DROP account as a lump sum, or leave the principal untouched and take the interest payments. He also receives his pension check, calculated at the rate he would have begun receiving five years ago.
(To read the entire story please subscribe to the Rockland County Times)
Sherwood Delivers Strong Response
Stony Point Supervisor William Sherwood addresses recent attack by former Town Board member Stephen Cole-Hatchard
In response to retired Stony Point Town Board member Steve Cole-Hatchard may I simply say while I thank you for your service I respectfully disagree with your assessment on the costs and success of the town’s outside legal counsel. For a town of this size to spend well over a million dollars in legal fees over the past four years is simply outrageous.
The voters of Stony Point elected me to bring about a change in direction for a town that was disintegrating before their eyes. As a retired New York State Supreme Court Justice with 20 years on the bench, a practicing attorney for 25 years and a prior Stony Point Town Attorney, I believe that I am especially qualified to evaluate the legal needs of the town and the services and costs of legal counsel.
Current Special Counsel (Feerick, Lynch and MacCartney of Nyack) was hired in 2006 by then-Supervisor Marino and the Town Board in a no-bid, no competition process in which they have a $114,000 annual base retainer plus additional work billable at the “special municipal rate” of $250/hour. That means in 2009 Stony Pointers paid them $248,426. In addition, because Special Counsel Lynch and his firm is so often conflicted due to work they are doing for other municipal entities and developers, the town must hire additional counsel. That’s why in 2009 this firm’s conflicts caused us to pay $67,500 to five other law firms.
(To read the entire story please subscribe to the Rockland County Times)
Feast for Free in Haverstraw; Union Restaurant and Bar Latino lends a Hand During Tough Times
By Angelina Bonfiglio
Imagine a five star restaurant that fed the local public for no cost other than appreciation. Sounds extraordinary in fact if you consider the business concept that a restaurant’s sole purpose is to profit from serving food; however owners Paulo Feteira and David Martinez, chef of Union Restaurant and Bar Latino, believe “there is great value in giving back to your community,” which is why Union created the “We Care” foundation in 2009.
Under the “we Care” campaign aimed to give back and say “thanks” to the community, Union opened its doors to the public on March 1st for a three day feast, at no cost, serving delectable Latin-fusion foods, prepared by renowned chef/owner David Martinez. The concept to feast for free began a year ago, shortly after the holidays when owners Feteira and Martinez realized families in the local community were really suffering as a result of the downward spiraling economy. The event launched in March 2009.Since its creation “We Care” has also donated proceeds to the Haverstraw fire department and to the Susan G.Komen Foundation and the Breast Cancer Center at Nyack Hospital.
(To read the entire story please subscribe to the Rockland County Times)
