Election day is Tuesday, Nov 5. Polls are open from 6a to 9p. Visit the Rockland County Board of Elections to learn where to vote.
by James Foley
My name is James Foley and I am running as a challenger for election to Rockland County Legislature, District 17. This district includes all of South Nyack, Grandview, Piermont, and some parts of Palisades, Orangeburg, Sparkill, Blauvelt, and West Nyack. I am running for election because I know for a fact that Orangetown and Clarkstown are under grave threat from the criminality, overbuilding, and chaos emanating out of our lawless neighbor, the Town of Ramapo.
My platform is that we have current Ramapo bloc aligned politicians that have been passive in the face of rampant segregationist developments, developments that exclude persons of color, and overbuild our county, soon to be well past the ability of our infrastructure and finite water supply. Ramapo is an amalgam of Jim Crow south racism, Boss Tweed corruption and patronage, and a collective narcissism that feels entitled to consume Orangetown and Clarkstown, in its view that the growth of a racist and anti environment way of life is more important than the lawful and kind community we have for ourselves here. Our docile, silent, and passive bloc aligned elected officials have done nothing but sit quietly, while public schools are looted, wetlands are built on, farms are downzoned, and first responders are put at risk where fire codes are ignored.
As County Legislator I will work with Ed Day and any other well intentioned persons, to protect our county from the negative forces wishing to turn Orangetown and Clarkstown into the treeless, paved, overbuilt, segregationist, and racist world we see in place in Ramapo. I got my modest start in local politics by being the chair of the TZB Noise Task Force for my village, Grand View On Hudson. I successfully advocated a doubling of the traffic noise barrier protecting the village, as well as 30k per local house in new windows for noise abatement. I accomplished this through confronting the TZB Constructors with the feelings of those who I informally represented, relevant facts, and the very real possibility of further political escalation.
This is the model I intend to use against our lawless neighbors, and I am very confident in its ability to create change. Other than my Mayor, Larry Lynn, my local representatives were completely absent for this process. I contacted them, but when ignored by them, simply did the job without them. I would love to have your vote, anywhere on the ballot you prefer, but if given the choice, I would ask you vote for me on ROW H. Row H is a collection of seventeen Republicans, eleven Democrats, one Green, and one “No Party,” who are a grass roots group against the Ramapo machine and the destruction it intends to deliver to us. Thanks you for your consideration!
See also: 2019 County Legislator Closing Arguments: Nancy Low-Hogan, 11/3/2019
