Preserve Groups Endorse Ed Day

Preserve Ramapo and Preserve Airmont have announced that they strongly support Ed Day for re-election as county executive.

Preserve Ramapo:
Shortly after Ed Day became county executive he discovered that our county had only $20,000 in the bank and was going to have real difficulty even meeting its payroll. The buck had been passed up to him. He was forced to make those unpleasant decisions. And he had to do them while our fractious County Legislature challenged him at every opportunity. Ed made those decisions and returned Rockland to fiscal health.

Ed Day was also faced with a real health and safety emergency. Throughout Rockland slumlords were making a killing. Our towns, and especially Ramapo, had been overwhelmed by dangerous and illegal housing. There was too little code enforcement, too modest penalties, and town judges who refused to take housing violations seriously. And especially in Ramapo new apartment houses were built too close together to allow effective access to firefighters. Leading builders in our community even shoehorned more apartments into their new housing than they were entitled.

For years our fire chiefs wrote letters and reports to state authorities begging for support for code enforcement. Thanks to political interference at the highest level of state government their pleas were ignored. They finally wrote a letter to every municipality in Ramapo asking that new housing be built that recognized their needs. That letter was never made public by our apolitical firefighters and it was ignored by St. Lawrence, his planning board and ZBA. (Thanks to a confidential source we were able to publish that letter on our website preserve-ramapo.com). Ed Day, to his credit, has used the police powers of our health department to do the job that our towns have refused to do. He hasn’t done it quietly and his leadership has been used by his political opponents to attack his motives. But where were they before, and where are they now? Ed has returned integrity of county government.

We strongly support Ed Day for reelection as our county executive.
Preserve Airmont:
Preserve Airmont, comprised of Mayor Philip Gigante, Deputy Mayor Paul Marchesani, Trustees Anthony Valvo, Peter Blunnie, and Kevin Warbrick, proudly and unequivocally support Ed Day for County Executive. Aside from the obvious financial success he has brought to this county during his tenure, we are most proud of his pioneering efforts concerning the safety of all Rockland residents. Specifically, we share his stance on overdevelopment and welcomed the creation of the Rockland County Illegal Housing Task Force and his executive order forcing towns and villages to comply with county planning recommendations. As Airmont residents, we can attest to the citizens’ desire for quiet bucolic neighborhoods and as a Village Board, we consider safety paramount to our duties. Finally, as an attestation to his willingness to assist all Rockland residents, Ed Day routinely offers this Board any services he can to ensure the village residents are getting the best possible government. Please join us in voting for Ed Day for County Executive on November 7.