סעגעדין-ווידער "3טע" מאכטפולסטע מענטשן

#3 Gedalye Szegedin and Abe Wieder - Leaders of the Village of Kiryas Joel

The county legislature passed the anti-water-pipeline resolution in July, and the emergence of the Kiryas Joel Alliance – an opposition party within the village – has lessened the enormous influence of KJ's vaunted voting bloc. No doubt about it: They took some hits this year, the men who run the dense-packed, Hasidic enclave in Monroe's north end. But they're still the leaders of the largest village in all of Orange County (now more than 15,000) and the fastest-growing municipality in the entire state.

Wieder is the mayor who can get a call to the governor returned; Szegedin is the astute administrator who, with his careful arguments and disarming sense of humor, is easily KJ's most effective spokesman. The village is still the key player in the controversy that touches on so many of the land issues that set the tone and tenor of the area's most important ongoing conversation. Think every local, county and regional politician doesn't still pay plenty of attention to these guys? Think again.

#3 Gedalye Szegedin and Abe Wieder - Leaders of the Village of Kiryas Joel

1. The developers
2. Hal Teitelbaum
3. Gedalye Szegedin and Abe Wieder
4. Alan Gerry
5. R.J. Smith
6. Dennis Rivera
7. Donna Case
8. Jim Moss
9. Maurice Hinchey
10. Bill Richards
11. Lou Heimbach
12. Bill DeProspo
13. Sonia Ayala
14. Dick O'Beirne
15. John Bonacic
16. Jeff Hirsch
17. Claire Perez
18. Jim Taylor
19. Steve Poskanzer
20. Alan Atzrott
21. Bill Larkin
22. Ed Diana
23. George Cooke
24. The Rev. Bill Banuchi
25. Steve Lungen
26. Jim Sweeney
27. Paul Teutel Sr. and Jr.
28. Sandra Kissam
29. Bill Kaplan
30. John D'Ambrosio
31. Southern Orange County Alliance
32. Sean Strub
33. Michael Sussman
34. Tony Cellini
35. Damon Finch
36. Gerry Sanchez
37. Jonathan Drapkin
38. Jason West
39. Linda Muller
40. Robert Berman

''We uncovered the myth of the political power of the leaders of Kiryas Joel.'' So says SOCA co-chair Jonathan Swiller. They talk big, these guys, but they've backed it up so far. In the southern portions of Orange County, Swiller, partner-in-crime Joe Ferguson and their now 350-member grassroots citizens' group attached a voice to a sentiment that's been smoldering for years, giving it quick, collective might.

Operating on a budget of less than $2,000 in private donations along with personal credit cards, the outfit first formed in late March and used postcards and word of mouth to get folks to bombard local legislators with letters, e-mails and voice mails urging them to pass the anti-KJ-water-pipeline resolution in July – which they did, of course, by a startling 20-1 margin. And that set in motion a series of events that have drawn increasingly stark battle lines in what continues to be the hottest style-of-development issue in our area.