They send this today to all of there members
On Becoming OCEANIt seems that every 18 months we go through a metamorphosis and a name change. It's that time again. SOCA At Work is expanding its board and its mission and taking on a new name: OCEAN, which stands for Orange County, Equality Among Neighbors.
We have been working on issues involving Kiryas Joel, Blooming Grove, Monroe and Cornwall, but almost all of our most visible work this year has been in Woodbury. That is about to change.
County Executive Eddie Diana's attempted sell out of Gonzaga Park, annexation looming in Woodbury and Monroe, village formation in Blooming Grove, an ongoing misinformation campaign in Cornwall, and the lack of openness in County Government make it necessary for us to focus on getting information - solid, proven facts - to the public.
While we have been working on issues involving Kiryas Joel, Blooming Grove, Monroe and Cornwall, almost all of our most visible work this year has been in Woodbury.
Expanding The Board
To be able to do that we are expanding our executive board advisory boards.
New Members of the Executive Board:
- Kristi Greco was a founding member of SOCA at Work and was invaluable in helping us get started.
- Tom Kemnitz has long been active in Democratic politics in Monroe.
- Guy Jones is the proprietor of the Blooming Hill Organic farm in Blooming Grove, and a farmer for 25 years. He has been active in promoting small farms and the local foods concept as well as community projects and serves on the Blooming Grove School Board.
New Member of the Advisory Board
- Lenny Curcio served three terms as Mayor of Washingtonville and we first worked with him in fighting the Pipeline. He is dedicated to protecting our county and is an invaluable asset to us because of his knowledge of and experience in municipal law and governance.
We are proud that they are joining us.
Expanding The Mission
There is trouble in Orange County. We have a County Executive who is acting more and more like an emperor. He is attempting to run the county on his say-so alone, and we will be showing you this within the county parks system, with the proposed Police Academy, with the move to dissolve the County Water Authority, as well as far too many other examples. The county budget reporting is an impenetrable screen designed to make oversight impossible.
We will be showing you how men like Diana, and his political allies, demonstrate complete disdain for the citizens of Orange County while helping their friends and contributors.
At the same time, the men who run Kiryas Joel make the concept of "Open Government" into a sad joke. Their first victims are the citizens of KJ, but all of us in Orange County pay for their total disregard of their neighbors' needs and rights. They have been kept in power by election after election filled with questionable (at best) voting practices.
The threat of annexation, by Kiryas Joel, of land in Monroe, Woodbury and Blooming Grove, has created fear throughout those communities. We have no fight with the people of Kiryas Joel. It is their current leadership that concerns us. As long as there is closed government in KJ, seemingly immune to the Freedom of Information Law, holding 'Public Meetings' far from public view, demonstrating no regard or respect for their citizens or for neighboring communities, all of us suffer.
We see the county bosses and current leadership of Kiryas Joel as one interlocking group. The county leaders do all they can to stand in the way of honest elections in KJ. The KJ leadership does all that it can to keep the county leaders in office.
The only hope for Orange County is better government in Goshen and fair elections in KJ. Without both, we can't have either. And without both, Orange County is headed for disaster.
Honest and responsive government is possible, but only if we demand it. 