An Open Letter to Governor Kathy Hochul from an Orange County Resident in Response to her VETO to Chester's PDR Preservation Plan: 

Growing up in Monroe, New York I believe is the strangest crash course in sociological and economic politics one could ever receive. Considering that this is the third bill you have vetoed regarding land preservation and the purchase of development rights in Orange County with either no explanation given or vague mention of avoiding a “well-documented tension --- between local officials and members of a specific population of the Hasidic community which has also resulted in litigation, --- In light of ongoing and historical tensions, it would be inappropriate to sign this legislation at this juncture and I am therefore constrained to veto this bill.” I felt it integral to point out that you, yourself appear to have a contentious history with Orange County as we continue to grow deeper and deeper “red” in response to your inattention and disservice to our needs as a diverse and growing community. In this General Election, you lost by 11,488 votes to Lee Zeldin because Orange County is tired, Governor Hochul. We are tired of watching land we could have saved from bulldozers being clearcut day, after day, after day. We are tired of seeing you cutting ribbons in Long Island and praising them for preserving their history. We are tired of watching you post photos to your social media of the Adirondack Region and praising them for preserving their untouched natural resources. We are tired of hearing you speak about being a friend to the environment and a friend to New York State while you repeatedly deny us the ability to preserve our history, our land…the place we call home. 

You call to action your citizens to vote when it is your name on the ballot, but you deny our right to choose—to vote as free citizens across Orange County for the right to define where our tax dollars go. You reward Towns that do not have a “contentious History” with cultural or religious groups while you admonish those of us who have bordered and disagreed and grown alongside a unique and budding culture with vastly different needs than our own— shrouded in religion, tradition, and enigma for many of us. Monroe, New York could be defined as the pinnacle of contention with the Hasidic community for many years because it is the hillside of the valley we have all chosen as our home. As a young child, I played in the shade of the tall Ash trees, I grabbed salamanders, chased dragonflies, and wandered through the wilderness. My parents chose this valley as their home to rid themselves of the pollution, noise, crowd, and price of the city… and after living with my neighbors from Kyrias Joel, I know they have done the same. After watching the documentary, “The City of Joel” I believe no one who moves to this place wishes to rid themselves of the clean water, air, and shade of the trees that give our home it’s value. As the representatives from Kyrias Joel state in the documentary, they love their community, their land, their place in the valley as much as we do. To deny another town in Orange County preservation legislation because of a “well-documented tension” is to deny any town in America legislation because of our contentious history as a culturally domineering society. Any town a slave was held, any town Native Americans were removed from their land, anywhere a woman was subjugated, any place any contentious cultural legal battle was fought, would also be denied future legislation that could potentially be used discriminatorily in the wrong hands. 

 The continued equation of the Hasidic community with the refusal of our right to preserve our own communities with the power of our own dollars, appears problematic and fans the flames of contentious attitudes from the people here in Orange County. To continually equate alleged discrimination or antisemitism with the denial of preservation legislation is to equate the Hasidic Community as the antithesis of preservation—and that is not the truth, Governor Hochul. What preservation often is, is the antithesis of profit. It is the insurance of our future survival on this earth as we strive here in Monroe to keep our drinking water from Mombasha lake flowing and clean. Zoning land 3 or 5+ acres around watershed is not enough to ensure our lakes and rivers recharge with pure and potable ground water. The only way to fully control what happens to our land in NYS is to own it or ensure that an entity with the power to preserve that land and its resources owns it… and even then, preservation is not permanent. Developers all across our great state emphasize their own profit as they clear cut our lands to make construction, “easier”—which really means more profitable. What preservation often is, is expensive. But, you will gladly allocate our discriminatory towns’ tax dollars for your own purposes and campaign in the valleys that we call home. 

In fact, so many of us want to call this place home, that we find ourselves with less and less resources than ever before, scrambling to preserve the very essence of our valley that drew us all here in the first place. I guess you veto preservation bills one after another, after another, without a second thought of who lives here or why—or at least that is what it looks like to all of us who wonder, will there be an Orange County to preserve by the time we are rid of her? I am not sure when the last time you stepped foot in Orange County was, but for those of us who live and work here, who live and breathe here, for those of us who pass decrepit remains of Historic structures our municipalities don’t have the funds to preserve… we will never be rid of the dwindling or polluted watershed, clear-cut old growth forests, overcrowding, lost Historical or cultural or agricultural sites that you could have prevented with the stroke of your pen. The next time you stand at a podium with cameras flashing while claiming to be a friend to our environment, a friend to New York State… as thousands of acres across our County that could have remained wild, natural, and protected open space are destroyed due to your repeated refusal to allow Orange County it’s rights. What would it take Governor Hochul, for you to empower us in any way to save our environment? Will you save our Historic structures, since you yourself are so free of a complex legal history, so innocent of discrimination and bias? To save our Historic Roscoe Smith property that sits to rot in the elements as developers design its demise and citizens look on with woe, would Monroe need to remove any politician you deem problematic? Or is the land itself so rife with historical tensions you don’t dare acknowledge us? The people don’t have the power to do anything except advocate and vote, but you continue to take OUR voice away because our leaders have a complicated litigious history. What does discrimination have to do with clean water, when all need it to drink? What does a “contentious history” have to do with clean air, when we all need it to breathe? What does discrimination have to do with open space, when we all benefit from it? 

What preservation often is, is a fight. I am an advocate, and I am doing all that I do for my town for free. Preservation is dirty, grueling work…and you are making it harder everyday for people like me… For people who fight to preserve the legacy of Roscoe Smith, of Monroe, of Orange County, of New York… for people who fight to stop the extinction of local wildlife that would in turn alter our entire ecosystem. You are even making it harder for your own Democrats who spend hundreds of hours drafting and redrafting preservation legislation for you to deny them “at this juncture.” A major election for Orange County this cycle was almost decided by your repeated refusal of PDR in our County… did you examine the consequences to our legislators before deciding again to waste their time? When Governor Hochul, will the correct juncture be to preserve our watershed, our history, our open space? Will there be an egg timer that alerts us when Orange County can emerge from our “TIME OUT”? Environmental preservation has always been a contentious, legal battle where those of us who know the value in our lands, in our heritage, in our environment stand up, to someone in power, to someone who only sees the value in profit, to say “you shall not build.” The oil pipelines were rerouted. The natural gas was fracked elsewhere. The highways went around. Nature cannot move, but we can. We can adapt and change… will you? Or will you ignore Monroe’s call to action, Blooming Grove’s call to action, Chester’s call to action, Orange County’s call to action, again and again. Will you ignore all of our voices together? Will you continue to deny that if overdevelopment and loss of historic, cultural, or environmentally sensitive lands occurs across all of these Orange County towns, then the problem is not discrimination—but that our lands are valuable and vulnerable to developers while Orange County struggles to survive financially, with no help from you. 

Signed,

Maureen Richardson

Founder of Preserve Monroe