Rockland County Legislative District 1 is the largest land wise in the county, and includes Sloatsburg. With Michael Parietti and Greg Julian canvassing for ballot signatures, it looks like November will see a ballot battle to represent western Rockland County.
Ballot signatures are a tricky thing, especially if a potential candidates doesn’t have the big political party apparatus behind them. It can be a long, lonely business to gather the 250 or so signatures needed qualify to be a candidate, especially with the clock ticking down to the mid-April deadline.
Town of Ramapo native and longtime organizer for many Preserve Ramapo and Preserve Rockland causes, Michael Parietti experienced the winter doldrums during his ballot signature adventure. Parietti has been walking the streets of Sloatsburg in search of ballet signature and with spring now here, he’s closing in on the 250 ballot signatures he believes he needs.
Town of Ramapo native and longtime Preserve Ramapo organizer Michael Parietti is in search of ballet signatures for a planned Democrat run for the Rockland County Legislative District 1 seat, currently held by Republican Doug Jobson. The district is anchored in the south by the Village of Sloatsburg.
With Stony Point Democrat Chair Greg Julian working on mounting a campaign for District 1, Parietti may face a run off for the Democratic line. Julian is a Professor Emeritus at Pace University.
If all goes according to plan, Parietti will also run for Rockland County Legislative District 1, which is the largest county legislative district in terms of coverage area. Republican Doug Jobson currently represents the district, which includes Village of Sloatsburg anchoring the south. If both Parietti and Julian make the Democratic ballot, there’ll have a run-off June 25th.
One thing is certain, it looks like Doug Jobson will have a big-name opponent for the first time in several election cycles.
Parietti is perhaps best known as mounting a run for Ramapo Supervisor against Christopher St. Lawrence in 2012 that created momentum for the nascent Preserve movement. Since then, he has been instrumental in raising the profile of Preserve Ramapo as it’s grown into a legitimate voice that has gathered a coalition of voters into a strong block of advocacy countywide. The Preserve movement was a key voting block in Ed Day’s first run for County Executive.
Though still conservative Democrat in demographics and led by a longtime Democrat as Mayor (along with an evenly divided board that is rarely divided), Sloatsburg in recent years has voted as a near independent block, backing people and causes rather than party. The Village gestalt currently favors Ed Day as County Executive and could swing to a Preserver Democrat in the legislature, as voters have favored various Preserve Ramapo and Rockland efforts in past elections — when they align with Sloatsburgers’ values … which appear to prize the preservation of Sloatsburg’s and western Ramapo’s semi-rural culture and character.
Parietti was one of the key organizers and proponents behind the Ramapo Wards system vote in 2015, which would have seen the Town Council and expand from 4 to six members and divided the town into six wards.
As a Rockland County legislator, Parietti said his in Ramapo his primary issues would be: a fair redistricting of Rockland County legislative districts, which happens after the 2020 census, that doesn’t gerrymander to the advantage of one community. The Preserve Ramapo effort intends to slate a number of candidates in the fall 2019, including its perpetual swing for Town of Ramapo Supervisor, two Town of Ramapo Council seats and Ramapo Superintendent of Highways. The ballot names may change but the challenge remains.
Parietti cites illegal housing and segregated housing and the abuse financial impact on Rockland County taxpayers of social benefits fraud. Both Parietti and Julian cite overdevelopment and the protection, promotion and enhancement of the abundant Rockland County park lands and wilderness areas as a key legislative topic. Seven Lakes Drive snakes through District 1, bisecting the expansive area which runs through parts of Ramapo, the Village of Pomona and Town of Stony Point.
Julian has been active in North Rockland and Stony Point as well as with the county Democratic party. Julian was part of the movement to stop New Planet Energy from locating a mixed waste processing plant in Stony Point, which promoted by New Planet to be able to consume some 350 tons of municipal solid waster per hour.
Currently North Rockland continues to bear the burden of the dreadful Mirant property tax settlement which impacts both the town and entire North Rockland School District to the tune of $11 million dollars per year.
Both Greg Julian and Parietti are attempting to qualify for the upcoming June 25th Democratic primary.
Click here for a Michael Parietti ballot signature form.
