“I feel comfortable moving forward with this,” State Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia told The Jewish Press. “We will have the final say on a budget plan (before it goes to the voters) as well as the use of the funding that is being put into the district by the Legislature and the governor, on construction, contracts and sales of any buildings. I’m very concerned to make sure that we move forward in East Ramapo and have things in place that can support all those students.”
There are approximately 8,000 students and faculty in the East Ramapo Central School District. The district is one of five in New York state where more students are enrolled in private schools than in public schools.
A package of bills to attempt to combat the opioid and drug crisis in the state passed both houses of the legislature and is headed to the governor’s desk for his expected signature.
The measure mandates physicians and other health care providers to continue medical education on pain management, mandates insurance coverage for needed in-patient treatment services, limits opioid prescriptions from 30-day supplies to seven-day supplies, and requires pharmacists to provide additional education and counseling to those receiving opioids.
Assemblywoman Diana Richardson (D – Crown Heights, Brooklyn), said she was concerned with an injustice she sees with the bill.
“There are racial disparities here,” Richardson said from the floor of the Assembly. “When there was a drug issue in the African-American community, we were prosecuted, we were put in jail, children were put in foster care, families were ripped apart. It was treated as a criminal justice issue. We had Rockefeller drug laws, our jails were filled with men and women that looked just like me. Now, we have an opiate issue. It has affected another demographic and now it is a health issue.
“Now we have to put money into diverting individuals from prison and into treatment. So what is missing from this package is a restorative justice package for all those individuals that were jailed and for all those families that were ripped apart and for the individuals who have criminal records because they had addiction issues just like the people who are suffering. More needs to be done here.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Assemblyman Charles Barron (D – East New York, Brooklyn).
Another bill that could impact residents of Boro Park, Crown Heights, and other Jewish communities is a ban on advertising for certain apartment dwellings if the tenant is not present. The measure is known as the “Airbnb” bill.
Since housing and rental space is scarce and expensive in Boro Park and Crown Heights opponents say this measure would prevent people from earning income, curtail tourism, and stymie economic development.
Assemblywoman Pamela Harris (D – Coney Island, Brooklyn) said her community, an entertainment mecca in her view, is harmed by banning advertising for these apartment rentals in New York City.
“My constituents have now been able to turn their beautiful homes into a place of economic development,” Harris told fellow lawmakers on the floor of the Assembly. “I have to make sure that my district thrives and the only way it thrives is through Airbnb.”
In 2010 state lawmakers prohibited rentals of fewer than 30 days in multi-dwelling housing, absent the leaseholder. Now lawmakers have approved a measure that would prohibit advertising the illegal activity. If prosecuted, the violation will cost up to $7,500 under this measure.