Sussman: Change the county conversation
By Edie Johnson
GOSHEN — Attorney Michael Sussman challenged the candidates for Orange County executive to tackle problems like flooding, toxic waste sites, joblessness, and decaying infrastructure, which he says have been ignored in favor of "no brainer" issues like saving the county government center and Valley View nursing home.
These issues, he said, "should have been decided in an hour and a half."
The nursing home and government center have dominated lawmakers' attention since they launched investigations last year into how the county executive, Edward Diana, had managed them. Diana, a Republican, is running for re-election. But Sussman wrote him off.
"They should stop attacking Eddie Diana," he said at news conference Tuesday at his Goshen office. "He has already disqualified himself for his lack of integrity and honesty and his failure on both Valley View and the government center."
Sussman heads the Orange County Democratic Alliance but has not yet committed to running for county executive himself. But he does want to change the conversation.
Fellow Democrat Roxanne Donnery, a legislator who led the investigative committee on Valley View, is running. The Republican challengers include two town supervisors, Steve Neuhaus of Chester and Michael Sweeton of Warwick.
"Roxanne's pink boxing gloves are fine," he said, referring to the prop Donnery uses to illustrate her commitment to fighting for county residents. "But trying to box Eddie Diana is like trying to hit someone who is already down on their back."
Clean up toxic sites, hold polluters accountable
Meanwhile, he said, 50 toxic waste sites in Orange County are languishing. Increased flooding in recent years are leaching toxins from these sites into the groundwater, he said.
The DuPont-Stauffer Landfill site in Newburgh, for example, has been awaiting remediation for 14 years, and "still nothing has been done."
At Stewart Air Force Base, where pesticides were buried, leachate was found in the groundwater even after several rounds of remediation. The contamination is confined but flooding could carry it beyond the restricted area supervised by the Air National Guard.
Revere Smelting in Wallkill, which uses a lead smelter to recycle the metal in batteries, is an unresolved threat, he said.
Sussman also listed Cornwall Plaza, Glenmere Lake, the former Star Anchors and Fasteners 37-acre site in Cornwall, Nepera in Maybrook, Stewart Airport in New Windsor, the Goshen landfill, and a bunch of former trucking, oil and gas facilities in Newburgh, Middletown and Port Jervis. Some of these sites have had only limited remediation work done.
Sussman said officials and other citizens should besiege the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, like the people in the Gulf states did over the BP oil spill, to insist on criminal sanctions and complete remediation.
Other challenges
He also recommended establishing a division of the county planning department to address issues like flooding and crumbling infrastructure, especially in the county's cities. He named the other big issues needing attention:
Flooding — Eighteen months after Hurricane Irene logjams remain along the Moodna Creek, the Wallkill, Seely Brook, and Waywayanda Creek.
Cities — Joblessness, drug use, and crumbling infrastructure, especially in the county's biggest cities, and the ongoing and spiralling costs they inflict, demand action.
Municipal buildings — Rather than spend $75 million to renovate the government center, renovate all municipally owned buildings block by block, as was done in New York City. Half the work should be done by local labor union workers, and half by apprentices learning the trades while they work.
Valley View — Residents should not be offered only an expensive place to stay, "they should be given opportunities to be challenged emotionally and cognitively."
Still unsure whether he will enter the race, Sussman said that after litigating for 35 years, "There are a few people who don't like me."
But some important issues are on the line — "issues that threaten the way of life that defines our county."
"You have to care about the water you drink," he said.