BY: Keith S. Shikowitz Editor/Investigative Reporter
Helaine Nemeth, a neighborhood activist is running for trustee in West Haverstraw. She grew up in New City, graduated from Clarkstown North High School and attended Rockland Community College. She got married, had 2 children, eventually divorced, and raised the kids on my own for a little while. Several years later she got remarried to her current husband, Michael Nemeth and moved to the Village of West Haverstraw.
“I’ve always looked out for people. I’m always concerned about people’s welfare. I Just listen to people.
I’ve also been an advocate for people who have issues and a variety of problems. We would discuss them and then try to find out how I could help them through available resources. I’ve had concerns about the environment here.”
Back in 2019, people were complaining about the smell from a porta potty company named John to Go coming from the industrial park next to North Wayne Avenue. Nemeth said that the village board members and the mayor were not helping at all. They didn’t seem to care about the issues, so she got involved.
“It affected me as well, the smell from the porta potties being emptied and cleaned right there created a smell that wafted into the neighborhood and we couldn’t keep our windows open, even when it got hot. I went to board meetings, and I didn’t have any help from them at all, so I decided to get the media involved. I came to you, and we took it from there by publicizing the story. It took about a year and many stories but after, everything that was going on back and forth with the courts, they finally were kicked out of the industrial park.”
Another issue that concerned Nemeth was that there are many people in Rockland County, especially women that were having issues with housing, inability to afford food and clothing for their family. “I started a Facebook group that has now over 4000 members where people help each other. I advocate for them as well with women that have domestic issues, and I get them help. I also make sure that their kids are fed and clothed through the group that I started.
She decided to run for village Trustee because she saw that the current board really wasn’t listening to the residents of the community and they needed somebody in there that would fight for them, that would speak for them and that’s why she took the initiative to do something like this. “What made me decide to really do this was the issue with the toxic landfill that we have across from Pecks Pond on Beach Road in West Haverstraw that hasn’t been sealed and capped in over 30 years and when you have a mayor and a board that does not care about the health of the residents that speaks volumes.”
She claims that the board doesn’t care is that the landfill should have been sealed and packed, it’s letting off toxic fumes come out of the ground that can cause cancer. “There has been testing done and there have been some results. “I really have not looked at the results but from what I’ve heard, from residents that have been here for 50, 60 years that it is toxic. It has asbestos, paint and construction materials from old buildings in New York City and it’s a concern sometimes, it does smell. We don’t know where the smell comes from, if it’s from the swamp or the actual landfill itself. Once I put it out there on social media that we have a toxic landfill down here, there were so many people that did not know about this and a lot of women had reached out to me through Facebook or through private messages that they have breast cancer, so it’s very possible that this could be causing breast cancer. So many women have, you know, thank goodness survived it, but unfortunately there are many women that didn’t, and it’s all within the area of that toxic landfill.”
According to her she has met resistance, from the government or other agencies actually. Not too long ago she spoke with John Edwards who was the lawyer that represents the village. He said to her that there is no proof that the toxic landfill is causing breast cancer. “One of the board members themselves even stated specifically one that she knows that there is a high rate of breast cancer in the area and that she lives here too, and she’s trying to, see what’s going on about that also, that it is a concern.”
“Edwards also stated that there is no proof that this landfill caused breast cancer, but statistics do show that living next to a toxic landfill, that there is a high rate of many cancers. They may say it may increase the risk of cancers.
Infrastructure is a very important issue to people. A working infrastructure is important to the quality of life in a community. “Everything that’s being built around here just seems to be industrial. They want to put that 450,000 square foot warehouse on top of that landfill, and I’m just worried that if they do that, it’s going to sink into the ground and it’s going to get worse by what’s underneath it coming up even as they seal and pack it over years, it’s eventually going to sink.”
“The roads are horrible. I’ve gone around, spoken to residents in the area, and they’ve gotten flat tires, and there’s so many cracks in the roads. There are holes in the roads and they don’t really fix it, they just patch it, so they don’t do a good job of maintaining the roads. It’s nothing against the DPW, you know, they do what they’re told, and they do it well, but there’s just, it just doesn’t seem to last long.”
In her opinion the worst streets are, Benson Street, Demarest, which has gotten better. Blauvelt Avenue, Clove Avenue. The area she lives in crosses with Railroad Avenue which is actually the county she believes is supposed to be taking care of that, but, as far as the off streets have gotten a little better, but again it’s patchwork. It’s not done properly and it actually it they spend more money patching it.
“Then what happens within a year or two, it looks bad again instead of doing it right, you know, so they don’t have to worry really about it except for maintaining it for the next 10 years. Doing it right is having it paved, milled and then repaved. There’s, and there’s children and elderly people that walk it. There’s risks of people getting hurt sometimes. There’s, not enough sidewalks. There’s no sidewalks on my street, but it’s a wide street, and they have been putting sidewalks in. There have always been sidewalks on Railroad Avenue but the sidewalks that they do have, they’re not maintained. There’s problems with that too.”
She added that there’s cracks and holes in it. Then we have a prime example, we have Samsondale Mall where Stop and Shop used to be. There are empty stores there. The parking lot is horrific. You really can’t drive or walk safely through there.
The main issue with that is that the property there is considered private property though, and the owner of the property would have to correct. “But then that’s when the mayor or the zoning board should say to them, this has to be maintained.” She said.
With the Big Beautiful Bill being passed and signed into law earlier this year, the 2017 tax cuts are now permanent and there are new ones coming to the American citizens. In spite of the federal taxes being cut, New York is still the highest, along with California, taxed states in the country. Nemeth said, “It’s amazing that the taxes keep going up. Yet our roads are not being maintained. If we had businesses here, good businesses that would help pay for the taxes instead of having these empty stores, then that would help the tax base. The Samsondale Stop and Shop just recently went out, and what I heard was that the owner is looking to make that big thing into smaller shops. Yeah, that’s going to take time.”
“I mean that hasn’t been there for years empty but the parking lot was still never maintained, even when there was when the businesses were in there.
“I believe the village taxes went up to 7.5%. That affects, of course, people, you know, that have homes with mortgages. It’s hard enough to put food on the table and pay bills right now. That’s the last thing that they need. People that rent here, you know, if, if the taxes go up, the landlords are going to put it on them as well.”
“It’s not warm and inviting when you come into the village at all. It’s a huge eyesore everywhere you go and no matter how well you maintain your home. I always felt that the tone of the village that you live in is an extension of your home. If that doesn’t look good, as nice as your home looks, that could bring down the value of your home no matter how nicely your house is done because it’s, it’s not inviting to drive through this area.
According to Nemeth, in order to bring down taxes on the people as a trustee in the village of West Haverstraw you need to bring businesses here where people from other areas will want to come to and make this area look good and more inviting. “If you have nice restaurants, nice cafes instead of laundromats instead of these little bars, you need something to make like they did in Nyack, they put like boutiques in there, they have, you know, a nice park in there where people can come and sit down. Actually, Nyack is going to hell now too, so many homeless people there.
Is there a homeless situation in West Haverstraw? “Yes, so there have been people that have been living under the bridge under Samsondale Avenue. Recently I tried helping this woman that’s homeless in West Haverstraw, and she is a drug addict, she was hungry and needed some place to stay as well as clothing. I was able to supply her with the group that I have. We tried to get her help. Unfortunately, she refused to get any other help. I know she was off the streets for a few weeks, but she’s back on the streets again and but that’s, that’s an issue with the laws.
She says that the cause of the homeless situation in the village is that there’s no affordable housing really. “I know in the Village of Haverstraw, there’s a bunch of complexes going up near the river that’ll have affordable housing in the village, yeah.
What other ideas does she have besides building affordable housing to help alleviate the homeless situation? There is a problem with building more housing in the Village of West Haverstraw, where would you put it? “Well, you can’t put it on the toxic landfill, obviously, but there really is no place to put them in in the Village of West Haverstraw. Unfortunately, they should be given resources, you know, where to go.
Nemeth feels that the solution to this should fall on the village because it’s affecting the area that they’re in control of and that the village should go to the county, town or state to get extra funding and help because more and more people, are homeless. “It’s not even one or two people. I don’t even know how many there are, I know there’s many at least 15 to 20 people that are living under the bridges they get pushed out and then they come back because they have no place else to go.”
Public safety is a concern across the country. “So yes, recently there have been a few shootings in the area outside of the village in Haverstraw which is very, very concerning. People were killed the other day I believe. There have been people breaking into cars and you know I personally don’t know who it is, but that could have a part to do you know to do with the homeless, you know, because that’s the way for survival.
“I have seen people coming on our streets, which just happened the other night, going on my neighbor’s property and collecting bottles, and I understand people need to survive out there, but they shouldn’t be looking into people’s cars or trying to pull on the doors to see if they can get something out of it and that’s a big concern and going on to the property is a problem.”
What is something she would do to increase public safety as a member of the board? She would want more police officers, to go down the streets at night, have a neighborhood watch where you have neighbors that look out for each other. “You can even like can even hire, which I think is worth people investing in with their taxes, is maybe hiring one or two people to canvass the area at night to see what’s going on, to make it safer, to make sure that there’s less issues with somebody breaking into your house or breaking into your cars.
Nemeth also thinks that cameras on the street, not in every street, but at least in areas where there are a lot of issues and crime. “This is a good investment because it makes the people feel a little safer that somebody’s watching. They have them in Haverstraw. People’s ring cameras and other security cameras. Now you can’t tell people that they have to have a camera, but I mean, but to have a few cameras here and there would help the police.”
“I mean, the ring cameras are great because of things that are going on, packages delivered and stuff like that, but it doesn’t always catch something that’s happening. It does have its peripheral limits, but you know, if you have enough of them on the block, you can basically have the whole block covered.
Why should people vote for Helaine Nemeth? What can she bring to this position that the current person in it doesn’t. What new ideas does she have to make life better?
“The main thing is listening to the residents about their needs and what they want to see done in our community and enforce it on our current mayor and board and not approve everything that they want to approve just because I feel they’re doing this for themselves and not for the community.”
What if her constituents in the village decide they want something that she doesn’t agree with? “Well, that’s going to happen in a lot of things that I’m not going to agree with. “What do I mean let’s say a majority, let’s say 60% 70% unless it has unless it’s going to benefit the residents, I’m not going to approve of it. They want to approve that warehouse, what is it going to do for our community? Look at the roads. They will not be able to handle all that traffic. The mayor just put out something the other day about the traffic with the buses here.
West Haverstraw Mayor Robert D’Amelio School is back in session, and we all need to
do our part to keep our children safe. Please drive carefully, slow down and stay alert,
especially in school zones and neighborhoods. Remember, when you see a school bus
with its red lights flashing, you must stop. It’s the law and it protects our kids.
Thank you for helping.
“He seems to be looking out for the people, but what’s going to happen when all these trucks are going to be going down, I mean not well 9W and Railroad Avenue at 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning, is this going to be safe for the children? How safe is it really going to be? How are the roads where you’re going to have buses and trucks at the same time passing each other, these big trucks, trucks, is this safe for the school buses? It can cause accidents. We have a train that goes past there too. I mean, the roads aren’t that wide.” She explained.
She added, “That the traffic is so bad right now with school, but with school that just started. I’m in my house and I hear all these horns, where the hell is it coming from? Kathleen texted me telling me that you wouldn’t believe the traffic here on Railroad Avenue. Now once this, you know, it’s bad enough now what’s going to happen with all the noise, all the pollution, it’s not safe for the kids with all these trucks if they’re standing on the sidewalks, with these trucks going by, is that safe for the kids to walk?”
If that the warehouse gets approved, what can she do to increase the safety of the people, not just the kids, but people walking on there? “You would think a sidewalk, but it’s not wide enough to put sidewalks in.
That’s why it shouldn’t be there. Is there any place to build a separate access road to the site? No, it was never put into the plans that I’ve heard that they have.”
She said that the warehouse going there is going to affect everything else in general. It’s going to be a 24/7 operation. It’s going to ruin the quality of life. It’s going to be worse on the roads than they ever were before because there’s just going to be more traffic with the trucks going through there. The underground infrastructure is going to be affected. It’s going to shake and rattle people’s homes, also, which can do something to their foundation it’s possible it could do something to the pipes underneath the ground. All that vibration could cause the pipes to burst and it will cause a lot of damage including flooding.
According to Nemeth there is no other place in the village where they can build that warehouse. This will have a major effect on the residents there, especially if these trucks are going to go down private roads. “They’re going to have the noise because these trucks are not going to wait for the train, and they’re just going go around Samsondale Avenue and then go down Peck Street. They’re going to go down Tanneyanns. t’s just going to be so unfair, and you know what, they’ll get a ticket, and they don’t care about the ticket because their employers will pay for it, so they won’t care about the ticket. That’s what’s going to happen.”
What is it, what separates Nemeth from her opponent that would make people say, hey, you know what, maybe I’ll give this lady a chance?
“I plan ahead. I look at how it’s going to affect the residents, not just to say, let’s do it and we’ll worry about it after it’s done because there’s no going back once that once after this is done. Then all they’re going to say is, well, I’m sorry, or we’ll see what we can do, and nothing’s going to happen because there’s nothing really, they can do about it.
“I’m a new voice that can bring new ideas to the people.”