Schoenberger
NEW CITY – The Rockland County Legislature said goodbye to one of its most senior members Tuesday as Legislator Ilan Schoenberger officially retired from his position as the district four representative. Schoenberger has served in the legislature for 23 years and also served as the county attorney for Rockland for over a decade.
Chairman Tony Earl thanked the legislator for his “sincere investment in the people of Rockland County” while Legislator Wider humorously asked his colleague to remain in office describing him as “irreplaceable.” Several local residents also spoke at the meeting to thank the legislator for his years of service, including Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, the chairwoman of the Rockland County Democratic Committee.
Those remarks were followed by a brief memorial for Terence Moakley, a Vietnam War-era Marine who suffered an injury which left him with quadriplegia. Moakley was a tireless advocate for the disabled and worked for more than 40 years at the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association. He was posthumously inducted into the New York State Disability Rights Inaugural Hall of Fame last week and was officially honored by the entire county legislature in a ceremony that took place just before Tuesday’s meeting.
The assembly continued with a presentation of communications. Chairman Earl shared with the assembly a memo sent to the legislature from R. Allan Beers, the counties Coordinator of Environmental Resources. Mr. Beers formally informed the legislature that effective May 5th all county owned parks are now smoke free; all tobacco products including e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco will soon be banned from Rockland’s public parks.
After that announcement, lawmakers voted on a number of symbolic resolutions that voiced support for a number of bills being considered by the New York State Senate. The legislature voted in favor of urging the state to pass an amendment to state law that would ban the sale, possession, and manufacturing of trigger cranks, bump stocks, and other modifications which enable semi-automatic weapons to fire as quickly as their automatic counterparts.
They also voted on a resolution that opposed the parole and release of Mutulu Shakur, also known as Jeral Wayne Williams, one of the criminals behind the Brinks Robbery of 1981. The legislature voted unanimously in favor of the resolution.
