NEWBURGH – By one vote, the Newburgh City Planning Board has rejected a proposal by the Kaplan Family Foundation and Bonura Group to build on their property that had been used as the parking lot for the former Newburgh-Beacon Ferry.
Mayor Torrance Harvey has spoken out against the planning board vote telling Mid-Hudson News the decision was prompted by what he called “Democratic-Socialists” on the board.
“Now we’re talking about communism. Now we’re talking about government and/or people thinking they can dictate what people can do on their privately owned property,” he said. “We are a capitalist economy; we are America, which is a democracy, and people and free enterprise should have the controlling say within reason on how and what they want to develop on their privately owned land. It’s as simple as that.”
The mayor said the property owners have already spent large sums of money preparing for environmental remediation of the property.
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