אידל מאכט שרעקליכע חילול השם!

Who names village streets?
Developer fights naming roads for 9/11 victims

By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
[email protected]

Monroe - When it came time to name five new streets last year, village officials chose the last names of five local victims of the World Trade Center attacks as a tribute to them.

But the developer planning to build 60 homes along those roads had a different naming scheme in mind. Something redolent of tweed, Tudor and old Scottish golf courses like Prestwick - in other words, something befitting upscale homes across the road from Mansion Ridge Golf Course.

So New Hampton builder Shlomo Ekstein watched with dismay in November as the Monroe board formally approved "Mazzella Drive," "Marino Drive" and other 9/11 names, leaving his "Prestwick Drive" and "Loch Lomond Court" back at the clubhouse.

Guess what happens next?

Ekstein has sued the village and Orange County to prevent the 9/11 names from being entered into the county's E-911 system and gaining permanence. He insists the name swap will derail the marketing of homes in Prestwick Gardens, which are being built near Orange Turnpike and Reynolds Road and priced between $620,000 and $800,000.

"We're trying to be stately, subdued, a very elegant design," said Jeff Rosenfeld, co-owner of Monroe Realty Center, which is handling the marketing. "And when you use the names of these treasured people, there seems to be an inappropriate use here."

According to the lawsuit, Ekstein's B.V. Builders bought the 30-acre site in October 2004 after the development had been approved. He pitched his golf-themed street names early the next year, but the village and county ultimately rebuffed him.

His lawyer, James Sweeney, argues in the lawsuit that Monroe trustees had no right to name streets that belong to Ekstein until he gives them to the village. He called their decision "an act of pure municipal arrogance, taken without an iota of legal authority."

Village Trustee John Karl III came up with the idea of naming the roads for local 9/11 victims and contacted each of the five families for approval.

Mayor Joseph Mancuso said the village typically names new roads after notable Monroe families, past and present, and that the 9/11 names followed that policy. He said he doesn't want to go with the developer's names for now and rename the roads after they're dedicated to the village because residents will have already moved in and gotten accustomed to "Loch Lomond Court."

"It is the village's prerogative to name streets," he said.