Are Local Agencies Protecting Or Harrassing Consumers?

By Rockland Daily Staff

 Local Jewish business owners and contractors are speaking out about targeted harassment from the Office of Rockland Building and Code as well as the Office of Consumer Protection.

The Office of Consumer Protection, whose mission, according to their website, is to protect homeowners and consumers from irreputable contractors and unfair markets, has been doing less protecting and more lining their pockets. In contrast to other counties where most trades don’t require licenses, in Rockland County aspiring home improvement professionals have to apply for licenses and get approval from a board made up of people in their specific trade, in other words, their would-be competition. Many applicants reportedly wait several years to get their licenses, leaving them unable to make a proper living in the meantime.

The RCP also finds all sorts of trivial details to fine contractors thousands of dollars for, such as not having the proper stickers or decals on their vehicles, bringing private vehicles to construction sites, and recently fined a homeowner $18,000 for flipping his own property without a permit. Exactly which consumers such fines protect is unclear. Additionally, their inspectors seem to favor predominantly Jewish neighborhoods and construction sites. One Jewish contractor reports that a resident near one of his sites informed him that neighbors will cause issues once they realized that he’s Orthodox, and sure enough, RCP started showing up at his site on an almost daily basis.  

The Rockland Building and Codes department, RBC, seems to also enjoy withholding permits and fining residents exorbitant fees. Although they’re responsible for all five towns in Rockland County, most of their inspectors seem to be particularly fond of Rockland County’s Orthodox neighborhoods.   

Recently, while investigating a daycare in Spring Valley, the RBC showed just how much of their work is motivated by spite. Several inspectors, instead of the usual one or two, showed up to the site of an allegedly illegal Jewish day care in a Jewish-owned home. Although the day care was closed at the time, they felt it imperative to declare the situation an emergency and called the police for backup. In addition, a news reporter had been tipped off about the raid and arrived at the scene as well. The inspectors helped the reporter open the windows of the house and take illegal photos of the interior without a warrant.

As such situations become more frequent and antisemitism runs rampant in the comments sections of social media posts, local residents are forced to wonder if these departments are truly here to protect and help Rockland County consumers and homeowners, or if there are perhaps more sinister motivations at play.