Spring Glen, NY – The Department of Health has asked the former Homowack Lodge voluntarily to evacuate, the Town of Mamakating supervisor says.
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The town and the Department of Health have found numerous health and safety violations.
The facility is being used as a summer girl’s camp.
“After several investigations conducted by New York State Department of Health in conjunction with town of Mamakating and other health and safety agencies, on July 13, the Department of Health requested a voluntary evacuation of the Homowack hotel in the interest of public safety,” Supervisor Bob Fiore said.
Fiore said today he was not sure if the owners had complied.
“We will be going there today to observe their progress,” he said. Last Thursday, authorities responded to a oil spill on the grounds.
In the mean time The chief of the Summitville Fire Department and the deputy fire coordinator of Sullivan County agree that the former Homowack Lodge in Phillipsport is a disaster waiting to happen.
While Thursday’s oil spill did not injure anyone, it reaffirmed Summitville FD Chief Tim Koestler’s belief that no one should be occupying that complex of buildings.
“I wouldn’t let my dog stay in there,” he said yesterday.
And he told the Democrat newspaper that, due to his deep concerns about potential safety issues, he will not send any of his firefighters into the building if it should catch fire.
Why is this camp different from any other heimishe camp?
Oy, nebach. D
Oy, nebach. The DOH is one agency you can’t mess with.
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what are the accusations now that they want the girls camp to evacuate? this building was used as a hotel all of these years.
all this over a stupid oil tak of 50 gallons?? This is rediculous! The Homowack should have been evacuated ages ago but now they wake up?
Am I the only one who thinks “Homowack Lodge” sounds funny?
Assuming the Camp is not really a hazard, one reason (other than anti-semitism) that the town would all of a sudden not want it there as compared to allowing the Hotel to operate for all those years, is that the property went from being a income generating property vis a vis the property taxes for the town, to its current non-profit status, which only costs the town.
I’d like to see how quickly they would vacate their fire department building or their Mamakating Town Hall, if a 50 gallon tank spilled nearby.
The place smells from mold, the paint is peeling, the parking lots are cracked and broken, the air conditioning does not work in most of the building, etc.
Why do you want to stay there or have jewish kids there??
My daughter who is in Vishnitz camp told me that last week Square Girls camp went on a major trip to their camp to take showers since there was no hot water by them. I do not think it is right to make kids stay in such a dump.
#17
Can I take a shower in viznitz, my hot water is broken!!!
I went there for Shabbos Nachamu in 1992. I don’t remember it being a dump. Then again, by 1992 pretty much all of the classic Catskills hotels were dumps so this was no different.
I always wondered what happened to the Homowack. Now I know.
The Town, Health Department and Fire Department are all anti-Semites
To all those coplaining about “Anti-semitisim” would you should send your children to a building that the fire department won’t send his men there in case of a fire??
So much for Vnishmatem Lenafshochiecem”
Lets be clear here on the meaning of antisemite. Antisemite means anything against a person who is jewish. Forcing kids who are jewish to stay in nasty conditions just because the kids are in a particular chassidic sect is inherently antisemitic.
The anonymous poster who constantly cries “antisemite” should ask the nearest Jew to explain what “klal yisroel” means.
Somebody should develop this place, pity there aren’t any nice kosher places to stay upstate anymore. A shame that frum yidden can’t afford better.
for all those complainers about anti semites, you are all in denial! I was there 3 years ago and it should have been demolished then! 15 yrs ago it was already showing signs of age. This has nothing to do with it being tax free or wanting the jews out. The jews have been in the neighborhood for the past 70 yrs or more.
This sure sounds like anti-semitism:
• Every fire door did not close “100 percent of the way.”
• Various hallways were without emergency lighting and smoke/fire detectors.
• Several fire exits had locks and chains on the inside.
• Many exit signs were not lighted – or didn’t exist at all.
• Electrical boxes were uncovered, their wires exposed.
• More than half the sprinkler system was non-functional, including in occupied areas.
• The central fire alarm system was not working, nor was it connected to an emergency response agency (i.e., 911 or the local fire department).
• The ritual bath (mikvah) area featured open cisterns of water without protective grates or locked doors, despite the nearby presence of children.
• Hallways and bathrooms had walls with holes large enough for children to climb into.
• The former indoor tennis court – now used as a girls summer camp – did not feature smoke detectors or fire suppression systems, and fire exits were blocked by movable walls.
• An updated fire plan has not been filed with the fire department.
• Some areas of the 50-year-old hotel had no fire protection at all.
This anti semitic crying is just as anti semitic as the trash bin burners in Yerushalayim are screaming. I know from first hand info. that this place is not managed properly, and the health dept. has every right to ensure the safety of the girls as well as the safety of the neighbors, be it jewish or not. Come on people! Grow up!
parents should take their children home…or demand they move,,,,,many chasidishe kehillos have lots of money so lack of funds shoulldn’t be the reason that children should be in an unsafe environment.
What a Chillul Hashem.
Stop screaming “Anti-Semitism” and start following Health & Bldg codes like the rest of the world!
why coudnt they fix all these problems they so much money to spend for their pr
The goyishe fire chief wouldn’t let his dog sleep there but the Skverer Chassidm think its a great place for their daughters to sleep….what a kiddush hashem!!
I have read the comments tonight from people who have children at this camp or have been there recently. It reads like a horror story out of the concentration camps, not a summer camp for Skver girls. Even assuming there is some exaggeration, how can the Skver rebbe allow this to happen under his oversight. Do they not care what happens to their girls??
I remember going to the OLD camp Torah Vodaath, Camp Agudah, and Bobover Camp Shalva. Though old they were well maintained spotless!and not that big. Today, there are many new standards and Camp sizes have grown., Even in Florida many new bld’g requirements have been added for safety. This is the Dept of Health making the request not the Town or Tax Dept. Why don’t the Skevere start burning garbage cans like the Mea Shearim protest over a woman who possibly abused her child because she is sick with a diagnosis. These are Skverer slumlords over their own tyere heimishe kinderlch and their children not like the beautiful homes and shuls in Williamsburg and other Chasiddishe gorgeous neighborhoods. The DOH should check all the camps and the mikvas which pass Hepatitis C very easily. ANy camp chassidish, litvish or Goyish not conforming to Health and safety rules should be closed! No ifs ands or buts. A shanda!!
I don’t know that any of you can question the skverrer rebbe or chassidim. They undoubtedly have established the most beautiful community that I have ever seen. The children have manners… Ahhh such manners that you should pay money for your children to have.
When you are as successful at what you do as the skverrer rebbe is at what he does, then you should consider spending time consulting for them on fixing their problems.
Until then, don’t open your mouths to show how you foolish you all are.
Stop with the ‘anti-semitism’. We are fortunate to live in a nation that creates laws to benefit its people.
there’s no excuse for sloppiness.
lazy people will grasp at anything (antisemitisim, everyone-else-does-it) to avoid work.
they will blame anything else (your fault not mine, it was bashert, oy say tehillim) when disaster occurs, whether directly or indirectly as the result of their laziness.
if there is ONE fire code or health code or law, etc not adhered to, there’s everything right, and nothing wrong with the corresponding legal department to demand rectification or shut down the offending situation. regardless of how many other places violate the same law.
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I would think that if the place was the fire trap that we are told it is, it would be condemned the CO would be revoked and the girls would be ORDERED OUT! Since that is not the case, the place is obviously not fire trap we are told is and the CO must still be valid. Anyone with facts that say otherwise?
I worked, until 3 weeks ago, for the DOH collecting the fines on situations like this, and i can guarantee you that the DOH employees who do the inspections, etc are not anti-semites. They apply the law universally.
I left (had a baby) before anything concerning the Homowack came across my desk, so i cannot comment on this situation directly, but I can tell you that there is an overabundance of Jewish facilities that get fines for health code violations, but never pay. That, in my opinion, is a Chilul HaShem. It gives the impression that we think we are above the law.
I hope this camp can find a better/safer facility to run out of for next year so that these girls can enjoy their summers.
I don’t think any more need be said on this topic, It is rare that is such a concenus on any VIN article. The Skver have clearly put their children at risk and seem to care more about saving money than saving lives since they have kept the facility open even after all the emergency and health professionals have said it is a deathtrap.
Ah, Mee K’onchuh Yisroel! Its so nice to see how much all of you care and feels for all those torched kids in the camp. And also all of you who it bother so much the big Chilul Hoshem. The only little problem is that the sours on what your feelings are based on is from the RECORD which of course they won’t report both sides of the story, which I know as a fact that there is another side to the story.
Ah, Mee K’onchuh Yisroel! Its so nice to see how much all of you care and feels for all those torched kids in the camp. And also all of you who it bother so much the big Chilul Hoshem. The only little problem is that the sours on what your feelings are based on is from the RECORD which of course they won’t report both sides of the story, which I know as a fact that there is another side to the story.
It is unbelievable that with all the $$$ people pay to SEND their many kids to camp, that the kids are treated like garbage. Who has NO WATER??How can anyone live without water? And with the swine flu epidemic not completely over, how did these parents send their kids to a camp without checking it out first? I would never let my kids go to a camp without at least visiting once at the very beginning…and pulling them out if I saw anything like this…you can blame the camp, Rebbe, or whomever you like…but I say, where are the parents????