Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of ramaposafetyinitiative.com and any related tools, downloads, or resources (collectively, the "Site"), which is operated by the Ramapo Safety Initiative, an independent resident-led civic project ("we," "us," or "the Initiative"). By using the Site, you agree to these Terms.

1. Purpose of the Site

The Site exists to help residents of the Town of Ramapo participate in local civic processes — attending hearings, contacting officials, organizing neighbors, and tracking new development. It is not a government service and is not a substitute for official information from the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, or New York State.

2. No professional advice

Nothing on the Site is legal, financial, engineering, planning, or professional advice. Content is provided for civic-engagement purposes only. Always confirm official information (meeting times, agenda items, addresses, deadlines) directly with the relevant government body before acting on it.

3. Acceptable use

You agree not to use the Site to:

• Submit false, misleading, or fraudulent information.
• Harass, threaten, or defame any person or public official.
• Interfere with the Site's operation, scrape it in a disruptive manner, or bypass security controls.
• Impersonate another resident or a public official.
• Violate any applicable law or regulation.
• Copy, reproduce, or republish substantial portions of the Site's content, design, page layouts, or branding.
• Scrape, harvest, or bulk-download RSI content or databases by automated means, except where the Site explicitly permits it.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to replicate RSI's proprietary platform, workflows, search functionality, or software.
• Commercially reuse, redistribute, or sublicense RSI's original content without prior written authorization from the Initiative.
• Use RSI content to create a competing service, product, or platform without prior written permission.

4. User submissions

When you submit content (a petition signature, comment, volunteer form, or letter to officials), you confirm that the content is accurate and that you are authorized to submit it. You grant the Initiative a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, display, and forward that content to relevant public officials and to include it in aggregated advocacy materials.

5. Third-party content

The Site displays public information sourced from the Town of Ramapo (including meeting agendas and mirrored PDFs), from public government portals, and from map providers such as Google Maps. Those materials remain the property of their original owners and are subject to their own terms. We do not endorse, and are not responsible for, third-party content or websites we link to.

6. Intellectual property

All original content on the Site is the intellectual property of the Ramapo Safety Initiative and is protected by applicable copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. This includes, without limitation: website design, user interface, page layouts, branding, logos, graphics, icons, written content, guides, organizing materials, AI-generated original content, databases, data compilations, software, code, workflows, and proprietary features.

While the Site displays and organizes information obtained from public records and official government sources, the Initiative's original compilation, organization, presentation, interface, database structure, search functionality, integrations, workflows, and platform design are proprietary. They may not be copied, reproduced, reverse engineered, republished, or used to create a competing service without prior written permission.

Government records, GIS layers, and other public datasets displayed on the Site remain the property of their respective public agencies and are presented in accordance with applicable public records laws and licensing terms. The Initiative claims no ownership over those public records — only over its original platform, organization, presentation, enhancements, and proprietary content.

You may download and reuse civic templates (petitions, form letters, flyers) for non-commercial resident-organizing purposes with attribution to the Ramapo Safety Initiative. Any other reuse of RSI content requires prior written permission.

All rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved by the Ramapo Safety Initiative. No license or right is granted by implication, estoppel, or otherwise.

7. Disclaimers

The Site is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the Site will be error-free, uninterrupted, or that any information on it is complete, current, or accurate.

8. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Ramapo Safety Initiative and its volunteers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of the Site.

9. Independence

The Ramapo Safety Initiative is an independent, non-partisan, resident-led civic project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or funded by the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, any political party, or any political candidate.

10. Text messaging (SMS) terms

By texting our published number, (845) 777-8030, you agree to receive automated text-message replies from the Ramapo Safety Initiative. The service lets residents look up a property profile by address, get upcoming town hearing dates, subscribe to our weekly email digest, and report a road safety issue. All messages are replies to texts you initiate first.

• Message frequency: varies. You receive a reply only when you text us. SMS is used only for replies, not for outbound marketing.
• Message & data rates may apply: check with your carrier for details.
• Opt out: reply STOP at any time to cancel all future text messages. You may also email info@ramaposafetyinitiative.com to be removed.
• Help: reply HELP at any time for keywords and instructions.
• Carriers: we are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. The service is provided by Twilio on behalf of the Ramapo Safety Initiative.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Continued use of the Site after changes are posted means you accept the updated Terms.

12. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email info@ramaposafetyinitiative.com.