A Look at Upcoming Stories In The Monroe Gazette

A preview of the week ahead, as well as an incomplete list of stories I'm currently investigating.

Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the stories that are currently sitting in my inbox. Not all of these stories will become posts. But I am investigating all of them.

All stories have to be vetted and fact checked first. And during that process, I may hit a wall and can’t investigate further without breaking the law.

As tempting as that is — because it sure feels like we live in a world where no one is in charge and/or wants to enforce the same set of rules for everyone equally — I can’t do that either.

So, from the list below, if you see something and it hasn’t developed further, it’s usually because I’ve hit some kind of barrier. If you haven’t seen your story listed, it’s because I haven’t got to it yet, but will. As you can see, there’s a lot to cover.

If you’d like to support local, independent, investigative journalism, I encourage you to subscribe to The Monroe Gazette.

My goal was to reach 100 paying subscribers by August 1st, 2024. We’re about halfway there.

At 100, The Monroe Gazette becomes my full time job.

At 200, I’m able to step up my security drastically. That’s important because being a journalist is kind of dangerous. Especially in Orange and Rockland County where, historically, there’s always been an element of organized crime.

(For those of you who ask about my safety, I’m in progress on stepping things up. But reaching 200+ subscribers is what’s going to let me do everything I need to.)

As always, this newsletter will always be free. There are no ads. No paywalls. It’s entirely reader supported, so I hope you’ll join us. Becoming a subscriber grants you the ability to leave comments and join the growing community of readers. You can also leave a comment asking me to investigate something.

For example, here’s one reader question:

Question: Do you have to give your full address at public meetings in New York State when asked?

Answer: Nope.

There is nothing in the law that states you need to provide your address when asked.

Of course, local governments acting in bad faith may use that against you.

Unfortunately, our FOIL and Open Meeting Laws don’t have any teeth. So if you refuse to give your address, they may refuse to let you speak.

There is no law that grants the public the right to speak at town and village board meetings in the state of New York.

So, there are two solutions here.

If you’re at a Southern Orange County meeting, and you want to speak but don’t want to give your address publicly, you can use the mailing address for The Monroe Gazette: PO BOX 452, St. Rt. 88, Harriman, NY, 10926.

The other thing you can do is use a fake address. I like 123 Fake Street, although that can be a bit on the nose. 71 Roanoke Drive, when there clearly isn’t a 71, is also another idea to explore. So if you’re at a lost for what address to give, you can pick a real street in the town/village and then give a fake number.

Let’s now take a look at what’s in the box.

Woodbury

-I’m looking into what’s going on at Highland Lake Estates. I’ve mentioned this one earlier, but essentially a group of bad actors have taken over the HOA’s board. One of those bad actors is using his position as a member of the Village of Woodbury Planning Board to keep the Building Inspector away. (The Building Inspector, through the Village Attorney, denies this allegation.)

This Village Planning Board member is also hanhallah’s selected flunkie to chair the Woodbury Planning Board should their candidates, Tyler Etzel Jr. and John Kelemen, win election this Fall.

Above: A ballot handed out in the Fall 2023 Election showing hanhallah’s preferred candidates in Woodbury.

-What’s taking so long for the speed limit to be reduced on Route 32 (and other points in Orange County, such as Lakes Road)? It’s the New York State Department of Transportation. So, I’d like to learn what the process is for lowering the speed limit on our roads, and why it takes so long to make that happen.

-Did the Woodbury Developer, Wayne Corts, try to use some italian lightning to intimidate an ACE Farms whistleblower many years ago? They claim he did. Speaking of Courts, there’s also the subject of what’s going on at his old Falkirk Golf course to discuss. (Mysterious fires are pretty common in Orange County.)

-There’s flooding on Oakland Avenue in Woodbury. The Town needs to cooperate with the Village to help solve it, but they’re too busy doing weird shit with beavers and getting favors from the local garbage company (in exchange for a contract renewal.) Speaking of the beavers, expect to hear more on that front soon from the Animal Protection League of New Jersey and several *clears throat* beaver experts.

Stop laughing. That’s actually what they are. Don’t make this an X-rated newsletter!

Actually, here’s something we can all laugh at: Village Trustee James Freiband, a hanhallah backed candidate, suggested Woodbury mix its water and sewage infrastructure together at a recent board meeting. He was not joking when he suggested this.

Blooming Grove

-I have a literal box of stuff concerning South Blooming Grove that I need to go through, as well as a pile of pdfs. There’s enough material here where I could just simply write about the weird, strange, and outright illegal things that are happening in this Village for a solid year and not cover anything else.

-The land across from 49 Mountain Lodge Road is apparently owned by Woodcock Farm LLC. The thing is, Woodcock Farm LLC is owned by Cheskel Schwimmer, who is a relative of Mendel Schwimmer (Keen Equities) and Mr. Leiser Schwimmer, who is a business associate of slumlord Moche Halpern. So, if I lived in the Town of Blooming Grove, I’d keep my eyes glued on what’s going on over there and make sure it’s on the up and up. The odds are good that it’s not.

-I’m awaiting a formal announcement from the Southern Poverty Law Center concerning the status of the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove and whether or not they will recognize it, officially, as a hate group. This organization meets all the definitions for the SPLC’s guidance as to what constitutes a hate group, as well as the FBI’s definition. The IRS is currently investigating this organization as well.

-Will South Blooming Grove actually fulfill the multiple FOIL requests sitting in front of them? Probably not! Here’s one example: Nora Murphy. This is an attorney that identified themselves as representing the Village of South Blooming Grove during the April CDC hearing for Clovewood. How much is Nora being paid by the Village? Is she specifically representing the Village to advocate for approval of the Clovewood development, despite the residents of the Village not wanting this development? Was she hired by Mr. Joel Stern, who works for one of the largest investors in the Clovewood project and essentially acts as co-mayor of the Village with Isaac Ekstein?

-So … is it a fire department or a fire district?

-I’m waiting on some documents from the Village of Airmont concerning Scott Ugell. Once I have them, I’ll have a copy and paste letter you can send to the NYS Court System asking them to investigate and (we hope) disbar him.

-What’s going on at 206 Prospect Road and those DEC violations? How about the dumping at 245 Prospect Road? 216? 236? We’re going to find out!

Monroe

-The history of Summer Crest LLC and yet another lawsuit Town of Monroe residents will need to pay for as a result of the actions of Supervisor Cardone. (And that’s before we mention this new lawsuit filed from Harriman and the Village of Monroe against the town. Cardone’s incompetence continues to make the Town of Monroe more and more expensive to live in. So, for those of you worried about the increased cost of a land preservation tax, I’ll remind you that having Tony Cardone as Town Supervisor has made your tax bill higher than any preservation tax could.

-The Plague of Short Term Rental applications continue. Thus, continuing the process of turning Monroe into a quiet bedroom community for NYC commuters into a free for all thanks to the Town continuing to rubber stamp applications for these rentals. All while lacking code enforcement officers and a police force of its own to enforce it. This includes 651 Lakes, which we’ve covered exhaustively here. I wouldn’t have a problem with the rentals if we had people to enforce the rules, but we don’t.

-Speaking of Cardone, why did the Town of Monroe try to take over a road in the Village of Monroe, even though it’s illegal for the Town to take such an action? Hint: Mr. Cardone wanted to provide more favorable zoning to his favorite developer, Lipa Deutsch.

A fun fact about Mr. Deutsch is that he’s part of the KJ Alliance which backed Cardone in his race for the Town Board, and then again for Supervisor. Also a member of this group? Ziggy Brach, Keen Equities’s majority investor.

-With the exception of Maureen Richardson, nobody on the Town Board put out a statement concerning Dorey Houle’s antisemitic campaign against her Conservative Party Challenger, Tim Mitts.

Nobody from the usual suspects of “everyone in Orange County is an antisemite” fame did either. Just something to keep an eye on the next time a preservation bill comes up for a vote. In the latter’s case, their silence is deafening.

Chester

-The New Ward System is something I’d like to cover. I think Monroe and other municipalities in Southern Orange County should implement similar systems given the poor behavior of hanhallah once they’ve managed to take over an entire board (see: South Blooming Grove.)

-I’d like to do a history of The Greens at Chester and the Attorney General’s weird involvement with that lawsuit, given that the guy behind this project is a big Hochul and Democratic campaign donor in New York.

-There’s a lot going on in Chester that I just haven’t got to yet. It’s on my list. I’m hoping to move to a format, should this become a full time job, where one week is Monroe, the next is Woodbury, the next is Blooming Grove, and then the last is Chester.

I don’t know if I can fit Goshen in. I have stories from that area too, but as you can see, I’m basically drowning between Monroe, Woodbury, and Blooming Grove. So Chester, while important, gets the short end of the stick.

This coming week (May 20th-24th) is a Monroe week.

And Finally …

Skoufis, Eachus, and other Orange County elected officials in state government, aren’t keen on a land preservation tax.

They rather other taxes and fees be created and used.

So, time permitting, I’m also going to spend an extensive amount of time debunking this BS memo Senator Skoufis sent out (and which Eachus seconded.)

All this and more at the Monroe Gazette.

So take a moment to become a paid subscriber and join us, won’t you?