ACE Farm & Why The Town of Woodbury is Run By Idiots, Part 237
Here is an update on the new annexation request for the ACE Farm Property, and what you can do about it.
Pictured Above: The proposed annexation from Woodbury to the Village of Kiryas Joel involves the ACE Farm property, as submitted to all involved municipalities on April 10th, 2025 by Elozer Gruber. You can see the full annexation request for yourself here.
Let’s recap where we are with ACE Farm and the Town of Woodbury before going further.
I’ll briefly describe some challenges in the Village of Woodbury that complicate the upcoming annexation fight.
And then I’m going to give you a plan to follow.
(We’ll talk about the dumb thing Deputy Supervisor Theresa Luongo did in the next post. All you need to know right now is that she’s been referred to the Orange County Ethics Board over it.)
Whether or not you choose to follow that plan, Woodbury residents, is on you. But I don’t want to hear empty-headed platitudes about “unity” and “needing to come together as a community.”
Fuck that. That’s not a plan.
We’ll Start Here with a Town & ACE Farm Recap
We’ve established that idiots run the Woodbury Town Board. One of those idiots, Local Bigot Brandon Calore, now wants to be Mayor of the Village of Woodbury. (Everyone should ask Mr. Calore about his new job and its connection to Joel Stern in South Blooming Grove.)
Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathyrn Luciani is up for re-election this Fall. Like Tax Hike Tony (Tony Cardone) in Monroe, Supervisor Luciani’s — hopefully brief — time as Supervisor has included multiple scandals, slandering residents, moving Town Board meetings to a structurally unsafe building, restricting the time residents have to speak at meetings to three minutes, and threatening a frivolous lawsuit with the Village of Woodbury.
Finally, in the November 2024 Village of Woodbury Election, Literal Shit Salesman Tyler Etzel Jr. — who sold ACE Farm out from under his father as part of a backroom deal with local developer Wayne Corts, among others — lost in his bid for a seat on the Woodbury Village Board. The fact that the Orange County Democrats didn’t shoot themselves in the foot by putting Etzel Jr. up for election this Fall as Woodbury’s Orange County Legislature Representative is a small miracle. (It almost happened. The Monroe Gazette played a role in making sure it didn’t. You can thank us by becoming a subscriber.)
With me so far? Because The Village Has Problems Too
Pictured Above: I’ve set the above April 10th, 2025, Woodbury Village Board meeting video to play at 31:16. You’ll hear Mayor Andrew Giacozomma discuss two things. One of them is major. The other is really fucking stupid. We’ll get to both in a moment. But first …
If all Woodbury residents want to fight this ACE Farm annexation, they need to tighten their belts and get serious about enforcement regarding ethics violations.
While nowhere near as bad as the Town of Woodbury, the Village of Woodbury has so far failed to take these seriously. Let’s talk about that briefly.
The Village of Woodbury created an Ethics Board after the Town of Woodbury threw out its old ethics code. The Town did this to allow one of Supervisor Katrhyn Luciani’s children to work at the Animal Shelter, despite public outcry. He is no longer employed, by the way, joining a long list of people who resigned from the Woodbury Animal Shelter under Supervisor Luciani’s pisspoor leadership. Seriously. I invite anyone to go and count the number of resignations and defections from the Town of Woodbury since Kathryn Luciani took on the role of Supervisor.
Now, the Village Ethics Board was given a TON of information on shady behavior concerning both Village Trustee James Freiband and Village Trustee Matthew Fabbro. (Here’s just one example.) Then the Village did nothing with it.
Who you want to blame for that is up to you.
But the fact is, had the Village allowed the Ethics Board to do its work, and given them the power to act, you likely would not have either Trustee Freiband or Trustee Fabbro still on this board and voting to obstruct the Village’s work concerning the ACE Farms annexation request.
The fact that they both continue to serve on this board is a failure on the part of the Village, and a failure on the part of the people of Woodbury to rally and demand that the Ethics Board and Village Board take action against both of them.
But Fabbro and Freiband are not your only problem in the Village.
You also have other stuff, like how this guy is still a member of the Village Planning Board, despite his Facebook posts — since deleted — opening the Village up for lawsuits.
Sorry dude. Hiding your dumbass MAGA loving Facebook posts isn’t good enough. And there are five million people who took to the streets this weekend, including many right here in Orange County, who agree with me. This isn’t about Republicans. Stop with that weak shit. Not all Republicans who voted for Trump are MAGA Nazis. The vast majority of Trump voters are NOT MAGA. It’s safe to say over 70% of Trump Voters are totally normal, good, decent people that just didn’t buy what the Democrats were selling. And you know what? I don’t blame them.
But you know what else is equally true? All those good people just got played. Like this dude:
And right now, America is waking up to the fact that Trump, Elon Musk, JD Vance, Mike Johnson, and local Congressman Mike Lawler duped them. So from this point on, if you are still supporting Trump and MAGA? America is coming for your ass, and that includes a whole lot of Republicans.
That means posting dumbass MAGA shit puts the Village of Woodbury in danger of being sued by real estate developers.
Ones who are smart enough to know that MAGA is an antisemitic movement. And in Woodbury, all you need to do is give someone even a whiff of anti-semitism to allow those real estate developers to win in court. If you are not smart enough to figure that out, that’s a you problem. That shouldn’t be a Village of Woodbury problem. But currently, it is still a Village of Woodbury problem until Tom DeLuca is removed from the Village Planning Board.
Speaking of MAGA: Instead of bringing some new blood and fresh perspective to the Village Board with the upcoming November 2025 election, you know who you’re getting instead? The man who sucked so hard that we got James Freiband in the first place: MAGA Loving CJ Graziano is running for re-election.
I am personally hoping Woodbury gets a third-party candidate to run opposite of Grazaino (the MAGA Republican) and Fabbro (the useless Schumer Democrat. And please let me stress to you, as bad as MAGA is, I do not at all dispute that the Schumer Democrats suck just as hard.
M point here is this: The Village of Woodbury isn’t perfect. And had the Village acted, you might not have the situation that exists right now. With Freiband and Fabbro attempting to obstruct the Village’s best efforts to manage the ACE Farm annexation request. And you would not have a MAGA lover on your Planning Board, posting stuff that could get the Village sued by Haredi developers.
Putting MAGA ahead of Woodbury is going to cost Woodbury everything. If you don’t understand that, or can’t understand that, again, that’s on you. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Consider this your warning. Because the backlash against MAGA is only just beginning, and it’s going to take out absolutely everyone who ever propped up this corrupt, fascist, anti-American movement, including local candidates running for office as Republicans.
But What Do We Know? We’re Just Bloggers, Right CJ Graziano?
Yesterday, despite being just “bloggers”, we broke a story about Monroe Town Highway Superintendent collecting taxpayer money while doing nothing and working for a company that holds contracts with the Town of Monroe.
The next day, Straus News put out a front page ad begging its readers to subsidize their advertising business disguised as a media outlet. Yes. I laughed my ass off when I saw this.
Your choice is clear. You can give your money to Straus News, who runs deceptive ads from the American Chemistry Council without properly labeling them, gives a platform to a local Nazi, Jay Westerveld — with full knowledge of Mr. Westerveld’s wild antisemitic conspiracy theories — and recycles news from their other media outlets that have absolutely nothing to do with Monroe or Woodbury.
Or … You can support us. (Did you see that super cool letter to the editor from Pennsylvania this week in The Photo-News? I don’t know about you, but I absolutely want to know what people in Pennsylvania think in my local newspaper.)
You may not like what we always have to say, but we’ll always do the kind of work Straus News won’t. Like the following about ACE Farm …
Let’s Talk ACE Farm’s Annexation Proposal
The following is the petition sent to the Village of Woodbury, the Town of Woodbury, the Village of Kiryas Joel, and the Town of Palm Tree. In the coming weeks, I’ll have more to share with you. Like the Town and Village of Woodbury, I just got this document.
Right now, here is what I have for you: This is not, officially, the Village of Kiryas Joel asking for annexation. Not according to Village of Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin anyway. He told The Monroe Gazette today, “the village didn't request any annexation, the Annexation petition was submitted to all involved municipalities by private land owners.” (Emphasis added.)
But … That’s also very misleading. How do I know that? Well, this “blogger” likes to do their research.
Elozer Gruber of Acres Road II Holding LLC is the private landowner in question. You can see his name on the documents submitted to the Village and Town of Woodbury.
The thing is … Mr. Gruber was identified by The Times-Herald Record as a representative of Vaad Hakiryah in 2004.
Mr. Gruber isn’t nobody. That’s because Vaad Hakiryah is tied to Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar (the main synagogue in Kiryas Joel.) And with Vaad Hakiryah, Grand Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum makes all the decisions for the Aaronite members of the Satmar community via Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar.
The same way Grand Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum makes all the decisions — alongside other members of Hanhallah (leadership) — for the Village of Kiryas Joel.
So … Yeah. This isn’t quite a group of private landowners making an annexation request.
On paper, Elozer Gruber is a private landowner. But when you start to look into who owns the ACE Farm property, you find that it’s impossible to separate Mr. Gruber from the Village of Kiryas Joel itself.
And there are questions concerning the legality of any annexation requests made by the Village of Kiryas Joel until the end of 2028.
Hey. If I were an enterprising Woodbury resident? I might look into an Establishment Clause lawsuit here, saying the Village of Kiryas Joel technically can’t exist. Therefore, all decisions rendered by it are null and void, including annexation requests like this one. But again, I’m just a simple Country Blogger. What do I know?
Actually, I do know something. If your dumb ass is running for office in Woodbury right now? I’d find a good Constitutional Law attorney. First one to do that wins in a landslide this November. I bet my life on it.
You might have questions.
One of them is, “Isn’t there a court agreement that prevents annexation into the Village of Kiryas Joel until the end of 2028?” Yes. But according to Mr. Szegedin, “The 10 years annexation moratorium that you refer to is limited only to Monroe and Blooming Grove, it's not applicable to Woodbury.”
Is that true? I don’t know at the time of this writing. That’s why I said to you this is a developing story. I had the impression that Judge Marx’s court order applied to Woodbury as much as it did Monroe and Blooming Grove. Now Kiryas Joel is saying that’s not the case. That’s sure convienant.
So, if I was an attorney representing both Woodburys? I would absolutely go back and review that court ruling. I’d also argue that it’s bullshit to claim there’s a distinction between these “private landowners” and the Village of Kiryas Joel itself. Therefore, the Village of Kiryas Joel can play no role in determining whether or not to accept this annexation, unless it’s prepared to demonstrate there is indeed a separation and distinction between Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar and the Village government, which it can’t.
Another question you might have is “What about Orange County Sewer District 1? Wasn’t Kiryas Joel JUST freaking out about South Blooming Grove leasing its excess sewage capacity to Woodbury Common?” Why yes. Kiryas Joel was INDEED freaking out about that. So, if they are concerned about sewage capacity at OCSD1, why are they even considering this annexation request in the first place? That’s probably a question you might want to start asking too. (You might also want to ask why literally none of the people running for office in Woodbury were at the last public hearing concerning the increase in capacity of Orange County Sewer District 1. The Monroe Gazette even wrote a letter for the public hearing. Where was Brandon Calore, Kathryn Luciani, and CJ Graziano on that one?)
So, What Do You Do?
I’m not going to lie to you. I find Woodbury to be very frustrating. You have a small group of people doing all the heavy lifting.
So let me be clear with all of you: You will not survive if that continues.
The Village Board's failure to take ethics issues and lawsuit vulnerabilities seriously? That is going to kill your community.
The ongoing disaster that is Supervisor Luciani, Brandon Calore, and Deputy Supervisor Theresa Luongo running your town board? That’s going to get your community killed.
Letting crappy candidates (both Democrat with Fabbro and Freiband and Republican with Calore and Graziano) run for office? That’s going to get your community killed.
Being lax with the law and how the local police and the Town and Village attorneys enforce it? That’s going to get your community killed.
I could go on. But I hope you get the point. I know some of you do. But man I gotta tell you, when I get an hour long phone call about why I need to support a MAGA Nazi because the local Schumer Democrat sucks? I worry. Because it demonstrates an incapability to think about the bigger picture.
And all of you, and I mean this, all of you need to think about the bigger picture right now.
The bigger picture is this: For fifty years, there has been little to no organized resistance to local real estate developers in Southern Orange County. And I don’t just mean Haredi developers. I mean all local real estate developers like Wayne Corts.
None.
That is a fact.
I know. Because I’ve lived in this community since 1988, and I’ve done the research. So not only have I read about it, but I’ve also lived it.
You got occasional blips like United Monroe. But even United Monroe turned poisonous when Mike Egan and John Allegro took the reins.
If you want to fight this annexation attempt? I demonstrated for you some strategic points — like an Establishment Clause lawsuit — and I’ve demonstrated for you some weaknesses that you need to plug (bad candidates, problematic planning Board members, problematic Town Board members.)
What you need to do is organize and get very loud, very fast. You show up to the Village Board, and you demand those Ethics investigations into Fabbro and Freiband happen, right now.
You demand Tom DeLuca is removed from the Village Planning Board.
You demand that the Village Attorney be aggressive and explore all legal options available, including an Establishment Clause lawsuit. Finish the job that Mike Sussman and others started and break up the Village of Kiryas Joel.
You demand that Supervisor Luciani and Luongo resign for their numerous, numerous, acts of malfeasance, and you make damn well sure Clovewood Kathryn loses so badly this November that she doesn’t even dream of running for New York State Assembly again.
You show up in huge numbers to Twerpy State Senator Skoufis’s office, and you make sure he hears you loud and clear that he doesn’t just represent our Haredi brothers and sisters.
You show up in huge numbers to Chris Eachus’s Assembly office and do the same. And if you got friends in Monroe? You make sure they’re out there campaigning against Eachus’s Chief of Staff, David Rabbitts.
You get your ass out and your protest on the street.
You protest at Town Board meetings.
You protest at Village Board meetings.
You go to Kiryas Joel Village Board meetings and you demand to be heard as it relates to Orange County Sewer District 1. How is it that they’re so concerned about South Blooming Grove using up sewage capacity while simultaneously pushing this annexation?
Those are only some of the things you can and should do.
I will share others.
But I want you to hear me on this. If you choose instead to do what you’re doing, and only get organized during elections, then don’t say we didn’t warn you.
This is a great country. Best place on Earth. But if you don’t fight for it? You get what you get. And what you get are lots of condominiums on that ACE Farm property despite having no sewer and water infrastructure to support it.
You get shitty candidates and shitty people making decisions on your behalf, often to the benefit of real estate developers. Just like in South Blooming Grove.
And if that’s the case? Don’t bother me. Because as a reporter, I did my job. You have to do yours.