FOIL-Palooza Comes to Blooming Grove Town & Village

I also made a stop at the Town of Blooming Grove Police Department to obtain a VERY interesting phone call ...

I don’t know how many of you have seen “Space Balls.” But there’s a scene in the movie where Rick Moranis’s Dark Helmet asks, “How many assholes do we have on this ship?” and then virtually everyone raises their hand.

That’s often how I feel about some of our local politicians. Especially after reading the tips you send in.

And just a reminder: Send tips to BJMendelson@Duck.com please. If you send them on Facebook, it’s hard for me to keep track and reply once I’ve followed-up for you.

A few examples of asshole behavior, all of which I’m currently investigating …

-The alleged backroom deal with representatives from Palm Tree / Kiryas Joel where the Ace Farms property was basically offered in exchange for votes.

-The one person in Monroe attempting to alter zoning outside of their jurisdiction in order to directly benefit a wealthy real estate developer named Lipa Deutsch.

-The jokers in Chester who used to run the Town and are now doing everything they can to make life miserable for Supervisor Holdridge, despite him doing EXCELLENT work on behalf of all of Chester’s residents. For example: Passing the recent building moratorium.

I share all of this with you because their behavior can be frustrating and overwhelming to follow. The lack of a local news media basically allows for this stuff to happen. Plus there was a Supreme Court case in 2016 that watered down the ability of agencies like the FBI to prosecute corrupt politicians.

So, let me share with you today what this particular local news reporter got into over in Blooming Grove.

Village of South Blooming Grove

This was my first stop. I have zero expectation of the Village following through on my FOIL requests, so I am sharing with you here everything I requested on Wednesday afternoon so you know I at least asked for it:

-All email sent from Mr. Joel Stern, Confidential Assistant to the Mayor to the following parties: Congressman Pat Ryan and any/all employees tied to Ryan’s office.

-All emails sent from Mr. Joel Stern to The New York State Department of Transportation

-All emails sent from Mr. Stern to Orange County Department of Public Works concerning construction of a road through Gonzaga Park.

-All emails sent from Mr. Stern concerning Local Law 1 of 2021 with Orange County officials. (This is the one that basically let anyone in the Village claim their home as a place of worship.)

-All email communications between Mayor George Kalaj and Joel Stern between 2017 and 1/1/24 as Mayor Kalaj had identified Mr. Stern as his “campaign manager” on multiple occasions to the media.

-All emails sent from Mr. Joel Stern concerning Route 208 Holdings LLC. This, I believe, is the building Mr. Stern was photographed in with Congressman Pat Ryan that Stern had bragged about to Mid-Hudson News.

-All emails from Mr. Joel Stern to Attorney General Letitia James’s office and District Attorney Hoovler’s office.

(On a related note: I’m about to foil information from DA Hoovler concerning Mr. Stern, Clovewood, and the alleged instance of voter fraud that occurred in 2021. that I told you about the other day.)

-All emails sent and received by Mr. Joel Stern to Simon Gelb, Clovewood Developer

I also requested …

-Property records: Information concerning all land and buildings owned or leased in South Blooming Grove by Mosdes Hatorah Vhachinuch of Blooming Grove Inc., Rapid Care Inc., United Jewish Community of South Blooming Grove, Rapid Properties LLC, Preferred Estates Realty LLC, and Five Star Medical Group Inc. These are all organizations either owned or co-owned by Mr. Joel Stern, a paid village employee since 2021.

-All documents pertaining to the creation, cause, and reason related to the Village’s Water Restrictions as well as current status of the water restrictions as of 3/1/24

-Campaign and election disclosure forms filed by Mayor George Kalaj in 2020 and 2022 Mayoral campaigns

-Any/All documentation including emails from Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein related to meeting with Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin in December of 2021. This is the meeting where Stern and others successfully lobbied for Governor Hochul to veto a bill that would have placed a tax on local real estate purchases in order to help preserve the local environment.

Kind of important to do when a lot of people have BROWN DRINKING WATER don’t you think?

And of course:

-DEIS, FEIS, and all environmental documentation related to Clovewood and Keen Equities LLC. None of this information in a complete form is available online. That seems deeply problematic given the numerous DEC violations.

Town of Blooming Grove

I also stopped into Town Hall and requested the following items via FOIL:

-All documents pertaining to the water shortage - When it started, why it started, and what the current status of the water situation is as of 3/1/24

-Like South Blooming Grove, I also requested all information concerning properties owned by, or leased to, Mr. Joel Stern and his various business enterprises (the LLCs listed above.)

And finally …

Town of Blooming Grove Police Department

I missed something the other day in that epic post about Mr. Joel Stern. It involves an incident that’s part of a lawsuit between him and other parties.

In March 2023, Mr. Stern, according to the legal complaint, called the Town of Blooming Grove Police department to kick people out of a building/company that he may or may not own.

So, a village employee, called the Town police, to allegedly evict people from a business and building that he potentially does not own.

The complaint goes on to allege that Mr. Stern was fraudulently misrepresenting that he now lawfully owned the building and business to the police and to the business’s employees. This, should not come as any surprise given everything else so far revealed about Mr. Stern.

So, like any good reporter, I went to the police department and requested the documents. This includes incident report, notes, and other material involving Mr. Stern’s request to kick the employees and business owner out of their own building. An act that led that business to then hire its own security services to keep Mr. Stern away.

I have also requested the phone call Mr. Stern made to the Town of Blooming Grove Police, which I will share with you if I can get it.

Because I think you should hear an unelected, village employee calling the police to commit a potentially fraudulent action.

That’s the kind of guy I am.

Just ask Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone.

Boy did he sound stupid in that call (and I still think Councilwoman Richardson should have pressed charges over Cardone making false statements to the police, but that’s just my opinion on the matter.)

More for you soon.

Thank you for hanging with me while I sift through the mount of information I’m currently gathering for future stories.

There is a lot more on the way.

-BJ