Say No to a Sewer Moratorium Exemption for Woodbury Common's Billionaire Owner

OCSD 1 is in disrepair and could be polluting the drinking water for over 2 million people across New York and New Jersey. So why would we expand Woodbury Common and make that situation worse?

This is a super short post concerning tonight’s Village of Woodbury Board of Trustees meeting at 7:30pm.

I suspect I am about to come down with a cold or some other seasonal illness. I’m about 90% sure. So I’ll be back on Monday when it’s over.

Until then …

First, and most importantly, related to the Jennings Creek Fire, which we covered yesterday, here’s how you can help our brave volunteer first responders this evening:

Second, I’m going to share with you the post I made on the Woodbury United Facebook Group, which is only one of two Facebook Groups you should go to for local news for Monroe and Woodbury.

(The other is Preserve Monroe.)

All the other Facebook Groups for these Towns are suss.

Guard your wallets, Woodbury.

Tonight at the Village Board meeting, you'll likely hear from representatives of the local union, Simon Property Group, and Orange County, asking for an exemption from the sewer moratorium for Woodbury Common.

Remember that there is way more going on concerning Orange County Sewer District 1 that the county REFUSES to make public.

When appearing at the Town of Monroe Board meeting this week, OC Legislator Tuohy refused to provide information concerning the dangerous hydrogen sulfide levels at Airplane Park in Monroe.

He said that information from OCSD1 was proprietary, which according to attorneys we spoke with, is BS. Not only is it BS, he previously disclosed that same information to Supervisor Cardone in an email we obtained via FOIL. Meaning he didn't want the public to know.

So, Orange County does not want you to know how bad this situation is with their sewer plant, which is the reason for the moratorium in the first place.

Unless Orange County can protect Woodbury from local lawsuits, lawsuits from New Jersey*, and maybe even a federal lawsuit concerning their negligence involving OCSD1 and its harmful impacts on the Ramapo River, no exemption should be allowed.

* Remember: 2M people across NYS and NJ depend on drinking water from the Ramapo.

So, it's not just local developers who could sue Woodbury if such an exemption is granted.

It's anyone across two states and native people's land that depend on the Ramapo, which OCSD1 could be contaminating right now, due to it being overcapacity and allowing all this building in Southern Orange County to continue.

No exemption should be granted without FULL legal indemnification and without complete public transparency about what’s going on at Orange County Sewer District 1.

Since the latter is not forthcoming, and the former hasn’t been officially offered, tell Woodbury Common to take a hike.

P.S. I come from a proud Union family going back to my great-grandfather. But I also know that, sometimes, Union leaders don’t speak for Union membership.

So you may hear tonight about all these great (temporary) jobs that the Common expansion will bring, but you likely won’t hear from Union members who’s lives will be impacted both in terms of what an expanded Woodbury Common means in terms of traffic, safety, and the environment.

Between last year’s historic flooding of our region and this year’s Jennings Creek Fire, it’s time we put the health and safety of all people first.