Short Notes on Monroe-Woodbury Village & Town Business For The Week of 2/16
-I filed an ethics complaint against Town of Monroe Supervisor Tony Cardone. The complaint covers:
Aiding Councilwoman Dorey Houle in her campaign for a State Senate seat using his position as Town Supervisor.
Trying to get me fired from The Photo-News and disparaging my reporting at a Town meeting on December 5th
Bullying and harassing Councilwoman Richardson (including having the town secretary call village police on her), and restricting the activity of his fellow board members through the use of liaison committee assignments, often making assignments without discussion or input from the council members he’s assigning.
-I’m still trying to get the audio of those phone calls from the Village of Monroe police department. Yesterday I was told they needed to redact personal identifying information in the calls before they can be released. I’ll follow-up on Monday and see if they were successful in doing that.
-Speaking of ethics complaints, I was at the Woodbury Town Board meeting last night. I got my car back late and wasn’t sure if I’d make it in time. I got there a little late but made sure to sit right next to Mr. Keller, who refused to reply to requests for comments until I attended one of these meetings.
I’ll try to be at as many Woodbury Town and Monroe Town Board meetings as possible. I’m going to attend at least one Village of Woodbury meeting, if only to experience what was described to me by one Woodbury resident last night as, “Councilman Friedband’s outright disdain for the people who elected him.”
During the Town Board meeting I asked them about #KittenGate. I did not receive a response. No surprise there. Again, I want to stress: Accidents happen. I totally get that. But the thing about accidents is that if you don’t learn from them and make changes, it’ll happen again. I just want to know what the Board plans to do to improve safety at the Animal Shelter for the animals being kept there while they await adoption. I don’t think that’s unreasonable, nor something that would require an attorney to answer (which I suspect will happen the next time I or someone else asks.)
Updated 2/17: I spoke with Supervisor Luciani about the situation and she was able to answer my questions about what happened. One thing I want to highlight is that everyone agrees the situation was terrible, and traumatic for the people who were there when it happened. So I understand the Board’s reluctance to go into details at the meeting, and the Supervisor acknowledged that what they could have said was that a statement was issued on the Animal Control website. I appreciate her reaching out, and I’ve been told changes have been made at the Shelter to help ensure the safety of the animals hosted there going forward.
- I’ll have a write-up on the rest of the meeting soon. The only real highlight was Councilman Calore’s continued quest to penalize Beautification Chair Maria Hunter for speaking out about the raise Supervisor Luciani got. Last time, he specifically mentioned Beautification in his suggestion that Committee Chairs not present to the public and the Town Board during Town Board meetings. This week, he completely derailed the function of the Town Board to specifically call out the budget for Beautification and suggested it be reduced. This then required the Town Clerk to help steer the entire board back on track in terms of its operations for the evening.
Listen, I get it. This job is not easy. I don’t fault the Town Board here. I fault Calore for his pettiness obstructing the flow and operation of the meeting. By the way: Calore is rumored to be running for Town Supervisor. So his apparent vindictiveness here should be noted for consideration among potential voters when the time comes. When I asked Maria Hunter if she was being singled out by the Town Board, she responded with an emphatic “Yes.”
-In great news for geese: The Animal Protection League of New Jersey heard back from the Village of Monroe Mayor, and they have agreed to do a site visit. The visit will be held on March 19th, 2024 at 11:30am with the Wildlife Mitigation Team meeting the mayor at Village Hall. If I’m around I will see if I can tag along. My hope is that the Village can begin implementing similar tactics to what Edgewater did to help steer geese away from the ponds. Honestly, I think we should leave the geese alone, but the Mayor does not share that opinion. So, hopefully a non-lethal solution is coming for everyone’s favorite (or least, depending on who you ask) feathered residents.
-There was a change to Orange County’s congressional district lines announced yesterday. I’m still not able to confirm what parts of southern Orange County now fall into Molinaro’s district. Monroe and Woodbury are not impacted. You can see the new map here on Page 22. It looks like the 18th District was extended to include Woodstock and Saugerties. It’s a little confusing with the way the map is presented.
-Senator Skoufis successfully got a bill signed into law that would examine the $10 billion spent each year by New York State in the form of corporate subsidies and tax breaks. It’s a nearly 400 page document, but the audit of those subsidies how now been completed. The question now is whether or not the subsidies that are useless can be cut so that the money can be spent elsewhere on things people actually need. You know, like reliable train service east of the Hudson River?
Oh! Speaking of. Congressman Pat Ryan will be in Cornwall on Saturday. I spoke with his communications director and will try to get some questions answered by the Congressman. Specifically, I want to know if he can get the $277 million needed for the Port Jervis line through the use of a congressional earmark. If you plan on attending the event, you can ask him the same question. The event will be at Cornwall-on-Hudson’s Village Hall: 325 Hudson Street on February 17th at 1:30pm.
And finally, speaking of our congressional representatives … If you’ve been to the Monroe Shoprite lately, you’ll notice you’re paying more for the same items you’ve been buying. And in some cases, those items may be smaller than usual. Fun fact: It’s not just inflation causing this, but corporate greed.
If you’re fed up with high prices at the grocery store, you can ask both Congressman Ryan and Congressman Molinaro to support the Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2024. Don’t let anyone fool you. This isn’t a political issue or somehow President Biden’s fault. The price hikes hitting all of us is caused by corporate greed. We can do something about it.