Tell Me When Your Grandmother Is Dead: A South Blooming Grove Story (Part 2)
Today we look at how the Village of South Blooming Grove Planning Board operates in such a way that endangers the public ... and the bats.
Pictured Above: The Indiana Bat is an endangered species and is protected under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. Unfortunately, developers and village officials in South Blooming Grove act as if they’re above federal law, putting the bat (and everyone else) in danger.
You can read part one of this story here.
Behind Nana’s home at 7 San Marcos is 13 Galveston Drive in the Village of South Blooming Grove. A house that did not exist on any Village documentation until after it was finished and ready for sale.
And that home also happens to have a retaining wall that keeps it from sliding down the hill and right into Nana’s house.
It’s not known at this time who reviewed, approved, and supervised the construction of this retaining wall or whether or not it is up to code. Nor is it known who received the contract to build this home and whether or not that building was in compliance with numerous local and state regulations.
13 Galveston is, unfortunately, a real case study for how things work now in with the South Blooming Grove Planning Board.
But how did we get here?
Why Mayor James LoFranco Had To Go
Pictured above: From right to left: Hershey Lowy, Meir Berkavitch, Isaac Ekstein, Mayor James LoFranco, Shabti Mizrahi, and Moshe Halpern. The former mayor and Ekstein are in the center, with Lo Franco holding a beer. Source: Ivelt.com
1 Roanoke Drive LLC was created on June 23rd, 2017 and registered to 40 Virginia Avenue in Monroe. And if that address sounds familiar, that’s because it’s owned by paid village employee, and founder of the local hate group, Isaac Ekstein.
As far as Orange County is concerned, 1 Roanoke Drive is currently owned by Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar — which is the name of the flagship congregation for hanhallah, Aaron Teitelbaum.
David Ekstein is the president of Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar in Kiryas Joel.
Isaac Ekstein is the president of Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar in Blooming Grove.
At this time, I cannot confirm if the two are related or not, but you can probably draw your own conclusions.
The home at 1 Roanoke Drive was sold to 1 Roanoke Drive LLC (Isaac Ekstein) in July of 2017 by Dudley E Thorpe for $350,000.
Then, Isaac Ekstein, through his LLC, sold the building for $0 on April 15th, 2019, to David Ekstein’s Congregation Yetev Lev D' Satmar in Kiryas Joel.
On October 9th, 2021, not long after Local Law 1 of 2021 was passed by Stern and Ekstein, David Ekstein sold 1 Roanoke Drive back to Isaac Ekstein’s Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar of Blooming Grove for $0.
If you’ll recall, Local Law 1 of 2021 allowed for a special permitting process for schuls that only required a vote by the Village Board to approve. Any other religion’s house of worship would need to go before the Village Planning Board and be subjected to a separate and less transparent process.
And once again, I’ll tell you all, this is a violation of the Establishment Clause and will probably wind up before the Supreme Court some day.
Congregation Yetev Lev D Satmar of Blooming Grove Inc. is registered to Isaac Ekstein’s home at 40 Virginia Avenue. It has the EIN #88-0675258.
Elsewhere on Roanoke Drive is 5 Roanoke Drive LLC, which lists 10 Roanoke Drive as its owner. 10 Roanoke Drive’s owner is Lazar Schwimmer, whom I promise we will talk about soon. Mr. Shwimmer and Moche Halpern (pictured above) are Blooming Hill Realty and own many properties in the area. Mr. Lazar Schwimmer may also be related to Mendel Schwimmer, whom we’ve discussed, is a shareholder in Keen Equities.
14 Roanoke LLC lists its owner’s address at 541 NY RT 17M in Monroe, a former Suzuki dealership.
Remember 31 Hazen LLC? Clay M Evall purchased 31 Hazen in Cornwall, and then sold it to Rachel Guttman for a $1.
Rachel Guttman, as previously reported, is basically a ghost.
She does, however, appear in a court case against the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene of New York City. In that lawsuit, Mrs. Guttman is listed as living in Brooklyn, and is said to have strong opinions about vaccinations. (Maybe she’ll vote for the candidate of choice for antivaxxers, Dorey Houle, this Fall?)
Mrs. Guttman’s Brooklyn address is also attached to the many properties in Orange County that link back to her. So, yes, we will discuss Mrs. Guttman in a future post as well.
What’s worth noting today, briefly, is that at some point after the purchase of 14 Roanoke, the ownership of the home was transferred to a new corporation, 31 Hazen LLC.
And if you recall, the mailing address tied to 31 Hazen brings us back to our friends at 412 North Main Street in the Village of Monroe and the unregistered, illegal, yeshiva operating out of 44 Greycourt Road.
(The Village of Monroe does not have a complete list of companies operating inside of this building, but I have suggested they make one. Hopefully sooner rather than later.)
31 Hazen LLC has PO BOX 325 in Harriman registered to it in the Department of State’s records. But. According to Orange County, whomever listed ownership of the home also included 412 North Main Street, which is not a post office in Harriman, but a series of businesses that all link back to what’s happening in South Blooming Grove.
One of those businesses is Ark Mortgage, where a Shulem Ekstein works. Whether or not Shulem Ekstein is related to Isaac and David Ekstein is unknown at this time.
So, 541 RT 17M, LLC also uses PO BOX 325 in Harriman, which is how I connected it back to 14 Roanoke LLC.
And yes, so far, the Town of Blooming Grove and Washingtonville School District have yet to shut down those yeshivas, despite the danger posed to the children attending it.
The Washingtonville Superintendent, Dr. Larry Washington, has not yet replied to numerous emails and phone calls requesting comment. On this specific issue, neither has Blooming Grove Town Supervisor Robert C. Jeroloman.
On August 1st, 2019, and after being pressured by The Village Board to act, Mayor LoFranco took legal action against numerous zoning violations happening at Isaac Ekstein’s 1 Roanoke Drive. You can read the official complaint here.
Mr. Ekstein, along with hate group co-founder Joel Stern, responded to this legal action by mounting a campaign to replace not only LoFranco, but the entire Village Board and Planning Board.
When interviewed in 2021 by The Times-Herald Record about the change, Ekstein said, "We were nice enough for the last five years not to sue the village.”
This was said in direct reference to the legal action surrounding the zoning violations at 1 Roanoke Drive, which Mr. Ekstein owned.
The Times Herald Record added, “They [Stern and Ekstein] also argued the village has violated federal law since its founding by stripping houses of worship from its zoning – a synagogue-blocking omission that they said would soon be fixed.”
Another reference to 1 Roanoke Drive.
So, here, one could argue that the Village Board and Village Planning Board were replaced by hanhallah because of the actions taken against Ekstein’s 1 Roanoke Drive.
Upon taking control of the Village, Ekstein then had a law passed that he directly benefitted from with his congregation.
That wouldn’t be the last time this happened.
Presently 1 Roanoke Drive has business before the Village Planning Board, which you can see here.
Conveniently, after the most recent News 12 Story involving the water trucks filling wells in South Blooming Grove broke — and despite the Village telling the Orange County Department of Health it was no longer doing this — both the Village Board meeting and Village Planning Board meeting where 1 Roanoke Drive was to be discussed was cancelled.
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus’s office refuses to let me speak with the Orange County Department of Health, and as of press time, has also not answered questions about the numerous violations the Village of South Blooming Grove finds itself in involving the water crisis.
This water crisis includes projects like Isaac Ekstein’s plans to expand Roanoke Drive. This expansion would increase the schul’s water use and also cut into green space the village is legally required to protect.
So, can you understand now why Mayor LoFranco (and the Village Board) had to go?
The Hostile Takeover
Not long after taking office as Mayor of South Blooming Grove, George Kalaj fired every member of the Village Planning Board. With two, sort of, exceptions, Kalaj filled the planning board with people that had no experience on matters that would come before the board. The two, sort of, exceptions were previously alternate members of the planning board.
Think of alternate members of a planning board as your average Mets bench player. They take up space and don’t do much unless they’re needed. So, like a Daniel Vogelbach or a John Mayberry Jr. Or a Marverlous Marv Throneberry.
When was the last time you saw someone reference Marverlous Marv Throneberry?
The new members appointed by Kalaj to the Planning Board were Solomon Weiss, Abraham Klepner, Yoel Ungar, Simon Schwartz, and Raleem Broadhead-Moses. (Schwartz and Broadhead-Moses were originally alternates.)
For reasons I’m about to share with you, the Town of Blooming Grove should request the ethics committee investigate Simon Schwartz and have him removed as Councilman. You can copy and paste, and then send, a letter to Blooming Grove Town Supervisor about this issue here.
The Kalaj appointees were nearly all white, and almost entirely men. And as you might have guessed, the majority represented members of Aaron Teitelbaum’s congregation.
When it comes to local government, it’s hard to overstate the power of the Planning Board. It’s sort of like the power imbalance that exists between the three branches of the Federal Government. Yeah, the Executive Branch is the boss, but Congress works for the corporations people, and the Judicial Branch has all the power.
When it comes to most local governments, the Planning Board has all the power. That’s because everything that could be built — like expanding one of the world’s largest outdoor shopping malls and not forcing one of the world’s wealthiest companies to pay for a train station — goes to the Planning Board first.
And those Planning Boards have to adhere to strict rules and procedures. But like the Supreme Court, it’s often easy to bribe the members.
Now, I have to state something here. According to the NYS Department of State Division of Local Government Services, you can’t just arbitrarily fire members of the Planning Board.
The NYS Oath of Office reads, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of [Planning Board Member], according to the best of my ability.”
Governing boards have the authority to remove members for “cause,” such as failure to attend meetings; reoccurring inappropriate behavior, failure to fulfill training requirements set by the municipality; or because of a State or local ethics violation. A member cannot be removed merely because the mayor or town board is unhappy with his or her voting record on the board. The governing board of the municipality must hold a public hearing before removing a member for cause. [Emphasis Added]
As of this writing, I am not sure if the previous members of The Village Planning Board fought back against Kalaj’s decision to remove all of them. I am currently looking into this.
I will point out two things though:
Planning Board members swear an oath to uphold the federal and state constitutions, which both have Establishment Clauses.
As we’ve seen elsewhere on The Monroe Gazette, when you don’t have an ethics board, or have a corrupt one, and you have a voting bloc take over a governing board like in Monroe with Supervisor Tony Cardone, the people represented by these local municipalities have little, if any, recourse to protect themselves.
Your only option is to go to court. That’s easier said than done when your opposition is a multibillion dollar real estate enterprise disguised as a religious sect with deep ties to New York State’s Democratic party and its Congressman.
Despite State Senator James Skoufis trying to take credit for the intervention of the New York State Comptroller’s office in South Blooming Grove, the Comptroller only got involved last month, in March of 2024. This followed resident complaints involving the attempted creation of an illegal garbage district and second garbage pickup by Marangi Waste Management.
It was the residents that got the Comptroller’s office involved, not the Senator.
Since the appearance of the Comptroller’s office, it has been alleged that box trucks appeared at Village Hall shortly after midnight. Those box trucks were filled with documents and other government material, and brought over to the hate group’s headquarters at 29 Merriewold Lane South.
Then, Confidential Assistant to the Mayor, and paid village employee, Joel Stern was spotted moving boxes from the truck and into the UJC’s headquarters. I have reached out to the Comptroller’s office about this allegation.
A second anonymous source also confirmed that Village business is often conducted at the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove headquarters at 29 Merriewold Lane.
It’s worth reminding readers again that Isaac Ekstein is the president of this organization, and Joel Stern is a founder and board member.
So, for those of you wondering why recent Village Planning Board meetings and Village Board meetings have been cancelled, it’s likely they’re being held over at the UJC behind closed doors. This is especially concerning since Isaac Ekstein’s 1 Roanoke Drive project currently has business before the Planning Board.
This source added that Tom Shepstone, the Village Planner, is the one who let this slip, accidentally confirming that the Village Planning Board meets at the UJC without the public present. So Village of South Blooming Grove residents are encouraged to question Mr. Shepstone about this, should there ever be another Board meeting conducted publicly.
Ok. But What About The Bats?
Pictured above: The backyard of Nana’s home. On the other side of the fence is debris created from the construction of 13 Galveston Drive, a home that was never approved for construction.
Before we can get to the Bats and 13 Galveston Drive, we have to discuss the CDRC Committee. CDRC stands for the Community Design Review Committee, and it consists of members of both the Planning Board and the Village Board. In the case of South Blooming Grove, Mr. Joel Stern of the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove (where Mr. Ekstein is the president) is also a member of this committee.
According to the Village of South Blooming Grove’s previous administration, the purpose of a CDRC meeting was “to provide prospective applicants with an opportunity to discuss a land development proposal on an informal basis with Planning and Village Board members as well as technical and/or legal advisors when necessary.”
However, once the hostile takeover was complete, The Village of South Blooming Grove announced changes to the CDRC procedure via The Blooming Grove Report. Which, I’ll remind you, is an official Village communication.
Pictured Above: An issue of The Blooming Grove Report that confirms, via photo, Village business being done at the UJC outside of the public’s purview.
You know what the CDRC is supposed to discuss at their meetings? New York State and Village laws, which include the potential for SEQRA (the State Environmental Quality Review Act.)
And as part of this SEQRA process, people looking to build, and the Village officials advising them, are supposed to discuss whether or not that building would impact endangered wildlife, which would include the Indiana Bat and the Northern Long-eared Bat.
Upon recommendation from the CDRC, a project would then move before The Village Planning Board. As I was told from a source familiar with how The Village of South Blooming Grove operated before the takeover, the applicant would submit the paperwork to the Village. Depending on the project size, it may or may not need to go before the Planning Board. The more extensive the project, the more likely the Planning Board would be involved. During this time, the Village Attorney would review the project as well.
(And yes, we will be talking about the dubious qualifications of the former Rockland County judge turned South Blooming Grove Village attorney, Scott Ugell, real soon.)
Afer this review, the Planing Board would review and determine if SEQRA is needed. In the case of South Blooming Grove, given the presence of the Indiana Bat and the Northern-Long Eared Bat, the answer to whether or not SEQRA was needed was usually yes.
According to DEC Guidance, from November 1st to March 31st, cutting down trees within five miles of where the bats can be found during this time is prohibited.
The Planning Board would then need to determine if a Public Hearing and Public Notice was needed, as well as whether or not the project would need to get a variance from the Zoning Board. This process would go back and forth until the project was ready for review by the Planning Board.
Once the Planning Board approved the project, it would go before the Village Board for final approval.
That Brings Us Back To 16 Galveston
16 Galveston was sold by Diane Menck on January 13th, 2021 to 16 Galveston LLC for $385,000.
16 Galveston LLC is registered to New York’s State Department to 2 Taitch Court, Unit 202, in Monroe. This address has had multiple owners, but during the time of the transaction, it was owned by Israel Brull’s company, Michoul Inc.
Like most of the LLCs and other corporations in Southern Orange County, Michoul Inc. has a Brooklyn-based address of 216 Rutledge Street, Brooklyn, NY, 1211.
216 Rutledge Street is owned by Congregation Beth Yeshaye where Shimon Holtzman is the treasurer.
On May 19th, 2022, 16 Galveston LLC sold the home and land for $0 to Yitzchok Stein, who told Orange County he resides at 19 Karlsburg Rd Unit 201 in Monroe. But according to Orange County, 19 Karlsburg Rd. Unit 201 is owned by Rachel Israel.
It’s possible since May of 2022 that Stein sold the condo to Rachel Israel, but there is no record of that transaction in Orange County’s database.
The database is also limited concerning information for some places in Kiryas Joel, such as D A Weider Boulevard, which is where Mr. Stein is said to live. Mr. Stein is the CEO of Ideal Design.
On January 19th, 2023, there is a meeting of the South Blooming Grove Planning Board. Here is what is said about 16 Galveston Road from the meeting’s minutes:
[Thomas J.]Shepstone explained that the applicant in this case proposed to add a dwelling unit to an existing 1,530 square feet footprint two-story dwelling in the RB Residence, which provides for the Planning Board to establish yards during the subdivision process, which is what is effectively occurring in this instance by the creation of a second dwelling unit.
It was noted the CDRC [Community Design Review Committee] had reviewed the project and recommended the following: “Because this is a corner lot with two large front yards of 40 feet there is plenty of open space on the lot. There is also an existing dwelling with a building line for the attached deck and patio that extends to approximately 25 feet of the rear lot line. It is standard zoning practice to allow non-conforming structures to be extended along existing building lines. Therefore, although CDRC recommends 40 feet minimum rear yards in most instances, the unique situation in this one indicates a 25 feet rear yard is adequate and this is recommended to the Planning Board.”
Shepstone also reviewed comments from the Village Engineer [Al Fusco] who concurred with the CDRC recommendation, During discussion, this was clarified to state the rear yard should conform to the existing line of development (including deck/patio). Solomon Weiss moved to approve this rear yard determination, subject to the Village Engineer’s recommendations. This motion was seconded by Simon Schwarz and unanimously carried. [Emphasis Added]
So, to be clear, at no point is there mention of the creation of a second, multifamily home, just a “dwelling unit” attached to 16 Galveston, which you can see an architectural rendering here.
This is also the only time that 16 Galveston appears before the Planning Board. It is not clear at this time if 16 Galveston was approved by the Village Board.
There is no mention of either the Indiana Bat or Northern Long-Eared Bat in this discussion, or the discussion document presented to the Village by the CRDC; even though the bats are known to inhabit the area, and both are endangered.
There is also no mention of constructing a second, multi-family home, which is now 13 Galveston. You can see the construction of which, happening on Thanksgiving, in November of 2023. 8 months after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s ruling that the Northern Long-eared Bat was an endangered species, and weeks into the period of time when construction is prohibited in areas where the bats reside.
In part three of this story, we’ll discuss the San Marcos subdivision surrounding Nana’s home and how that came to be.