We’re Sorry, We Have Nothing to Offer You at Tonight’s Meeting

South Blooming Grove is the Canary in the Coal Mine for Southern Orange County. This is what happens when people stop showing up to fight.

Dec 07, 2024

Above: A brief Village Board of Trustees meeting in South Blooming Grove was held on December 2nd, 2024. Multiple alterations were made to the final 2025 Budget that was approved at this meeting; almost all of it was done without the public’s knowledge or input. This includes $600,000 budgeted to truck in water through the upcoming year due to de facto Mayor Joel Stern’s repeated failure to address the Village’s municipal water crisis. Stern has spent the last three years routinely blaming the crisis on the “shortcomings of previous administrations.” It’s hard to blame the old guys when you’ve been in power for almost half a decade, but god love the little bastard; Stern keeps trying!

The video above comes courtesy of Preserve Blooming Grove, whom we fully expect to be kicked out of these meetings once Stern and his co-mayor, Yitzcok “Isaac” Ekstein, figure out how to do so legally.

The Village of South Blooming Grove has eliminated public comment at all board meetings, prohibited residents from appearing on the agenda despite their requests to be given time to speak, and moved Village Planning Board meetings to Fridays at 10 a.m. to limit public participation.

Stopping members of the public from filming these meetings is next on their agenda.

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December is the darkest month.

You’re fresh off Thanksgiving and barrelling toward Christmas, Chanukah, and Pearl Harbor Day.

Which is today, by the way. After Pearl Harbor happened, my grandfather, like many men of his generation, rushed to enlist with the Army and battle a clearly definable evil across both oceans. That spirit to fight against people oppressing you has been almost entirely replaced by chasing likes and imaginary friends on the Internet. Don’t feel too bad. We had that same fighting spirit after 9/11, but George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden all managed to bungle two unnecessary and costly wars, and lied to the American people about it every step of the way for nearly twenty years.

I often wonder what America would have been like had we gone to Afghanistan, killed Bin Laden, and left, like we had the chance to do in 2002, but we blew it. Big time.

Here’s one thing I do know: I would not so happily associate myself with anyone involved in the American leadership of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as our Corrupt County Executive, Steve Neuhaus, just did.

December means it’s a little quiet around these parts. That’ll be the case for the rest of the month while I work with the attorney to chase up some outstanding FOIL requests. That is how I spent my week, which is why you’re reading this post on a Saturday.

When December comes, things start to shut down regarding local government business for the year. Or if you’re the Village of South Blooming Grove, it becomes time to bury the bodies.

Here’s an example of them doing so, from the November 21st, 2024, Village of South Blooming Grove Planning Board meeting:

Listen to how the Unethical Mr. Tom Shepstone attempts to close all the open public hearings and downplay the impact of each of these huge projects before the board.

Then, remember that the Village of South Blooming Grove is under investigation by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Orange County Department of Health concerning not having enough water and sewage to provide their residents.

Crooked County Executive Steve Neuhaus is too busy hanging around with David Petraeus to say or do anything about this. Although based on how Petraeus disastrously managed things in Iraq and Afghanistan, Neuhaus’s management of Orange County now makes total sense when you think about it.

The Orange County Department of Health and the New York State DEC have already played their cards and revealed themselves to be corrupt and ineffective in responding to the needs of South Blooming Grove residents. (Those are both Democrats and Republicans, for people who like to keep score. The Democrats run the New York State government, the Corrupt County Executive, Steve Neuhaus, and his crony friends are all Republicans. Proving once again that when it comes to screwing over the working class, that’s something that has 100% bipartisan support from both parties.)

Unfortunately, despite the need for federal intervention, many Southern Orange County residents also voted for Donald Trump last month, meaning the EPA will likely not intervene to save the Village of South Blooming Grove either.

I could be wrong. Let’s all hope I am.

After reading this post, someone will shout at me on the Facebook Grievance Machine, “Why are you making this political?”

And they’ll say that because you can’t even begin to say anything negative about Trump without the grievance machine going into high gear. They’ve successfully built an alternate reality world where any criticism of Trump is an attack on their own identity and not a comment or criticism of his policy, which is what I’m usually referring to when I mention the guy.

That’s going to be a major problem for everyone going forward when this guy is president and has a supermajority across the courts and both houses of Congress.

I mean, unless some of you secretly like living in a Thugocracy like Russia and Hungary. In which case, the Proud Boys meet in Woodbury, and if you want to know where, you can email me at BJMendelson@Duck.com and I can tell you. (Honestly, I’d like to let everyone know so we can arrange a boycott, but there are lawyers still reviewing whether or not I can publish that story. Here’s what I can tell you about the Proud Boys in Woodbury, and this comes straight from the FBI:

“Generally speaking, the FBI focuses on individuals who commit or intend to commit violence and criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security. We can never open an investigation based solely on protected First Amendment activity. Membership in a domestic group alone is never a sufficient basis for an investigation. However, we investigate when someone crosses the line from expressing beliefs to violating federal law. As always, we encourage members of the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement. Tips or complaints relating to federal crimes and threats to national security can be submitted to the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI, or online at tips.fbi.gov.”

Let’s leave that one aside for now and get back on track …

When it comes to the EPA, you cannot count on them to help you with South Blooming Grove. That is literally Trump’s stated policy concerning the EPA. He wants fewer rules and regulations, not more. It’s not political when it’s fact. And a whole lot of people are going to need to come to terms with the fact that, while the Democrats do indeed suck, Trump isn’t going to save you either.

You’re going to have to save yourselves, which is the main point of today’s post.

(Video Courtesy of Preserve Blooming Grove.)

Now, you and I know that Mr. Shepstone is doing something questionably legal here at these meetings.

So much so that, from now on, Friday mornings will be when the Village Planning Board meets. No more pesky questions from Village residents when they’re all at work, you know?

The new start time will be at 10 am beginning with the December 20th Planning Board meeting.

These Friday morning meetings, and Mr. Shepstone rapidly approving projects — such as Capital Hill, despite there being no evidence of a well to sustain all that new housing, let alone meet the current water demands of the Village — will continue until someone does something about it.

Yes. I know. Some people are doing something about it. For example:

I’m involved in an Article 78 with the Village, and they will attempt to delay that lawsuit every day between now and when I start collecting Social Security. Assuming Social Security still exists when I turn 65. At this point, thanks to Elon Musk and Trump’s proposed plan to cut $2T from the federal government’s budget, it’s doubtful.

The purpose of my Article 78 is to obtain the documents Mr. Joel Stern is hiding from the public regarding the ongoing hydrogen sulfide issue his village is causing in Monroe. Mr. Stern had direct knowledge of the problem as far back as 2021, and despite this knowledge, proceeded to not only make the problem worse, but use the potential for any possible solution as a bargaining chip with Orange County to get a road built that’d enrich the property values of the people he works for.

What a guy.

In 2025, we will spend a lot of time on the hydrogen sulfide issue and other issues related to Orange County Sewer District 1.

Right now, we’re quickly approaching the six-month mark from when the first FOIL was filled with Orange County relating to the issue. I’ve been in touch with County Attorney Mr. Richard Golden, to see if we can hurry things along without having to sue, but sue we will if we are given no choice in the matter.

We also just dropped a FOIL Bomb on the Town of Monroe relating to what Supervisor Tony Cardone knew about a poisonous gas endangering the children playing at Airplane Park — not to mention the commuters waiting around for the Shortline bus across the street from The Depot like yours truly — and when he knew it.

If the Town attempts to block that FOIL, much like they’ve tried to block the FOIL request concerning Mr. Cardone’s emails with City of Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin, we will see them in court, too.

No more covering up public health emergencies on our watch.

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Then you have Mr. Madeira, who is suing South Blooming Grove over violating his rights, not yours, and not, you know, suing to stop any of these projects like Capital Hill.

That’s the project I just told you about that Mr. Shepstone is attempting to ram through on de facto South Blooming Grove Mayor Joel Stern’s behalf.

We know Mr. Shepstone is doing this because, just prior to Mr. Shepstone talking up the Capital Hill Project on November 21st, Mr. Stern put out a press release on Ivelt.com celebrating the announcement of his financial backer, Avraham Bur Jackobowitz, finally getting his project approved.

Mr. Strern and Mr. Ekstein continue to pretend that non-Haredi community members cannot access or read what’s being posted on Ivelt.com, most likely by one or both of them, but we definitely can. I don’t think some of the movers and shakers in the Haredi world have figured out just how good Google Translate is now, and that pretty much anyone can download the app on their phone and screenshot posts on Ivelt.com or articles from The KJ Weekly.

The old days of thinking business could be conducted outside the eyes and ears of “the goyim” are over.

Unfortunately, you must be a village resident to stop the development in South Blooming Grove.

I can and likely will sue everyone over the hydrogen sulfide problem: Orange County, the Town of Monroe, and the Village of South Blooming Grove. Only the Village of Monroe has consistently sounded the alarm about this problem on behalf of its residents.

I can do that because I have standing as someone directly impacted by breathing in the hydrogen sulfide while waiting to take a bus from the Village of Monroe to Port Authority several times a week during 2021 and 2022 when Mr. Cardone first became aware of the problem and did nothing to resolve it.

This is in my power to do. Suing to stop what’s happening in South Blooming Grove is not. I don’t have standing to do much else for you.

Alternatively, you, an enterprising South Blooming Grove resident, can petition to have the Village of South Blooming Grove dissolved back into the Town of Blooming Grove.

That’s something I know Town of Blooming Grove Supervisor, Robert Jeroloman, has expressed an openness to discussing, but I can’t be the dude who leads that conversation for you.

South Blooming Grove residents need to take up that conversation, and if any of you plan on sticking around the Village, it’s a conversation you’re going to want to have with him sooner rather than later.

Dissolving South Blooming Grove and folding it into the Town has implications for your tax dollars if you live in South Blooming Grove, and if the dissolution of the Village is not handled appropriately, it could also leave you open to attempts of annexation by the City of Kiryas Joel.

The City of Kiryas Joel is particularly anxious to stop Grand Rebbe Zalman Teitelbaum and his followers (Stern, Ekstein, Jacobowitz, ect.) from limiting the influence of Grand Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum. Annexation is definitely one way they could do that.

Town of Blooming Grove attorney, and someone who has clearly demonstrated himself to be either incompetent or just as unethical as Mr. Tom Shepstone, Brian Nugent, is suing on behalf of the Town of Blooming Grove with their own Article 78. But I don’t think Mr. Nugent can fight his way out from a paper bag, let alone any of the expensive law firms Mr. Stern is going to trot out to greet the Town, so don’t hold your breath on that lawsuit. Or honestly, any legal action taken by the Town against Clovewood, for example.

In fact, if I lived in the Town of Blooming Grove? I’d demand the Town fire Mr. Nugent and his firm. And if the Town Board doesn’t want to do that? Maybe it’s time for some of you living in the Town of Blooming Grove to start discussing changing who represents you in your local government.

Based on the whole thing with the warehouses being proposed for Blooming Grove, some of you might already be having that conversation.

By the way, there is still that group of people I told you about looking to sue over Clovewood. But I don’t know the status of that, and as agreed to with that group, even if I knew the status, I couldn’t tell you what they’re doing.

All I can say with them is that if I hear something, and it’s okay to share with you, I will share it.

But after that?

Well. It’s not a deep bench of people acting against South Blooming Grove. We’ve got a whole lot of talk, but nowhere near the amount of action one would think there would be considering the magnitude of the Clovewood project and the incredibly shaky grounds on which the DEC provided permits to the Village.

For one example: Did you guys know Mr. Joel Stern’s local hate group is trained on how to manage endangered rattlesnakes? That’s what the DEC thinks, and was part of the permit approval for Clovewood.

The DEC also thinks Mr. Stern’s local hate group is actually part of the Village of South Blooming Grove government. A point I want you to remember because it may come up again in the not-too-distant future …

There Is No Cavalry Coming

Think about it: You have a part-time Monroe resident (that’s me), a South Blooming Grove resident interested in his own shit and not yours, and the Town of Blooming Grove suing South Blooming Grove. You also have a small group of residents considering suing over Clovewood.

Ok. You also have, routinely, people attending South Blooming Grove meetings who live in Blooming Grove and Washingtonville, but …

That’s your calvary.

There are not many actual South Blooming Grove residents showing up to these things. It’s great that residents in the surrounding area are concerned. They should be. What’s happening in South Blooming Grove will be their problem next.

But again: Where are the South Blooming Grove residents themselves?

The ones I know all say they’re moving. It’s just a matter of time. And you know something? I don’t blame them.

The Village itself, State Senator James G. Skoufis (Democrat), Assemblyman Brian Maher (Republican), the Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (Democrat), the DEC, the Department of Health, Crooked County Executive Steve Neuhaus (Republican), Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler (Republican), and the Governor herself, Kathy Hocul (Democrat), have all sold these people out.

Go ahead and ask New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli how many times he’s listed South Blooming Grove in his weekly newsletter concerning all the ongoing audits he’s done. The answer is zero. The office of the Comptroller has been so quiet about this audit, that The Monroe Gazette and News 12 have asked them multiple times to confirm that the audit is still ongoing. As of this writing, yes, it is. But Thomas DiNapoli won’t answer any questions about South Blooming Grove, and he sure doesn’t want people to know that he’s auditing them.

Everyone sold these people out. Everyone. Republican. Democrat. Doesn’t matter. They’re all guilty.

So, yeah. I’d move too.

That said, if you choose to stay, you do have a couple of options. In addition to dissolving the Village, which I already mentioned.

The first is that you have an election coming up in March. Given the amount of voting irregularity during the last South Blooming Grove election — still under investigation by the FBI, according to the New York State Board of Elections — you may have a shot at winning a seat on that board.

It’s been a minute since I looked, but I have the list of every registered voter in South Blooming Grove and it’s about 1,500 people out of 3,000 or so Village residents. If you account for the voter irregularities and report them fast enough, you can probably reshape the outcome of this upcoming election.

So here’s my offer: If you’re a South Blooming Grove resident not named Chris Maderia, and you want to run for office against one of these schmucks on the Village Board, I’ll be your campaign advisor for free.

This is an option and one thing a resident can do to help change things in the Village.

Remember: Mr. Stern had to cheat to win last time. If you know what to look for and report it, he won’t be able to use the same tricks twice.

The other option is that you do nothing.

In that case, I can only ask how that’s working out for you right now?

Do you like all the traffic on Route 208?

Do you like paying $600,000 a year to truck in water from *checks notes* Montgomery now, apparently. (Spindlr Bulk Transport immediately switched from Washingtonville to a bulk water company that was said to be based out of Middletown, but Montgomery is the location, according to the NYS Department of Health. That FOIL request with Washingtonville, by the way, concerning the sale of their water to Spindlr is still ongoing at the time of this writing.)

Look, I get it. The world’s crazy. Everything is evil and shitty, and millions of people have been brainwashed and otherwise lulled into complacency thanks to the same stupid social media platforms I tried to warn you all about back in 2012. And, as mentioned, now you can’t criticize the people in power because now people think the President and his party are somehow connected to their own identity, so an attack on the president — or even just the slightest criticism — is an attack on them.

So much for all those “fuck your feelings” lawn signs, huh? Because now it’s all about their feelings and little else.

You can’t have it both ways. That’s what it looks like when people stop fighting and roll over, accepting fascism and religious extremism as the status quo. They have no problem blaming everyone and their mother, but not Dear Leader. And that’s not the country my grandfather signed up to defend after Pearl Harbor. It’s also not the country I told a recruiter I’d sign up to defend after 9/11. (I couldn’t serve due to a health issue, unfortunately. So I found another way: following in the grand American tradition of speaking truth to power, which we should all remember, is a proud part of who we are as a nation. Even when we like the people we’re speaking the truth to.)

It’s easy to put your head in the sand and pretend nothing’s happening until someone knocks on your door and offers you a third of what your house is worth, and says take it or leave it because they’re going to surround you with multifamily homes that the village has no water and sewage for.

I get it. But you have to resist that urge.

I also share a deep concern for South Blooming Grove’s new residents. Can you imagine coming out of Brooklyn thinking the Rebbe has set you up with a sweet new home in the country, only to find the same crowded streets, no water, no sewage, and the same shitty landlords from Boro Park waiting to greet you here? Except this time it’s worse, because they’ve got a Congressman (Pat Ryan), a State Senator (James G. Skoufis), and a Governor (Kathy Hochul) working on their behalf. So the Rebbe has full unchecked power over you and your family. That means if you question what he says, or someone says you’re stepping out of line, there will be consequences for you and your family. A family you wanted to give a better life to by moving to the country and escaping the city, just like tens of thousands of others have done here in Orange County dating back to the 1970s.

Just remember that point. It’s easy to forget when you’ve got people like Cardone or the Woodbury Town Board constantly looking to force Haredi and non-Haredi residents to fight with each other instead of working together.

Access to clean water and adequate sewage is a human right. It should not be controversial to ask for these things.

So what are you going to do about it?

You can move. You can do nothing. Or … You can fight.

That means suing.

But lawsuits are expensive. Which is why now is as good as time as any to see if an attorney will take your case on Pro Bono. They’ll probably say no, but there are more than a few attorneys out there who know about what’s going on in South Blooming Grove, and are fairly convinced they can recoup their legal expenses from all that money Congressman Pat Ryan is funneling into the Village for Mr. Stern.

That means running for office. Something we already touched on above. I’m going to reiterate: If you want to run for office in South Blooming Grove, I’m happy to help. And I’m equally happy to reach out to our Haredi brothers and sisters, in Yiddish, to inform them of all the “wonderful” things Mr. Stern has been doing to them regarding the water and sewage problems.

That means showing up to these meetings, no matter what time and day they’re being held and even if there’s no public comment.

It’s important for you to go to these things. Just being there now is a form of protest. You don’t have to say or do anything, which I understand is a dream for some because they often tell me they don’t know what to say. Good news: You don’t need to say anything. You just need to take up space in the room, and if you want to take it a step further, film the meeting on your phone just like Mrs. Bonnie Rum is doing with Preserve Blooming Grove.

Why film the meetings? Because you can follow Bonnie Rum’s example here and provide a public comment to the live stream of the South Blooming Grove meetings:

This way, you’re creating a running, legal record that can be archived and used in future lawsuits and other campaigns against Mr. Stern and any politician like James G. Skoufis, Pat Ryan, Thomas DiNapoli, and Kathy Hochul.

Ryan thinks he’s going to be president some day. Skoufis thinks he’s going to be your next Congressman. Hochul wants another term in office. Showing the connection between Joel Stern and Pat Ryan, and Joel Stern and James Skoufis, and Joel Stern and Kathy Hochul will help stop them from stepping on the necks of thousands of other New Yorkers over the next decade. YOU can help stop them and make sure they pay the price for what they did in South Blooming Grove.

That is something that is easy to do, if you’re looking for a way to protest what’s going on in your village.

But the fight must be led by and for South Blooming Grove residents. Everyone else can, and should, help. But we can’t pull this wagon for them. I can’t pull this wagon for you. I can report on it. I can sue to get information Mr. Stern wants to hide from the public. But I’m not a South Blooming Grove resident, and I’m not (at this time) running to primary State Senator Skoufis.

If I was, then this would be a very different conversation. But it’s important that we focus on the here and now, because god only knows what this country and the world will look like two years from now, let alone six months from now.

And if people don’t want to fight?

That’s a real possibility, too.

So let’s close with this:

I got asked the other day, about Woodbury: “Why should I care about Councilman Brandon Calore’s history of violence when he’s not up for re-election? Who cares that he was arrested in Florida for battery, accused of assaulting a disabled teenager in Woodbury — and then sued the mother of the teenager to stop her from telling people about what happened — and recently lost his job in Cornwall for reasons we’re all about to find out via FOIL. Why should I care about any of this when he’s not on the ballot?”

Because if you don't care, you’re going to find yourself in the same position as everyone in South Blooming Grove if you don’t pay attention: Powerless and with an asshole in charge.

Especially given that Mr. Calore is likely to run either for Supervisor — should the Orange County Republicans come to their senses and realize Clovewood Kathryn is as bad and damaged of a candidate as Dorey Houle — or for Woodbury Mayor. (Assuming the Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats, led by Mother Fabbro, doesn’t put their sweet baby boy, Matthew Fabbro, on the ballot for Mayor. Both are real possibilities, and you should be taking this seriously. Woodbury residents could be looking at a three-way race for Mayor in the future.)

As a community member, you are responsible for holding your elected officials, like Town Councilman Brandon Calore, and unelected officials, like Joel Stern, accountable.

Even when they’re not on the ballot.

If Mr. Calore did something shady in his capacity as a former Town of Cornwall employee, that’s something the public has a right to know, not only because he may run for higher office but because it speaks to his judgment as a current elected official.

If we had a normal Woodbury Town Board — we don’t — whatever Mr. Calore did to get himself fired may also be something for the Board to discuss regarding asking him to resign from office.

What Mr. Calore’s track record demonstrates, along with Woodbury Public Library Board President Cathy Schmidt, is that the current Woodbury Town Board is cool with their representatives assaulting people. Mrs. Schmidt did it in full view of the public during a budget workshop discussion involving the library and had to be physically restrained from Mrs. Maria Hunter.

Mr. Calore has his history.

Does that sound like the Woodbury Town Board is serving the public’s interest by allowing violent people to govern on their behalf?

The fact that District Attorney David M. Hoovler, currently facing an investigation of his own over his handling of the Megan Mcdonald case, opted not to pursue charges against Calore for his assaulting the teenage girl doesn’t matter. Hoovler just did the same favor for Slippery Sal Scancarello in Monroe. So Mr. Calore’s story is not only worth noting for Woodbury residents, it’s also worth noting for Orange County residents because it sure appears like Mr. David Hoovler doesn’t like to prosecute members of the Orange County Republican Party which he counts himself as a member of.

If you’re upset about the state of the world right now, it’s partly all of our respective faults. This is what happens when we disconnect, or only pay attention when there’s an election.

Your taxes go up almost 11% like they just did in Monroe.

Your water vanishes or turns undrinkable like it did in South Blooming Grove.

Your Town Supervisor, Kathryn Luciani, will spread misinformation to emergency service providers in Woodbury, saying the Town won’t plow their lots and entrances and exits because of her own fundamental misunderstanding of what an IMA is, and what it isn’t.

I know it’s hard. I know it’s exhausting. I know the world is asking a lot of all of us right now, but you need to understand, it will get worse unless you put your foot down and hold the people in power accountable for their actions.