Why Does Blooming Grove Allow Yeshivas To Operate Out Of These Homes?
44 Greycourt Road and 466 Clove Road host Yeshivas not registered with the Washingtonville School District or the New York State Department of Education.
Correction, 4/11 4:00pm: There’s been a correction. 44 Greycourt Road technically falls under Monroe-Woodbury’s jurisdiction. So I’ve added their contact info to the bottom of this post. Thank you for everyone who sent in that correction.
As always, there’s a lot to cover.
So, let me share a few quick community announcements, and then we’ll talk about these two Blooming Grove yeshivas. One operates out of 44 Greycourt Road, and the other operates out of 466 Clove Road.
Both homes are zoned residential, according to Orange County. One of them is owned by an LLC.
Shocker.
The other is owned by a man who provided a potentially fake address.
Let’s get to it …
Community Announcements:
-CUPON Blooming Grove is holding a community yard sale on Saturday, May 4th, 2024.
And yes, I know. May 4th is also Star Wars Day. But. My Star Wars fandom died after grown ass men lost their minds over a sequel trilogy that did not live up to their 1980s childhood fantasies.
Listen dudes, death comes for us all. Let the kids have their bad Star Wars movies. I had to suffer through the prequel trilogy, and look at how I turned out …
Ok. Maybe that’s a bad example.
The Community Yard Sale will be held from 10am to 3:30pm at the Knights of Columbus. 18 Hallock Drive, Washingtonville, NY, 10992.
If you’re not familiar, CUPON stand for Citizens United to Protect Our Neighborhoods, and is an organization that makes sure land-use rules and regulations are being followed.
Pretty important in Southern Orange County, when you’ve got the equivalent of a multibillion dollar real estate enterprise, disguised as a religious sect, running roughshod on every conceivable zoning law and regulation.
-There are 571 Days between now and Election Day 2025.
I mean, assuming we still have a democracy at that time. We may not, depending on how some of you vote this Fall. (Listen. I like neither of them, but one is a Nazi and the other is just old. The last time we had two bad choices for president, the Nazi won. Let’s not make that same mistake twice, ok?)
Assuming we live in a functional democracy in November of 2025, that’s when the Monroe Town Supervisor role is up for grabs.
That ALSO means it’s the day Supervisor Cardone will face some kind of consequences (finally) since almost everyone else seems too chicken shit to stand up to the guy.
I tell you this because Preserve Monroe is promoting a Tree Measuring contest. And yes, I got all the measuring jokes out of my system before I wrote this post.
Supervisor Tony Cardone and Friends will not let Preserve Monroe promote this contest using official Town of Monroe channels. That’s because, between now and Election Day 2025, he and 2024 State Senate Candidate, Dorey Houle, are going to do every petty, little, small thing they can do to obstruct anything Councilwoman Richardson does.
And since Councilwoman Richardson is the president of Preserve Monroe, they won’t let her promote the Tree Measuring contest, which is meant to celebrate both Arbor Day and the Monroe Conservation Commission’s exhaustive work in creating a new Tree Code. A tree code, by the way, that Cardone has done everything in his power to delay from taking effect.
Probably because of his alleged relationship with the developer, Lipa Deutsch, whom Cardone is accused of advocating on behalf of when it comes to Village of Monroe Zoning matters. Deutsch is also the person behind Monroe Commons, which both Cardone and Planning Board Chairwoman, Bonnie Franson, absolutely refuse to reply to calls and emails about.
Can’t imagine why that would be.
If you want to participate in the Tree measuring event, full contest rules can be found on this handy flyer:
And finally …
Yes. You should absolutely sign this petition, because the bill it opposes is just a hand out to hanhallah in disguise.
If this bill gets passed, allowing religious groups to build housing how they like regardless of local zoning, then everything I’ve covered here on The Monroe Gazette is moot.
Illegally Operating Yeshiva #1: 44 Greycourt LLC
There are two yeshivas operating out of zoned residential homes in the Town of Blooming Grove. One I was aware of and one I was not.
Let’s start with the one I was not.
44 Greycourt Road is registered to 44 Greycourt LLC.
44 Greycourt LLC uses the address of PO BOX 325, Harriman, NY, 10926. This address is also registered in New York State to a 31 Hazen LLC.
31 Hazen is a home located in Cornwall.
I haven’t been up that way, but perhaps one of our readers in Cornwall can take a look and let us know if there’s a yeshiva operating out of this zoned residential home as well.
I’m not saying there is, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
So, let’s do this in reverse order since I know the LLC stuff can be dumb and confusing.
31 Hazen in Cornwall was purchased in December of 2004 by Lawrence Kirwan for $350,000.
Lawrence sold the home to Clay M Evall for $360,000 in December of 2018.
Clay then sold the home to Michael Anacreonte in December of 2020 for $360,000.
A year later, Clay purchased the home back from Michael for $415,000.
Then, in 2022, Clay sold the home to Rachel Guttman in August for a $1. Very little can be found online about Mrs. Guttman.
At some point after Mrs. Guttman purchased the home, 31 Hazen LLC acquired the home from her, using the address of P.O. Box 325, 412 N Main St, Harriman NY 10926.
But there doesn’t appear to be a PO BOX at 412 North Main Street.
The address actually belongs to the Northwell Health building. There are other offices in this building as well. This brings us to an important side tangent.
Side Tangent!
412 North Main Street comes up A LOT in investigations concerning shady local LLCs involving Blooming Grove and South Blooming Grove. So, that’s something we all should keep an eye on.
For example:
412 North Main Street is also home to the Hartman Design Group (Suite 301), which has business before the South Blooming Grove Planning Board. The firm is operated by Larry Hartman.
Here’s one example for a schul at 379 Lake Shore Drive in South Blooming Grove
And here’s another for 585 Clove Road in South Blooming Grove.
Clove Road being the home of Keen Equities LLC as you all know.
Also operating out of 412 North Main Street is Ark Mortgage at Suite 201. You can see all the Monroe team members here.
It’s not clear what relation, if any, Shulem Ekstein has to Isaac aka Yitzhok Eckstein.
Isaac is the president of local hate group, United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove and Legislative Aide to South Blooming Grove Mayor George Kalaj.
Mr. Ekstein does have a brother, Eli, who runs Print Out Local down in Monsey.
So, it’s worth inquiring about whether or not Print Out Local and Ark Mortgage have business involving the Village of South Blooming Grove where Isaac is an employee.
One final note about Isaac is that a number of jobs he lists on his LinkedIn profile involve medical care.
So there may be additional connections here with the businesses operating out of Northwell Health’s Monroe building.
As one example of these jobs held by Mr. Ekstein, Home Care Operator Inc. provides home health care and is registered as operating out of Mr. Ekstein’s home at 40 Virginia Avenue, Monroe, NY, 10950.
Back To 44 Greycourt LLC’s Ownership Search
Greycourt Road LLC purchased the land for $500,000 in 2020, along with other parcels. (Note: I could not find anything on this LLC. There appears to be an LLC called GreyCourt Road NY, which does business out of Boston and signed a contract with the Town of Chester in 2023. But I can’t say if they’re the same company.)
Greycourt First LLC purchased the land for this home, and some others, for $0 in August of 2021. Greycourt First LLC has an address listed as 11 Meron Drive, Unit 011 in Monroe.
This address is also used by the Silberstein Agency, and Mk Mallow Inc. That building is owned by Abraham Muller.
On November 7th, 2022, the land for 44 Greycourt was purchased for $900,000 by Ahava Planning & Builders Inc..
At some point after that, the home built at 44 Greycourt was acquired by 44 Greycourt LLC, which has the address of the Northwell Health building in Monroe that sent us down the Cornwall goose chase.
Ahava has the address of 48 Bakertown Road, Suite 504, in Monroe. Also using that exact address is MK Realty Inc. and Griffin Behavioral Healthcare Advocacy and Billing.
Martin Friedman is listed as the CEO of Griffin. Moshe Kaufman is listed as the real estate agent working for MK Realty Inc. at that address.
Abraham Mueller, who may own Greycourt First LLC is listed as the principal officer for Ahava Planning & Builders Inc. according to the Department of State.
Mr. Samuel Gluck is listed as one of Mr. Mueller’s possible neighbors according to BeenVerified. Mr. Gluck gave $5,000 to State Senator Skoufis as part of Senator Skoufis’s big day of $70,000 received on May 15th, 2022.
So, this is a long way of saying, you’ll notice we’re circling the same small group of people over and over again in these posts.
You’ll also notice, we keep coming back to the same buildings. In this specific case, that of the Northwell Health building on North Main Street in Monroe.
Don’t lose hope.
We don’t know yet who owns 44 Greycourt LLC BUT starting in January of 2025, all LLCs must register beneficial ownership information with New York State, and that database will be accessible to law enforcement.
So, it’ll be much, much easier for people to identify the owners of these and other illegally operating yeshivas.
Whatever is happening at 44 Greycourt is not residential.
Regardless of who currently owns the home, below, you can see a school bus parked at the residence to drop off students. Once people caught on to that, the students began getting dropped off by van. There are also photos of the residence lit up at night, and exit signs. (Don’t y’all have exit signs in your home?)
This should be more than enough for the Town of Blooming Grove, the Washingtonville School District, and local law enforcement, to act.
Illegally Operating Yeshiva #2: 466 Clove Road
This is the yeshiva I knew about and reached out to comment from the Town of Blooming Grove and the New York State Education Department (NYSED)
Let’s go first to what NYSED said to me in a statement about 466 Clove Road:
The State Education Department has no knowledge of a school operating at this location. The local building authority is in the best position to investigate possible code violations. If this address is indeed a school, there are various legal requirements that apply to nonpublic schools including fire inspections (Education Law 807-a) and substantial equivalency of instruction (Education Law 3204; Commissioner’s Regulations Part 130). Local school districts are currently inventorying nonpublic schools within their geographical boundaries for purposes of substantial equivalency of instruction. This is a responsibility of the local district.
What did the local building authority say? Jeanne Ovensen, the Town of Blooming Grove Building Inspector, told me (in an email copied to the Town Supervisor)
466 clove road is zoned rural residential (RR) and is subject to an enforcement action. No further discussion can be made at this time.
Now, what exactly is an enforcement action, is not clear. Neither is whether or not WHEN it will be enforced, as 466 Clove Road has apparently been operating a yeshiva for a couple of years now. I followed-up with Jeanne Ovensen for more details.
If there’s one thing I keep hearing from readers of The Monroe Gazette, it’s that the local building inspectors are simply not doing their jobs when it comes to the actions of hanhallah.
Probably, to avoid a lawsuit or claims of anti-semitism. But as I’ve explained, those claims are (usually) bullshit. There is nothing, anywhere, in Judaism that allows for individuals to act like assholes, do what they want, and ignore the law of the land.
Dina d'malkhuta dina, or in English: The law of the government is the law.
I reached out to the Washingtonville School District at the direction of the New York State Education Department and did not hear back as this story went to press. I’ll keep trying though.
Who Owns 466? A Maze of LLCs and Dead Ends
In 2004, Marguerite Luck acquired the home for $0. In 2021, the home was sold by Christopher Luck for $300,000.
A year later, 3 Allan LLC acquired the home for $645,000.
Two months later, in July of 2022, VOITEX LLC acquired the home for $0.
466 Clove Road is currently listed as the residence of Mr. Joel Gancz, who listed a residence with Orange County of 3 Austra Pkwy Unit 003 in Monroe.
Which … Is weird. Because if 466 Clove Road is your home, then … That would be listed as your home, right?
Also weird: 3 Austra Parkway Unit #003 is owned by Joel Eisdorfer, not Mr. Gancz, who acquired it for $0 from Integris Equity LLC in October of 2022.
Integris is the one who purchased all that land off Ninninger and that became VMG for $100M back in 2019.
But you might know Integris better as … *drum roll please* Akiva Klein. Yup. Same guy who also participated in Senator Skoufis and Congressman Pay Ryan’s big pay day.
VOITEX operates out of 491 Route 208, Suite 002 in Monroe. Mr. Gancz has a business that operates out of this same building using Suite 121 known as Teleground.
3 Allan LLC operates out of PO BOX 353, Monroe, NY, 10949. This address is also used by Seagull Consulting LLC, which operates out of Monsey.
And recently, this address was also used to create 16 HAWXHURST LLC.
16 Hawxhurst Rd is a home owned by Pauline Klippell and Walter F Klippell in Monroe. For now I guess, but it might be worth keeping an eye on that house to see if it becomes a yeshiva too.
So … What Happens Now?
I’m currently researching ways to make sure the Building Inspectors and Code Enforcement Officers do what they’re hired to do, and what consequences they face when they don’t.
It’s not a subject I know much about, but I plan to change that.
For 466 Clove Road:
While we’re waiting, it’s up to YOU to reach out to the Town Supervisor, Robert Jeroloman, and ask him why he’s allowing these yeshivas to operate out of residential communities.
You can call him at (845) 496-5223 x 1 or email him at supervisor@bloominggrove-ny.gov.
You can also call Dr. Larry Washington, Superintendent of the Washingtonville School District, and inform him that the New York State Department of Education says the yeshivas operating illegally in his district are his responsibility to take care of along with the Town of Blooming Grove.
Dr. Washington’s email is: lwashington@wcsdk12.org and the phone number for the school district is: 845.497.4000
For 44 Greycourt Road:
Elsie Rodriguez, Monroe-Woodbury’s Superintendent, can be emailed at erodriguez@mw.k12.ny.us and called at (845)460-6200 ext. 6202
You can also forward this post to residents of the Washingtonville School District and ask them to contact Dr. Washington, and residents of Blooming Grove to reach out to Supervisor Jeroloman.
Remember:
If YOU don’t say anything, then nothing will happen. It’s as simple as that.