Woodbury Town Council Members Attempt To Create Illusion Of Cooperation With Village
Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani, Town Councilwoman Teresa Luongo, and Town Councilman Brandon Calore offer cooperation, but no specifics.
The Woodbury Village Board Meeting on January 11th, 2024, was a frustrating one.
To understand why, you need to be aware of two groups that formed since the election in November of 2023.
Both groups are attempting to exert pressure on the Village Board to get what they want.
First we’ll start with the Woodbury Town Board.
Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani, Town Councilwoman Teresa Luongo, and Town Councilman Brandon Calore were present at the village board meeting.
Supervisor Luciani is an employee of Rushmore Estates, which has business before the Village Board. Rushmore has yet to complete a checklist of tasks requested by the village before the venue can be fully operational, as previously reported in The Photo-News.
During this evening’s meeting, Luciani spoke in her capacity as Town Supervisor, stating she was looking forward to collaborating with the Village Board. Calore, who previously made disparaging remarks about the Village — comparing it to Newburgh with what I thought was a racist remark —did not use the time at the village meeting to apologize for those statements.
When she spoke, Luciani did not mention which of the numerous issues she looks forward to collaborating with the Village on.
These issues include:
The urgent need for volunteer firefighters and ems workers,
The unhoused population using the Town of Woodbury’s Walmart parking lot for shelter,
The dwindling water pressure and access to water during the Summer months
The forthcoming cannabis dispensary.
Worth noting here is that the cannabis dispensary is a major source of contention between Councilman Calore and the Woodbury Village Board.
None of these urgent matters were discussed at the most recent Woodbury Town Board Meeting either, where Luciani, Calore, and Luongo have ample opportunity to do so.
They did, however, put on an agenda for an upcoming Woodbury Town Board meeting a pay raise for the new supervisor.
I’m not against the pay raise for government employees. I think they’re all woefully underpaid, but I really need to see a justification for any pay raise before it’s granted. Especially since the town budget was already approved at previous meetings for 2024.
Again, just my opinion, but I felt all this evening’s appearance by the Town Board members accomplished was creating an illusion of cooperation to placate a restless public.
Meanwhile, nothing is really getting done.
Speaking of the Public …
John M. Keller, who previously spoke at the Woodbury Town Board meeting about the need for the Village and Town to work together, again spoke at tonight’s Village meeting. But Keller, with his own connections to the Woodbury town government, did not list any of the specific things he wants the village and town to work on.
This is something that’s really common at Woodbury Village and Town board meetings. Members of the public will get up, say they want the town and village to work together, but never say on what specifically.
Keller also failed to understand how public comment works. At one point stating he did not want to be quoted in the local newspaper. This request not to be quoted preceded what Mayor Andrew Giacomazza described to me as “anti-semitic remarks.”
Keller repeatedly said “They don’t care” in reference to the new owner of the Woodbury” junk yard” Ephraim Goldberger, and whether or not he’d respond to the 30 day notice Goldberger received by the building inspector.
Keller’s comments came as the mayor stated that work was being done to clean up the property.
When asked for clarification on who “They” are, Keller declined to comment.
Giacomazza told me, when I asked who “they” refers to, that “they” are members of the Satmar Hasidic community.
The mayor added there is “absolutely no place for anti-semitism in the Village of Woodbury or at Village Board meetings.”
The Town Board members, who spoke after Keller’s remarks, did not condemn Keller’s statements or even acknowledge them.
So, that's the first group.
Let's discuss the second: The new village board members.
As Maria Hunter, chair of the Town of Woodbury Beautification Committee pointed out during this evening’s meeting, she has concerns that all future votes of this current Woodbury Village Board will be 3-2.
This means that if one member of the board isn’t present, Hunter said, that a lot of Village business could end up being deadlocked.
She also directly addressed Trustree Friedband for failing to perform his duties at tonight's meeting.
Specifically, Hunter called out how Friedband failed to read the abstract prior to this board meeting and vote on it, despite having 48 hours to do so.
Earlier in the meeting, Friedband had objected to approval of this abstract because he said he hadn’t had time to read it.
Notably, Trustee Fabro did not vote for approval of the abstract either, as he spent the majority of the meeting looking to see how Friedband voted before casting his own.
It’s not clear from the meeting what happened with approval of the abstract after Friedband’s objection.
Not approving the abstract is a serious matter, as failing to do so would prevent the village from paying its numerous vendors.
I hope this is just the growing pains of new board members (Friedband and Fabbro) and not a preview of what their term is going to look like as Village Board members.
If it is a preview, then the returning Village Board members will have their work cut out for them in terms of getting anything done.
They are faced on one side by a Town Board seemingly more interested in politics, and on the other, two Village board members who appear out of their depth as elected officials.
I hope I’m wrong. I usually am on such things.