We'll See the DEC, South Blooming Grove, and the Town of Woodbury, In Court

It's fuck around and find out time for a series of bad actors in Southern Orange County: Tim Mitts, The Village of South Blooming Grove, and Wayne Cort's best friend.

Jan 08, 2025

Hi. If you’re okay with it, we will do a short—by our standards—post today. We’ll also use a different format from what you’re used to. We’ll be back to our regular format this weekend.

The reasons are simple:

-I was supposed to write another feature-length post this morning, but I have a migraine. I know. The posts are long. You are essentially getting a new book chapter four times a month, or about 12,000 words in total, sometimes more. To be blunt: Yes. I know the posts can be shorter, but I believe a lot of this stuff is all one overarching story. So when I write these, it’s often hard to separate everything because you lose the larger narrative. The larger narrative is that, regardless of whether or not they’re Democrats, Republicans, or Religious Extremists like Mr. Stern, your local governments are being used as a means for your elected representatives to enrich themselves at your expense.

-Cardone (Monroe) - $186,000 a year in salary, plus mileage reimbursement and other benefits. Nearly a 11% tax hike for Monroe residents in 2025.

-Luciani (Woodbury) - Part-time Supervisor role, highest paid Supervisor in Woodbury’s history at ~ $64,000 a year in salary. May or may not be using a Town-supplied vehicle for joyriding, which is a crime if true. She threw out decades-old ethics laws in order to hire her son, who promptly left the role anyway. Over an 11% tax hike for Woodbury residents in 2025.

-Stern (South Blooming Grove) is an unelected official who is paid nearly as much as a Monroe Town Board member. No public accountability. Eliminated public comment at Village Board meetings. Moved Planning Board meetings to Friday morning at 10am. Pushed through rapid development with little oversight or care for municipal water infrastructure — still being investigated by the federal EPA. 100% responsible for the current Clovewood situation. Total tax hit is unknown as of this writing, but the Village will spend, by the end of 2025, about $2M on trucked-in water since 2021. You read that number correctly.

And Where Is New York State On All This?

The New York State government is nowhere to be found. Some of that is because of Home Rule, but most is because of political expediency. Yes. I know I pick on Senator Skoufis a lot. But there’s a reason for that. He’s the perfect example of what I’m talking about. Don’t take my word for it, just ask any South Blooming Grove, Blooming Grove, and Washingtonville resident in 2024 who wrote to him about their concerns with Clovewood and the DEC decision to approve those permits. Mr. Skoufis’s office sent a representative to one, maybe two meetings. Mr. Skoufis could not be bothered to talk to any of them himself. Did not return phone calls. Did not return emails. Ignored them on Facebook. I could go on. And if you don’t want to listen to them, you can also talk to Woodbury residents who, completely without solicitation, Mr. Skoufis spent a good chunk of 2024 trying to merge the Town and Village. Not because it’d be good for residents, but because Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani — and potentially others — asked him to do so. (It’s clear Luciani played a role in the merger attempt based on how often Skoufis and Luciani appear together at fundraisers and other events, but the other people rumored to be involved are just that: Rumors. At least for now.) Also, for the record, Skoufis did not attend a single Town Board or Village Board meeting to explain his proposal or answer questions from residents. Neither did his team. Don’t you think that’s odd? I do!

As you read this, many people in Blooming Grove are struggling with Orange and Rockland’s aging infrastructure. According to residents, Orange and Rockland can barely be bothered to communicate appropriately concerning the outages and when they will be resolved. I can personally attest, here in Monroe, that whenever the wind blows, we’re afraid the power will be gone for at least a day—maybe two. My Dad and I went half on a generator a few years ago and it’s the best thing we ever did. But the fact that we had to do it at all speaks to the quality of Orange & Rockland’s infrastructure in our area.

Would you like to end Orange & Rockland’s reign of terror? Well, good news. YOU CAN. The problem is, once again, Senator Skoufis. We’ll discuss this in an upcoming post. Hint: It involves legislation that he will never, never, never introduce because he doesn’t have the balls to take on Orange and Rockland. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Basically, Skoufis can clone this legislation IF HE WANTED TO. Again: He won’t.

My point is that, what we cover here at The Gazette is an ongoing situation that sprawls across multiple Towns and Villages in Southern Orange County. That’s why the posts are as long as they are. It’s all connected.

Thanks for reading The Monroe Gazette! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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Town of Blooming Grove v. The DEC & Their Cool Friends

-I spent what productive time I did have reading the Town of Blooming Grove’s lawsuit against Keen Equities, The Village of South Blooming Grove, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. And then I got sidetracked with a whole lot of bullshit that I’d like to address.

So, let’s talk about the important thing first: Basically, the Town of Blooming Grove’s lawsuit against the DEC is this: When faced with what amounts to criminal mischief (to put it mildly), the DEC did this:

Did Keen Equities / South Blooming Grove / Joel Stern kill all those rattlesnakes? Yup. DEC: LA LA LA LA! I’m not listening!

Did Keen Equities / South Blooming Grove / Joel Stern illegally add a part of the Town of Blooming Grove to the boundaries of Clovewood and not include or even mention this “acquisition” in their FEIS or to the Town of Blooming Grove? Yup.

DEC: LA LA LA LA! I’m not listening!

Did Keen Equities / South Blooming Grove / Joel Stern not properly sign documents and certifications, leaving it unclear as to who was in charge, and who was responsible for doing what? Yup.

DEC: LA LA LA LA! I’m not listening!

Was the DEC aware of all the damage Keen Equities did after those near-record fines and decided to ignore that damage in their evaluation of the property and permit approvals! Yup!

I could go on, but that’s Mr. Brian Nugent’s entire complaint on behalf of the Town of Blooming Grove. DEC knew of malfeasance and repeatedly ignored it.

It’s … Fine. Better than I thought, but Nugent is still going to Nugent.

I also think there’s a hell of a negligence case to be filed in civil court against the DEC, Keen Equities and Friends, and the Village of South Blooming Grove. I’d personally also sue Tom Shepstone, the Village Planner, and Joel Stern, Isaac Ekstein, and United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove.

I felt Nugent made two mistakes: Not naming Stern, Ekstein, and Shepstone in their personal capacities — they’re the ones who put these plans together and rammed it through. Mr. Stern works for the second largest investor of Clovewood, Jacob Gold, at Windsor Global, the same company Y.C. Rubin works at. In fact, they both have Windsor Global emails. It’s clear Stern has direct ties to the developer.

In Shepstone’s case, remember that he is paid a fee from the developers whenever a project goes before the Board. Nugent missed a great opportunity to depose Shepstone:

“Mr. Shepstone, have you as Village Planner of South Blooming Grove EVER issued a positive SEQRA declaration?” The answer, by the way, is no in the last year. Maybe never in the last three.

Mr. Shepstone, by the way, is supposed to be honored by the Milford Township in Pennsylvania soon. They’re congratulating him on his retirement. Do you know how Mr. Shepstone is going to pay for his cushy, post-retirement lifestyle? It was all those developers in South Blooming Grove.

Nugent also did not name the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove as a defendant. This was a huge mistake. Why? Because the DEC seems VERY confused as to whether or not United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove and the Village of South Blooming Grove are one in the same or separate entities. As I write this, a spokesperson for the DEC has not responded to my request to clarify this. Mr. Nugent missed an opportunity to depose and access UJC records. It's pretty important given that, if the DEC was just confused, wouldn’t you want to see what UJC promised the DEC regarding their ability to handle endangered rattlesnakes?

Then again, I’m not a lawyer. But I do know when you file any lawsuit, you want to win on the narrowest grounds possible. So I may be wrong here. I defer to your local attorneys.

But don’t worry. I just submitted a new FOIL request with the DEC that asks for all communications with the UJC of Blooming Grove, using both their domains, as well as all DEC communications containing the keyword: “Village of South Blooming Grove United Jewish Community Emergency Response Division.” I anticipate DEC obstructing this, and you should know that we are 100% going to take them to court over that obstruction at the first opportunity to do so.

Ah, speaking of court. Let me close with an update on The Monroe Gazette’s lawsuit against the Village of South Blooming Grove and then my plan to sue the Woodbury Town Board.

Article 78s In South Blooming Grove

I don’t know how much I can say about our court case, but let’s start there. It’s never our intention to take anyone to court. You will get the wrong impression from the rest of this article. So, I just want to stress: I do not go looking to start fights with people. Like any pacifist, though, I will defend myself.

With the DEC, I know I’m going to have to take to court because they’ve already obstructed several FOILS concerning Clovewood.

So I already know they will reject providing information on inter/intra-agency grounds, and I will argue that the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove is a not-for-profit organization, not the Village of South Blooming Grove. (The United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, by the way, had its IRS not-for-profit status rejected in May of 2022 for failure to file the required form 990s.)

With the Village of South Blooming Grove, our Article 78 was born out of the same circumstances: We tried multiple times to get FOILS responded to dating back to April of 2024. Just two months after The Monroe Gazette started. (Can you believe this thing started less than a year ago?)

Since Mr. Stern compulsively lies—as we’ve covered extensively here—it’s impossible to get accurate information concerning what’s going on in the Village. This includes both in Yiddish and in English since Mr. Stern lies in his United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove newsletter, too. My job is to cover the Village for its residents. I can’t do that with the way Mr. Stern operates the Village. Nobody can.

The Village, hilariously, is claiming they never got my emails. We have proof they did. We also have a witness.

We’re currently FOIL’ing for their email logs. This will prove that one of us is telling the truth. I believe the Village Clerk, Kerry Dougherty, committed perjury. It’s also possible Mayor George Kalaj did too. I also believe that Mrs. Dougherty should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if it’s proven that she committed perjury. Honestly, the second that’s confirmed? I’m on the phone with Soft on Crime District Attorney, David Hoovler, demanding that he press charges.

Like I said to Mrs. Dougherty in one of the FOILs in the court case, the days of “The Dog Ate My Homework” are over in South Blooming Grove.

I also submitted new FOILS, and recorded Mrs. Dougherty confirming their email system worked fine just before sending them. I’d like to avoid having to do this all over again, but there’s a real chance of that if the Village continues to not cooperate with FOIL requests.)

Honestly, that’s my biggest concern with this Article 78. The Village will settle. Our attorney — doing a fantastic job — will get paid what they deserve, and we’ll have to just do this all over again because Mr. Stern thinks he’s above the law.

Speaking of an inflated sense of self-worth …

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Let’s Talk Tim Mitts For A Second

Now, before we get to Convicted Felon Tim Mitts, I have to briefly discuss Mrs. Teresa Schaeffer’s comment, which I think the following screenshot does succinctly:

If you can’t read my message, here’s what it says:

Mrs. Schaeffer, I am giving you an option: My attorney can send you a legal notice at your preferred email address or, if you'd like to confirm your mailing address of (removed), we can send it there. It's your choice. If you prefer your email address, please provide it here. If not, I have no problem hiring an investigative agency to locate it for me. I will screenshot this message and send it to my attorney now to confirm it was delivered to you on 1/8/25 at 3:19pm. If you continue to publish intentionally false, anti-semitic conspiracy theories about myself or The Monroe Gazette — implying that I am "being paid under the table" by "2 Satmars" to "write the crap he writes," I will sue you for defamation. I hope you have a great day. Please send Mr. Corts my best regards.

Mrs. Schaeffer proceeded to block me on Facebook after receiving this message. Mrs. Schaeffer, Mitts and Schaeffer, like to talk a big game about “allegedly” being blocked by me. But when faced with consequences, they reach for that same button.

To understand the Wayne Corts reference, if you recall, The Monroe Gazette covered WAY back in June that Mr. Schaeffer was a co-defendant with Mr. Wayne Corts. In that court case, Mr. Schaeffer testified that he is a personal friend of Wayne Corts. Mrs. Schaeffer, since I first started writing about Mr. Corts, has been harassing me for months in the Woodbury United Facebook group. (You can join the group and see for yourself, just look at my posts, and then look at the comments.)

(“Him” in the second image above refers to the alleged arsonist, Mr. Corts.)

I want to sue Mrs. Schaeffer because I believe, in court, it’ll come out that she’s been working on behalf of Mr. Corts. And I would very much like to take Mr. Corts to … Well, court. What better way to finally get to the bottom of what’s going on with that golf course?

Here’s my whole deal: You can say whatever you want about me, but once you get into shit like “The Jews are giving him money” or “The Jews are using the Gazette to deflect attention to their REAL PLAN” like Mrs. Schaeffer and Jay Westerveld, the gloves are off.

That brings us back to Convicted Felon Tim Mitts.

It’s easier, actually, if I just share with you what I sent him. So the email is to follow, and then I promise we’ll get to the Woodbury Town Board in the next story. That one is a doozy.

Mr. Mitts,
I was told by Orange County's District Attorney's office that it's only a crime if someone is told it's a crime, and continues to do it anyway.
So I wanted to briefly familiarize you with libel law. Maybe you're not familiar with this. Let's fix that.
For someone to prove libel, they need to demonstrate that someone — you, for example — negligently published something intentionally false. So, let's say your Facebook Page. (See above image.)
Let's say, more specifically, that you published something intentionally false about me. *Gasp*
I would then have to show that this person — again, that's you — identified the person they were making false claims about. Continuing on our example here, you've identified me in your Facebook posts and said I was "cancerous."
(Don't worry about Mrs. Schaeffer. Everyone knows her husband is Wayne Corts's business partner. Mr. Shaeffer testified to this fact in court.)
The third step involves reputational harm.
So let's say someone — you again — implied that I was being bribed by elected officials. You also stated I blocked you for providing your opinion. No. You've been sent emails from me when I asked you for comment. I also told you directly that you were removed from my Facebook Profile because it was, as a personal profile, not the place for your political opinions.
Here's what's important: Most forms of bribery are illegal, specifically the arrangement you're implying, which is that I'm being paid by elected officials to write negative press about their enemies.
So not only are you harming my reputation, but you are meeting the legal standard of harm where it concerns these public figures as well.
Bad news for you, that means more possible legal action against you beyond what I will pursue.
In my case, damage to reputation is presumed when accusations — "BJ is being paid to write articles about people by corrupt elected officials" — are made about a business — In this case, The Monroe Gazette.
Don't worry. I know your attention span is short. We're almost done.
The next step is that you — Yes. You. — would have to prove I'm a public figure.
Good news! There may be a judge who agrees. I think we should find out. Don't you?
But let's say they disagree.
Well, my friend, that takes us to the last step in proving libel.
(By the way, before you say, "Well BJ writes about me." You should be reminded that you were on the ballot just last year to be a New York State Senator. It's my job to write about people like you.)
If I were to take you to court, it would also be my job to depose everyone you ever defrauded and have them testify against you to speak about your character. This is something I will absolutely do.
Finally. Yes. I know. What a long email. Let's say I sue you for Libel. To be clear, I absolutely will if you continue down this road.
On my end, I need to prove that the publisher — again, that's you — was negligent in failing to ascertain that the statement was false and defamatory.
In this case, you've never asked if I took money in exchange for articles. If you did, I would have laughed hysterically and shown you how empty my bank account often is.
By the way, if we went to court, I have no problem submitting my bank records as evidence. Can you say the same? Would we find that, just hypothetically speaking of course, you received financial support from State Senator Skoufis to run against Mrs. Dorey Houle last fall on the conservative ballot line?
So, I hope you understand. The Monroe Gazette is going to turn one years-old at the end of February. While I've been pretty tolerant of these crazy ass statements, those days are over.
I will absolutely, 100% sue you. Not only will I sue you, but I'm going to ask in financial damages the exact amount of money (plus legal fees) that you are currently suing the Town of Monroe for.
I will win. And then I will donate all of that money to the Town of Monroe in order to alleviate them of the tax burden that lawsuits like yours created.
Have a great day!
P.S. This is not a joke. I will 100% sue you.

Like the email said, it’s not a joke. Mr. Mitts thinks it is.

If you want to know why Mr. Mitts is attacking our credibility, it’s because I’ve been working on a story involving a lot of the people he’s defrauded. He knows it’s coming. And he wants to get out ahead of it. "It's a bold strategy Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for him."

The Monroe Gazette is now an affiliate of Ground News. What I like about Ground News is that you can see who's spinning today's headlines and get the actual news about what's happening from the left, the right, and the center. All in one place. Monroe Gazette subscribers can use this link and get 15% off a Ground News subscription, which supports both their project and ours.

Last But Not Least, The Woodbury Town Board

For the sake of time (for me, because of the migraine), here’s what I sent them this morning. The long and short of it is that, going back to my time at The Photo-News, the Woodbury Town Board—specifically Clovewood Kathryn (Kathryn Luciani), Councilman Conspiracy Theories (Brandon Calore), and Councilwoman Gretchen Weiners (Teresa Luongo)—has been gaslighting their residents when it comes to how they are portrayed in the media.

I thought that The Monroe Gazette would be an experiment, something that’d end in August of 2024. But we’re now getting close to our first birthday at the end of February. Given that we’re going to stick around at least through the 2025 election, I thought it was time to call out that gaslighting.

Since three of the five Woodbury Town Board members (Luciani, Luongo, and Calore) have demonstrated a repeated pattern of gaslighting their residents, I am submitting this letter to help create a public record and hold them accountable for their actions and statements. It may be useful to local residents who are interested in taking legal action against this Board. It will be of interest to all Woodbury residents interested in voting out Mrs. Luongo and Luciani this November; and preventing Councilman Calore from seeking any higher office than the one he holds right now.
Neither Luongo, Calore, or Luciani reply to request for comment from local media outlets, instead preferring to take to Facebook to call reporters "fake" and claim the media is out to get them. These claims date back to my time at The Photo-News, and have carried over into The Monroe Gazette, which was formed at the end of February in 2024.
The following are three recent examples:
-Mr. Calore has not replied to requests to clarify whether or not he is a member of the Proud Boys. The request came after he promoted an establishment that residents, and former employees, claims hosts their meetings. This question has taken increased relevance, given that Mr. Calore recently liked a post on Facebook, that shared a revisionist history concerning the terrorist attack on our nation's capital on January 6th.
January 6th was not, by any objective measure of reality, a "peaceful protest." If Mr. Calore — and Mrs. Luongo — believe that it was, they should let residents know so that the residents can vote accordingly.
-Mrs. Luciani has not replied to requests for comment concerning whether or not the Town Board would censure, or take any other sort of action, against Woodbury Public Library Board president, Cathy Schmidt over her disruptive behavior at October's Town Budget Workshop. As described by multiple witnesses, Mrs. Schmidt was verbally abusive and physically threatened a local resident, resulting in her needing to be physically restrained. The Town Board then went into executive session. To date, no action or statement has been provided by the Board concerning Mrs. Schmidt's behavior. However, it should be noted to residents, Mrs. Schmidt has continued to verbally abuse Woodbury residents, in violation of her ethical duties and responsibilities as a representative of the library. Her continued poor behavior has been reported to the New York State Department of Education, who oversees New York's libraries and their boards.
Given Mrs. Schmidt's pattern of alleged violent behavior and outbursts, the Town of Woodbury has not clarified whether or not it will enforce the Workplace Safety requirements, which all Town employees and officials are legally required to complete each year.
Does the Woodbury Town Board permit violent individuals to work for them? No answer has been provided.
Is the Town aware of Councilman Brandon Calore's inappropriate outbursts, conspiracy theories, and threats of physical violence during his time as an employee of the Town of Cornwall? These incidents of poor behavior can be found by FOIL'ing Mr. Calore's Human Resources record with the Town of Cornwall. They are factually verifiable and of paramount public importance given Mr. Calore's recent statement that, "he would not apologize for trying to keep residents safe."
Safe from whom?

-Deputy Supervisor Teresa Luongo has been caught twice now implying that The Monroe Gazette is an operation funded by her political enemies and that the news organizations reporters are "ruthless" and "evil." These statements, In both cases, immediately followed questions sent to Mrs. Luongo about an incident involving a Town Vehicle.

A note to readers: You’ll notice that Luongo’s claim is similar to Mrs. Schaeffer’s claim. This is not a coincidence.

Again, I believe if I take Mrs. Scaheffer to court, I’ll find that Mr. Corts is behind her Facebook comments. Mr. Corts also has a lot of money. And guess who’s up for re-election this Fall? Luciani. Guess who’s running for office this Fall? Brandon Calore. So, it’s not a stretch for us to hypothesize that Mr. Corts, Mr. Calore, Mrs. Luongo, Mrs. Luciani, and Mrs. Schaeffer are coordinating and spreading the same conspiracy theory about The Monroe Gazette. )

The letter contains… What’s that?

You want to see Councilman Calore’s file without FOILing Cornwall?

Well as a public service, given Mr. Calore’s intentions to seek another office this Fall, we believe his file is newsworthy. You can check it out here.

We’re going to go through this file in a bit more detail in an upcoming post.

Ok, now back to our letter …

Mrs. Luongo has repeatedly failed to address concerns shared to The Monroe Gazette — by multiple Woodbury residents — that the Supervisor and herself took a Town-provided vehicle for a joy ride to the Jersey shore in July of 2024. Something that would constitute a crime if true. Attempts to address the topic by The Monroe Gazette were first met with insults — which resulted in another area reporter now investigating the story — and then libelous remarks on her Facebook profile.
You can't have it both ways. Either you can reply to reporters or ignore reporters. But you can't claim a media outlet is out to get you when they make a good faith effort to seek comment, and you choose not to reply to them. This creates a false public narrative.
On our end: An attempt by The Monroe Gazette to meet with both Luongo and Luciani was abruptly cancelled by Luciani after an article was published about her friend — and local real estate developer — Wayne Corts. (This is understandable, as Luciani, Luongo, and Calore are going to be dependent on Mr. Corts and other real estate developers for funding their upcoming re-election, and election, bids in November.)
The Monroe Gazette uses a three-pronged test to determine who to write about: 1. Is this person behaving poorly? 2. Is this person a public official? 3. Is this public official unresponsive to good faith attempts by the public to discuss the poor behavior?
All three Woodbury Town Board members have repeatedly failed this test. Despite Mrs. Luongos frequent, and libelous, assertions, there is no other reason for why the Town Board is covered in the way that they are. It's a situation that can be easily remedied if this board chooses, at any point, to act with the professionalism expected of them by their community.
Given that the Town currently does not have legal representation, here is some free legal advice: If you raise taxes on Town residents by 11.3% — as this board did for 2025 — it's best not to threaten your neighboring municipality with lawsuits, as you did to the Village of Woodbury last year. It's also best not to repeatedly make verifiably libelous statements against reporters with attorneys.

Just one correction: Mr. Thater — Woodbury Town attorney — told me, actually while I was writing this article — that his firm still represents the Town … For now.

So I am mistaken in saying they don’t have representation at this time. Otherwise, my suggestion remains the same.

As I said, I suspect there’s a bit of a conspiracy going on here between Luongo, Luciani, Calore, Mrs. Schaeffer, and Mr. Corts. I believe there’s a fact pattern to support this hypothesis.

If needed, I have no problem suing to find out. Like I said, I don’t start fights, but I will finish them.

You should too.

That’s all. Thank you for sticking with this post and its structure. We’ll be back up and going this weekend.

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