Woodbury Common's Expansion Plan Blocked By The Sweet Smell of Sewage

A look at what's going on with Woodbury Common's proposed expansion and an alleged political stunt at the Town Board meeting.

Oy vey.

You know what’s funny about that phrase? My grandparents all knew Yiddish. I’m not sure if they were fluent in it, since they were second generation Americans at that point. But they knew Yiddish, since that’s what their parents spoke.

The kids, all born here in the United States, would grow up and speak English.

When they didn’t want the kids to understand what was being said, my great grandparents would switch to Russian.

But I never heard my grandparents (any of them) say Oy vey.

Not even once.

They were much, much bigger on “ferkakte” (ridiculous.)

I heard that one a lot.

The Mets have a ferkakte first basemen.

The BQE is a ferkakte highway that should be avoided at all costs.

Long Island is filled with ferkakte people.

You get the point.

Ferkakte is fun to say. It’s pronounced fuh-KAHK-tuh.

Ferkakte is also a good way to describe what’s going on right now in Woodbury.

The stuff we know, officially, that’s going on. And the stuff I know, unofficially, that’s going to happen in the not too distant future.

But enough talk. Let’s look at the ferkakte things happening in the Town and Village of Woodbury.

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Town of Woodbury

I have questions that I hope some of you out there might be able to answer.

Here’s the first: Are there going to be extra garbage pickups for Christmas? Easter? The New Year?

What about our real, shared, national holiday: Super Bowl Sunday?

I ask because the Town renewed its contract with County Waste Management last night during their Board meeting.

This followed County Waste Management, for “free”, doing an extra garbage pick-up for some neighborhoods in Woodbury for Passover.

As mentioned, I have zero problem with their being an extra garbage pick-up for Passover.

If you’re a secular Jew like me (fourth generation American), Passover isn’t a huge event.

But if you’re Conservative, Orthodox, or Haredi (remember: Orthodox is NOT Haredi, despite what this nice man from the expensive Albany law firm insists), doing a deep clean for many is an imperative to properly observe the holiday.

But.

If this extra pickup for the 2024 Passover Holiday was a freebie in exchange for a contract renewal?

That’s a problem.

Especially when you tell the public the extra garbage pick up was being done because of Israel.

(Yes. Seriously.)

And if you’re going to do an extra Passover pickup in 2025, then there is a discussion to be had about providing extra pickups for other holidays.

If certain homes in Highland Lake Estates are getting extra garbage-related service and others are not?

That’s also a problem.

When you start giving people (any people) preferential treatment in a deeply unequal society, that breeds resentment. And that resentment can breed hate.

Part of the reason the The Monroe Gazette was founded was to help stop the actual antisemitism that exists within the community while also making sure everyone is treated equally.

So. I know this sounds silly, but everyone has to be treated fairly and equally if we’re all going to survive and get through some of the larger ordeals heading our way like this new gilded age and Climate Change.

Other Town Business

Second question: Did the Town Board and Chief Watson pull off a political stunt at last night’s meeting?

Based on what I’m being told? Yes.

So, here’s what happened:

Sergeant Michael Faravashi received a promotion at last night’s meeting.

I am a big believer that all of our public servants (police included) are woefully underpaid and underappreciated.

So, The Monroe Gazette would like to congratulate Sergeant Michael Faravashi for his years of service and a well deserved promotion.

Nothing I’m going to say here should be taken as criticism of him or his service to the community.

I’m speaking specifically about the presentation itself and its timing of it at last night’s meeting, given other things currently happening in Woodbury.

Because there’s a lot happening. Much of which will be public knowledge very soon.

Here’s why I’m bringing this up …

Below is a nomination petition for Syrup Proprietor, Tyler Etzel Jr. and John U. Kelemen.

As mentioned, these two individuals— along with Trustee James Freiband — are attempting to take over the Woodbury Village Board this Fall.

If they are successful, I feel they will turn Woodbury into the next South Blooming Grove by handing the keys over to hanhallah.

Chief Watson, whom ideally should be as apolitical as possible, has signed the petition supporting Etzel Jr. and Kelemen. (See last signature.)

You don’t sign a form like this unless you’re ready to vote for the people you’re signing for.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

I mean you could be someone super into democracy and sign every petition that comes to your door, but those people are odd and also very rare. I cannot say, one way or the other, if Chief Watson is one of those people.

I can say the signature is what has led some to believe, including the sources I speak to about matters involving Woodbury, that last night’s ceremony was a political stunt.

One that was designed to show the Town is heavily involved with the police department and big supporters of it. Unlike, the implication goes, the Village.

I wish I could say more, but certain information has been embargoed.

Embargoed is a term in the world of journalism to describe information provided to a reporter (me) from a source (I can’t tell you who) under the condition that the information not be released until a specific date and time.

All I can say here is that I’m operating under an embargo on this specific matter.

I can ask questions and direct your attention to things, but I’m not allowed to say more.

For now.

Ok. I can say one more thing in the form of a question:

Why did the Town Board go into Executive Session last night after already adjourning the meeting?

Why did that Executive Session involve Chief Watson?

Let’s move on …

-Lisa Hintze also spoke about the Climate Smart Task Force. There is an Invasive Species seminar coming up:

-There is also a free seed library available. You can take the packets you need and then, after harvesting, you can return the seeds.

-Vegetative Food Scrap Drives are held every Wednesday, 6-7 at the Central Valley Library.

-There’s a community education program underway to encourage residents to switch to power provided to them from Orange & Rockland. So you’re still an O&R customer, and you would still get power from them, but the power you’re getting is provided from a community solar farm.

For more information, please visit the Climate Smart Woodbury Facebook Group.

Village of Woodbury

The following is a fact: Orange County is out of sewer capacity.

I have reached out to Orange County for additional details on this matter, but their policy with The Monroe Gazette — since Justin Rodriguez (former press officer) — left is to ignore these requests.

The Village can absolutely fix its water situation, but it cannot fix the sewer situation.

Neither can Monroe, for that matter.

Neither can South Blooming Grove.

So, every municipality should basically be freezing all projects until this is resolved.

This includes Woodbury Common’s expansion plan.

I was going to write for you all a very long post about Woodbury Common’s proposal.

How they packed the Woodbury Planning Board meeting last night with people who all had a financial incentive to speak favorably about their proposal.

How Simon Property Group, one of the wealthiest company’s on this planet, was bragging about the $70M it brings into the community through the sales tax.

How the people who spoke in favor of the expansion downplayed the impact on traffic to Route 32 and noise generated from the helicopter pad.

But it’s kind of pointless.

Until the sewer situation is resolved, the Commons can’t expand.

It’s really as simple as that.

I will say this though:

You deserve better.

I don’t fault the local school districts for speaking favorably about the Common expansion. Patrick Cahill, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Management Services at Monroe-Woodbury, for example, spoke in favor of the expansion.

He did so because he, correctly, pointed out that the Common is the school district’s largest taxpayer.

But I want you to think about what I’ve already shared with you about Simon Property Group.

This company is participating in a $2B stock buyback scheme.

So when they brag about the $70M they generate for the community. You should know that $70M is pocket change for them.

When Simon Property Group is asked about adding a train station, and they tell you it’s too expensive, remember that the $300 million dollars needed to upgrade the entire Port Jervis Line is a rounding error to them.

You deserve better than to accept these crumbs — nice, expensive crumbs to be sure — from Simon Property Group.

And here’s one last thing to remember:

Simon Property Group’s Woodbury Common is the flagship mall in their portfolio.

They are not going to pack up and move if we ask for more.

They need this expansion because, if you look at their financials, you’ll note that the tourism oriented malls (like Woodbury Common) are their best performing malls.

So they NEED this expansion to happen.

If it was me on the planning board? I would ask Simon to go back to the drawing board, include a train station and other traffic mitigation strategies, and pay for the damn sewer infrastructure while they’re at it.

If you got $2B to commit to fattening the wallets of your shareholders, you’ve got a few hundred million to spend on everything else.

You deserve better.

But you gotta ask for it.