Meet The New Guys

One week to go and then we get to see the Town Board's brand new members. The best that Caruso could buy.

So, set aside the date - Thursday, January 3rd, 7:30 PM.

Oh boy!

Thank You Note

The Pieman suggests that we should take a moment to thank those who have done so much for us.

He posts:

By the way, don't ever forget that this particular Christmas present to the town (Burke, Haviland and Levine) was engineered by Ralph Crauso, and, through him, by our good friend in Albany, Senator Larkin.

If any of you want to thank Uncle Bill directly here's his address and phone number:

Senator Bill Larkin

Room 612

Legislative Office Building

Albany, NY 12247

(518) 455-2770

The Uncle is certain that there is nothing that would please the Senator more than to hear from his beloved constituents about how happy they are with the work of his aide, Ralph Caruso.

So Long, Farewell

The final Town Board Meeting of the year (and the last with Mike A and Lorraine) happens this Thursday (December 20th, 7:30 PM - guess where).

Be there or be rectangular.

Stand up and say goodbye and end up on YouTube.

Open Government, My Avuncular Ass!

What could be nicer on a cold winter day than an electronic missive from a favorite nephew.

This just popped into the Uncle's mailbox and I couldn't wait to share:

Dear Uncle,

Last month I met with Carlton Levine. I got the impression that his view of Woodbury was based entirely on what was spoon-fed to him by the Burke Caruso posse and I told him that it was in his and the Town’s interest for him to hear as many different points of view as possible. He agreed.

I listed a number of people "on the other side" that he might speak with - Gerri Gianzero, Sheila Conroy, George Sewitt, Sandy Capriglione, Robin Crouse, Jim Booth and members of the Village Board. He said that he would reach out to them.

He never did.

I just called him now and he said "I have no interest in speaking to you." Then he hung up.

If that is what his tenure on the Town Board will be like - "I know what I’ve been told and I don’t want to know anything else" - we are all in for a truly lousy two years.

So much for Burke’s mantra "Open Government."

Jonathan Swiller

See It Now, Updated

Updated 12/15
November 15th Town Board Meeting Added

OK, the Uncle has taken another step into the brave, new, digital world (well, the nieces and nephews have).

November 8th

Here is video from the November 8th Town Board public comment session. The main portion of the meeting was about the budget, it's detailed in the official minutes which are available from the Town Clerk. Those minutes do not include the public comments and so that is what the Uncle's dilligent little neices and nephews have whittled down into YouTubeable size bites and uploaded.

In the first video John Burke admits that Town Board Members have no say in the actions of the Town Assessor. When asked about the flyer claiming that McNeill and Aronowitz "approved the plan to raise you assessments he sends Swiller to the Democratic Committee saying (at 5:59) :

"I think that what you want to do is go to the committee that put this out and addresss this issue - if you have a concern, it sounds like you do, not "if", you address it to the people who are on that committee. There is a committeee that meets on a monthly basis, bring it to their attention."

When he was later asked about the flyer, Committee Chairman Manny Mangual gave full responsibility back to John Burke.



The second piece has comments on the flyer by Town Board Members Gerri, Gianzero, Lorraine
McNeill and Mike Queenan.


The third piece has comments by Timber Ridge resident Mickey O'Brien.




The fourth piece has a last comment by Mike Queenan.



Video-taping, converting to digital and then editing is a major pain. It would be nice if the Town Board itself arranged to upload the meetings so that the public could view them. In the meantime, here's what we've got.

November 15th

Maria Hunter



Jonathan Swiller



Mickey O'Brien


Neil Crouse


Sandy Capriglione (part 1)


Sandy Capriglione (part 2)


Gerri Gianzero, Mike Queenan, Lorraine McNeill


Robin Crouse



Mindy Prosperi


Pete Stabile, Bob Hunter


Jonathan Swiller (2nd Comment)



Mickey O'Brien (2nd Comment)

Legacy Ridge Debunked

At last night's Public Hearing on the Legacy Ridge FEIS John Baranowski totally destroyed any hope that Millennium Homes had of getting their project approved when he asked "who pays when my child falls off the water tower?"

Take that developers!

The Next Big Chance to Demonstrate Apathy

The holiday season is upon us and so we are all busy rushing about to prepare for Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, Imbolic, Yule, the Ascension of Abdu'l-Bahá, Lohri, Eid-al-Adha and, of course, the Day of the Ninja.

But that's not the best reason for ignoring what happens in Woodbury.

We must join together and, speaking as one, make clear that the main reason we don't pay attention as we are lied to, manipulated and treated as fools is that WE DON'T CARE.

Don't allow your inaction to be misinterpreted as mere "prioritizing."

Woodbury should not be seen as a low priority when, in fact, it's no priotity at all.

Be proud of your apathy.

Speak up for your apathy.

Shout it from the rooftops: "I'M APATHETIC AS HELL AND I'M GOING TO IGNORE EVERY DAMN THING THAT'S DONE TO ME!"

Your next opportunity to demonstrate your total lack of interest is this Tuesday, December 11th at 7:30 when you can avoid going to Village Hall (that's really the Highland Mills Fire House).

The event is a public comment session on Legacy Ridge.

What's that? Who cares? We don't. Yay!

The Greatest Show In Town

See John Burke pretend that he never said what he said.

See John Burke pretend that he never did what he did.

See John Burke pretend that he never saw what he saw.

See reality torn asunder before your very eyes.

See John Burke in his best known role: the poor put-upon sweet-heart whom mean people treat terribly for absolutely no reason.

This is the role that won him the Supervisorship, the unquestioning obedience of Bobo and Charlatan, the naming of a school-building and a warm and loving reach-around from Ralph Caruso.

Admission is free

(if you don't count forking over your intelligence, your trust and your town)

That Busy, Busy Beaver, Burke

Feeling the heat
Woodbury's Democratic Committee head, Manny Mangual, thrust full blame for a dirty campaign tactic aimed at getting Democrats elected to the Town Board on Supervisor John Burke.

Burke, who vacillated between denying involvement and dumping blame on others for a campaign to smear Republican incumbents Michael Aronowitz and Lorraine McNeil, sat by quietly as the head of his own town Democratic Party pointed him out during a Monday committee meeting as the person who wrote, printed and distributed the fliers to 450 homes in Timber Ridge.

Town-house development residents saw their assessments jump as much as 60 percent under former Assessor Roland Tiffany, who retired recently.

The fliers accused Aronowitz and McNeill of supporting the assessment increases, even though neither of them had any part in the decision.

Burke told the Times Herald-Record shortly after the election that he advised Democratic candidate Carlton Levine and committee members to print the fliers shortly before the elections. The supervisor stood by the message, since McNeill was on the board that appointed Tiffany, he said. (Following this reasoning, he apologized to Aronowitz, who was not on the board at the time.)

Mangual's accusation about Burke raised questions about the Democratic committee's allegiance to Burke, as he tries to downplay the impact of the scandal. Even if true, Burke's role in the dirty campaign will not likely result in his ouster.

So, John P. Burke, retired school building, had enough pep, vim and vigor to, personally and on his own, distribute the somewhat misleading (read "lying out his ass") flyer to all 450 homes in Timber Ridge (possibly by coming down their chimneys).

He even took time off to climb into the trunk of the Burkemobile and disguise himself, at various points, as Bobo Haviland and Charlatan Levine.

Wotta guy!