Pieman Pisses Off Whole New Town

Apparently, not content with pissing off the political leaders of KJ (he keeps getting in their way), of the Town of Woodbury (he keeps reminding them that they lied to the voters) and the Town of Monroe (he claims that he's not quite certain what he did there, but Sandy Leonard did say that SOCA had to be crushed), the Pieman has now pissed off the powers that be in Cornwall.

Take a look at this week's Cornwall Local:

Making it personal
Legacy Ridge booster accuses us of snobbery
By Margaret Menge
Cornwall was accused of snob­bery and xenophobia on Tuesday night when the Village of Woodbury met and voted to approve the two local laws to increase the number of homes built at Legacy Ridge from 155 to 313. The vote was 3-0, with one mem­ber absent and one, who was just elected, abstaining.

A Woodbury resident and Legacy Ridge booster took to the micro­phone after the vote and told the board that Cornwall's attitude is "causing a lot of friction" between the two municipalities. He com­plained of the impact of Cornwall on Woodbury, and said one thing wrong with the Cornwall Central School District is the first word in its name — Cornwall. Jonathan Swiller, the speaker, said Cornwall treats kids from Woodbury and New Windsor who are in the Cornwall school district as "interlopers" and "foreigners sneaking over a fence." The police chief and his wife, sitting in comfy chairs along the wall, nodded along as Swiller spoke. And Lorraine McNeil, the defeated Woodbury Town Board member who sparred with Randazzo in 2006 when he was opposing .Legacy Ridge, tried to bore holes with her eyes into the skull of the editor of The Cornwall Local.

Swiller spoke after Tony Incanno of Cornwall, who told Woodbury's Village Board: "You have given us, Cornwall, taxation without representation." Brendan Coyne, president of Cornwall's Board of Education, followed Swiller, telling Mayor Stephanie Berean-Weeks and three board members (one was absent) that Woodbury can't have it both ways - they can't sell homes by talking up Cornwall schools and then overwhelm the Cornwall school district, thereby threatening the health of those schools. And he countered Swiller - "I take excep­tion," he said. "We're in the busi­ness of educating all students." (Coyne had jumped into the ring earlier in the meeting to inquire why Gerry Jacobowitz was speak­ing up just before the vote when others could not.)

Half the people in attendance at the Tuesday night meeting at the firehouse in Highland Mills were from Cornwall, including Supervisor Kevin Quigley and three members of the board: Al Mazzocca, Kerry McGuiness and Mary Beth Greene-Krafft, and also a number of members of the Cornwall Conservation Advisory Committee, including Bernie Sussman and Ed Flynn. Also there was Iris Sandow from Cornwall, who's in charge of the public rela­tions effort for Legacy Ridge. She was handing out copies of the Record's house editorial from
Friday, April 4 "Schools can't shut doors to newcomers" to everybody coming in. Mary Gross-Ferraro, a resident of Highland Mills who's been track­ing this project from the start was also there. She had been at Cornwall's Town Board meeting the night before, and told the board members of the hearings before the Woodbury Town Board in 2006. "I was absolutely amazed at how they just blew off Randazzo's questions," she said. She told the board of leading the Save our Streams effort in the 80s, and how they raised thousands of dollars to cover the cost of the lawyers. "I'm just concerned about nipping this in the bud before everybody's driven out of these towns by higher school taxes," she said. Also at the Town Board meeting on Monday, April 7 were representatives of the Black Rock Fish and Game Club, who said they were concerned about the "Class A trout stream" that is the Woodbury Creek. "Adding anoth­er couple hundred homes could be the death of the stream," said Jimmy McGee, a member of the club's Board of Trustees.

Coming out of Woodbury's meeting the next night, Incanno said, "See you in court"; Mary Gross-Ferraro said, "Totally pre­dictable."

The editor was stopped coming out of the door by Jonathan Swiller who said there are parents 'she should speak to. What par­ents? He rustled one up in sec­onds: man in a trench who said he lives on Route 32, just south of Trout Brook, steps away from the proposed Legacy Ridge develop­ment. He says he thinks the Cornwall Central School District does discriminate against Woodbury residents because he had trouble getting information about the new high school when it was being built. He calls Legacy Ridge, "the best, most wholesome kind of project there could be." When asked his 'name he conies out with it - he's Pat Conroy, hus­band of the former Town of Woodbury Supervisor Sheila Conroy who served from 2001 to 2005, and was the main engine behind Legacy Ridge.

Oh Pieman, why can't you be good?