The Rules (Woodbury Edition via Ralph Caruso)

Woodbury is a wonderful place to live as long as you understand the rules.

There are various types of rules.

There are the rules which only apply in certain places. For example:
"Two acre zoning is high density, but my 1/3 of an acre lot isn't."

There are rules which only apply at certain times. For example:
"Creating a village will prevent annexation and will not change the fire company until everyone finds out that that isn't true at which time I, retroactively, never said it."

And then there are the unchanging rules: development is bad and so is selling your house. This is most clearly stated as:
"If you don't live here you can't come and if you do live here you can't leave."

Just follow the rules and all will be well.

Until Ralph changes them again.

Camp Cramp

We'll start with the second story first, because a) it's shorter, b) it's important and c) you folks have short attention spans and may never get to it.

Officials schedule forum Monday on Camp La Guardia sale

By Chris MckennaTimes Herald-RecordJune 27, 2008

Elected officials have organized a public forum at the Chester Academy Monday night to let residents air their concerns about the proposed sale of the Orange County-owned Camp La Guardia property.

County Legislator Greg Townsend, R-Monroe, initiated the gathering and will conduct it with the Chester and Blooming Grove town supervisors and the Village of Chester mayor – the leaders of the three host municipalities.

Controversy has erupted since a county Legislature committee voted Tuesday to support an unusual offer to buy the property for $10.5 million – all paid up front. The bidder is a New York City apartment mogul with a shady reputation.


The full Legislature is supposed to vote on the offer Wednesday. But Townsend and Chester Supervisor Steve Neuhaus both say they will urge lawmakers to postpone the sale. Neuhaus opposes the offer endorsed this week.

NewsCamp bidder has bad rep

Mogul made Voice's list of 10 worst landlords

By Chris MckennaTimes Herald-RecordJune 27, 2008

The mysterious bidder with a stunning offer to pay Orange County $10.5 million up front for Camp La Guardia is an apartment mogul with a huge empire and a tarnished reputation.

County officials Thursday identified the man behind the recently incorporated Easy Equities as Jacob Selechnik, who was described in June 2006 in an annual Village Voice feature as one of the 10 worst landlords in New York City.

At the time, Selechnik had 15,260 housing-code violations on 110 properties, according to the newspaper. And that was an improvement over the 23,127 violations tallied two years earlier, the article stated.

Selechnik couldn't be reached Thursday at two Bronx offices with phone numbers listed in his name. His Long Island attorney, Mark Matiash, didn't return a call for comment.

His bid for the former homeless shelter and its 258 acres leaped to the front of the pack when a committee of county lawmakers voted 4-1 Tuesday to send Easy Equities' proposal to the full Legislature for approval next week.

What made Easy Equities' offer unique was its willingness to pay the full price up front, without waiting for building approvals — something unheard-of in commercial development. The three rival offers would have been paid off over a number of years.

But whether it can muster the necessary 14 out of 21 votes next week is far from clear. At least one lawmaker from the project area had turned decisively against the proposal Thursday after reading articles about Selechnik.

"I'd vote 'No,'" said Frank Fornario, R-Blooming Grove.

John McCarey, the county's real property director, said he couldn't comment on Selechnik's credibility as a landlord but could vouch for his financial security. He said he'd been told Selechnik owned 2,500 apartment buildings throughout the New York City metropolitan area.

"His financial statement is extremely solid," he said.

Meanwhile, a previous front-runner — the first of three in what has been a topsy-turvy competition for the property — pressed its case to the public Thursday with a half-page ad in the Times Herald-Record.

That developer is Mountco Construction and Development Corp. of Scarsdale. Its president, Joel Mounty, said in an interview that the company has raised its price to $12 million from $10.5 million and linked up with Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh to propose continuing education classes at the site.


The college addition was an effort to eclipse the second front-runner — a proposed 5,000-student university that had proved popular among legislators and local officials.

Show Him The Money

SWILLER ANNOUNCES THAT HE'S FOR SALE

The Pieman has announced that he is willing to sell out.

In fact, he says, he was always willing to sell out but no one has made any offers.

The asking price is $5,000,000 and if Szegedin, Caruso, Hirsch, Larkin or anyone else is willing to chip in to meet that figure he is prepared to retire completely from politics.

Cash only.

Can We Talk?

The Uncle actually has a practical matter to discuss.

What is your cell phone company?

What reception or other problems do you have?

What do you like about it?

Shangri-La? Really? Wow!

From the N Y Times Escapes section, Friday. June 20, 2008

Day Trip Monroe, N.Y.
A Spirit-Friendly Retreat in the Catskills
By Tammy La Gorce

FOR those whose ideal day trip hinges on the possibility of returning home aglow with a lingering sense of tranquillity, Monroe, N.Y., which sits in the foothills of the Catskills, can feel like a small Shangri-La.

A little over an hour north of Manhattan, Monroe is child-friendly, adult-friendly and, perhaps most important, spirit-friendly.

Life Beyond Woodbury

There exist - honest - places beyond Woodbury and, even, beyond Orange County.

And whenever the Uncle or anyone else posting here mentions it, half of you go ape-shit!

SO

When the urge to speak of that dreaded outer zone becomes irresistable, the Uncle will go somewhere else.

Where else?

Here: http://ubwv.blogspot.com/

There's also a link button over there in the left hand column (Uncle Betty's World View)

That way those folks who refuse to believe such foreign lands exist will remain untroubled in their deep Woodbury-centric slumber and spared the heebie-jeebies by any mention of that other stuff.

Oh, So That's Why.

OK, so now we know why the Pieman was looking for tough women. Here's his email:

Tomorrow, Wednesday, there is an election in Kiryas Joel for two seats on the Village Board.

In past there have been a great many concerns about the honesty of the voting. There were reports of young men being sent in again and again to vote under different names. Further, they were sent in in waves, pushing and shouting, in order to fluster the local women who worked as poll watchers.

This year OCEAN asked the dissidents for the right to supply the poll watchers. We have assembled a group of strong women who will be able to handle whatever comes at them.

Our goal is for KJ to have as honest an election as we can help provide. We're trying to even the playing field so that the challengers have a fair shot at getting their candidates elected.

Tomorrow night we'll know how it went.

Jonathan Swiller

By the way, we can still use some more men and women, so if you can give us any time at all, up til 9 PM, call me - 845-325-0561

Memorial Day

The Uncle never served in the US armed forces, and the uniform that I wore in my last job was covered with medals which I bestowed upon myself, yet I offer an opinion.

I have heard a great many speeches speaking of sacrifice, bravery, patriotism and honor and all of these things need to be said and repeated, but they are nowhere near enough.

When we should honor those who died in battle - instead we hide their coffins as they return to this country as though we were ashamed of them.

When we should give all possible care to those who served and who still live among us, instead we do far too little, far too slowly.

When we should be doing everything possible for those who are still in harm's way we have denied them body armor, we have denied them protective vehicles, we have denied them the psychological care they must have and, some of us, would deny them the fullest possible benefits.

The speeches are necessary, but if that is all we have to offer then we have failed those who never failed us.

A Conspiracy Theory

Uncle Billy Larkin doesn't much like Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun.

Woodbury Republican Committee Chairman Ralph Caruso, Uncle Billy's left-hand-man, tried to keep the Committee from endorsing Nancy.

Ralph and former Cornwall Supervisor Richard Randazzo worked together to sue Woodbury over the WP3 (Woodbury Junction) project.

Randazzo is running against Nancy for her Assembly seat.

Anthony Incanno is fronting for the current push to get the Town of Cornwall, the Village of Cornwall On Hudson and the Cornwall Central School District Board of Education to sue Woodbury over the Legacy Ridge project.

Incanno cannot form a coherent sentence so it is obvious that someone is writing his letters to the Cornwall Local.

That letter writer has repeatedly referred to and quoted the obscure writings of Ralph Caruso.

Randazzo and Caruso are nowhere to be seen.

Anyone smell something fishy?

The Pieman Is Looking For A Few Tough Women

At least that what he tells us.

Why?

Go know. He's not saying.

All that he does say is that if you are female and are interested in bringing honest elections to Orange County you should email him at jswiller@optonline.net or call 845-928-9273.

The Uncle thinks he's just looking for a date, but when asked that very question, the Pieman says no.

On second thought, it's sort of hard picturing him on a date, what would he talk about? Petitions and pipelines? Annexation and lying politicians?

Neh. Sweet talk doesn't seem to be his style.

Give him a call and find out.