Lights, Camera, Snow Storm!

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This Monday, February 2, unless snow intervenes (always a major possibility), Woodbury is about to have its first ever Preliminary Board Meeting.

"What's that?" you ask.

Well, it's pretty much just a plain old work session, but with a brand new name, which Ralph hopes will justify the expense of having it on TV.

You see, up until now it was felt that since work sessions are generally quite short, and since Jeff, the town videographer, is paid for a minimum of three hours, it didn't seem like a good use of town funds.

But Ralph feels that there is no point in doing anything unless the teevees show him doing it.

Kiryas Joel selected by DEC to be lead agency in annexation

From Mid-Hudson News:

ALBANY – State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens has designated the Board of Trustees of the Village of Kiryas Joel as lead agency for the review of a proposed annexation of some 510 acres of land from the Town of Monroe.

His decision dated Wednesday, January 28 is based on his finding that the village board “has the broadest governmental powers for investigation of the impact(s) of the proposed actions and hence greater capacity to review impacts of development that may be a consequence of annexation.”

Lead agency status was also requested for the DEC, Monroe-Woodbury School District and Orange County. Lead agency status was also requested for the DEC, Monroe-Woodbury School District and Orange County. County Executive Steven Neuhaus maintains, though, that the county should be designated lead agency “for all large annexations which would expand a municipal border by 10 percent or more and would have such a massive impact on local resources.” He said the state legislature should “give counties a definitive role in this process.”

The property proposed for annexation consists of 177 tax lot parcels in seven cluster groups with more than half appearing to be unimproved. A total of 462 acres contain forested and agricultural lands, water features and wetlands.

Martens said he received many letters of concern requesting that neither the town board of village board be selected based on the possible motivations of each municipal body. “In past lead agency disputes involving annexations, the commissioner has indicated that a municipality’s possible motivation is not relevant to resolution of the dispute,” he wrote.

Opponent of the annexation maintain village fathers plan on using the land to double the size of the village and its population.

Martens’ decision does not change or diminish the jurisdiction of the Monroe Town Board in its role as an involved agency and issues identified by the town board must be considered in the review of the project, he said. Substantive issues raised by interested parties, including the school districts, should also be included in the review.

The commissioner also reminded KJ officials that they have committed to an enhanced and transparent coordinated review including public scoping sessions, web posting of documents and a SEQR hearing on the draft generic environmental impact statement.

That last sentence shows that the DEC has a sense of humor.

Was It As Anti-Climactic For You As It Was It Was For Me?

Well, at least some of us got the day off.

Uncle Betty's Blizzard Tip

Keep your cell phone fully charged just in case you lose power. 

Dem Dems

The Woodbury Democratic Committee - you remember them, the folks who decided to be irrelevant in last November's election -  are meeting again this Monday, January 26, at 7:45 PM, in the Senior Center.

Why not drop on by and ask if they might possibly run a candidate for Town Supervisor this year.

You never know.  Maybe they were just waiting for someone to make the suggestion.

Barack Obama, Tom Brady, Sheldon Silver...

Yeah, yeah.  I know.

What happens outside of Woodbury stays outside of Woodbury.

Is It Impolite...

To point out that John Boehner is darker than Barack Obama?

If I Only Had A Brain

Ralph has descended on the town like an ice storm.  Loud, cold and blustery.

He's tried to push around department heads, town employees and the majority of the town board.

He's in the minority on the board and he's ensured that that isn't going to change.

If he'd been smart and shown up all smiles and warmth and tried to win over allies things might have worked out differently.

But he's Ralph and Ralph and can only act like Ralph.

Thank God!

From the Pieman

After so long a silence, finally, the Pieman has written.

About Ralph Caruso?

About the Village?

About KJ?

Nope.

He sends this somewhat blurry photo.

Good on ya, boy.

Any other fine signs from our local emporia?

Do send them in:

WoodburyyUncleBetty@Gmail.com

Don't forget the second "y" in "woodburyy."

If You've Got The Time

Town Board Meeting Link

For those of you who didn't have the pleasure of seeing Ralph's power grab the January 15th Town Board meeting in person you can click on "Town Board Meeting Link" above.

I particular recommend minutes 23-25 where Ralph attempts to give all important committee assignments to himself and Lyn and 27-52 where Ralph attempts to put all procurement decisions into in his own hands, over-riding town department heads and cutting out the rest of the town board.  

Every question raised by Frank, Tim and Robert about this is met by Ralph referring to himself as Chief Financial Officer as though that meant that he, and only he, has any responsibility.

Ralph believes that he's the necessary solution to a non-existent problem.

You might also note that when Lyn speaks you can barely see Ralph's lips moving.

Not That You Asked

Dear TV News Readers,

It's Charlie Hebdo.

heBDo.

Not heDBo.

Hebdo, short for hebdomadaire.

It means "weekly".

From the Greek hepta - seven.

Got it?

Meanwhile At ShopRite

They don't say what the remaining 20% is.  

Friends?

Acquaintances?

Total strangers?

Regnum Ralphum

Tonight Ralph began his reign service as Town Supervisor.

He began with a do-over of his swearing in, because the first time wasn't, you know, televised.  Maybe he'll start every meeting with a repeat.

Both sides of the town are now represented on the board.  Tim, Frank and Robert are there to represent the people and Ralph and Lyn are there to represent Ralph.

The main piece of business was reorging Ralph's reorg.  

Ralph wanted all department heads to come to him for permission to buy postage stamps, toilet paper or anything else.  The three musketeers explained that Ralph isn't king and he doesn't get to micromanage everything that happens in Woodbury.  He also doesn't get to call off work sessions and he doesn't get to put his ventriloquist's dummy associate Lyn in charge of pretty much all board committees.

And, despite his being a self-declared expert on zoning, he needed to have it explained to him that now that there is a Village of Woodbury (heard of that Ralph?) the Town Board has no say in zoning issues.

The main point that Ralph seemed to be making at the meeting was that everything that John Burke did as Supervisor was wrong.  Ralph felt that John didn't pay sufficient attention to department expenditures, that John should not have had so many executive sessions and that John and his board should not have held work sessions.

Surprisingly, Ralph didn't point out all these errors by John during his campaign.

Adeste Incredules

For those of you who have been unable to get your heads around the idea that, for a year at least, Ralph is our Town Supervisor In Training - come on by Town Hall at 7:30 tonight and see for yourselves.

While there, be sure to congratulate Ralph on his great luck in appearing on the ballot unchallenged.

Your Uncle Asks You...

                                                                                                       artists recreation


Twice within ten minutes I saw two different cars with red flowers in the middle of their grilles.

What's up?  A statement?  A new decorating concept.  Cars gone wild in the Botanical Gardens?  An incredible coincidence?  Or simply the Uncle's mind slipping away?

Got any information?

New Charlie Hebdo Cover

Since most major news outlets are describing the cover, but not showing it, here it is.

Mohammed, shedding tears, holds a Je Suis Charlie sign under a banner saying "All Is Forgiven."

Red Letter Day

This Thursday, January 15th, our brand spanking new Town Supervisor makes his first official public appearance in his ceremonial, ill-fitting, grey suit.

Here are some things we'll find out:

Will he show up on time?  That's something that our "FULL TIME SUPERVISOR" doesn't seem to be able to do at Town Hall.

Will he say hello?  That's another knack that he hasn't quite picked up yet.

Will he demand a public swearing in?  He's already taken the oaf oath of office, but it wasn't on the teevees, so...

Will Lyn Prestia try to put him in charge of the State Police or FBI?  She's already tried that with the Woodbury P.D.

Will he go into unnecessary executive session?  John did at every meeting (while, oddly enough, the Village Board, which has much more responsibility, hardly ever does). 

Tune in and find out.

I know that this photo of Ralph is from 30 years ago, but it was the one he used on all his campaign literature, so I felt that it was fitting.

For Charlie

Kiryas Joel; Some History

History professor Richard Hull will give a free public lecture Tuesday that focuses on the Satmar Hasidic movement, the latest in a series of presentations in which he traces the history and culture of the religious community that populates the Village of Kiryas Joel.

Hull, a New York University professor who serves as Warwick’s town historian, will speak at 7 p.m. at the Woodbury Senior Center, 16 County Route 105 in Highland Mills.

His lecture, titled “The Satmar of Kiryas Joel: A Historical and Cultural Perspective,” explores the origins of the Satmar community in Eastern Europe, its flight to the U.S. after the ravages of the Holocaust, and the subsequent migration of community members from Brooklyn to Orange and Rockland counties.

Hull delivered a similar lecture in Cornwall in November. He previously had given a speech on Kiryas Joel and the Satmar movement in Warwick in 2011, hoping to bring a scholarly analysis and historical context to the public discussion about Orange County’s fast-growing Hasidic community.

Chris McKenna

A Mile Stone or a Kidney Stone

Just before New Year's Uncle Betty hit 5,000 views.

That's either 5,000 different folks visiting once or one person with absolutely no life.

Or, maybe, something in between.

So, the Uncle doesn't feel exactly ignored.  However, it does get a bit monotonous for me (and probably for you folks too) to only see one set of opinions.

On the old site, which eventually made it past 60,000 visits, the most interesting things for yours truly were the comments from you all (things along the line of "I agree with anonymous 12 that anonymous 7 is an idiot.").

Unless you folks have agreed with everything that's appeared here, you're being awfully reticent.

In just a few days our brand-spanking-new Town Supervisor will don his regal robes and ascend to his glorious throne.  If none of you can muster a comment when that occurs you are as dead inside as, well, he is.