Caruso's agenda does not favor Woodbury

To the editor: In 2001, Roxanne Donnery came before the Woodbury Town Board and notified them that Orange County had grant money available to be used for building and/or enhancing parks and recreation facilities. Ralph Caruso called for rejecting this or even considering applying for these funds. He focused on how the acceptance of this money would open our parks to non-residents. In reality, we didn’t need to use the money for our parks. The funds could have been used to make improvements to the Peckham Pond area behind Woodbury Commons, make beautification improvements along Route 32, build a sitting area for seniors, etc. Because of his myopic view of the issues and fear tactics, Woodbury never applied for these grant funds. I have firsthand knowledge of this because I volunteered to write this grant for the town. While I made the offer to the town, it was Mr. Caruso who confronted me in the lobby of Town Hall and told me my help wasn’t needed and to “stay out of the town’s business.” He went on to tell me I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t understand how government grants were done. I guess he was right - my success rate in writing grants was only 93 percent. Too bad he didn’t want to even consider applying. Thanks to Roxanne and her efforts, the Town of Highlands got three grants totaling $77,000 and was able to develop the Patriot Garden in memory of the victims of 9/11 and improve their other parks. Neil Crouse Highland Mills