Eruv

Will the Mahwah Council Surrender?

Posted on by in Antisemitism, Blog, Eruv, Litigation, Mahwah, Upper Saddle River | Leave a comment

On Thursday, December 14th, the Mahwah Township Council agenda reads:
“Ordinance 1812; Discussion”

It’s unclear what the purpose of this “discussion” will be from the agenda.  Perhaps, it a signal that the day of reckoning is coming to Mahwah, and the Council will tell the Attorney General they will never pass such an ordinance.

If so, they would be wise to also remove Ordinance 1806 (which prevents Jews from neighboring Rockland County from using its parks) at the same time.  After the Chief of Police, County Prosecutor and State Attorney General declared the Township cannot enforce Ordinance 1806, it became the central element of the lawsuit against the Township for discrimination by the NJ State Attorney General.

Since it has no positive benefit (it can’t even be enforced) and it’s the main thrust of the Attorney General’s case against the Town and its council, the smartest move they can make is to eat a little crow and repeal Ordinance 1806 while disavowing Ordinance 1812.

What is Ordinance 1812?

As you may recall from August, this ordinance sought to strengthen the existing sign ordinance within the Township, at the same time as the administration was sending letters to Orange and Rockland Utilities and the Eruv Association, claiming that the Eruv violated the local sign ordinance.

Here is the language of the ordinance as it was proposed back in August:

The language is identical to Upper Saddle River’s Ordinance 16-15 (which is what USR claims is the basis to deny the BREA’s request to install an Eruv) and this discussion in Mahwah was taking place as an Eruv request was pending there.

Here are Mahwah’s 1812 and USR’s 16-15 side by side:

Therefore it came as no surprise that part of the complaint the Attorney General filed against the Township of Mahwah cited Ordinance 1812 as evidence of discriminatory intent.  In fact, on advice of their attorney Brian Chewcaskie, ordinance 1812 was tabled at the meeting of August 10th.  The Minutes which were posted this week reflect that:

And now…. it’s back.

Will Council President Robert Hermansen have the stomach to do the right thing and remove Ordinance 1806 while disavowing Ordinance 1812, after the rank animus exhibited by the council and several hundred residents?

We will see on Thursday.

On advice of counsel…

Posted on by in Blog, Eruv, Litigation, Mahwah, Ordinances | Leave a comment

The Jewish Daily Forward has a new article out by Ari Feldman entitled: Why A Sleepy New Jersey Suburb Targeted Hasidic Jews With ‘Anti-Semitic’ Laws

Near the end they reference a “PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL” letter from the Town Council attorney for Mahwah, Brian Chewcaskie.  In the letter, dated September 6th, he writes:

“In light of the fact that the Division of Civil Rights is seeking any and all documents relating to Ordinances 1806 and 1812, it is my suggestion at this point in time that the Township does not introduce or adopt any ordinances until such time as the Review by the Attorney General’s office is complete.”

The Council, against their own attorney’s advice went on to introduce: Read More

[UPDATE] Sticker shock: The reality of litigation costs start to arrive in time for the holidays

Posted on by in Blog, Eruv, Litigation, Mahwah, Montvale, Upper Saddle River | Leave a comment

[UPDATE – new appropriations have been added to the agenda for tomorrow]
[UPDATE #2 – This email chain shows that while the current litigation contract ($50,000) goes through January, 2018, the next contract is already being prepared]
A mere several hundred have packed Town Council chambers since early this spring, demanding that ordinances be enacted to prevent an Eruv (see our FAQ here for information about an Eruv) from being established in a small section Upper Saddle River, Mahwah & Montvale (see map here).  That is a fraction of the approximately 40,000 people currently living in those Bergen County towns, which are now embroiled in litigation. Read More

What is Mahwah hiding?

Posted on by in Blog, Bureaucracy, Eruv, Mahwah | Leave a comment

Transparency in government is very important.  As the Secretary of the Teaneck Planning Board, I made it a priority to ensure that minutes of meetings were prepared and published in a timely manner because the public has a right to know what is happening.

But the folks in Mahwah, NJ don’t seem to share that commitment.  When I requested minutes from the meeting where Ordinances 1810 (Peddling and Soliciting), 1811 (Police Director) and 1812 (Parks restrictions) were introduced, I was told that no meeting minutes were available.

It’s been 95 days since the meeting.  Is there a particular reason that they feel the Open Public Meetings Act doesn’t apply to Mahwah?  I asked the Council President at the last meeting and he said it wasn’t his responsibility. Passing the buck seems to be his preferred method of dealing with problems.

Are you trying to hide the hateful comments made from residents from the public view, Mr. Hermansen?  Or is public transparency just not high on your list of priorities? Read More

Mahwah will reap what Robert Hermansen sowed

Posted on by in Antisemitism, Blog, Eruv, Litigation, Mahwah | Leave a comment

As previously noted, the Attorney General of New Jersey laid down a pretty damning complaint on the doorstep of Mahwah Council President Robert Hermansen and his council-members.  The accompanying press release likened the council’s conduct to “1950s-era “white flight” suburbanites who sought to keep African-Americans from moving into their neighborhoods.”

Sadly, this was wholly avoidable and Robert Hermansen, knowing the risks, chose this fight. Now he has it.

For those that may not have seen the previous posts, the Township Council in Mahwah has been attempting to use inapplicable ordinances, in a discriminatory manner, to advance an agenda fueled by hatred and bigotry. Eruvin are not signs, despite the attempts of Mahwah’s council to declare them as such and parks paid for with public funds cannot legally restrict public access. 

The rights to liberty and freedom, enshrined in our founding documents, are always under attack. I am very pleased that the Attorney General and others are standing up for those rights. The message needs to be heard loud and clear.
Read More

Making Canon fodder of USR’s Eruv Ban (Ordinance 16-15)

Posted on by in Antisemitism, Blog, Eruv, Upper Saddle River | Leave a comment

USR: Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests show that in August of 2015, the Borough of Upper Saddle River started to discuss Vaad HaEruv’s application and contract with Orange & Rockland Utlities for an Eruv covering a small portion of the borough. Records produced also show that the borough council immediately moved to draft legislation targeting it. 

Last Tuesday, a Motion for Preliminary Injunction1 was filed by Plaintiffs to issue an injunction against the Borough of Upper Saddle River’s selective and targeted behavior towards the Eruv (case documents and updates can be found here).  The request seeks to:

  1. Enjoin the municipality from removing the Eruv during the litigation.
  2. Enjoin the municipality from disrupting / preventing maintenance of the Eruv or restoration of damaged sections.
  3. Permit the Plaintiff to complete the planned expansion of the Eruv in the Borough.

Typically, in order for a preliminary injunction to issue, you must meet four criteria: Read More

The secret email…

Posted on by in Antisemitism, Blog, Eruv, Litigation, Mahwah, Ordinances | Leave a comment

Yesterday, it was alleged on the Facebook, that I have some secret documents that show there was no bigotry or animus in the actions taken by Mahwah’s Township Council.

To be clear, I don’t think any council member ever outright said, “we need to stop Jews from moving into Mahwah”.  That’s not how this kind of thing works.

But there were choices made. Choices to exclude people.  And those choices to exclude, were made after complaints from residents about Hasidic Jews came to the surface. Complaints ranged from parks being used too much, to doors being knocked on for solicitation (and allegations of “blockbusting”) and more.  In many cases, evidence of what was feared, was lacking or non-existent.

When faced with these pressing issues by residents, the Council had options.
Take the parks issue, where a handful of residents stated that the parks were overrun with Hasidic Jews from New York.

Would the Council opt to go with a simple ordinance that addresses the issue (e.g. “groups of 30 or more need a permit”) or would they try to ban certain (((groups))) from coming to “their” town?

The Council opted to ban (((non-residents))). Read More

Pulling back the curtain on Mahwah’s (en)forced errors.

Posted on by in Antisemitism, Blog, Eruv, Mahwah | Leave a comment
  • In a Facebook post Thursday, Mahwah’s Council President indicated that Chief of Police James Batelli, had issues with ordinances ( e.g. 1806 to ban all non-residents certain people, from parks and others, pulled from the agenda) but now feels confident they will be ready for the next meeting.

Sadly, he doesn’t mention what the Chief’s concerns were. Several residents at previous council meetings were asking about the reasons ordinances seem not to be enforced and Council members haven’t seen fit to publicize this information to the residents of Mahwah.

An Open Public Records Act request procured the following information Read More

Mahwah is in search of a violation

Posted on by in Antisemitism, Blog, Eruv, Mahwah | Leave a comment

In Mahwah, NJ, Council President, Robert Hermansen and Councilman David May are trying to find an infraction, to what they demand, must be illegal.

Justice Robert Jackson warned about this kind of abuse back in 1940 in his famous speech entitled, “The Federal Prosecutor” (if you haven’t read it, you should). Read More

Bad Faith in Mahwah

Posted on by in Antisemitism, Blog, Eruv, Mahwah | Leave a comment

Tensions are running high in Mahwah and a meeting was scheduled to foster open dialogue and negotiation on August 15th, between the Eruv Association, the Mayor, members of the Town Council and Mahwah Strong (a resident group).

Two choices were presented.
Decision by the Town Council of Mahwah to issue summonses or hold off pending meeting

If you are going with option 1, you are Robert Hermansen and the Town Council in Mahwah, NJ.

You can listen to the vote to issue the summonses here: Read More

← Older posts
Newer posts →