Lakewood, NJ – The Township Committee last night voted down a proposal to institute mandatory annual inspections of all rental units.
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Committeeman Robert Singer was the swing vote, having first supported the measure last month.
The committee's two Orthodox Jewish members, Menashe Miller and Meir Lichtenstein, also voted against the ordinance. Many of the town's landlords who would be affected by the new regulation are Orthodox.
Mayor Raymond Coles and Committeeman Charles Cunliffe voted in favor.
Some have accused Singer of being swayed by the Vaad, Lakewood's council of Jewish leaders.
Several residents voiced their frustration at seeing the ordinance flounder.
"Let's face it, the real reason for the resistance is the fact there are far too many zoning and housing laws being violated throughout Lakewood, just as there are far too many in this town who seem to place themselves above the laws and statutes on our books," Michael Billing said.
The main objections from the Vaad and landlords centered on the ordinance's all-encompassing nature, which they claim would unfairly burden law-abiding property managers.
The Vaad considers the ordinance a cumbersome bureaucratic move that would spread inspection resources too thin, according to Rabbi Moshe Weisberg, a member.
"We need to refocus on the repeat offenders as the priority and deal with them," he said. [APP]
It’s not that the tenant would complain about something that needed fixing. That’s not what the residents are asking for with the mandatory inspectionn law. It is the illegal overcrowding of rentals that is prompting the request for a yearly inspection. It is very difficult to live in a a neighborhood where many people live in the rental next door and do not have a ‘stake’ in the neighborhood. Hence, property is not kept up, cars are parked on lawns, fires start and children run around barefoot in the streets. Too many people in one home and the township committee doesn’t seem to care. We moved out of Lakewood a few years ago. It’s a shame we felt that we had to (neighborhood was really declining) because it really is a nice place to raise a family and the location is ideal.
im all for the mandatory inspections-we will get the mexicans to leave-30 in a house-
Just like the joke of affordable housing.
This will permitt the rich to prey on the poor, and continue to house the needy in slum like conditions.
Anon. 2:50PM Not being a Lakewood resident, I still have a little knowledge about [the negative effects of excessive] bureaucracy. The fact that there is no routine [annual] inspection of the rental units does not mean that the tenants have no recourse. Wherever a problem occurs, that the owner neglects to take care of a problem, the Buildings Dep’t. can then be notified and the property owner would have to remedy the situation. On the other hand, some minor problem that can easily be fixed would create major headaches for the owners. Maybe some [special interest] people would like precisely that.
This article should have been entitled “How to make sure anti-semitism remains alive and well, by landlords representing Hashem to the world through their acts and attitudes.” The poor people living in those slums are absolutely aware of who the cheap slimeballs who opposed this bill and keep them in squalor for excess profit. Does anything think this is some sort of secret who owns those buildings?
How would this be bad for the good landlords??? If they are good they will have no issues and the bad ones will be forced to shape up!
Just another case that proves the Vaad has ulterior motives. They could care less about the safety of the people living in Lakewood.
It’s too bad this law didn’t go through. It would have improved the quality of life in town for all frum people, but now it just improved the cash flow of the Jewish landlords and developers in town.
The worst part is it makes the whole frum community look as if they’re involved in sanctioning voting against it, when it would have helped the town.
We’ve heard this before–the Jews control the media, world, government, banks, etc.
If the problem really was that too many laws were being violated, why would they want to tack on another law? They should have proposed a law authorizing better enforcement. This is just an anti-frum-businessman power play.