Mahwah, NJ – A New Jersey township is under investigation after it adopted a rule limiting use of a public park to state residents, which opponents said targets the Jewish community from a nearby New York town.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The state attorney general’s office issued a subpoena last month ordering Mahwah to turn over documents related to the ban.
The township met the Aug. 21 deadline to submit the documents, which included emails, text messages and social media posts, said Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet. “We’re fully cooperating with the attorney general,” he said.
The northern New Jersey town on the border of New York has come under fire recently for ordinances that some believe are targeted at Jews. The town is also facing a lawsuit from an Orthodox Jewish community group after Mahwah tried to block it from building a religious boundary made up of white plastic piping on utility poles.
The park ban was created in July after residents complained about overcrowding at the facilities and them being used by Orthodox Jewish families from New York, according to The Record (https://njersy.co/2wYlHdk).
Police Chief James Batelli raised concerns that the ban was illegal, and the same month the park ban was launched, Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal ordered police not to enforce it.
Craig Sashihara, director of the attorney general’s Civil Rights Division, said the ban raised concerns under New Jersey discrimination and civil rights laws. The discrimination law prohibits “discrimination in places of public accommodation — such as public recreational facilities,” Sashihara said.
The ban was not created to be discriminatory, said Robert Hermansen, the township’s council president. “We had incidents where Mahwah families could not use the parks,” he said, so the council wanted to find a way to “put Mahwah residents first.”
In the fight over the religious boundary, the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association and two New York residents filed a federal lawsuit last month, alleging that the town is violating their constitutional and civil rights.
Some Orthodox Jews consider the boundary, called an eruv, as being needed to allow them to do things like carry keys and push strollers on the Sabbath.
Mahwah officials, though, said the markers violate local laws that prohibit signs on trees, rocks and utility poles, and they will start issuing summonses next week if it isn’t removed. They haven’t commented on the lawsuit.
___
Information from: The Record (Woodland Park, N.J.), http://www.northjersey.com
When the nations of the world subjugate us we understand were in rxile & they r doing their job, but how do we deal with tbe shameless secular jews self jew haters doing this to us can a/b explain!!
Imagine the reaction , if this ban was put into effect for say overcrowding because of visitors of different nationalities ,colors , ect , were using the parks .
I am totally not local and not involved but this sound so un American!
I live in NYC and should NYC ban non residents from visiting Coney Island or Times Square, both of which get crowded? Hundreds of thousands of Jerseyites work in NY and use our roads and taxpayer supported subways. Even our ambulances are manned based on the daily influx of outsiders.
Well, it’s not so simple. In Nassau County, their parks and pools are open to residents only. They can check your driver’s license as you drive into the lot. At Jones Beach, you have to pay a fee to enter. Atlantic Beach is a private beach open to residents only.
I don’t know what the rules are in this park, but one could make the argument that it’s for county residents. There are many parks that are for county residents only. They do need to make that policy clear.
Anyone remember that Kiryas Yoel gender-segregated park? From what is reported, it is a huge park. And the only legal complaint against it that was upheld was that (apparently because it took some government money) forced gender segregation was banned. But as I understand the reports, there was no legal challenge upheld when restricting the park to residents (and that means Jews) only.
This problem can be solved!!!
Last I checked Lakewood was in NJ and it’s residents would be allowed to use these parks.
Next summer, any Lakewood day camp taking a trip to that area should stop there for snack/lunch etc…
Would be interesting to watch the local reaction to this.
I know how annoying it is when the parks get full and my kids can’t enjoy it because people hog the swings and slides and there is not ample room to run around.
I don’t think its a bad idea to limit parks to county residents only. I would do even more than limiting it to NJ residents. They are the ones who pay taxes for those parks.
Just imagine if you lived in a suburban quiet area and all of a sudden a million people came barging into your quite park. And many frum jews like the quite too. So I don’t see how its discriminatory
In other cases, municipalities limit access to their own residents. Here, they’re not limiting it to their own residents; they’re allowing anyone from NJ to use it, but not anyone from NY. This certainly raises the discrimination question, as there doesn’t seem to be any legtitmate reason why Mahwah should want someone from Cape May using their park but not someone from Monsey.
The picture says it all. They hate us, they hate everything about us, from the way we look, act, dress, eat, etc… This town would have fit right into pre war germany.