NJ News & Views

[Editor's Note: At 10:18 a.m. on April 20, 2010 and at 6:05 p.m. on April 21, 2010, this story was edited for style, content and accuracy.]

Last year, Steven Langert, 2009 Deputy Mayor of Lakewood, New Jersey, had a message for some of his constituents.

"They'd better not show up at any (township) committee meetings next year," Langert said in a videotaped post-election meeting at Republican Party headquarters.

Langert became mayor of Lakewood on January 1, 2010.

Langert's comments were directed at residents of The Enclave, an adult community on Massachusetts Avenue. On Election Day 2009, residents of The Enclave rejected candidates for township committee endorsed by the Vaad and instead voted for Independent candidates Charles Cunliffe, a former Democratic Committeeman, and first-time township committee candidate Lynn Celli.

The Vaad is a political interest group that makes endorsements for candidates seeking elected office. Because members of the Vaad can coerce a large bloc of Orthodox Jewish voters to elect their endorsed candidates, the Vaad is also an influential lobby group.

In 2008, the Vaad reluctantly endorsed Langert for township committee after a majority of Orthodox Lakewood residents supported him for public office.

That support may have been misplaced.

Langert's videotaped comment at the Republican Party meeting was posted on YouTube and The Lakewood Scoop.

After a reporter for NJ News & Views left Langert a voicemail request for comment upon hearing an audio recording of his remark, the Scoop took down the video, which provided incriminating evidence against Langert.

State statute NJSA 2C:12-3 addresses the crime of making terroristic threats.

"A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he threatens to commit any crime of violence with the purpose to terrorize another or to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation, or otherwise to cause serious public inconvenience, or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience," according to New Jersey criminal law.

In 1981, and 2002, the law was further amended to include terroristic threats that led the victim to believe their life was in imminent danger.

"A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he threatens to kill another with the purpose to put him in imminent fear of death under circumstances reasonably causing the victim to believe the immediacy of the threat and the likelihood that it will be carried out," criminal law also states.

Republican Committeeman Menashe Miller and 2009 Lakewood Mayor Robert Singer were also present during the November party meeting and heard Langert's remark, but expressed no opposition to it.

Singer is not only a member of the Lakewood Township Committee, but a dual office holder that also represents Lakewood as state Senator of the 30th Legislative District.

Singer is seeking an 11th 3-year term on the township committee this year. He has served as a member of the local governing body for the past 30 years.

Miller and Democratic incumbent Marc (Meir) Lichtenstein, each elected to the township committee in November 2003, received the endorsement of the Vaad last year - and the votes of a majority of adult communities in Lakewood.

This past weekend, neither Miller nor Lichtenstein were taking e-mail messages from residents of The Enclave or The Fairways, according to Fairways resident William Hobday, who was also blocked.

The committeemen may not have wanted to read what Hobday wanted to tell them.

In earlier e-mails to residents of Lakewood's adult communities, Hobday asked for their support in opposing the construction of a non-public school with an elevator shaft at 950 Massachusetts Avenue that did not receive planning or zoning board approval.

Lakewood's code book, called a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), permits schools in all zones by not specifically prohibiting them.

Last year, Hobday said at township committee meetings that a non-public boys school had opened for business in a former residential home adjacent to The Fairways. Hobday charged that the school director had not filed for planning or zoning board approval to install a privacy trailer on the property's parking lot, which students also used for recreational exercise. As a result, visitors to the school began parking on the shoulder of Massachusetts Avenue, creating dangerous obstacles for motorists and pedestrians alike.

Hobday also said the township provided a dumpster free of charge to the school, which the director instructed the township to install in front of the home on its semi-circular driveway. Township officials removed it after garbage trucks were unable to collect trash from the dumpster, which blocked ingress and egress to the residence.

Zoning Officer Fran Siegel told NJ News & Views last week that the residence under construction at 950 Massachusetts Avenue was a single family home that did not require planning or zoning board approval to make improvements to it - which would have permitted residents opposed to the project to speak out about it at application hearings.

For residents of adult communities throughout Lakewood, increasing numbers of non-public schools opening for business so close to the age-restricted developments has reduced the quality of life in their retirement years.

It has not increased the safety of students that attend the schools either.

According to one resident that addressed committeemen earlier this year, students that received non-remote bus transportation to class because the route was deemed by local officials to be "hazardous" were seen entering a stranger's vehicle during school hours. The resident said no school administrators stopped them.

During the 2008-9 school year, the Lakewood Board of Education approved a total of $15,350,587 for student transportation services.

This school year, the board has so far appropriated $17,091,264 for student transportation services.

The school year ends June 31.

Next school year, the board is asking voters to approve a total of $19,492,247 for student transportation services.

According to the Asbury Park Press, three-quarters of the district's approximately 15-16,000 non-public school students receive non-remote bus transportation to class, referred to as courtesy busing.

The state does not reimburse districts for non-remote bus transportation, which property owners subsidize.

The resident said she paid a high price to ensure the safe transportation of the students to class. She asked committeemen what they intended to do about the problem.

Lichtenstein shrugged his shoulders and said nothing for several minutes, then said there was nothing he could do.

As Lakewood has grown, so have problems afflicting youth in all its diverse communities.

An increased number of Orthodox "schools for troubled youth" have been constructed or are planned for construction to cope with a generation of youths influenced by drugs, alcohol and violence.

Their numbers reflect similar problems among public school youth.

A proliferation of gangs throughout the state have further complicated the matter.

Star-Ledger reporter Maryann Spoto reported that on November 12, 2007, a fight erupting outside Lakewood High School that morning had escalated into a full-scale riot inside the building.

"Nearly 150 students attacked each other, innocent bystanders and even police," Spoto wrote the following day. "The first officers to respond to the scene were set upon by combatants and needed to call in backup from several surrounding towns. Students said the fight was precipitated by rival black and Hispanic gangs, who had been sparring in recent days."

Spoto reported that police in full riot gear and using pepper spray and dogs finally restored order after 20 minutes of intense confrontation. During that time, attackers randomly chose their victims, including bystanders, students threw chairs and tables and some officers were pinned to the ground.

"Worried parents summoned to the school by cell phone calls from their children found it in a state of siege, and some were arrested when they refused to obey orders from police," Spoto reported.

The headline to Spoto's report was "Riot Erupts At Lakewood School, Nearly 150 involved in fight that students blame on feud between rival gangs."

Following the riot, Lakewood Board of Education member Ada Gonzalez advocated for a public school dress code to reduce gang induction and violence. The board approved the dress code.

A reporter for NJ News & Views contacted Gonzalez last week to ask whether she thought the dress code was successful in reducing gang violence on public school property.

Gonzalez, who is seeking election on April 20 to the final year of former board member Chet Galdo's unexpired 3-year term, did not return a call for comment.

In April 2009, Gonzalez lost her bid for re-election to another 3-year term on the board. Shortly after her defeat, Galdo resigned and the board voted to appoint Gonzalez to the remaining second year of Galdo's term on the board, even though voters had rejected her candidacy.

Gonzalez is an employee of Vaad member Moshe Z. Weisberg. Both Weisberg and Gonzalez are members of the Lakewood Development Corporation (LDC), which oversees the township Urban Enterprise Zone program. They also receive their salaries as employees of the Lakewood Community Services Corporation (LCSC) through the UEZ-funded Job Link program.

As a member of the board and the LDC, Gonzalez is in a position to provide the moral and financial leadership to assist Lakewood's youth in becoming productive citizens as well as future role models.

Neither she nor any other elected official of the township has fully embraced that role.

Four decades ago, Lakewood's grand hotel era came to a close with the diminishing popularity of the township as a resort destination, and with it, many minority jobs.

Popular discontent exploded in racial rioting during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Since those days, the township has sought state and Federal funding to bring jobs and commerce back to Lakewood by establishing the state's largest Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) program, the state's second largest industrial park, and affordable housing.

The UEZ program generates a multi-million-dollar fund for its projects through a reduced state sales tax collected by the township and interest earned on loans to qualified businesses.

The Lakewood UEZ program was approved in 1993. However, since 1994, the LDC has not approved any loans to qualified businesses that would in turn hire qualified job applicants from Lakewood. Instead, the LDC has approved grants to non-profit organizations.

Non-profit organizations do not charge a sales tax for their products or services, which generates the UEZ fund and would have enabled for-profit businesses to benefit from the program.

In December, members vowed to begin making UEZ loans again, but never kept their word.

At their March 2, 2010 meeting, LDC members disclosed that repairs urgently needed to be made to light towers at FirstEnergy Park, where the BlueClaws minor league baseball team played. Members said that even though the township, not the LDC, owned the stadium, they felt it their responsibility to fund the $1,275,000 "emergent" repairs, instead of making UEZ loans to qualified businesses.

Shortly after the meeting, a reporter for NJ News & Views visited the stadium on a sunny Saturday afternoon and inspected the light towers and antique-style street lights.

The reporter did not see any in need of immediate or necessary repair.

The reporter made an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for all published solicitations for competitive bids to repair the structures, a purchase order or a professional service contract for the project.

Township Clerk Mary Ann Del Mastro said there were none.

During the stadium inspection, the reporter counted over 40 advertisements posted throughout the ball park.

Under the township's lease agreement with the stadium tenant, the township receives 25 cents of each $1 the tenant earns in ticket sales, up to a maximum of $100,000.

The township earns nothing from the thousands of dollars the tenant earns in advertising revenue posted around the stadium - which the township owns.

Participatory sports are just as important to the development of good citizens as spectator sports are to the development of the township's finances.

The township has or will be developing new venues where children can benefit from sports, but inner city youth will have no way to get there.

At the 100th Anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) last year, Singer announced that the township would be building a new multi-million-dollar community center near the baseball stadium. The site is the location of the proposed Cedarbridge Town Center, which is part of the Lakewood Smart Growth Plan that committeemen approved last year.

The community center on 4th Street has a basketball court where inner city youth can play, but most live too far away from the proposed site of the new one to walk or bike there.

NJ News & Views recently contacted Vaad member Ben Heinemann of BP Graphics. As the township's webmaster, Heinemann is paid through local property taxes, UEZ funds and the sale of township land by the industrial commission.

Heinemann is not just a local businessman, but a member of the Ocean County Human Relations Commission.

In a voicemail message, a reporter asked Heinemann if he supported public school and non-public school sporting competitions to build community relations.

Heinemann, a member of the search committee tasked with hiring a new township manager, did not return a call for comment.

The township is instead planning to redevelop the community center's tax-exempt parking lot for a proposed privately-owned shopping center financed with UEZ grants.

The planned redevelopment of the building will eliminate a venue for youths to productively use their time.

So will the planned redevelopment of the former Little League field bordered between Clifton and Lexington Avenues at 9th and 10th Streets.

In a March 1 legal notice published in the Asbury Park Press, the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) announced a joint project by the township and NJ Transit to pave over the former Little League field to build a municipal bus stop and parking lot with passive recreational space.

NJ Transit has not announced it would be servicing the bus stop, even though it will be helping Lakewood build it.

On March 3, two days later, Philly.com reported that NJ Transit planned to hike fares by as much as 30 percent and cut service by laying off over 200 non-union employees.

Philly.com reported that the cuts would save about $30 million, but that NJ Transit still faced a deficit of about $300 million by June 2011.

In 2008, committeemen approved a plan to apply for grant funding for a fleet of 9-10 buses that would cost over $1 million to operate a required two years.

Instead of planning a bus route that would transport inner city youth to new athletic fields constructed miles away, committeemen proposed routes that would service adult students attending the township's largest institution of higher learning.

Last year, Lichtenstein told the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board that the township didn't have sufficient funding from municipal revenues to operate the nine buses.

Five years ago, the township opened the John Patrick athletic fields off Route 9 at the southern end of town. Without bus transportation, children seeking a healthy, productive way to use their time in sports cannot get there.

Little League board members expressed their frustration at a March 23 meeting a reporter for NJ News & Views attended.

"Right now, we have a very limited way to get to the kids," one board member said. "1,800 flyers were distributed to every (Lakewood public) school and not one reached the kids."

Lakewood Board of Education President Abraham Ostreicher and Lakewood Superintendent of Schools Lydia Silva did not return an e-mail request for comment.

The board member said the Lakewood Little League had so far registered 250 children before the April 10 opening day.

"We used to have 400 (registered) at Clifton (Avenue School)," he also said.

Board members asserted that their goal was not in cultivating talent, but something more important.

"Hopefully, to give them a positive experience," one board member said.

Board members said many of the boys and girls registered with the Lakewood Little League came from single-parent homes.

"They need guidance and help, whether they're striking out or hitting a home run," one man said.

Members said each child paid an $85 registration fee, compared with a $300 registration fee in neighboring Toms River.

Unlike the BlueClaws, the Lakewood Little League no longer boasts numerous sponsors. Board members said Pine Belt Chevrolet used to sponsor the team at $250 a sign.

No longer.

"We lost $2,900 in ad revenue this year," one board member said. "It costs $30 for a dozen baseballs. We try any way to squeeze a buck, (but) there are (many) more businesses out there that could help. We should be getting more sponsors, but we're not."

The Lakewood Little League also needs volunteers, another board member said.

"In an adult community, you only have to be (55 to live there)," he said. "We could use volunteers (that age). It’s a win-win situation."

On Little League opening day one month later, one grandfather said he had come with his grandson to see him play.

"I've been in sports all my life," Len Loran told a reporter. "(These kids are) only 10, 11, (but Little League) keeps them away from the bad stuff."