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Mayor disputes claims on housing

Just days after a prominent rabbi was handcuffed, arrested and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, Mayor Charles Cunliffe pleaded Thursday night for people to tone down the rhetoric.

It didn't take.

Minutes after Cunliffe preached patience and understanding at Thursday night's Township Committee meeting, the Lakewood Improvement Association, a new civil rights group, made its public debut with charges of housing segregation and preferential treatment for the Orthodox Jewish community.

Each claim was disputed by Cunliffe, but that didn't stop association members from repeating them.

"This isn't about Jew vs. black, black vs. white," said the Rev. Kevin Nunn of Spirit of Truth World Vision Outreach in Asbury Park. "It's about right vs. wrong."

Nunn and other members of his ministry told Cunliffe that housing developments discriminate against non-Orthodox residents. Cunliffe responded that private developments are run by for-profit developers and are not governed by the same rules as public housing projects.

The Rev. Steven Brigham of Lakewood Outreach Ministry Church told the committee that a group of minority boys were kicked off the basketball court next to the Lakewood Community Center last week when a group of Orthodox boys came to play. Brigham said the Orthodox boys told the minority boys they had a permit to use the court.

The Orthodox boys, Brigham said, also had a key that allowed them to turn on the lights over the court. Once they did, six police cars arrived and officers told the minority boys to leave, Brigham said.

"I see this as discrimination," Brigham said. "There's laws being created in this town to segregate."

Cunliffe told Brigham that as a member of the clergy, he should not say untrue statements like that. Cunliffe then directed police Capt. Robert C. Lawson and Township Manager Frank Edwards to investigate the claims.

Edwards said he'll talk with Tom Ross, who runs the Fourth Street Community Center, today. Cunliffe noted many township fields require permits and that the soccer team he has coached has been removed from a Lakewood park for not having a permit.

"Give us the evidence," Cunliffe said. "We'll look into it."

A short parade of speakers criticizing the township came after Cunliffe asked people not to prejudge Rabbi Yosef Bursztyn's arrest until a full investigation is completed.

Bursztyn was charged on Tuesday with assaulting Officer Erik Menck on Sunday night. Menck was giving a warning to Bursztyn's niece on Forest Avenue when Bursztyn drove by and stopped, police said.

Bursztyn, after being told by Menck to back away from Menck's car, later reached into the car and grabbed Menck's shirt, police said. A struggle ensued and eventually Menck brought Bursztyn to the ground and arrested him.

On Monday night, hundreds of Orthodox Jewish residents rallied in front of the police station to decry the arrest.

"I know both men," Cunliffe said. "We have two good people, but something happened. I don't know what happened. You don't know what happened. Can we give the system a chance to work?"

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