Thursday, September 12, 2019
Airmont: Feds eye involvement in Hasidic Jewish-discrimination lawsuit
The U.S. Attorney's Office is evaluating whether to get involved in a civil rights lawsuit filed by Orthodox and Hasidic Jews claiming the village practices systemic discrimination, according to a letter to a federal judge.
The December 2018 lawsuit by Congregation of Ridnik and several rabbis claims village officials are hostile toward religious Jews and try to prevent them from praying and holding services in their homes by delaying approvals for residential houses of worship.
The legal papers also claim the village threatens religious freedom by issuing building and zoning violations with daily fines of up to $1,000 and threats of jail.
Village officials have previously denied the accusations and are contesting the legal action in U.S. District Court in White Plains.
The December lawsuit came on the heels of a legal action by the Central United Talmudical Academy in November accusing the village of discrimination concerning expansion of a school on Cherry Lane. The Suffern Central School District is named in the lawsuit for its busing policies.
Video: Drone video of United Talmudical Academy of Monsey campus on Cherry Lane in Airmont John Meore & Peter Carr/The Journal News
The U.S. Attorney's Office has been monitoring Airmont's zoning and enforcement based on two previous legal actions accusing the village of discriminatory zoning against Hasidic and Orthodox Jews since its incorporation in 1992. The actions accuse the village of violating the U.S. Constitution's freedom of religion amendment.
In a letter dated Sept. 4 to Judge Stephen Roman, federal prosecutors said they want to ensure that Airmont officials are adhering to previous agreements and court decisions governing the village's zoning codes and practices involving Hasidic and Orthodox Jews.
The prosecutors told Roman they want to evaluate the Ridnik legal action and determine how Airmont characterizes previous government positions. The prosecutors want until Sept. 30 to determine whether "to file a statement of interest" in the legal action.
"As the court may be aware, the village of Airmont has been the subject of much prior, long running litigation brought by the United States arising out the village's pattern and practice of unlawfully discriminating against Hasidic residents," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a letter sent by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Cha-Kim.
A statement of interest is a legal brief setting the prosecution's position on a case. Román granted the U;S. Attorney's Office's request for a Sept. 30 deadline.
Mayor Nathan Bubel didn't respond to an email request for comment nor did the four other members of the Board of Trustees. Messages were not returned by Village Attorney Amy Mele and the village counsel in the lawsuit, Brian Sokoloff.
Both 2018 lawsuits were filed against the administration of Mayor Philip Gigante. He and two trustees were defeated in March in a write-in campaign by Bubel, Brian Downey and Migdalia Pesante with strong support from the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish voters.
Gigante and other officials maintained the village has strict enforcement of zoning and safety codes but doesn't discriminate.
The Ridnik lawsuit marked the fourth one accusing the village of discrimination since it formed along the southern tier of Ramapo in 1991, bordering New Jersey. The village lost the first two cases for using its zoning to block residential houses of worship and then schools with dormitories in the mid-1990s. The fights cost taxpayers several million dollars in legal fees and penalties.
Residents broke away from the town of Ramapo to form the village and as Orthodox and Hasidic Jews began moving into the area with hopes of setting up schools and synagogues in residential areas.
Similar tensions exist in nearby Chestnut Ridge, where Orthodox Jews won a heated battle to have the Board of Trustees adopt a law with a tier system of allowing residential houses of worship. The law prompted several legal actions in state and federal court by Orthodox and Hasidic Jews to force the law and other residents seeking to overturn the statute.
In Ramapo's northern region, Pomona lost a federal lawsuit brought by the Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov. Pomona is appeal the ruling, saying village officials created zoning to block the congregation's school and housing for rabbinical students and their families. The village also is fighting Taritkov's request for $5.2 million in reimbursement for its legal fees.
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