Record Touches 'Hot Buttons' On Kiryas Joel
posted by VOS IZ NEIAS @ 5/05/2006 06:39:00 AM
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1 Comments:
At 9:43 AM,
VOS IZ NEIAS said…
Record touches lots of 'hot buttons' on Kiryas Joel
By Ari Felberman
The Record included the Kiryas Joel administrator in its list of "The Record's Most Powerful." In the write-up, you noted that Kiryas Joel was a "hot-button topic" and that brings me to my point: Unlike the Orange County Human Rights Commission, which avoided the "hot-button topic," the Record seems to enjoy pressing the "hot button."
Cases in point: You write that developer Jonah Mandelbaum built hundreds of units with hundreds more on the drawing board. You then write that developer Nachman Kanovsky - ¦ built close to 1,000 homes, almost all eventually bought by Orthodox Jews." If the religious beliefs of home buyers is newsworthy, why didn't you enlighten us about the religious beliefs of the buyers of Jonah Mandelbaum's "hundreds of units"?
The "hot button" is getting warm.
You named five individual builders who, together, built thousands of units in Orange County in just the past few years and called them "powerful." On the other hand, the housing units built in Kiryas Joel are dubbed "uncontrolled growth," which will cause Kiryas Joel to "own Orange County."
The "hot button" is getting hot.
You then write, - ¦ when KJ has 50,000 people and owns Orange County, King Szegedin will rule us all." This statement is sadly tantamount to shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. This incendiary statement implies that growth in Orange County, outside Kiryas Joel, has come to a complete halt, and that just isn't so. As a matter of fact, 40 years from now, when Kiryas Joel will have 50,000 people, Orange County may have 1 million people! So how do you figure that Kiryas Joel would rule?
Besides the point that Kiryas Joel never had any designs or desires to rule anyone, Kiryas Joel never even put up a candidate to run in Town of Monroe or in County Legislature elections when they would have won hands-down.
The "hot button" is getting hotter.
You threw in the mix these juicy statements: "the indomitable KJ machine," "dashing off screeds" and "conjures projects few other municipal leaders would contemplate." You portrayed the Kiryas Joel leadership as omnipotent in a "Cardinal Richelieu" sense when in reality it should be seen for what it is - forthright and caring.
Let's face facts. Hasidic communities aren't welcomed with open arms anywhere in Orange County. As such, Hasidic Jews wishing to live in Orange County have but one choice, the Village of Kiryas Joel. Village leaders are cognizant of their responsibilities and act accordingly. They remember how they struggled to provide their residents services that other county residents take for granted, whether it's water, sewer or education for the village's handicapped children.
Yet, after all its accomplishments, Kiryas Joel never sought to expand its power base, not very Richelieu-esque.
The "hot button" is getting red hot.
Jews the world over recently celebrated Passover without fear of the infamous "blood libels" or their repercussions. The civilized world now knows that the "blood libels" were baseless. But how many tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered before the now-civilized world became enlightened? Fear-mongering, especially on "hot-button topics," can be extremely dangerous.
Kiryas Joel residents extend their hand in friendship to their neighbors to jointly build a better Orange County.
Ari Felberman is government relations coordinator for the Village of Kiryas Joel.
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