- Teaneck: Large turnout in front of the shul in support of zaka with Israeli and American flagsas police department are attempting to get the high tensions and Clashes under control with pro hamas terror sympathizers across the street
- As an April fools joke New York posted that New Jersey is a great place to live.
- Tehillim For R' Yonasson Sanders founder of Bais Tova who is in need of Rachmei shamayim name is Yonasson ben Ita.
- Pesach shopping I'm an interview with Kol Mevaser R Menachem Lubinsky of Lubicom says this year there's 300 to 350 new Pesach products including many new snack items. This week consumers are purchasing cleaning supplies and meats, next week begins the pesach products purchases.
- Update: state Response to the Lang Lawsuit: In a 21-page report, the New Jersey Department of Education concludes that the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) is "not the significant cause" of the Lakewood Public School's failure to provide T&E and therefore, the SFRA is not unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood. Assistant Commissioner Cary Booker blames "Lakewood’s tax-related choices that decreased revenue, the significant deficiencies in Lakewood’s spending practices, and Lakewood's failure to control its transportation and special education costs." (OnejerseySchorrreports)
- Reb Aaron Lang fought this battle for 10 years on his own. No word yet on appealing this or taking the matter to the courts. This could potentially raise taxes in Lakewood at a significant amount as the BOE owes almost $200 Million in debt to the state.
- Powerball lottery jackpot is now $1 billion, drawing tonight
- MDY with R' Eli Stefansky will have a live daf yomi shiur in Lakewood tonight at the Beru Grand formerly Ramada Hotel 2373 Rt 9 @9:15pm
- Yeshiva bochurim begin coming back from EY for Pesach bein hazmanin
- Rabbonim in Bergen County issue letter about a planned antisemitic protest tonight outside the Bnei yeshurun shul that will be sponsoring an event to support Zaka. The authorities have said they won't be able to stop the protest. Therfore the rabbonim call on the community to gather outside the bnei yeshurin shul at 6'30pm to decry this outrageous and hateful act. The program will continue inside the shul in a dignified manner and due honor will. E given to the kedoshim massacred on Oct 7th.
- Lakewood zoning board meeting tonight at 7pm watch livestream Here see agenda Here on the agenda continued application for Lake terrace to operate as a banquet hall. Application by 118 Ocean Avenue, LLC Vine & Spruce Street. To construct 6 single family lots in accordance with R-10 zoning requirements. Applicatiom for Chestnut Equity LLC, Blocks 1087, 1088, 1089, Lots various, B-5 zone Use variance to construct a 74 multi family building in accordance with the RM zoning (previous application for 28 duplexes)
- BDE: Petirah of Harav Eliyahi Tzion Sofer ZTL Rosh Yeshiva of Rechasim at the age of 71. He came to NY after Purim to raise funds for his yeshiva and was nifter earlier today in Brooklyn.
- Pesach prices Kedem grape juice 64oz on sale at Shop Rite 2 for $7. A&B gefilta fish 20oz $7.49
- Giyus: Sefardi Roshei yeshiva led by Rav Moshe Tzadka held a atzeres tefilah today with thousands of bnei Torah in light of the generosity against Bnei Torah.
- More details of attempted kidnapping in Lakewood before Purim how a girl fought off a kidnapper APP reports a Lakewood girl clawed at would-be kidnapper, tore his shirt and ran home shoeless "Get in the car,'' the stranger in the white sport-utility vehicle told her. The 13-year-old girl ran away. The man got out and chased her. He caught up to her, grabbed her by the back of her jacket, threw her to the pavement and began pulling her toward the vehicle. The girl resisted, clawing at the would-be abductor and ripping his white tank top in the process. She managed to break free. She ran home, shoeless. Police found the girl's footwear and a piece of the culprit's ripped undershirt at the scene of the crime. The girl suffered abrasions to her hip, it said. more
why are the YU rabbis in Bergen County going against what Rabbi Cohen said to do 2 weeks ago in Brooklyn? we cannot allow such a breach in kovod Hatorah.
ReplyDeletePlease explain to what you refer
DeleteWhy do the YU rabbis in Bergen County have any obligation to listen to a Rav in Brooklyn who never told them (not) to do anything and was discussing a different situation ?Implying that they do is a breach in kovod Hatorah.
DeleteInstead of counter-protesting outside, they should go to the event and collect/donate more money for Zaka. Go to the protestors with a large pushka and ask them to put money in for rescue efforts.
DeleteDon't think these Arabs aren't going to come to Lakewood area soon.
DeleteEvery Rav is entitled to pasken for their own community. This is how psak has worked for 2 thousand years without a sanhedrin.
DeleteRebbelech also.Anybody can take & make a title
Deletenehar nehar u'pashtei (for minor scenarios such as these only)
ReplyDeleteTAG announcement short version: Installing a backup camera may include an unfiltered Android tablet. TAG can apply internet filters to these devices for safer use. Check with your mechanic about tablet installation and consider filtering through TAG before installation for easier setup.
ReplyDeleteThe final agency decision is a joke. The record is full of contrary evidence, which I doubt they even know is there, and does not matter anyway because they got the law wrong.
ReplyDelete" Update: state Response to the Lang Lawsuit..."
ReplyDeleteCan anyone explain in a few sentences what this all means please? I'm not an attorney and don't fully follow the case. Is this good or bad for the yidden?
Bad for the Jews since the state is not taking any achrayus for the debt of a few hundred million by Lakewood school district it means the olam will have to foot the bill which means taxes can go up by a thousands of dollars per year on the olam.
DeleteIt will wipe out all of Schnalls tuition relief
Now Murphy could throw Lakewood a bone and be mochel the debt but going further the state will not kick in more gelt. And the taxes will go up even more
Actually this is very good. I was concerned the would throw ten or twenty million and we would have to prove it’s not enough. They made it extremely easy not only the record contradicts the whole opinion but it got the law wrong.
DeleteSo the state knows they are wrong and will need to fund it eventually, is this just a stalling tactic? What is their strategy?
DeleteThey have no strategy. Kevin Dehmer, now the commissioner, was asked at trial what was the DOE strategy for Lakewood. He did not know but said Glenn Forney, his deputy knows. When Forney testified, the judge asked him, and he replied, "We are just taking it year by year." Well that is pashut because each year our debt gets more. Let the next governor handle it is their attitude. Yes, it is a stalling tactic but the Appellate Division retained jurisdictions, so joke's on them!
DeleteDid anyone really expect the State to say anything otherwise?
ReplyDeleteWhen you are 80 million short, that's not an issue of controlling expenses. I expect this won't hold up in court. But A Lang is probably done, there is little one can continue to do without the support of the khal, let alone being abused by them. Lakewood's per pupil costs are of the lowest in the state, the transportation costs of private school students cannot be controlled by them. The special ed budget is a result of the attorney spending years in court suing the district for his special needs clients. Of course this report was done with the input from the governor. He does not care about Lakewood. Avi Schnall is complicit in this too, as he enables the politicians to abuse Lakewood. Any money he plans on bringing in via his legislation is miniscule to what the BOE deficit is.
I don't understand. This is the better beyond my expectations. I thought they would say a certain amount and then we might have the burden of proving it false. They just dug their own hole.
DeleteWell at least people in Lakewood voted the VAAD (whoever they are) candidates.
ReplyDeletethe boe has been controlled by the state monitors for years. the state is responsible. Lang deserves a gold medal and a million dollar pension for life!
ReplyDeleteTax related choices means that they are blaming Lakewood for giving out tax abatements and free land like candy...... They have a point when you're Cash strapped And begging for loans and you give away tax abatements.. Does not make much sense to me either
ReplyDeleteMiller also gets his buddy great deals on land swaps with township owned property. We're not forgetting about that either.
DeleteLNN won't report on the tax abatements issue because his building is a recipient of such taxpayer-provided abatements.
Delete200 acres was given away to Cedarbridge development for free and they haven't paid a dime taxes either. That alone would have covered any deficit and all the transportation costs for years no need for LSTA to mooch on a yearly basis. The township never even felt the need to explain why!!
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it on the head. This is ther biggest robbery of all us taxpayers. The township gave away all the land and no taxes are paid on the beautiful office buildings. The taxes on the buildings would be plenty. This is a disgrace.
DeleteHow about promoting the Pescado Gefilte fish from Evergreen 3 units for $13.99 or 4.99 each - Do people really need to waste their money on a premium Gefilte fish?
ReplyDeleteThe problem isn't the other premium fishes. It's other non-premium charging premium prices.
DeleteAnyone know who has the best deal for reliable hand shmurah matzo in Lakewood?
ReplyDeleteWarning The very cheap hand made shmurah matzo with hechsher from R Gross of Bnai Brak use hand cranked rollers to make the matzos!
ReplyDeleteAnd?
Deleteso they really are machine matzohs. which means they aren't really that cheap. if you eat machine matzohs they are fine but they shouldn't be sold as hand matzohs when that is not what they are.
DeleteAsk your rov.
DeleteWhy hasn't LNN updated their site in 6 days?!
ReplyDeleteברוך דיין האמת
ReplyDeleteהלוי׳ של הילדה רחל ע״ה בת ר׳ אלעזר יוסף פאלק הי״ו תצא מחר 10:00 מלפני בית מדרש ראחמיסטריווקא
736 Vine Ave
בשורות טובות.
It was pushed off to 12:00
DeleteThis whole thing something good. Now, after almost thirty years, Lakewood has made it finally out of the Department of Education and its procedure on every level, T & E and SFRA, and FINALLY a REAL court is going to decide. Not that the OAL judge was not a good judge, and she was, but she was not a constitutional judge but part of the executive department, just like the commissioner. I say the burden of proof in a REAL court is now on the state since we won on T & E, in my opinion, which is probably right. Again it is all z'chus ha'rabbim. I am just a talmid.
ReplyDeletePeople don't realize that the art of law is seeking truth. No procedural tricks. If I know that the emes is on my side, I know I will win. Call it simplistic, but it works every time. IY"H, now we should be zoche because this is the city of Torah and one day will be shaleim by having accountable government.
ReplyDeleteThe art of the United States legal system is to seek sheker and stupidity as much as possible.
DeleteConflating law with emess is a serious mistake.
Well I know if I am going to win before I even take a case. My client has to be at least 50% right, or close to it. That tells me that the good guys almost always win. The only time I ever lost is when clients lie to me or try to play shtick. I would advise seeing another attorney, if that is what he calls himself, if the truth is not on your side. Yes, I know in criminal cases, someone has to defend the guilty in order to force the state to prove its case, but in civil law, you DON'T take a case if your client is going to profit by misleading the court. As far as I am concerned, my job is to bring out the truth, and if that would cause my client to lose, I just don't take the case. I am not going to help people play games and collect windfalls that I do not think they deserve. It's a free country. I don't have do as you say and risk my reputation, integrity and credibility on sheker and misleading the court. I put all the cards on the table and win fair and square. The goal is to make your facts fit into the law. If you have bad facts, or someone is lying, then don't do it. I am not going to be a trailblazer and win major rulings only to have someone expose untrue or bad facts that my client withheld from me. You want me, you better be honest and upfront. I am not alone, because the rules of ethics forbid misleading a court.
DeleteI, from 11:41, did not mean any individual. I meant the system. The US legal system, especially the criminal one, is filled with sheker, loopholes, and nonsense.
DeleteBooker contends that the district, which ran a $5 million surplus in 2010, has failed to increase taxes by the top amounts since then. He said between 2011 and 2014 the tax levy was not increased and that between 2015 and 2018, Lakewood Schools raised $31.5 million less than it could have by increasing property taxes to the legal limits.
ReplyDeleteSo Lakewood school district could've had another 31 million, if they taxed to the max. Which is a small part of the 200 million debt.
Are Lakewood residents required to be taxed to the max?
Yes. If your Public school needs it
DeleteLang is correct. Because of ME , the taxes in Lakewood could eventually become so high that only huge gevirim can afford to live here
DeleteThis is a big mistake. We could not raise taxes above the cap. Booker is writting that if we did not have a cap, which is law, and the only person that can get around that law, IS NOT THE BOE, but the commissioner.b Every single one of those years the state monitor raised taxes to the full extent of the BOE's ability. Pretty dumb of the commissioiner to blame that on the BOE if he is the only person with the power. And then the stupidity about 2011-14 is even dumber. Then we taxes above our share. So what does the commissioner want us to have done? Tax above our share because it will save us a couple million in 2018? In order to have not needed the 2018 loan of $29 million, we would have had to raise taxes by $25 million in 2011-14, a 35% increase which has never happened anywhere. And since you can only increase taxes by 2%, we only could have taxed $4 in those three years. By compounding at 2% a year our tax levy would have only increase at the maximum of $5 million. That in no way cabn account for the $36 million in 2019, $54 million the next year and so forth. It is like saying that Lakeowod should have a referendum EVERY YEAR to raise taxes by double digits. It is a fantasy and the state is going to lose in court.
Delete"The record also demonstrates severe deficiencies in Lakewood’s fiscal management, including its failure to keep track of expenditures, records and data and questionable spending practices,” the report said.
ReplyDeleteAmong those practices were a failure to keep purchase orders in place for students placed out of district or an accurate roster of staff members. He also cited board approvals of contracts without review and “other questionable expenses.”
Isn't there a state monitor that should be watching over this? Or all this just a false report?
Several years has three monitors. But it is all a farce since each one of them testified that all the bad fiscal practices have been corrected and each testified that the formula has to be fixed. So even though you. BOE is not good at all, dumb and should be thrown out, they are too dumb to be able to have gotten in $200 debt. Yes, maybe they squandered a couple million of the last decade, but that is a smoke screen. The state is going to lose.
DeleteIf no money, close a few buildings, combine classes (increase class sizes), cut out AP, music and art classes, cut out football and soccer teams.
ReplyDeleteToms River is complaining their state education aid was cut a few million, so Governor Murphy told them to close a few buildings. What good for Toms River is good for Lakewood.
There is a big difference between Lakewood and other districts. Other district have a correct formula but they are just not taxing themselves the full amount. Lakewood does not have a correct formula. It says we need $115 million when we need $250 million. So it is not a question of taxing ourself, or getting full state aid, but a question of having the right numbers. All the other districts is a problem of full state aid or they just don't tax themselve up to their share. Yes, we also do not tax up to our share, but even if we did, we would still need to borrow $50 each year. So there is no comparison between a district that the law already says how much it need but is not getting it, and Lakewood, where the law does not even acknowledge the existence of the nonpublic population. All our kids count. We get $20 million in Title I because all the yeshiva kids are counted for federal purposes, but when it comes to the state, their lawyers don't even acknowledge the number that the DOE submits to the federal government. Sure, they admit that the kids exist, but not the numbers, not the expense, not any responsibility whatsoever. Just look at how dumb the decision is. Everyone knows that it is the state, not the BOE, that has the ultimate responsibility. And still, after 50 years of NJ case law clearly on our side, they side blame the local taxpayer. They did it with Newark, Jersey City and other urban district, and they are using the same playbook for Lakewood. No sweat. It is an old, wrong, and tired argument that will not prevail.
Delete