Locals oppose plan for Roosevelt synagogue Resolution to remove mayor from council on next agenda BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer SCOTT PILLING staff The Roosevelt Synagogue on Homestead Lane could become home to an Orthodox Jewish high school for boys for a one-year trial period starting this fall. Roosevelt residents and the Borough Council grilled Mayor Neil Marko at a town meeting last week. Residents packed Borough Hall on July 5, demanding more information about the mayor’s involvement with Congregation Anshei Roosevelt and its plan to open an Orthodox day school, or yeshiva, for high school-age boys at the Roosevelt Synagogue on Homestead Lane. Alleging that Marko, who is also on the synagogue’s board of trustees, has a personal interest in the school’s development, resident Melissa Branco called for his resignation. The council will discuss the request for Marko’s resignation at the July 18 meeting. When resident Dan Ward asked Marko if being on the synagogue’s board and being mayor is a conflict of interest, Marko said the synagogue’s attorney informed him that the congregation is an independent organization that could do what is allowed within the scope of the law. Marko said he would not be allowed to vote on anything pertaining to the synagogue if it came before the council or the board. During a special meeting held at the synagogue on June 30, members of the synagogue’s board said the school, or yeshiva, would open in September, and operate from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. At that meeting, the synagogue’s president, Elly Shapiro, said yeshiva students would stay at synagogue members’ homes in the community on the Sabbath, which lasts approximately from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Although the synagogue met with representatives of Yeshiva Me’On Hatorah, of Riverdale, N.Y., Marko said the congregation has not signed a contract or made an agreement with a yeshiva “as of today.” However, resident Lydia Yohay said two houses on Lake Drive were recently sold to yeshiva associates. “What is the fact?” Yohay asked. “I want to make an informed decision, not [one] based on hearsay.” In response to Yohay’s and other questions, Marko said that the synagogue is not the business of the Borough Council. He said he would speak to citizens privately about the matter. Yohay said the mayor’s reply demonstrated the degree of distrust residents feel surrounding the rumors that are circulating about the yeshiva proposal. She asked Marko to choose between representing the town or the synagogue. Councilman Jeff Hunt pointed out in Robert’s Rules of Order, which are guidelines on how meetings are conducted, that the council could vote on whether the chairman, Marko, could discuss the matter. The council voted unanimously to have Marko discuss the subject at hand. Hunt said constituents who spoke to him perceived Marko has a conflict between his roles in two different venues. “That is what offends me,” Hunt said. “You [Marko] seem unresponsive.” Concerning the two houses recently purchased on Lake Drive, at first Marko maintained that they were not bought by individuals associated with the synagogue. However, under further questioning from the audience, he said the sales were connected with the yeshiva. “The homes were bought by individuals who plan on living there,” Marko said. “This is the U.S.A., where anybody can buy a house.” Resident John Pellizani asked why two rabbis would buy houses in the borough if a contract or lease had not been signed between the synagogue and the yeshiva. Marko said he wished the rabbis had not purchased the homes, as doing so has put questions in the minds of residents. Resident Joanne Parker said Roosevelt is not an Orthodox community and asked Marko how the yeshiva found out that the public school is in trouble. Marko said yeshiva representatives came to Roosevelt about three to four months ago and spoke to former Borough Administrator Harold Klein. Marko said Klein told him the yeshiva was interested in putting a school in town and that yeshiva representatives wanted to attend a synagogue meeting. At that time, Marko was president of the synagogue. Councilman Michael Hamilton asked Marko why, if he had known about the potential deal for three or four months, the council only found out about it recently, and by accident. “Don’t you get it?” he said, causing the audience to erupt into applause. Marko said he did not think it was a conflict of interest. “Everyone else thinks it is,” Hamilton said. Resident Lois Hunt, Councilman Hunt’s mother, said, “We have resisted several proposed insertions of large instant communities, basically to maintain the balance of the population, while welcoming newcomers of many diverse backgrounds, just as has the nation as a whole.” She referred to the town’s opposition to U.S. Home’s plan to build a large residential project, and to development plans at one time proposed for the Notterman tract. “It is not for naught that Roosevelt is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” she said. “Let’s not drop the ball now.” She asked Marko how the yeshiva would benefit the town. Marko said it would maintain the synagogue, which is on the verge of collapse, and that it would also add to the diversity of the town. Councilwoman Pat Moser said she had a “detailed” conversation with Marko, who had said that bringing the yeshiva to town would attract a better class of people. Marko said he did not recall the statement. Lois Hunt said, “It [the synagogue] is a moribund institution, and you are asking to put the town through the throes of hell.” Resident Mel Friedman said to Marko, “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize 90 percent of the community is against this proposal.” Friedman, who noted that he is a member of the synagogue, said no one told him about the possibility of having a school there. He asked Marko to go back to the synagogue’s board of trustees and express the fact that Roosevelt doesn’t want the school. “You represent the town,” Friedman said. “The town is saying no.” In response to Friedman, Marko said the synagogue’s board approved the school proposal at a general meeting and sent a letter about it to all its members. “As mayor,” Hamilton said, “a decision [made by Marko] should be in the best interests of the community. The community is here telling you [Marko] what they think.” Hamilton asked Marko, “Who do you represent — the synagogue or the community?” Marko said that he represented the community. Hamilton asked Marko why he gave yeshiva representatives a tour of the Roosevelt Public School. “Are you supporting the survival of the school, or advertising that it may be available?” Hamilton said. Roosevelt Public School has a student population numbering in the 70s, according to Hamilton, and may therefore have to close because its size does not meet state standards. Marko said he often gives school tours to guests because “it [the school] is one of the wonderful parts of the town.” “I’m not buying it,” Hamilton said, adding that the school had an important meeting recently regarding its survival, but Marko had not attended. “The school is one of the central institutions in town,” Hamilton said. “It [the tour} gives the appearance that the mayor is not in support of the school. You can say what you want. [But] People are judged by what they do.” Hamilton added that people who chose to send their children to private school would be eligible for $750 per year per child in reimbursed transportation fees. “If there’s enough children, it’s a tax loss,” Hamilton said, adding that yeshiva employees could apply to the state attorney general’s office for a tax waiver on their houses. “It could have a devastating tax impact,” Hamilton said. “You can’t wish it away.” When resident Damon Duchai brought up that yeshiva-owned dwellings could become tax-exempt, Marko said the tax-exemption process is “very difficult.” Students would stay overnight in some of the homes in the community, Marko said, because according to Orthodox Jewish law, riding in cars is not allowed on the Sabbath. He also said that the homes would help the synagogue attain a minyan, which is the ten men necessary to conduct a service. “That’s a boardinghouse,” someone in the audience said. Hamilton said the borough prohibits boarding houses of any kind. Marko said that the borough’s zoning ordinance and code do not specify how many people can live in a single residence. Resident Arlene Stinson said that the council should enact legislation that would limit the number of nonrelatives permitted to live in a single-family dwelling. Hamilton suggested forming a committee of council members and residents to contact the yeshiva to discuss concerns. He said the public has a right to information and that it needs information to act upon. The council placed a resolution on the July 11 agenda to develop a committee to address the yeshiva issue. Hamilton said the Borough Council has the statutory right to investigate any activity in Roosevelt. Marko said the synagogue would not undergo expansion to house the school, which would eventually have about 12 students per grade. In response, resident Harry Parker said, “You have to understand [that] we don’t believe you.” Branco said that as mayor, Marko has a mandate from the people who elected him to tell the yeshiva representatives that their plan would not work in Roosevelt. “The noise, the traffic — it has nothing to do with the Jewish religion,” said Branco, who herself is Jewish. The school would add too many people to a town of 900 inhabitants, she said.