Roosevelt puts another ornery year to bed
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

ROOSEVELT - The past year was another tumultuous one for the small borough, which prides itself on diversity and neighborliness.

The year started off with a campaign to recall Mayor Neil Marko. In January, Marko alleged that residents were petitioning to remove him from office because an Orthodox Jewish high school moved into the synagogue on Homestead Lane.

According to Marko, accusations that he brought the yeshiva into town were "overt lies." Marko said he first heard about the yeshiva proposal in late March when then-Borough Administrator Harold Klein told him some men had come in to discuss the possibility of putting a yeshiva in the synagogue.

Marko said he told yeshiva representatives he would contact the synagogue to see if the congregation would be interested in meeting with them. Once Marko learned of the yeshiva's proposal, he said he immediately resigned his position as synagogue president, though he remained mayor and a member of the congregation's Board of Trustees. Planning Board members didn't learn that the yeshiva had plans to expand the synagogue's use until April.

Resident Jeff Ellentuck, spokesperson for the recall committee, said Marko wasn't being recalled simply because a yeshiva had moved into town, but for many reasons. He said the committee wanted Marko removed from office because of his inability to work with the Borough Council, the Board of Education, the fire department and the Planning Board.

At the reorganization meeting, Marko alleged, "Thirty, 40 or 50 years from now, there will be those who remember the events of the coming year, and they will look upon Roosevelt in the same way that some look upon Rosa Parks or the Newark riots."

Joshua Pruzansky, vice president of the yeshiva, recounted how the yeshiva took interest in Roosevelt.

Pruzansky said, "A past resident of Roosevelt and synagogue member happened to mention the Roosevelt synagogue to someone, who mentioned it to someone else, who mentioned it to Rabbi [Yisroel] Eisenberg."

After the yeshiva found out about the Roosevelt synagogue, Pruzansky said, yeshiva representatives visited the borough in March 2005. Unlike Marko's recount, Pruzansky said yeshiva representatives first spoke with people at the synagogue, who told them that the president of the synagogue was also the mayor. Pruzansky said yeshiva representatives then went to borough hall, where they met with Klein and were introduced to the mayor.

When asked if he thought the mayor ever acted improperly for the benefit of the synagogue or the yeshiva, Pruzansky responded, "Absolutely not."

"After we met him," he said, "he stepped down as president of the synagogue."

Although Marko has adamantly denied it, some residents including Ellentuck also alleged early on in the year that Marko had a self-interest in the synagogue's and the Pine Valley Swim Club's (PVSC) dealings with the yeshiva. Soon after the borough declined last year to purchase the PVSC pool property, Marko, a member of the PVSC, "mentioned an acquaintance interested in purchasing the property in full" at the April 7, 2005, PVSC meeting.

Ellentuck found fault with Marko's actions.

"He proposed that Pine Valley sell its property to the yeshiva as a location for a dormitory for a very substantial amount of money, of which he would receive a proportionate share," Ellentuck said.

Councilman Michael Hamilton took issue with having to find out about the potential of a yeshiva moving into town from the swim club meeting minutes.

"Mayor Marko had not said anything about it prior to this time," Hamilton said. "Ironically, only [swim club members] were informed about the yeshiva through this venue, while it was withheld from the rest of our citizens."

In a special election on Feb. 7, an overwhelming majority of voters recalled Marko as mayor, with approximately 55 percent of the borough's registered voters casting ballots. During the recall election, 282 residents voted to remove him from office, while 68 residents wanted him to stay.

Residents chose to elect Borough Council President Elsbeth "Beth" Battel to replace Marko as mayor until Dec. 31, 2007, when Marko's term would have expired. Battel, who owns and operates Footlight Farm on Route 571, said that as mayor, she would do her best to listen to everyone's point of view and would try to encourage people with opposing viewpoints to reach a consensus.

During Marko's last council meeting serving as mayor, which took place Feb. 6, Pruzansky publicly thanked Marko for his support. Referring to a famous quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Pruzansky slightly altered it, saying, "Don't judge us by the color of our hats~ but by the content of our character."

Despite the apparent rift growing in Roosevelt, the April edition of New Jersey Monthly magazine, which hit newsstands in late March, rated the borough the No. 1 place to live in the state of New Jersey.

The magazine ranked the municipalities based on property taxes, home values, population growth, land development, employment, crime rate, school performance and proximity to services such as hospitals and theaters, according to N.J. Monthly editor David Chmiel.

Chmiel said that in 2006 the magazine decided to take out median household income as one of the criteria "because it should not be about how much money people have."

Chmiel said the choice the magazine made to make Roosevelt No. 1 generated a lot of debate.

"Roosevelt is in a time vacuum," he said, "It's charming and in lots of ways anti-New Jersey."

In hearing the news, Marko said, "Everyone in Roosevelt knows what a nice place it is to live except for [having] the Orthodox Jews who, as [Planning Board Chairman] Ralph Seligman puts it, are considered a threat to our communality by a bunch of old-timers."

The next big thing to happen was Borough Administrator Robert Clark's resignation in March after serving for about a year in the 15-hour-a-week position. Later in the year, the council would appoint William E. Schmeling, of Manasquan, to replace him. Around the time of Clark's resignation, the council also appointed Ellentuck to the seat Battel vacated after becoming mayor.

In May, there were multiple bear sightings throughout the town, causing a mixture of awe and fear. The animal(s) were seen in the backyards of homes on both sides of town, which prompted the borough to call in Kim Tinnes, the state's wildlife control officer, for a discussion on bear safety. However, soon after the bear or bears appeared, there were no more spottings of the creature(s), nor has anyone reported seeing the ursine(s) since.

The municipal budget rose for the first time in five years because the Borough Council passed its proposed $1.3 million spending plan in May. Hamilton, who chairs the borough's Finance Committee, said the local tax rate has been about 69 cents per $100 of assessed property value since 2002.

The new tax rate amounts to just over 76 cents per $100 of assessed value. The net effect of the budget is an increase of $5 per month per household. Hamilton said there was a $20,500 increase in the appropriation for the borough's fire department.

In May, residents also started questioning the yeshiva's use of Paul Brottman's house at 53 N. Rochdale Ave. The borough's housing officer, Edward Goetzmann, inspected the property and told the council that there seemed to be more people living there than should be in a single-family occupancy dwelling.

In June, the borough decided to bond $85,000 to fix its water and sewer system. Hamilton said the improvements to the water and sewer plant would be spread out over time and improve the quality of both systems, as well as reduce the possibilities of unexpected failures. At that time, the council also discussed having to get a new water tank for the town, which could cost between $450,000 and $900,000.

Complaints about postings on the borough's bulletin board arose at a June 20 meeting. One posting concerned a brochure that stated, "Contrary to what we might want to assume, sexual violence is not just a Gentile issue, but also a Jewish one." Another article from the Internet, this one regarding cults, also appeared on the board.

The council decided that residents offended by material could pull it down, but that it would not remove anything except lewd or obscene material so as not to limit freedom of speech.

In July, the borough passed up a chance to compile all its zoning ordinances into one comprehensive document.

In September, the N.J. Department of Community Affairs reported that the borough was the only town in the county that actually had a decrease in its percentage change in the tax levy between 2000 and 2005. During that time, Roosevelt's tax levy actually decreased by 3.9 percent, the lowest change in the county and the fourth lowest change in the state.

Hamilton attributed the borough's success with its tax levy to "good planning." He said development usually is a net tax liability.

"Realizing that early on, we chose not to court developers, but rather to preserve farmland and open space," he said of Roosevelt.

In a letter to the borough attorney in September, Yeshiva Me'on Hatorah's attorney, Bruce Shoulson, stated that the yeshiva would sue if the borough didn't rezone the synagogue property so it could expand its use of the property to accommodate as many as 150 live-in students per year, with kitchens, a dormitory and more classrooms. The 1.5-acre property is currently in a residential (R-40) zone.

After months of postponed hearings on the matter, the Planning Board disagreed with its former zoning officer's decision on Sept. 12 that the local yeshiva is not operating in violation of borough ordinances. In October 2005, the zoning officer reported that he did not find the yeshiva to be in violation of any ordinances. When he looked at the school, he said, it had 12 students and there was no residential use of the synagogue or the parsonage house on the property. In his report, the zoning officer concluded that since the yeshiva is a religious institution, "it is allowed to have religious instruction." Bert Ellentuck had appealed Zoning Officer Robert Francis' decision, saying that he did not think the yeshiva's use of the property was appropriate. He said the synagogue was in use from 7:30 a.m. to midnight or 1 a.m. He also said the synagogue's lights were always on and that cars were always parked near it along both sides of the street since the property does not have a parking lot.

After the board's vote to overturn Francis' decision, Pruzansky said the yeshiva was disappointed with the board's decision.

On Sept. 20, the Borough Council awarded a contract to attorney Marci A. Hamilton, author of "God vs. The Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law" (Cambridge 2005), to provide legal services with regard to any yeshiva matters that come before the borough. Hamilton, who holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, New York City, will charge the borough $500 per hour for legal services on an as-needed basis.

On Sept. 26, the Planning Board began a hearing regarding the yeshiva's use of the North Rochdale Avenue house. Planning Board Attorney Michelle Donato told the board that it had to decide whether or not the use of the North Rochdale residence constitutes a single-family use because the yeshiva was appealing the zoning officer's decision that the house was not being used as a single-family residence.

The zoning officer had said 11 boys and one 25-year-old adult supervisor lived at the home at the time of his inspection. The zoning officer testified that he did not believe an arrangement where minors are living with an adult supervisor constitutes a family, nor did he believe that the tenants at the home were functioning as a single-family unit.

Ultimately the Planning Board was not able to come to a decision on whether to keep or overturn the zoning officer's decision regarding the use of the Brottman home. During a December hearing, the board reached a 4-4 stalemate while trying to make a decision regarding the matter.

At the Nov. 6 council meeting, council members complained that the Borough Attorney had not acted on the Planning Board's September decision to overturn Francis' decision that the yeshiva was not violating local ordinances. Councilman Michael Hamilton had said at the reorganization meeting in January that the close relationship between Marko and Borough Attorney Ira Karasick made him question Karasick's reappointment.

Around midnight between Sunday, Nov. 19, and Monday, Nov. 20, the 53 N. Rochdale Ave. home where the yeshiva students stay was shot at with about 70 paintballs. Two teens were later charged with criminal mischief and harassment as a result of the incident. They were not charged with hate crimes over the matter because police said their actions came as a result of boredom, not anti-Semitism.

By the end of the year and as a result of the paintball incident, the council and the yeshiva were discussing the possibility of mending some fences.

Battel said there is "a genuine disagreement in town about how the yeshiva's activities may conflict with the borough's zoning laws. The discourse and debate that surround that issue are a normal and important freedom protected by our democratic laws and heritage. But there is never a place for prejudice or violence of any kind to enter into that discourse."

Hamilton said he would like to open up lines of communication between the town and the yeshiva, and Pruzansky agreed to the idea.

"Let's face it," Pruzansky said. "The yeshiva is here to stay in this community. People shouldn't have thoughts anymore that they will drive us out."