The primaries are finally over, and the people have spoken. And as a regular citizen, this is my take on the election, and the way most of the town apparently interprets it.
Do I sit in the same traffic you do trying to get to work? Yes. Do I pay high property taxes? Yes. Do we have some issues which need to be addressed in Lakewood? Yes.
But am I angry and bitter? No.
I’m actually quite satisfied being able to bring up my family in a Torahdig city, where Chesed and Tzedakah is unmatched, and where every convenience is readily available. I appreciate being able to enjoy the simple things in life, such as spending time with my kids in one of the many parks in Lakewood. I enjoy being able to just hop into a Kosher eatery during my lunch break, and I’m thankful for the many other conveniences and amenities we have in this town.
That being said, I can understand many are frustrated with the traffic and construction – the main issues I’ve heard repeated again and again during the campaign.
But think about it for a minute? Do you know why the traffic in Lakewood keeps increasing, and why more homes are being built? That’s because people are actually looking to move to Lakewood, or to one of its surrounding towns, and when there’s a demand for housing, housing is provided. I doubt builders would be continuing to build homes if they sat empty.
So it’s okay for you, your children or parents to be able to settle here from Brooklyn or any other town, but not for others looking to do the same in an effort to bring up their family in a Torahdig atmosphere, and be near family?
Yes, there needs to be smart growth, but some will always call growth not smart if it doesn’t benefit them. It’s just the way many are.
And yes, we need change, but I don’t believe change will come about by screaming and shouting or by putting in people with unrealistic plans. It will come about by actually voicing our ideas level-headedly, and in a uniting fashion, not a dividing one.
Just my two cents.
H.T.
A proud Lakewood resident.
(TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected])
sorry H.T. the people have not spoken.
Hardly anyone voted.
If people did not vote, they spoke through their silence or apathy.
Thank you
Actually, most people that voted for the winning incumbents only voted to listen to daas Torah and to stay loyal to the vaad. The only way to say that the people have spoken is if we have an election without any endorsements and the people can actually decide for themselves what they want.
Also, is it our way to disregard a (nice- sized) minority? There are people whose lives are made extremely difficult by the uncontrolled building and traffic. It is so hurtful that they have no say…
NOT SO!!! Voting is done in private. Do you only think in your mind what the Va’ad tells you? If people disagreed with the Va’ad they could have done so in the voting booth. And if as you say, their loyalty to Da’as Torah was overriding, that too my friend is a VOTE!!! There is no greater vote of the conscience that that!!!
smart growth means build 1 house where there was 1 house knocked down, not 17 duplexes in 1 house’s lot
This is THE major point. There is of course growth in our town. It’s not just the building. It’s the disregard for zoning laws and other rules. Variances are issued like any plain piece of paper whenever requested. This changes the whole nature of the town, not only the traffic. The developers have been getting whatever they want without regard to the guidelines in place to keep this town beautiful. Hopefully things are starting to change little by little. But irresponsible, unbridled and illegal growth is not what anyone wants, besides for the developers. And maybe people coming from big cities who think 2 feet of space near their house is gan eden.
your opinion is sticking your head in the sand as of now it’s somewhat bearable try to visualize 15 yrs down the road what lkwd going to look like. You have to make decisions that you won’t regret in the future
Flatbush has a much higher density than Lakewood yet for the most part is better than route nine because there is a grid and urban planning, not random cul de sacs strewn about. I voted for the incumbents not because I have made my peace with the traffic but because there were no viable experienced candidates that I could trust to lead the township and navigate its many complex issues. But make no mistake people are frustrated with the traffic and unreasonable growth(hundreds of new homes going to feed into an already choked route 9?) and have NOT made their peace with the status quo. There is plenty of room for growth in Jackson, Toms River, and Howell and thousands of grim families have already made these places their home, so allowing super high dense growth in Lakewood is perceived as being a boon for investors and builders, rather than a solution to disparate families who simply cannot find a place to live to join the Lakewood community. There is so much good being done behind the scenes for the klal but in this issue anyone who thinks people have made their piece is out of touch with the reality of the untenable traffic situation that frustrates the average Lakewood citizen.
I am not sure why we don’t have basic traffic easing rules something like – Forest goes up, Madison goes down, Clifton goes up. That way pine st can use martin luther,
To HT —BRAVO!!! Well said.
To the detractors. Yes the people have spoken. And yes “choosing to listen to dass torah” is to be interpreted as having spoken.
I am really tired of all the whining, kvetching and yenting. HT acknowledges there are problems, he states there is (plenty) of room for change but enough with the complaining!!!
The majority of the people who voted are the ones that count- (get off the couch and vote your conscience if you disagree instead of cranking on the scoop) and they prefer to look for solutions within the current framework that we now have.
No cogent argument was made here by the contributing kvetchers to the contrary.
I live in one of surrounding towns and now my home is for sale because of the traffic that I need to drive through in Lakewood to get to work on a daily basis. The amount of growth that has happened in Lakewood for whatever reason is out of control. Not only are you affecting the people that live in your town but also surrounding towns and someone needs to put a stop to it. It seems as though every home that is being built in Lakewood is now a 3 family home single family homes going up but yet they have six and eight exterior doors in my opinion these are not single family homes just a way around the system.
I think calling people kvetchers because they have an opinion is highly offensive. TLS-can you explain why that comment can get posted?
And for the record I did go out and vote.
if you are “highly offended” by being called a kvetcher, you need to run to your nearest liberal safe space. OR don’t kvetch.
I didn’t get much of a say in the voting booth b/c i could only vote for one party due to whatever was on my mind more than a decade ago when i signed up to vote.
You are not stuck with that one party for the rest of your life. You can change you party or you can become an independent. It just has to be done by a certain date.
HT – Everything you said is true & I appreciate you acknowl;edging some of the problems woith our wonderful town. Now that you acknowledged it, I think the committee needs to acknowledge it, validate it & then, actually DO something about it.
I live in Lakewood and I simply avoid Rt. 9. Thus my life is very happy and calm. There’s all kinds of stores on both sides of Rt. 9 so there’s almost no need to go from North to South or vise-versa. You don’t HAVE to go to the eatery on the other side of town the same way you don’t have to go into boro park to dine if you live in Flatbush.
A really dumb letter
Maybe we should all walk because everybody
wants to live in Lakewood no more cars or streets
Get the point you want to move here fine but everyone of us is entitled to drive like a mentch
No over crowding no favors for the builders when the little guy doesn’t get the same favor such as building only on 35percent of property
Smart growth is when I am looking to buy a house. Overcrowding is after I already bought it.
Silly and very disturbing letter. You totally have no respect for our seniors who have been living in Lakewood 30 + years. How they need to sit in traffic. They are the people who lived here without the perks & created the environment you talk about. Where is your HAKORAS HATOV? ????
SHAME ON YOU!!!!
I am one of the seniors that live in this wonderful town for over 30 years so I sit in traffic a little longer, Surviving the second world war I consider myself lucky for living here We lived in different places in N, Y. we had to move quite often When my father ALEV HASHOLEM wanted to buy Cholov Yisroel He had to take the Subway and travel to the East side, I know that now there are plenty of Kosher Supermarkets in Brooklyn , But for instance in Borough Park the traffic is not much better than here, Why do you think we are crowded now, Because everybody wants to move to our wonderful full of Chessed town, I agree the building should slow down, And if possible the traffic should be eased, There is a Yiddish saying ALTZ INEINEM IS NISCHTO BEI KEINEM, Have a Gut Shabbos Lakewood, [there is no traffic walking to schul ] there you have my 2 cents,
I’m far from a senior but I live here over 30 years. You have a point about whining, simply because that is generally not effective. However your other points make no sense. No I never asked for my nice hometown to turn into the mess it is. If so many people wanted to move here, they could have started spreading out right away. The townhouses and basements are a disaster and EVERYONE knows that. Even those who like to stick their heads in the sand.