Mayor Marie Moore of Westhampton Beach, responding to nearly 25 minutes of complaints by residents of failure to communicate about an eruv Orthodox Jewish boundary in WHB, has proposed a “community meeting” on the subject. We have suggestions for that.
 Hamilton, Susman, Fonrobert |
Moore, after numerous requests for more info at a board meeting Aug. 6, including those by Arnold Sheiffer, chairman of the 400-member-plus Jewish People for the Betterment of WHB, said, “Perhaps it would be more helpful to the community to hear it at a meeting, to have an update to the extent possible.” A transcript of the 25 minutes of discussion on the eruv is here. A link to the video of the Aug. 6 meeting is here.
Suggestions we have for the public meeting have been emailed to Mayor Moore and posted to the 27east.com story on the meeting that was headlined, “Eruv Opponents Criticize WHB Board for Lack of Communication.”
There is a need for paid speakers such as Prof. Marci Hamilton of Yeshiva University who wrote an 18-page paper in 2008 for WHB declaring eruvim unconstitutional. Prof. Alexandra Susman of UCLA has done the same in a 34-page paper. Prof. Charlotte Fonrobert of Stanford has written that eruvim are now exposed on websites. The meeting should be in the high school auditorium and not the tiny room where the Trustees meet.
Representatives from the East End Eruv Assn., its law firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges, and Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Hampton Synagogue should also be invited. Truth needs to be separated from rumors on this topic.
SH Press, Verizon, LIPA Back Eruvim
The Southampton Press, which editorialized July 23 in favor of eruvim, saying they are “invisible,” derives substantial ad income from real estate brokers and related industries. Also backing eruvim are Verizon and Long Island Power Authority. Most of the residents of WHB oppose an eruv, as indicated by candidates they elect. The governments of SH and Quogue oppose eruvim which they say are in violation of their sign laws.
SH Press published Aug. 13 its annual Hamptons Real Estate Review 2015 which has 96 magazine-sized pages and 67 ads, most of them in four-color. Articles track sales of homes in the East End—511 in the second quarter, a decline of 20.16% from 640 in the same 2014 quarter.
The Westhampton Group had only 12 sales in the second quarter of 2015, down 45.45% from 22 sales in the same 2014 quarter. Average sales price was $1,307,583 vs. $919,466. The Westhampton Beach Group had 29 sales vs. 28 at an average price of $1,566,786.
Zillow shows 220 homes are currently for sale in WHB. Real estate agents have a lot of work to do. It could be that whether the eruv in WHB is legitimate or not could be holding up the sales. Dan’s’ Papers has predicted a boom in WHB home sales if the WHB eruv is accepted as valid by the ultra-Orthodox.
Total sales in the East End have been growing each year, from 1,464 homes sold in 2011 to 2,419 sold in 2014 at an average price of $1,894,432. Zillow lists 798 homes for sale in East Hampton, 713 in Southampton and 54 in Quogue. Total for sale in the four towns is 1,785 homes.
WHB Website Lists Legal Actions
WHB’s website lists nearly 80 legal decisions and filings but up until earlier this month, when two recent court decisions were posted, the most recent entries were for Dec. 22, 2014 and earlier.
Moore’s Administration in February banned public comment at the board’s monthly “work” sessions although local blogger Dean Speir said public comment had been allowed at those sessions for “at least four decades.” There is a work session Aug. 19. The next session allowing public comment is Sept. 3.
Speir, saying he has been attending “work” sessions for 31 years, said the apparent reason is “the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are overly sensitive to the hammering they’ve been getting here and on 27east.”
Invite Speakers, Shift Meeting to High School
WHB officials have got to be pried away from focusing on the legalities of this dispute which is only a small part of the picture.
Court decisions are mainly forays in semantics, arguing over the meaning of “visible,” “secular,” “sign,” “accommodation” etc. An eruv is part marketing, part advertising, part law and part PR. It uses law to designate an area as particularly desirable to members of a religious sect.
The best marketing tool is a law. Requiring drivers to use seat belts, bikers to use helmets, packaging to be “tamper-resistant,” etc., is the best way to sell things. Corporate and institutional efforts that used to be aimed at affecting public opinion are now “public affairs” aimed at legislatures and the courts which are subject to economic pressure.
Eruv opponents have lost almost all court decisions although they have a good case for eruvim being against the Constitution.
 Munley |
The U.S. legal system has plenty of critics including lawyer Marion Munley of Scranton who decries the rarity of jury trials. One judge or a panel of three judges makes almost all the decisions.
“To the Founders, the right to a jury trial was on a par with the right to vote and the right of free speech,” she says. Thomas Jefferson’s litany of abuses by the king included, prominently, ‘depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury.’”
We’re sure that a panel of 12 citizens of WHB or practically anywhere would quickly decide that religious symbols should not be permanently affixed to public property and especially symbols that convert public property to private property in the eyes of believers.
An extensive critique of the U.S. justice system has been written by Leslie Sachs, http://www.dr-les-sachs.be/ an American living in Belgium.
His essay, titled, “America’s Corrupt Legal System,” makes some valid points.
The U.S. now imprisons one of 20 working-age black males, he notes. There are more than 2.2 million Americans in prison, or more than one out of every 150 Americans. The U.S. has 25% of all the prisoners of the world, he adds.
Inmates at the prison in Clinton New York have reported a campaign of “retaliation” by guards who had allowed two prisoners to escape. NYT has highlighted harsh prison conditions in recent weeks and called for the end of executions, which are still legal in 31 states. Connecticut last week ended what it called “cruel and unusual” executions, sparring 11 on death row.
Media Afraid of Reprisals
Sachs touches on one aspect of this that is relevant to the battle over eruvim in the U.S.—the charge that the news services give scant attention to certain situations. “The media companies are afraid both of reprisal and of the social revolution that would come from exposing the truth,” he writes.
Virtually all media, including the New York Times, which last wrote about the eruvim battle on Feb. 4, 2013, are avoiding the multi-million-dollar eruvim battle in the Hamptons. Journalism schools at Stony Brook, Columbia, New York and other universities also avoid the topic. Hampton libraries refuse to host public discussions of the topic or even provide reference materials on it.
The Aug. 13 SHPress/27east.com story headlined “Residents Blast Village Board,” ran one week after the meeting and was on page 5. The June 30 adverse court ruling against WHB ran on page one of the July 16 paper.
A reader, commenting on the Aug. 13 SH Press/27east.com story, accused Mayor Moore of having undue influence on the library board.
The posting: “Go to a Library meeting where Mayor Moore is also on the Board. Ask them a question and try to get it answered. Won’t happen. Moore and her cronies think they own the Library and Village. Time to hold their feet to the fire.
By realistic (285
We added our view:
“I agree with realistic 285 that the WHB library appears to be under the thumb of the Moore Administration. Moore herself should not be on the library board since it compromises its independence and its commitment to learning and education. Mayor Moore on Aug. 6 said, ‘Perhaps it would be more helpful to the community to hear it at a meeting to have an update to the extent possible.’
“That is devoutly to be desired. There is a need for paid speakers such as Prof. Marci Hamilton of Yeshiva University who wrote an 18-page paper in 2008 for WHB declaring eruvim unconstitutional. Prof. Alexandra Susman of UCLA has done the same in a 34-page paper. The meeting should be in the high school auditorium and not the tiny room where the Trustees meet.’
Mayor Maria Moore of Westhampton Beach has quit the library board after six years. Critics said she should have quit in June 2014 when she was elected mayor. Moore served eight years on fund-raising for the $7.5 million library.
Hampton residents who are opposed to eruv Orthodox Jewish boundaries in their towns are getting support from the new "Open Orthodoxy" of Judaism that rejects “boundaries, fences, high and thick.” It accepts women as Rabbis and also same-sex marriage.
Westhampton Beach trustees, who have kept the 
Westhampton Beach, as well as most of the media covering it, by ducking the threat of multi-millions in costs related to the proposed eruv Jewish religious boundary, are failing to acknowledge the power of the web.
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