The Lakewood that I was born in, grew up in and chose to raise my family in is officially dead. Like many of the other Corona deaths, we can argue if the real cause of death was COVID-19, if COVID-19 was just a contributing factor or if it was a death due to preexisting illness with COVID-19 but regardless, it is dead. Some may argue that it died a long time ago and I just never get the memo. Torah based leadership, formerly a hallmark of Lakewood (even if I may not have agreed with every letter) has been replaced by every shmoiger having a da'ah, competing vaadim issuing senseless proclamations without any explanations, based on whatever asken has the ear of said vaad. Instructions that fly in the face of sechel and the basic hashkafas hachayim that yidden understood for millennia.
T. N. T. B. H
The process started over 20 years ago and gradually became a foregone conclusion. You had a political force in town that didn’t necessarily answer to the Rabbonim. You had a massive influx of newcomers from out of Lakewood who were not looking for anything resembling the Lakewood of old. Many couldn’t find BMG without Waze. You had an explosion of young wealth and the display of and focus on that wealth became a major pursuit of a large segment of the town.
Then you had a vaccination crisis with a leading figure in the leadership of the town who didn’t believe in the efficacy of vaccinations, instead believing in the pharmaceutical/government/medical establishment collusion theories.
If you were a leading doctor in Lakewood what would you do? You would go to poskim outside of Lakewood for support and put together your own letters and kol Korehs with the other doctors.
It was a foregone conclusion that when issues of concerts for bochurim, large Eruvin, school acceptances, internet standards etc. came up you would have competing deos, vaadim, and proclamations coming out.
So unless you are quite old, the place you chose to raise your family was already on its inexorable way toward where it is today.