I don't have time or brainpower to write a comprehensive post explaining Lakewood, but I'll write a few important points:
-
@S209 was 100 percent correct in stating that the committeemen are doing the job with good intentions, and they really want to help people. However, some of them see it as their obligation to help residents get approval for plans or ideas that are really detrimental to others in the long term. If a yeshiva, school, developer, or resident is building a project and it will cost them millions of dollars more to do it the mandated way (with full sidewalks, full setbacks, the limited number of units per acre, mandated traffic signals, etc.), some committee members see it as their onus to help alleviate the costs and get approval for variances. This has saved mosdos, developers, and individuals (both in the frum and non-Jewish communities) tons of money and has cut out tons of senseless denies, but after doing it for so many years, it leaves a township with tons of traffic, no sidewalks, no setbacks (the state can't widen route 9 now because most of the businesses along the road got variances to build close to the road), and all the other issues that plague Lakewood.
- There is one committee member who is respected for standing up against rampant and detrimental building. I think you can get a great picture of what his understanding is (in contrast to the point before) by reading the beginning of
this interview.
- At this point, after decades of lax approvals, you won't fix all problems with a pedestrian walkway or bridge. Making Lakewood "pedestrian safe" was something that was supposed to have been paid for by developers and mosdos who come for approval before township boards. Many of those requirements were taken out in order to make the plans more affordable (which was done in good faith - how can a yeshiva/school/resident afford an extra $5 million to add proper sidewalks, setbacks, parking, signals, etc?), and to retroactively fix that in a 25 square mile town will be impossible and unaffordable.
- Why doesn't someone run against the establishment? The short answer is that anyone who is willing to run in Lakewood is generally not someone people would vote for. Remember, this is Lakewood. Being a politician is not seen as a respectable job, unless you are not a politician but an emissary of the rabbonim (which is how the VAAD portrays it). Anyone who runs a rogue campaign will generally be painted as an anti-Yeshiva person, and will likely lose anyways. And since most of us have great lives and care far more about our families and learning than about fixing the world's problems, we stay out of it. Anyone who gets into it is usually someone who may be lacking the qualifications.
- To sum it up, most committee members mean well, and do an incredible amount of good. Therefore, when the VAAD tells people to vote for them, they follow. Although the influence of the VAAD is diminishing with the influx of chassidim, it's still strong enough to pull decisive victories, which keeps competition at bay.
Hope these points were clear. I have a lot more to say but I don't have time or brain space now...
ETA: IMO the biggest offender of irresponsible approvals now is Mayor Ray Coles
Poll