The mayor of a tiny upstate New York village who supports a massive development aimed at Hasidic Jews trails far behind a challenger — although many ballots were challenged and have yet to be counted. Bloomingburg Mayor Mark Berentsen, who backs the sprawling development, got just 25 votes in the election, compared to 81 for…
The upstate New York village of Bloomingburg heads to the polls today for a contentious election that could determine the future of the one-stoplight village. Amid a bitter brawl over a planned 396-home Hasidic development, the election has become a battleground for both the Orthodox developer set on seeing through his large-scale development and fired-up…
FBI agents have descended on properties owned by Orthodox developer Shalom Lamm in the upstate New York village of Bloomingburg, according to eyewitness accounts and a report in the Time Herald-Record, a local newspaper. Between 50 and 60 FBI agents have swarmed the town, with 20 FBI vehicles parked outside the Bloomingbug headquarters of Lamm’s…
The last election in the quiet, one-stoplight village of Bloomingburg brought out only two dozen voters. But that was before a bitter feud broke out between locals and an Orthodox developer over a 396-unit housing development being marketed to Hasidic Jews that would likely more than double the village’s population. With the pro-development Mayor Mark…
One night in January, an Orthodox Jewish real estate developer brought a handgun to a planning board meeting in a small upstate New York town. The gun was on the waist of one of the two uniformed security guards accompanying Shalom Lamm, who may be the most hated man in the town of Mamakating. The…
A Jewish developer is suing the village planning board of a small upstate New York town, arguing that their decision to vote down a proposed all-girls Hasidic private school was motivated by anti-Semitic bigotry. The lawsuit comes at the peak of a tangled and bitter battle between the school’s developer, Shalom Lamm, and local Bloomingburg…
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