In what many see as move meant to fight off deceptive Modern Orthodox developer Shalom Lamm and the high-density Satmar hasidic ’shtetl’ he is building in the tiny 420-person upstate New York village, the Village of Bloomingburg is seeking to dissolve itself and fold the village into the adjoining town of Mamakating – and New York State is going to help them do it.
State Gives Grant To Bloomingburg To Facilitate Dissolution Referendum Prompted By Satmar Hasidic Development
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
In what many see as move meant to fight off deceptive Modern Orthodox developer Shalom Lamm and the high-density Satmar hasidic ’shtetl’ he is building in the tiny 420-person upstate New York village, the Village of Bloomingburg is seeking to dissolve itself and fold the village into the adjoining town of Mamakating.
But to do so, the village has to hold a referendum, now scheduled for next month.
New York State’s Local Government Citizen Re-Organization Empowerment program has agreed to give Bloomingburg a $42,750 grant to help publicize that upcoming vote and educate residents about it, the MidHudson News reported.
The Local Government Citizen Re-Organization Empowerment program was designed to facilitate and provide support for local initiatives which aim to streamline services and reduce property taxes.
The referendum is scheduled for September 30. If the dissolution is approved, the new state funding will reportedly also be used to develop a final dissolution plan meant to assure the process goes smoothly and that services are not interrupted.
Lamm's office in Bloomingburg and many of his properties in the village were raided by the FBI earlier this year, and Lamm is believed to be under criminal investigation.
He, his family, and almost 100 hasidim attempted to vote in Bloomingburg's local election this spring, but the votes were rejected after it became clear that Lamm's and the others' claims of local residency were false.
FailedMessiah.com was first to report that Lamm's daughter and son-in-law both live full time and work full time in Israel and have never lived in Bloomingburg. Even so, they were both reportedly among those trying to vote in the tiny village.
And, as FailedMessiah.com was also the first to report, Lamm claimed residency in West Hempstead, New York in court papers filed in December. West Hempstead is nowhere near Bloomingburg.
Additionally, Satmar community leaders advertised Lamm's development as a Satmar-only hasidic "shtetl" (village) named Kiryas Yated Lev. The ads appeared in the Brooklyn-based Satmar Yiddish-language mouthpiece Der Yid, and were first reported on FailedMessiah.com. The ads are believed to be a clear violation of US Fair Housing law.
Shalom Lamm is a son of former Yeshiva University Chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm.