Village of Lawrence Oct. Notebook: Torah Processions and William Street Dispute

Accusations of mayoral campaigning during the meeting, disagreement on several issues and miscommunication left the Village of Lawrence board on edge and virtually unproductive during a “he-said, she-said” debate strewn throughout last Tuesday's trustees' session that lasted past 11:30 p.m.

Trustee Joel Mael accused Mayor Martin Oliner of political campaigning, gridlocking bills and even encouraging harassment to stop a construction project on William Street.

Torah Processions 

Trustees Mael and Michael Fragin began the meeting by condemning Mayor Martin Oliner after approving several Torah processions without board approval.

“You take the position that is irrelevant to the rules in our books,” Mael said.

Trustee Edward Klar also agreed that board approval for any parade processions should be mandatory and chastised Oliner’s approval process.

“Ignoring our rules puts unfair pressure on the Fourth Precinct,” Klar said.

Oliner noted that current code does not require board approval, and only calls for approval from a village administrator.

“We have done our best and really gone out of our way to assist residents to go forward with Torah processions,” Oliner said. “There is a function of judgment and just common decency that the extent of a rule has no substantive effect can be where we can accommodate a resident and we should.”

He added, “No Torah Processions, to my knowledge, have ever taken place without the blessings of both the police department and the auxiliary police.”

William Street Construction

Continuing discussion on the construction project, a plan to widen the road for two-way traffic for 111 ft. toward Mulry Lane, left the mayor and board members split on a decision. 

Fragin, Mael and Klar were for the project while Oliner and Trustee C. Simon Felder were against it until they said it is shown to be a safe project.

According to Michael Ryder, the village's building department superintendent, code requires 21 feet of road to create a two-way street, while William Street only provides 19 feet of available space for widening.

“It’s narrow,” Ryder said. “We could take away some of the island.”

Concerned that the project will leave this stretch of road too narrow on the street as well as for sidewalks, Oliner explained that he plans to bring his concerns about the project to Cameron Engineering, the company currently contracted for the work.

“If it comes back that the project is unsafe, then we cannot go through with this,” Oliner said. “This is a bad idea.” 

Approval of Past Meetings

Trustees were unable to pass the minutes on several meetings dating back as far as March after discovering that several sessions were poorly recorded.

“I’m glad that we have some [meeting records], but we don’t have all of them,” Fragin said. “We have several meetings that are still missing.”

Oliner has said at a past meeting that a at the village may be the root of the issue.

Due to poor record keeping, Oliner said he felt that several minutes were not ready to be passed, and requested more information for the next regular meeting scheduled for Dec. 8.