MAHWAH – Fearing an influx of Orthodox Jews from New York State, the Township of Mahwah passed two hateful and discriminatory ordinances that illegally targeted that community, the state Attorney General’s office alleged in a stunning complaint filed against the town on Tuesday.
The harsh public rebuke of both the actions of Mahwah’s elected officials and the anti-Semitic sentiment of some residents likened the conduct of the town to the actions of “1950s-era white flight suburbanites who sought to keep African-Americans from moving into their neighborhoods.”
The state also alleges that Council President Robert Hermansen received an email from a Mahwah resident not of Orthodox Jewish faith who was concerned that her mother, a New York resident, wouldn’t be able to take her grandchildren to the park in Mahwah.
The state seeks more than $3.4 million it claims Mahwah received and used in state Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres grants to purchase and maintain its parks.