MAHWAH – Mayor Bill Laforet will decline to sign two recent ordinances that crack down on neighborhood soliciting and ban certain park activities, which passed amid a state investigation, he said Friday.
While the mayor’s signature is not required for the ordinances to take effect, his refusal signals a protest against the township council for adopting the ordinances last week, a move he calls “Wholly irresponsible” while the township faces subpoenas from the state Attorney General’s Division on Civil Rights.
Over the summer, several residents had complained of overcrowding at local parks, particularly singling out Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews.The attorney general’s office is already investigating two other ordinances passed over the summer, one of which banned out-of-state residents from local parks.
On Friday, Hermansen called the mayor a “Disgrace” in response to him not signing the ordinances.