
February 2,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Mahwah NJ, Mahwah settled the “eruv ” lawsuit but local activist look to remove Mayor Laforet.
In a press release from the local group MahwahStrong said ;
The Board of Directors of MahwahStrong has reviewed the settlement agreement announced this evening. The settlement states that the eruv will currently remain in place. The PVC pipes will be painted at the BREA’s cost but Mahwah must pay $10,000 in attorney fees.
Mahwah taxpayers have funded over $200k in legal fees and endured over six months of acrimonious dialogue from within our town government. Throughout this process, MahwahStrong had a positive expectation based on the Town Council’s pledge to protect our community. The settlement put forward falls far short of our expectations.
While we partially fault the council for mismanagement and lack of transparency in managing this issue, MahwahStrong believes the issues revolving around the ERUV were created, approved, undisclosed, and manipulated by Mayor Bill Laforet. He was the first to learn of the intent to install the Eruv. He initially opposed it and then reversed his position. He then faulted the council when it served his political agenda. Among other culpabilities, he is largely responsible for an avalanche of negative press about our community that has damaged our reputation and potentially impacted property values.
In order to correct the dysfunction of our local government, we need to remove the cause of internal division. It is essential that Mayor Laforet be recalled and we stand by our decision to back the recall efforts.
MahwahStrong has been investigating its own legal initiatives which will be discussed at the appropriate point in time.