Two From The Record

Fired street sweeper seeks damages from Kiryas Joel
By Oliver Mackson
Times Herald-Record
June 02, 2009 6:00 AM
KIRYAS JOEL — Anthony Martin of Highland Mills says he lost his job because he blew the whistle on tax cheats in the government of New York's fastest-growing village.
In a suit filed May 22 in U.S. District Court, Martin says the village's public works boss fired him last year because he notified the state Department of Labor and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that Kiryas Joel failed to deduct taxes from his paycheck.
Martin started as a full-time street sweeper in Kiryas Joel on May 26.
On Aug. 13, he reported the lack of payroll deductions to the state and feds, and on Aug. 22, the village fired him, according to his lawsuit.
"His speech addressed a matter of concern, i.e., municipal corruption, and is protected by the First Amendment," wrote Stephen Bergstein, the lawyer representing Martin.
Neither DPW Director Zalman Stern nor Donald Nichol, the village's lawyer, could be reached to discuss the suit Monday.
Authorities did not respond to a request for comment about what, if anything, they were doing about Martin's report.
Martin wants damages and compensation for lost wages. The suit doesn't name an amount.
He also wants to go back to work.
"Working for the government has its benefits," Bergstein explained. "The government doesn't go out of business."

Broker sues Orange County, claiming bid for La Guardia denied based on religion
By Chris Mckenna
Times Herald-Record
June 02, 2009 6:00 AM
GOSHEN — A real estate broker who tried to buy the former Camp La Guardia property has filed a lawsuit claiming Orange County rebuffed his offer because his clients were thought to be Hasidic Jews affiliated with the Village of Kiryas Joel.
Robert Lawrence, owner of Hudson Valley Realty Company in Goshen, is suing the county and County Executive Ed Diana in federal court for the $460,000 commission he said he lost, citing violations of the federal Fair Housing Act and the Fourteenth Amendment. Neither he nor his former client is demanding the 256-acre property, which the county recently agreed to sell to a Westchester County developer.
In the lawsuit, Lawrence claims his $11.5 million offer in March 2007 was rejected because Diana knew "the religious beliefs and affiliation" of the potential buyer and didn't want the former New York City homeless shelter sold to a developer with even a perceived connection to Kiryas Joel.
Diana spokesman Richard Mayfield said Monday that the county hasn't been served with the suit and doesn't comment on pending litigation.
The court papers identify Lawrence's client as "a major real estate developer of the Jewish faith." Michael Sussman, the Goshen civil rights attorney representing Lawrence, confirms the client was Isaac Rosenberg, a Brooklyn businessman and member of the Satmar Hasidic community.
Rosenberg is cooperating with the litigation but didn't join in suing because "he felt it would detract from his business opportunities," Sussman said.
Sussman said Rosenberg had hoped to build a mixture of homes and businesses, similar to what is now proposed for Camp La Guardia. But public fear that Orthodox or Hasidic developers would build "another Kiryas Joel" made his offer — conveyed anonymously through Lawrence — unpalatable to Diana and most county lawmakers, Sussman argues in the suit.
The county bought the property for $8.5 million in 2007 and ultimately chose Mountco Construction and Development Corp. of Scarsdale as the buyer, after a protracted Legislature debate over proposals by four bidders.
Rosenberg, who made his offer long before the county solicited bids for the property, didn't participate in that formal competition because he "determined that it would be entirely futile," Sussman said in the suit.