Rumson Affordable Housing Issue Causes Ire

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How do wealthy suburbanites put their knee on the neck of the poor? Would you be proud if a group of wealthy neighbors decided to stop the New Jersey Supreme Court mandate for affordable housing by creating a fake non-profit with the passive aggressive name of Rumson Open Space and Affordable Housing and stock internet photos of supporters?

Would it bother you that they had to be pressured to identify their backers and board members and all are as predicted living adjacent to proposed affordable housing developments? No independent affordable housing advocates or prominent business people who traditionally serve on legit-imate nonprofit boards are involved. Now we deserve their pictures and biographies to access their past involvement in either open space or affordable housing.

Would it surprise you that, after the law firm hired by your town to fight affordable housing realized that your own and others they represented cannot win in Court, they failed to show at the first and only public meeting? They did though cash the checks for 10-plus years.

Where do you think the hastily formed nonprofit could find another law firm to facilitate the 501c3 nonprofit cre- ation and their Court case? Who is actually paying their bills and do these clients plan to take tax deductions for these clearly private purpose payments.

As the ever publicity-seeking Alan Dershowitz would say: “Everyone deserves legal representation.” But it doesn’t have to be by you or your firm.

Would you be surprised if you approached your town administrator to support affordable housing and he said “some wealthy people in town do not want this”? Well there are some other wealthy people who do!

It is time for people of good faith to say this is not us or our town. We want to work constructively to build and manage our fair share of affordable housing. This attempt to put a knee on the neck of people truly in need needs to stop. Talk to your religious leaders and proven legitimate nonprofits’ leaders about the urgent need for affordable housing.

If not now – when. Take back our community and find leaders who will work in the open and with good intentions and proven experience.

If I’m wrong and the majority back ROSAH and its founders then I suggest signs as you enter Rumson – Segregated Now – Segregation Forever. It’s no coincidence that Rumson became one of the most segregated communities in America.

Stu Sendell, Rumson

The article originally appeared in the June 18-24, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.