Lakewood, New Jersey’s fastest growing municipality, is experiencing unprecedented expansion due to a widespread boom. Unfortunately, this has created unique challenges such as strain on infrastructure, increasing affordability issues and creating strain between different groups.
Over the next nine days, NJ Advance Media will take an in-depth look at all of the issues that have risen in this diverse community.
The Role of Yeshivas
Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, New Jersey offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With its massive study hall filled with Torah students engrossed in Torah studies, this yeshiva boasts one of the largest yeshivoth outside Israel in terms of enrollment numbers outside Israel and Russia combined; students attend lectures there from across Western Europe as well as North America.
While some graduates opt for full-time study, many take steps towards careers with respectable pay and commercial success. Many also volunteer at Jewish community institutions such as Hatzolah – a paramedic service and Chaveirim, which offers emergency response – or Chaveirim for emergency response purposes.
Votes cast by ultra-Orthodox families have proven essential in town politics, electing candidates who reflect ultra-Orthodox interests on school boards, committees and zoning boards. Their presence has attracted families to the area while stimulating its economy – but has also created tension between longtime residents over issues like modest dress for women and devotion to Torah study for men.
The Changing Demographics
Researchers have noted how the town’s dramatic population growth has had an effect on local businesses. Researchers have noted that regions with greater concentrations of small locally owned businesses experience faster rates of financial wellbeing measures such as median household and per capita income growth.
Small businesses tend to have lower capitalization, enabling families to put more of their own funds into building wealth over time. Furthermore, local owners are likely to invest more money back into their communities, leading to greater economic activity and providing protection from negative shocks.
Lakewood follows the Township form of municipal government, one of 141 similar municipalities across New Jersey. Lakewood’s Township Committee – elected at-large each November through partisan elections for three-year terms and reconvened annually at an Annual Reorganization Meeting – selects two members as Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively – making this form of governance one of the second-most popular alternatives in New Jersey.
The Influence of Business
Lakewood’s economy is one of the key influencing factors. Lakewood boasts an increasing number of information services firms providing everything from accounting and back-office healthcare support services to financial services – many refer to Lakewood as “back office capital of the country.”
The business community in this town has been highly active in trying to spur development, and their efforts have proven fruitful. The business district is flourishing and luxury shopping developments keep emerging. Furthermore, there is also an impressive industrial park which ranks second largest in the state.
But some longtime residents still feel priced out of Lakewood, leading to heated debates on issues like zoning, traffic congestion and rising special-education costs. Herskowitz’s Senior Action Group has packed township meetings to give Lakewood’s elderly more of a say over their community.
The Influence of Housing
Lakewood stands out as one of the fastest-growing municipalities in California and experiences higher population growth rates than many of its surrounding towns, due to factors like housing prices and availability.
In the first half of the 20th century, the town experienced phenomenal growth thanks to various developments. Notable hotels such as Rockefeller Estate on Ocean Avenue and Grover Cleveland Cottage on Lexington Avenue attracted thousands of visitors while wealthy individuals constructed magnificent estates like Pack & De Forest houses as well as Laurel-in-the-Pines hotel.
Today’s Lakewood families face stiff competition for housing from other domestic migrants, international migrants and aging residents looking to downsize. These trends have driven up housing costs substantially in some communities – the only real solutions being living on an island or living somewhere with high living expenses.
