Take Back Lakewood Meet the Candidates
On Tuesday June 6th 2017, NJ residents will head to the polls for the primaries. For most in NJ it will mean a chance to have a head start in selecting Governor Christie’s replacement. For those in Lakewood—there is an added element.
If you are happy with the way Lakewood has been run for the last 15 years, please vote for Ray Coles and Mike Delia and stop reading this article. If you feel that Lakewood has been headed in the wrong direction for far too long and would like to see some change—you are in luck.
For far too many years, there were only 2 candidates leaving us with little to no choice. Yes the Vaad backed candidates won—but no one else was really trying. There was a defeatist mentality that there’s no use trying since the vote results seemed predetermined. I’m happy to announce that now, in 2017 is the year that it will all change. There will be choices. Many communities including the thousands of seniors and the orthodox community will finally have a real say in changing the status quo.
There are two open seats on the Township Committee. Registered Democrats and registered Unaffiliated voters may vote in the Democratic Primary. Registered Republicans and registered Unaffiliated voters may vote in the Republican Primary.
Democratic Primary
The Democratic Primary will have 3 candidates on the ballot. 1) Dovid Gruman 2) Moshe Raitzik 3) Ray Coles. The 2 of them with the most votes in June will go on to compete in the fall election and the one who loses will be eliminated completely from any 2017 opportunity.
Dovid Gruman
Dovid is a 3rd generation Lakewood resident. His grandfather was a talmid of Rav Aharon Kotler Zatzal. His father was born in Lakewood in Paul Kimball hospital and Dovid has been living in Lakewood his entire life. He studied in BMG for 9 Years. Dovid is married with 3 children and is a homeowner in Somerset Walk. He is proud to own his own business that is headquartered right here in Lakewood's industrial park.
Growing up in Lakewood Dovid has seen much change in this town. He remembers driving on Route 9 South 15 years ago in middle of the day with no traffic. Lakewood is a beautiful town with a lot to offer and is a great place to live and raise a family. Dovid would like to show our residents just how much better it can be. Make Lakewood Greater Again!
Dovid’s agenda would include lowering property tax, promoting traffic solutions that include opening, widening and resurfacing our current roads and reassessing any new zoning changes in order to control density without denying homeownership opportunities.
Moshe Raitzik
Moshe is a current member of the BOE whose term expires this December. He has been a teacher for over a decade and is the chairman of the Municipal Alliance which does a lot to help kids and teens at risk.
Moshe has been an active community member of the Westgate community for the last 12 years. He was successful in having JCPL rewire the local electric which prevented the seasonal blackouts. Moshe has been studying in BMG for the last 15 years
Ray Coles
Ray Has been on the committee for 15 years. When we attempted to work with Ray to promote positive change, he initially pretended to welcome our efforts before finally showing his true colors and rebuffing all of our efforts. If you have seen the negative changes in Lakewood over the past 15 years and are disappointed in the results, you have Ray to thank. Thank him for his service, and now look on to electing others who are interested in promoting positive change for Lakewood. We think that 15 years is just too much for any one person and that it’s finally time for someone new.
In the Democratic primary—Vote Gruman/Raitzik!!
Republican Primary
The Republican Primary will have 5 candidates on the ballot. 1) Aaron Hirsch 2) Avraham Sharaby 3)Yosef Travis 4) Mike Berman 5) Mike Delia. The 2 of them with the most votes in June will go on to compete in the fall election and the 3 who lose will be eliminated completely from any 2017 opportunity.
Aaron Hirsch
Aaron grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Lakewood 4 years ago. He is a homeowner in the Chestnut neighborhood and is married with 3 kids. His father ran P’eylim for many years and had a close relationship with many gedolim including Rav Aharon Kotler Zatzal. He has over 15 years of experience in property management and runs his own business in that field. He was a Shomrim member for 8 years in NY and was also a night dispatcher.
Aaron believes in a common sense approach to complex matters affecting Lakewood. His goal is to use his decades of management experience to institute a culture of responsibility, accountability, and foresight in the Township government. Lakewood is a humble and diverse town. Government needs to serve all of the people. In this humble, yet fast growing town, we cannot afford to continue making simple mistakes that sacrifice our quality of living, future safety, growth, and prosperity for all Lakewood residents. We need to tap into our resources to improve the infrastructure of this Town so we can support the future growth of Lakewood.
Aaron is a firm believer in being proactive in regard to planning. He says that the current approach at the planning and zoning board is tantamount to just putting out fires with little regard to actually planning for our future. He feels that there is a lack of communication between the various departments and would like to bring an enhanced level of responsibility, accountability and communication to the townships departments and boards.
Avraham Sharaby
Avraham started out in Lakewood in his early 20’s in BMG where he studied for over a decade. He is a real estate broker in Lakewood and married with 3 children. He is running for township committee in hopes to alleviate the financial suffering and improve the quality of life for all of us living in Lakewood.
Avraham owns a home in Lakewood and says he knows what the taxes of those living in Lakewood look like. He would like the people to pay less in taxes and enjoy more benefits. This is possible! Township land should not be sold at a discount to developers for housing that end up costing us more in taxes and cause traffic. The committee needs to find traffic solutions and then we can reconsider our zoning maps to encourage
responsible development. There needs to be an end to all spot zoning and zoning variances that change the character of neighborhoods and cause traffic.
Avraham believes that should be full transparency of all township activities, including a self-audit to find all wasteful spending and non-essential service to save taxpayers money.
Avraham wants to be part of a Township committee that has the best interests of ALL the people of Lakewood at heart. He wants to be the voice of the people. No longer can we afford a committee that only cares about a select few, we need responsible growth for a better Lakewood.
Yosef Travis
Yosef Travis has lived in Lakewood since 2008 and has watched how this town has grown rapidly over the last couple years. He runs the largest open market exchange for travel points, with over 500 travel agents and points brokers. He is well known within the travel industry as a trusted and respected broker and gets many calls daily regarding issues within the market that have to be dealt with properly. He is also known to go by the moniker—’king of whatsapp’ and was rumored to have won a $600 Million dollar lottery prize which turned out to be a hoax. It is a well established fact that Yosef Travis’ whatsapp ‘status’ is the best source of up to the minute news.
Yosef sees traffic as a big issue in Lakewood, and says that a lot of the traffic problems are being caused by the over-building and the non-stop approval of new construction throughout the town. He wants to stop the building until we can figure out a planned and coordinated way to build correctly that won't affect the people's quality of life.
If he get elected Yosef says he will fight to have the building halted, have the members of the boards that vote on the building reviewed with new appointments of qualified, non-biased members that do not have connections with developers and or have reason to approve applications. He’d like to make Lakewood a great place to live for the current residents and stop it from being a playground for investors and developers that do not care about the people who's every day lives are being affected.
Yosef lives in the Pine Street corridor, and sitting in traffic is a daily occurrence for him. He want to correct the issues and bring quality of life back to this great town. Yosef made a last minute decision to run and was seen collecting signatures outside Satmar just hours before the deadline.
Mike Berman
Mike Berman is running for 1 reason only. The Republican Club needed to pick 2 candidates to run and the Vaad/Mike Delia did not want any other candidates to get picked. He was placed on the ballot simply as a placeholder to avoid allowing others to have a chance at bringing change to Lakewood. He has no intention of campaigning or winning. He has done this several times before as a favor to the sitting committeeman seeking re-election.
Mike Delia
Mike Delia was on the committee for a 1 year term in 1996. He tried running for another term and in the 1996 election the Vaad wrote a scathing letter listing 6 reasons NOT to support Mike Delia. He then got re-elected to serve from 2015-2017 when the Vaad wanted to eliminate Steven Langert for not blindly listening to them. While at one point he talked the talk, we have not seen any actions from him indicating a willingness to change Lakewood for the better. We’d like to thank Mike for his service and ask Lakewood voters to elect a new committeeman committed to positive change.
Republican Sum up
With so many candidates running, we advise the public to get to know the candidates and hear out their ideas. At this point, our only recommendation for the Republican side is—consider the new candidates and listen to what they have to say and remember—stay away from the incumbents who allowed us to get to this point in the first place!
Debate/Roundtable
A potential debate/roundtable with all of the candidates is being proposed to take place on May 3rd where the candidates will have a chance to introduce themselves and their platform to the community. Stay tuned for further details. While in years past there were only 2 candidates with no proper choice, we look forward to seeing candidates actually attempt to earn votes and to talk to their constituents and present a platform for their campaign.
On Tuesday June 6th 2017, NJ residents will head to the polls for the primaries. For most in NJ it will mean a chance to have a head start in selecting Governor Christie’s replacement. For those in Lakewood—there is an added element.
If you are happy with the way Lakewood has been run for the last 15 years, please vote for Ray Coles and Mike Delia and stop reading this article. If you feel that Lakewood has been headed in the wrong direction for far too long and would like to see some change—you are in luck.
For far too many years, there were only 2 candidates leaving us with little to no choice. Yes the Vaad backed candidates won—but no one else was really trying. There was a defeatist mentality that there’s no use trying since the vote results seemed predetermined. I’m happy to announce that now, in 2017 is the year that it will all change. There will be choices. Many communities including the thousands of seniors and the orthodox community will finally have a real say in changing the status quo.
There are two open seats on the Township Committee. Registered Democrats and registered Unaffiliated voters may vote in the Democratic Primary. Registered Republicans and registered Unaffiliated voters may vote in the Republican Primary.
Democratic Primary
The Democratic Primary will have 3 candidates on the ballot. 1) Dovid Gruman 2) Moshe Raitzik 3) Ray Coles. The 2 of them with the most votes in June will go on to compete in the fall election and the one who loses will be eliminated completely from any 2017 opportunity.
Dovid Gruman
Dovid is a 3rd generation Lakewood resident. His grandfather was a talmid of Rav Aharon Kotler Zatzal. His father was born in Lakewood in Paul Kimball hospital and Dovid has been living in Lakewood his entire life. He studied in BMG for 9 Years. Dovid is married with 3 children and is a homeowner in Somerset Walk. He is proud to own his own business that is headquartered right here in Lakewood's industrial park.
Growing up in Lakewood Dovid has seen much change in this town. He remembers driving on Route 9 South 15 years ago in middle of the day with no traffic. Lakewood is a beautiful town with a lot to offer and is a great place to live and raise a family. Dovid would like to show our residents just how much better it can be. Make Lakewood Greater Again!
Dovid’s agenda would include lowering property tax, promoting traffic solutions that include opening, widening and resurfacing our current roads and reassessing any new zoning changes in order to control density without denying homeownership opportunities.
Moshe Raitzik
Moshe is a current member of the BOE whose term expires this December. He has been a teacher for over a decade and is the chairman of the Municipal Alliance which does a lot to help kids and teens at risk.
Moshe has been an active community member of the Westgate community for the last 12 years. He was successful in having JCPL rewire the local electric which prevented the seasonal blackouts. Moshe has been studying in BMG for the last 15 years
Ray Coles
Ray Has been on the committee for 15 years. When we attempted to work with Ray to promote positive change, he initially pretended to welcome our efforts before finally showing his true colors and rebuffing all of our efforts. If you have seen the negative changes in Lakewood over the past 15 years and are disappointed in the results, you have Ray to thank. Thank him for his service, and now look on to electing others who are interested in promoting positive change for Lakewood. We think that 15 years is just too much for any one person and that it’s finally time for someone new.
In the Democratic primary—Vote Gruman/Raitzik!!
Republican Primary
The Republican Primary will have 5 candidates on the ballot. 1) Aaron Hirsch 2) Avraham Sharaby 3)Yosef Travis 4) Mike Berman 5) Mike Delia. The 2 of them with the most votes in June will go on to compete in the fall election and the 3 who lose will be eliminated completely from any 2017 opportunity.
Aaron Hirsch
Aaron grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Lakewood 4 years ago. He is a homeowner in the Chestnut neighborhood and is married with 3 kids. His father ran P’eylim for many years and had a close relationship with many gedolim including Rav Aharon Kotler Zatzal. He has over 15 years of experience in property management and runs his own business in that field. He was a Shomrim member for 8 years in NY and was also a night dispatcher.
Aaron believes in a common sense approach to complex matters affecting Lakewood. His goal is to use his decades of management experience to institute a culture of responsibility, accountability, and foresight in the Township government. Lakewood is a humble and diverse town. Government needs to serve all of the people. In this humble, yet fast growing town, we cannot afford to continue making simple mistakes that sacrifice our quality of living, future safety, growth, and prosperity for all Lakewood residents. We need to tap into our resources to improve the infrastructure of this Town so we can support the future growth of Lakewood.
Aaron is a firm believer in being proactive in regard to planning. He says that the current approach at the planning and zoning board is tantamount to just putting out fires with little regard to actually planning for our future. He feels that there is a lack of communication between the various departments and would like to bring an enhanced level of responsibility, accountability and communication to the townships departments and boards.
Avraham Sharaby
Avraham started out in Lakewood in his early 20’s in BMG where he studied for over a decade. He is a real estate broker in Lakewood and married with 3 children. He is running for township committee in hopes to alleviate the financial suffering and improve the quality of life for all of us living in Lakewood.
Avraham owns a home in Lakewood and says he knows what the taxes of those living in Lakewood look like. He would like the people to pay less in taxes and enjoy more benefits. This is possible! Township land should not be sold at a discount to developers for housing that end up costing us more in taxes and cause traffic. The committee needs to find traffic solutions and then we can reconsider our zoning maps to encourage
responsible development. There needs to be an end to all spot zoning and zoning variances that change the character of neighborhoods and cause traffic.
Avraham believes that should be full transparency of all township activities, including a self-audit to find all wasteful spending and non-essential service to save taxpayers money.
Avraham wants to be part of a Township committee that has the best interests of ALL the people of Lakewood at heart. He wants to be the voice of the people. No longer can we afford a committee that only cares about a select few, we need responsible growth for a better Lakewood.
Yosef Travis
Yosef Travis has lived in Lakewood since 2008 and has watched how this town has grown rapidly over the last couple years. He runs the largest open market exchange for travel points, with over 500 travel agents and points brokers. He is well known within the travel industry as a trusted and respected broker and gets many calls daily regarding issues within the market that have to be dealt with properly. He is also known to go by the moniker—’king of whatsapp’ and was rumored to have won a $600 Million dollar lottery prize which turned out to be a hoax. It is a well established fact that Yosef Travis’ whatsapp ‘status’ is the best source of up to the minute news.
Yosef sees traffic as a big issue in Lakewood, and says that a lot of the traffic problems are being caused by the over-building and the non-stop approval of new construction throughout the town. He wants to stop the building until we can figure out a planned and coordinated way to build correctly that won't affect the people's quality of life.
If he get elected Yosef says he will fight to have the building halted, have the members of the boards that vote on the building reviewed with new appointments of qualified, non-biased members that do not have connections with developers and or have reason to approve applications. He’d like to make Lakewood a great place to live for the current residents and stop it from being a playground for investors and developers that do not care about the people who's every day lives are being affected.
Yosef lives in the Pine Street corridor, and sitting in traffic is a daily occurrence for him. He want to correct the issues and bring quality of life back to this great town. Yosef made a last minute decision to run and was seen collecting signatures outside Satmar just hours before the deadline.
Mike Berman
Mike Berman is running for 1 reason only. The Republican Club needed to pick 2 candidates to run and the Vaad/Mike Delia did not want any other candidates to get picked. He was placed on the ballot simply as a placeholder to avoid allowing others to have a chance at bringing change to Lakewood. He has no intention of campaigning or winning. He has done this several times before as a favor to the sitting committeeman seeking re-election.
Mike Delia
Mike Delia was on the committee for a 1 year term in 1996. He tried running for another term and in the 1996 election the Vaad wrote a scathing letter listing 6 reasons NOT to support Mike Delia. He then got re-elected to serve from 2015-2017 when the Vaad wanted to eliminate Steven Langert for not blindly listening to them. While at one point he talked the talk, we have not seen any actions from him indicating a willingness to change Lakewood for the better. We’d like to thank Mike for his service and ask Lakewood voters to elect a new committeeman committed to positive change.
Republican Sum up
With so many candidates running, we advise the public to get to know the candidates and hear out their ideas. At this point, our only recommendation for the Republican side is—consider the new candidates and listen to what they have to say and remember—stay away from the incumbents who allowed us to get to this point in the first place!
Debate/Roundtable
A potential debate/roundtable with all of the candidates is being proposed to take place on May 3rd where the candidates will have a chance to introduce themselves and their platform to the community. Stay tuned for further details. While in years past there were only 2 candidates with no proper choice, we look forward to seeing candidates actually attempt to earn votes and to talk to their constituents and present a platform for their campaign.