Sunday, May 6, 2012

Jewish dorm unwelcome in Cambria Heights


From CBS 2:

Some neighbors in Cambria Heights, Queens are fighting a synagogue’s plan to expand a building in a cemetery, where already hundreds of worshipers pray each day.

The place: the Old Montifiore Cemetery on Francis Lewis Boulevard, where crowds come, especially on the high holy days. A community center has been constructed near the graves, behind five single-family homes owned by the Lubavitchers.

But now, the congregation wants to join all five homes into one large structure that would essentially be a dormitory.

The people who live in the modest homes and always had the solitude of a cemetery nearby, now find their homes in the path of a pilgrimage that keeps growing and growing.

The issue must go before the zoning board and would require a variance for approval in the predominantly residential area.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the difference between this and Jamaica or Flushing or Long Island City or Astoria?

You make some donations to the right people and you can do pretty much whatever you want.

Infrastructure? Quality of life?

Welcome to Queens.

Anonymous said...

It's a no-win situation.You have a beloved rabbi buried in a neighborhood hat can't handle the traffic.

Can't wait to see what our resident atheist would say about this one.

georgetheatheist said...

Re-inter him in my back yard. Next to my buried cat and the tomato plants.

Anonymous said...

move this Hasidic cemetery to the Brinckerhoff property cemetery, @ 182 st./73rd Avenue, which is a now a predominantly jewish home owner population.

i am sure there will be NO PROTESTING AT ALL !

the city council will fall all over themselves to buy the property ,like a few pols. did for the Chabaz property on 26th Avenue and Bell Blvd. in Bay Terrace. I believe the cost to taxpayers was $1.5 million dollars.

Anonymous said...

Great idea George, then the followers will stream into your backyard 24/6.

georgetheatheist said...

24/7.

I don't keep "holy" the Sabbath.

And bring along Sri Chinmoy too.

Anonymous said...

Its really sad this many people still cling to fairytales. It holds back the advancement of civilization.

Anonymous said...

You mean the fairy tale that there is no God?

Anonymous said...

To the idea of moving to the Brinckerhoff Cemetery: exhumation is forbidden to Jews except for reburial in Israel.

Unknown said...

This battle is still going on 3 years later. The Cambria Heights Community isn't zoned for what the Lubavitcher want to use those properties for. This is a quiet residential neighborhood that is not zoned for multiple dwellings like Astoria, Forest Hills or Long Island City. We're a middle class community of single family homes and were recently, in 2011 downzoned to ensure it stays that way. For whatever reason the BSA continues to give Ohel Chabad Lubavitch multiple opportunities to submit basically the same proposals. A 4-story "dormitory" which in actuality will be a hotel for visitors to the Rabbi's grave, would negatively impact the character and quality of life in our neighborhood. As it is now, neighbors contend with garbage being thrown over their fences by the houses the Ohel owns next to their homes, visitors laying on their lawns, urinating and defecating on their property. There are currently more than 100 OPEN Building Department violations on the 5 properties owned by the Ohel including one referencing propane gas tanks being used for cooking in a trailer that's been erected between two of the houses and used to house visitors.