Stadium still in the news

Can't this just go away..... APP: The Asbury Park Press' news coverage of the abortive effort to bring an arena to Lakewood has once again dramatized the power of the press in shaping attitudes toward the township's large Orthodox Jewish population. There is no disputing.........hockey team to Lakewood and build a $50 million facility to house the New Jersey Devils farm team makes front-page news. But, in its zeal to make headlines like "Multiple factors doomed arena: Funding, Orthodox opposition hurt," the Press fuels reader perceptions of a stereotypical Orthodox community where the lines between religious tradition and political power blur. Funding the arena could have cost the Lakewood taxpayer — regardless of religion, ethnicity or age — big time. The complexity of the funding issues required time and reflection on the part of the Township Committee before a decision was reached. But those complexities and implications for the taxpayer were not the focus of the article. The Jan. 12 story that broke the doomsday news that the arena was dead trained the spotlight on the Orthodox community — before all the facts were in. It cited views of leaders from the Yeshiva community, "according to interviews and postings on Internet blogs," that the atmosphere would be inappropriate for children. Other sources cited in the story were the Devils' owners ("the Orthodox . . . simply didn't back it") and two former Township Committee candidates, one of whom quoted the sentiments of an Orthodox person with whom he had spoken: "We don't want Elton John over here." The former candidates are both Orthodox themselves. At least one of them, Steven Langert, is reported as supporting the project. That there may have been others in the Orthodox community with equally supportive views was not, however, explored in the article. The article's message was clear: The Orthodox community (not the Lakewood community nor its elected officials) crashed the deal based on their religious/cultural convictions. The story has had a profound impact on the consciousness of your readers. Sadly, much of that impact is less than positive in building understanding within our community.