By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
“Yeah, I believe it is a fight, now. And it’s a shame,” said Bruce Tonkovich.
Tonkovich lives in Toms River and says friends and neighbors in certain areas suffer non-stop harassment from high-pressure salesmen — mostly Orthodox Jews — repeatedly urging them to sell their homes even if the house isn’t listed for sale.
“Yeah, block-busting. And we really, sincerely feel they’ve block-busted this area,” Tonkovich said. “Really harassed, big-time. You know — at dinners, Thanksgiving — they don’t care.”
“People have complained to us bitterly of that type of conduct — ringing the doorbells, days, nights, accosting people on their front lawns while they’re washing they’re cars. It’s a result of the Hasidic population in Lakewood outgrowing any available space for them to live,” said Toms River Mayor Tom Kelaher.
Kelaher says that’s why the town passed an ordinance designating two “cease and desist” zones — both bordering on Lakewood — where door-to-door canvassing by realtors trying to buy homes will be strictly forbidden. No knocking, period. He says police caught one man trying to crawl into a basement window of an empty house.
“Guy says, ‘Well, I’m looking to buy the house,’ and he was Hasidic. So they locked him up. That’s the type of conduct that drives everybody crazy,” Kelaher said.
Realtors in Lakewood explain they do actively market homes in Toms River for Hasidic customers, but at least one says they’re not the ones harassing residents there. Imperial Real Estate says, “…a lot of them are buyers from New York…They’re not aware people are very frustrated. They’re upsetting people who think they’re realtors.”
“They’ll say, ‘Look, it’s all cash. Here it is, right here. You make extra money. You don’t have to pay a real estate commission.’ And if you insist that you don’t want to move, they’ll keep coming back,” Kelaher said.
In fact, Ocean County’s Board of REALTORS notes the new ordinance “…will not prevent anyone outside of real estate licensees from knocking on doors, which does not accomplish its intended goal of protecting homeowners’ quality of life. We have respectfully asked the town to amend this ordinance so that anyone who is door-knocking would be in violation; not just real estate licensees.” The ordinance is slated to take effect in a couple weeks.
Township officials say they expect this no-knock ordinance will be challenged in court, but they say since a similar law was upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, they feel they can win a legal battle.