| Kiryas Joel, New York |
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Information AboutKiryas Joel, New York |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT KIRYAS JOEL, NEW YORK | |
| villages in new york | |
| communities in orange county, new york | |
| orthodox jewish communities in the united states | |
| satmar hasidism | |
| settlements established in the 1970s | |
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The town has the youngest Median Age (15.0) of any population center of over 5,000 residents in the United States. {Link without Title} in Kiryas Joel]] INSPIRED BY RABBI JOEL TEITELBAUM It is named for and by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum , the Rebbe of Satmar, who encouraged the project and helped choose its location a number of years prior to his passing in 1979 . Rabbi Teitelbaum was the first and founding rebbe of the Satmar Hasidic dynasty, originally from Hungary . Encouraged and impressed by the success of the Skver Hasidim in establishing New Square, New York , and when the confines of his newly re-established and growing community grew too small in Williamsburg, Brooklyn , where he had settled after The Holocaust following the end of World War II , he encouraged his Hasidim ("disciples") to search for a location that would not be too far from the commercial center of New York City , but that would also allow his followers to raise their large families in relative seclusion away from what he and his followers deemed to be the negative immoral influences of the outside world. ]] Eventually the location near Monroe was chosen and found acceptance with many of the Satmar Hasidim. However, the Satmar Rebbe did not want the town to be exclusively used by Satmar Hasidim, and he encouraged other Hasidic groups and non-Hasidic ones, that agreed with his political views, to open Synagogue s in the town, and today there are over 40 synagogues in the town of Kiryas Joel, however the vast majority of the residents are Satmar Hasidim. Not long after the founding of Kiryas Joel, in 1979, Rabbi Teitelbaum became the first person buried in the town's cemetery. His funeral reportedly brought over 100,000 mourners to Kiryas Joel at that time. GEOGRAPHY Kiryas Joel is located at 41°20'24" North, 74°10'2" West (41.340020, -74.167229). According to the United States Census Bureau , the village has a total area of 2.8 Km&2 (1.1 Mi&2 ). 2.8 km&2 (1.1 mi&2) of it is land and only a very small portion of the area (a small duck pond in center of the village) is covered with water. DEMOGRAPHICS (r.) and his wife, Rebbetzin Alte Feiga Teitelbaum (l.) in Kiryas Joel Cemetery. Rabbi Teitelbaum was the first person to be buried in the new cemetery in 1979]] As of the Census of 2000, there were 13,138 people, 2,229 households, and 2,137 families residing in the village. The Population Density was 4,611.5/km&2 (11,962.2/mi&2). There were 2,233 housing units at an average density of 783.8/km&2 (2,033.2/mi&2). The racial makeup of the village was 99.02% White , 0.21% African American , 0.00% Native American , 0.02% Asian , 0.00% Pacific Islander , 0.12% from Other Races , and 0.63% from two or more races. 0.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. street sign reflecting widespread use of Yiddish in the village.]] The 2000 census also reports that over 88% of the population of Kiryas Joel speaks Yiddish at home. {Link without Title} There were 2,229 households out of which 79.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 93.2% were Married Couples living together, 1.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 4.1% were non-families. 2.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 5.74 and the average family size was 5.84. In the village the population was spread out with 57.5% under the age of 18, 17.2% from 18 to 24, 16.5% from 25 to 44, 7.2% from 45 to 64, and 1.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 15 years. For every 100 females there were 116.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 118.0 males. The median income for a household in the village was $15,138, and the median income for a family was $15,372. Males had a median income of $25,043 versus $16,364 for females. The Per Capita Income for the village was $4,355. 62.2% of the population and 61.7% of families were below the Poverty Line . 63.9% of those under the age of 18 and 50.5% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. FRICTION WITH SURROUNDING JURISDICTIONS The village has become a contentious issue in Orange County for several reasons, mainly related to its rapid growth. Unlike most other small towns, it lacks a real downtown and much of it is given over to residential property, which has mostly taken the form of Contemporary Townhouse -style Condominium complexes similar to those found in ski resort communities in Western states. New construction is going on everywhere. Much of the land outside the village, by contrast, is rural and undeveloped. Local impact of growth Monroe also contains two other villages, Monroe and Harriman . Kiryas Joel's boundaries also come close to the neighboring town of Blooming Grove . Residents of these communities and local and Orange County politicians view as "encroachment" by the village. Due to the rapid population growth occurring in Kiryas Joel, resulting almost entirely from the high birth rates of its Hasidic population, the village government has undertaken various Annexation efforts to expand its acreage, to the dismay of the majority of the residents of the surrounding communities. Many of these area residents see the expansion of the high-density residential and commercial village as a threat to the Quality Of Life in the surrounding exurban communities. They view it as a prime source of Suburban Sprawl and have even considered incorporating a new city around the village as a way to constrain further annexation. Local politics Further frustrating village critics is its impact on local politics. Villagers are perceived as voting in a solid Bloc . While this is not always the case, the highly concentrated population often does skew strongly toward one candidate or the other in local elections, making Kiryas Joel a heavily-courted swing vote for whichever politician offers Kiryas Joel the most favorable environment for continued growth. Sometimes this perception is borne out. In the town's 2005 municipal election, a slate of anti-growth Democratic candidates for the Town Board ran against pro-growth Republicans . The Democrats carried almost every Precinct in town but lost the election because the Kiryas Joel vote went strongly for the Republicans. Alleged vote fraud and intimidation Adding to this are persistent allegations of Electoral Fraud related to the village. An investigation by the local newspaper, the Middletown '' Times Herald Record '', found that some residents apparently voted regularly in local elections despite living full-time in places as far away as Antwerp (New York's Elections Law bars residents who live overseas from voting in county or local elections). Village leaders strongly denied this and insisted the newspaper was either badly mistaken or negligent in its coverage or trying to whip up hysteria against it. But the history of the village's own elections is not without incidents in which its commitment to democracy has not been immediately apparent. It is widely believed that no candidates run for either the village's board or the school board unless first approved by the grand rebbe. When Joseph Waldman, leader of a group of 500 residents who had filed a brief with the Supreme Court opposing the school district's creation, ran for the school board in the early 1990s without the blessing of the late Grand Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum , he was expelled from his synagogue and his children from their school, his Tire s were slashed, his windows broken, and demonstrators chanted "Death to Joseph Waldman!" outside his house despite his status as a fifth-generation member of the Satmar community {Link without Title} . In 2001, Kiryas Joel finally held a truly competitive election {Link without Title} . Perceptions of favoritism by state and federal officials Abetting Kiryas Joel's growth has been a great deal of state and federal aid. It seems to surrounding communities that the village gets these grants and rulings much more quickly than other towns in the area, and governors and congressmen have been accused of cutting corners and bending the rules for Kiryas Joel so as to benefit from the votes. LITIGATION OVER THE SCHOOL DISTRICT See Also: Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled that the Kiryas Joel school district, which covered only the village, was designed in violation of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment , because the design accommodated one group on the basis of religious affiliation. 512 U.S. 687 (1994). SEE ALSO
IN THE LOCAL MEDIA Often, the local media gives the "clashes" between Kiryas Joel and its neighbors front-page status:
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