Mike Davis

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Blockbusting refers to an illegal real estate practice of using scare tactics to intimidate homeowners into selling their home.

Generally, it refers to a group of people buying up entire neighborhoods.

The state Attorney General's Office declined to investigate blockbusting claims leveled by Jackson officials, in response to the ever-expanding religious community in nearby Lakewood.

JACKSON - The state Attorney General’s Office has rejected a plea from the town to investigate complaints of purported "blockbusting" — a plea spurred by video that identifies Jackson as a real estate hotbed for Orthodox Jews.

The state Division of Civil Rights, within the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, rejected the request on grounds that the matter was covered by neither the state’s Law Against Discrimination nor the Family Leave Act, according to a letter from division regional manager Atley Tyler.

MORE: Jackson council wants blockbusting investigation of videos

The township is awaiting word from the U.S. Department of Justice on its plea for a federal review. Township attorney Jean Cipriani said the department has not said when it would respond. Jackson's request was submitted July 22.

“Their investigation process is slow and presumably a thorough one,” Cipriani said. “The anticipation is that they will (investigate), and we’ve been sending them more information. But they will not commit to a timeframe for a response.”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

Watch the video that's sent Jackson into a panic

The inquiry requests were sparks by the release of video, recorded in November at a national Agudath Israel conference in Connecticut, that surfaced over the summer.

It shows the group’s vice president, Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, calling on members of the Orthodox community to become “schtickle pioneers” willing to settle in outlying areas beyond Lakewood that don’t currently have the same ready access to synagogues, yeshivas and kosher markets.

"We've got to keep reaching out to Brick, Toms River, to Howell, to Jackson," Lefkowitz says in the video. "Someone who takes it upon themselves. ... They could turn it around."

Avi Schnall — the New Jersey director for Agudath Israel of America — expects the Justice Department will respond in much the same manner as the state.

"The state made it quite clear that this complaint was ungrounded and baseless," Schnall said. "We can't agree with them more. I don't think there will be any difference on the federal level, especially now that the state's made their determination."

Blockbusting refers to an illegal real estate practice of using scare tactics to intimidate homeowners into selling their homes. Generally, it refers to a group of people buying up entire neighborhoods.

A handful of complaints made to the township have included examples of blockbusting-like practices. One Jackson homeowner said a real estate agent told her she would be "surrounded by Jews" if she did not sell.

In the Agudath Israel video, however, there's no mention of such tactics.

"It's clearly not blockbusting," Schnall said. "The people selling their houses are selling them at market value and substantially higher. That doesn't fit the term 'blockbusting.'

"No one's feeling pressured or forced to sell their houses. They're being offered very good, financially enticing officers. The people selling aren't the ones complaining," he added.

The booming Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood has been a bone of contention among some Jackson residents, who have said they feel isolated as more Orthodox Jewish people move in.

BOOM TOWN: Lakewood's growth brings opportunity, conflict

Over the last two years, those complaints have centered around:

A proposed Orthodox school, which was rejected by the zoning board in 2014 after hearing from hundreds of residents in opposition. The decision was upheld by an Ocean County judge in October 2015.

Alleged bullying and harassment by real estate agents and private speculators – often identified as Orthodox Jewis. In response, the township enhanced its “no knock” ordinance, with stringent solicitation permits and possible jail time for violators.

Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch, a neighborhood watch group that the township demanded stop “patrolling” in Jackson. The administration briefly quarreled in public with the Police Department after it did not directly tell the group to leave.

“You don’t enter into this lightly, just to say you did it,” Council President Rob Nixon said. “We’ve heard enough from our residents and seen enough evidence that … some of the real estate speculation and the way that homes are being purchased don’t seem to be the normal course of real estate practices.

“But from where I sit, we have to put our faith in the law enforcement investigators who have to look at this,” he said.

JACKSON GROWS UP: Orthodox, senior communities on the rise

The video served as the icing on the cake for the township, which had been under fire by residents on social media demanding some kind of action.

“The video just seemed to be, in itself, a rather in-your-face example of the real estate speculation that seems to be going on,” Nixon said. “And it just seemed that there was something that connects some of those practices with some of the feelings our residents have, something that perhaps is worth looking into.”

The meaning of the Yiddish word "shtickle" has come under scrutiny, as it's been interpreted as both "second-class" in reference to the Lakewood border towns or simply meaning "a small amount, a little."

Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com