Agreeing on the basic tenets of community

The recent purchase of two resorts in western Sullivan County by members of the Hasidic community and reports that this activity is only the beginning of a cultural trend in the Upper Delaware River Valley have given rise to some consternation among area residents.

Some complaints center on sanitation; others on the possibility that religious exemptions may take property off already overburdened tax rolls.

In evaluating both this in-migration and the reaction to it, there are two dangers that must be avoided. The first is the obvious one: bigotry.

It is now 60 years since the Holocaust, but the lesson was severe enough that we should not readily forget the dangers of prejudging any group on the basis of religious or ethnic identity.

The other danger is the reverse: unwillingness to make any judgments about how people are actually behaving for fear of being thought bigoted.

That kind of unwillingness cuts off discourse. And the discourse this issue is related to is one of the most crucial we need to engage in; namely, what standards of behavior or good citizenship should we hold ourselves and our neighbors to—both those living here, and those who will be coming—in order to ensure the best possible quality of life for all of us?

Because the more dense the population becomes—and it is becoming more dense whether we like it or not—the more the quality of each of our lives will depend on the actions of all the residents.

Here’s one such possible criterion of good citizenship: we would like ourselves and our neighbors to be people who contribute as much, or more, to the community, as we all take out of it.

This giving can take many forms, and not everybody has to make all types of contributions. People can pay taxes, start a business or help local businesses by patronizing them. They can volunteer time and talent to local community support organizations like ambulance corps, fire departments or literacy groups.

Then there is good stewardship: people can maintain their land in a way that provides habitat to local species and supports and protects our watershed. And in an area like this one, which depends significantly on tourism—and therefore scenic beauty—maintaining our properties to be visually appealing, attractive, and in keeping with the local ambiance can be a major contribution.

If we could agree on some ideal of good citizenship such as this, then we could and should think about how it applies to businesses as well as people—including casinos and big box stores, which some have argued take more out of communities than they give back.

And we need to look for ways, whether by persuasion, negotiation, regulation, or lawmaking, to encourage those who reside here to live up to these standards, and encourage people and businesses who do so to move here.

The Hasidim should be no exception to this. It would be a blatant moral failure on our part to simply prejudge that they won’t or can’t live up to the standards we set for ourselves. But to fail to hold them up to those standards would be a form of condescension just as bigoted, in its own way.

Let’s find out the facts about sanitation, or tax status, or whatever else we look for from local citizens, and if there are problems in these respects with Hasidic facilities, let us deal with them as frankly and openly as possible.

Above all, let’s not be afraid to talk about it.

Dr. Punnybone

Photo Finish