baysidecemeterylitigation.com

Dear Bayside Cemetery Litigation Friends:

Here is another periodic email from me to you to keep you informed on what's new with the Bayside Cemetery situation:

On May 12, 2009 we were informed of a court date for oral arguments for the two previous motions (defendant’s motion to dismiss and the court’s issue of jurisdiction).  The next court date is now scheduled for June 29, 2009 at 2:30 PM before Chief Judge Raymond Dearie in Courtroom 10A-S.  http://site.baysidecemeterylitigation.com/uploads/Court_Document-May_12_2009.pdf

Some other items of note and other things added to the website:

* there was an article in the Village Voice about the problems at cemeteries like Bayside and the issues with monies held in trust for graves and perpetual care by cemeteries and burial societies.  In this case, Congregation Shaare Zedek has been paid by hundreds/thousands of parties for perpetual care and the monies for that care were misappropriated.  The article speaks about the issues more generally.  You can find the article at http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/1056484 and there are some comments I made in the article about Bayside Cemetery.  Perhaps the part of the article that I find most interesting is where it says that Bayside Cemetery denies the allegations in this lawsuit that Congregation Shaare Zedek fails to keep the cemetery in good condition and that they used the cemetery money for other things.  Of course, this directly contradicts a statement made in a NY Daily News article where the synagogue's lawyer Stephen Axinn says "some cemetery funds were borrowed from a nonrestricted account to repair the synagogue roof".  http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2007/10/04/2007-10-04_bayside_cemetery_is_a_disgrace_suit_says.html  As I've pointed out before, and as is well understood cemetery and fiduciary trust law, there is no such thing as a non-restricted perpetual care cemetery trust fund in NY State.  Cemetery monies can never be used for anything but the cemetery and any invasion of the corpus of the trust fund can only be done under court order which was not obtained by the congregation.  So as we have said in court on this matter, the defendant's have a changing story time and again - some call this a "shifting sands defense".

* In my last email I announced that I had posted Bayside Cemetery burial records from 1908-2004 (however this is an evolving document because there are very few records for modern burials - these records will be restored by volunteers over time).  In this email I want to announce that I have posted burial records from 1882-1908 in the "History & Genealogy" section.  As before, these records are not yet complete but I wanted to share what exists with you.  This documents was provided to me by a genealogical researcher who has been researching Bayside Cemetery for many years.  I believe that this is the first document of this type ever produced for Bayside Cemetery.  In order to control the distribution of this document, it is password protected.  I will provide the password upon email request.  Instructions to do this are on the website.

* In the "History & Genealogy" section of the www.baysidecemeterylitigation.com website, I have posted a schematic map of Bayside Cemetery that shows all the major gate areas and burial society names, etc.

* AN INTERESTING ITEM: I wanted to also point out an interesting tidbit for your thought and pondering.

On numerous occasions, Congregation Shaare Zedek officials and their rabbi have lamented the condition of Bayside Cemetery and implied that it was difficult to get current members of the congregation to care too much about the synagogue since, according to the synagogue, no current members of the congregation had family buried at Bayside.  In fact, in the article called "Bayside Cemetery Mess Lands in Federal Court" from The Jewish Week newspaper dated October 5, 2007, a press release from Congregation Shaare Zedek is quoted as saying: “In fact, Shaare Zedek is the only organization to spend any significant money on [Bayside Cemetery’s] upkeep, despite the fact that the synagogue is struggling financially, has no current members who either own a plot at Bayside or have a relative buried at Bayside, and most importantly, has only a small section of the cemetery associated with members of Shaare Zedek from previous generations.”  Later in an online blog, http://citynoise.org/article/8696 a person posting on January 6, 2009 by the name of Rabbi Julia Andelman (the rabbi of Congregation Shaare Zedek) said "Tens of thousands of dollars are spent from the synagogue budget every year (despite the fact that not a single current member of Shaare Zedek has any relatives buried at Bayside, and despite the fact that the synagogue is struggling financially)".

Based on this, I wanted to point out this interesting factoid.  The congregation made the same nearly identical statement that no congregation members had family buried at Bayside on two occasions - once in October 2007 and again in January 2009.  However, how does one reconcile the following obituary from the NY Times dated November 29, 2007?

"POLLACK--Robert, Congregation Shaare Zedek mourns the loss of our long-time member and former President, Bob Pollack, of New York, NY, who passed away in his sleep on Sunday night at age 76. Bob was a proud graduate of Stuyvesant High School, Harvard Law School and Columbia Business School. He loved the outdoors, classical music, fine food, telling jokes and being with people. He was an ardent supporter of B'nai B'rith and of Congregation Shaare Zedek. He was passionate about Republican politics and about reading the New York Times.  Bob is survived by his companion, Suzanne Frowenfeld and many close friends. The funeral will be held at Riverside Memorial Chapel, Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street, on Thursday, November 29th at 9am. Burial at Bayside Cemetery in Queens. Memorial donations may be made to Congregation Shaare Vedek, The Bob Pollack Memorial Kiddush Fund, 212 West 93rd Street, NY, NY 10025. May his memory be a blessing."

Only the congregation could say if their 2007 and 2009 statements are technically true - that no congregation members had family buried at Bayside Cemetery.  But the simple fact that their former congregation President passed away and was buried at Bayside Cemetery 1.5 months after the first statement was made to the Jewish Week newspaper and 14 months before the second statement was made in the online blog (assuming it was actually Rabbi Andelman who made the posting on the blog) seem quite contradictory.  Plus as recently as February 1, 2007, Robert Pollack's name was listed on the congregation's website (www.sznyc.org) as an "Honorary Trustee".

I will continue to keep you posted on what happens with the litigation and the website.  Please check the website often for current information.

Also, as I've asked before, please generate as much awareness as possible about this important case and the terrible conditions at Bayside Cemetery by forwarding this email to all of your friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. to inform them about this situation at Bayside Cemetery and what Congregation Shaare Zedek has done.  Send them to www.baysidecemeterylitigation.com for information.

Please also leave me comments about this whole situation on the blog at http://blog.baysidecemeterylitigation.com/

Thanks for your interest and support.

John Lucker

Plaintiff - Lucker et al vs. Bayside Cemetery and Congregation Shaare Zedek

www.baysidecemeterylitigation.com