Evening Roundup: State Officials Offer Striking Officers a Deal, NYC Task Force Tackles Quality of Life Issues, Worshippers Fight for Valuable Land and a Met...

Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Governor Kathy Hochul's administration is making a direct pitch to corrections officers in an attempt to get them to end their prison strike. That has angered the officers union, which did not authorize the strike and was left out of the negotiations. State officials said they were close to a deal on Thursday, but the union refused to sign off. The union says it's the only entity the state can legally bargain with. Officials say the offer still stands. At least seven people held in state prisons have died since the strikes began.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are launching a new interagency task force aimed at addressing quality of life issues like open drug use, retail theft, and homelessness. Bragg says his office will work with about a dozen city agencies.

District Attorney Bragg: We have a very good tool bag between government and our civic associations, and this is figuring out which tool to pull out of the tool bag for the right situation.

Janae Pierre: The city has at least six quality-of-life task forces. This one comes as major crime falls, but some New Yorkers say they still feel unsafe.

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Janae Pierre: Coming up, we head to Brooklyn, where dueling groups fight for control of a historic Williamsburg synagogue that sits on valuable land. More on that after the break.

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Two rival groups of worshipers are fighting for control of the synagogue in Williamsburg. The dispute has led to months of lawsuits and restraining orders. The conflict is about the future of the congregation's building, and it reflects a pattern playing out at houses of worship across the five boroughs as religious membership dwindles and property values soar. WNYC's Samantha Max has more.

Samantha Max: Members of Congregation Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom are bickering on the sidewalk outside their synagogue. One group is claiming to be the true owners of the building and has locked out many long-time worshippers. On this sweltering September afternoon, America Ruiz and other long-timers are back with a court order allowing them to re-enter. A locksmith cuts off a metal padlock, sending orange sparks into the air.

Inside the sanctuary, they find the vintage oak pews have been demolished into a pile of jagged planks. One woman kneels on the floor and cries. Ruiz gives her a hug. I love you.

?Ruiz: I love you.

Woman: Thank you for being here.

Samantha Max: Those pews had once provided a place for a diverse group of Jews to gather and pray. They were dedicated to congregants who had donated to the synagogue over the years. Some were Holocaust survivors. Ruiz is in disbelief.

Ruiz: I have no words. It's not the benches. It's the lack of humanity.

Samantha Max: Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom is the only Orthodox synagogue in Williamsburg that doesn't follow the more traditional customs of the local Hasidic Jewish community. It's the only temple in their neighborhood where Ruiz and her husband, Martin Needelman felt comfortable praying. Ruiz converted to Judaism. Martin Needelman grew up Orthodox but not Hasidic.

Ruiz: That's why we came here, was the only place that accept us.

Samantha Max: Ruiz wonders whether that welcoming spirit may have also caused the synagogue's current crisis. She says the divide started a few years ago when the shrinking congregation allowed a small group of Hasidic Jews to join. Ruiz says the Hasidic congregants started to tamper with the annual board elections so they could take over the board and steal the building. At one election, she says, they wouldn't let her husband vote because he didn't bring a utility bill to prove his identity. Long-time worshipper Keith Cohn says they used similar antics this past summer to elect their allies.

Keith Cohn: By removing some board members, they had more power and influence.

Samantha Max: Last summer, the Hasidic group announced it was renting the synagogue sanctuary to a religious school known as a yeshiva and said it tore up the benches to make room for students. Abraham Rubin is a new Hasidic worshipper and says he advised on the lease.

Abraham Rubin: The issue is going to take care of the building. They will have room to pray downstairs.

Samantha Max: Now each side is accusing the other of trying to sell the congregation's property, which sits on a corner lot across the street from the Marcy Avenue MJZ stop.

Keith Cohn: The location is prime real estate.

Samantha Max: That's Cohn again.

Keith Cohn: It's become a target.

Samantha Max: Across New York City, many congregations are grappling with declining membership and mounting costs, and they're considering whether their properties are worth keeping. Architect Esther Sperber says selling a building to a developer can cover a congregation's expenses for decades to come.

Esther Sperber: They own this incredibly valuable real estate, but many of them are very cash-poor. Like if their air conditioning system breaks, they don't always have the funds to just fix that.

Janae Pierre: Dozens of religious organizations across the five boroughs have sold their buildings in recent years, including at least 68 just last year, according to the attorney general's office. A Harlem church sold its building for $28.5 million and is now a luxury condo building with a fitness center and a pet spa. A Bronx church sold for $8 million and has been transformed into affordable housing. These types of deals can be divisive and risky. That's why New York Not-For-Profit law strictly regulates sales and long-term leases for houses of worship.

Jason Lilien: For religious organizations, change can be, in particular, very difficult.

Samantha Max: Jason Lilien is the former chief of the Attorney General's Charities Bureau which oversees the state's nonprofit law. He says the law sets out rules for how congregations are supposed to manage their assets and make decisions. Lilien says the state can't get involved in every argument between worshippers.

Jason Lilien: Therefore, they wind up in court.

Samantha Max: At Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom, the two opposing groups are waiting for a judge to decide who the rightful members of the synagogue are and, by extension, who should control the building. Rubin says he thinks there's enough space for both sides to share the synagogue.

Abraham Rubin: You will have your place. Shiva will have our place. No big deal. It's big enough.

[praying]

Samantha Max: On a Saturday morning in January, the doors to the synagogue are locked once again. A small group gathers on the sidewalk in the 20-degree weather to pray. Most of the group are women. They aren't long-time members, but they keep coming on Saturdays to protest what they consider to be a hostile takeover of the temple. At Hasidic services, women typically aren't allowed to pray out loud, so even the group's prayer is an act of protest. They hope to sing so loud the Hasidic worshippers inside will have no choice but to hear them.

Martine Duffy: I thought maybe we could do a healing prayer on [crosstalk]

Samantha Max: Martine Duffy works at a local Jewish nonprofit and has been leading the Shabbat services.

Martine Duffy: I think there's a lot of healing that's needed in this, on this corner of Williamsburg this morning.

[praying]

Martine Duffy: I want peace for them. I want peace for us. I also want every person to have a place to pray.

Small Group: [prays] The renewal of body, the renewal of spirit, and let us say Amen.

Samantha Max: No one lets them inside, but the group vows to keep coming back to pray even if the doors are locked.

[praying]

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Samantha Max.

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Before we go, some news for Mets fans hoping to purchase new swag ahead of the season. The baseball club has a new pop-up shop experience in Union Square. The so-called Mets House includes themed activities, exclusive merchandise, and giveaways. The team says it'll be open Tuesday through Sunday for at least three months. The Mets say this pop-up is a way for fans to support the team outside of Citi Field. The first Mets game this season is on March 27th in Houston, Texas, and they'll play their home opener in early April against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. Have a wonderful weekend. We'll be back on Monday.

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