Councilman
Joel Pabon

PERTH AMBOY – Emotions ran high at the 11/21/16 Council Meeting when it was suggested an ordinance (first reading) be placed on the agenda as a late starter to abolish PARA (Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency).

Ordinance No. 5 – Dissolving PARA and designating the Council as the Entity.

During the Caucus portion of the Meeting, Councilman Fernando Irizarry was the only one to vote “no” to place this as a late starter on the agenda. Irizarry said, “I’m going to move that this ordinance be tabled.” There was no second.

Councilman Bill Petrick said, “There’s no packet on the agenda. We didn’t get any information ahead of time.”

Acting Law Director Rainone cautioned, “This can’t be adopted until it is brought to the local Finance Board.”

Resident Ken Balut started off the public comments, “The trouble with PARA was when the Mayor extended the contract with Kushner.  Did Kushner settle the lawsuit? He didn’t do to other towns what he did here. Why was today’s agenda hidden? The Council should take over the responsibility of PARA. Arlene (Quinones-Perez) overbilled the City. The money coming into us (the City) comes from the north (Jersey). They come here just to steal our money. We have more homeless here now than in 2006.”

Resident Stanley Sierakowski came up to speak next. “Law Directors are patronage jobs. They should be in-house which would save thousands of dollars.”

Next up was Resident Gregory Pabon. He stated, “Councilman Fernando Irizarry wanted to table this (dissolving PARA) because he wanted more information on it. There have been many times when Council Members have asked to table an item and it was granted. The one time Irizarry wanted something tabled, you didn’t allow it. I find it very strange.”

A Resident from State Street came up to speak, “Everything now is wrong in the last two months and why wait after four years? You (addressing Council President Lisa Nanton) were with the Mayor for almost four years.”

Resident Lionel Giron who is also a member of PARA came up next and spoke, “Your attempt (the Council) to dissolve PARA was a political move. I’m speaking here as an individual. There are young faces on PARA. People have been called pawns and puppets. We’re getting younger and using social media.”

Giron then addressed Councilman Joel Pabon, “Mr. Pabon, you are on this agency (PARA). I’m disappointed in you. I went to school with your son. Stop trying to bring down the City because you lost the election. You sat on PARA and hardly said anything.”

Resident Alan Silber made the following comments, “Asking to table this (Late Starter No. 5) was not necessary because you have two weeks before voting on it. Other municipalities have rescinded their PARA Boards. People that are here cheering don’t know what’s going on. The Mayor who is the PARA Chair appointed a lot of the members. Look at Rector Street by the Landings. It’s terrible. You (the Council) should think about rescinding PARA.”

Mayor Wilda Diaz

Mayor Diaz came up next to defend PARA and how it has benefited the City, “The projects that came through PARA has created jobs and ratables and this has made it possible for no tax increases for the residents. We have built a great working relationships with businesses. They trusted the PARA Members. Since 2008 until now, PARA has rebuilt the City. A lot of agencies want to work with us. Just today (11/21/16) we sat with a group who wants to invest millions into the City. The actions today show you (the Council) don’t want to work with me, the administration or others. I hope for the good of the people, we can all work together.”

During the Council Comments, Councilman Joel Pabon assured the Mayor, “No matter what happens with PARA, you will be a part of it (the decision making process). We were not pushing you out. You have to give us a chance, too. We talk to the people every day. Who is better to make the decisions?”

Councilman Fernando Gonzalez became very emotional when he talked by families that are being destroyed by gambling habits. He urged the City to bring in the County if necessary.”

Deputy Police Chief Larry Cattano came up to address this problem, “Because there is an ongoing criminal investigation, I am prohibited from speaking about this.”

Gonzalez continued with more remarks, “I ran with the Mayor in 2008 and I wanted to help her win. Balut also ran with Diaz in 2008. We were thrown to the side. I hope these two young men who were elected and reelected are not thrown to the side. Redevelopment has never been an approach by me. Just look at the billing that the Law Director (Arlene Quinones-Perez) did. I welcome our youth to get involved. I don’t think a first reading (referring to Late Starter Ordinance No. 5 rescinding PARA) has ever been tabled because the Council has two weeks to get more information. I ran with one of the young men (in 2014) who got elected and I believe in him.”

Councilman Fernando Irizarry made comments next, “I have a couple suggestions on how festivals should be run in the City. There should be changes in the hours, especially on Sundays. I would like to see applications that have been submitted plus submitted Police Reports (on past festivals). The City should also look to pursue the property that a storage company will not be using. It deserves to be looked at to help bring in some revenue to the City.”

Councilman Pabon spoke about the bus parking at the train station.

Acting Law Director Rainone told Pabon, “We will look at the language of the ordinance.”

Pabon also wanted to know about the extended yellow lines (along certain curbs).

Fernando Gonzalez then asked if he could see a recent report about the same problem.

Councilman Bill Petrick agreed with Councilman Irizarry about using empty lots to bring in more revenue for the City. “Maybe we can get grant money to help us. We should also look at other empty properties (to use to generate revenue).”