The Handicapped Are People, Too!
Good afternoon,
I am emailing you because it is time for the Perth Amboy Administration to take accountability for the gross actions and situations that have accorded on their property during public gatherings. I have attached an article found in the latest edition of the Amboy Guardian (our local paper) which will be referred to during this email and will act as confirmation for some of the things addressed in this email.
On January 29, 2018. a public meeting took place in the Council Chambers on the Second Floor of City Hall (260 High Street). At the end of the meeting, a man in a wheelchair had to be carried downstairs to exit the building because the elevator had stopped working. Since then, more than two months have passed, and nothing has gotten done about accommodating those who could not make it up the stairs; Yet, Caucus, Council and other public meetings have occurred on a regular continuous basis.
For two months I have spoken with Mr. Adam Cruz, the Business Administrator and the person everyone refers me to regarding this matter. I have spoken with each and every member of our elected council regarding the need to change locations various times both on the phone and in person. I have sat in a chair in the small foyer as the meetings went on (on February 14th and March 28th) waiting for something to get done, hoping to hear some part of the meeting happening upstairs and at times making calls and doing research to confirm that what was going on was against the local, state and federal laws.
I have personally been informed of the way some people feel as they force themselves up the stairs just so they can be informed on what’s happening and so they can have their voices heard. I have personally seen people climb up the stairs on their butt and come back down using the same method. I have seen people hold on to the stair railing as if their life depended on it as they climb the stairs and come down. I have heard people complain about how their pain worsens as they force themselves to use the stairs (something they medically are not permitted to do) because they want to be active and informed citizens. And the list of complaints like this only continues to pile.
I want to focus on the March 28th meeting. I arrived at City Hall expecting to see a television and a phone in a room, just like I was told would happen as an accommodation for those who could not make it up the stairs. I arrived to find the lovely black chair next to the desk in the foyer (the one I sit on) and nothing else. There were no accommodations and I would spend yet another meeting watching people suffer to make it up and down the stairs, not being able to listen to what was happening and not being able to voice my concerns. It doesn’t end here.
I choose to make a phone call and I choose to do it outside. I choose to place my call outside because I had assumed the meeting upstairs had begun considering that it was well past the usual meeting starting time of 7 pm and all of the council members had came in and headed upstairs. As I prepare to hit the call button, I turn around to face the street and what do I see? I see a fire truck parking in the handicapped parking and one of the other fire vehicles parking across from that. I did not hit the call button. Why? Because I knew exactly what was going on. One of the firefighters approached me with a smile on his face. A smile that read “I know what you’re thinking and you are right”. (For those of you who don’t know this, I tutor students at no cost out of our local Fire Department and seeing the guys around is not an uncommon scene. Having conversations with them is less uncommon so we grow a little bond with one another. This explains how the firefighter knew what I was thinking. We’ve crossed paths both in and out of the department and we both know when something’s up.) I hesitate to say anything beyond “hi” to the firefighter and those approaching behind him. I was upset at what was going on.
I choose to ask “are you here for me?” rather than let my intuition make assumptions as to why the fire department showed up. The first guy I saw, the same one who gave me the look responded “yup, I think so”. Some of the other men who showed up headed upstairs to speak with the Business Administrator because the BA called them and told them to do so. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Mr. Cruz (our BA) went and called the Fire Department to have them carry me up the narrow stairs without consulting me! How could someone do that? How dare someone make such a judgement call without consulting the person who would have to be carried up and down stairs!
This was when enough was enough for me. No one has any right to make a decision for another person on this matter unless the person is a child. In my case, I’m a nineteen-year-old whose mother was upstairs in the council meeting (she was one of those people who has continuously forced herself up and down the stairs to attend public meetings) yet neither one of us were consulted beforehand about this. And before someone chooses to take this out of context, I have absolutely nothing but respect for our Fire Department and each member I come across knows that, including Chief Mullen. I did not disrespect the Fire Department, nor did I get upset at them over their presence because they were doing their job and were happy enough to carry me upstairs. I commend our Fire Department for being as helpful as I can ask them to be.
I am upset at this administration, our mayor and all of the elected officials. Perth Amboy has been segregating the handicapped population for more than two months! The “public” meetings have now seemingly become private because the handicapped cannot attend, much less, participate in these meetings. And to make their case worse, they have chosen to humiliate (because being carried up and down stairs is absolutely humiliating) and single out the handicapped. Legally, no one has to disclose their disability to anyone else.
At this point, more than two months after the elevator stopped working, it is time for a location change and time for the City to be held responsible for their unjust, discriminatory, law-breaking actions (or lack of action). According to the article, the elevator will be down for at least two more months (a quote from one of the attendees of the March 28th meeting). Next Monday, Wednesday and Thursday there are “public” meetings scheduled to take place in the same inaccessible location. I have attached the official notices published on the Amboy Guardian’s website to this email. Nowhere is there mentions of accommodations. Each excuse that has come my way regarding the location change has been debunked by myself with the help of common sense and previous public events taking place in other locations.
I am asking for our senators, congressman, Freeholders and assembly people to please help me push the City administration to make the location change. You are elected to speak for our constituents and push for what we need. I tell you, we need to respect the handicapped, we need to acknowledge the constitutional right to have a voice and to be able to be active members of our communities. We have rights to being able to leave our houses without being humiliated for being disabled. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Perth Amboy chooses to ignore its handicapped population. The City has gone as far as making the handicapped seating at the location for the Mayor’s State of the City Address “reserved” for students and made it difficult for the handicapped to sit in these seats. Similarly, police vehicles have parked in handicapped parking when regular parking was available.
Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.
I am willing to meet with whoever to make these changes. I know there is a lot in this email but this is certainly not all of it.
I look forward to getting responses.
Signed,
Stephanie Márquez-Villafañe
A Handicapped Community Leader
New Jersey Retired Policemen and Firemen’s Association, Local #9, Urge Governor Murphy to Conditionally Veto NJ Senate Bill
We the members of Local #9 are urging Gov. Murphy to conditionally veto S-5 for the following reasons:
Senate Bill S-5; Transfer Management of PFRS to Board of Trustees of PFRS
1. 1971 SCOTUS decision stated “unions represent current employees only and Retirees are, therefore are Not represented by their former unions.” Unions and Retirees no longer share the “same community interests.”
2. There are more Retirees 46,547 in PFRS then the 41,519 active members. The retirees will have ONE seat on the Board while the active members have seven. This is totally unfair to the retirees who have a Majority of the members within PFRS. The NJRPFA should be fairly represented on the Board as they have more Police and Fire Retirees then the unions. Increase Board of Trustee Retired Trustee membership from one (1) to three (3). Where is the “Fundamental Fairness” when the Retiree has little or No voice on a board involving our Benefits?
3. This bill is silent regarding
a) WHO is guarantor, in writing, of payments of our PFRS retirement allowances and;
b) Who is responsible for the continued payment of PFRS retirement allowances if the proposed management transfer fails? WHO pays our monthly pensions if the Unions are unable to fulfill its promises dues to public employer contributions and/or poor investment strategies?
4. Paragraph 15, Section 13 of P.L. 1944, c. 255 (C. 43: 16A-13) is amended to read as follows,
“The Board determines to be reasonable and appropriate or modify any such benefit as an
“ALTERNATIVE TO AN INCREASE IN THE MEMBER CONTRIBUTION RATE of payments of our PFRS retirement allowances.
The Board may decrease the Retirees Benefits. This again shows the actives are not going to protect the Retiree Benefits.
We, the members of Local#9, ask everyone to write or email Gov. Murphy to conditionally veto S-5 till the above corrections are inserted into the final bill. Those Police Officer and Fire Fighter who protected you when they were on the job now need you to protect them in their retirement.
New Jersey Retired Policemen and Firemen’s Association Inc.
Counties of Middlesex and Monmouth – Local #9
P.O. Box 771, Perth Amboy, NJ 08862
Climate Change Again
A local newspaper’s editorial cartoon of 4-6-18 misinformed with an ‘Argument from Ignorance’ by implying dinosaurs died from evolving climate change. Predictions about global warming have been contradicted by this year’s cold and snowy winter. Are these predictions based on actual observations or imagined projections?
“T. Rex and the Crater of Doom” tells how a massive asteroid struck the earth and caused the equivalent of a nuclear winter that killed off the dinosaurs thousands of centuries ago. Around 1816 a volcanic eruption filled the skies with dust, cutting off sunlight, and causing a year without a summer. There was snow and ice on July 4 in the northern states and elsewhere.
Ronald A. Sobieraj
