3/9/20 Perth Amboy Caucus
By: Carolyn Maxwell
PERTH AMBOY – Evan Sullivan, a NJ Representative came before the council to give them an update on the new criminal justice reform bill. He stated, “The reform is working as intended and the jail population is lower. Of 1,426 individuals on pre-trial release, only 19 of those individuals violated the pre-trial release and are back in custody. Of that total, 13.6% were kept in custody. 73 individuals remained incarcerated after the hearing.”
Councilman Fernando Irizarry challenged Sullivan and said, “Our police said that bail reform is not working. They are dealing with career criminals who are being released over and over again. It is a continuous cycle, and they are laughing at our officers.”
Sullivan suggested that these complaints should go to your state representatives. “The law states the accused is innocent until proven guilty. When individuals are released, there are several eyes placed on them. Reports on their activities are given to the prosecutor and the judge.”
Irizarry countered again, “It’s the legislators who implemented the law you are upholding.”
Sullivan responded, “It was a public question that was voted on. We can only go by what the law says. We are not letting dangerous people out as they do in other states.”
Council President Bill Petrick asked, “Is there anything built in for repeat offenders?”
Sullivan responded, “No, but the judge and prosecutor have to decide which individuals should be detained if needed. Once someone is released before the pre-trial, ankle bracelets can be placed on them for tracking purposes if needed. If they step out of line, they can be arrested. We’re mostly talking about low-level crimes.”
Council President Petrick questioned if muggings and robberies would be low-level crimes. “Would they be held?”
Sullivan said, “They may or may not be contained.”
The next presentation was given by Neil Grossman who is the City Financial Advisor. He wanted to present to the council how important it is to refinance 2 bonds: one from 2007 and the other from 2012. “By refinancing these bonds, the city will save $1.1 – $1.2 million a year between the years 2020 thru 2031.” He then went on to give an example: “Such as a person having a mortgage. Suppose you had an 8-12 year mortgage with an interest rate that would be from 5%-12%. You can refinance these two bonds. This is the right thing to do.”
Petrick also stated, “Bonds are not part of the stock market, which makes them safer.”
Topic #3 which dealt with the Sadowski Parkway project was presented by City Engineer Jeffery Rauch. “This is a part of the plan between the Board of Education and the city to change the traffic pattern near the Wilentz School. There’s not enough parking in that area. We’re trying to reconnect part of this area to Sadowski Parkway. Part of the land we are looking at is Green Acres. There has to be a tradeoff between the city and the school. There may be a loophole to connect to Sadowski Parkway. We could connect a driveway down First Street going down to the Sadowski Parkway entrance. If we relocate the bathroom trailers, it could free up 86 parking places. If you keep those trailers in place, we’ll wind up with about 70 spaces. We also propose making that area a two-way during the school hours and when school is out for the summer.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up and remembered that he was part of a project to start this about a year ago because they want to relieve some of the congestion around the school. I remember it was I and the Mayor meeting with some of the school board members about this problem. I believe that Milady Tejeda was on the school board during these discussions. During the day, it’s hard to get parking near the Wilentz school. There’s a tenant on Madison Avenue who complains about the congestion during the school year and also with all the festivals taking place at the Waterfront. With this new project, it’s a win-win for everyone. “
Councilwoman Milady Tejeda spoke up, “I was not involved in the discussions involving the Sadowski Parkway Project. I was involved with the problems of traffic congestion at the Patten School.”
Councilman Irizarry then wondered if the Dominican Festival would still be able to put their rides on the property.
Rauch responded, “You’ll have to talk to the city on how to handle this if the plan goes through for renovations.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “We can’t base our decision on how it will affect festivals. We have to think about relieving traffic for the schools and residents.”
Tejeda who is part of the Dominican Festival Committee said, “I just want to understand exactly what land will be a part of the parking? I agree that it should just be based on the needs of the school and the residents.”
Rauch continued, “The project will cost about $350,000 and the cost will be between the Board of Education and the city.”
Petrick had an alternate proposal which will connect First Street with Madison Avenue.
Pabon spoke up and said, “I don’t think that connection would work.”
Rauch continued and said, “It’s the drop-offs and pickups at the Wilentz School where the problem lies.”
Irizarry ended the discussion and stated, “This proposal is really looking at putting in another street and not a driveway. The problem is that we need more enforcement by the school now. People double park when picking up and dropping off the students. The same thing is happening at the Cruz School.”
The last topic for discussion was the Waters Stadium Entrance Façade.
Councilman Joel Pabon questioned, “Where are we at in this project? I thought we were going to reach out to Board of Education Secretary Derek Jess about the situation. Jess recently reached out to us (to question what is the status of this project).”
Resident Stephanie Márquez-Villafañe stated, “There has been a miscommunication. I was in a discussion with the Buildings and Grounds Committee. We want to put a fence up because the façade is falling.”
Council President Bill Petrick then saw resident John Dyke sitting in the audience and stated, “I see the City Historian is here. Maybe he would like to add some comments regarding this.”
John Dyke came up to the podium and stated, “I’m not the City Historian. That would be Tony Massopust who unfortunately just passed away.” Dyke then gave a brief overview of the importance of the archway. “In the 1920’s, Albert G. Waters was an auditor for the city. In the 1930’s, he was a commissioner and under him, a boat basin was built along with the McWilliam Stadium. Waters did a lot for the city – more than anybody would ever know. It was Reinaldo Aviles (who at the time was the chair of the Historic Preservation Commission) who contacted a historic architect. This architect stated that the façade could be restored. The suggested materials are stucco and fiberglass, but it won’t last long. This was a WPA project which was a program under FDR. The city has not maintained this structure. It’s been neglected for a long time and not just from this administration. There are other buildings that have also been ignored. I suggest preservation of this structure. It’s not historic, but it has great sentimental value. It’s been nostalgic for decades with graduations and football being played here. It can be repaired.”
Someone asked Dyke if he knew what the price would be between restoring the structure or having a new one built. Dyke admitted he wouldn’t know, “But don’t be pennywise and pound foolish.”
Councilman Irizarry suggested to restore the façade.
Pabon was not so sure, “There is a net there now, and the structure is falling. We need to talk more and maybe we can use other material than stucco.”
Dyke still insisted, “It’s because the structure has been ignored for decades.” He also wanted to thank Mike Carr who is restoring the town clock. He thanked Petrick and the Council for supporting the restoration of that clock.
There was a motion made on whether or not to restore the Waters Stadium Façade. It was moved by Irizarry and seconded by Joel Pabon for the structure to be restored. All councilmembers present agreed.
Public Portion:
Resident Ken Balut came up to speak. He was happy to report that this is the first weekend that he didn’t have to take photos of buses parked on Bruck Avenue. He again talked about how Kushner still owes the city money and the vote that PARA did involving the latest Kushner Project. The tape of that meeting should be shown to the FBI.” He once again spoke about the Batista and Burgos cases and the YMCA contract “which should have been settled a long time ago. You can’t give the police a 2% raise. Did anybody figure out the firemen’s contract?” He was still concerned about a judge misusing handicapped parking. “The bail reform program is a scam. The police chief and director should have been here to question this program. The bail reform may work in other towns, but it’s not working here.”
Resident Stanley Sierakowski came up to speak. He questioned, “Which crimes are exempt from bail reform? What is considered a serious crime? What towns are these crimes happening in (where many people are being released from jail)? The smaller and lower income towns are the ones being negatively affected by the criminal justice reform bill?”
Sierakowski then questioned Resolution R-100-3/20 – Authorizing $3094 to Seabra’s Armory for Family Day that was paid in error.
“Who was the city employee who received the check from the Armory? Why was the money given back to the Armory? When did this happen? You should table this. When Greg Fehrenbach (former B.A.) was here, he said that the Armory owed us $486,000 because of improvements that the city made to the Armory property. We lost over $400,000 from them over the years. Give them a $400,000 ten-year loan with interest. This could pay for a lot of salaries.”
Deputy Chief Larry Cattano came up in response to some of the questions regarding the Criminal Justice Reform Bill. “There is an added overtime cost for the police, because now a speedy trial is required. We need to have all the paperwork ready for the prosecutor, which is a financial burden to us. In the past, the paperwork may have taken us a couple of days, but now the paperwork has to be done the same day. That may require an officer to work overtime to complete that task. There is a public safety score which determines if a person is held or released and this is determined by what’s written in the bail reform law. I didn’t know beforehand that there would be a gentleman here to discuss the Criminal Justice Reform Bill.
After Cattano finished talking, Adele Tawfik who has a towing company came up to discuss some of the items of concerns by the council. “Our insurance company needs to see what’s in the city’s ordinance when paying us. We pay a lot money for insurance. We need to have to have the proper tools as to not damage the vehicles. When approving vehicles for towing when the police vehicles are used for towing cars, they will also need additional items such as the proper decals for their vehicles. Everything in the ordinance should be itemized so that the consumers and insurance companies can see what they are paying for.”
Council Comments:
Councilman Helmin Caba had no comments.
Councilman Fernando Irizarry wanted to know, “What are the plans regarding the Corona Virus?
B.A. Carr answered first, “It’s similar to other emergency situations and the city has been in talks with the hospital and the Jewish Renaissance.”
Deputy Chief Cattano came up to add to the conversation, “The government declared a state of emergency to free up money. The hospital has isolation wards. There is a statewide plan in effect. If a person walks into a medical facility, and they appear to have the symptoms of the virus, they would be isolated. Only the state labs can analyze the test. If the results are positive, it goes to the CDC (Center of Disease Control). There are criteria that determine if you would be an inpatient or outpatient treatment. Quarantines are being taken over by the health department. Over 1000 people perished in New Jersey just by the common flu.”
Councilwoman Milady Tejeda spoke up, “I worked in the hospital and told people you cannot just walk into the emergency room and ask to be tested. They won’t do it. You can’t demand to have it done.”
Cattano continued, “You have to meet the requirements through the checklist for people who may be suspected of having the Corona virus.”
Council President Petrick interjected, “They don’t want people coming in who just have a runny nose to be tested.”
Cattano continued, “People should check with their local physician first. We are also meeting with the nurses who are in charge in the different schools.”
Cattano then answered a question from Petrick dealing with the collapse of a building at 51 Washington St. “Heavy timber construction may have caused the collapse.”
Councilman Joel Pabon said, “There are people who question who is in charge of the walkway underneath the Yacht Club steps leading to Sadowski Parkway. It’s very dark at night. It needs to be lit. Who does the lighting belong to: the city or the Yacht Club? They have the dog poop dispensers down the waterfront, but there are never any bags in the machines. I want to congratulate the 5 new police officers who recently graduated. People are also complaining about a bodega who is receiving unfrozen meat. Did the health department get involved? Could it be there’s a war going on between different stores? There was raw meat being delivered to a store with blood coming out of it.” He then questioned the big fire on Market Street and the collapse on Washington Street. He also wanted to congratulate the police department who rescued a boater. “There was a fire by the Landings.”
Deputy Chief Cattano answered the questions, “There were three people rescued at the fire on Market Street which started in the basement. We’re working with Code Enforcement to check who was living in that structure. All the occupants escaped. With the collapse of the other building (on Washington Street), there were signs of human life and the building had to be taken down.”
Councilwoman Milady Tejeda thanked the fire and police department for what they do. “I also reached out to the Board of Education about Styrofoam used in the schools. They are looking to replace them. My prayers and condolences to the Massopust family. I and the entire community will miss Mr. Massopust.”
Council President William Petrick stated how Anton Massopust touched many lives. “He was a volunteer with the First Aid Squad and served the Fire Department until the very end. He was the city historian and he was involved in so many things with many contributions which will be hard to beat.”
