1/7/19 Caucus

PERTH AMBOY – During the public portion, a woman who lives on Elizabeth Street requested to have a temporary handicapped space in front of her residence. Councilman Fernando Irizarry translated for her since she spoke only in Spanish. She stated that she was going to have a leg operation and will have to use crutches. “I live by myself, but I was denied a spot. After I recover, the handicapped parking sign can be removed. I’ve lived here for a long time and I only need this temporarily. I was denied a handicapped parking spot because there is already a handicapped parking spot assigned to someone who lives 50 feet away from me. I will be moving into a senior apartment soon.”

Council President William Petrick asked, “Can we make an exception in this case as we have done so in the past? She will have to pay the $100 fee.”

Councilman Irizarry spoke, “I explained this to her. She has a handicapped placard, but no sign in front of her house.”

Law Director Peter King spoke up and said, “I don’t think we give out temporary handicapped spots.”

Petrick spoke again and stated, “The space can be a permanent until it’s reviewed again to determine if that spot is no longer needed.”

Councilman Irizarry (who had been part of the handicapped parking committee) stated, “We (the Council) need to go back to the ordinance to see if we are authorized to issue temporary spots.”

Council President Bill Petrick  again reminded the Council about a handicapped spot that had been granted to another individual.

Irizarry mentioned that situation was different because the requested handicapped spot was in the business district. 

City Clerk Victoria Kupsch said, “We can contact the resident after the decision is made.”

Irizarry then translated what the woman said, “She will call when she no longer needs to have a handicapped spot if it is given to her.”

Former Councilman and Resident Ken Balut came up and had a question about Susan Batista’s lawsuit, “Who paid for the first hundred-grand?”

B.A. Fehrenbach stated, “The municipality paid the deductible, then the insurance company takes over.”

Balut then went on to talk about tickets that were dismissed, and the one ticket that went to court, the person was found not guilty. “Investigate all tickets by the former Law Director, especially the dismissed ones. You (the Council) spent a lot of time discussing handicapped parking spots and I have many handicapped parking spaces close together on my block (Bruck Avenue).” Balut continued, “C/O’s (Certificate of Occupancy’s) are given to homes that don’t qualify for what they want built. We have promotions of Fire Captains and I was told at the same time there were layoffs. Cruz (Former B.A. Adam Cruz) got a job in Trenton. Do we have an agreement with Trenton?”

Law Director Peter King responded to Balut’s comments about predatory towing, “The towers are hired by the parking lot owners.” King further stated that he didn’t get any e-mails regarding (Former Law Director Arlene Quinones) asking for the dismissal of tickets.

Acting B.A. Greg Fehrenbach then answered Balut’s question regarding the C/O’s referring to a house on the 300 block on Bruck Avenue. 

Before he could say anything, Balut started to talk again and stated, “I did submit a report on this specific address and it should have been looked at for changes that should not have been permitted.”

Fehrenbach went on to explain that Acting Code Enforcement Director Lozada said he will not issue names of people who file complaints. He then stated, “There were three vacancies for Fire Captains.”

Resident David Caba came up to speak. He wanted to know, “How many Chaplains are left? What are their titles? And where do they live? We have a billionaire laughing at the residents by not doing anything on Rector Street. We come up here to criticize, but it’s from our hearts with no personal gain. You are giving people jobs they are not qualified for and it’s an insult. We are not putting our people first. Look at these jobs that were given without any candidates being interviewed. When you are elected, you work for everyone, not just one ethnic group.”

Resident Alan Silber came up to speak. He asked the Council if they looked into which Code Enforcement Person issued Ken Balut a ticket for a violation that wasn’t even on Balut’s property. Silber then talked about a parking situation on Rector Street near Washington Avenue. “I saw four trucks parked on the street blocking one side and none of them had any signals on.” Silber also wanted to know, “What was the assessment for the Landings when they first were built and what kind of settlement was given to some Landings Residents a few months ago?” Silber then went on to state, “We have all these interim Department Heads, and some are not qualified.”