*
Published in the Star-Ledger, Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Lawmaker urges closing of group home
He opposes the renewal of Plainfield facility's license
BY ALEXI FRIEDMAN
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
A Plainfield group home that for decades has served nearly 200 special-needs adults, including the mentally disabled, faces an uncertain future now that the city's powerful assemblyman wants it closed and residents relocated.
The facility, the Park Hotel Board Home, is the largest of its kind in Union County and lies in the city's downtown business district, making it a target as Plainfield continue its push for retail and residential development.
In asking the city council to consider opposing a license renewal for the Park Hotel -- the license expires Aug. 31 -- Assemblyman Jerry Green said the institution on West Seventh Street and Arlington Avenue is antiquated and cannot adequately care for its residents.
Green also wants the council to seek a moratorium from the state on future group homes in Plainfield because most are nonprofit organizations exempted from paying property taxes.
The Park Hotel, a for-profit, 182-bed facility housed in a six-story building, is also tax exempt [note by DD: this is an error, the property IS ON THE TAX ROLLS].
Any action by the council would serve only as a recommendation once time comes for the state to renew or revoke the Park Hotel's license.
Such a license would only be revoked if the facility has significant violations or had opened without a license, neither of which is the case with the Park Hotel, according to Sean Darcy, a spokesman for the state Department of Community Affairs.
Thee assemblyman made his case to the council Monday night, saying Plainfield has welcomed its share of social service agencies over the past 30 years and that it's time for other municipalities to do their part.
The point, Green said, is not to throw residents on the street.
"I want to make it very clear, we're concerned about people in that facility first," said the assemblyman, who is chairman of the Legislature's housing and local government committee. The Park Hotel is regulated by the Department of Community Affairs and its residents are overseen by the Department of Human Services.
Green said he wants to work with the state to find other locations in the county and wants the city to help him in that effort, sending the message "that we're prepared to do whatever we can to make sure these human beings are treated fairly. Currently, they are not."
Calls to Park Hotel officials for comment yesterday were not returned.
In a letter to city council President Rayland Van Blake, the assemblyman cited a trend in mental health services toward smaller institutions with fewer than 20 beds.
"The state would not approve a facility such as the Park Hotel today, given changes in policy," he wrote.
Green also posed his request as a public safety issue, saying Park Hotel residents "roam the streets of Plainfield," adding that merchants in nearby stores have complained about their behavior.
While individual merchants may feel that way, Lisa Cohen, who heads up the Plainfield Special Improvement District, said she has not heard such criticisms from members. Cohen is also owner of Suburban Jewelers on East Front Street.
In fact, some Park Hotel residents occasionally stop by her store to make small purchases or to say hello, she said.
Still, Green's plan was warmly received by several council members, including Rashid Burney, Don Davis and Cory Storch, who called the Park Hotel "beyond outmoded."
Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, meanwhile, said she's had discussion about the issue with the assemblyman, and "encourages the conversation." Echoing his statement that the city has enough group homes and service agencies, Robinson-Briggs said other municipalities should "take on their own responsibilities," adding, "we'll all deal with our own quality of life issues as well."
One longtime resident, however, disagreed.
Speaking during the public comment period, Bernice Paglia reminded the council that a town's responsibility shouldn't be just to taxpayers. Citing the high number of Plainfield youths in juvenile detention centers outside the city, she said, "Maybe there should be [a] big juvenile detention facility in Plainfield." Paglia, who also writes a daily blog about the city, added, "When we talk about our town, let's have an open heart on who our own really are."
Alexi Friedman may be reached at (908) 302-1505 or afriedman@starledger.com
This story did NOT appear in the online edition of the Star-Ledger and was transcribed for this archive by Dan Damon.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Friday, May 25, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Park Hotel - Courier - Green backs closing group home
Published in the Courier News, Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Assemblyman Green backs closing city group home
Officials describe home for mentally ill as unsafe, a nuisance
By CELANIE POLANICK
Staff Writer
PLAINFIELD -- On Tuesday afternoon, outside the Park Hotel Boarding Home on West Seventh Street, a middle-aged woman wearing plastic butterfly barettes and pink fingernail polish lifted the top of a trash can and looked inside.
She put it back, turned around and walked back into the facility, which is a privately-run, for-profit home for the mentally disabled. The woman came back out and repeated the process a few minutes later.
Local officials are discussing whether to lobby the state Department of Community Affairs not to renew the facility's license in August.
District 22 Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Plainfield, visited a City Council meeting Monday night to share his opinion: the aging 182-bed facility is an inadequate place to house its clientele and a financial burden to the city.
Within the next two weeks, Green hopes to meet with the state Department of Health and Human Services, the state Department of Community Affairs and Union County officials to try to find placements for the residents in smaller group homes.
Management from the home did not return six phone calls over a two-day period and did not come forward when a reporter visited the property.
The facility has no open violations with the Department of Community Affairs, department spokesman Chris Donnelly said.
"The department would revoke a license and close a facility only if there were significant violations of the residential health-care facility regulations," Donnelly said.
Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs said she supports Green's request, but wants the city government to be sensitive to the needs of the facility's residents, as well.
"First and foremost, the City of Plainfield is absolutely sensitive to the needs of the residents of the Park Hotel, and we are also mindful of our need to be fiscally prudent," Robinson-Briggs said. "This is a situation where we are asking other municipalities to join us by being responsible for their quality of life situations as it relates to the residents' care and required services. What the city would really like is if the individuals who live in other municipalities but are staying in Plainfield -- we need those municipalities to step up and make provisions for their residents."
Councilman Don Davis said he was "100 percent" behind Green.
"We have to start doing more for people that are inside the city, instead of outside," Davis said. "It's time for other communities to start taking care of their needs."
Davis said he had serious qualms with putting that many mentally disabled residents in one location, calling for "smaller facilities to get them the care they truly need."
"Even if you were healthy, I don't think it's right to have that many people jammed up on top of one another," Davis. "I believe (Assemblyman Green) is really trying to help those in need."
Some Park Hotel residents wander around the neighborhood all day disrupting local businesses, and they may require extra police and emergency services that cost the city money, Green said Monday.
Police respond on a regular basis to medical and mental health calls, police Sgt. Daniel Passarelli said. Park Hotel residents often panhandle but rarely cause larger trouble, he said.
"We basically just try to move them on their way," Passarelli said.
Councilman Cory Storch is the executive director of Bridgeway Rehabilitation Services, a company that works with Park Hotel residents.
"The Park Hotel is a really outmoded facility," Storch said. "It isn't a good model for community integration. That's definitely an approach that we all should be using -- people would be living independently, or if they needed more support, they would be living in facilities, but much smaller ones."
John Dempsey Jr., a resident, said the facility is clean, with good food.
"They clean my room every day, they clean the hallway," he said.
Dempsey has lived in the home for a year and a few months, he said. If he couldn't live there, he would go to live with his mother in Summit -- but he isn't sure what the rest of the residents would do, he said.
Cathy Ritchie, a psychiatric nurse for Holy Redeemer Health Care, works with some of the residents. They may get hurt while interacting with traffic, but for the most part they're not a danger to others, she said.
"They're really harmless," she said. "They might not look pretty, but when they're taking their medication, they're pretty harmless. A lot of these people have no place else to go."
The amount of supervision the residents get is dictated by the facility's license, Ritchie said.
Local businesspeople have mixed reactions to the issue.
Lorraine George, an employee at the Washland laundromat across the street, said she just tells Park Hotel residents to stay outside.
Adrienne Cole, a Christian products wholesaler who sells through the Plainfield Flower Shop, said she disagrees with the efforts to shut down the home.
"I just don't see why they would want to take something from a group of people that evidently has nowhere else to go," she said, pointing across the street to a man squatting in the facility's parking lot. "Instead of trying to get rid of them, they should be doing some type of fundraising efforts to help maintain it. They're so concerned about the economics? Get some jobs going."
"If they could control their residents, it'd be a much better place," said Norman Rodgers, who runs Rodgers Christian Day Academy across the street from the facility and keeps his brightly-painted front door locked. Rodgers used to work at Eden House in East Orange, and believes in a balanced approach, he said.
"It's definitely needed, but let's just try to control it," Rodgers said. "Increase the staff -- let's put some money into that. What else are you gonna do with the building? Let someone make $100,000 a month off it? That's not fair."
People shouldn't forget the needs of the residents themselves, he said:
"If something like that happened to you or I, we would want and need someplace to stay."
Staff writer Martin C. Bricketto contributed to this report.
StoryChat/Comments
It is time for a new Plainfield to surface. There's no beauty to Plainfield and beautification is what the city needs. Find a new location for the group home. It's bad for business. I've lived in Plainfield close to 40 years and it has gone down, while towns like Westfield have grown!! NO REAL businesses wants to return to Plainfield. I would love to sit in Starbucks in Plainfield instead of Westfield. Downtown Plainfield has nothing to offer when it comes to shopping. Harlem, New York, has a Starbucks. Plainfield is becoming a JOKE!! I have to agree with Jerry Green.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 10:17 am
I agree the place should be closed down.It's almost in the heart of town.We should find places for our own "trouble souls " and let the other towns find places for theirs.Why should other towns dump their problems in our town?If each town took care of their sick they could be placed in smaller places .Plainfield is a dropping place for what ever other cities don't want.I'm sure most of these residents are not from Plainfield.Let each city take care of their own.Go Jerry Green I'm behind you in this.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 9:42 am
Green backs! Is this an Imus joke? Jeez.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 9:31 am
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Assemblyman Green backs closing city group home
Officials describe home for mentally ill as unsafe, a nuisance
By CELANIE POLANICK
Staff Writer
PLAINFIELD -- On Tuesday afternoon, outside the Park Hotel Boarding Home on West Seventh Street, a middle-aged woman wearing plastic butterfly barettes and pink fingernail polish lifted the top of a trash can and looked inside.
She put it back, turned around and walked back into the facility, which is a privately-run, for-profit home for the mentally disabled. The woman came back out and repeated the process a few minutes later.
Local officials are discussing whether to lobby the state Department of Community Affairs not to renew the facility's license in August.
District 22 Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Plainfield, visited a City Council meeting Monday night to share his opinion: the aging 182-bed facility is an inadequate place to house its clientele and a financial burden to the city.
Within the next two weeks, Green hopes to meet with the state Department of Health and Human Services, the state Department of Community Affairs and Union County officials to try to find placements for the residents in smaller group homes.
Management from the home did not return six phone calls over a two-day period and did not come forward when a reporter visited the property.
The facility has no open violations with the Department of Community Affairs, department spokesman Chris Donnelly said.
"The department would revoke a license and close a facility only if there were significant violations of the residential health-care facility regulations," Donnelly said.
Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs said she supports Green's request, but wants the city government to be sensitive to the needs of the facility's residents, as well.
"First and foremost, the City of Plainfield is absolutely sensitive to the needs of the residents of the Park Hotel, and we are also mindful of our need to be fiscally prudent," Robinson-Briggs said. "This is a situation where we are asking other municipalities to join us by being responsible for their quality of life situations as it relates to the residents' care and required services. What the city would really like is if the individuals who live in other municipalities but are staying in Plainfield -- we need those municipalities to step up and make provisions for their residents."
Councilman Don Davis said he was "100 percent" behind Green.
"We have to start doing more for people that are inside the city, instead of outside," Davis said. "It's time for other communities to start taking care of their needs."
Davis said he had serious qualms with putting that many mentally disabled residents in one location, calling for "smaller facilities to get them the care they truly need."
"Even if you were healthy, I don't think it's right to have that many people jammed up on top of one another," Davis. "I believe (Assemblyman Green) is really trying to help those in need."
Some Park Hotel residents wander around the neighborhood all day disrupting local businesses, and they may require extra police and emergency services that cost the city money, Green said Monday.
Police respond on a regular basis to medical and mental health calls, police Sgt. Daniel Passarelli said. Park Hotel residents often panhandle but rarely cause larger trouble, he said.
"We basically just try to move them on their way," Passarelli said.
Councilman Cory Storch is the executive director of Bridgeway Rehabilitation Services, a company that works with Park Hotel residents.
"The Park Hotel is a really outmoded facility," Storch said. "It isn't a good model for community integration. That's definitely an approach that we all should be using -- people would be living independently, or if they needed more support, they would be living in facilities, but much smaller ones."
John Dempsey Jr., a resident, said the facility is clean, with good food.
"They clean my room every day, they clean the hallway," he said.
Dempsey has lived in the home for a year and a few months, he said. If he couldn't live there, he would go to live with his mother in Summit -- but he isn't sure what the rest of the residents would do, he said.
Cathy Ritchie, a psychiatric nurse for Holy Redeemer Health Care, works with some of the residents. They may get hurt while interacting with traffic, but for the most part they're not a danger to others, she said.
"They're really harmless," she said. "They might not look pretty, but when they're taking their medication, they're pretty harmless. A lot of these people have no place else to go."
The amount of supervision the residents get is dictated by the facility's license, Ritchie said.
Local businesspeople have mixed reactions to the issue.
Lorraine George, an employee at the Washland laundromat across the street, said she just tells Park Hotel residents to stay outside.
Adrienne Cole, a Christian products wholesaler who sells through the Plainfield Flower Shop, said she disagrees with the efforts to shut down the home.
"I just don't see why they would want to take something from a group of people that evidently has nowhere else to go," she said, pointing across the street to a man squatting in the facility's parking lot. "Instead of trying to get rid of them, they should be doing some type of fundraising efforts to help maintain it. They're so concerned about the economics? Get some jobs going."
"If they could control their residents, it'd be a much better place," said Norman Rodgers, who runs Rodgers Christian Day Academy across the street from the facility and keeps his brightly-painted front door locked. Rodgers used to work at Eden House in East Orange, and believes in a balanced approach, he said.
"It's definitely needed, but let's just try to control it," Rodgers said. "Increase the staff -- let's put some money into that. What else are you gonna do with the building? Let someone make $100,000 a month off it? That's not fair."
People shouldn't forget the needs of the residents themselves, he said:
"If something like that happened to you or I, we would want and need someplace to stay."
Staff writer Martin C. Bricketto contributed to this report.
StoryChat/Comments
It is time for a new Plainfield to surface. There's no beauty to Plainfield and beautification is what the city needs. Find a new location for the group home. It's bad for business. I've lived in Plainfield close to 40 years and it has gone down, while towns like Westfield have grown!! NO REAL businesses wants to return to Plainfield. I would love to sit in Starbucks in Plainfield instead of Westfield. Downtown Plainfield has nothing to offer when it comes to shopping. Harlem, New York, has a Starbucks. Plainfield is becoming a JOKE!! I have to agree with Jerry Green.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 10:17 am
I agree the place should be closed down.It's almost in the heart of town.We should find places for our own "trouble souls " and let the other towns find places for theirs.Why should other towns dump their problems in our town?If each town took care of their sick they could be placed in smaller places .Plainfield is a dropping place for what ever other cities don't want.I'm sure most of these residents are not from Plainfield.Let each city take care of their own.Go Jerry Green I'm behind you in this.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 9:42 am
Green backs! Is this an Imus joke? Jeez.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 9:31 am
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Park Hotel - Courier - Green lobbies to close facility
Published in the Courier News, Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Plainfield official lobbying to close boarding facility
Assemblyman cites development, funding issues in council meeting talks
By CELANIE POLANICK
Staff Writer
PLAINFIELD -- On West Seventh Street, when the mentally disabled residents of the Park Hotel Boarding Home have nowhere else to go, they walk down the street and wander in and out of stores all day, Assemblyman Jerry Green said.
Green, D-Plainfield, visited the City Council meeting Monday night to seek support for his efforts to lobby the state Department of Community Affairs not to renew the Park Hotel's operating license. As federal and state funding sources for social services dry up, Plainfield's lower real estate prices are part of what's making the city a magnet for people who need extra help and the agencies who serve them -- including those who aren't from Plainfield, Green said Monday afternoon.
This trend has financial consequences for the city, from reducing tax revenues to dampening the success of local businesses, he said.
"We're trying to move the city in a new direction," Green said. "We're trying to be very positive toward the redevelopment of the downtown area."
The 182-bed residential facility is run by a for-profit company, Plainfield Hotel LLC; representatives of the company did not return a phone call Monday for comment. The facility does not have any unresolved violations with the DCA, DCA spokesman Chris Donnelly said.
The facility is in the heart of Plainfield's downtown, across the street from a redevelopment zone. It hasn't been upgraded in 30 years, and the residents have no place to spend time other than their rooms or the streets of the city, Green said.
"These people have no recreational grounds," Green said. "The businesses in the community complain about the fact of them not having a social area or an area to congregate. They often spend their time in the different stores, just wandering ... They have no other place to go. ... This is no direct attack on anyone. I'm obligated as an elected official to make sure that these people are given what I consider quality housing."
Green also wants to push for restrictions on allowing additional facilities such as the Park Hotel Boarding Home to come to Plainfield, because they create additional need for emergency services and police intervention. Last year, Muhlenberg Hospital lost $9 million in costs of treatment for people who couldn't pay for it, Green said.
"Not only are we talking about a quality of life issue, we're talking about the city no longer being able to subsidize the services that go with a facility of this nature," he said.
Generally, the council seems to share Green's concerns, but the issue is still in the discussion phase, Councilman Rashid Burney said before the meeting.
Although the Park Hotel is a for-profit business, numerous nonprofit organizations similar to it don't pay property taxes, thereby reducing the city's number of taxable properties, Burney said.
However, there isn't much the city can do legally to force the facility to close or move, or to stop new ones from moving in; the state calls them "inherently beneficial uses," and the city has little regulatory power over them, Burney said.
As the cost of operating these homes rises, the city may be asked to foot the bill -- and that's too much to ask, Burney said. Last year in August, a halfway house run by the city with funds from Middlesex and Union counties was short $56,000 -- costs had gone up, but the funding hadn't, Burney said. When the figure ended up on the city's budget, the council had to say no to it, he said.
"I certainly want to help the disadvantaged members of society," Burney said. "I just feel that at this point, we've got more than our share. Per capita, we've got more than any of the other municipalities around us. We certainly want to take care of our own -- we just don't have the resources right now to take care of everybody else's."
Celanie Polanick can be reached at (908) 707-3137 or cpolanick@c-n.com
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Plainfield official lobbying to close boarding facility
Assemblyman cites development, funding issues in council meeting talks
By CELANIE POLANICK
Staff Writer
PLAINFIELD -- On West Seventh Street, when the mentally disabled residents of the Park Hotel Boarding Home have nowhere else to go, they walk down the street and wander in and out of stores all day, Assemblyman Jerry Green said.
Green, D-Plainfield, visited the City Council meeting Monday night to seek support for his efforts to lobby the state Department of Community Affairs not to renew the Park Hotel's operating license. As federal and state funding sources for social services dry up, Plainfield's lower real estate prices are part of what's making the city a magnet for people who need extra help and the agencies who serve them -- including those who aren't from Plainfield, Green said Monday afternoon.
This trend has financial consequences for the city, from reducing tax revenues to dampening the success of local businesses, he said.
"We're trying to move the city in a new direction," Green said. "We're trying to be very positive toward the redevelopment of the downtown area."
The 182-bed residential facility is run by a for-profit company, Plainfield Hotel LLC; representatives of the company did not return a phone call Monday for comment. The facility does not have any unresolved violations with the DCA, DCA spokesman Chris Donnelly said.
The facility is in the heart of Plainfield's downtown, across the street from a redevelopment zone. It hasn't been upgraded in 30 years, and the residents have no place to spend time other than their rooms or the streets of the city, Green said.
"These people have no recreational grounds," Green said. "The businesses in the community complain about the fact of them not having a social area or an area to congregate. They often spend their time in the different stores, just wandering ... They have no other place to go. ... This is no direct attack on anyone. I'm obligated as an elected official to make sure that these people are given what I consider quality housing."
Green also wants to push for restrictions on allowing additional facilities such as the Park Hotel Boarding Home to come to Plainfield, because they create additional need for emergency services and police intervention. Last year, Muhlenberg Hospital lost $9 million in costs of treatment for people who couldn't pay for it, Green said.
"Not only are we talking about a quality of life issue, we're talking about the city no longer being able to subsidize the services that go with a facility of this nature," he said.
Generally, the council seems to share Green's concerns, but the issue is still in the discussion phase, Councilman Rashid Burney said before the meeting.
Although the Park Hotel is a for-profit business, numerous nonprofit organizations similar to it don't pay property taxes, thereby reducing the city's number of taxable properties, Burney said.
However, there isn't much the city can do legally to force the facility to close or move, or to stop new ones from moving in; the state calls them "inherently beneficial uses," and the city has little regulatory power over them, Burney said.
As the cost of operating these homes rises, the city may be asked to foot the bill -- and that's too much to ask, Burney said. Last year in August, a halfway house run by the city with funds from Middlesex and Union counties was short $56,000 -- costs had gone up, but the funding hadn't, Burney said. When the figure ended up on the city's budget, the council had to say no to it, he said.
"I certainly want to help the disadvantaged members of society," Burney said. "I just feel that at this point, we've got more than our share. Per capita, we've got more than any of the other municipalities around us. We certainly want to take care of our own -- we just don't have the resources right now to take care of everybody else's."
Celanie Polanick can be reached at (908) 707-3137 or cpolanick@c-n.com
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Monday, May 14, 2007
Needle Exchange - Courier - Plainfield Fails To Join
Published in the Courier News, Monday, May 14, 2007
5 cities to try needle exchange
Seven eligible cities have no plans to implement contentious program
By GREGORY J. VOLPE
Gannett State Bureau
TRENTON -- Five of the 12 eligible cities have applied to the state Department of Health and Senior Services to begin pilot needle exchange programs.
Up to six municipalities could receive permission to start needle exchange programs -- hoped to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases among intravenous drug users -- provided they exceed certain statistics: 350 residents with HIV/AIDS and a prevalence rate attributable to drug use of more than 300 per 100,000 residents.
Of the 12 cities that meet the criteria, Camden and Atlantic City, which have long sought exchange programs, applied, along with Newark, Paterson and Trenton. Asbury Park, New Brunswick, Plainfield, East Orange, Elizabeth, Irvington and Jersey City did not.
"It's been a battle, so we're glad to see it," said Ron Cash, director of Atlantic City's Health Department.
The law took a contentious and uncertain route. In 2004, then-Gov. James E. McGreevey signed an executive order permitting pilot programs in three cities, but a month before programs were to start in Atlantic City and Camden, an appeals court ruled the spread of AHDS was not an emergency and said exchange programs needed legislative approval.
Despite some delays in the Senate, where Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Newark, was a staunch critic with a key committee vote, the measure was signed into law in December. By the end of the summer there could be up to five programs in New Jersey -- the last state to have any sort of needle exchange program.
Camden's program will begin once the state approves its program, which is expected to occur by the end of June.
"It's going to be crucial to saving lives of injection drug users," said Jose Quann, program coordinator of the Camden Area Health Education Center. "It's going to affect the community at large where contaminated needles wouldn't be discarded all over the city. Injection drug users will have access to sterile syringes that they might not get infected or infect their loved ones."
Critics, however, say the programs is akin to government-sanctioned drug use and that taxpayer dollars should only be used for treatment and recovery. To garner support, lawmakers tacked on $10 million for addiction services as part of the legislation.
"Most cities understand that the exchange of free needles is a national movement to legalize drugs, but more importantly, they know they bring about more problems through crime, gang banging and other kinds of criminal justice problems," said Rice, a former Newark police officer.
Roseanne Scotti, director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said the programs will work in New Jersey without the rise in crime that critics predict. Some cities that didn't apply are waiting to see how the programs do before starting their own, Scotti said.
One of the eligible cities that didn't apply is Asbury Park. Among the 25 cities with the most cases of HIV/AIDS in New Jersey, it has the smallest population but the highest percentage of residents living with the disease.
Ed Higgins, president and executive director of JSAS HealthCare, which treats substance abuse in the city, said those statistics are misleading because the city's population is so small.
Plus, a combination of factors such as more education about the risks of sharing dirty needles and a purer heroin that has fewer people shooting up, Higgins said, have already reduced the number of new cases.
"We pretty much test all of the patients that come in for treatment here," Higgins said. "And we've only had two new positives in the last two and a half years, which is great news compared to what was going on years ago."
The health commissioner will report to the Legislature in five years whether the program should become permanent and possibly expanded.
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
5 cities to try needle exchange
Seven eligible cities have no plans to implement contentious program
By GREGORY J. VOLPE
Gannett State Bureau
TRENTON -- Five of the 12 eligible cities have applied to the state Department of Health and Senior Services to begin pilot needle exchange programs.
Up to six municipalities could receive permission to start needle exchange programs -- hoped to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases among intravenous drug users -- provided they exceed certain statistics: 350 residents with HIV/AIDS and a prevalence rate attributable to drug use of more than 300 per 100,000 residents.
Of the 12 cities that meet the criteria, Camden and Atlantic City, which have long sought exchange programs, applied, along with Newark, Paterson and Trenton. Asbury Park, New Brunswick, Plainfield, East Orange, Elizabeth, Irvington and Jersey City did not.
"It's been a battle, so we're glad to see it," said Ron Cash, director of Atlantic City's Health Department.
The law took a contentious and uncertain route. In 2004, then-Gov. James E. McGreevey signed an executive order permitting pilot programs in three cities, but a month before programs were to start in Atlantic City and Camden, an appeals court ruled the spread of AHDS was not an emergency and said exchange programs needed legislative approval.
Despite some delays in the Senate, where Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Newark, was a staunch critic with a key committee vote, the measure was signed into law in December. By the end of the summer there could be up to five programs in New Jersey -- the last state to have any sort of needle exchange program.
Camden's program will begin once the state approves its program, which is expected to occur by the end of June.
"It's going to be crucial to saving lives of injection drug users," said Jose Quann, program coordinator of the Camden Area Health Education Center. "It's going to affect the community at large where contaminated needles wouldn't be discarded all over the city. Injection drug users will have access to sterile syringes that they might not get infected or infect their loved ones."
Critics, however, say the programs is akin to government-sanctioned drug use and that taxpayer dollars should only be used for treatment and recovery. To garner support, lawmakers tacked on $10 million for addiction services as part of the legislation.
"Most cities understand that the exchange of free needles is a national movement to legalize drugs, but more importantly, they know they bring about more problems through crime, gang banging and other kinds of criminal justice problems," said Rice, a former Newark police officer.
Roseanne Scotti, director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said the programs will work in New Jersey without the rise in crime that critics predict. Some cities that didn't apply are waiting to see how the programs do before starting their own, Scotti said.
One of the eligible cities that didn't apply is Asbury Park. Among the 25 cities with the most cases of HIV/AIDS in New Jersey, it has the smallest population but the highest percentage of residents living with the disease.
Ed Higgins, president and executive director of JSAS HealthCare, which treats substance abuse in the city, said those statistics are misleading because the city's population is so small.
Plus, a combination of factors such as more education about the risks of sharing dirty needles and a purer heroin that has fewer people shooting up, Higgins said, have already reduced the number of new cases.
"We pretty much test all of the patients that come in for treatment here," Higgins said. "And we've only had two new positives in the last two and a half years, which is great news compared to what was going on years ago."
The health commissioner will report to the Legislature in five years whether the program should become permanent and possibly expanded.
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Legislature - Jerry Green - Bill supports very-low-income housing
*
Published in the Star Ledger, Friday, May 11, 2007
Bill advances to earmark very-low-income housing
Legislation that would set aside at least 25 percent of affordable housing built in New Jersey for families attempting to live on very low incomes was approved by the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee yesterday.
"More than 1 million New Jersey families don't earn enough to afford the rent on an average two-bedroom apartment in the state," said Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Essex), a co-sponsor. "This bill will ensure that we set aside enough quality housing for New Jersey's most vulnerable families."
About 75 affordable housing activists lobbied legislators at the Statehouse to approve the measure. The legislation (A1343), which would amend the state's "Fair Housing Act," moves to the full Assembly for consideration.
According to a 2006 study by the nonprofit Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, the average cost to rent a two-bedroom apartment is $1,058, requiring a family to earn more than $43,000 to meet the standard that the cost of their rent does not exceed one-third of their income.
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Published in the Star Ledger, Friday, May 11, 2007
Bill advances to earmark very-low-income housing
Legislation that would set aside at least 25 percent of affordable housing built in New Jersey for families attempting to live on very low incomes was approved by the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee yesterday.
"More than 1 million New Jersey families don't earn enough to afford the rent on an average two-bedroom apartment in the state," said Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Essex), a co-sponsor. "This bill will ensure that we set aside enough quality housing for New Jersey's most vulnerable families."
About 75 affordable housing activists lobbied legislators at the Statehouse to approve the measure. The legislation (A1343), which would amend the state's "Fair Housing Act," moves to the full Assembly for consideration.
According to a 2006 study by the nonprofit Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, the average cost to rent a two-bedroom apartment is $1,058, requiring a family to earn more than $43,000 to meet the standard that the cost of their rent does not exceed one-third of their income.
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Friday, May 04, 2007
Planning Board Consultant - 2007 - Remington and Vernick
*
Published in PoliticsPA, Thursday, February 23, 2006
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Published in PoliticsPA, Thursday, February 23, 2006
NJ Style Pay to Play
Comes to Newtown and Lower Makefield
TO: All Media
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2006
CONTACT: Robert L. Ciervo (215) 932-3200
NEWTOWN, PA -- Last evening at a televised Newtown Township Board of Supervisors meeting Robert Ciervo, a Newtown Township resident for over 25 years, provided information concerning past ethical and criminal complaints against the newly appointed Township Engineers, Remington and Vernick of Haddonfield, NJ.
He cited a June 20, 2005 New Jersey Courier-Post article by Erik Schwartz which stated "In 1998 ELEC (the Election Law Enforcement Comission of New Jersey) collected a $16,900 fine from Remington and Vernick Engineers Inc. of Haddonfield after it admitted to illegally funneling money to Democrats in Gloucester Township and Voorhees through two PACs the firm set up to circumvent limits on contributions." Ciervo also went on to read information from a Consent Order and Final Decision of ELEC which stated that Remington and Vernick were guilty of violating state campaign finance laws in 1993, 1995, 1996 and originally were charged $36,000 of total fines on 15 different counts.
He then asked the Board of Supervisors if any of the members were aware of these past violations of campaign finance law. Ciervo also asked the Chair of the Board, how it came to hire Remington and Vernick and who introduced this New Jersey-based firm whose office of operation is 40 miles from Newtown, to the Supervisors. Chairman Anne Goren refused to answer any of Ciervo's questions. She refused to give even a yes or no answer as to whether she knew of the violations of state campaign laws. He was perplexed as to why a town in Bucks County would hire an engineering firm in [New Jersey].
After giving the Board an adequate amount of time to respond Ciervo speculated as to how Remington and Vernick were hired. "In October and November of 2005 the municipal services contracts of Newtown and Lower Makefield were up for sale", he stated. He went on to add that on 10/11/05 Craig Remington, Vice President of Remington and Vernick, donated $1,000 to the Newtown Democrats who paid for much of the campaign expenses for the campaign of Phil Calabro for Supervisor. Phil Calabro is presently the Chairman of the Newtown Democrats.
He further added that on 10/18/05 Craig Remington donated $7,000 to the Bucks County Democratic Committee; and on that same day, 10/18/05, the Bucks County Democratic Committee donated $2,000 to the Newtown Democrats; and on 10/18/05 the Bucks County Democratic Committee donated $2,000 to Smith and Caiola for Supervisor.
Additionally he noted that on 11/9/05 (one day after the November election) Thomas Rospos of Belmar, NJ (the President of Birdsall Engineering Firm of Burlington, NJ) donated $5,000 to the Bucks County Democratic Committee.
Ciervo went on to wonder aloud: So what were the results of these donations?
On 1/6/06 Democrats Phil Calabro and Jerry Schenkman voted for Remington, Vernick and Beach to be the professional engineering firm of Newtown Township. Obviously before this meeting they agreed to not renew the contract of the former engineering firm Pennoni and Associates.
On 2/1/06, Democrats Greg Caiola and Ron Smith voted for Remington and Vernick to be the sewer engineering firm for Lower Makefield Township.
On 2/1/06, Democrats Greg Caioloa and Ron Smith voted for Birdsall Engineering to be the environmental engineering firm for Lower Makefield Township.
He concluded his remarks by expressing his disappointment at how his hometown, the town where he grew up and went to school from kindergarten through high school was sold to the highest bidder by New Jersey politicians.
Ciervo added today, "While the Newtown Board of Supervisors will not tell the public how they came to hire a New Jersey based engineering firm, it is important to note that new Lower Makefield Supervisor Greg Caiola was on the Ewing Township council in New Jersey in the late 1990s. It is interesting to note that the current township engineering firm in Ewing is also Remington and Vernick."
So why won't Vice Chairman Phil Calabro tell the public who introduced him to Craig Remington? Did Greg Caiola orchestrate a deal whereby if Mr. Remington donated to the Newtown Democrats that his company would earn the engineering contract? Or did Bucks County Democratic Chairman John Cordisco arrange for Mr. Remington to make a large donation to the county party with assurances that if the Democratic candidates in Newtown and Lower Makefield won, Remington and Vernick would earn a piece of the pie?
Ciervo also has investigated the campaign finance reports of Caiola and Smith and noted 2 unsual donations totaling $4,000. The first is a donation made on 10/31/05 reportedly by IBEW-COPE located on 900 Seventh Street in Washington, D.C. A check of IBEW-COPE's campaign finance reports on record with the Federal Election Commission reveals no donation to Caiola and Smith for Supervisor. The second donation made on 12/12/05 was from the newly formed PAC "Yardley-Makefield Democratic Victory Fund". As of 2/23/06 this group has failed to file the appropriate report to indicate from where they received $3,000 in donations. They have already been fined over $350 by the Bucks County Board of Elections for submitting late reports and failing to file the appropriate report.
So the question remains as to who donated these donations totalling $4,000? Did they come from Craig Remington? Did he instruct Caiola and Smith to set up another PAC to channel money into their campaigns like he did in Gloucester and Voorhees in the 1990s?
It appears that if New Jersey pay-to-play politics is now in place in Newtown and Lower Makefield. Part of Mr. Calabro's pledge to Newtown that he had printed in the Newtown Advance before the November election read "You will never have to suspect our decisions or choices."
It seems as if less than 2 months into his tenure many Newtown Township and Lower Makefield residents are suspecting that professional services contracts may have been prearranged before they even were able to cast their vote.
###
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)