{"id":1981,"date":"2014-11-11T05:29:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T10:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=1981"},"modified":"2014-11-11T00:46:56","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T05:46:56","slug":"brick-considering-anti-crime-ordinance-targeting-rentals-as-maple-leaf-park-concerns-simmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2014\/11\/brick-considering-anti-crime-ordinance-targeting-rentals-as-maple-leaf-park-concerns-simmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick Considering Anti-Crime Ordinance Targeting Rentals as Maple Leaf Park Concerns Simmer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maple<\/a>

Maple Leaf Park (Credit: Google Maps)<\/p><\/div>\n

Brick Township officials are investigating an anti-crime ordinance modeled after one enacted in Glassboro that targets rental properties where tenants involve themselves in illegal activities.<\/p>\n

Known as the Crime-Free Multi-Housing Program, landlords would be able to quickly evict tenants who are found to be involved in a number of criminal violations, using police reports as evidence during a special hearing that would bypass the often lengthy court eviction process. Glassboro, in 2008, was the first municipality in the state to enact the program, which has been used in other states and countries. The program is allowed under state tenancy law.<\/p>\n

Township council members said they were considering the program after an Oct. 30 meeting of the council\u2019s public safety committee, at which the Glassboro police chief was a guest. The council is considering a number of anti-crime measures following multiple public meetings where residents of the Maple Leaf Park condominium complex in the township\u2019s Herbertsville section pleaded for stepped-up enforcement<\/a> and spoke of widespread crime, including drug dealing and retaliatory tactics against those who dare to alert authorities.<\/p>\n

Several Maple Leaf Park residents came to Monday night\u2019s council meeting, reiterating their pleas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need oil because we squeak, and then nothing else,\u201d said James Cancel, a resident of the complex, urging long-term action to deal with crime issues.<\/p>\n

The Crime-Free Multi-Housing Program is one of a number of ordinances township officials are looking into with the aim of reducing crime in Maple Leaf Park and similar, high-rental condominium complexes. In Glassboro, the ordinance allows landlords to evict tenants who manufacture, store or sell drugs, or engage in crimes such as prostitution, assault, threatening or intimidating behavior, as well as those who commit serious property damage, according to an article in the Courier-Post<\/a> when the law was first passed.<\/p>\n

The program works by adding an addendum to leases that compel tenants to adhere to the program\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n

At Glassboro\u2019s Ellis Manor complex, a 72-unit HUD rental facility where the program was piloted, calls to police dropped from 160 per month to just 15 per month between 2002 and 2004, the Courier-Post report said.<\/p>\n

Landlords, Glassboro officials said, could be enticed into the program by a more stable tenant base and lower maintenance and repair costs.<\/p>\n

No Word on Security Cameras<\/strong><\/p>\n

Residents again came to the council meeting Monday to voice their concerns. Steven Cancel, a Maple Leaf Park resident who has accompanied his father to recent meetings in order to speak out against crime, suggested heavy drug enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dealer is the lynchpin where the producers meet the buyers,\u201d he told council members. \u201cAnd Maple Leaf is a haven for dealers. If you get the dealer, you remove the hinge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will see change,\u201d Councilwoman Marianna Pontoriero promised the Cancels, as well as other residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the drug dealers are very aware of what we\u2019re doing right now,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re very aware of what our town is doing. When we put the fear of God into them, when we say we\u2019re not going to take it anymore, that\u2019s when these people are going to scatter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Maple Leaf Park complex, Brick, N.J. (Credit: Google Maps)<\/p><\/div>\n

Pontoriero said as ordinances are being reviewed by Township Attorney Kevin Starkey, police are continuing efforts to crack down on drugs in the area, and plans are being put into place for more youth mentoring programs in order to introduce children from the area to positive role models.<\/p>\n

In the mean, time, however, there was no word on whether the management of the complex has repaired a number of security cameras that have not worked since the summer.<\/p>\n

Myron Kozak, the development\u2019s property manager, said at a council meeting in October<\/a> that insurance issues have kept the cameras from being fixed after a lightning strike damaged them. He estimated at the time that they would be repaired within a few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have reached out, and I haven\u2019t gotten a return call,\u201d said Joanne Bergin, the township\u2019s Business Administrator, on the camera issue.<\/p>\n

Pontoriero said the measures under review by the township attorney would likely be ready to be introduced at an upcoming meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to change the culture of the area,\u201d said Pontoriero. \u201cIt\u2019s not just making the arrests, but changing the culture. At this point, it\u2019s only been two months, and we have a lot of really great ideas that have to be solidified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been working intensely to remedy the problem not just in the short term, but the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brick Township officials are investigating an anti-crime ordinance modeled after one enacted in Glassboro that targets rental properties where tenants involve themselves in illegal activities. Known as the Crime-Free Multi-Housing Program, landlords would be able to quickly evict tenants who are found to be involved in a number of criminal violations, using police reports as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,550,262],"class_list":["post-1981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-eviction","tag-maple-leaf-park"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Screen-Shot-2014-10-08-at-12.19.13-AM.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-vX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}