Cultural issues one facet
of town’s changing face
Freehold committee takes first steps to address new demographic realities
By clare m. masi
Staff Writer

Members of a subcommittee formed to explore methods of dealing with the issue of overcrowding in some Freehold Borough housing met for the first time on Jan. 24.

Members of the committee, including Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina, Borough Council President Michael DiBenedetto, Councilman Kevin Coyne, Councilman Kevin Kane and Code Enforcer-Building Inspector Henry Stryker III, came together to begin working in earnest to deal with the issue of overcrowding and to face the consequences the situation has caused in the 1.9-square-mile community.

According to Coyne, the issue is not going to go away.

"This is not a case of an ‘us against them’ kind of thing," he said. "We realize that we must acknowledge the changing needs of our town and the impact that this increase in our population has had on the borough."

Coyne said one of the items discussed was the fact that because a large portion of the increase in population consists of immigrants to the United States, the town is having what he called a "cultural education problem."

"We’re working with Hispanic affairs to develop some type of pamphlet describing life in this area. It will be kind of like an introduction to life in Freehold," he said.

Coyne said many recorded complaints in town center on what he called "quality of life" issues. Examples include gathering in public places to drink outdoors and loitering. The councilman also explained that in some countries it is accepted and, in some cases, even necessary for people to go to the bathroom outdoors. Some new residents are not aware that is not accepted behavior in America, he said.

"There are many ways of behaving that are perfectly acceptable in other countries but are not acceptable here," Coyne said. "New residents will need to learn this. We can’t stop the talk and the gathering, but there are certain ways we behave in America that need to be passed on to our new residents."

Coyne said members of the sub-committee will bring this issue to the attention of the members of the borough’s new Human Relations Committee for their ideas and input.

He said the subcommittee members discussed ways to pinpoint areas of residential overcrowding.

"We can’t just go knocking on doors," he said. "We have to rely on complaints from other residents. People will call Borough Hall or the police and say they think that there is overcrowding in a specific area.

"It is at this time that Hank Stryker would be sent out to observe the situation. If the people don’t allow him to enter the residence, then we would issue a search warrant," Coyne said.

Coyne said residents should know there is a mechanism in place working toward correcting the overcrowding issue. He noted that for the last five years every apartment dwelling has been subjected to a certificate of occupancy (CO) evaluation yearly.

"This is in direct response to the issue of overcrowding," he said.

Coyne said overcrowded apartments appear to be occupied primarily by single men living together.

New laws will protect these residents as well, according to Coyne, who said there is sympathy for immigrants who are living in unsafe, uncomfortable conditions and being taken advantage of by absentee landlords.

He said members of the committee are working on a document which will describe and record what the issue of overcrowding is actually costing the borough.

"For instance, the annual CO is new," explained the councilman. "This is not something we have ever had to do before. A landlord would only apply for a new CO if an old tenant moved and a new one was moving in. In addition, the code enforcer, Jean Kauffman, spends an enormous amount of time on these things. We have new part-time people hired that we never needed before."

Coyne said the subcommittee members will check the statistics and nature of police calls, logging things like how much additional manpower it takes on the part of the police department to investigate the incidents and complaints called in.

He said one of the most difficult problems borough officials have to deal with is complexes where units are individually owned. Using the Parker House condominiums on Broad Street as an example, Coyne said there are 94 units in the complex, but only seven are owner occupied.

"This is a hard one," he said, noting that officials are working to contact absentee landlords. "Dealing with multiple owners is much more difficult than apartment complexes where there is one main owner."

"We’re also documenting what the actual impact has been and continues to be on our borough schools," he said, noting that property taxes are a concern.

"We have no new development in the borough. We’re working with the same amount of property tax units. This is not like Marlboro or Manalapan where they may have an increase in their school enrollment, thereby raising their taxes, because they have all those new homeowners paying new taxes. We don’t have new construction in the borough that will yield new taxes from new homeowners," said.

"Freehold is the bedroom for the service workers of Western Monmouth County. Those who landscape properties, wash dishes, pour cement and work in construction live here. Some who live here work in our restaurants downtown, but for the most part people are leaving town to go to their place of work," the councilman said.

Coyne referred to the issue of overcrowding as a regional problem and one that will need a regional solution.

"Our immigrant residents are very hard workers and the economy of our whole region depends on their being here now. Our young Americans do not want to wash dishes or cut lawns. This is just the way it is," he said.

"We are in the process of identifying other towns with similar problems," Coyne said, naming Red Bank, Keyport, Bradley Beach and Long Branch as municipalities borough officials would contact to discuss and exchange ideas in order to address the ongoing issue.

"The problem of overcrowding seems to occur in small older towns that are surrounded by affluence," Coyne said. "These areas draw on the immigrant pool.

He said that in acting together, officials from the towns where these issues exist may have more influence to exert pressure at the state level to reach a solution to help resolve the issue.

"The issue of overcrowding has been a problem for many years," Coyne said. "We are only now coming to grips with the impact it has caused on our schools and our public services. We don’t want to lose what we have here. Our strength is in the diversity in our culture. It is our treasure and we want to keep it, but we can no longer ignore what is happening. To do so could lead to this situation getting out of control."