6. The Amboy Guardian *November 3, 2021Patient In Preterm Labor Gets Married at HMH Raritan Bay MedicalCenter. Her Water Broke 45minutes Before Her Scheduled Wedding*Photos SubmittedPAID FOR BY THE PERTH AMBOY DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONPress ReleasePERTH AMBOY - Expecting mother, Racquel M. Bruno from East Brunswick, NJ came to HackensackMeridian Raritan Bay Medical Center in preterm labor yesterday, 10/31/21 @3:15pm. RacquelM. Bruno and her husband, Raymond Bansemer were scheduled to be married that day and Racquel'swater broke 45 minutes before their scheduled ceremony, which was supposed to be at 4pm.They both wanted to get married before the baby was born, so one of the residents, Nadia Auroraat Raritan Bay Medical Center quickly went online to get her license to marry. Nadia married themyesterday at the hospital. The patient is currently 4 cm dilated and is expected to deliver the baby thisevening.South AmboyVeteran’s DayServicesSOUTH AMBOY - Please joinus for our Veteran Day serviceson Thursday, November 11that11 a.m. in front of City Hall,North Broadway.Dowdell Library Halloween Costume Party, South Amboy 10/18/21*Photos by Holly Smith
*Continued from Page 1stricted parking).”Acting Chief Cattano spokeagain, “The change of hoursfor Parking Enforcement willnot have any effect on the employees.Many times, especiallyduring school hours, they startearly helping the school crossingguards with traffic control.We can have Parking EnforcementEmployees start ticketingat a later time.”Petrick then talked about theparking around the hospital.“They have enforcement oftheir parking until 9 p.m. whileother areas of the city, it is onlyup until 6 p.m. The hospital haslimited parking in spots.”Councilman B.J. Torres spokeup, “The hospital has residentialparking stickers.”Councilman Joel Pabon suggested,“The city is divided intodifferent zones. You just needto work on the specific zonesthat need parking problems addressed.”Acting Police Chief Cattanosaid, “I believe the hospital is inZone 3.”Petrick concluded the discussion,“New Brunswick Avenueand Barclay Street are the onlystreets near the hospital thathave meters.”B.A. Green had commentsregarding the supplementaldebt statements which coveredparking, utility improvements,water/wastewater utility improvementsand various generalcapital improvements. “Currentlywe have $8.4 million onhand. There is a possibility wecan use some of that money forsome of the items I just mentionedinstead of bonding moneyfor these items.”Legal Representative Opelthen talked about the threebond ordinances (first reading)which included the items thatMike Green had just mentioned.“There are three “Yes” votes requiredfor these ordinances tomove to the next step for publichearings and to be published.”There was then a discussionon Ordinance No. 4 (first reading)– Vacating a portion of theright of way at the southwesternintersection of Patterson Streetand Grant Street.Councilman Joel Pabon askedfor more details.Opel explained, “This is forthe Victory Center LLC. Theredeveloper has to vacate thatproperty that they own for logisticalimprovements for theirproject.”Councilman B.J. Torres complimented,“There are no stopsigns or lights at this intersection.It is an accident waiting tohappen.”Opel then explained, “It is agrassy area and not in the rightof way.”Council President Petrick thenquestioned if there were anypublic utilities underground inthat area.Opel explained, “The developerwants to connect two of hisproperties through this right ofway.”Petrick then suggested, “TheNovember 3, 2021 * The Amboy Guardian .7Discussion on Parking Problems and Possible Resolution,Uses for Federal Funds & BID Budget Presentation10/25/21 Caucustraffic department should lookat that area.”Acting Chief Cattano spokeup via Zoom, “I will be right onit first thing in the morning.”Opel then had a statement regardingOrdinance No. 5 (firstreading) – Adopting an amendmentto the Focus 2020 Redevelopmentplan for Area 1(Gateway).“The Planning Board has nothad a chance to look at this planclosely. That is why it is beingreintroduced as a first reading.”B.A. Mike Green then spokebriefly regarding R-540 andR-541 – a contract to purchaseoffice furniture. R-540 was thepurchase price not to exceed$19,922.70 and R-541 was topurchase furniture not to exceedthe amount of $16,732.93.“This money was previouslybudgeted. It is to replace dilapidatedfurniture, a lot whichis over 16 years old. This is alldone through state contract, andit was approved with this yearbudget. The furniture will be replacedin three different officesin city hall.”Green then gave the amountof money for R-543-10/21 –Authorizing submission of anapplication to the SNY PlayBall Basketball Grants Program.“The amount would befor $2,500.”For R-544-10/21 – Approvingthe introduction of the 2022Perth Amboy Business ImprovementDistrict Budget.BID Coordinator Noelia Coloncame up to give a presentation,“The Budget is $247,650which is the same as last year.The supplemental funds are$144,000. Some of the eventsthat took place are job fairs,helping out with social services,downtown improvements,outreach meetings, helping outwith vaccinations clinics. Wehad vendor events and workshopsfor business owners.We held the Perth Amboy EatsEvent, which raised $3,100 forthe Veterans Memorial (on SadowskiParkway). We had manypeople who came from out oftown. The restaurants appreciatedthat people came to theirbusinesses because it was easierfor them to operate on their ownsite.”Councilwoman Milady Tejedaspoke up regarding the PerthAmboy Eats Event, “The foodvendors were very generous(with their portions).”Councilman Joel Pabon commentedabout the downtownbeautification projects, “Theonly problem is they took awaythe planters. Some of the residentssaid they were upset andsaid they wished they had thoseplanters in their own yards.”Colon explained, “Thoseplanters will be replaced withsomething that is easier tomaintain. The old planters willbe auctioned off and we arelooking for new vendors for thatproject. We also have fundingto help with the lighting (in thebusiness district). We budgeted$15,000 for fifty planters. Wewelcome all suggestions on theway to beautify our businessdistrict.”Pabon continued, “When youget out and walk the streets, yousee a lot of stuff going on. Someof the businesses are puttingout things that are unattractive.Some of the businesses need tomaintain their properties. Thereare too many sidewalk brickscoming loose. We need to havethat gumbuster machine backin operation. Some of thesebusinesses need their façadepower washed. Maybe we cando that block by block. We (theCouncil), the BID, and CodeEnforcement need to have businessesaddress these issues.”Colon then explained, “Withthe gumbuster machine, it takesfrom $3,000 to $4,000 just toclean two blocks. We are workingwith Code Enforcement tosee what businesses need to doto make their businesses moreattractive and up to code insideand out. We can also addressthose tree wells and grates thatrise up.”Petrick said, “Some of theplanters were placed too closeto the curb, which made it difficultfor people to open theircar doors on the passenger side.The planters should be set backmore (towards the sidewalk).Councilwoman Tejeda said,“I know that people are awareabout the façade grants, butthey are puzzled on how to applyfor them.”Colon responded, “Information(in both English and Spanish)is being mailed to ownersof some of the buildings wherebusinesses are located explaininghow to apply for funds. Becauseof the pandemic, someof the people who applied forfaçade grants didn’t have thefunding needed to match thegrant.”The meeting was then openedup to the public (in house first):Resident Ken Balut came upfirst. He again had in his handsa Quality-of-Life Report (Preparedby the Government StrategyGroup). He questioned,“Why are we subsidizing theYMCA when we have a lawsuitagainst them? We always hearabout the parking situation andthe bike situation. Where is thequality-of-life regarding rentalproperties? A lot of these illegalhousing houses are deathtraps.In Elizabeth, people diedin floods. You pay someonewho is unqualified for a positionthey are in a lot of money.Now, we have a new part-timeemployee who works from 4p.m. to 7 p.m. How are they accountingfor this person’s time?Now, someone was hired in OliveStreet to work on the mayor’scampaign. If you work on acampaign, you should not get ajob. Now, on the agenda are tworesolutions calling for $35,000worth of office furniture. In twoweeks, you are all going to theLeague of Municipalities, andyou will see a lot of vendorsthere. Maybe you can see ifsome of those vendors can offerfurniture at a much lower rate.”B.A. Green responded, “Thecity is donating some of old furnitureto other departments.”Resident Vince Mackiel spokenext. He referenced Ordinance5 – 2020 Redevelopment Plan.“You have the opportunity toinstall a filling station. Edisonalready has one. I know theestablishment in Perth Amboyis oil. We spent a lot of moneyin court over these oil companies.When I looked on the citywebsite, I saw there was $1.6million of unexpected revenue.Might this have something todo with housing? Maybe thebusiness administrator or TashiVazquez (Dept of OCA) cansend some of this information tothe churches to let them knowthis money is available.”CFO Jill Goldy came up tothe mic to respond to Mackiel’sstatement, “This amount ($1.6million) is miscellaneous revenuethat is not anticipated. It isa catchall. The majority of thatmoney came from the HomeDepot PILOT. It could also bemoney from the UAW and otherhousing PILOTS. The HomeDepot PILOT money will gointo next year’s budget.”No one from Zoom spoke.Council President Bill Petrickspoke up again and askedBID Coordinator Noelia Colonto answer a question about theproperty located at the intersectionof Convery Boulevard andSmith Street. “There were discussionsin the past about havingan electronic sign there.”Colon explained, “There wasa transfer of that property.”Petrick spoke up again, “KennyOrtiz (Department of Recreationand Human Resources)talked about getting informationabout the value of that property.At one time, it was discussedthat we might be able to get thatproperty for $1, and with thenew administration, maybe theycan push for it.”Kenny Ortiz joined the discussionvia Zoom, “There wasan application that was madeout to the DOT from the city tobuy that property. That applicationwas rejected by the DOT.The DOT will only give a smallportion of that property for anelectronic sign. It cannot beused to advertise an event thatwill be making a profit. It canbe only for city events and announcements.We are workingon getting an electronic sign. Iwill reach out to the state levelorganizations again.”Petrick then asked if the WillowPond fountains are working.Ortiz said, “They were lasttime I checked. I will checkthem again, but the fountainswill be turned off during thewinter months.”Council Comments:Councilwoman Rose Moralesthanked all who came tothe meeting to voice their comments.Councilman Joel Pabon saidhe was glad to see a lot of thelights on Amboy Avenue wereworking, and he was pleasedto see the benches in the downtownarea. “It is a big plus forour senior citizens. On ChamberlainAvenue we still have alot of lights out. With the oldfurniture that is being replaced,the Charter Schools can use it. Isee they are making progress onthe bridge by ShopRite. The reportthat was given to us by theStrategy Group which showshow money is spent within thedifferent departments, I am goingto give the mayor time tolook at these reports.”B.A. Green responded tosome of Pabon’s remarks, “Asfar as quality of life in the city,we have 18 officers in the policeacademy in training. We havethe parking enforcement officersunder the Police Department.The IT Department hasmade updates. A lot of informationis being put on the city’swebsite. We are using morelaptops. People can do planningand ordering through ourwebsite. We want to make surethat everyone knows how theFaulkner Plan operates.”Councilwoman Milady Tejedathanked the administration forall the activities going on andthe changes which help to improvethe safety and addressthe needs of the community.Councilman B.J. Torres said,“I am glad to see the water meterswere moved away fromthe fountain and to see that theAmerican Rescue Funds will behelping the citizens.”Council President Petrickthanked everyone who is here inperson, on Zoom, and TV landwho joined us again. The meetingadjourned at 6:58 p.m. Allcouncil members were presentin person.Spotted Lantern Fly, Perth Amboy 9/5/21*Photo by Louis PetroPhoto of a Spotted Lantern Fly. They are considered an InvasiveSpecies and it is recommended to kill it on sight. To report a sighting,email SLF-plantindustry@ag.nj.gov.
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