Breaking the ice with Latino community

Borough looks to open lines of communication
at town meeting
By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer

GLORIA STRAVELLI Patrolman Juan Sardo urged Hispanic congregants at St. Anthony of Padua Church to report crimes committed against them to the Red Bank Police Department.

With the help of a translator, a delegation of borough officials Saturday evening began an outreach aimed at building communication with Red Bank’s growing Hispanic community.

"Thank you for this opportunity to come to your house and tell you how we can help you," Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels told members of the congregation of St. Anthony of Padua Church on Bridge Avenue.

Sickels and representatives of the borough police, code enforcement and parks departments spoke after the church’s weekly mass held in Spanish.

Once largely Italian, the parish has a growing number of Hispanic congregants, according to Rosa Mata, parish secretary. She said the parish outreach to Hispanics began with 15-20 people and now serves 300 members of that community.

The "town meeting" was arranged by Red Bank Councilwoman Jennifer Beck, chair of the borough’s code enforcement committee, which recently drafted a new ordinance governing rental properties in the borough.

The proposed rental ordinance, which is aimed at bringing overcrowded rental units into compliance with fire and safety codes, could have a major impact on Hispanics in the community who, through economic necessity, tend to be tenants in these units.

"When we were talking about the landlord registration ordinance, one of the things we felt was important was that we needed to begin communication with the Latino community," said Beck, "and nontraditional methods of outreach, like newspapers and our public meetings, may not be the best way to reach them."

Assisted by translator Patricia Mueller of the Red Bank Language and Cultural Center, Sickels introduced speakers Detective Sgt. Michael Clay, police department community relations officer; Patrolman Juan Sardo; James Gaddis, parks and recreation director; James Williams, housing and building inspector; and Thomas Welch, deputy fire marshal.

Sardo, who spoke in Spanish, assured the congregants that Latinos who live in the United States, legally or not, are protected by the laws of the country.

Sardo added that the police do not execute immigration laws.

He addressed problems he said members of the Hispanic community have experienced, urging them to report any crime.

"This is a problem in the Latino community," Sardo told the Hub following the meeting. "They’re not reporting crimes because they lack English skills, and I told them 911 has Latin-speaking dispatchers, and the Red Bank Police Department has five members who speak Spanish."

Gaddis described borough-sponsored recreational programs for children, youths and adults.

He told congregants that the rules and regulations for the parks would soon be posted in Spanish as well as English.

Williams addressed the problem of landlords who fail to maintain rental properties.

"If you are renting a property and having problems with the landlord, please contact my office," Williams said. "We will contact the landlord and get the landlord to make the necessary repairs."

Sickels said the borough has attempted to enhance its communication with Hispanics by placing notices in schools and Spanish-language newspapers.

Following the meeting, he said reports of overcrowding in rental units reached borough officials through the police and fire and first aid personnel who responded to calls at the locations, as well as from neighbors.

When the borough attempted to enforce the codes, Sickels said, officials found the borough did not have contact information for many landlords, including a number who are absentee owners.

According to Sickels, who sits in on code enforcement committee meetings, the new ordinance provides that the maximum occupancy allowed per rental unit be posted so that tenants will be aware of whether they are violating the law.

In addition, the ordinance will extend the registration of landlords to owners of one- and two-family rental houses, which are not presently included in the regulations.

The registration information, he said, will provide data on the number of rental units in the borough, which is not now available.

Scheduled for a second reading at the Tuesday council meeting, the proposed ordinance requires the names of all tenants be provided so borough inspectors can track changes in occupancy, which requires new registration and new inspections. The landlords would pay an inspection fee.

Sickels said the issue of overcrowding in rental units is a regional issue, not limited to the Hispanic community, and is not new.

"This is not a problem just in Red Bank," he said. "It’s also a problem in Freehold and Long Branch with housing for college students. It was a problem in the ’80s with migrant workers from Asia and was also a problem when patients were deinstitutionalized from places like Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital.

"It’s not a new problem, but some landlords and their agents have started to take advantage of this population which perhaps won’t complain," he added.

The problems tend to involve the same landlords, he said.

Acknowledging that the ordinance may result in the displacement of some Hispanic tenants, Sickels said he empathizes, but public safety concerns require that codes be enforced.

The proposed ordinance would require landlords to move tenants out if the number exceeds occupancy limits, but it does not institute monitoring for compliance.

According to Sickels, landlords who fail to remove tenants when the occupancy limit is exceeded will incur penalties of up to six times the cost of relocation by the borough. He said the borough is not responsible for ensuring that landlords find other housing for tenants.

According to Mata, in the past, St. Anthony’s church staff members have had to relocate families who have been moved out of housing by landlords.