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May
26
Happy Memorial Day!
Filed Under Happenings | Leave a Comment
We should remember their wives, their children, their parents for all they endured and continue to endure. Their presence today and the deeds of their lives remind us human excellence. They remind us of the liberties and privileges we have come to hold dear to us and the courage that is necessary to maintain them.
But how is it possible to honor such men, both the dead and the living? Perhaps we should make certain that their stories are told to our children. Perhaps we should sincerely thank them, not just today but everyday, for making sure that this island of freedom continues.
May
22
Ledger: Hubbub over town security cameras
Filed Under Gerald Freedman, In The News, John Kulish, The Leadership | Leave a Comment
Opposition to police monitoring rec center
Thursday, May 22, 2008BY JASON JETT
Star-Ledger Staff
Hillside officials defended the pending installation of 16 security cameras in and around the community recreation center, citing several criminal incidents and stat ing the precaution is warranted “in these dangerous times.”
In responding during a township council meeting Tuesday night, critics called police-monitoring of residents using the facility “a disgrace.” They charged their children are being viewed as “common criminals,” and the recreation center is being made a “correctional facility.”
Speaking as the township council called a series of municipal officials to the podium to support the use of cameras, Police Chief Robert Quinlan said, “There should be no expectancy of privacy in a public building or playground.”
“There should be privacy in a bathroom or locker room, but by putting cameras in a building we are not violating any constitutional rights,” he said. “There is no infringement on civil rights.”
Quinlan said he had not suggested the installation of security cameras, but stressed he endorses it. He said there have been 12 crimes — cell phone thefts, stolen purses, an assault and vandalism resulting in one arrest — at the recreation center over the past two years.
Department of Public Works Superintendent Scott Anderson, who arranged the installation of cameras under the direction of Council President Leonard Gilbert and finance committee members John Kulish and Edward Brewer Jr., said although “a few people are upset,” he added security is “a good thing.”
“There have been problems in the building,” he said. “They have been minor in most cases, but anything that concerns children is not minor, but major. We look forward to installing these cameras.”
Anderson stressed that some of the 16 cameras, which cost $26,000, would supplement two exterior cameras from a purchase two years ago. He added a $14,500 card-entry system being acquired in conjunc tion with the cameras would secure both the municipal building and recreation center.
Rudy Brown, a resident of Liberty Avenue, asked why cameras were being installed only at the recreation center when there are known high-crime areas along the perimeter of the town. Also, there are no security cameras at the Central Avenue swimming pool and playground.
“Even banks don’t have 16 cameras,” Brown said in calling the number of cameras to be installed excessive. “Bars where murders oc curred don’t have but two or three. You’re turning the community center into a youth house.”
Ron Herning, a township resident who owns Forcefield Security Systems Inc., had a problem with Maffey’s Security Corp. in Elizabeth being selected to install the cameras under a Union County cooperative pricing program.
County spokesman Sebastian D’Elia said that under the cooperative program the county administration enters contracts with vendors, and all 21 municipalities are made aware the service is available at a cost less than they can obtain independently.
“I was not notified,” Herning said after the meeting, charging the township overpaid. “I feel left out, because my business has been in town 15 years and didn’t get considered. I am a qualified business in Hillside. Maffey’s gives big-time to the Union County Democratic Committee. I don’t give, so I am not connected?”
Council Vice President Kulish said the township selected the contractor recommended by county government.
Kulish called the cameras “a great thing, an asset.”
“It’s an earmark of this council to make the community center better and, in the future, bigger,” he said, referring to a proposed redevelopment of the municipal complex.
The recreation center is situated diagonally across Hillside Ave nue from police headquarters. Chief Quinlan said he can see the exterior and grounds from his office, and officers constantly pass within feet of it in entering and leaving headquarters.
The proposed redevelopment of the municipal complex, which includes a flood-control project and the construction of a new library, created a ruckus on the dais when the township council approved an item added late to the agenda authorizing an engineering study.
Second Ward Councilwoman Shelley-Ann Bates repeatedly asked how much the township would be charged for the study, while Kulish refused to divulge the amount and Gilbert sought to drown out her voice.
“This has to happen,” Kulish said ultimately. “We will set a fee (later).”
Bates voted “no” on the measure, and 4th Ward Councilman Gerald “Pateesh” Freedman abstained.