Election Shame or Progress in FB?

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From the APP

But DiBenedetto and Schnurr say Freehold already has such a board — the newly formed Rental Property Review Board, which both men claim as an accomplishment during their time on the council.

The board was created at the recommendation of the borough's Human Relations Committee and is tasked with a range of responsibilities. Those include preserving the health, safety and welfare of tenants, landlords and the community as well as making recommendations for policies, procedures and programs to the borough council and borough departments.

An existing board that handled issues in the town's multiple-dwelling rental properties met rarely and did not have broad powers, said DiBenedetto, 49, who has served on the council for 12 years. The new rental board will be more active and aggressive, he believes.

The board also includes several homeowners, a constituency whose positions were not part of the rental discussion before, said Schnurr, 50, who was appointed to the council last year.

"They (homeowners) are a major stakeholder in the community. . . . This (board) will give those folks a voice," Schnurr said.


From candidate profile on APP
www.app.com/article/20081012/POLITICS/80917056/1285/LOCAL09
Mike is currently Council President and serves on the Finance Committee, as Assistant Fire Commissioner and as council liaison to the Public Works Department and Recreation Commission. As a councilman, he was involved in the creation of the Quality of Life Team, the Rental Property Registration Ordinance, the new Rental Property Review Board, and the downtown vision study, in addition to many other accomplishments

From the News Transcript

newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/1015/front_page/009.html
The incumbents said they are proud of the constructive solutions they have helped to accomplish while on council, including the new Rental Property Review Board, the Community Information Committee and the Neighborhood Pride Committee.

The Rental Property Review Board was put in place to review the status of rental housing in Freehold Borough and to establish procedures to ensure that landlords and tenants maintain rental units to the standards defined by the appropriate building code.

[admin]

This is one of those posts where I waited a couple of days to post. I really need to find the right words and try not to get nasty with this. I have to admit, when I saw what has been hitting the papers, I cannot say that I am impressed. If I were an opponent of the governing body, I would certainly whack them upside the head for the nonsense I am seeing. If nothing else, what I am about to write would certainly make for a wonderful letter to the papers instead of just posting this on a site with a handful of malcontents.

I will also do something that I rarely do, toot my own horn and say, I was right. They ( council) should have listened.

Obviously, by the first post in this thread, I am talking about the new ( old?) rental board. I have been a long time supporter of this concept. Lets first establish some facts.

I have been on record at council meetings, in the papers and here on the FV as a very vocal and concerned individual on these issues.


I have clearly stated that for rental recommendations and ordinances to work, there has got to be balance, including all three affected parties- tenants, landlords, and the surrounding home owners. I have clearly stated that none should be forgotten.

I am well on record as supporting the governing body when they take the right actions, and at times they do. I will continue to support them and always try to work with them when they are doing the right things. I know they are good people with quality character and integrity, and do care passionately about doing what is good for this town.

So why my dissatisfaction? That brings me to my next point. This new rental board should not be new. When I read this in the papers, I thought what new board? Who is on it? When do they meet? What is the scope of their authority and responsibility? From what I understand, people have been appointed and I will be finding out more.

I have every reason to vent and say I was right. I was perusing old threads, and looked at the time when the rental recommendation committee read its recommendations.

That was ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO!!!!

Another fact, the night of the recommendations, I got up in that council meeting and stated that we need a rental board in this town. I stated that I believe the temporary committee would stay on and become permanent. That is, of course, without the person who's removal from that committee I publicly called for due to questionable ethics. The public portion of the meeting was held before the recommendations were read, so I stated that without even knowing what was going to be said. I stated that before there was a candidate Miller who ran on this idea one year ago.

I CALLED FOR THIS COMMITTEE ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO!!

This goes beyond the usual snails pace of government, this borer lines negligent.

The town councilman who are running this year should not be running on this accomplishment. Due to the ridiculous length of time since the recommendations were read, they should be hanging their heads in shame. At this point we should NOT be talking about this great new committee. Two years after the fact, we should be talking about results, areas in need of improvement, and other topics that this committee will be working on and should have been for two years. .

In other words, we are at least two years behind where we should be.

And that is another problem. Lets face facts, the rental explosion and the subsequent detriment to this town did not happen over night. Our governing body has often been too slow to act. Citizens have spoken up, warned them, and demonstrated frustration. I have mentioned that it took Belmar about ten years, ten hard years, to turn their rental issues around. Our town will require a far more aggressive approach, regardless of who is sitting in that council seat. AS it is, we are far behind and that was avoidable.

I also have to question the validity of Geo and Mike D running with this issue. While I am sure they both care about seeing these issues addressed, the real credit goes to the Mayor and Councilman Le Vine. Those two have been the most visible and vocal on these issues. Most credit goes to those two for leading the charge and getting things done.

I also have to wonder where Shutzer is. Again, she is a stand up person with real passion for this town, but as I understand it, she is the council rep on this new committee. This is a very crucial issue and I hope she raises hell and pushes things forward at a better pace than we have seen. We will need to see much more from her. We need to see it now, not next year when she is up for re-election. If she is not willing to do that, then this committee has got to be handed to Le Vine, who has been rightfully active and vocal. He also deserves credit for the recommendation committee.


I also need to take issue with the following comment:

"They (homeowners) are a major stakeholder in the community. . . . This (board) will give those folks a voice," Schnurr said

Duh!!! Again, I am not impressed, this is a no brainer. Again, I have long been an advocate for balance for all parties. Please tell me the governing body isn't just getting this point. Somehow I doubt it, but I am a firm believer that addressing the home owners has been neglected. Badly.

This is where I get to toot my own horn again. I did deal with an issue quietly back a while ago. We all remember the forum the HRC put on. They did a fantastic job, it was the right thing to do, and I cast no blame at them.

The problem was that the forum was geared to the tenants and landlords, all of who need to be included in the rental issues. For reasons I will outline, I quietly reached out to three council members and asked, what about the home owners? It was then, and only then, that there were public statements made that there will be a second forum for the home owners.

Well governing body, Where is that home owner forum that we were all promised? Or are we left out again?

I kept the forum issues quiet for a reason. After the tainted appointment fiasco, I really did not want to do anything that drew ire toward the HRC. They do not deserve it and I do not support anybody taking shots at them. Until now, that is why I have never written about this on this site.

I will end my above lunatic rant on a few notes. I am glad this committee is finally established ( TWO YEARS!!). This should not be popping up as an election year gimmick. The real work is ahead. Next year when two more council members run, they had better be running on results, real concrete results.


There has got to be the right approach in this committee. The home owners have been neglected. That has got to change. The tenants and landlords also have to be included. Balance, something I believe in.

As I have been for at least two years, I will be watching this like a hawk. I will be honest. When he governing body does the right things, I will be the first to step up and say, d**n good job! And when they screw up.........