NJ News & Views

[Editor's Note: At 6:07 a.m. on November 25, 2011, this story was edited for style, content and accuracy.]

Three years ago, township officials neglected to inform volunteer appointees before they attended a scheduled advisory board meeting that their services were no longer needed.

Public service became public humiliation for Robert Schneider, Marlene Atkins and David Garfield of the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board.

As Schneider, Atkins and board Vice Chairman Garfield entered the second floor meeting room in January 2009, board Chairman Bernard Gindoff told them to take seats against the wall where the general public was seated. He said the Lakewood Township Committee had not reappointed the members to another term on the board.

Committeemen later reappointed Atkins and Garfield to the board, but not Schneider, who spoke to NJ News & Views about the incident.

On November 23, history repeated itself.

One of the same three board members attended a scheduled meeting of the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board without knowing he was no longer a member.

On May 24, Garfield submitted a letter of resignation to the township committee that committeemen initially refused to accept and the township clerk initially refused to release for inspection.

In a September 24 e-mail response, Township Clerk Mary Ann Del Mastro informed a reporter that the township had not received a letter of resignation from any member on the transportation board, even though sources told a reporter that Garfield said he had submitted one.

The following month, Del Mastro reversed her position. She released the letter after a reporter informed her that Garfield had confirmed submitting it during a telephone interview.

Garfield was not the only board member to resign this year, according to township records.

Although Gindoff did not submit a letter of resignation to the township, as Garfield had, the board's November 23 meeting agenda reported his resignation.

So did the board's October 27 meeting minutes, even though the board never officially held a meeting on that date.

The board's scheduled October 27 and November 23 meetings were not held due to lack of a quorum.

According to sources, Gindoff verbally offered his resignation while waiting for board members to arrive on October 27.

Gindoff confirmed the verbal resignation in a November 1 telephone interview with NJ News & Views. He also discussed his reasons for offering it, which he said were the same as those of Garfield.

"Dave said the same type of thing I'm saying," Gindoff told a reporter. "When (we) send information to the township and request (a response), we don't get answers."

During one meeting held during 2011, which a reporter for NJ News & Views attended, members proposed filing an OPRA request with the township to find out how many summonses Lakewood police had issued to illegal taxi and limousine services operating there.

Gindoff also confirmed Garfield's May resignation and the township committee's refusal to accept it.

"(Dave) resigned and he's back on the board," Gindoff said. "The (committee) liaison called and asked him not to resign."

Gindoff said that although Garfield attended the October board meeting, he never said a word during it.

"We tried to do things a couple of years ago, but the last three or four, we can't get an answer to a letter or a reply to our requests," Gindoff said. "Its time to go."

According to Garfield, some board members were just as indifferent to the board's work as township officials and never attended any of its meetings. Their absence made the board's work even more difficult to accomplish due to lack of a quorum.

Gindoff blamed himself for the township committee's lack of response.

"I feel they don't want me there," he said. "If they don't talk to me, something is wrong. I'll get out of the way. Let somebody else take it and see what they can do. I really don't want to go, (but) they're the boss."

Gindoff described an attempt to meet with Lakewood Mayor Menashe Miller earlier this year.

"I talked to him personally, face to face," Gindoff told a reporter.

According to Gindoff, Miller rebuffed the attempt.

"He said he was doing something else," Gindoff said.

Miller denied Gindoff's charge.

"This is untrue and a blatant lie," Miller said in a November 3 e-mail request for comment. "I am always available for ANY dept head or board chairperson any time they would like to meet."

In an e-mail response for comment NJ News & Views also received on the November 3, transportation board committee liaison Aisik (Albert/Isaac) Akerman indicated Garfield was no longer a member of the board, as he believed, and neither was Gindoff.

"In regards to the resignations...Mr. Gindoff and Mr. Garfield... have made it clear that they will not change their minds," Akerman told a reporter for NJ News & Views.

Garfield may have been unaware the committee liaison no longer considered him a board member; he attended the November 23 board meeting along with David Hibberson, Steven Reinman, board secretary Margaret Stazko and a reporter for NJ News & Views.

The board's meeting agenda that night included a membership roster, which reported that Gindoff had resigned and that Morton Gudel was deceased. Board members said they did not know Gudel was dead until someone called his home and received the news.

The roster identified Hibberson as acting chairman.

The roster reported that the rest of the board members were Marlene Atkins, Chana M. Jacobowitz, John Kovak, Yakov Ort, Roseanne Work and Yitzy Scholar.

According to sources, Atkins had privately discussed her intention to resign, too, but was involved in a car crash before submitting it. Members at the November 23 meeting expressed surprise to hear that one of the board members not present had been in an accident.

The roster reported that Police Officer Erik Menck was the police liaison for the towing industry and that Police Officer David Silberstein was the liaison for the taxi industry.

Ten minutes after the reporter had arrived 10 minutes late and 20 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start, there was still no quorum.

"Good effort, everybody," Reinman said as he rose to leave the meeting room.

A reporter attempted to ask Garfield if he was aware that Akerman, who reportedly attended a dental appointment in Newark instead of the board meeting, had decided to accept Garfield's letter of resignation after all.

Garfield declined to speak to the reporter.

His letter of resignation said everything he would not.

"I wish to resign from this board because of the lack of acceptance of any ideas that have come from this board," Garfield wrote committeemen. "We put in long hours on the taxi and tower problems. As of now(,) we never received an answer to our memos. The new rules for the towers were never accepted."

According to Diane Iannarone of Leisure Hack, the township initially proposed locating a cell tower on commercial property owned by her husband. Instead, committee members decided to locate cell towers on residential developments that are now suing the township.

"Even asking for 15 stamps to mail letters for reflective belts was turned down, as there was no money for stamps," Garfield continued in his letter of resignation.

At past board meetings, Gindoff expressed frustration that the township had not accepted the board's recommendation that it promote the use of reflective belts so that all Lakewood citizens could safely walk at night.

Garfield expressed his support of Gindoff and the township committee that had appointed them.

"I know Bernie Gindoff and the committee really care about the town," Garfield wrote.

Gindoff also resigned from his position on the township ADA, an advisory board making recommendations for compliance with the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act), and the Lakewood Rent Control Board.

"I am told I am the chairman (of the Rent Control Board)," he wrote in his letter of resignation. "Over the last 4 years, I have asked to have a meeting, only to (be) told it wasn't necessary. Problems were being handled "in-house." I asked for minutes of these meetings, only to be told it wasn't necessary. You can't be on a committee if there (are) no meetings."

Garfield ended his letter of resignation by expressing his regret at having to send it.

"Thank you," he wrote. "I enjoyed the many years served on these positions."

So did Gindoff, who was a founding member of the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board.

In a November 1 phone interview, Gindoff expressed the same sadness at having his advice and counsel rejected by members of the governing body that appointed him to his position over three decades ago.

"Nobody cares," Gindoff told a reporter for NJ News & Views. "Its time to go."

Gindoff said he was not resigning for health reasons.

"I feel they don't want me there," he said. "If they don't talk to me, something is wrong."

Their absence will be keenly felt.

For years, owners of Lakewood's registered taxi, limousine and tow operators asked the transportation board for help at its meetings.

Members of the township committee were less willing to hear from members of the transportation board.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears, according to Garfield and Gindoff.

That was the same reaction by committeemen to the concerns of small business owners seeking to make a living in Lakewood, they charged in interviews with NJ News & Views.

One month before Garfield submitted his letter of resignation, Diane Iannarone of Leisure Hack, a taxi service, and Evgeny (Eugene) Matvienko of Keser Day and Night Transportation, a limousine service, met with township manager Michael Muscillo, and in separate meetings, with Lakewood Chief of Police Robert Lawson and committee liaison Marc (Meir) Lichtenstein.

Township Clerk Mary Ann Del Mastro and secretaries for Muscillo said no meeting minutes were taken during the meetings and that the township attorney was not present during any of them.

Over a decade ago, Iannarone joined a class action lawsuit filed by Lakewood taxi owners that challenged changes in township ordinance regulating them.

The township and taxi owners settled out of court.

According to Lakewood tow owners that spoke to NJ News & Views more recently, legal counsel represented their interests at all private meetings held with committeemen.

That may not have been a concern for Lichtenstein during his meetings with taxi and limousine operators.

According to Iannarone and Matvienko, who recently spoke to NJ News & Views in separate interviews, Lichtenstein gave them almost as little time as Gindoff told NJ News & Views Mayor Menashe Miller gave him - which he said was no time at all.

During Lichtenstein's two April meetings with Iannarone and Matvienko, which they said lasted about 15 minutes, the two business owners asked the committeeman to raise the fine for illegal transportation services operating in Lakewood without a township license or proper insurance.

Currently, the first offense can cost as much as $500. The second can cost as much as $1,000.

"They steal (more than) $500 in business from us in just one day," Matvienko told NJ News & Views.

Iannarone and Matvienko requested that the fine be increased to $5,000 for the first offense, which would bring revenue to the township and act as more of a deterrent to violators.

Iannarone said Lichtenstein would not even consider it.

"He said he didn't believe in raising the fines because vandalism fines had been raised," she told NJ News & Views.

Matvienko also said Lichtenstein was not in favor of raising fines.

"He said it didn't make much sense," Matvienko told NJ News & Views. "He said, for instance, that people urinate in public (and their fines aren't high.) He didn't see why there should be higher penalties."

Lichtenstein did not explain to either business owner what the amount of fines for vandalism and public urination had to do with the amount of fines paid by illegal transportation operators found guilty of violating local ordinance governing taxis and limousines.

Iannarone said Lichtenstein also provided another reason for not enforcing the law.

"He said his friend had been caught (driving an illegal taxi)," she said.

Iannarone said Lichtenstein did not disclose the name of his friend.

"He said he would listen to us, but nothing came out of it," Matvienko said. "The chief (of police), who was also there, said this (issue) was not at the top of his list. He's aware of what's going on, but that's not at the top of his list."

Matvienko and Iannarone provided a reason Lakewood officials should police their industries.

"We brought up the subject that this is endangering the public," Matvienko said. "Some of (the illegal transportation providers) are involved in drug dealing, I heard that from customers."

Although Lakewood police have issued summonses to owners and operators of illegal transportation services for other violations, they have not always issued summonses for operating a taxi or limousine with a township license or proper insurance, according to municipal court and police records inspected through OPRA.

This year, Lakewood officials did issue summonses to at least one owner/operator of an illegal transportation service.

On July 16, sources said Lakewood police issued a summons to Yisroel Krieger of Sruly's Heimish Delivery LLC. Krieger operates a delivery and passenger transportation service out of 167 Bristol Court, a residential home in Lakewood.

Last year, the Asbury Park Press reported that on November 3, Krieger drove around barricades while children were crossing the street and struck a middle school student attempting to board a school bus.

The 8th grade boy was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune with a broken arm, concussion and road rash, Lakewood Patrolman Erik Menck told reporter Charles Webster of the Asbury Park Press.

Krieger was reportedly transporting a woman and a 4-year-old child at the time of the incident.

Webster reported that Krieger was charged with reckless driving, failure to maintain a traffic lane, failure to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk, and not having a child seat in the vehicle for the 4-year-old.

Menck reportedly told Webster that the investigation was ongoing and that additional charges were possible.

Those charges did not include operation of a taxi or limousine service without a township license or proper insurance.

In March, a reporter for NJ News & Views requested to inspect a copy of the Lakewood Police Crash Report of the incident. Police referred the reporter to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

A designated spokesman for the prosecutor's office declined to be identified or quoted on the record. He said the case had been remanded back to Lakewood Municipal Court a week earlier.

On May 9, 2011, Krieger was found guilty of reckless driving stemming from the November 3, 2010 incident, according to Janet Wolchko, Lakewood municipal court administrator.

She said July 16 charges of operating a limousine without a township license or proper insurance were dismissed in municipal court on September 8.

Wolchko said that the disposition of a summons for the same violation, reportedly issued to an employee of Krieger on February 16, could not be confirmed without the man's name.

Township police have publicly asserted they attempted to conduct stings of the illegal transportation services, but were unsuccessful.

Two years ago, Lakewood Compliance Officer Leonard (Smitty) Smith, a former police officer, told members of the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board he was unable to appear at municipal court hearings to testify against defendants charged with operating an illegal transportation service.

Without Smith's testimony, a municipal court judge dismissed the complaints.

As the township has grown, so has the number of citizens seeking to make an unreported living providing unregulated transportation services.

The money they make does not subsidize the increase in cost of services they use, such as road repair and installation of traffic control signs and signals.

Matvienko said he and Iannarone informed Lichtenstein that the problem in Lakewood was growing.

"We said there was a big problem with illegal people doing business in Lakewood and that Brick companies were picking up people in Lakewood and weren't registered there," Matvienko told NJ News & Views. "I said we had an extremely high amount of illegals in Lakewood."

The problem is not only growing in Lakewood, but in municipalities statewide.

On February 27, The Press of Atlantic City published "Watchdog Report: Limousine drivers are illegally operating taxis in Atlantic City - and city officials are ignoring the problem," by staff reporters Emily Previti and Michael Clark.

"Unlicensed taxis have long operated in Atlantic City," Previti and Clark reported in the article. "But the extent of the practice has grown during the past two years."

Previti and Clark quoted Yellow Cab Co. owner Paul Rosenberg, who blamed lax enforcement.

"The number of illegal cars out there has expanded," Rosenberg told Previti and Clark. "You combine that with what everybody knows is a slumping economy here in Atlantic City, and the drivers are feeling the pressure."

At a June 7 Town Hall meeting held in Toms River, one of those taxi owners asked Governor Chris Christie for his help.

"What can I do to save my business?" he asked the governor.

Christie said that if local officials would not enforce local ordinance, the man should contact the state tourism department.

On November 22, a reporter for NJ News & Views sent Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak an e-mail request for comment.

"Earlier this year, I attended the governor's town hall meeting in Toms River," the reporter wrote Drewniak. "One member of the public told the governor during the meeting that illegal taxi services in Atlantic City were stealing his business and that local officials were doing nothing about it."

The reporter told Drewniak that small business owners operating taxi and limo services in Lakewood had discussed the same concerns and received the same lack of response from local officials in that township. The reporter said that public officials in Lakewood attributed the lack of enforcement to a lack of police manpower.

"Does Governor Christie support protecting these Mom and Pop businesses that pay state taxes by authorizing state troopers to assist in enforcing local ordinance that regulates transportation services?" the reporter asked.

The reporter also sent a November 22 e-mail request for comment to Lichtenstein.

In the e-mail, the reporter informed Lichtenstein that Matvienko and Iannarone had confirmed in separate interviews meeting with him in April to discuss their concerns regarding illegal transportation services operating in town.

The reporter also told Lichtenstein that the two business owners said he did not support increasing fines for unregistered transportation services that did not have a municipal license or proper insurance.

"Do you support increasing fines from $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for the second offense or do you support keeping the fines at the same amount they are now?" the reporter asked.

The reporter also asked Lichtenstein the same question NJ News & Views submitted to the governor's spokesman for comment.

"Several public officials, including the Lakewood Chief of Police, have said or indicated the township does not have the manpower to enforce its ordinances regulating illegal transportation services," the reporter said. "As committee liaison to the Lakewood Police Department, do you support asking state police for their assistance?"

Neither Drewniak nor Lichtenstein responded for comment.

Despite Miller's assertion that he never ignored Gindoff's attempts to contact him, he did not respond to a February 15 memorandum Gindoff addressed to the mayor regarding a proposed municipal parking garage, according to 2011 correspondence requested through OPRA.

The board's January meeting was canceled due to inclement weather.

Board members proposed sending another letter to the mayor at their February 23 meeting, according to meeting minutes.

In a March 10 memorandum sent to the mayor and copied to the township manager and Akerman, Gindoff again asked for a meeting with Miller.

"The Transportation Board has sent to the mayor in the past(,) both yourself and (2010) Mayor (Steven) Langert(,) several letters (see attached)," Gindoff wrote.

During 2010, Langert attended only one meeting of the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board. He was accompanied by township attorney Jan Wouters.

"We as a board feel that if we can discuss with you the vision that you may have for what this board should be focusing on, it would give us a certain direction and a boost," Gindoff continued. "I am available to meet with you on any afternoon. Please contact me."

Gindoff also referenced the continued absence of members appointed to the board.

"There are several Board members that are not showing up for meetings for several months," he wrote. "I would like to know what type of recourse we have to replace these members with more active residents."

Gindoff also told the mayor there was an ongoing problem of illegal transportation services stealing business from legal transportation services registered in Lakewood.

"One of the largest complaints in Lakewood is the gypsy cab problem," Gindoff wrote Miller. "We have several legitimate owners that show up to our meetings and they feel that we as a Board do not help them in any way. We would like to know if we could get from the Court System a list of summonses issued to gypsy cabs over the past several years."

Gindoff invited Miller to attend the March 23 meeting, which was not held due to lack of a quorum.

Akerman, who attended the board's April 27 meeting, said he would speak to the mayor and try to have him attend a board meeting.

The board's May 25 meeting was not held due to lack of a quorum. Board meeting minutes reporting the lack of a quorum also reported Garfield's resignation.

The June 22 board meeting was reportedly canceled due to inclement weather.

Board meetings were not held in July or August.

The September 28 meeting was reportedly canceled due to observance of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

Akerman attended the October 26 meeting, which was not held due to lack of a quorum.

In an October 27 memo sent to the mayor, board Secretary Stazko informed Miller that Gindoff had resigned the night before. Although no official board meeting was held in October, Gindoff appointed Hibberson as Acting Chairman, Stazko told Miller.

Since his appointment as mayor in January, Miller has never attended a meeting of the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board, which has had a quorum just twice during 2011.

On June 7, New Jersey's top official offered his solution to the problem of government malaise during the question and answer forum of the Toms River Town Hall meeting.

"What can we do if we're not into politics?" asked a man wearing a tee shirt and running shorts with blinking LED lights sewn into the fabric.

"This is not a spectator sport," Christie responded. "The only way to (effect change) is by (turning out to vote). (Elected officials) are afraid of you. You gotta send (them) a message. Holding hands and singing 'Koombaya' is not how change happens. Everybody has to find a way to make a change (and) its not by (standing on the sidelines)."