NJ News & Views

[Editor's Note: On December 15 and 16, 2009, this story was edited for style, content and accuracy.]

On October 12, 2009, Lakewood motorists Janice L. Rivera and Nicole Nehmad each made an error in judgment.

So did Lakewood police, who failed to issue a ticket to either woman involved in the resulting traffic accident.

Two months later, the owner of private property damaged in the accident is still waiting for insurance reimbursement to fix it.

According to a police report NJ News & Views obtained through the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), the 22-year-old Rivera, driving a 2000 red 4-door Lincoln sedan, attempted to make a left-hand turn out of the TD Bank parking lot onto the eastbound lane of East County Line Road.

The TD Bank is located on Route 9 north.

Route 9 divides West County Line Road and East County Line Road.

The posted speed limit on East County Line Road is 40 miles per hour.

Rivera told the responding Lakewood police officer that she attempted the turn after another driver heading westbound on East County Line Road stopped to let her by. According to Rivera, Nehmad "came out of nowhere" and struck her vehicle.

Nehmad, 26, was driving a leased 2009 silver Honda wagon. Her 4-year-old daughter Adina and 10-month-old daughter Reena were passengers in the vehicle. Nehmad told police that she entered the left-hand turning lane when she observed Rivera pull out in front of her car.

According to the police report and its diagram, the right front end of Nehmad's Honda struck the left front end of Rivera's Lincoln.

Nehmad did not stop after striking Rivera's vehicle. Instead, her Honda wagon continued moving diagonally into the opposite lane of traffic on County Line Road, hit the curb, knocked down a "NO STOPPING OR STANDING" sign, and continued into Woodlawn Cemetery, knocking down an approximately 20-foot section of chain link fence and a metal stanchion holding it up. Nehmad did not stop until she hit a concrete headstone marking the grave of Roy E. Seeds and cracked it, according to police.

Roy E. Seeds was born in 1902 and died in 1965 at the age of 63. His wife, Lillian A. Seeds, born 1906, died 1956, is also buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. She was 50 years old at the time of her death.

An online report by Dunn & Bradstreet stated that Woodlawn Cemetery has been in operation for 124 years. Dunn & Bradstreet reported the cemetery's annual sales at $84,000.

Two months after Nehmad trespassed onto cemetery grounds, the damaged section of chain link fence she took down lies rusting on the ground beneath a multi-colored blanket of autumn leaves. It cannot be reattached to the only upright metal stanchion that Nehmad's vehicle bent in two.

The chill autumn air has hardened rutted tire tracks formed across several graves by Nehmad's car and the tow truck that removed it.

A reporter for NJ News & Views did not find the cracked headstone that police reported marked the grave of Roy E. Seeds.

A secretary for the cemetery, who said she and her husband worked there, disputed the police report description of the Seeds headstone, which she said was actually a marker.

The reporter did not see a marker or a headstone for either Seeds' grave during a December visit to the cemetery.

While the police report's diagram did not include a drawing of the vehicle Rivera said stopped for her, it did indicate that the left-turn lane Nehmad was attempting to enter was located beyond the bank driveway Rivera was exiting. In order to enter the left turn lane onto Route 9 south, Nehmad would have had to go around the vehicle that Rivera said had stopped to let her make a left-hand turn onto County Line Road east.

The reporter asked Joe Barina of Barina's Automotive Service, which towed Rivera's car from the accident scene, whether Nehmad may have been distracted before the accident in order to lose control of her vehicle after it.

Barina, whose company is an official tow service used by the township police, said yes.

Chief Robert Lawson responded to a request for comment.

Lawson defended the responding officer's decision not to issue a ticket to Rivera for an improper left turn or to Nehmad for careless driving under New Jersey Permanent Statute Title 39 Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation, which he said permitted an officer to use discretion in deciding whether or not to ticket a vehicle.

Public policy is costing taxpayer dollars, while failing to ensure public safety.

Lakewood Township earns money from the traffic tickets it issues. Careless driving carries a 2-point penalty on a driver's license and can result in a fine estimated at $85-$200. While the responding officer designated in box 118a of the police report that Rivera made an improper left-hand turn, he did not use a code attributing any liability to Nehmad in box 119a.

The omission may be delaying repair of private property damage at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Lawson confirmed that the police report can be entered into evidence in a court of law. If insurance carriers representing Rivera and Nehmad are disputing the police report, which assigned responsibility to Rivera for damage caused by Nehmad, the cemetery board of trustees may not receive a check to cover the repairs until the dispute is resolved through litigation between the two insurance companies.

For years, Lakewood police also failed to ticket any of the illegal taxis that sources told NJ News & Views are earning revenue through the sale of illegal drugs and prostitution, not just unregistered transportation services.

Although the Lakewood Police Department does not employ any Orthodox police officers that have graduated from an accredited police academy, Lawson insisted his department conducted an undercover sting of Orthodox taxi services listed in a community telephone directory sponsored by Abraham Ostreicher, President of the Lakewood Board of Education. Lawson said the sting was unsuccessful because advertised taxi operators received advance notification of the police undercover operation.

In August 2008, committeemen adopted an ordinance giving all volunteer police chaplains the rank and authority of captain, including Usher Feiner, accused in 2005 and 2009 of ticket fixing; Abraham Muller, a businessman also appointed to the Lakewood Development Corporation (LDC), which approves funding for the hire of police officers that patrol the township's Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ); and Yisroel Schenkolewski, a member of the Vaad.

The Vaad is a political interest group that makes endorsements for elected office. Because the Vaad can coerce a large bloc of Orthodox Jews to elect endorsed candidates, the Vaad is also an influential government lobbyist.

Lawson said the sting was also unsuccessful in netting any of the illegal taxi services operated by Spanish-speaking owners.

A reporter asked why police did not flag the motor vehicle record of Benny Perez, a former registered Lakewood taxi owner that sold his business in 2008 to Clasene Joseph, then went into business against him as a non-registered taxi service.

According to a March 2009 police report, Perez was driving a vehicle that struck a taxi owned by Joseph. Perez was unable to provide proof of automotive insurance to police, who reported that passengers in both cars were injured in the accident.

Several weeks later, police reported that Perez was involved in another accident, but failed to question any passengers in the car that might have led them to issue Perez a ticket for operation of an illegal taxi service.

The reporter asked Lawson how many tickets the township issued to illegal taxi services in Lakewood in 2009. Lawson said the reporter's request would involve research he was not required to perform under OPRA.

Earlier this year, the reporter made an OPRA request for all tickets issued in Lakewood for operation of an illegal taxi service during 2009.

Under township ordinance, violators must pay a fine of $500 if found guilty of operating an illegal taxi service.

Township officials said they were unable to respond to the OPRA request without more specific details.

Members of the Lakewood Transportation and Safety Board have said they would also like to know the answer to that question, particularly since the township committee approved first reading of an ordinance in July to raise legal taxi operators' fees from $50 to $75 without first consulting the board as they are required to do.

Committeemen killed the proposed ordinance on second reading at their December 10 meeting. They have asked the Transportation Board to submit their recommendation to revise the ordinance next year. The changes could drive legal taxi owners out of business, according to a list of proposed changes discussed at the September 23 meeting of the Transportation Board.

The board also advises the township committee on regulation of Lakewood tow services.

Committeemen approved a resolution at their November 19 meeting appointing official towing services used by township police to remove vehicles involved in accidents that are obstructing traffic.

All-the-Way towing, which removed Nehmad's vehicle from Woodlawn Cemetery, was not on the list.

Neither was Yitzy's towing, a Howell automotive service listed in Ostreicher's telephone directory, which recently submitted a request to be an official Lakewood police tow service, according to a discussion at the December 9 Transportation Board meeting.

A reporter asked Lakewood Township Clerk Mary Ann Del Mastro if Yitzy's Automotive had submitted any of the required documentation that other Lakewood tow services had to provide, including a mercantile license that generates a fee of $125 each to the township.

Del Mastro said no.

She said the company listed its Lakewood address at 206 Main Street (Route 88).

On December 12, the reporter drove past the residential home that now is operated as a commercial business building at the address, but did not see any tow trucks, an automotive repair garage or a fenced parking lot large enough to impound vehicles towed there.

While traveling on New Hampshire Avenue, the reporter observed an El Mercado grocery truck in the adjacent lane. The company advertised its address at 206 Main Street on the side of the vehicle.

206 Main Street is located in the Franklin Street Redevelopment project, which is being funded through the township's UEZ program.

The state designated Lakewood a UEZ municipality in 1993.

UEZ funds are generated through a reduced sales tax collected by UEZ members and by interest earned on loans to qualified businesses.

Since 1994, the LDC has not made any loans to qualified businesses to generate UEZ funds, according to a discussion at the December 1 LDC meeting.

Barina Automotive is a UEZ member authorized to collect a reduced sales tax of 3.5 cents per $1.00 in goods and services sold.

Since the state reauthorized the Lakewood UEZ program for another 16 years, effective November 2009, the township will receive all 3.5 cents on each dollar paid to Barina for the first 4-year cycle of the program.

Despite reauthorization of the program, Barina is not benefiting from it.

Barina said this year he and another tow company owner spent $10,000 in legal fees to hire an attorney to write an ordinance for committee review and adoption that would protect their business from non-resident tow companies that cruise Lakewood to reach the scene of accidents first.

Lakewood police, overwhelmed by an increase in the number of motor vehicle accidents on many of the township's undersized roads, say they cannot wait to have registered tow companies respond to each call for service.

Lakewood roads are not only dangerous for motor vehicles to travel, but also for pedestrians. Instead of ensuring the safety of those pedestrians by using Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) or bonding to install sidewalks on sections of County Line Road, Route 88 or Lanes Mill Road where new developments are undergoing build-out and street lighting is insufficient to illuminate them, committeemen recently approved installation of sidewalks at Lake Carasaljo.

The area is located near Beth Medrash Govoha, a Lakewood business owned by Aaron Kotler, another member of the Vaad.

At the November 19 committee meeting, committeemen bonded a total of $1,774,846 for three capital improvement projects that included $1,255,510 for replacement equipment for the township Public Works Department. For far less, the committee could instead ensure public safety by requiring all commercial and residential developers to install sidewalks on both sides of the street so that residents can safely reach their destinations.

Committee members can also require developers to install other public safety measures instead of passing on their cost to taxpayers.

On December 10, committeemen announced they had agreed to pay for installation of fencing on private property at Westgate, a mixed-use development still undergoing build-out at the township's border with Jackson. The fencing will be installed at an undisclosed cost to taxpayers around a detention/retention basin that will not drain.

One month earlier, the state Urban Enterprise Zone Authority (UEZA), which administers the UEZ program in designated municipalities, approved Lakewood's request to modify its UEZ boundaries. According to a discussion at the December 1 LDC meeting, an area of Westgate will now be included in the zone. As a result, committeemen may be using UEZ funds generated by a reduced state sales tax to install fencing around private property located there.

In 2007, residents of Westgate publicly asked committeemen to mediate their concern over the lack of fencing around the basins with Westgate developer Daniel Rottenberg. Residents said their children were using the basin as a lake for recreational activities they feared would cause them harm.

When the Westgate development application was heard in 1995, members of the Lakewood Zoning Board of Adjustment did not require the applicant to submit an environmental impact statement or to fence off the proposed basins on the development, according to meeting minutes. Since Rottenberg has refused to assume the cost of basin fencing that would ensure the safety of children playing in his development, all New Jersey taxpayers will have to subsidize its cost.

Some government officials seek to ensure public safety at a minimum of public cost.

Last year, attorney Tim Nelson of Phoenix, Arizona discussed his campaign for Maricopa County prosecutor with reporter Yvonne Wingett of the Arizona Republic newspaper.

Wingett interviewed Nelson one month before the September 2, 2008 Democratic Primary, which Nelson won.

Nelson reportedly based his campaign on promoting public safety.

"I have what it takes to make things better," Nelson said in a quote from the August 7, 2008 article. "It's public safety first. You need to make every decision about allocating our resources - money, personnel - based on whether or not you're improving public safety. If you start focusing on political ideology...you're not serving the people well."