building owner say they
will address concerns
Freehold officials,
building owner say they
will address concerns
By clare marie celano
Staff Writer
Gloria Barron is asking Freehold Borough officials to address residents’ concerns at the Rug Mill Towers.
A vision created long ago has come to fruition, but not without growing pains.
The plan that turned an urban blight into a modern affordable housing complex is having more than its fair share of problems, according to residents.
The Rug Mill Towers, built in the former A&M Karagheusian rug mill at Center and Jackson streets, Freehold Borough, is plagued with problems, residents told the Borough Council at a recent meeting.
Residents in attendance at the council’s April 21 meeting complained of problems with the apartment building’s heating and ventilation system, a lack of heat in their bathrooms, difficulties with security and leaky walls and windows, among other concerns.
FARRAH MAFFAI The former A&M Karagheusian rug mill in Freehold Borough has been converted into an apartment building, but not without some growing pains, residents claim.
By the end of the week, municipal officials reported that a meeting involving the Rug Mill Towers owners, the borough’s code enforcement officer and other interested parties had been held and the issues were being addressed.
Matthew Gallagher, one of the Rug Mill Towers developers/owners, spoke with the News Transcript on Monday.
"We heard the allegations at the meeting, which came as a complete shock to us," Gallagher said. "We are going to have a meeting with the residents later this week and look into all of their complaints. We want them to feel good about living in the Rug Mill Towers."
Gallagher said he thought living conditions at the apartment building were good and was surprised to hear what the residents told the mayor and council.
He noted that a new management company was hired in February. He said the building owners will address the residents’ concerns that have been presented to municipal officials.
At the council meeting, Gloria Barron, the spokeswoman for the group of seniors who live in the apartment complex, told council members that she and her neighbors came to appeal to the mayor and council "one more time."
She told municipal officials that the Rug Mill Towers has "filthy, deplorable conditions," security problems, heating and cooling issues, leaky windows and a host of other difficulties that make the lives of the people who reside there very uncomfortable.
Barron brought along a laundry list of problems to present to the council, documentation that she said took her hours to prepare.
Resident Joel Meyer told council members his apartment was built with "poor workmanship" and had leaks in the walls and no window screens installed. He also expressed concern over the security that he thought was going to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Resident Anna Morgan said it was her understanding that there was to be an on-site security guard all the time.
"Since Feb. 27, we have had no security, because the owners think that now that the police are in our building, we don’t need any additional security," Morgan said, referring to the Freehold Borough Police Department’s move into its new headquarters in the Rug Mill Towers.
Morgan said that when she questioned the management about her security concerns she was told, "You don’t need security now."
That’s not how residents of the complex feel, at least on the senior side. The building also houses affordable apartments for families, the police department headquarters, a YMCA Community Center and the offices of state Sen. John O. Bennett III.
Two female residents of the Rug Mill Towers who came to the April 21 council meeting claimed they had been "attacked" on two separate occasions, although neither of them reported these incidents to the police.
Residents said there are no alarms on the doors and many ways for a person who doesn’t belong in the building to get inside.
The residents told council members there are cars parked constantly in the circular driveway in front of the building and said some people are afraid to walk through the area.
Morgan brought a petition with more than 30 residents’ signatures, attesting to the issues cited at the council meeting. She said she had two additional sign-up sheets hung in the laundry room but they were stolen.
"We’re like prisoners in our own apartment," she added.
Other issues brought to the meeting by residents included a lack of parking, heat which either keeps residents too hot or freezing in the winter.
One resident told Mayor Michael Wilson that her heating bill, which averages about $15 a month, had increased to $129 in the winter months due to the space heater she purchased to keep her apartment warm.
Residents also worry about coming in late at night, especially when they have to park so far away from the building. Not getting a space close by for those who have difficulty walking, in addition to dim lighting, along with the lack of security has residents worried, frustrated and more than a little angry. Complaints about the way the on-site manager treats the residents was also a common complaint from those who attended the meeting.
"Every promise management has made to us has been broken," Morgan said, adding that the management has changed several times, and with each change, something originally promised has been taken away.
Wilson told Barron council members would review all the documents and do whatever was necessary to resolve the issues.
"We’ve heard that before," Barron answered. "Can’t I present the information I’ve given you now?"
"We all need to review this information in order to come up with a plan. We can’t just hash it out here tonight," Wilson said.
Councilman Michael DiBenedetto told Barron to give the council adequate time to review the packet.
"You told us it took you hours to prepare these papers. Give us the same amount of time," DiBenedetto said. "Let us go over these papers for hours as well so we can make an informed decision."
Barron requested permission to read a letter she had recently sent to Gov. James E. McGreevey. In the letter, Barron reviewed the concerns and complaints of the group, writing that she was in a "state of despair."
Baron, 70, informed the governor that the problems were "unbelievable" and that seniors were being treated "very poorly." She added in the letter that because she could not reach anyone to voice her concerns to, she felt that this was "emotional and physical abuse" of seniors.
After reading the letter, Barron told Wilson, "You’d better do something quickly and spare yourselves embarrassment when the governor makes his response known."
She said McGreevey had given her a "wonderful" response and added that the "wheels are already in motion."
Barron declined to tell the News Transcript what the governor’s response was to her letter.
Council President Sharon Shutzer, appointed by the governing body as the liaison for the council on aging, told Barron she was "perplexed" because she was unaware that the concerns had not been addressed and resolved.
Shutzer told Barron she had given "hours and hours" of time to this matter and that she "resented the accusations" leveled by Barron that the mayor and council had not responded to the residents’ appeals before.
"You have the sympathy of no one more than me," she said.
Shutzer said she had met with the owners of the complex as well as the management company, the chief of police and Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina at least three times before to discuss the concerns. Numerous phone calls, many letters and meetings had taken place and have all been recorded in a log she keeps.
"I’ve worked very hard on this project and I have brought the information back to mayor and council. The mayor gave me free reign to speak to whomever I needed to. I have been in touch with everyone I know to be in touch with," she said.
Shutzer, who has monthly meetings with borough seniors, said she had not seen any of the seniors who reside at the rug mill complex at her monthly meetings for awhile, and therefore thought that things had improved.
She added that several seniors told her that although things were not perfect they were "slowly improving."
Shutzer pledged to the group to do everything in her power to get the issues resolved.
"I am a compassionate hard worker and I won’t have these things thrown at me," Shutzer said. "I will not allow mayor and council, who have trusted me and trusted my reports, to have the threat of embarrassment thrown at them. If you need to blame anyone, blame me."
DiBenedetto again asked for time and told the group that, "When Mrs. Shutzer puts both feet in the ring, look out."
In a subsequent conversation, Shutzer said she had been "dumfounded" and "blindsided" while listening to the reports of the difficulties expressed by the seniors at the Rug Mill Towers.
She said a special meeting was held on April 24 to discuss the residents concerns. In attendance was Shutzer, the owners of the Rug Mill Towers and representatives from the management company. Also attending were Bellina, code enforcer Hank Stryker and Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins.
According to Shutzer, the owners and the management company have scheduled a meeting to devise a plan to address all the concerns of the residents.