Rug Mill apartment owners,
residents discuss concerns
By clare MARie celano
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — The developers/owners of the Rug Mill Towers met with senior residents of the Jackson Street apartment building on May 13 to discuss what residents claim are ongoing problems in the building.
Depending on who is reporting on the closed meeting, it was either successful and productive or something completely different.
Building owners Matthew Gallagher and Gary Ickowicz attended the meeting as did representatives of the building’s new management company, Interstate Realty Management, of Marlton, Senior Vice President Sandy Citollone and District Property Manager Diane Wersler.
According to Gallagher, the main issues discussed were parking and security.
Gallagher told the News Transcript he was pleased with the turnout of 50 residents. He said he thought the meeting went "very well" and that only one or two people addressed various complaints. He added that at least 10 to 15 people came up to him to tell him how much they enjoy living in the building.
He said he and the management team are working with the Borough Council to try and resolve the security issues.
"We will work together to find a solution to the security problem," Gallagher said, adding that he’d received complaints from residents that they do not feel safe.
Parking was another issue Gallagher said he addressed. He said the owners will add 12 handicapped parking spaces to accommodate senior citizens who need parking closer to the building.
When asked if issues such as heating and leaky windows — concerns that residents mentioned at the council meetings — were brought up, Gallagher said that "only a couple of people brought up the heat and that is being addressed by the code enforcer’s office."
In regards to the issue of leaky windows, Gallagher said it was difficult to deal with the size of the window opening in the building. The openings are very large and in order to have the design of the building remain in keeping with its historic background, the windows had to be installed the way they were.
Gallagher said he was pleased with the meeting in general but added that he was upset because the residents were giving what he called "unsubstantiated allegations." He also said he did not believe it was right that the residents "bypassed the owners and management and took their problems to the Borough Council and ranted and raved at the meetings."
Gloria Barron, a resident of the Rug Mill Towers and spokesperson for the group of seniors who had appeared at recent council meetings, told the News Transcript that in her view, the May 13 meeting with the owners was "rhetoric, rhetoric, rhetoric."
"It’s the same thing we have heard over and over and over again. It’s not working," Barron said.
She said the private meeting was a "total waste" and said that "the owners think we’re all ignorant and that we don’t know what’s going on." She said residents only want to hear that the owners understand the problems and are going to correct them.
Freehold Borough Councilman Robert Crawford attended the May 13 meeting and said the main concerns expressed by the residents in attendance centered on the security issues and the availability of handicapped parking spots. He described the residents as being "very vocal in their concerns, and rightfully so."
Crawford said the representatives of the management company noted that they had recently taken over the job of operating the building and asked the residents to give them a chance to correct the situation.