Plan to move in family concerns neighborhood

Plan to move in family
concerns neighborhood

Crestwood Dr. home may

house brothers with

mental disabilities

BY CLARE MARIE CELANO

Staff Writer

FREEHOLD — The Welcome Wagon will most likely not be greeting the prospective residents of 6 Crestwood Drive — at least not according to some residents in the neighborhood.

More than 100 residents showed up at a Sept. 17 special meeting scheduled by borough officials. The residents came to voice their concerns and to vent their frustrations about the new residents who are expected to move into the neighborhood in the area of the Monmouth County Court House.

The meeting at Borough Hall focused on the issue of three lifelong borough residents who, under the guidance of Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSP), Spring Street, may be moved into a home at 6 Crestwood Drive. The brothers are Joseph, 48, Michael, 41, and Paul Craig, 40.

For the past seven years, the brothers have been under the auspices of CSP, an agency that places adults with mental disabilities in unsupervised homes of their own. The brothers have been living at another location in the borough.

The public meeting was scheduled in response to fliers that were printed by residents of the neighborhood and calls that were being made to borough officials and CSP by residents expressing their concern over the plan. The residents indicated their frustration at borough officials and at CSP for failing to inform them of the plan.

Residents expressed concern about the safety of neighborhood children; about the possibility that the prospective residents might have behavioral problems; about property values decreasing; and about the tax burden residents say will be placed upon them when yet another nonprofit property will call Freehold Borough home.

Mayor Michael Wilson and Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins presided over the meeting. Councilman Kevin Kane, Councilman Robert Crawford, Police Chief Michael Beierschmitt and Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina were also in attendance.

Mark Duffy, director of staff development at CSP, addressed residents and gave a presentation about the agency and the work it does. He also outlined the criteria CSP employs to accept clients.

Duffy explained that CSP provides permanent housing for adults who are responsible enough to handle living independent lives, but who may need a little help with things like transportation, job training and social support. Residents in the program live unsuper­vised because, according to Duffy, they are able to do so. He added that coun­selors from CSP are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support clients whenever necessary.

The agency helps residents in need in their own community, because according to the director, it works better that way. Residents do well in a familiar environ­ment, where they feel comfortable, and in the case of the three prospective Crestwood Avenue residents, the bor­ough has been their community all their lives, he said.

Duffy said clients are usually placed in permanent housing that is two or three blocks from a town center because many clients do not drive, and of those who do, many do not own their own cars.

Duffy said clients must be self-reliant and able to take care of daily activities such as cooking and cleaning. As far as home maintenance and lawn care are concerned, the agency has a property manager on staff who tends to those ar­eas. Duffy added that after an evalua­tion, if a client does not meet the criteria set forth by CSP, he is referred to a more appropriate agency. He added that if at any time, a client’s level of care and support increases, he, too, will be re­ferred out of the program to someone who is able to help him.

Duffy said his clients are "good neigh­bors" and that they are not "problematic."

"They have no more bad behavior than anyone else has. In fact, you al­ready know more about them than you know about anyone else who could move into your neighborhood," he said. "I’m very close to these guys. They live here now and they would like to stay in the town they grew up in."

Some residents expressed concern about the possibility that the people moving in might have a history of crimi­nal behavior.

Patty Holland, director of community development for CSP, said criminal background checks are completed on all clients, sometimes more than once, just to be certain. She said CSP never takes on any client who has a criminal past.

Other residents worried that if the brothers ever move out of the house, the neighbors will have to worry all over again about new CSP clients moving in.

Voices in the crowd could be heard saying, "Put them somewhere else."

Bill Taylor of Crestwood Drive ac­knowledged that Duffy believed he was doing what was in the best interest for his clients.

"But what about what’s in the best in­terest for the neighborhood?" Taylor asked. "We just heard about this a little over a week ago and it has created a furor on Sunday morning in the neigh­borhood. We would have been better served if you had given us notice. Why not put them in the Rug Mill [Towers]? Why put them in a neighborhood where they will be ostracized?"

Other residents commented that the Craig brothers might be better served in a rental property.

Duffy explained that renting property is more expensive in the long run. Some residents did not accept his explanation.

"Who is going to buy the house across the street from them?" asked Frank Messina of Monument Street. "You’re spending $300,000 for this home. Why not let them live in a lower income neighborhood? They’re not going to fit in here. It’s disgraceful."

Other residents expressed dissatisfac­tion that another borough property will be taken off the town’s tax rolls.

Pete DeFonzo of Birch Drive told Duffy, "Anything that you don’t pay, I pay. This is one less property we’ll get taxes from."

Duffy said the Craig brothers had heard that the people on Crestwood Drive were upset about their move to the neighborhood. He said their reaction was "devastation."

"They’re like big teddy bears," he said.

He told residents who were concerned about their children’s safety that no client at CSP has ever had a problem with a child in their neighborhood. He said the agency will not work with any­one who would be a threat to children. He said he has parties at his home and has no trouble trusting his clients in the presence of his children.

Wilson asked Duffy, "Do you feel in your heart that you are doing your clients a disservice by placing them in a neighborhood where the residents are upset about their presence?"

Duffy said, "All our concerns go away once people move in. In all our 280 homes, no one has had problems. All the problems occur in this phase of the plan­ning."

Some residents asked why the Craig brothers were not at that evening’s meeting.

Duffy said he would be willing to in­troduce them to residents of the neigh­borhood in a small group setting, but said he would not have them intimidated by a large crowd.