JACKSON – Mayor Michael Reina is defending the township’s recent enforcement of an ordinance whose purpose is to keep Jackson’s streets clear of obstructions.
The municipal law states that “no person shall encumber or obstruct any street or public place with any article or thing whatsoever.”
During a Township Council meeting in August, several residents spoke about how municipal officials have stepped up their enforcement of that law.
In a subsequent interview, Reina said complaints regarding situations that are addressed in the municipal code often stem from disputes between neighbors.
“The (obstruction) ordinance has always been enforced, the uptick (in enforcement) had nothing to do with an eruv or basketball nets. It had everything to do with things in the right of way,” Reina said.
An eruv is an area enclosed by a wire boundary that symbolically extends the private domain of Jewish households into public areas and permits activities that are forbidden from taking place in public on the Sabbath to take place in that delineated area.
Several residents who spoke at the August council meeting asked if the presence of portable basketball hoops in the street and the possible creation of an eruv in Jackson was what was leading to the increased enforcement of the ordinance in question.
One resident said he thought the stepped-up enforcement was a way that municipal officials were seeking to stop the creation of an eruv in the community.
Reina said any assertions that the township’s enforcement of the obstruction ordinance had anything to do with religion was “bogus.” He said all of Jackson’s ordinances are enforced equally.
“They are barking up the wrong tree, we embrace all religions,” he said.
Reina said there have been more calls about portable basketball hoops being placed in Jackson’s streets than anything else.
“You have changing neighborhoods where people are moving in and they do not want a ball bouncing into their car, they do not want a skateboard constantly going underneath their vehicle,” he said.
According to the mayor, 350 violations of the obstruction ordinance were issued in July. He said the ordinance is not new, but he said the number of complaints is rising.
Reina said no fines for an obstruction have been issued, just a notice of violation, which is essentially a warning. He said no one is being targeted for a basketball hoop, a soccer net, a skateboard ramp or an eruv. He said it is a matter of the ordinance being enforced.
“We are not doing anything other than our jobs,” the mayor said. “Most of the basketball hoops are portable. You roll them right back in your driveway and put them out when you want to play with them. Who is going to bother you? Nobody is going to bother you for stuff like that, but anything permanently fixed in the right of way unfortunately has to come down.
“It is a simple process. We do not want to cause any hardship on anybody, especially monetary, but by the same token I am legally obligated to enforce the ordinance. If the council members wish to change the ordinance it would be of their doing,” Reina said. “We are doing exactly what the council and residents asked us to do, stepping up code enforcement.”