Judge tosses RICO portion of Connolly Properties lawsuit

The racketeering lawsuit against Plainfield-based Connolly Properties reached a climactic juncture yesterday with the dismissal by federal judge William J. Martini of the RICO portion of the case.

Both the Courier's Plainfield reporter Mark Spivey (see here) and the Ledger's Joe Ryan (see here) cover the story in today's editions.

In an email to Flor Gonzalez of the Latin American Coalition, Jose L. Perez, associate general counsel of LatinoJustice, cited Martini's ruling that the --

"...crux of plaintiff's argument is that renting apartments to illegal aliens constitutes racketeering activity because it constitutes harboring, encouraging, or inducing an illegal allien in violation of the INA (Immigration and Naturalization Act). However, no court in this Circuit or any other has ever found this to be the case. Without more, renting an apartment to an alien does not amount to harboring, encouraging or inducing. Thus plaintiff has not alleged a pattern of racketeering activity and the RICO claim can not survive the motion to dismiss..."

As far as I know, this leaves the matter of 'steering' tenants to specific properties unsettled. In a conversation I had with Mr. Perez early last month, it seemed that the allegation that Connolly Properties maintained segregated buildings, with African Americans in some buildings and Hispanics in others, was a portion of the case that might proceed independently of the RICO allegations under federal and state Fair Housing laws.

Additionally, complaints about alleged decrepit conditions in Connolly properties are matters that properly belong to the City's inspections division, though Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' shutdown of the Safe Housing Unit which was responsible for monitoring and correcting just such conditions leaves the Division without the resources to properly monitor and correct any problems.

Because the Plainfield case is part of a tactic that FAIR says it plans to use elsewhere, I am appending a complete list of links on the matter at the end of this post.

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• Courier: "Judge tosses lawsuit on legality of renting to illegal immigrants"
  
• Ledger: "Federal judge dismisses immigrant housing lawsuit"
  
• Alipac | 6/05/08: "IRLI sues NJ landlord for renting to illegals, discrimination"
• Docket Info: "DelRio-Mocci et al v. Connolly Properties Inc. et al"
  
• Ledger | 6/21/08: "NJ immigration lawsuit employs racketeering laws"
• NY Times | 6/22/08: "Group Wields Racketeering Law Against Landlords"
• Courier | 8/31/08: "Plainfield Hispanic-rights group hires lawyers in immigration suit"
• Courier | 9/29/08: "Motion filed to dismiss renting lawsuit over Connolly Properties"
• Courier | 10/7/08: "Lawsuit against Connolly becomes civil rights battle"
  

-- Dan Damon

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Home intrusion throws spotlight on Plainfield's illegal apartments -- again.

A tenant in the 200-block of East 9th Street fought off three intruders Wednesday night, according to reports in today's Courier (see here) and Ledger (see here).

But the thing that literally leapt off the page was the following (from the Courier version) --

Police responded to a 911 call for a fight in a basement apartment on the 200 block of East Ninth Street shortly before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. The incident began when three men entered an unlocked common side door and knocked on the victim's basement door...[emphasis added]

I have ranted about illegal apartments before, but mostly in the context of revelations brought out by fires that leave the affected tenants homeless.

But here we have a case of home invasion (the second in as many months).

Early in its term, the Robinson-Briggs administration bowed to pressure from real estate investors and multi-family owners and abandoned the city's anti-overcrowding 'Safe Homes' initiative.

As I noted in January 2007 --

Under Mayor McWilliams, Plainfield adopted [a] 'Safe Homes' initiative aimed at inspecting rental units throughout the city and attempting to root out overcrowding -- conditions which pose a threat to the health and safety of tenants, although VERY HEALTHY to the landlord's bottom line...

Inspection professionals refer to purposeful overcrowding as 'stacking', and if you read between the lines of the sales prices and neighborhoods in the Friday real estate section, you can begin to get an idea of what might be going on to make the presumptive mortgage payments. Stacking can generate MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS PER WEEK TO LANDLORDS where running unchecked.

Though, of course, we're not likely to ever know -- as the Administration abandoned the Safe Homes initiative early in 2006, under pressure from real estate investors and the owners of multi-family properties subject to the scrutiny contemplated by the ordinance.

The net effect, in my opinion, has been an increase -- how dramatic cannot be measured -- in illegal basement apartments and illegal boarding house arrangements.

Part of why we will not know is that the Robinson-Briggs administration is simply not interested in combating overcrowding.

Coincidentally, today's Courier also carries a story of Woodbridge fining the owner of a tiny Oak Tree Road Cape Cod $10,000 for housing 11 immigrants in filthy, unsafe and illegal conditions (see story here).

I had noted before that Woodbridge Mayor 'Mac' McCormac had drawn on the ordinances of several other towns to shape Woodbridge's and had also armed the town's inspectors with computers for quick access to property and inspections records -- as well as setting up a hotline for anonymous tips (see here).

And Mayor Robinson-Briggs?

In 2006, she took away the laptops the Inspections Division used in the field, and disbanded the 'Safe Homes' staff.

Anonymous tip hotline? Dream on.

Thank you, Mayor.

---

• Courier: "Trio sought after home invaded in Plainfield"
  
• Ledger: "Resident fights off three intruders in home"
  
• 1/08/2007: "Illegal basement apartment fire at 127-29 Johnston Ave. leaves 13 homeless"
• 1/29/2007: "Plainfield: Overcrowding? What overcrowding?" -- Fire at 1003 Park Ave. leaves over 30 homeless.
• 8/10/2007: "Illegal apartments: What Woodbridge and Plainfield can learn from each other"
  

-- Dan Damon

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What Woodbridge can learn from Plainfield and vice versa

Woodbridge is on an overcrowding tear. But is the township aware that it may have a lesson to draw from Plainfield?

The New York Times reports that the 'unusual arrangement' of up to six men sharing a house -- plus an unsightly lawn --

"...caught the attention of local housing inspectors, and in May Woodbridge Township cited [the owner] for several violations, including an unauthorized boarding house and an illegal multifamily dwelling. He has until Aug. 16 to resolve the situation, which may mean kicking his workers out.

[His] were among more than 300 notices of violation that the authorities handed out from January through May to homeowners in the 10 communities that make up Woodbridge Township, part of a stepped-up inspection effort the mayor announced last year. Additional inspectors were hired and given computers for quicker access to housing records. A hot line was set up for anonymous complaints. ...

But in a twist to the familiar tales of suburban authorities breaking up illegally subdivided homes crowded with Hispanic day laborers, the mayor’s crackdown here has hit another group of immigrants: middle-class Indians who rent rooms or parts of rooms to Indian students, technology workers and others seeking a first foothold in this country."

Woodbridge Mayor 'Mac' McCormac gave his rationale as --

"You buy a house and you’re a family, you expect families to live around you,” explained John E. McCormac, the mayor of Woodbridge, a central New Jersey township of nearly 100,000 residents. “We’re a community of single-family residential streets. We should stay that way."

The specifics of the complaints seem varied -- the Times cites cases such as ten persons living in a basement apartment and a house being used as an unlicensed day care center -- but just having six unrelated persons living together in a house as cited above may not qualify as overcrowding or an illegal boarding house per se, as Plainfield learned to its chagrin.

In a case that went to the Supreme Court, Plainfield's attempt to shut down The Southern Club was lost when the court ruled that up to six unrelated persons could share rented premises (providing space requirements were met).

The ruling led to years of laxity in enforcement by the city.

While Woodbridge might want to be aware of the Plainfield ruling, Plainfielders might just as well ask why the administration of Mayor Robinson-Briggs is not taking a page from Mayor 'Mac' McCormac, who gave inspectors computers for quicker access to housing records AND set up a hotline for anonymous complaints.

---

New York Times (permalink): "Housing Crackdown Hits Indian Immigrants"

-- Dan Damon

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Would 23 mattresses indicate overcrowding?

At least 23 mattresses were piled curbside for pickup.

Since Plainfield does not officially have an overcrowding problem (see links below), my attention was caught by the scene on Central Avenue on my dawn patrol for the papers Monday morning.

It was not light enough for a good snapshot, so I came back a little later. What I saw was a bulk pickup that took up the entire width of the property at 508 Central Avenue. But what was most eyecatching was the mattresses -- I counted 23 of them.

Checking with the Assessor's office later in the morning, I found that the property is a legal 4-family.

You will note from the picture below that there are SIX mailboxes, one of which has a plastic bag apparently filled with many pieces of mail dangling from it. For yet more residents?

Six mailboxes for a four-family?

One of the other signs that a property may be being used illegally by the owner as an 'enhanced' multi-family or an illegal rooming house is the number of utility meters visible on the outside of the building. Here you see FIVE meters.

Five meters for a four-family?

Lastly, who's watching TV? Sometimes a number of satellite dishes can be spotted, presumably for individual households, that is at variance with the assessor's description. Or, if there is cable service, there may be a thicket of coaxial cables coming in from the street -- again, each presumptive of an individual household. I can count SIX at a minimum in the picture below, but there may be more.

At least six Comcast cable lines come into the house.

So, since we have no overcrowding in Plainfield -- thanks to the Robinson-Briggs' administration's repeal of the 'Safe Homes' initiative -- what are we to make of the evidence before our eyes?

---

Plainfield Today - 4/28/2006: "What ever happened to the 'Safe Homes' initiative?"
Plaintalker - May 2, 2006: "City Council Seeks Repeal Of Anti-Overcrowding Ordinance"

-- Dan Damon

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Plumbing inspection? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Quick! Write this number down: (800) 521-6310.

Store it in a safe place.

A reader's contractor checked with City Hall to schedule a plumbing inspection for a home renovation project that is nearing completion, only to report to the client that there was no telling when the inspection could be scheduled.

What?

The reader checked for themselves and found that there were only TWO problems. First, the computer network in the Inspection Division was down and nobody could say when anything could happen. (Didn't the City just pay $157K to get that part working?)

Second, there would be no plumbing inspections until there was a plumbing inspector.

What?

Seems the plumbing inspector, with more than 20 years experience in Plainfield, had had it up to the eyeballs and quit last week, without notice.

Like most New Jersey communities, Plainfield's plumbing inspector is a part-time position. While there is a steady stream of inspections to perform -- between home improvement projects and new construction -- there is not enough work to keep an inspector employed full-time.

Plumbing inspectors are licensed by the State and most spread their work week around as part-time employees in more than one community.

Plainfield generates, PT is told, between 20 and 25 inspections per week, on a two-day per week inspection schedule.

Like tax collectors and assessors, the world of licensed inspectors is a rather small one, with inspectors knowing each other and the quirks of the communities for which they work. As with any small, artisan-centered trade, the treatment inspectors get figures prominently in the chit-chat in which they engage.

Plainfield has been on a tear in its treatment of inspections personnel since the beginning of the Robinson-Briggs administration in January, 2006. The 'street cred' is near zero. With plenty of work out there for inspectors and Plainfield's reputation as an abusive workplace, the Administration has its work cut out for it in attracting a new inspector.

We'll see how quickly they're able to replace the open inspector's position -- and at what price.

For now -- plumbing inspection? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Meanwhile, that phone number?

It's for Porta-John. Keep it handy. If you're doing or planning a home improvement project you just may need it.

-- Dan Damon

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Overcrowding? What overcrowding?

Overcrowding? What overcrowding?

[After reading this post, you may want to mosey on over to this week's poll and cast your vote (the white box in the right-hand column).]

The Courier led with a front-page story Sunday ("Central Jersey towns consider tougher rules for overcrowding") surveying the concern among Central Jersey towns about overcrowding and the unsafe and unhealthy conditions it spawns. North Plainfield, Raritan Borough and Bound Brook, among others, are mentioned.

As is Plainfield. But our RESCINDED ordinance -- the heart of the abandoned Safe Homes initiative -- gets a backhanded slap ("When initially adopted, some residents felt it unfairly targeted the City's Hispanic population."). No backup to the statement, no quotation from former Mayor Al McWilliams, whose initiative it was, no citation of the 'residents' referred to.

Helpfully, the story includes an online reference to ordinances throughout the state addressing the matter of overcrowding. This is a real resource, citing the text of ordinances -- including Hillside (Dem chair deFilippos' stomping ground), East Orange and others from Allendale to West New York. PT has archived them here.

Under Mayor McWilliams, Plainfield adopted the 'Safe Homes' initiative aimed at inspecting rental units throughout the city and attempting to root out overcrowding -- conditions which pose a threat to the health and safety of tenants, although VERY HEALTHY to the landlord's bottom line. (PT is sure McWilliams would heartily agree with Raritan's Mayor Liptak that such measures are not anti-immigrant, they are 'anti-greedy landlord'.)

Inspection professionals refer to purposeful overcrowding as 'stacking', and if you read between the lines of the sales prices and neighborhoods in the Friday real estate section, you can begin to get an idea of what might be going on to make the presumptive mortgage payments. Stacking can generate MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS PER WEEK TO LANDLORDS where running unchecked.

Though, of course, we're not likely to ever know -- as the Administration abandoned the Safe Homes initiative early in 2006, under pressure from real estate investors and the owners of multi-family properties subject to the scrutiny contemplated by the ordinance.

A fire on Johnston Avenue earlier this month (Courier, Plainfield Today) revealed an ILLEGAL BASEMENT APARTMENT -- a key indicator of overcrowding. We have heard nary a further word about it.

Days ago, a fire at 1003 Park Avenue left more than 30 people homeless(Courier, Plainfield Today, Ledger). Though overcrowding may or may not be an issue in this building, in PT's conversations with residents, he was told the landlord only provided heat for a few hours a day, and that the electrical and plumbing conditions in the building are substandard. These are conditions that often go hand in hand with overcrowding -- it's a greedy-landlord-attitude thing, you know. Would mandatory inspections have turned anything up? You mean as opposed to NO inspections?

Meanwhile, DPWUD Director Jenny Wenson-Maier proudly pointed out to a Chamber of Commerce meeting last week that inspectors were busy making external inspection assessments of every property in the city. (Read: sidewalks, paint condition, overgrown lawns, etc.) Nary a mention of overcrowding.

Maybe it's time to reconsider.

Not likely though, dear reader, without a push from the public.

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FURTHER READING

Overcrowding - CN: "Central Jersey towns consider tougher rules for overcrowding"
..... - Online reference: "Some occupancy ordinances from around the state"
Johnston Avenue Fire - CN: "House fire leaves 13 homeless in Plainfield"
..... - PT: "Illegal basement apartment fire raises questions"
Park Avenue Fire - CN: "Blaze uproots 10 city families, 37 homeless"
..... - PT: "Fire leaves 34 homeless"
..... - SL: "Fires rout 48 families in Elizabeth, Plainfield"

Plainfield Today:

April 28, 2006 - "An illegal rooming house?..."

Plaintalker:

September 13, 2005 - "Anti-Overcrowding Ordinance To Be Enforced"
May 2, 2006 - "City Council Seeks Repeal Of Anti-Overcrowding Ordinance"
January 26, 2007 - "Tenants Deserve Safe Housing"

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Illegal basement apartment fire raises questions

This morning's Courier has a story on a fire at 127 and 129 Johnston Avenue which left 13 people homeless because all four apartments in the building were declared uninhabitable until further notice.

Basement apartments -- as the late Jocelyn Pringley told PT many times -- are illegal in Plainfield.

So, we have a couple of questions seeking answers--

• Is this a legal 4-family structure?
• Was the owner/landlord issued a Certificate of Compliance for the basement apartment?
• When was its last Fire Safety inspection and was the illegal basement apartment noted?

As PT asked in light of the Council's repeal of the Safe Homes initiative (see "HEADS-IN-SAND DEPT."), who is going to accept responbility when the -- inevitable -- fatality occurs. Yesterday's fire is just a warning. Is anybody listening?


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