all right we're up and ready all right thank you so much for um being here tonight oh the cute little voice um we are here on uh October sorry so November the 9th for our Public Safety Committee meeting um I'm hoping that there will be a few more people that come into the chat particularly in the attendee size because we have quite a few things to cover in particular some concerns from residents on Parker um I sent out the agenda to everyone in regards to what we're going to try to get through tonight and hopefully we will make that magic happen so folks will be informed about what our plans are and any other openings for concerns so let's start from the top our proposed agenda was sent out um and so our agenda as it sits right now will be a report on the office of Emergency Management South six fire department operations um a report from our Police Department chief Sally is here present for that for September October and then a few discussion items before we get into our public comment and then adjourn for our next meeting next month um so outside of mayor daffis who I think is still currently in the um Community fridge meeting no we we we left that he's on his way home to get on okay great so and just for transparency we were all a little late because we were at that meeting too yeah I tried to get to that and I just couldn't get out of the other meeting I was in today was the day of the meetings um so uh yes so we will get started ear ready um Comm in M DeLuca would you you like to start us off with our report in regards to officer Emergency Management yes no report no report excellent keeping it moving from there we'll slide on down no report all right um everyone should have received Bob Conlin's listing um as far as our fire uh inspections and various things and there was no no work this month um so Chief Sally you're up do you need me to bring up the visuals or do you have it yes if you could awesome mute sorry this taking so long the machine decided to take it upon himself to allow me not allow me to to do anything else other than show what was currently on my screen and download great get my big face out of the way all right so the September 2023 um report is up okay okay so the uh yeah the monthly report we um are always behind when we show the show the monthly uh if we can go to the first page this is page one uh page and then page two where the stats are which page am I not getting to because I'm stuck I'm stuck on the U the only thing I see is the head The Heading monthly no I hold on let me do a new share there yep that yeah yes that's it y so uh September 2023 um as you can see uh robberies in uh 2023 September we had one uh year to date we uh last year at this time in September we had 17 robberies we're currently had eight robberies for the year in September which is a decrease of uh 52.94% which is a great stat um aggravated assaults are um are up from uh for a year to date 7 in September up to September 2022 up to uh 11 uh September up uh 57% uh most of those are um domestic violence incidents where we um have made arrests so most of those are uh cleared uh burglaries as you can see uh in 2022 we had 21 burglaries this year we have 20 we in 2023 up to September we have 24 so we're up a few and uh most of those actually we're we're seeing um we have a few the most recent ones were to B to a business or businesses or we had one where it was a um a house that was not occupied person uh Tres pass inside the the house and we were able to make a rest in that so um so we have a we have a few there U thefts are down um in 2022 up to September we had 189 uh September of 2023 154 so we're down um 18.5 52% Auto thefts is another big stat that we're down in uh in 2022 we had 83 uh up to September and then 2023 we had uh we up to September we have 40 so we're down minus 51% um so uh but we we're it's just hearing on the radio I haven't I don't have the um I was rushing over here I'm trying to look for my up to-date UCR report but um we did we have we recently had a few there were um vehicles that were running uh keys in the car um so I I I heard a few just on the radio myself um so um as it gets colder hopefully people will just U you know won't keep their cars running and all that stuff so um so that's pretty much that I was hoping that message got out because you had sent out such great like materials for folks to remember to do that and they' stopped and it got really good and now they're back to letting their cars right and um you just reminded me about the burglaries um so we we um did do a um we put it on the Maplewood Police Department website also the township website um and also we put a reminder out with our police bladder today to the media that um with u that we offer home surveys so um we'll go out we'll assess your home and see how you can make it safer or um less appealing to somebody who might do a burglary and um so that that information is out we do it for free our officers are trained in doing it and um so um hopefully to um um push back some of these burglaries we're getting and also we we also do um you know tips about the as you said about the vehicles about you know um turning your car off taking your keys locking your door um and and other uh and other tips especially with the holidays coming up and um with you know package steps uh usually increase during the holidays is there any messaging that we can actually give to the package books the delivery people um I know that my guys tend to try to find a place to put my things so I have like three places around my house that I can look for but my package are very rarely if ever left on my front steps okay but like like when I get delivered ask me for where to put it like the directions so encouraging people to to put that fill in that paperwork the garbage can yes right put it uh in the backyard uh under the deck or something like that picnic table in the backyard okay yeah yeah um so that's that's the UCR for September again I um it's pretty much the same um percentages for everything up year to date I just don't have it in front of me um you know I'll scram when to get here all right so we can scroll down um all right so this is uh this chart is pretty much the same thing um just a further breakdown of it we can uh scroll down some more uh scroll down scroll down so um yeah so we uh so we so we have pretty much a 50% decrease in part one crimes compared to 2022 overall paror crimes year to date in 2023 are 25.6 lower compared to 2022 shoplifting package steps unlock vehicle ragings remain an ISS still remain an issue with uh the township but it's again it's a lot uh we we do we are seeing a decrease but we are staying Vigilant to keep those numbers down and keep them and try to get them down even lower so um scroll down okay um further breakdown of what I was just discussing okay part one same thing and this report we pretty much you know write it over and over again these are the parts two crimes um criminal mischief and as you see the most more serious ones or we have zeros so that's great sex offenses and Drug offenses um harassment and threats you know come from anywhere and usually that um you know uh persons do a Citizens report and report that and we refer them to the courts for for um harassment or disorderly conduct that we did not Witness all right scroll down all right so this is juvenile as you can see um September zero all zeros for juveniles in September okay scroll down because most most we do we do um the school will handle it most of the time or we would send them to um restore of Justice program so so if we if we did have some uh this is um the UCR up to September which was pretty much describing um well this is for this is just for September you see all right that's pretty much it for the uh monthly report thank you Chief yeah welcome mayor welcome committee committee women Adams um Chief Sal was just going through the the monthly UCR for um September um and walking us through the crims it does seem like the messaging has been getting out to people in regards to um locking your doors putting your keys elsewhere being aware of um lock locking your cars and not leaving them running but it does seem like that as we're moving into the holiday season the additional materials that the police department has sent out to us is are going to be coming in handy and I'm hoping that there will be copies made available maybe for posting on business Stores um or putting in the library so people can have it on hand um to remind themselves not to let your car run I understand this cold but this is New Jersey you chose to live here you kind of know it's going to be cold in November December you'll be all right if you have to wait a minute and go inside and come back to a cold car please don't leave your cars running yo all right thank you so much Chief Sally um continuing down the agenda sorry I have to keep pulling it back up um we had a lot of folks over the last month or so to um question some of the things that we've been doing in regards to Public Safety in particular pedestrian safety um so moving into item five discussion items actually should be item four my numbering on this thing went off um the community fridge had a open a town hall this evening um that uh mayor dafis as well as committee delca were in attendance to and I don't know if there's any feedback or any information you'd like to share with the committee in regards to plans being worked out things in place concerns um that may need to be forwarded on to uh law enfor ment to help alleviate residents concerns you're muted the chief was there and so was Mr weary um I I would suggest we go into close session at the end to talk about uh safety security and and strategy I agree but I just want to say because we do have members of the public here and in terms of transparency um they should know that in in my uh perception of the meeting although it got very heated um ultimately all things considered the takeaway was a good one the there is consensus that uh we can do better and we will find ways to do better uh to meet everyone's concerns and to continue feeding people who are experiencing food insecurity so more on that soon thank you thank you mayor thank youa all right um the next thing that was brought up um that's been a item on our agenda for quite some time has been Parker Avenue and the fact that as a corridor for our students getting to and from school safely um has been a concern for quite some time the number of cars that speed the um just in general aggressive driving and the um concerns of family members who have younger children now because at one time that neighborhood was zoned for South Orange middle school and so middle schoolers are now having to walk from that area all the way to Maplewood Middle um down a hill that has sidewalks and some striping but still many many people coming down that hill just letting gravity do the business and uh are putting their children at risk and so I know that there are folks that are currently probably in our attendees side of things I know we usually open up public comment at a different time but if the committee is okay with it I would love to hear from some of the people who have more concerns and more recent concerns about um issues with traffic and particular traffic um enforcement on Parker a so Mr weary if there is anyone if everyone is okay with that I would actually like to open this up for a discussion with attendees as well as members of this committee I'm good with that okay Mr if there's anyone in um the attendees side who would like to comment if they could raise their hands on the function if you could bring them over as a panelist anybody on the public side who are interested in speaking please raise your hand we'll move you over one by one to become a panelist at which point please unmute yourself and you can address the committee so first I will move over Whitney ker all right Miss K you're able to speak now if you'd like to unmute yourself yes hi um one second there we go hi um thank you so much for addressing this today um my family lives on the corner of Parker and boen Avenue so at that like very busy intersection um we've been here about six years now and there's been a consistent pattern of lots and lots of accidents first of all um I like I swear in the summer it's about like every month or every couple weeks I hear a crash and I'm like oh there's another accident but uh most recently there was a an accident during the movie night which is at the park um at bordon Park which there was a lot of people you know crossing the streets anyways there was a pretty huge accident right at our intersection and the car came into our yard inches away from our Hedges feet from our house um and we live on a corner so like that's where my kid play um I know for a fact there has been cars in this yard previously from the previous owners as well I've seen cars in the yard of the people KY cornered to us on Parker up the street o I've seen seen person hit the tree on that street just up the street I've seen a car crash in the median here in two minutes later another car crash happened a block down the street like almost at the same time at Orchard and Parker so there is a lot of accidents here so I would be really interested to see like a study done you know I don't know what you guys do for that but it seems like it's a very um dangerous intersection so like honestly I'm just kind of waiting for the moment that a car hits our house like I feel like it's just a matter of time um so there's the accident issue and then there is like you said the car is just ripping down Parker towards um yeah like Orchard you know from the high school and I've seen cars I think they try to beat that light and so they will just Flor it and I I don't know how fast they're going like 40 50 like I have no clue but there's kids out here you know with the trying to cross the street um my son takes the bus he's supposed to get door to-door service but for some reason they pick him up across the street and by that time the parking um sorry the crossing guard is off so we have to get across that and there's times where people have almost hit us they just turn and they don't look um I don't know why the crossing guards aren't there to accommodate our kids because my kid goes to Seth boen so excuse me she's done by the time he gets home and I know that's a problem with also lot of other kids that walk from um that go to Seth Boyen from our neighborhood um that by the time their kids get here the crossing guards are off duty uh so let me think um oh another one one other thing too my my husband one morning was out it was it was early and witnessed a high-speed chase um some coming somebody coming from Walgreens and turning coming down Bo in and taking a left on Parker um and with a police car chasing him but he said he didn't get a chance to see who the police car was with the Sirens were on I I don't know if it was like a newer um police police car like following him but or the car so anyways just lots lots and lots of things I feel like the list could keep going but my point is it is it does not feel safe um I I don't know what can be done uh I I've rarely have seen anybody pulled over I know that they were doing more patrols of the neighborhood when the crime was up um I haven't really seen many patrols lately so if anybody has any ideas of how we can just make this more safe for our kids um another thing too in my son catches the bus people are honking at the bus people are going around the bus I'm like what yeah exactly so I I just feel like it's kind of um a little chaotic over here so I appreciate you guys listening and hopefully we can help with some solutions thank you so much thank you Miss kter I appreciate you being here don't go have a question oh okay okay um thanks for coming out and speaking uh is it your experience that the traffic and the driving is the same is equal on Boren and Parker or is it more on Parker oh I would say it's both I mean I really do nobody stops at the crosswalk to get to the park like if you need to cross uh boen to get to the park there is a crosswalk nobody will stop for you like I I would love other people's put on that um I I think it's equally as bad but there is that hill on Parker where people just gun it I think the speeding especially coming now Parker is Extreme so is the chief going to respond to the crossing guard question sorry about that I was taking some notes um what what time is your child Crossing that the crossing guard is not there um I think she gets off at 3:45 and uh she's you know she's a very good crossing guard she she often would stay late to cross my son even though she's officially off by that time um which she doesn't have to do but um you know that's I think that's her schedule and she's like I don't know why they shortened it but this is what it is um and he's getting home about 4: yeah she gets off like 3:45 but actually I started picking him up from school because I don't want to deal with this anymore so and he's a special education student like he's supposed to get you know door to door service this isn't really ideal but it it doesn't feel like I know it's just crossing that street but it's just he's um he's a runner like he's he's an Al Loper so like it's just it's just not safe like I need I I feel more comfortable having somebody help us cross but by the time he gets to um Parker and boen is it four about four o'clock yeah M okay and there's another woman in our neighborhood I I doubt she's here but I know she has asked a lot of questions about the crossing guards and because her kids are walking by themselves and was very concerned about their safety um coming from Seth buen to our neighborhood okay yeah I think she's probably reached out to you I believe yeah it's good you let us know so we can make an adjustment um that' be great yeah because because usually that that guard is there because of um Clinton school so and but kids from Seth boy and school walk that distance back so uh we can make that adjustment knowing that U kids are coming by there later that would be amazing yeah I know there's other yeah parents as well that would appreciate that so thank you so much right I appreciate it could I make a suggestion also with regard to the bus picking your son up on the wrong side of the street have you have you addressed that with the school district I just actually f say that I just asked on Friday before break because I thought that was okay and and and turns out I think it's against his I so I will be following up with that for sure yeah yeah I would do I mean a little bit of both the chief can adjust the schedules for crossing guards and it's been a little confusing with the change of school hours this year so definitely thank you appreciate yeah I know people aren't fans of those crosswalk uh placards that sit in the middle of the road but particularly that sounds like that Park Crossing needs one so that people are aware that you're supposed to stop I'm sure Mr DeLuca will put um that crosswalk on for engineering Public Works that maybe it's qualifies for a flashing Beacon just a thought oh you're muted one more thing before I go um just because I think it's another safety pedestrian issue is that the entrance to Bardon Park on Parker there is supposed to be no parking there um where people can come in and out and there is almost always a car park there um I think when I first moved I start I reported it but I just kind of stopped but you can't see like there it blocks the view of the pedestrians um I'm not sure if you know what I'm talking about but there's like basically a No Parking sign from the side of the entrance to the park towards Orchard back to ven but people always park on the other side of my driveway or right in front of it where they're not supposed to park so I don't know if people can check that I don't know if you want me to call I think the police have honestly been annoyed in the past when I've reported it but I do think it's a safety issue you know and it's hard for me to plot on my driveway as well on that busy road you can't really see so we we'll we'll have engineering check it out okay I appreciate it thank you so much I am moving over Jesse pepper to public portion okay you're now in public portion uh you can address the committee hi thanks so much for having us um um Jesse pepper I've been living on Parker a now for 10 years um we are famously the family that waves at the Jitney every morning and um I think it's sort of caught on lots of little kids um at what my observation Whitney I think gave a great summary of of definitely what's happening um by boen and Parker where I'm at right across from Union so I'm at the stop sign of Union a and Parker um my observation is that with the increase of car accidents I think there was one right on the corner of Highland and Parker about a week or two ago there was one closer to prospect the week maybe before that um there's no area to slow down between that Parker Prospect intersection there's that traffic light and you go up and then you come down the hill where um Whitney was referencing the Parker boy didn't traffic um there's no stop signs there's no I'm now like an analyzing the Scotland Road speed table with those like speed humps I know we're on an evacuation route um because we asked if we could have a block party and they said no because we can't close down parts of Parker um but you can hear from our houses you can hear cars what sounds like purposely speeding up at times um and then I'm sure there are people who are just mosing along and speeding and not realizing how quickly they're going we have an amazing crossing guard on the corner of Highland and Parker uh we walk to Clinton school every morning um and she's actually blows a whistle now um the guard we had last year did not but I think it's so hard to get people to stop and we've had some really close calls where we're cross the street and she's blowing the whistle I won't even set my foot into the road until I see that the cars are stopped because it's that um you know everyone's late to work everyone's trying to get somewhere no wants to stop at the crosswalk we have a crosswalk right by Union which was added um a couple years ago maybe pre-co um and we don't have a crossing guard there um I know there's a shortage of crossing guards but that's a very difficult um crosswalk in the morning and in the afternoon um I often I'm just kind of watching to make sure that kids are able to cross there um people don't really stop at that one we have so many people walking their dogs every day we have um you know kids walking to Columbia High School to the middle school as you referenced and it just seems like it's getting increasingly um dangerous um bicycles kids riding their bicycles families riding bicycles together um oh and someone else had mentioned there's new um but we walk to school so I'm not as familiar with this but there are kids who are being busted now to Marshall from um from Parker um and obviously Seth boen um and their are new bus routes that are on Parker and people are not stopping for the buses similar to what Whitney was saying but I guess this is happening on Parker um that was not my I haven't seen it but this was um relayed to me in anticipation of the meeting as well all right thank you Miss pepper um does anyone have any questions for her or Mr so tell me tell us again where what crosswalk they're not stopping at we have a crosswalk um we're right across from Union okay there's a stop sign cross from our driveway I'm at 138 Parker so there's a crosswalk um right there between union across Parker between union and okay I guess our house um and that one is it's hit Miss literally um Highland is where the crossing guard is it's right before kinderg gon um the Jew Maple Jewish Center so there's also tons of kids walking to and from preschool and Clinton school and the high school in the middle school and she especially with the sun glare now that the time has changed it might get a little bit easier she was like she was fighting traffic and horrible glare from the Sun but the whistle actually I think really helps but it's like you can hear it from our house like it's constantly blowing just to like get people to stop and the um the bus is not stopping is that when the when the red lights are on the bus um there may be a parent who can answer that who's in this meeting because I'm I'm not entirely sure but I I think so but I'm I haven't seen it myself but I believe there is someone who can answer that okay thanks I am moving over Amy zalam to panelist Miss elcam you're now a panelist you can unmute yourself thank you thank you um I'm actually just a couple doors down from Jesse uh I don't have children that attend to school but I am um out frequently I have a couple dogs that I walk on the on the regular my office is outward facing I work from home so I'm frequently watching what's happening on the road um it's almost like a drag race at times on Parker in the middle of the day so even though it's during school hours and most kids have already crossed the street it's not uncommon for a car to be going the speed limit and then someone to pass them beyond the double yellow um but infrequently there are police officers policing the area there's a little bit heavier of a police presence with the rise in anti-Semitism so there's more police officers stationed at the Maplewood Jewish Center so I haven't seen it of late but having moved to the area in 2020 this has been sort of a Perpetual problem that I've noticed at any point during the day where you've got someone kind of cening down estimated around 35 40 miles an hour and they want to pass someone on the road so they'll just go around them I've tried to capture it a couple times on my ring doorbell but I cannot get license plates or anything like that um not too long ago there was someone who was just kind of loitering on one of my neighbors yards and wandering into the street and you know it's not ideal but my greatest concern was when they started wandering into Parker and just kind of lingering I was really worried they were going to get hit by a car speeding down the road and so that's kind of what my breaking point was to call the non-emergent police number to make sure that they were going to stay safe so it it's it speed definitely through the region between Prospect and boen um I can't speak to the safety of the boen intersection Prospect by the time you get to prospect I think most people are fairly respectful of the light um during my morning walk is usually when Pam our crossing guard at Highland is starting to get up and running and I've watched her almost get hit a couple times and I've asked her to report that stuff to the police because she was just starting this year and it was kind of a new new environment for her and she just wasn't really wasn't sure what to expect but the cars don't necessarily respect her first thing in the morning and it's kind of scary I mean I just I worry for her and with the glare is it because they can't see her or is it just because they're they're being jerks and they're they want to slip by before she closes off traffic to let pedestrians pass so it it's kind of treacherous I think on Parker at times and it doesn't NE neily you know of course the concern is when there are going to be young children around walking to school because that's the heavy pedestrian traffic but it's not just during those times it's also throughout the day when when cars are just trying to go the speed limit and you have people that are aggressive drivers so that's kind of my contribution thank you Miss Alman um actually if if there is any way possible for um the crossing guard there to actually like put together a little I want to say a report but kind of put something together stating exactly what her experience has been um to be able to not only give it to the school board but also to share it with our chief I think that would be helpful for them to see the the working conditions that are are their employees are having to to tolerate as well as um our residents I think hearing from both sides of folks would be helpful if she could reach out to Donna I believe you said her name was and I she could do that would be wonderful smallberg small B has now joined my work my name Susan mbery um thank you for letting me speak um I'm I live on Parker and ball on the corner um and my son goes to kindergan and so I'm writing as a walker of a young child um and it's it's like pretty terrifying walking um cars like do not stop and it's also um Bo and AV as well because we do go down to that Park a lot as well they never ever stop for that Crossing um but it is really scary especially now that it's dark at night when I go to get him at 5:00 um um sometimes I have to wait like 10 cars before one of them stops or whe there's a lull and I have to walk across the street with him or Jesse has seen me like carrying him across the street because I'm terrified that someone's GNA speed around the corner um yeah so it just it doesn't feel safe so um I would be happy to have those little median placards um a speed table um like Jesse I've been like watching all the streets and kind of seeing what's working I don't know why Prospect doesn't feel as crazy because it also has a lot traffic but it just seems like it's much slower there um but yeah Parker is um it's crazy my mom has dementia and she visits and sometimes likes to sit on our front stoop and I feel like I watch her like a hawk you know closer than even my kids sometimes because I'm worried about her wandering and I know other people probably have that issue with um elderly people as well and I do see a lot of elderly people walking their dogs um and Crossing Parker um so I do have a concern about that as well that's pretty much all I want to say oh the crossing guard is amazing I have to say I think she actually Waits um for my son to cross over in the morning she gets in the car as soon as she sees him safely across the street but yes I worry about her safety as well because sometimes she'll have to get right in the middle of the road with like her sign and the whistle um and I don't think she should have to go to those lengths to have a safe Crossing thank you better than that um does anyone have any questions for okay thank you thank you bissa gladen you'll be moved over to panelist Hi how are you doing um I am one of the newer members to Parker um I'm on technically 145 Union right across the street from Jesse and um just want to show my support and recognition of everything that you've heard from um those that you've heard of today I um just in the couple of months we've been here since June um while we understood that we were moving to a street with a double yellow um I don't think I quite recognized how fast the car are really going down Parker um so kind of you know agree with everyone what they've said just about um you know particularly at Union it feels like there's a lot of traffic coming off of Union turning onto Parker and you know even we don't have kids that are walking to school yet we're driving them to pre- but even that turn onto Parker I get nervous about how fast cars are coming up and kind of wait for that law to to cross in so um what I wanted to just add to the conversation was um also the cross walk um over Parker at Union um you know that it's one of those light up walking signs but like the buttons never work um so just curious if like that could be something that would help um I don't know if that's necessarily the only solution really but um you know my kids always want to cross to go see Jesse's kids and it is very terrifying and even myself when I get dropped off um at the from the Jitney on the other side of the street crossing over Parker even as an adult um particularly in the dark is is very scary so um just recommendation and and having those lights actually powered by um however they are work and just just overall like anytime I'm walking up Parker from the train station particularly now that it's darker it feels very dark um you know there's a lot of lights that street lights that I don't see necessarily working um all the time thankfully the one right out front of our house um is more brighter than some of the others but just feels like beyond the car safety and the kids that are crossing the street um just wanted to make note that um even by way of um the street lamps um don't always seem as safe walking up Parker so miss Glen are you saying that the lamps themselves are out or that they're just dim both I think there's probably a few that could be out and others that just don't you know that when I'm walking up um in the dark it it feels very like I almost hope that cars are driving just so that it it sheds a little bit more light um you know to the street itself can you get the poll numbers of those because if you get the poll numbers then you can um send them to Mr weary and he will forward them to uh engineering they'll have psng make if there are any actually okay that's good know thank you where's the location of the lights is it between um you said on Union and Parker the she said Parker yeah the walking the crossing sign that's supposed to I think blink when you push the button does not work at Union um I don't know if that's like powered by like if that's like solar powered or not um where I mean where are the street lights are out like what between what I just in general feels very dark and dim I will definitely make note of ones that are that are out so I'll take a look and um and can report back yeah because the reason why I ask because our our guys do that they they'll go out at night and check and then get the poll numbers and then send them to uh DPW or whoever we need to send it to psng okay so um is is in that particular in that area I can U we can we can we can check okay thank you I think you're talking about as you walk from the train station right so yeah I would say from from Prospect to Union okay yeah do have him do a a site there and then we'll have engineering take a look at that push button it is a solar powered uh Crossing thank you as we're moving into the the fall Sports season there's a lot of kids that walk that in the evenings after basketball game so it's definitely a priority well ironically all that stuff was done with safe roots to schools money Yeah ironic all right we thank you so much now one more person yes Cynthia to be a panelist welcome Cynthia please unmute yourself and you can address the committee hello everybody um thanks again for meeting tonight um I'm on the corner of Orchard and Parker I went to a meeting about a month ago and um I want to thank you for the response engineering did come out and you have started to implement some of the plans um as far as um our intersection on Orchard and Parker but I'm I'm glad that a lot of people are speaking out because we've only been here a year so we don't you know we didn't know if this was if this had been increasing um if this is how Parker's always been but um I'm happy that other people are speaking out because I I don't know what the solution is but I'm just echoing everything that everyone said it's not just our corner it is from Prospect onto um onto or Irvington it just it feels like a racetrack um and I am looking for Solutions I I also wanted to mention that I also want and I I do have small children our kids go to Clinton and my daughter goes to kinderg gun and the accident um there was an accident just on the intersection of the pre the preschool just a few weeks ago and it's it's scary I've seen people wearing headlamps as they walk their dogs recently on Parker because it's so dark at night and people are just flying down that road um I don't know if it's just because there's more traffic on Prospect that people don't want people stay at a slower speed um but it's it's scary I do want to add also that the intersection at Parker and boen um I believe the buttons are not do not work for the crosswalk I don't know if that's something that somebody can look into I don't know if that's how the mechanism works but um yeah and Jesse is our neighbor as well and I've seen those moments when she is standing there with her two-year-old and people will they will not stop I mean minutes go by and then I I can see her from boen and Parker um coming up Union and I know that like at least like I will stop and I'm like okay it's me like I will stop traffic so the traffic will stop as well so you know again looking to hear any suggestions and you know together I hope that we can we can come up with some solutions is it both lights at the intersection that the crosswalk button doesn't work or one in particular I think the one um the one just the one that crosses crosses boen I believe yep thank you yeah of course that's that's our traffic light that's the Municipal Traffic Light so we'll have DPW take a look at it okay great I appreciate it are you capturing all this Patrick I'm writing down notes but I'm sure you're C okay okay all right thank you there'll be a test okay I'm now promoting Walter J and isalis to let me know if I got that one okay all right you're now in public portion you can speak to the committee you're currently muted I'm on my phone so I apologize if that EOS can you hear me now good uh I live on on on Fernwood and Parker on that corner and I just wanted to highlight that they should goes all the way down to Earlington um which I think it's the point that Cynthia was making I I've C there's a crosswalk there which I've experienced issues with um and trying to cross someone stop to let me cross and then a car sped around them to try to get to Irvington and and almost hit me in the process as a driver also I think the the it's really really dark um and and we have pole in the corner so I I don't know what the issue may be but if someone can do a study or or look at that issue I I worry about hitting someone myself as a driver because it's extremely dark and I go to speed limit because I live here and I know that I'm concerned for my um my neighbors and everyone's safety but this the speeding that happens and it's throughout the day it's it could be 7 in the morning when I'm trying to catch the morning train or late at night when I'm coming home throughout the day if I'm if I'm working from home that day um time doesn't seem to be an issue it's just the easiest way for people to get from ear and to um wherever they're trying to get to um Prospect or or further along farther along so I just wanted to list more examples and mention that the problem goes beyond flen thank you thank you and you said was Fernwood at Parker burnwood thank you Miss Adams did you have a question like you raise your hand for a second okay if any other members of the public would like to speak on this topic please raise your hand now I see no other hands Miss CPE thank you Mr wary um thank you all for commenting and and giving us your feedback and letting us know how things are it ties right into our next um discussion item which is what are we going to do about our addressive driving um this isn't the first intersection I know one of the um residents who commented said that they don't believe this is a problem on Prospect it is a problem on Prospect particularly by tesin um Harvard has a very difficult time with people rolling through that stop sign and they've got an amazing crosswalk like crossing guard there who I I fear for her every time I drive through there um so um what are our next steps chief for um besides the engineering type things that we can do um for enforcing things because I think we're at that point right now that enough conversations have happened about um us needing to be a little more firm in our ticketing um we're going to have to start hitting people a little in the pocketbook if they're not not going to T at least consider the children as well as their neighbors in their morning commute yeah and um our our ticket enforcement has increased um we we um for example um November last year we had um 230 um tickets issued this month at this time we have 337 so uh we are we are increasing um it just seems like it's more and more locations that this is taking place at um we do disperse our officers to where the complaints are um we do um uh many details um also um we have we have a a dedicated detail at night that does enforcement um so our our um our sumes has have increased our warnings have increased um the issue or or the problem we have is uh during the day during the school hours it's kind of tough for us to do details because our officers are o obligated to do Corners they're also crossing guards as well so um it's hard to release them um for traffic enforcement because we have them on Corners um but but uh during the day we um most of most of our most of our summonses are issued during the evening we have uh more more officers on during that but um we um I got to figure out a way to to increase during the the day hours at those locations is there anything we can reach out to the county for or assistance in that um not that we want to bring sheriffs or anything in but I'm thinking Valley that's a County Road um if we could pull our people off that possibly to address issues in town and let Essex County take that for B um if that's something that can be done yeah I don't I don't know I'm not sure but um yeah but we also use mechanical things mph signs speed signs and uh you know so with that and uh just moving moving patrols around to hit these uh issues um Parker you know um we had we did increase our um parking enforcement arm Parker um but it it seems not to be enough so we we will increase that also uh we will conduct a lighting survey and send it out hopefully to get more Lighting in that area thank you um and anyone in the committee have any other suggestions or questions Chief yeah I just I just want to thank the residents took the time out tonight to share their concerns um and this topic is one that we hear about across town right it's not specific to one intersection or one road aggressive driving is out of control um and you know there might be a lot of reasons for it people are just overworked coming out of the uh you know lingering things after the pandemic um there's more uh cars on the road uh more people are commuting because they are spending uh more time in the office it's it's not just teleworking anymore it's more of a hybrid schedule um and we can put up signs and we could ask people to take more care and to leave earlier uh but the only thing that's really going to get across to people is when we ticket them we got to ticket them and when I look at our numbers of ticketing people for speeding uh when compared to other municipalities we are we're very nice and we gotta be we got to stop being so nice um and we see that when our numbers go up in other areas like parking enforcement like the chief just mentioned um we're not seeing the same issues like in the Village People standing outside of Starbucks or parking in handicapped spots like we the u-turns in the parking lot it all stop in the parking lot I'm not saying those things are solved and it's never going to happen again but the recent Hardline approach to parking enforcement has really brought those incidents down and I I think we know know where the problem areas are we can't definitely be everywhere all the time of course not but we just need to start being really Hardline about issuing tickets and then someone will think about it twice they will be like oh wait a minute this happened to me last time I need to be more cautious and sure we could take the other measures too and we do traffic calming but again we can't put a stop sign on every corner we could but people will blow through them and and if you put a stop sign on every corner that means the stop signs aren't effective anymore right um we can't put uh um what do you call speed humps on every road right so we just have to enforce the speeding let's go after it let's just do it I completely agree with you mayor I've been harping on this for the eight years I've been on the township committee because we can't engineer every road and spot enforcement um or targeted enforcement in different areas and I think I told the story 800 times when I used to go to meetings late in South Orange when I worked there I knew that I had to go slow coming down Prospect coming home because there was almost always a cop and the Crescent like just I mean people get to know this stuff and people you they don't want a ticket so I completely agree I mean you know we never I'm not one of those people people who say we don't want to ticket our residents if our residents are the problem then they need to be ticketed so that they stop right and it's not that we want to discourage people from driving through Maplewood I mean there's an argument on both sides the idea that people are coming in but at the same time our kids need to be comfortable being able to go to and from school safely our families should be able to commute and not be worried that they're going to get T-boned because they made the full stop but the person who's trying to get to the other four-way stop sign decides that they've stop long enough and it's their turn to go um that used to be was actually one of the first things I remember when I moved to town 20 something years ago was that that was the if you were doing 31 on Prospect you more than likely were going to get a ticket and I never saw that after like two or three years of being in town and I get it people are I know that the we want to maintain the the community aspect of of policing and and being our neighbors and being friendly and everything but at some point I don't want to be on the receiving end of that phone call of some child being hit again or somebody like the the young person who got hit on Prospect like three years ago that was a car that went around another car to cut through the part the the crosswalk that was a kid that was hit for that and that person as far as I know still does the drive and nothing changed so to lecture you Chief because you're the professional here and everything but definitely we got to do more and yeah it's going to anger some people but you know what those are the ones that need to change the same the same lecture you give me I give my officers so so is is there pre to the choir is there any Chief is there any um issue with regard to officers I know I've heard this in other towns where they don't want to give tickets because then when they're not on the schedule they may have to appear in court that might be an individual officer I don't think that's uh you know yeah I'm just asking because I've I've heard it not you know I've heard it in different towns too so yeah it might be one or two but it's not like Department wide thing yeah no I mean we have officers that write a lot of tickets you know and um you know so I mean we actually AR we we're we're creeping up every month I mean they're writing a lot more um but and I and I preach to them every we we have a uh monthly I have a monthly meeting with my supervisors and I tell them pretty much what Miss CRA was just saying that you know uh everybody wants enforcement you know so uh and I think the numbers are showing that Chief thank you if you look at the numbers but I think we still have to continue to work at it um and I and I honestly this this issue of having to cover the crosswalks with police officers is very inefficient and we are looking at um Alternatives of bringing Outsourcing or or doing some hybrid uh privates and publics but we've got to we've got to resolve this crossing guard stuff because we're paying $100,000 to have somebody stand at a Crossing uh you know these salaries are big and they're they're trained not necessarily only to do traffic but you know that that's what they should be doing a good portion of it is to maintaining you know improving the quality of life yeah and even if they aren't issuing actual summons and tickets to people if they were actually doing that drive down Prospect they're doing 25 miles an hour so by force they're making the people behind them slow down yeah just can't believe that M Adams admitted to speeding on Prospect until she saw that cop have you ridden in the car with her that I just knew that I couldn't oh I'm s I I miss I misunder I don't think I look at the tape I don't think so miss Adams I advise you not to speak further as your attorney um okay so listen where are we with regard to that I I think this uh Le I'm sorry chairwoman kpe I'm taking over please indulge me for a quick minute I know that uh the chief and uh the administrator uh had been looking into a third party crossing guard um partnership some towns do that uh so that we can fill vacancies when we have them we can have substitutes and therefore lessen the burden on our officers where are we with that so I'll start I mean for both the chief and I you know we neither of us have experience in hiring out crossing guards so the chief has been speaking to other Chiefs in the area to get um you know how they rolled it out what they saw is effective what they saw you know were the issues I'm doing the same with my counterparts I spoke with the administrator in Milbourne who's the closest one to us and they have a very successful program down there that they rolled out recently I I spoke with him last week he gave me their the documents they had used when they went out to um to contract for this there are budget implications and so you know I'm we'll be working through exactly what that means for uh for Maplewood to see is you know is this something we can absorb uh in our current budget and start you know as soon as possible or is this something we need to consider with the 2024 uh budget process I don't know that just yet but I I should know that in the next few weeks is this something that could be covered with the safe corridors um grant money no no no no that's that's hard construction money no okay infrastructure okay yeah and I think that it's net positive you know separate from the enforcement you know they're we're using expensive police officers to cover less expensive roles as crossing guards uh but right now we're paying that police officer not an additional crossing guard so there you know when we're paying both of them which is what would happen if we contract out you know it's going to go up but we we'll figure out exactly what that amount would be and we'll bring that back to the uh to this committee thank you Mr weary any other questions all right so we'll have some report back hopefully soon in regards to that I don't know if our our our residents are still listening in but hopefully we will have some answers and some improvements available and noticeable quite soon um our next discussion item um listed on um I was reached out to by several members in the Hilton neighborhood um in regards to a series of organizations I don't know if they're actually realtor so I I feared putting realtor down because I didn't want to make it seem like that was going back on but it's mostly targeting senior owned homes and people who live in the Hilton neighborhood um calls to personal cell phones calls to homes repeated calls even after being informed that they no longer are want they don't want to be reached out to um for from Realtors trying or from companies trying to uh buy houses in cash um there is one senior actually there are two seniors who specifically told me that they don't even answer their phone if they don't recognize the number because the calls have gotten so bad and I don't know if this is something that you've heard Chief um happening or or anything but it's getting to the point where it it feels like harassment um that folks are being basically bullied into selling their houses I haven't heard okay I I got two calls myself this week so I was surprised I get calls too I get them yeah and I specifically stated that and I wrote the numbers down that if I got another phone call that I would reach out to them um and and to see them getting fined for it because I believe that when you tell them you want to be removed from the list and they don't they're supposed to be penalized for that except you can't tell if they're the same ones right because right they rotate the numbers which is why I got a pad next to my phone to write them down yeah I got a call today too or was that yesterday whatever I got one there's really is there any no there's nothing to be done okay unless it's fraud I mean it's not fraud they're soliciting yeah they are you know but fraud we can deal with fraud but we can't deal with soliciting you know I'm just glad Miss Adams didn't recognize my voice when I [Laughter] called all right well thank you and um I guess you're a standup comic and I'm like in the front row he's on a roll today yes on a roll all right so right now is the public comment portion of our meeting but it seems like most folks have actually maybe made all their public comments but let's ask anyway Mr wary could you check into the attendees list and see if anyone would like to make a comment about anything either addressed in this meeting or something that they would like to bring up to Public Safety if any members of the public would like to comment in public portion please raise your hand now and we will move you over two panelists I see no hands Miss CRA all right um so it looks like we are moving well I move that we would actually um adjin this and go into executive sessions if we'd like to talk about um the conversation around now I wrote it down and I can't find my papers oh what were you saying you're muted yeah the strategies around uh the community for some of the policing strategies and Public Safety strategies all right so we will uh we'll stop the recording and move into executive session yeah I I move we go into close session second all right give me one moment I'll be back when all the public have left in the off Z