9-19-06 SCU Renzi Complete
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1 1 NEW JERSEY STATE LEGISLATURE 2 SENATE COMMUNITY AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 3 PUBLIC HEARING 4 __________________________________ 5 In the matter of: 6 State of New Jersey Commission of Transcript of 7 Investigation Report on "New-Home Proceedings 8 Construction in New Jersey" 9 __________________________________ 10 11 Computer-aided transcript of hearing 12 testimony taken stenographically in the above-entitled 13 matter before KAREN L. DeLUCIA, a Certified Shorthand 14 Reporter and Notary Public of the State of New Jersey, 15 at the Manalapan Township Municipal Complex, 120 Route 16 522, Manalapan, New Jersey, on Tuesday, September 19, 17 2006, commencing at 7:30 p.m. 18 19 20 GUY J. RENZI & ASSOCIATES 21 GOLDEN CREST CORPORATE CENTER 22 2277 STATE HWY. #33, SUITE 410 23 TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 08690 24 (609) 989-9199 1-800-368-7652 (TOLL FREE) 25 www.renziassociates.com 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 3 4 COMMITTEE MEMBERS: 5 SENATOR RONALD L. RICE 6 7 8 COMMITTEE STAFF: 9 ROBERT C. ROTHBERG, Committee Aide 10 JULIUS BAILEY, Senate Majority 11 12 ALSO PRESENT: 13 SENATOR ELLEN KARCHER 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 I N D E X 2 3 SPEAKER PAGE 4 VIOLET PETERSON 014 5 SONIA GIOVINE 022 6 SALVATORE GIOVINE 025 7 MICHAEL MA 034 8 ASSEMBLYWOMAN JENNIFER BECK 045 9 BARBARA McMORROW 049 10 FELICIA STOLER 057 11 NAT ZACCARIA 062 12 STEVE CURTIS 067, 091 13 GEORGE DOUGHERTY, ESQ. 079 14 DAMON KRESS, ESQ. 091 15 VIRGINIA ORBE 094 16 PAUL LEODORI 098 17 DAN FOX 105 18 ERIC BROPHY, ESQ. 121 19 VITO DeMONTE 131 20 HELOISA GREENE 147 21 JEANNIE WHITE 147 22 MAYOR ROBERT KLEINBERG 158 23 24 25 4 1 SENATOR RONALD L. RICE: Good evening. First 2 of all, good evening to you. Let me apologize for 3 the lateness of the hour. I was telling the Senator 4 that I'm going to work with her to see if we can 5 find some transportation funds for 9. I've been 6 traveling 9 for many years in New Jersey and for 7 some reason we can't seem to get 9 right. But we 8 can't get 1 right either, so it’s a numerical thing. 10 Let me just say it's good to be here. And I 11 want to thank the Senator for inviting our 12 committee to come out to visit you tonight. I am 13 the chairman. My name is Ronald L. Rice. I'm a 14 New Jersey State Senator and I represent the 28th 15 Legislative District. The 28th is really now 16 Belleville and Bloomfield, parts of the City of 17 Newark and all the township of Irvington. In the 18 past it included Maplewood and South Orange, New 19 Jersey. Your problems are our problems, New 20 Jersey is one state, but as residents we tend to 21 share the same common problems within our 22 communities. 23 There are a lot of things we're doing in 24 Trenton as you read about it. And there was a 25 very difficult time but I think the thing that 5 1 disturbs me as a person and as a leader, and 2 Senator Karcher and I had these conversations, is 3 as we grow economically in this State and we try 4 to create affordable housing and make housing 5 available for moderate and upper income people, 6 there are many, many abuses. And they're starting 7 to come to light now. 8 As a result of that, complaints we receive 9 throughout the State, the State Criminal 10 Investigation Commission has under the direction 11 of government and with the direction of the U.S. 12 Federal Government, meaning the U.S. Attorney 13 General's office, to start holding extensive 14 hearings to help us get a grip on exactly what 15 were the problems as best we could tell and what 16 were the problems that are unique to the kinds of 17 things we're doing in New Jersey, as well as those 18 problems that are common to development of housing 19 stock in New Jersey where you work very hard to 20 earn your dollars; work very hard to invest and 21 have a place you can call home. 22 As a result of that they came up with many, 23 many recommendations. Many of the recommendations 24 we agree with; some we're not so sure. We think 25 we may have to make them tougher and tweak. 6 1 I just wanted to let you know, for those who 2 may not know, and some of these things I've seen 3 at other hearings, is that number one for us to 4 accomplish anything in Trenton is not Senator 5 Karcher doing it by herself. She will argue the 6 case for you but she has to get 20 other Senate 7 members to support her in her efforts to get 21 8 votes. And sometimes we come up short because the 9 State is big and everyone represents a district 10 with different opinions all the time and sometimes 11 it's hard to get in. But I can assure that we're 12 going to have legislation passed before the 1st of 13 the year, hopefully on both Houses and to the 14 Governor's desk based on the SCI recommendations; 15 based on our collective efforts and what we know. 16 I call that empirical data; we live with this 17 stuff every day. And hopefully it will give back 18 to the consumers rights that they didn't have and 19 also take some of the things that maybe we did not 20 tighten up in the past to make it more beneficial 21 to you as homeowners and families a lot better. 22 And so tonight I'm here to listen. And I'll 23 probably hold another hearing outside of Trenton 24 and then we'll go back into Trenton and we'll 25 deliberate on the Bills that we have in. We'll 7 1 listen to the additional debate on behalf of our 2 colleagues and with our colleagues and ultimately 3 we'll have a compromise that everybody can live 4 with to help the residents of our state. 5 With that, this is staff here. The things 6 that you say, let me just indicate to you, are 7 being recorded verbatim unless you're 8 misunderstood in terms of the spelling. So please 9 be respectful as speakers. I take the time to 10 come out day and night; I'm up and down the State 11 as to where I am. I want to hear. I'm not 12 argumentative. I'm firm and fair. And this is a 13 learning process for us. We want to make sure 14 that there are things that we have heard -- that 15 there are things that we have not heard during the 16 hearings so that we can make the legislation as 17 beneficial as possible. 18 With that, I'm going to turn this meeting 19 over as the Chair to your Senator, Senator 20 Karcher, let her Chair this meeting. We'll give 21 you an opportunity to speak and we'll listen and 22 we'll try to respond as best we can. 23 Once again, thank you very much for having me 24 in your lovely township. 25 SENATOR ELLEN KARCHER: Thank you Senator Rice. 8 1 I know from experience over the last few 2 years what passion you bring to everything that 3 you do; and particularly I've had the opportunity 4 to serve with you on committees. This is a 5 Committee that I do not serve with the Senator on 6 but I have invited him here, he graciously 7 accepted, and he is here to listen. Exactly as he 8 said, he is here to listen; listen to your 9 concerns. You are my neighbors; some of you are 10 my friends; and this is something that we need to 11 as a community come together and be able to 12 solve. The State has taken an active role through 13 their investigation and the development of the SCI 14 report. Those recommendations are for us to have 15 a road map moving forward to make sure that 16 this -- the kind of concerns and complaints that 17 I'm sure we're going to be hearing tonight won't 18 happen again. And we can come up with ideas and 19 resolutions to help you as consumers and 20 homebuyers be able to resolve your problems. 21 Senator Rice has made it very clear that that is 22 our goal; we're here to listen. 23 And given the hour, I will dispense with my 24 written comments. I will make sure that anyone 25 who needs them, gets them. But with that, I'd 9 1 like to call our first witness. 2 SENATOR RICE: While we're getting the 3 witnesses together, I'm going to ask staff to kind 4 of give you a summary of a couple of Bills that I 5 do have in the Legislature to start the process 6 that's based on the State Commission on Investigation 7 report, which is here. 8 Bob, if you can maybe discuss the contents of 9 some of the Bills that we have in so that the 10 public can understand where we are moving and the 11 fact that these are based on SCI investigation 12 recommendations, then maybe some of the questions 13 will get answered just through that process.