Lakewood News Tidbits 3/06/06

UPDATED [Daniel Soloff, director of PCS - responds]. Lakewood Organization - Shut down.....AGUDAH INVOLVED. (So they ARE contributing to Klal Yisroel after all.....) APP: The New Jersey commerce commission has frozen nearly $600,000 in funding for Lakewood's job training and placement programs after a state audit uncovered a series of questionable practices, most notably one vendor who apparently paid himself as a consultant to his own agency....The agency in question is Professional Career Services, a job placement company in Lakewood, according to a review of public documents and a series of interviews with township and state officials. And, according to the review last fall by the Office of the State Auditor, the organization has a few questions to answer, including: Establishing its identity and status as a nonprofit agency. PCS, as it is known, is listed on its stationery as a division of Agudath Israel of America. On a recent tax return, the organization's name is Agudath Israel of Lakewood. PCS operates out of a third-floor office on Clifton Avenue, the same address listed for both Agudath Israels.....James Waters, who has been on the LDC board for several years, said the audit's findings didn't surprise him. "I know Lakewood is one of the places the FBI is looking into," he said. "I don't think it's (the FBI) related to it (the state audit) . . . but when you look into a town where this is one question that is raised, then a lot of questions could be raised." APP: UPDATE: The director of a job placement agency that has sparked questions of how public money was spent -- questions that later froze nearly $600,000 in state funding -- has made his first public comments.In a brief e-mail sent Friday, Daniel Soloff, director of Professional Career Services, said he will cooperate with any inquiries into his agency. He also defended his organization as ""fiscally responsible.''..... -------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding the "urination" news from last week..... APP: Advocates of Lakewood's sizable day laborer community say a proposed ordinance against public urination unjustly targets immigrants seeking work. Spare us. The ordinance was drafted in response to complaints about people urinating in public downtown. After Lakewood officials found there was no law on the books to stop it. The ordinance comes up for a public hearing and Township Committee vote Thursday. It should be passed without hesitation. Alice Kelsey, a day laborer advocate, says the ordinance focuses on the day laborer community, casting them in a bad light at a time when township officials and immigrant advocates are trying to arrange a summit to address the day laborer issue. Kelsey would like to see a muster zone set up downtown where day laborers could gather to connect with contractors seeking to hire them. It should include toilet facilities, she says, which would make the ordinance moot. Merchants have complained the job-seekers who line Clifton Avenue litter the sidewalks with trash, impede traffic and give the downtown a bad image. The Rev. Steven Brigham, another day laborer advocate, says the problem should be addressed by placing portable bathrooms downtown. "If (people are) good enough to come into this town and pay rent, then they're good enough to be supplied with what they need," Brigham told the committee. If they're paying rent, they should get their money's worth and use their own toilet before they go downtown.....