Council President Appreciates 7-0 Vote on Important First of Two Votes

At the Piscataway Township Council meeting on Tuesday, all seven of its members voted yes on the first of two votes for a measure that holds hotels accountable and gets those living in hotels and committing crimes out of the community.

“The safety of families in our neighborhoods and businesses is the top priority,” Council President Michele Lombardi (Ward 4) said, “and on Tuesday the entire Township Council spoke with one voice.”

The Piscataway Township Police Department has been fielding several hundred phone calls a year – multiple 9-1-1 calls a day – from the Motel 6 and Extended Stay Hotel in Piscataway for drug overdoses and crimes that have included a meth lab, a hostage situation and assaults against women.  Agencies from other towns and other counties have been placing people at these hotels including those being released from incarceration.

The measure under consideration would create licenses for hotels that could be revoked for failure to follow the municipal code.  Guests are limited to 89-day stays with exceptions such as for those fleeing domestic violence and families having construction done on their homes.  If a guest has been arrested for a felony or lowers the quality of life for others such as causing noise complaints, no extension will be granted.  Hotels also have to maintain a guest registry that can be inspected by the Township.

“Families seeking security and temporary shelter should not be placed in harm’s way,” Mayor Brian C. Wahler said.  “Vulgar and dangerous crimes are being committed in the presence of children and we need this new law to remove those committing heinous acts.”

Such measures must be voted on twice: first reading and second reading.  Now that this measure advanced on first reading on January 20th, another vote for its passage will take place at the Council’s next meeting on February 10th.