Save a slice of the city; pizzeria should stay put

Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas can rattle off numerous good reasons why his plans for a public-safety and recreation complex off New Brunswick Avenue make sense.

No one argues for example the merits of a centrally located nerve center for police, fire and first-aid services. No one disputes that it is smart to use eight acres of land donated by a city waterfront developer. No one denies it is preferable to locate here rather than displace scores more residents or businesses by spreading the project into other parts of the community. On a purely strategic level, the plan is golden. It is the logistics of how it would be carried out that are seriously flawed. If only Sciortino's Pizzeria weren't in the way.

Vas insists the pizzeria must be moved to make room for parking to serve the new complex. To do that, the city plans to condemn the property along with 17 other homes and businesses.

According to Vas, the pizzeria's massive turn-of-the-century coal-fired brick oven can be relocated to another spot in the city along with the rest of the business. "If we can land a man on the moon," the mayor is fond of saying, "we can move an oven."

Perhaps. But the mayor's words smack of just another deal by an inveterate deal maker. Vas downplays -- and completely misses -- the intrinsic value of Sciortino's long and beloved history at its present location. He is thoroughly dismissive of the public pressure brought by the Sciortino family -- and the thousands of people who've signed a petition to keep the restaurant where it is -- as a movement fueled by mere emotion. It's as if the esteemed mayor believes he alone is qualified to determine the greater good of Perth Amboy. He badly miscalculates.

Sentiment does count, and there are times when it can and should be accommodated. Like now.

City planners argue time and money allow no compromise, but their predicament is one they created for themselves. Expensive and protracted negotiations for use of Conrail land at the development site ended poorly, requiring blueprints to be redrawn at the eleventh hour. Sciortino's, not targeted for condemnation in the original draft, now is. Perth Amboy is contracted to be out of its old public-safety buildings by next summer. Architects say construction on the new complex must start by July.

This sliver of time to begin work is the administration's goof. It, naturally, should be the one to pay. Vas and company could better use their days designing raised parking that would keep Sciortino's intact and in place. Creative urban architects have molded shops and restaurants into public facilities with grand results. Perth Amboy can do the same.

Meanwhile, it is evident the thousands who've rallied behind Sciortino's realize something the mayor does not yet understand: This tiny slice of ethnic legend is the flavor of Perth Amboy in the greatest figurative sense imaginable. Enough has been lost to the wrecking ball already. Sciortino's must be saved.

By doing so, the mayor can prove that his "Quality of Life" campaign for the city is more than just a slogan. After all, if we can land a man on the moon, the mayor can build a parking deck -- and preserve a Perth Amboy institution along the way.

There's a bit more-which has been oozing to the surface like toxic waste : little details this newspaper has previously not released.

Joe Vas, the Mayor, has a something-less-than-sterling reputation : The State Banking and Insurance Commission is still trying to collect on bad checks Joe and his brother wrote : some 110 of them ( which Joe calls a "bookeeping error" ) !

The Vas brothers got into a bit of difficulty with the Commission by selling folks insurance policies, and "neglecting" to forward the permiums to the insurance companies. Clients were getting cancellation notices, and, given the fact NJ is a cumpulsory auto insurance state, this did not go over too well.

Nonetheless, Joe Vas has been so successful in gaining the Hispanic vote, he is actually unopposed in his re-election bid : proof catering to " minority " voter blocks works !

Perth Amboy was once a very diverse city, that was almost like a small town. In the 50's, the Democratic machine started active recruitment of Puerto Rican residents : promising-and generally delivering-immediate Welfare benefits to anyone willing to re-settle in Perth Amboy, or nearby Middlesex County communities. The response was overwhelming; and, in time, the primary industry in Perth Amboy was Welfare; the language most likely to be spoken was Spanish,and much of the city had become a messy slum-whose industrial base had moved away, and whose once-excellent schools had become shabby remnants of the past.Crime was incredibly high ( and still is. )

There was some light at the end of the tunnel: the original "Puerto Rican" influx found themselves challenged in the market place by other Hispanics:from Mexico, Santo Domingo, Central and South America.Welfare reform limited the once inexhaustible source of income, and the residents began making a point of speaking English, and finding jobs. They were not lazy or deficient people to start with-just people who had been seduced into considering handouts the natural reward for voting the "right" way.Little by little, they began taking pride in themselves and their community.

Joe Vas has played into that pride: gathering and manipulating a voting block just as the old Wilentz machine used to do/still tries to do.There has been a great deal of "capital improvement" in Perth Amboy-some questionable, some badly needed.

Perth Amboyans are perhaps right to suspect the new construction plans have more to do with political contributions than actual need. Besides: a good pizzeria is hard to find !!!

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