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Councilman tells resident to shut up
BY MATTHEW VAN DUSEN
HACKENSACK – City Councilman Charles P. McAuliffe shouted "shut your fat mouth" to
a resident at a meeting Tuesday night as tempers flared over the privatization of local
ambulance services.
The outburst was preceded by an exchange between McAuliffe and John Taylor, Fire
Department union official, that was peppered by crowd heckling that has characterized
meetings since the privatization plans were announced.
The council temporarily suspended the meeting but reconvened to a calmer crowd five
minutes later.
McAuliffe said afterward that he did not regret his comment.
"She started hollering something," McAuliffe said of a woman in the audience.
Lucy DeSimone, a resident who said she was the target of attack, said she would sue
the city but was laughing about the incident.
"They have no right to tell me that," DeSimone said.
The supporters of the eight Fire Department emergency medical technicians who will
lose their jobs on Sept. 15 challenged the council on many issues.
Several residents were upset that the city officials refused to have a referendum over
the outsourcing of the daytime ambulance service to Hackensack University Medical
Center.
City Clerk Debra Heck said the city's form of government does not allow residents to
petition for a referendum.
Resident Kathleen Salvo said council members "are an embarrassment" to the state,
and McAuliffe fired back that Salvo, a former mayoral candidate, did not even know
what form of government she wanted to run.
Taylor, the vice president of the Hackensack Uniformed Fire Officers Association,
debated McAuliffe about whether the city offered the EMTs jobs in Bergen County after
the layoffs were announced.
Union officials conceded there was an offer but said it was unacceptable.
BY MATTHEW VAN DUSEN
HACKENSACK – City Councilman Charles P. McAuliffe shouted "shut your fat mouth" to
a resident at a meeting Tuesday night as tempers flared over the privatization of local
ambulance services.
The outburst was preceded by an exchange between McAuliffe and John Taylor, Fire
Department union official, that was peppered by crowd heckling that has characterized
meetings since the privatization plans were announced.
The council temporarily suspended the meeting but reconvened to a calmer crowd five
minutes later.
McAuliffe said afterward that he did not regret his comment.
"She started hollering something," McAuliffe said of a woman in the audience.
Lucy DeSimone, a resident who said she was the target of attack, said she would sue
the city but was laughing about the incident.
"They have no right to tell me that," DeSimone said.
The supporters of the eight Fire Department emergency medical technicians who will
lose their jobs on Sept. 15 challenged the council on many issues.
Several residents were upset that the city officials refused to have a referendum over
the outsourcing of the daytime ambulance service to Hackensack University Medical
Center.
City Clerk Debra Heck said the city's form of government does not allow residents to
petition for a referendum.
Resident Kathleen Salvo said council members "are an embarrassment" to the state,
and McAuliffe fired back that Salvo, a former mayoral candidate, did not even know
what form of government she wanted to run.
Taylor, the vice president of the Hackensack Uniformed Fire Officers Association,
debated McAuliffe about whether the city offered the EMTs jobs in Bergen County after
the layoffs were announced.
Union officials conceded there was an offer but said it was unacceptable.