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Residents press council on Livingston/Central rail crossing safety and recurring neighborhood violations
Summary
During public comment residents raised safety concerns about the Livingston/Central railroad crossing’s intermittent failures and asked for action; another resident described recurring property and sight‑triangle violations and requested building and zoning inspections. Mayor Morgan clarified borough jurisdictional limits and pledged follow‑up where appropriate.
Several residents used the public‑comment portion of the meeting to raise safety and code‑enforcement concerns and to ask the council to press outside agencies for fixes.
Rail crossing safety: Alan Swanson described two recent observations of the Livingston/Central railroad crossing failing and asked what New Jersey Transit had done. He warned, "if something happens as a result of this not functioning properly, I ... would bear some responsibility in my mind because you need to tell them: 'Fix it.'" Mayor Morgan responded that borough staff had contacted NJ Transit and that the railroad asserts the crossing is "functioning as designed," but the borough does not own the crossing and cannot make repairs there; he urged residents to file action‑line requests and acknowledged that NJ Transit does not always report back to the borough.
Code and neighborhood complaints: A separate resident, Peter, described multiple neighborhood violations—overgrown plantings in sight triangles, dead trees encroaching on public right‑of‑way, an illegally placed solid corner fence and posted signs threatening harassment complaints—and asked the borough to intervene. The mayor said he would send the building inspector, zoning official and the police to inspect and follow up.
Federal funding concerns: Another resident, Brian Hos, asked whether the borough knows how federal cuts might affect residents (for example, special education or Medicaid funding). Council members said those are handled by other entities (the board of education or federal/state agencies) and that most municipal revenue comes from local property taxes; they pledged to communicate with state and federal representatives as appropriate but noted limited local authority.
Outcome: No formal motions or votes resulted from the public comments; councilors recorded the concerns, committed to targeted follow‑up (inspections or referrals) and reiterated jurisdictional constraints for issues controlled by state or federal agencies.
