Payphones to become extinct on main thoroughfares

If you plan on doing some shopping along Bergenline Avenue or Kennedy Boulevard in North Bergen and you want to call home for a second, you better bring along a cell phone. Or a megaphone. Because very shortly, you’re not about to find a pay telephone anywhere on the streets of North Bergen. The township’s commissioners approved legislation, drawn up by township attorney Herb Klitzner, Wednesday night that will allow the township to remove all pay telephones from the streets. The bill will become law in 20 days and work will begin to remove all the phones from their existing spots soon after. According to township administrator Joseph Auriemma, the pay phone ban has been a work in progress for two years. “The whole process has been a phase-in proposition,” Auriemma said. “Two years ago, we moved to limit the number of pay phones on the street, but that didn’t work. Then we moved that every pay phone had to be licensed through the township, but there was still a proliferation of pay phones and no decrease. Then, we moved to have to license the phones where we think they need to be and that didn’t work. Then, we tried to work out a contract with only one phone provider and even that didn’t work. The negatives were always outweighing the positives.” Auriemma said that he had a series of reports that certain pay phones were sites were people would loiter at all times during the day. “And we learned that the loitering near the phones would lead to a lot of illegal deals made by using the phones, like the sale of drugs,” Auriemma said. “The phones seemed to lead to problems associated with crime, things we’re trying not to proliferate in the town. We tried to put a block on any incoming calls at those phones, but people somehow found a way to receive calls anyway.” When a major improvement program was approved for Broadway, to spruce up the sidewalk in the area filled with shops and stores, it was learned that there were approximately 20 pay phones outdoors throughout the stretch that was slated for the improvement. And nearly a dozen of those phones were installed illegally, without the proper permit or license issued by the township. That was the last straw. “We concluded that the best way to combat the problem is to eliminate the public phones altogether,” Auriemma said. “There was nothing else we could do.” Because the plan was first introduced to the township’s commissioners at Wednesday’s regularly scheduled meeting, Auriemma said that he did not know how long it would take before the phone removal would begin. “We haven’t decided how quickly we would start this project, but I imagine it would begin as soon as possible,” Auriemma said. Auriemma said that the township has no problem if a business owner wanted to have a payphone placed inside their store or business. But the outside phones are soon to be extinct. “And even the inside phones will have to go through the proper channels and would be subject to investigation, in case any wrongdoing is going on there,” Auriemma said. “We have to monitor everything.” And if anyone is found guilty of disobeying the outdoor phone ban, they will be subjected to heavy fine and possible criminal charges. “They could be held accountable for any illegal activities that stem from the phones,” Auriemma said. A random sampling of Bergenline Avenue showed that several of the existing outdoor phones were serviced by private pay telephone services and not the standard Bell Atlantic phones. The private services charge high rates for those who choose to use a credit card on their phones, as well as higher per-minute rates for those using coins. In turn, the business owners received remuneration from the private companies for installing the phones outside near their businesses. That loss of income, albeit small in most cases, might anger business owners. But one business owner was not angered last week. Some applauded the move. “When I agreed to put the phone there, I didn’t think there would be trouble,” said Nicholas Gavros, who owns a delicatessen on Kennedy Boulevard. “But it’s been a nuisance. Kids hanging around, people hanging around. I wanted to get rid of it almost right away, but I signed a deal and the phone had to stay. I never made as much money as the people [the NetTell phone service] told me I would.”