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| Neighbor Sam Gonzalez |
Gonzalez already has two apartments at this property. One of them is a small apartment on the first floor. But he told zoners it is very difficult to find responsible tenants for the second apartment, which consists of the second and third floor of the home.
After purchasing the property in 1989, Gonzalez lived on the second and third floor. He moved out four years ago, and has no problem finding tenants, but they are unacceptable. Gonzalez' daughter, Mayra Antongiorgi added she is a District Court clerk and did background checks on possible renters. She discovered that landlord tenant complaints have been filed against them, calling them "habitual offenders."
Bethlehem's Zoning Ordinance requires on off-street parking spot for each of the rooms rented. Gonzalez insisted that law is unfair, especially since most of his tenants don't drive.
The boarding house proposal was strongly opposed by other nearby property owners.
Sam Gonzalez, no relation to Julio, is a disabled vet who has lived in the area for 15 years. He said there are a lot of problems, and a boarding house will only make it worse. Hospital worker Milagros Rivas told zoners she frequently works night shift and starts to "feel nervous" when she has to walk long distances from her car to her home. She called the proposed boarding house a "revolving door" that will become a major security issue.
Thomas Gilles, a landlord with numerous properties, said he refuses to invest in boarding houses because they only attract "derelicts and drug addicts." He called it an "accident waiting to happen."
Though boarding houses were panned, zoners approved a day care at 1889 Lynnfield Terrace for Community Services for Children. That property, owned by the Bethlehem Housing Authority, is leased to Community Services to provide programs for up to 20 Head Start children.
"Antongiorgi added she is a District Court clerk and did background checks on possible renters. She discovered that landlord tenant complaints have been filed against them, calling them "habitual offenders.""
ReplyDeleteSince when do District Court Clerks get to use State equipment and data bases to run background checks for family members? This one needs to be checked. Is this what is really going on in the Court systems? Employees doing background checks on for their own personal gain. There are laws that prohibit this, I hope.
Please someone investigate this if this is happening.
Mayra Antongiorgi added she is a District Court clerk and did background checks on possible renters. She discovered that landlord tenant complaints have been filed against them, calling them "habitual offenders."
ReplyDeleteDoes this statement mean she abused her post by investigating individuals with her government access?
Bernie, please, what does this mean?
I believe this is inappropriate and I don't care when she is doing it. The fact that she testified about it tells me she is unaware she is acting improperly.
ReplyDeleteThanks 5:48. Now I know I'm not the only one concerned with this statement! Imagine if she uses her post for tenant research, what's going to happen to our privacy?
ReplyDeleteEmployees doing background checks on for their own personal gain. There are laws that prohibit this, I hope.
ReplyDeleteIf true, and as Bernie says, we don't know at this moment, where was the computer software that would signal an alarm to the IT department?
Do you honestly think that when a district court employee does a background check on someone, it triggers an "alarm"? They check names rather frequently, and there is no way to guard against the worker who checks someone out for her dad. It is improper, but not the end of the world.
ReplyDeleteLandlord-Tenant cases are public records, and can be accessed by anyone through the Pennsylvania UJS portal.
ReplyDeleteWhile the story implies her position as court clerk and doing background checks might have been done improperly, that may not be the case. Background checks can be obtained on anyone for a fee paid to private companies.
ReplyDeleteYes, there are supposed to be safeguards in place to prevent those with access to state systems from running checks for personal use. No alarms. Usually checks of the system and what information was accessed by whom and for what reason.
Getting caught abusing access is often reason for dismissal.
She should be fired immediately. Period. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
ReplyDeleteif she is running the personal background checks without paying the fee, this is theft of services plain and simple and she should be dismissed
ReplyDeleteThis is done all the time by court people and police people. You really think some of these people don't use their official capacity to not look up information on girlfriends, boyfriends people they are askde to "check-out":by friends and family members??
ReplyDeleteWelcome to reality.
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteLandlord-Tenant cases are public records, and can be accessed by anyone through the Pennsylvania UJS portal."
Absolutely true. The UJS (Unified Judicial System) portal is a public record database which shows all criminal and civil filings in the state. Ms. Antongiorgi is doing nothing wrong by searching out prospective tenants to see whether or not they have a history of landlord/tenant cases.
Her testimony leads me to believe she was doing more than looking at the online records available to the public. Her conduct and testimony were inappropriate. It tends to detract from the impartiality we expect from the judiciary. It is not the end of the world, but don't whitewash her unethical behavior.
ReplyDeleteLet me add that public access to landlord tenant cases is a fairly recent phenomenon.
ReplyDeletewasMost people accept that government employees routinely violate privacy and can get their hands on a variety of personal information. It should be a big deal. But it's not, sadly.
ReplyDeleteAs the few on here that have common sense have said, this is public information she is looking up. There does not need to be any looking into the issue further.
ReplyDeleteListen,you sanctimonious piece of shit, you have no idea what she was looking at,and at the times mentioned, it was not really public information. Two years ago, those records were not available, She was using information available only yo the people in her office. And there is no doubt in my mind that she did this on the public dime. Let's not try to pretend nothing is wrong, because it was entirely inappropriate. And I can't believe the smug attitude.
ReplyDeleteI lived in a nice boarding house in Bethlehem at 62 E Market St - nice neighborhood and we had standards for admission. If done right, it can work. It doesn't sound like this guy can attract the right renters as is, converting to single rooms is likely to be a disaster.
ReplyDeleteAgree that it sounds like this district court clerk may be abusing her position.