Historian Files Annual Report

Reprinted from AMBOY BEACON,


Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010

PERTH AMBOY — City Historian Jack Dudas has filed a four-page Annual Report
for 2009-10 that details a lack of cooperation he says exists between his unpaid, voluntary office and other city agencies in his efforts to protect or restore the integrity of historic sites throughout Perth Amboy.
“To that end, I have received no cooperation from the city Administration, with the exception of one tour of the Surveyor General’s Office regarding transforming it into a museum,” Dudas wrote. “A second tour was scheduled with William Pavlovsky, a museum expert, and me, but was cancelled by the Mayor
and rescheuled to the next day at a time I could not attend. To-date, I have not received any information as to what transpired at that latest tour of the building.” Dudas wrote that he has received “no cooperation” from City Law Director Mark Blunda “regarding the problems at the Simpson United Methodist Church,”
particularly “the damage caused by the contractor who was hired by the city to repair the city clock-tower.” The Historian wrote that he believes “there has never been a response (from that contractor), and the city has done nothing affirmative about having the damage repaired.” Moreover, “Mr. Blunda has refused to discuss this with me on the pretext that it was discussed in closed-session,” which “reasoning is patently-absurd since any member of the public would be entitled to knownot-necessarily the conversations, but the results of them,” Dudas wrote. “I had written about 30 letters to the Mayor during the last year”concerning various subjects, including “changes required to the Historic Preservation Ordinance, which does not reflect the state statute, and I have received no written responses to any of those letters,” he wrote. On a positive note, Dudas wrote that “I can confidently-say that the Ferry Slip Museum is in good hands. Its displays are interesting and conducive to learning history of different eras, and (it) is a place schoolchildren, as well as their parents, should be encouraged to attend.” He also took-credit for having the Raritan Millstone Heritage Alliance “include the only building missing from their booklet (of historic sites in Middlesex County), the Simpson United Methodist Church.” Dudas expressed concern about the lapse of a lease between the Kearny Cottage Historical Association and the city, making that group “a month-to-month tenant (at the Kearny Cottage) for lack of a lease.” Regarding the monument to Dominican leader Juan Pablo Duarte, Dudas expressed his opposition to having it “placed in a city park, for fear of setting a negative precedent” because of “the inappropriateness of placing a statue of a foreign leader, with no connection to this city or country, in a public park,” in addition to questioning the validity of the procedure followed for its approval by the City Council.