Old Bridge Zoning Board Member Who Threatened To Call ICE On Tree Workers Should Be Fired, 3 Council Reps Say

OLD BRIDGE, NJ — It is now three Old Bridge Council members who want Patricia Testaverde to either resign or be immediately removed from the Old Bridge Zoning Board.

This is after comments Testaverde made in November surfaced online this week, where she threatened to call Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Spanish-speaking tree workers because they were blocking her driveway.

The Council members who want her axed from the Zoning Board are Mark Razzoli, a Republican, who was the first to call for her ouster, and now joined by Councilmen David Merwin and Kiran Desai. Merwin and Desai are the only two Democrats on the Republican-majority Old Bridge Council.

"She should be told to resign from the board immediately," Razzoli said at Tuesday night's Old Bridge council meeting. "It's blatant misconduct. She should be removed from the board immediately. You want to have freedom of speech, that's fine. But don't be on the Zoning Board."

"Yup, two Democrats agreeing with a Republican — this is not a political thing; it's the right thing to do," Merwin said Thursday evening. "This is a black eye to the Township of Old Bridge. It was disgusting. Is this how we expect our Board members to represent themselves, and the Township? What would happen if a Hispanic person — or anyone she thinks is here illegally — comes before the Zoning Board? How could she render a non-biased decision? As a board member, you are representing the many cultures of Old Bridge Township, and she did not represent us well."

Merwin said Desai, who was not available to comment, agrees with him.

Merwin said he was also "shocked and appalled" at how Testaverde spoke to two Old Bridge Twp. Police officers.

This happened Nov. 5: Two Old Bridge Police officers responded to the dispute and Testaverde told the officers she did indeed threaten to call ICE after she said the tree workers' truck was blocking her driveway, and she was expecting contractors to do a bathroom remodel. This is according to full police body camera footage from the scene.

Testaverde was appointed by the town council to the Zoning Board in 2022. Owen Henry was Old Bridge mayor at the time. Her appointment was re-affirmed last year under current Mayor Debbie Walker (Republican). Zoning Board members make key decisions for the town about what type of development will be allowed, and where.

Walker did not respond to repeated questions from Patch asking if she plans to remove Testaverde, or ask her to resign.

Razzoli said he takes issue not so much with Testaverde's threat to call ICE, but the way she spoke to the police officers. Razzoli is a retired Jersey City Police detective, and Testaverde is a retired New York City Police sergeant, as well.

Razzoli said it is his opinion Testaverde spoke down to the two officers.

Razzoli and Merwin said they also want to know why Testaverde called Old Bridge Council vice-president Anita Greenberg-Belli that day, and why Greenberg-Belli spoke to the officers.

Testaverde gave the police officers a laundry list of who would be intervening on her behalf, including the police chief, the mayor, state Sen. Henry and Greenberg-Belli.

Greenberg-Belli picked up her phone call.

"Hang on, hang on, tell Councilwoman Greenberg," Testaverde told the officers on Nov. 5.

"Can you get that phone out of my face?" one officer responds, when she puts her phone, with Greenberg-Belli on the line, into his face.

"How you gonna hear then?" Testaverde retorts. "Now he's being nasty to me."

"When he was still running down your father's leg I was in 9/11, police sergeant, please," Testaverde tells the other cop. "Give me a f— break. Treat me like that. I'm the victim. This is my property."

"I would like to know why did Council vice president Greenberg-Belli interject?" Razzoli said to Patch Thursday. "She isn't a police officer. Elected officials attempting to bully our police officers will never be tolerated. No elected official should ever interject in a police matter."

"Anita interjected herself into police department work for a simple neighbor dispute," agreed Merwin. "She shouldn't interject herself into police work ... absolute power corrupts absolutely."

In the police body camera footage, Greenberg-Belli can be heard taking the names of the two police officers, and speaking to them. What Greenberg-Belli said is unintelligible.

Greenberg-Belli, a Republican, has ignored every question Patch asked her about this incident. We asked her why Testaverde called her that day. We asked her why she spoke to the police officers, what she said and why she got involved. Greenberg-Belli did not answer.

The only thing she's said about this was at Tuesday night's Council meeting, after Razzoli spoke:

"There's three sides to every story," she said, in reference to Testaverde.

Patch also asked Greenberg-Belli and Walker if they condemn Testaverde's threat to call ICE. Neither woman answered.

Greenberg-Belli made headlines last month when she defended ICE at an Old Bridge Council meeting, and asked people to stop comparing ICE to Nazis.

This would not be the first time an appointed member of an Old Bridge Twp. governing board was forced to resign for things she's said. As recently as November, Doreen Chevalier gave up her three appointed seats on the Old Bridge Zoning Board, Environmental Commission and Open Space Committee after she commented on a Facebook post about a woman seeking affordable housing that she "shouldn't have had five children" and should have "used birth control like anyone else who knew how to budget wanted more children but knew they couldn't afford to have more children."

At that time, Mayor Walker oversaw Chevalier resigning, and apologized for her comments.

This petition was launched Wednesday, calling for Testaverde to be removed from her appointed position on the Old Bridge Zoning Board.

Testaverde told Patch she is being "smeared" and that she "was a victim that day."

Old Bridge Zoning Board Member Threatened To Call ICE On Tree Workers

This article has been updated from its original form.