Middletown Zoning Dispute Escalates as Police Called to Board Member's Home

The ongoing controversy regarding a proposed zone change downtown took a surprising turn this weekend when a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission called police to her home after a prominent Board of Education member who opposes the plan showed up at her house.

Ed McKeon said today he went to the home of Molly Salafia Saturday morning to discuss recent postings about the zone change plan on the blog Middletown Insider. After spending about 10 minutes at the home, during which he rang the doorbell several times and tried to call Salafia on her cell phone, McKeon said he decided to leave and was getting into his car when police arrived.

McKeon, a Democrat and co-founder of another prominent local blog, the Middletown Eye, said police wanted to know if he was harassing Salafia. Police told McKeon they had gotten a call from Salafia complaining that McKeon was at her home and refusing to leave. McKeon told police he had not talked to Salafia and was not harassing her.

No arrests were made in the incident and police have not yet released the report.

McKeon, who serves as secretary of the school board, has spearheaded opposition to a proposal for a drive-through retail and restaurant complex where historic homes lie along busy Route 66 in Middletown.

Middletown Patch has run a number of editorials written by McKeon and other Middletown Eye contributors about the zoning issue on its Local Voices platform.

The PZC is expected to vote on the plan Wednesday night when it meets at 7.

On Monday, McKeon led a rally of about 75 people against the proposal and has started a Facebook page opposing the plan. He lives in the Village District and has posted a series of editorials on local blogs against the zoning text amendment proposal.

He said he went to Salafia’s home because he had tried several times to reach her by telephone and email, to no avail, to discuss recent postings on the Middletown Insider regarding his opposition of the proposed zone change.

In those postings the Middletown Insider, an anonymous blog, accuses McKeon of owning a home in the development plan area with partners and that they are trying to “flip” the residential property. The Insider accused McKeon and his partners of opposing the zone change for business reasons.

McKeon said that information is incorrect and that the home he owns is outside the proposed zone change area. In email to the Middletown Insider, he has denounced the postings as malicious and inaccurate and has threatened to sue the blog if it does not remove them. The Insider, in turn, has posted those emails to the blog.

McKeon on Tuesday said he considers Salafia a longtime family friend and that he wanted to talk to her Saturday about the context of the postings, not the zone change proposal. He said he went to Salafia’s home to discuss with her who runs the anonymous blog because a preliminary investigation he conducted, with the help of a technology expert, indicates the blog is registered to Salafia’s fiance and Salafia’s home on High Street is listed as the blog’s address.

He said he was hurt and confused by her refusal to speak with him.

Salafia on Tuesday said she’s embarrassed about Saturday’s incident with McKeon. She said she has received multiple emails and phone calls “making unfounded allegations,” which she declined to detail.

She said McKeon arrived at her home around 10 a.m. while she was watching television. “My blinds were open and he saw me, and I saw him and after all these phone calls and emails, I didn’t really want to talk to him.”

Salafia went upstairs and said McKeon “began pounding on the door and ringing the doorbell,” then left her a voice message saying, “I know you’re there, you need to come to the door right now.”

The incident was very out of character for McKeon, Salafia said.

“If somebody’s upset and making all these allegations and obviously flustered with this zoning thing, I didn’t want to go to the door.”

Salafia did not return a subsequent request for comment regarding McKeon’s account of the incident and her possible involvement with the Middletown Insider.

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