Congested traffic and speeding drivers make it dangerous for pedestrians, young and old, on the narrow shoulders of Wayne's roads. And while many of our kids have to walk to school, many more of us wish we could safely get our kids to school without always having to get behind the wheel.
For parents with strollers, seniors doing shopping, or kids on their way to school, sidewalks are a basic issue of safety, health, and quality of life. For all of us facing a money crunch at the gas pump, it's an economic issue too.
This is an issue that affects many of usevery day. I know it does for my family. We live across from Anthony Wayne Middle School on Garside Avenue, a quarter mile from CVS, Brother Bruno's Pizza, and soon a new Starbucks. But even if we just need to pick up a quart of milk or a slice of pizza, we can't walk there because our stretch of Ratzer Road lacks sidewalks. We love to go to the Roe Pool all summer, but we have to walk on the road side near the dangerous curve at Garside and Laauwe for lack of a sidewalk.
There's funding available – from federal and state grants to private and charitable opportunities. Even on county roads, the responsibility for sidewalks rests with the township. On the Township Council, I'll make sure we capitalize on all those opportunities and make Wayne walkable.
It's not easy to resist the pressures of development, especially the government yearning for "ratables." But development doesn't do us any good if its net effect on Wayne is to make it less like Wayne – the town we chose because it's a desirable place to live, where we have elbow room and enjoy our recreational and wilderness areas. Smart growth looks for ways to protect our neighborhoods, preserve wilderness, and confine commercial growth to the places where it's best for businesses, families, and the environment. And when done right, it creates better business and helps lower taxes.
We can make better use, and also provide better access, to the parks we already have.
Residential and commercial growth is an economic engine for Wayne, but it's not without downsides like traffic congestion and increased burdens on our school system. As Wayne nears its carrying capacity, our approach to growth has to get a lot smarter:
On the infrastructure side, we need to deploy our limited resources to help accomplish those goals. We also need to develop better working relationships with the other levels of government to help ease the economic burden of infrastructure and township services. As long as they're consistent with Wayne's needs, we should also consider shared services agreements as another way to cut costs.
Have a question that wasn’t answered on this page? E-mail me or give me a call.
When your child moves out of your four-bedroom house, does the Township give you a 25% cut in your property taxes? No. So why do they cut taxes for commercial landlords who let their properties sit vacant? That money is coming out of your pocket as a residential taxpayer, and it doesn't have to.
From Hamburg to Valley to Route 23, vacant and under-utilized business properties are ugly, unkempt, and a drain on the Township's scarce resources. Fewer local businesses means fewer local jobs – which affects economic opportunity for all of us, especially when long commutes translate into tanks full of $4-a-gallon gas!
We're not going to get rid of these eyesores and bring businesses back until the township stops making it so cheap and easy to leave a business property vacant. On the Township Council, I will provide an impetus for commercial landlords to bring new business tenants into town by reversing the current policy. And I'll work with property owners to target the right new tenants, to encourage the emergence of industries that will provide jobs and boost the local tax base.
"Growth" doesn't have to mean boondoggles like the Sports Dome or businesses that don't fit with Wayne's look, feel, and values. Especially as we approach the point where we're fully "built-out," Wayne needs to work hard to bring in the right businesses. That means targeted incentives to bring the right businesses to the right places: Large retailers and recreation on our major thoroughfares like Routes 23 and 46, quality shops and restaurants in town, and the like. This doesn't mean much more construction; instead, we should start by encouraging office-based businesses and light industry, with good salaries and benefits for our educated work-force, into existing spaces that now sit vacant.
For Wayne, where thousands of residents commute to the city for work, the Transit Center was a great idea. But it had barely opened before complaints arose about the most basic of things: parking availability and fees, hours at the Transit Center and Mother's, etc. An effective Township government would hold NJ Transit accountable, and work with it to fix the problems and further improve services for Wayne residents.
Have a question that wasn’t answered on this page? E-mail me or give me a call.
Earlier this year, our Township government took on new debt to pay for a school project without the School Board issuing a referendum on the ballot. Knowingly avoiding the law by shifting debt from one unit of government to another – shows exactly the kind of disrespect for people and for honest governing that I'm running to change.
Will I be able to find ways to lower your taxes? I sure hope so. I think a fresh, clear look at the township budget and some independent and creative thinking will move us a long way in that direction. But I'm not going to do it with sleight-of-hand, with one-time gimmicks that don't make sense, or by passing debt along to our kids.
I pledge constructive debate focused on real results, not on scoring political points.
I pledge to work with our state, federal, county and township officials – regardless of political affiliation – to benefit Wayne and reduce costs.
If you have a question, I will always answer it. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it for you. If you have a problem with the township government, I will always try to solve it. Why not start now: Ask me anything.