Wednesday, November 7, 2007

FOUR MORE YEARS

Congratulations to Mary Aufseeser on her re-election as Mayor of Matawan. According to the Monmouth County Board of Elections, Aufseeser won by THREE (3) VOTES! So all you people who are complacent about voting.....you could have made a difference. Congrats to Kevin Mendes on his election to Borough Council.
Congratulations to Linda Clifton on her election to Council. Linda Clifton will be the only Republican on the Council in the coming year. Clifton will probably be given some minor Commission to Chair. With one vote, she will have little or no impact on whatever the Council wants to do. That's the facts.

We all can thank American Properties, Dunkin Donuts, the strip mall on Main St.(StarBucks), the Pudential building on Route 34, and all the businesses that supported Aufseeser, et al. I'm sure the Matawan Alliance will be getting more funding from Matawan and any other organization that pleases the Mayor and her Council. With or without an adopted Budget. Look for more spending, higher taxes, and some great parties on Main Street!

Keep staying home, don't get involved, let others direct your tax dollars.

This is not sour grapes.......this is reality.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bunyon did not win a Council seat. There were only 2 seats open, which were won by the 2 highest vote getters, Clifton and Mendes. Buragina and Bunyon lost. And you tell us to pay attention! Come on!

matawan advocate said...

Thank God. Glad you pay attention. What a horrid thought. Talk about two morons....Mendes & Bunyon would have been more than even Matawan could take at one time. Guess Redevelopment is dead now that Mendes is on the Council.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, we have now swung nearly full circle in the other direction. I think the once blissfully unopposed reps are being handed their punishment for 40 years of governmental ineptitude ...

Perhaps the republicans will now begin to try a new tactic - perhaps, having lost even more seats to the dems, they will begin to attempt to work WITH them, instead of against them. After all, if they actually CARE about Matawan, they would have been working together all along.

I can't tell you how many times I laugh out loud about the "division" between the parties here. Who cares? This is Matawan, not the whole US of A, and the council should probably be split to represent all "sides" of issues. Unfortunately that didn't happen with this election.

If Mr. B doesn't become mayor, I strongly suggest that the reps NOT choose such a polarizing and whiney figure to run for Mayor next time. Mr. B never once tried to work WITH the dems on anything (in fact it seems that all he ever did was to whine about their misconduct and missteps - those with skeletons in their closets shouldn't talk, Mr. B), and he was certainly NOT the person to unify this council and turn it into something of which the people of Matawan can be proud.

IF - BIG if - a party could find someone who cared, someone who had no agenda (and that includes vendettas against the Mullaney's, the dems, the reps, the Matawan alliance, the dogs, the cats and the birds), and someone who would do the right things to bring businesses in and reduce taxes, MAYBE there would be a candidate worth voting into office.

There's an old saying that states: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Have you guys gotten the hint yet?

Anonymous said...

FYI - I stay home b/c it INFURIATES me to go to the council meetings. The pettiness and incompetence (council, mayor, clerk ... pretty much anyone we've elected into office or can't fire)that abound during meetings make me nuts.

And I'm not one to keep my mouth shut at these things. I could engage in irate rantings for hours with these people about the downtown, about our taxes, about the school district's inability to control their spending and the council's inability to do anything about it.

The conversations that I have when I am at meetings just go to show that there is next to nothing that these people can do to dig themselves out of the holes they've made over the last 40 or so years. No one has any foresight at all. Not a one of them.

And guess what - taxes will never NOT go up. Doesn't matter who's in office, my friend. Get your head out of the sand.

Anonymous said...

Wow--what a mean-spirited post! You call Councilman-elect Kevin Mendes and candidate Robert Bunyon morons? MORONS? That's harsh! Any evidence to support such a strong claim? I don't know much about Mr. Bunyon, but Mr. Mendes is a respected businessman in our community and resident of long-standing. Hardly a moron, by all accounts.

As for the "parties" on Main Street, I've explained this before in previous posts. It's a PROVEN successful municipal technique (see: Freehold Borough, Red Bank, Point Pleasant Beach), that is, revitalizing a downtown through community involvement helps the businesses, in turn helps more businesses to come in to town, and reduces the tax burden on the citizenry by shifting it to the business community. I guess if it's worked in so many other towns, we should discount it because the previous administration are not "party people"? Because they're introverts who don't want to associate with their constituents in any possible way?

I'm sorry, but regardless of politics, there's something about seeing your mayor and councilmen and councilwomen strolling up and down the street during one of these festive events that brings a smile to my face.

A word about the Downtown Matawan Alliance. They do a great deal of fundraising on their own, do they not? Perhaps a donation from Matawan Advocate will reduce the amount they need to request in grants from the town?

GET OUT AND PARTY, MATAWAN!

matawan advocate said...

There shouldn't be Reps and Dems. They should be good people with no hidden agenda but to bring Matawan to a better place.

Apparently, you do not attend Borough Council meetings or you would be aware of the antics of Mullaney. There is no vendetta, simply he wants to spend money the Borough doesn't have. As to the Matawan Alliance, they do good work. However, the Borough Council should not be subsidizing them with taxpayer dollars. For one thing they have not received qualification for an IRS deduction. That means if a business donates $1,000. to the Matawan Alliance it is not tax dedutible. If they are recognized by the IRS, it is something recent. Anyone who can provide an update, pls do.

As to finding someone who cares about Matawan. We had someone in the person of Donna Gould. She was smart, informed and cared. She was voted out. So that shoots down your theory.

As to Mr. B., if he didn't mention it we would have never known about that $25,000. report. The Mayor, Councilman Mullaney & Fred Carr would have kept it a secret. Let me see do the words conspiracy mean anything to you. I'm sorry if taxpayers paid for it..they should know what it recommends. Word is Mr. B has tried on many occasions to work with Mullaney, Cannon, Mullaney & Malley to no avail. By the way, love animals have dogs and cats no birds though! Mr. B., as you call him, had a contractor donate his time, a supplier donate material and re-roofed the Clinton St Park roof without fanfare. Not even an 8x10 glossy shaking hands with children or adults in the paper.

Lastly, by not attending meetings, my friend, you are the one whose head is in the sand.

matawan advocate said...

Truth in Matawan. Mr. Mendes is a respected businessman? Isn't he an employee in his parents business? Have you been to a Planning/Zoning Board meeting? Perhaps if you had seen Messrs. Bunyon & Mendes at meetings you would have thought differently. As a long standing resident, what is his position on Redevelopment? What is his position on the day laborers? What is Mr. Bunyon's positions? What are their positions on infrastructure, the historic railroad station, and so on....

As to seeing politicians at Borough events, I agree. Where were they when the Rotary donated a defibullator to Matawan? As I recall a Captain from the Matawan Fire Dept had to accept it on the Borough's behalf. Now there is Borough spirit for you. And exactly what has the Matawan Alliance given the Borough?

I'm sorry, no I'm not, if a business owner lives in Colts Neck, Rumson, Holmdel they should have no say in the direction the Borough is going. A business can be moved...a family is a lot more difficult to establish.

Debra Buragina was someone who would have helped unify the Council...she was voted out. She also knew the most about Redevelopment.

Donations are a personal matter. You assume MA doesn't donate to the Alliance. Perhaps if a donation was tax deductible more people and businesses would!

As to the previous administration, I have heard them blamed for everything....enough already. It's 2007 let's deal with the here and now. Unless you want to reduce my taxes back to what it was 39 years ago.