As many of this papers readers know, the Hammonton Democrats have honored me with a place on their 2008 ticket.I wanted take this opportunity to discuss why I want to be part of the Promise of the Future as our ticket has been so aptly named.
Over the past several weeks, Russ Rodjinske and Jim MacLane so eloquently discussed the need to attract high-quality jobs and prioritize our local spending.I could not ask for brighter or better spoken running mates.Today, though I would like to talk about what representing the entire Town truly means.
Common thinking among politicians, not just in Hammonton, is that representation means giving away things.Build a recreational field and you are representing young families.Create a night life and you are representing young, single professionals.Build a community center and you are representing seniors.Recreational fields, night life and community centers are important.But with Hammontons diversity of religions, lifestyles, ethnicities, and livelihoods can we ever afford to satisfy everybody? More importantly, can we really say that the process that conceived of these ideas is representative?
For the Hammonton Democrats, representation means bringing people into the decision-making process regardless of whether they agree with you or not.Representation means reaching out to individuals and groups and hearing their concerns regardless of whether they may or may not vote for you.Representation means careful study, debate and deliberation to ensure every opinion is carefully considered.We, Democrats, know that representation is important because it creates opportunity for everyone.
As the son of an immigrant, I appreciate the importance of opportunity.And as your representatives on Council, the Hammonton Democrats will make opportunity a part of everyones reality.Then, we can truly say that we have achieved the Promise of the Future.
I look forward to an exciting, positive campaign.I hope that this campaign will be fueled by productive ideas and not personal vendettas and mudslinging.I invite everyone to our Wine and Cheese Reception on May 7 at 7 pm at the Womens Civics Club.It will be an opportunity to share your ideas with Russ, Jim and myself.
The new town hall looks wonderful. The Chief and Town Clerk did the grand opening. HF did a wonderful job for $5.9M. It is nice to see how positive the new town hall, zero tax increases, fixing the school finances, repaving roads, rebuilding the downtown sidewalks, and other items have been for Hammonton. Even better, a lot of things were done with grants which kept the town with a zero tax increase. Hammonton is a great town! The Mayor and his team did a wonderful job.
HAMMONTON -- The new town hall is open for business.
After nearly 17 months of construction, the $5.9 million facility opened Monday on schedule after a group effort by municipal employees last week saw items from the old hall at the intersection of Central Avenue and Vine Street moved to their new home.
Mayor John DiDonato was busy last week vacuuming up dust in the hall's first floor. It was just part of a team effort to make sure the building opened up on time.
"Everyone is pretty excited," DiDonato said. "Everyone has helped pitch in."
The working conditions are much better than in the previous hall, which was plagued by crammed spaces and mold problems.
"It's good to have room to work," said tax assessor Marty Joan Wyatt. "There's even chairs for guests."
Deputy town clerk April Boyer Maimone said the move to the new building went relatively smoothly.
"It's been a process but we really didn't have any problems," she said. "We got everything over."
The clerk's office occupies much of the third floor and the staff has plenty of room compared with their cramped conditions next door at the old hall.
"It feels good. It's a very functional building," Boyer Maimone said. "It's all new. Everybody is very excited. You just can't help but be."
On the second floor, the municipal court was up and running.
"The move went splendidly," said municipal court administrator Debbie Camorata. "I think we were only off line with our computers for about an hour."
The old hall is scheduled for demolition in the coming weeks with its site being converted into much-needed parking and a landscaped area.
Originally published May 7, 2008
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Anonymous
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RE: Letter from Democratic Candidate Mike Perrotta
There are so many positive things that have happened under Mayor DiDonato's adminstration. Look at how the dumping of sewage was stoped on the north end of town at Tuckahoe Turf Farm. All over town, it is very positive. It's all good!
Does the 5.9 million include demolition and parking? By the way 92K seems a bit low for a demolition and 2 million for paving Vine and 2nd seems a bit high.
Back to the the point of this thread: Mr. Perrotta has correctly identified a major issue in this town. Without being negative, it seems that people have no voice. We have all of these committees that are filled with HF supporters and really have no purpose.
Those commissions that did some good and provided representation such as MUAC and Rent Control have been abolished. Maybe if we had MUAC, the 2.5 million provided by South Jersey Gas would be used for its actual purpose of building a new well on Lincoln Ave rather than subsidizing HF goodies.
Money is flying around like paper in a tornado! We need citizen oversight to keep people honest. Perrotta and his running mates understand this.
San Rocco had a wonderful party in honor of the new town hall opening. The building is absolutely spectacular. There are so many wonderful things going on around town. It really is all good.
Were the contractors there who designed and built the town hall? Who paid for the party at San Rocco?
Gee why be negative? The owners of San Rocco decided to have a nice party and invite the entire town in honor of a historic day in Hammonton's history. There are so many great things happening all over town. Hammonton even has nice businesses moving into town which will increase ratables. An example is the NJ Manufacturers' building where there will be 500 people working. There have been many, many positive things under the HF administration.
Were the contractors there who designed and built the town hall? Who paid for the party at San Rocco?
Gee why be negative? The owners of San Rocco decided to have a nice party and invite the entire town in honor of a historic day in Hammonton's history. There are so many great things happening all over town. Hammonton even has nice businesses moving into town which will increase ratables. An example is the NJ Manufacturers' building where there will be 500 people working. There have been many, many positive things under the HF administration.
Wait a second! NJ Manufactoring has been in Hammonton for years!
Where are all the businesses going that are leaving Rasberry Run. I thought the Mayor got a big tax break on that property, and now the tenants are vacating it.
NJ Manufacturers is building a huge new office building on 12th Street down towards the Skating Rink. It will be a wonderful building with 500 people working there. That is a lot of new jobs for Hammonton as well as a great tax ratable.
It is so nice to see so many positive things. It is a shame that the naysayer above has to be so negative and attack the mayor. Things are going so nicely in Hammonton with no tax increases, many newly completed projects, and our school restored to a sound financial position.
Hey, I have to give the current town council credit (Republicans and Hammonton First) for keeping the municipal tax rate at zero the last couple of years. The state did give the schools an extra 4 million this year that greatly helped this year's budget but I am not complaining.
I definitely do not want Hammonton First having complete control in Hammonton because some of their ideas are poor and not well thought out. Jerry Vitalo, Jim Bertino and Anthony Marino keep Hammonton First from pushing through bad ideas.
At least our local and county government is not in as bad a shape as the NJ State Budget. Let's see how Corzine raises the taxes some more to balance the state budget. NO TAX REBATES this year I bet........
How is that attacking the Mayor? Stating facts is attack. Mayor got a tax break; check the Town Council minutes. Businesses are moving out of his strip mall. Looks like the recession is even affecting local moguls.
NJ Manufacturing has been there for years and their expansion has nothing to do with HF. Once again, HF taking credit for being in the right place at the right time. By the way, how many of the 500 will be new jobs and how many Hammontonians will be working there?
I beginning to think that these pro-HF comments are written by one person, probably a relative or friend of Mayor Johnny.
We should all be thankful that the Mayor and Hammonton First's plan to stop leaf pickup and bulky trash pickup was stopped by the Republicans and a public outcry.
Luckily, even though the Republicans have a minority vote, they've been pretty good at bring to public light a lot of the horrible plans Hammonton First has put forward. They weren't able to bring back MUAC, I guess because no matter what the public said, Hammonton First was determined to allow the public to see their sewer and water plans before enacting them. But MUAC aside, we haven't been hurt too badly this year.
We should all be thankful that the Mayor and Hammonton First's plan to stop leaf pickup and bulky trash pickup was stopped by the Republicans and a public outcry.
Luckily, even though the Republicans have a minority vote, they've been pretty good at bring to public light a lot of the horrible plans Hammonton First has put forward. They weren't able to bring back MUAC, I guess because no matter what the public said, Hammonton First was determined to allow the public to see their sewer and water plans before enacting them. But MUAC aside, we haven't been hurt too badly this year.
The Republicans were 0-5. They lost on MUAC, Rent Control, Shade Tree, Reagan Rock, Anthony Ingemi Day.
Jimmy Bertino has taken too much of the taxpayers money with his push for getting himself health insurance and pension for life, his grabbing cash for health insurance buyouts and taking a free cell phone from the town. Now he wants to help his friends with special deals for them. It is time for a change in Hammonton!
