The following is a Letter to the Editor, set to appear in the 8/2 Hammonton News, written by Town Council Candidate Tom Santone.
Thomas Santone
434 Peach Street
Hammonton, NJ 08037
July 30, 2006
Letter to the Editor
I am writing this letter to express the disgust, outrage, and disappointment I feel with the current administration running town council. Last meeting, Mayor DiDonato painted a grim picture of a little girl getting sick and the consequences that may be if Kessler were to close its doors.
With the crippling cuts made to the Fire Department, and the proposed police cuts made by the Hammonton First administration, I was surprised that the administration had any concern for public safety whatsoever. To use such a graphic description of a sick little girl to fear monger support for the hospital while dismantling our Police and Fire Departments is an outrage. We all know how important is it to have an emergency room in Hammonton, but it wouldn’t it be nice to know that we have adequate number of Police and the proper Fire equipment to respond to an accident.
I am asking as a resident and a father, that town council adequately fund and support our fine Police and Fire Departments. It should be town council’s responsibility to make sure the Police and Fire Chief have the tools they need to do the best job possible in providing Hammonton with the level of public safety we deserve. It is unacceptable to have any less than that in Hammonton.
And what about the two murders within a couple of weeks. We can't lose the handle on our town. We need to support the services these departments provide.
This is a joke. The Chief's own study shows we are overstaffed. We can't pay these high taxes. Three teachers on one ticket and what do you get? Tax and spend union people!
What, are you nuts? What study says we are overstaffed? This is a Town unique to itself in that we have 41 square miles to cover with our police and fire depts. At times we only have 3 officers on the road. That's 13.67 square miles for each of those officers to patrol. That's one hell of an area for one guy to cover, let alone for one of the other guys to come to your aid if you need assistance. If we have any major event, much of the town is uncovered because those officers are all at the one scene. The only studies I have ever heard of were comparing us to other towns by population, but that's not the only factor that needs to be considered since we are one of the largest towns in NJ.
You have to factor in not only population of residents but the fact that we have a migrant population, we hold many festivals drawing out of towners, we have a lot of square miles, we have many major roads, we have congested business districts, we have 3 funeral parlors, we have many churches for funerals. There's so many factors that HF just don't want to bring up. They just want to cut the police force budget and staff to half.
Yes, it is important for the Democrats to stick to their traditional heritage. Let's give as much money as possible to the unions and tax the hell out of the residents!
With a straight three teacher union ticket and led by people like PC(name removed), we can get as much money to the unions as possible!
No additional taxes are needed to keep the police force as it is, if the force were to increase it would be due to the growth in the town which brings additional tax revenue with it.
Get off the stupid argument about the teachers. Ralph was a Pert Time Instructor at PENNCO TECH which hardly qualifies as a teacher and as such he is not a member of any union. Tom and Jose' both teach out of district in separate towns. Any actions they could take as councilmen could not possibly help themselves or friends here in Hammonton. DC, you just have no other ammunition so you keep firing the same old blanks. Everyone knows you have always been against the schools anyway.
Anyone who doesn't see that with growth in ratables that we are experiencing, taxes do not have to be raised as long as the raises are reasonable and all other spending is controlled, is an idiot.
See that's the problem. You think Cuts are the only solution. It's idiotic to think that's the only solution. We've got to stop the old ways of thinkiing that's why we need new people. Diaz, Glorioso and Santone are not even close to the label you want to put on them as big taxers and spenders. They want to increase are ratables, ensure we have efficient spending without compromising the level of services taxpayers expect. Costs are going up cuts alone aren't gone to do it. We'd be shortchanging ourselves and be actually getting what we deserve, a safe and great place to live and play.
