O’Scanlon: Reinstate Regional Contribution Agreements To Help Sandy Victims

Assemblyman urges Bayshore residents to ask Senate President Sweeney join the bi-partisan effort

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, issued a statement today welcoming Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik’s support of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA) for use in getting Sandy victims back into their homes, and called upon residents of his Bayshore district to question Senate President Sweeney the use of Affordable Housing Funds when Sweeney visits the district for his Town Hall meeting in Keansburg on Thursday afternoon.

“Recently, Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik suggested that RCAs could be used by towns to help their neighbors continue to rebuild in the devastating wake of Sandy,” O’Scanlon said, “My Republican colleagues and I have been calling for the use of RCAs for years and I am excited to hear that Mayor Hornik is on board. When the Democrat leadership in Trenton killed the RCA program it was bad, short sighted policy that many of us knew would come back to bite us. Its flaws are now magnified by the plight of Sandy victims as many towns struggle with the economic burdening of rebuilding.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Hornik: COAH funds should be used to help Sandy Victims

By Mayor Jonathan Hornik, Marlboro Township

Forgotten among the latest round of finger-pointing and investigations regarding the use of Superstorm Sandy funds are displaced low and moderate-income homeowners and renters who need help. This immediate and pressing need, combined with resources available from communities like Marlboro Township, in the form of affordable housing trust funds, present a unique opportunity for regional cooperation. Now all we need is some action in Trenton.

The funds, collected from developer fees, now totaling at least $180 million state-wide (and which the State has been trying to take for its own budget problems), are to be used to meet the need for affordable housing under the Supreme Court’s Mt. Laurel rulings. Those cases decreed that every town has an obligation to provide for its region’s need for affordable housing. We have long argued that the doctrine should be meaningfully applied – let’s build the housing where the need is the greatest.

Yet to this day the planners in Trenton wrangle over rules to determine how towns must address their affordable housing, going on 15 years now, when it should be painfully obvious that the need for our community (and our region) is staring us in the face. Current state laws prohibit Marlboro from helping those communities who are in desperate need for housing assistance after Sandy.  There is no mechanism for Marlboro to spend its trust funds for the benefit of, for example, Union Beach or the Highlands, because there are no rules that allow us to do so. We can’t fulfill a fundamental tenet of Mt. Laurel, and help our neighbors because the authority to do so isn’t there. And why not?

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Hornik on Tommy G Show This Afternoon

Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik is taking his not running for governor  tour to the Tommy G Radio Show this afternoon.

The show can be heard here live between 4 and 6.  You can call in to speak with Tommy and the mayor at 732-446-9777.

• Tweet

Winners and Losers of 2013, Part One

Winners

January 2013 seems like a long time ago.

The years are supposed to go by faster as we get older.  2013 missed the memo, at least for me. President Obama’s second Inauguration and Freeholder John Curley’s second swearing in seem like a long time ago.

Selikia Joshia Gore started us off in 2013 with a timeless call to renew our humanity; the ongoing struggle of saints and sinners to love one another regardless of standing, status or creed.   It is a winning message that works only by embracing our failures without resigning to them.

The Governor. Governor Chris Christie started the year lambasting House Speaker John Boehner and the Congressional Republicans for playing politics with Superstorm Sandy aid and ended the year as the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. In between he built a bi-partisan and multi-cultural coalition that reelected him with over 60% of the vote in Blue Jersey.   Christie had the best year of any politician in America.  Only Pope Francis and Vladimir Putin had better years globally.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez.  Menendez started the year on the losers list. Embroiled in a sandal of allegations of his cavorting with teenaged girls in the Dominican Republic and using the powers of his office to benefit the businesses of the donor who arranged the party, speculation was that he would resign as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, if not his Senate seat.  Menendez seems to have survived an FBI investigation into his relationship with Dr. Saloman Melgan unscathed.

At the end of the year, Menendez’s position seems secure. He is the leading, and most powerful, critic of President Obama’s foreign policy.   His approval ratings are net positive 22 points in the last Monmouth University Poll. He got engaged to be married earlier this month.

Given where he started, Menendez may have had the best 2013 of any New Jersey public figure, other than Christie.

The Gramiccionis.  The Wall Township power couple had a very good year.  In March, Christopher, the Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor and U.S. Naval Reserve Officer, received orders to report for a 9 month tour of active duty in Afghanistan effective in August.  Those orders were canceled in July, keeping Chris on the job fighting crime in Monmouth County and home for the holidays.  Deborah was appointed by Governor Christie to be the Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  The job pays $289,657.

Monmouth County Republicans.  Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso were always expected to be reelected on the strength of their records and due to the fact that Monmouth County Independent voters usually vote Republican.  They make the winners list by virtue of fact that they ran as if they were behind, not taking any votes for granted.  More importantly, they ran a positive campaign based on reducing spending, holding the line on taxes, and improving services, in the face of yet another negative campaign on the part of the Monmouth County Democrats.

Monmouth County’s Legislative Delegation.  Each member of Monmouth County’s Legislative Delegation deserves more recognition than space will allow.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Marlboro Teen Is Reunited With Parents

Karwan family photo via News12’s facebook page.

Michael Karwan, the missing autistic teenage who was located in Cleveland, Ohio last night, has been reunited with his parents, according to a statement by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Grammiccioni.

Grammiccioni said that Karwan, 19, was reported missing from his parents’ home on Tuesday, Nov. 19, sparking an intensive search of the region that spread into upstate New York. Over the next week, Karwan traveled by bus from Monmouth County to Manhattan and from New York via Philadelphia and Pittsburgh before arriving in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon his arrival in Cleveland on Saturday, Karwan attempted to check-in to an overcrowded men’s shelter run by Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries (LMM), but was referred to the Volunteers of America (VoA) shelter.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Autistic Marlboro teen Michael Karwan found safe in Ohio

Congressman: Autistic Marlboro teen Michael Karwan found safe in Ohio Demolition contractor faces murder charges in Philadelphia building collapse (via NewsWorks)

Michael Karwan, the autistic Marlboro teeanger who left his home more than week ago after an argument with his parents, was found safe in Ohio Tuesday evening, a congressman said.  “Michael Karwan has been found safe in Cleveland and will soon reunite…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Marlboro Police searching for missing autistic man

Marlboro Police searching for missing autistic man (via NewsWorks)

Marlboro Police are searching for an autistic man who has been missing since late Tuesday night. Michael Karwan, described as a high-functioning autistic 19-year-old, left has house after an argument with his parents, wearing a black jacket, blue jeans…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Municipal Races To Watch

The Battle of Monmouth is in the municipalities today.

Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal is hoping to be the Gene Michael of politics. Michael, the New York Yankees General Manger in the early 1990’s, rebuilt the mediocre team back to dominant glory by focusing on new talent in the farm system.  As a player, Michael was a master of the hidden ball trick.  In baseball the hidden ball trick is when a position player fakes throwing the ball back to the pitcher after a play, only to tag out the base runner when he take a lead off the base.

Like Michael, Gopal is trying to build his farm team in Monmouth County municipal races, knowing he can’t win the big show in the short term, with an eye on future dominance of Monmouth County government and the State of New Jersey.  Also like Michael, Gopal always has a trick up his sleeve behind his youthful smile and pleasant demeanor.

Gopal hasn’t even fielded a team in 23 races in 16 Monmouth County towns.  Yet he has the press and New Jersey’s Democratic leadership convinced he’s building a future empire from the bottom up.

But if he doesn’t deliver the goods tonight, Gopal could end up as a Hardy Peterson, the Yankees General Manager who only lasted in the job for one year, 1990, instead of Michael, and find himself challenged for the county chairmanship when his first term ends in June.

The towns to watch tonight are Red Bank, Aberdeen, Eatontown, Highlands, Hazlet and Marlboro.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Middletown’s Website Named Best In New Jersey By Monmouth University Study

Middletown Township’s has the best municipal website in the State of New Jersey by a Monmouth University study performed by the school’s Polling Institute and its Graduate Program in Public Policy.

The project assessed 540 municipal websites in New Jersey for content, ease of use and citizen interaction.

Red Bank’s site earned an Honorable Mention, coming in 22nd on the list of 540. Five other Monmouth County sites were in the top 100, barely. Spring Lake’s site is ranked #82, Manasquan #89, Tinton Falls #91, Belmar #93 and Marlboro #95.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Local Finance Board Faults Marlboro Ethics Board’s Investigation Into Councilwoman Marder’s Conflict

The New Jersey Local Finance Board (LFB), a part of the Department of Community Affairs found fault in the Marlboro Ethic Board’s (MTEB) investigation into conflict of interest charges file against Councilwoman Randi Marder.  LBF remanded the matter back to MTEB for “additional investigation and application of the appropriate legal standard.”

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet