As Borough Council candidates, we have met with hundreds of residents to discuss our Four Point Plan for Garwood. This plan has been revised many times after hearing our neighbors’ concerns.  We’ve provided a detailed explanation of each point in our plan — Infrastructure, Public Safety, Community Engagement and Sustainability — on our blog, social media sites and on video.  We invite everyone to view this all on our website: www.Dems4Garwood.com!

“If you are looking for political theatre, empty campaign promises and proposals to soak Garwood taxpayers for millions of dollars in shoot-from-the-hip campaign promises, Clarissa Nolde and Jeff Jotz are not your candidates.”

While we have found ourselves agreeing with our opposition on some of the challenges that Garwood will be facing in the coming years, we disagree with them on the actual implementation of ways to meet these challenges and would like to point out that they rely on manufactured outrage, inflated promises and no identifiable funding source for these proposals. We understand that this time of year can often be referred to as “silly season,” but we are incredibly frustrated because it makes real discussion of issues nearly impossible.

We are pleased that all four candidates for Council believe that pedestrian safety needs greater attention. However, in their last mailer about “public safety,” the candidates called for “4 way stop signs at the busiest intersections.”  Four-way stops would be welcome to slow down traffic, but we’d like to hear where they will be placed and if they plan on working with our police and traffic engineers to see if they can actually be installed. 

We’d also like to know what specific streets in Garwood they plan on converting to dead ends and if they have consulted with our public safety professionals to ensure that all residences can be reached by emergency vehicles if needed, not to mention the approval of the State Department of Transportation.

Our opponents’ proposal to hand Garwood taxpayers an exorbitant bill to construct a multimillion-dollar public works complex before conducting a needs assessment done by professionals lacks the appropriate planning and preparation required.  Instead, we would like to hear more from them on what funding sources they would tap to pay for such projects. Also, unlike our opposition, we are prepared to ensure all our emergency service departments are funded rather than just focus on one.

Our Police Chief recently held a town hall where he presented the public with facts and data on traffic in Garwood. Before making campaign promises, we advise the GOP candidates to review the Chief’s forum on motorists and pedestrian safety first.

If you are looking for political theatre, empty campaign promises and proposals to soak Garwood taxpayers for millions of dollars in shoot-from-the-hip campaign promises, Clarissa Nolde and Jeff Jotz are not your candidates. If you seek honest answers; measured, professional responses to challenges and wiser use of your tax dollars, then we hope you will support us on Column A on November 2.

Thank you,

Clarissa Nolde & Jeff Jotz
Democratic Candidates for Garwood Council