|
THE TOP LOCAL STORIES OF 2006
The Manchester Times Looks Back At The Top Stories We Covered Last Year
By Eric San Juan
Manchester may not have had the resignations, government changes and upheavals of other towns, instead remaining a relatively quiet community of retired citizens and growing families, but that does not mean 2006 passed by without event. In the following feature, we look back at the 10 local news stories covered by The Manchester Times, stories our editorial staff feels are the biggest, most important, and most interesting events we covered in the last year. These are our top stories of 2006.
Come In Car 54
Early in the year, township and police officials were thrilled to roll out a brand new, state-of-the-art police communications system.
At 82 square miles, Manchester is anything but small. Some parts of the town are made up of desolate stretches of highway. That makes good communications equipment a must – and the old hardware just wasn’t cutting it.
A $5 million upgrade (paid for in part with the help of a grant secured by Congressman Chris Smith) took care of the issue. The town’s new Motorola system is not just bigger and better for its own sake: It helps the police do a better job, in turn enhancing your safety and well-being.
And that is newsworthy by any measure.
Here Kitty, Kitty
When Mayor Michael Fressola and the township council moved forward with an ordinance to restrict the feeding of feral cats, they probably did not know the minefi
eld they were stepping into.
Cat lovers raised a small firestorm – our office was inundated with letters to the editor – demanding that they be allowed to continue feeding wild and semi-wild cats. For weeks the issue was debated in the letters page of The Manchester Times and in town hall.
Some said the cats should not be fed.
Others said it was cruel to not feed the cats.
Everyone had an opinion, very briefly making this one of the most talked about Manchester issues of 2006.
Meet The New Boss
When voters turned out to the polls this spring, they were selecting their new mayor.
And the man they selected was none other than, well, the man who had been their mayor for eight years, Michael Fressola.
Garnering about 54 percent of the vote, Fressola cruised to an 859-vote victory over newcomer and complete unknown James Poss. It was (and is) his third term as mayor, proving that despite the dogged determination of his critics, he retains support in town.
The mayor’s council slate did not fare quite as well. While Craig Wallis walked to an easy victory, Councilman Robert Pigott lost his seat by a narrow 75 votes to newcomer Brendan Weiner, just enough to make Weiner the first non-Continued Good Government Team candidate to be elected to the council since Theresa Lettman in 1998.
Musical Business Administrators
When Fressola again took office in May, he wasted no time replacing former business administrator Karen Infanger, who was the latest in a series of administrators to come and go.
Fressola replaced her with interim administration Elena Zsoldos, his secretary.
And then in August, Zsoldos went back to her duties when the new business administrator came on board.
Only she wasn’t the “new” business administrator at all.
Connie Lauffer, who stepped down in 2001, returned to town hall to once again serve as Manchester’s business administrator, putting an end to what has been a rotating cast.
Who Calls The Shots?
Americans are known for their love of privacy and freedom, so it comes as no surprise that retirement communities have been very successful nationwide. Providing both privacy and freedom, they are the golden years getaway working people dream of.
What many did not dream of was state government making a move to be more involved in the affairs of their homeowners association.
That is just what has been on the table for the last two years, an issue that has sparked fierce debate between supporters and detractors.
That debate came to a head in May, when Mayor Michael Fressola butted heads with a representative of the Community Associations Institute. Jack McGrath, president of the New Jersey CAI chapter, told Fressola to “zip it” and “sit down” at a meeting in Leisure Village West. As expected, this did not go over well with Fressola, well known as a man who speaks his mind. Fressola left the meeting, and McGrath won no new friends.
The clash may have since faded away, but the issue sure hasn’t. Legislation is still pending.
Schoolhouse Road Gets Walkway
No, it wasn’t the completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza, but the completion of a walkway along south Schoolhouse Road in July was good news for residents in that part of town.
Stretching from the intersection of Route 530 to Christ Lutheran Church, the walkway links with the Meadows of Lake Ridge and Whiting Station retirement communities, as well as two churches, allowing seniors to get out and stretch their legs in safety.
With traffic increasing every day in Whiting, that is good news indeed.
A Hand In The Pocket
Taxes, taxes, taxes. They are an issue for every community in the state of New Jersey, so when the township’s 2007 municipal budget included a 6.3-cent tax rate increase, it was not a huge surprise. Most towns are suffering from rising costs and lagging aid.
According to CFO William J. Garofalo, much of the increase was “beyond our control.”
For residents, however, the most important thing is the bottom line.
With the increase, a homeowner with a property assessed at $150,000 would pay $1,035 per year in municipal taxes, an increase of $94.50.
Factor in school taxes, county taxes, and much more, and wallets across town – and the state – felt lighter in 2006.
Not So Happy With The DEP
In September, a refrain was heard that we’ve heard before: Discontent with the State Department of Environmental Protection.
Mayor Michael Fressola again lashed out at the DEP over the fate of the Heritage Minerals tract, a 7,000-acre swath of land town officials have long sought to see untouched.
The DEP negotiated with land owner Hovson Corp. to bring some 2,500 homes to the site.
That number may be greatly reduced from the 15,000 or more once suggested for the land, which stretches between Whiting and the Manchester Township High School, but that didn’t mean Fressola was happy about the deal.
And that unhappiness once again put Heritage Minerals in the headlines.
Welcome Your New Neighbors
Routes 539 and 530 have been busy the last few years. They will soon get busier.
In November, the planning board approved a 162-home development and recreation building near the intersection of Routes 539 and 530, which is already seeing a surge of development thanks to an influx of commercial construction.
The approval will bring yet more homes to what was once considered the quiet part of town.
Snakes On A Store
One of the year’s biggest stories – and most surprising – was the quest to bring a Super Wal-Mart to town. Surprising because it is rare that residents come out so strongly in favor of new development. Big because, well, it’s a big store, and a big story.
Planning boards in Manchester and Toms River approved an application to bring a Super Wal-Mart to the border of both towns, a move Fressola and Toms River Mayor Paul Brush applauded. The store would bring jobs and ratables, they said. Residents wanted a place to shop, they said.
And then along came a snake.
When a protected pine snake was found on the property, the Department of Environmental Protection broke out its “REJECTED” stamp and said no to necessary state-level approvals. The Wal-Mart, they said, would not happen.
Fressola and Brush were furious, and still are. As 2006 came to a close, they vowed to fight the decision and bring a new Wal-Mart to Route 37, snakes or no snakes.
Which means this story is likely to remain big in 2007.
What else will be big news in the coming year? Only time will tell. Keeps your eyes on The Manchester Times to find out.
| 
