Taking the next steps to victory

Winning is about a lot of things. But, part of winning is getting news out about what's going on in town. Democrats did a good job getting the news out about the bridge between Middletown and Red Bank, and now we're going on to the ballfieds in Lincroft also.

The bridge issue isn't going away, and there are going to be at least another press conference at Pat Walsh's place, but the residents over in Lincroft are taking it on the chin with this ball stadium they're looking to build over there. Patrick Short has been incredible about the amount of time he has dedicated to the bridge and to the ballfields. He's getting the issues out in front of people and expressing himself articulately as well as the Democratic Party. I think Pat deserves to get Democrats and Republicans behind him this year, because he's putting in the work in town.

The West Front Street Bridge

I think there are a few things to say about the West Front Street Bridge. There's many things I could say that might "first" be considered, but here's one or two at least. The county engineer is saying that the project is between five and 10 years away now...well that's interesting. That statement catches the eye because, if this county wants to inform people, why in the world are they telling people about an impovement to their slice of the township so early that most of those people may not even be living there by the time that the actual improvement is made? It doesn't make sense. Does this mean that the people who are living on West Front Street five or 10 years from now are going to be left in the dark without any say at all?

Here's something else: In 1992, the county of Monmouth spent $2.85 million to refurbish the West Front Street Bridge. Now, the county engineer is saying that, by 2001, the bridge only rated a "7" out of "100" for safety. Well, does that mean that whomever the county got to do the bridge is really bad at what they do for a living, or does it mean that the county's plan was to spenf that kind of money on a bridge that wasn't fit for people to walk across let alone cars to pass over? I think it's a fair question.

There's a lot of fair questions with this project, before we get to the considerable issue of eminent domain being evoked to take one-quarter of the Walshes' property.

Changing Middletown For The Better: Beginning With Gov't

The governing body for any town has to be representative of the people that elect the government in the first place. I do not think that Middletown's governing bodyaffords that kind of representation at the moment.