Mayor and Council Refuse to Listen

This Video shows Councilman Mike Martin taking a nap during the most attended, arguably most important meeting of the year.
https://youtu.be/XyDgOLAnLL8


Over 100 hundred residents packed Borough Hall and over 300 signed a petition, only to have their overwhelming dissent overruled by a condescending Council that felt the need to impose their will.

In a blatant act of defiant arrogance, the Garwood council has chosen once again to ignore the voice of their constituents! With overwhelming opposition and a record turnout against the shared service agreement with Fanwood, the "powers that be" chose to ignore the taxpayers. One can only wonder what lies beneath the rush to railroad this through, nor why they bothered to allow the residents to speak all the while knowing they had no intention of listening. Their minds were made up long before this meeting, as evidenced by reading from prepared statements, and stale, disingenuous talking points. Complete Distain, and flippant remarks, flowed from their lips while the folks looked on in disbelief. I hope we did not disturb the council member who was recorded dozing on the dais. Shame on him for his lack of respect and concern for the taxpayer, when he could not stay awake long enough to even pretend he cared what they had to stay. This is just a continuance of the status quo here in town for quite a while but the residents of Garwood do not like being ignored, they will not tolerate such condescending attitudes from the officials they elected to serve the taxpayer. They have learned a hard lesson but will prevail, and show their displeasure with the only other means available when elected officials refuse to listen.

More than 350 people have signed the petition with another 100 or so saying they are afraid to sign do to political backlash or have been told not to sign. These residents do not care about political affiliation, they care about Garwood. The group that decided to shove this through against the will of the people has decided to make this a political issue. So be it. We will be happy to remind the residents what occurred last night.


In the voting booth, it all begins in November where we have the chance to replace 2 in the next election. Elect Ileen Cuccaro & Joe Sarno to Garwood Council.Transparency in Government should be mandatory. The time has long passed for the hierarchy to be held accountable for ignoring the will of the people.

Save our DPW

Here is the online version of the petition being handed out to save our DPW. The Council has dug us into a hole and now wants us to believe they are doing this to save money, the same night they talked about spending $100,000 to repair damages caused by trees Bill N had planted. Please sign here and tell them we will not have our DPW report to a borough two towns away that have private garbage and do not collect recycling. The Council attempted to ram this thru at the last meeting without informing the public. It's time we tell them our voices do matter and we will not allow them to take away a tremendous resource.
Click here to sign the petition online.

Or go to http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/keep-our-garwood-dpw-as-is.html

What you are not being told about the resolution to have the Garwood DPW report to Fanwood.

• The Garwood DPW contract ends this year leaving the future of the DPW unknown.
•  It would fire Garwood’s DPW Superintendent for the last ten years, Fred Corbitt, and replace him with 10 hours of part-time supervision by Fanwood’s Superintendent.
• Garwood’s DPW workers would then report to Fanwood’s Superintendent. Our men would have to get his approval on everything.
• Garwood will have to pay Fanwood $40,000 a year with a 2% increase every year for 10 hours of supervision and the privilege of sharing their DPW equipment.
• The equipment the Garwood DPW would “benefit” from is already available from the county.
• Currently, if Garwood were to damage any Fanwood equipment it is using, we would have to pay for it all.
• Licenses, permits, inspections, etc., are to be approved, or denied, by the Fanwood Superintendent.
• Fanwood decides who gets priority use over their equipment.
• NOT ONE municipality out of 565 in NJ has embraced sharing DPW Superintendent services because it does not work. Using the best DPW in the county as a lab rat is a risk we should not take.

Mayor and Council have a record of poor planning, tax & spending increases and a lack of transparency.

• Sara Todisco, Bill Nierstedt, and Ann Tarantino pushed to vote on the resolution 10 different times during the June 23, 2015 meeting without consulting the public and sneak this through before you had a say.
• They claim this proposal will save $70,000 a year in salary and benefits, yet a sitting Councilman collects benefits costing taxpayers close to $30,000 a year and he has not been asked to relinquish them.
• We were also told removing taxpayer funded Bulk pickup services would save $30,000 a year but our taxes have gone up every year, some years at a higher rate than Cranford and Westfield.
• They approved the 2015 Budget that included over $230,000 in excess spending; add to it the Board of Ed and County budgets and this amounts to over a 4% increase in our property taxes.
• We were told the Athletic Field Complex was under budget and would only cost $2,000 a year to maintain when it’s really costing us an extra $32,000 this year alone.

Our DPW and Fred Corbitt are collateral damage for the Mayor and Council’s out of control spending. This year’s Budget is loaded with irresponsible and reckless spending.

• $100,000 to fix damaged sidewalks caused by trees the borough planted. The response is to plant more trees.
• $32,000 for Athletic Field Complex (AFC) Maintenance and Fence.
• $33,000 in debt service payments due to the AFC and neglected infrastructure projects.
• $7,000 increase to the Rec Dept.
• $23,845 initial cost for computer software.
• $17,000 increase for the Planning Board.
• $30,000 for Councilman Petruzelli’s health & dental benefits.
• $11,100 increase for the Municipal Clerk.
• $18,800 increase in Legal Fees.
• $17,000 increase for pension line items.
• $37,000 in Municipal Roof repairs that should have been covered by funds in the “surplus”.
• $90,000 increase for the Rahway Valley Sewer Authority because of a failure by the Finance Committee to understand and prepare for fluctuations in RVSA fees.

Their tactics are getting old

More to follow in the next few weeks but I can tell you that the great people of Garwood are sick of their tactics especially when they follow The Rules for Radicals to a T.


Saul Alinsky was a Socialist that taught how to create a Social State. He wrote the Rules for Radicals that a handful of politicians are living by:
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.).


Are these the people you want making day to day decisions? The anger, the hate? Time to vote them out.

$3.2 million learning experience and manufactured outrage.

That about sums up the Council meeting. First, a special thank you to my friends at Unico and the IAOVC. They had a serious concern and accepted the apology of our councilman and we look forward to working with them in the near future. Those gentlemen along with Councilman Mathieu were some of very few grown ups in the room and as an Italian American with close roots to their organization I am grateful for everything they do. Our Borough is too inclusive to have even one person who is bitter, vindictive, divisive that will take anything and manufacture outrage for his or her political gain. We saw that on the evening of the Council meeting and I am truly sad for those people. Leave the PC activism to the Al Sharptons of the world. This is and was a non-issue and so are those that make believe they are offended. The typical politicians are trying to use it as a distraction from their failed policies, from the brutal tax increase, the extra $31,000 the Athletic Field is costing us this year when they promised it was no more than 2 or 3 thousand.


What I found offending was that on two separate occasions when issues about the Athletic Complex were brought up by residents in town, 2 councilman including Harry Reid Bill Neirstedt dismissed these concerns with "we are new to this" and "there is going to be a learning curve". $3 and a half million of our tax money and to these politicians it is just a learning curve? They are playing with our money with no plans whatsoever. Our taxes are skyrocketing and the people that built Garwood are being forced out and all they have to say for themselves is "it's a learning curve". When one resident asked why as a taxpayer in town, his kids are never allowed to play on the park, he was told, "we are learning as we go". When a resident asked why people were not allowed to use  the parking lot, he was told "it's a learning curve"




Lastly, the point was brought up that maybe the borough could have passed on a beer tent at a Little League event. Councilman Tarantino that is was a "Day for all of Garwood" for everyone to enjoy. The reality is that Garwood Day was designed around little league, stop playing politics and start listening. Per the last blog it was a wonderful day and that should not be lost around semantics. That statement by the way came just before the aforementioned gentleman said his kids were kicked off the field on "Garwood Day".

Beautiful day for Garwood by the people of Garwood

Garwood Day could not have gone any better. Wonderful job by the recreation department, the coaches, the parents and of course the players. Now just imagine if we had fiscally responsible people that could have properly budgeted out the field, we could have many more days like Saturday. The day was great because of all the people that made it, not a synthetic field. Poor planning has saddled us with an extra $31,000 this year and most likely tens of thousands more next year to make the baseball field compliant so our older kids can use it for home games against other towns.
Nonetheless, wonderful job by all those involved on Garwood Day.

Unhinged and it's only April

We are seeing our Democrat friends become unhinged crying foul at everything they see. Maybe its in an attempt to distract from the massive tax increase they are trying to impose or maybe its to distract from the fact that our $3.2 million tax payer funded Athletic Complex wasn't built to specs, now our Major League team cannot play home games against other towns. Yes you read that right, our baseball field is only compliant for up to 4th grade.


Anyway, they are trying desperately to say the GOP chairman's satirical op-ed was somehow an attack on Italians. Shhhh don't tell them, he is Italian, his wife is Italian, I, Sal Piarulli, am Italian, but more importantly, we are all Americans, Americans that love our Borough. We are Garwood, not those that are trying desperately to split the town, distract and distort the truth. Now let's all go raise some money with a big Bocce Tournament to pay for the extra $31,000 in costs to the Field when they swore it would only be 2 or 3 thousand. Just a little off.


I hope to see everyone at the Beer Tent, because you know a beer tent is appropriate for a children's event. That's sarcasm for my friends on the left.

Harry Reid DOES live in Garwood

The question from the previous post Does Harry Reid live in Garwood has been answered! He does and his name is Bill Nierstedt. For some reason the Councilman has chosen to attack the messenger instead of addressing the facts of unnecessary brutal tax increases that are driving out the very people that built our great Borough. I just wish Mr. Reid Nierstedt loved this place as much as those of us willing to stick our necks out and question why, if he did maybe he would answer instead of attempting to distort and distract, just like Harry Reid. It's comical that Mr. Reid Nierstedt says he is looking forward to running a campaign on the issues and then writes an editorial that takes personal attacks on a resident in Garwood who has serious concerns on the direction of the Borough. Good luck with that. Unfortunately for Garwood, under Mr. Reid Nierstedt there is no compromise, it's his way or he will tax you out of here.