Red Bank Mayoral Candidates

John P. Curley Manor Drive Republican With the goal of transparency in government and more direct involvement by community members, mayoral candidate Councilman John P. Curley is hoping to change the way Red Bank is run.

"My administration would open government up to the people," Curley said. "People would be made to feel welcome at meetings and I'd like to see myself and members of the Borough Council out in neighborhoods, not just during election season, but year round."

Curley was first elected to council in 2002. He previously served as a member of the Borough Zoning Board and as councilman has served as chair of the Finance Committee, a member of the Code Enforcement Committee, and council liaison to the Human Relations Committee.

Curley works in business development for a family-owned business.

As he completes the first year of his second term on the council, Curley, who has lived in the borough since 1982, said he is proud of the work he's done during his tenure.

As a councilman, he has used a door-to-door approach to reach out to residents and encourage them to voice their concerns and ask questions about proposals such as a proposal to expand Red Bank Recycling which would have brought tons of construction and demolition waste into the borough.

Curley also said he wants to see police officers become more connected with the community.

"I want to see police officers walking patrols on both the east and west sides of town," he said. "I think when you have a strong police presence, illegal activities are quelled, or at least reduced. Anything that we can do to reduce crime, we have to do.

"We have a gang and drug problem in this town and it has to stop. The gangs and drugs have got to go. There's no place for them in this town. I'm willing to do anything to improve the quality of life in this town."

Curley said that if he is elected mayor, borough residents can expect to see a change in the whole attitude of the borough administration, as well as a change in certain positions in the borough.

He would like to see a full-time borough administrator who has a degree in public administration "as opposed to a person holding three jobs in the borough," he said.

"As far as I'm concerned," Curley said, " one job is 40 hours. The present individual is not putting 120 hours a week into the borough, and I know that because my phone calls are not returned. During my time on council, I've had 150 people or more telling me that the borough administrator does not return phone calls."

Curley said that he would also like to see positions such as the deputy administrator, parking coordinator and special projects coordinator eliminated as a cost-cutting measure in the municipal budget.

Curley has also advocated for zero-based budgeting, which would mean starting the budget from zero, rather than building off the previous year's budget.

"I would also like to create a committee of residents," he said, "who have a business background and a knowledge of how numbers work, to have input into our budget, not just a council committee with potentially unqualified people."

Curley advocates a corporate structure for municipal government, with the borough administrator at the top running the daily business of the borough.

"The mayor and council should give their guidance and direction," he said, "but the administrator should run the day-to-day operation of the town."

Curley said he would require qualified, licensed department heads.

"No political appointees," he said, "and no political flunkies."

Curley said that with an open government consisting of qualified individuals, as well as new members of the planning and zoning boards, he wants to put an end to commercial sprawl into residential areas.

"We need to protect the integrity of our neighborhoods," he said, "and one way to do that is to put an emphasis on historic preservation. We also need to stop land use attorneys and developers from controlling our community."

Curley said that although there are many changes he would like to see take place in the borough, there are some immediate actions he plans on taking if elected.

"One of the early things we plan on doing," he said, "is to reduce the parking fines to at least $25 {currently $38}. Red Bank needs to be a friendly place for people to come in and shop and work and play. It also needs to be welcoming to the people who live here to drive into town."

"Also," said Curley, "any type of expansion of parking, including a parking garage, must come to a referendum of voters. I'm not opposed to a parking garage. I am opposed to using taxpayers' money against their will to fund it. If we're going to do it, we're going to do it only with the support of the voters."

Curley said that signs along Broad Street indicating the location of parking lots need to be more clear.

"Of course," said Curley, "now that the landlords are charging such extravagant rents, we don't have to worry about a parking shortage because not as many people are going to shop in the downtown. Landlords have got to get real and understand that this is Broad Street, Red Bank, not Soho or Hoboken."

Curley said that RiverCenter needs to work with the landlords to encourage more diversity of shops in the downtown.

The downtown area is not the only commercial district about which Curley is concerned.

"We have to make sure the Shrewsbury Avenue corridor is developed into an affordable shopping center," he said.

In addition, Curley said, he would work to stop high-density development on the west side.

"I want to see stabilization," he said, "and I want to protect the west side of town from these huge condo developments that have been proposed recently. I want to see more single-family home ownership."

- Layli Whyte