Red Bank Borough Council
Red Bank candidates address taxes, development

Michael R. DuPont South Street Democrat

RED BANK - The outcome of the race for two Borough Council seats will decide whether the six-member governing body, now made up of four Democrats and two Republicans, remains dominated by Democrats. The two open seats are now held by Democrats. If the GOP candidates win both seats, the balance would shift to a four/two split with Republicans in control of council for the first time in more than a decade.

Michael DuPont is a partner in the law firm of McKenna, DuPont, Higgins and Stone and has lived in the borough for more than 20 years.

DuPont has been a member of the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment for the past 10 years and is a member of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority Commission. He said his volunteer attitude is his greatest asset.

"I love this town," he said. "I do think this town has changed for the better, but not everything is perfect."

"I believe in neighborhood preservation," he said, "and that a balance needs to be struck between the neighborhoods and downtown. The downtown is vital to the borough, but a balance needs to be struck."

Arthur V. Murphy III Prospect Avenue Democrat

DuPont said that a balance also needs to exist on the council.

"The contentiousness ... has to stop," he said. "There is a need for cooperation on the part of the mayor and council for the needs of Red Bank."

DuPont said that taxes are the No. 1 issue in the borough, and that he is hoping to help run an efficient government.

"If we don't need some positions," he said, "we need to let those positions be removed from the budget."

One area that DuPont said is in need of more resources is code enforcement.

"I'd like to see a 24-hour hotline set up for code complaints," he said. "There are some landlords that are greedily violating our ordinances, and they need to be exposed."

DuPont said that another way to be more efficient is to join with other towns by regionalizing and consolidating municipal services.

The issue of development in town is one that DuPont, in his capacity as a member of the Zoning Board, knows a lot about.

Grace Cangemi Rector Place Republican

"There has to be a balance between [allowing] development and denying applications."

One issue that is often in the forefront of many development applications is parking shortages.

"For as long as I have lived in Red Bank," DuPont said, "there have always been issues with parking. We need to make signs for the various parking lots more available. Is a parking garage necessary? As long as it is not paid for by the taxpayers, the town can entertain thoughts of it."

DuPont said that he believes in transparency in government, and that he is in favor of the ordinances that the borough has in place to that effect.

"I've sat on various ethics committees," he said, "such as serving as the chair of the Ethics Committee for the Bar Association."

Arthur V. Mur-phy III, running for his second full term as a councilman, was born and raised in Red Bank and believes he has a very clear vision for the borough.

David S. Pallister Williams Street Republican

"I'm pro-parking garage," he said. "I think the town should build it, run it, and that it would be a money maker. Red Bank has always had a parking problem. There are three kinds of traffic: slow traffic, fast traffic and no traffic. I'll take slow traffic any day."

Before being appointed to fill an unexpired council term in September 2002, Murphy served four years on the borough Zoning Board and four years on the borough Construction Board of Appeals.

He is finishing up his first full term on the council, and said he is proud of the work that he has done as police commissioner as well as serving as liaison to the Red Bank Senior Center and as a member of the Parking Committee.

Murphy said that what some people describe as overdevelopment is, in fact, redevelopment of parts of town that need it, such as the corner of West Front Street and Bridge Avenue where a mixed-use development with 92 residential units has been approved to be built.

"A lot of those buildings over there are falling down," he said. "What else would people like to see there? I just don't get it."

Murphy said that the parking and traffic problems in Red Bank are never going to go away.

"People from Middletown, Fair Haven, Little Silver, they all drive through Red Bank daily," he said. "Red Bank is a hub."

Murphy said that perceptions of problems are often misperceptions, including the high taxes many residents complain about.

"People are misinformed about taxes," he said. "The borough portion of property taxes is next to nothing, but 63 percent goes directly to the schools. People get upset about taxes, but they're barking up the wrong tree. We host a hospital, the train, buses, and have 38 nonprofits, and we still maintain taxes comparable to or lower than many other surrounding towns."

Murphy said that the criticism of the present administration is not supported by facts, and that he hasn't seen any ethical conflicts.

"If something's going on," he said, "I think the Monmouth County prosecutor would come marching into town, but Red Bank is squeaky clean."

Grace Cangemi is a newcomer to municipal politics. In addition to her occupation as a mortgage broker, she is a founding trustee of a local charitable foundation.

Cangemi has lived in the borough for 18 years, and says it's time for a change.

"It's time to bring fresh ideas and new people to the council," she said, "who have a different vision of what the residents of this town want."

Cangemi said she sees the major issues facing the borough as overdevelopment, overcrowding of rental housing, and lack of transparency in government.

"Overdevelopment is a huge issue," she said. "There are 17 major projects in front of the borough Planning Board that have either been approved or are up for approval. We need to change the face of the Zoning Board and we need to put pressure on them. We need both the council liaison to the Planning Board and the board members to see that our concern has to be not with the developer making money but with the town developing in a way that keeps the quality of life in this community."

Cangemi said that she herself is a landlord who owns her four-family house on Rector Place.

"I think it's great that people want to invest in town, but they need to invest in the community, not just make money," she said.

One problem that Cangemi said affects all of the borough is the overcrowding of rental homes.

"We desperately need to address the overcrowding problems," she said. "This administration has decided two months before an election to hire a new code enforcement officer. We need more code enforcement officers to collect more fines and to specifically target the landlord/tenant ordinance."

Cangemi also said that the spending and budgeting practices of the borough have to change, and that some services and positions in the borough should be consolidated to save money.

She also echoed Republican Mayoral candidate Councilman John P. Curley's call for zero-based budgeting and trying to cut 5 percent from the budget of each department in the borough.

"It won't be possible to cut 5 percent from every department," she said, "but we have to try. This borough is becoming less affordable for me and less affordable for everybody. It's about quality of life. At heart, I'm a preservationist, and I want to preserve the lifestyle and quality of life we have in this town."

David Pallis-ter, an occupational therapist, has lived in the borough for more than six years. He said door-to-door campaigning has given him real insight into the concerns of borough residents.

"I've gotten a real education as to what concerns are on residents' minds," he said.

"People really do care," he said. "They are passionate about this community and they want to stay here. Taxes are always an issue for people. I think when it comes down to sitting down every quarter and writing that check, and each year it's more, people get frustrated."

Other concerns he has heard about include road repairs, which directly relates to the continuing development in town.

"I feel that we are at our limit as far as development is concerned," he said. "If you take into account the projects that have recently been completed, are in the process of being completed, and the ones in front of the board that are expected to be approved, that's a lot of new development."

Pallister said that the strains on the borough's infrastructure that a growing population brings mean that any increased property tax revenue may not end up as property tax relief.

"With the population and traffic increasing," he said, "services have to increase. I don't know how much profit the town will actually make. I'm not against development, but it's the high-density projects that worry me."

"I think like everyone else," he said, "I do care about this town. I've seen changes in the short time I've been here that have given me cause for concern."

The problems facing Red Bank, such as the much-talked-about parking shortage in the downtown, are multifaceted and require creative solutions, he said.

"There is an element of the parking problem that is perception. I do believe that better signage, especially for people coming from out of town, will make it easier to find the lesser-known parking lots."

Not having served in municipal politics before, Pallister said that he feels that not being a politician is an asset.

"My relative inexperience may be a benefit at this juncture," he said.

"I am as concerned about Red Bank and its future as every other resident. It's a wonderful place to live."