likens his borough
to
Man about
the town
Jamesburg mayor
likens his borough
to ‘one big family’
By sandi carpello
Staff Writer
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Mayor Tony LaMantia speaks with a resident in downtown Jamesburg.
JAMESBURG — It’s a typical Friday morning in this one-square-mile town of 6,000 people: Dozens of residents eagerly line up to buy hot pastries at Mendoker’s Bakery, others routinely walk their dogs, and Mayor Anthony LaMantia, with mindful attention, drives a familiar red pickup truck through the narrow streets.
At 11 a.m. on this late-November day, LaMantia stops into Borough Hall before taking a ride around town. His day is already in full swing. He had spent his morning at both the John F. Kennedy and Grace M. Breckwedel schools, in part setting up tables and chairs for a pancake breakfast fund-raiser the following morning.
Later that afternoon, LaMantia has plans to make his weekly rounds through the borough’s small businesses, return messages on his voice mail, coach a boys’ soccer game, and perhaps cook a homemade meal (one of his favorite pastimes) for his wife of 31 years.
"I love working all the time. I have nothing else to do," he says.
A former employee of Monroe Township’s Department of Public Works, LaMantia, who recently celebrated his 50th birthday, suffered a debilitating injury to his right leg while on the job in 1990.
"My leg did a 360 and spun all the way around," he recalls.
With a life that was once sated with physical activity — he was a longtime member of the borough’s First Aid and Rescue Squad and a sports enthusiast — he was placed on permanent disability.
As a means of emotional survival, LaMantia turned his attention to the community.
Volunteering to coach his son’s baseball team led to a position on the Jamesburg Board of Education. In 1998, LaMantia won a seat on the Borough Council and was appointed acting mayor in 2000. The following year, he ran unopposed for mayor despite a hotly contested race for three council seats.
"I don’t consider myself a typical politician," says LaMantia, who has lived in the borough for 33 years. "I never thought about running for elected office."
When asked why he exuberantly takes on his mayoral position like a full-time job for a salary of $5,800 a year, LaMantia answers: "If you do something, you do it 100 percent, or you don’t do it at all."
For about an hour, LaMantia drives slowly around town. A mother walking her young son to school recognizes his truck and waves. Preschool students sporting "Sponge Bob" backpacks yell "Hi, Tony" as they are dismissed from their morning class sessions on Augusta Street.
LaMantia responds, but notes apologetically, "It’s hard to remember 800 or 900 people’s names."
Although he may not be on a first-name basis with all of the children, he says he looks upon them as if they were his own.
"[The borough] is like one big family," says LaMantia, who has two grown children of his own.
LaMantia discusses children’s safety as a top priority. With assistance from state Sen. Peter Inverso (R-14), officials have secured several grants from the state Department of Transportation (DOT) recently for work on many of the borough’s curbs and sidewalks in an effort to enhance pedestrian safety.
Among them is a $125,000 DOT grant for the sidewalks along Pergola Avenue. In addition, the borough will soon be adding a traffic light at the busy intersection of Forsgate Drive and Perrineville Road, which has been the site of many accidents.
Around noon, LaMantia stops his truck to check on the borough’s skate park inside Green Acres Park on Augusta Street. LaMantia says the one-year-old park has become a symbol of the community. He recalls the story of how parents and children worked together to raise $9,000 for the park’s construction. The state provided the remaining $10,000.
As long as they follow the rules, any child, regardless of whether he or she resides in Jamesburg, can play there.
LaMantia also volunteers as head of the borough’s recreation department, which provides an abundance of activities for children of all ages.
In sports such as basketball and baseball, "everyone plays an equal [amount of time]," LaMantia says, with the recreation staff particularly offering encouragement to children who come from broken households or who may not be as athletically inclined. Other activities in the community have been established, including a cheerleading program for 5-year-old girls, aerobics classes and a women’s softball league.
At 1:30 p.m., LaMantia stops for lunch at Lisco’s Country Café on East Railroad Avenue. He can barely get through a roast beef club sandwich and Diet Coke without getting pats on the back and friendly interruptions from other customers.
However, LaMantia doesn’t seem to mind.
With great respect for the closeness of the Jamesburg community, LaMantia says he will do anything in his power to maintain its small-town charm.
There is no redevelopment, he says, emphasizing that the residents solely "believe in revitalization." Some 98 percent of the borough is residentially developed, and there are no major stores.
However, small-town charm comes with a price.
The lack of commercial ratables in the borough drives up property taxes, and the borough has seemingly been placed at the bottom of the list for receiving state financial assistance. At the same time, a shortfall in the Board of Education’s 2002-03 budget has shaken the community by resulting in staff and program cuts.
While not pointing the finger of blame at any state agency or other body, LaMantia on this day was instead discussing the job at hand and finding practical solutions.
A CVS Pharmacy and medical office buildings, for example, being built at Forsgate Drive and Perrineville Road, will help the borough’s tax base. Another expected tax ratable, First National Bank, has been approved for a building at West Railroad Avenue and Harrison Street.
For now, LaMantia said he is taking courses in municipal government at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and hoping to continue the job for some time.
LaMantia, a Democrat, will be up for re-election next year.
"I am going to run again," he said. "If the people in Jamesburg want me, I am going to run."