BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer
EDISON — They are three ladies on a mission to take the politics out of saving the Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower.
Those ladies are: Betty Mingoia, Janina Stephens and Antonia Ricigliano.
Ricigliano has been politically involved in Democratic organizations and is a former councilwoman.
But she is bound and determined to make this mission one without political motives to cripple the cause.
“I am not the president of the group, not any kind of leader, and I don’t really even want my name associated with it because then people will think it’s political and it is not,” Ricigliano said. “It’s just a group of a few civic-minded people who want to do something for the tower and the people who live near it.”
For the time being, the group, named Save The Edison Tower — or STET, a word derived from the latin phrase “let it stand” — is comprised of five concerned citizens.
In addition to Ricigliano, Mingoia and Stephens, two men who live near the tower are also on the informal committee. They are: Claude Marcassoli and his father-in-law, John Zenkoski.
“But we plan on growing in number,” Ricigliano said. “The idea to form a special group was the brainchild of Betty, Janina and me. Betty lives near the tower, and she saw me speaking at a council meeting on TV in December and called me, and Janina is someone I know through a Democratic Club I am president of.”
After Mingoia called Ricigliano, Stephens discussed it with her and the three made arrangements to meet at the Plaza Diner on Route 27 in January.
“Janina and I went to the diner to meet Betty,” Ricigliano said. “We got there and realized we didn’t even know what Betty looked like. But we all had notebooks, and that’s how we figured it out.”
They didn’t really know what direction they were going in and still don’t, but the three know that they want to do something to save the tower.
“We just have to let people know we’re out there and not political,” Ricigliano said. “We want to involve the people in the immediate area first, then see if we can get more in the group. Then, we’ll start looking into ways to get money directly to the tower to fix it.”
The township leases the tower on Christie Street, and property surrounding it, back from the state. The tower is in Edison State Park and is owned by the state.
Edison officials have said that they want more control over the tower and surrounding property, so that is why the township leases it back from the state for $1 a year.
Fund-raising efforts to fix the tower have gone on for more than a decade. Records show that money has gone into and out of several different accounts, including one entitled the Edison Trust Fund.
“That’s the trouble,” said resident Anthony Russomanno, who has been trying to figure out how much money has been raised and spent on fixing the tower.
“No one knows where the money has gone, where or when it came in, and guess what? The tower is still falling down,” he said. “These people have great intentions, but the problem is that Edison controls any money the tower gets because Edison leases it back from the state. Look at all the problems with the township bringing in money for the tower.”
The tower should be given back to the state, Russomanno said.
That would clear up any fund-raising irregularities and the state would be responsible for fixing the structure, he said.
But Ricigliano wants the group to be a neighborhood civic organization independent of township and state politics.
The group STET has been meeting once every two weeks. It has a post office box and is looking into the pros and cons of nonprofit status.
“We’re not raising funds yet,” Ricigliano said. “We don’t want people to send money to the township for our tower causes. That’s just the opposite of what we’re trying to do.
“The group will recruit members in April and research what the best options are for the tower and the neighborhood,” she said.
“We know there are other groups to save the tower in the township and the township has a committee, but this is going to be completely different,” she said. “We still don’t have all the answers, but we’ve consulted with other similar organizations, such as the New Jersey Center for nonprofits and the International Congress on Art Deco, from Washington, D.C. They’re coming to meet with us and see the tower. This is just an effort completely outside of the township.”