MANVILLE: Citizen wants ‘real issues’ on 2013 agenda

By Mary Ellen Day, Special Writer
   Resident Sharon Krebs gave borough leaders a list of her frustrations at Monday night’s Borough Council meeting
   Ms. Krebs read a statement imploring the leaders, “as we begin a new year, please, let’s start off and address the real issues facing Manville.”
   Ms Krebs gave a list of issues she feels needs to be addressed.
   Stop the flooding so the next generation will not have to worry every time it rains, dig deeper for answers and stop watching the water rise, she said.
   She wants the property taxes lowered, not property values.
   ”If you need to share services, let’s do it,” she said. “We all have to help and give a little.”
   Ms. Krebs told the council a person can’t go to their employer and raise the income like the council does for Manville taxpayers.
   She would like to see the town cleaned up and limit the federally subsidized housing, fearing Manville will become a place like Newark or Plainfield.
   Ms. Krebs suggested the mayor and council form a committee to attract new businesses to town so there are no vacant storefronts, and people come to Manville to shop.
   Like many others, Ms. Krebs wants to see a supermarket come back to Manville.
   ”I am tired of going out of town for groceries or limiting my choices to whatever Walmart carries,” she said.
   Her last issue on her list was to start looking to raise for funds to redo the VFW, which she feels is the town center, shelter and meeting place.
   ”They not only served their country; they continue to serve the people of Manville any way they can,” Ms. Krebs said.
   Ms. Krebs also said some of the previous issues brought up meeting after meeting, like the library’s transfer to the county system and resignation of the recreation director, are “a done deal, and it is time to move on and address the real problems of Manville.”