By KAYLA J. MARSH
Staff Writer
MATAWAN — Two born-and-bred borough residents have been nominated by the Matawan Democrats to seek Borough Council seats that will be up for election on Nov. 8.
Last year saw the election of a new Democratic mayor and two new Democratic council members, and this year Brett Michael Cannon and Josephine Dapolito-Salvatore are looking to create a new Democratic majority on the seven-member governing body.
“I think last year the residents spoke their minds and said ‘enough is enough,’ and I think they are on board with changes and that is ultimately what we want to provide,” Cannon said in an April 11 interview.
“We’re a bunch of ‘average Joes’ … just regular Matawan residents and we really just want to make our town back to what it was.
“Matawan used to be a bustling, busy town and we just feel [it] has kind of gotten lost in the shuffle over the years.”
Cannon and Dapolito-Salvatore will vie for the two seats currently held by Republican Councilwomen Donna Gould and Linda Clifton.
While official nominations for the Republican line have not been announced, borough officials said Clifton is expected to run for another term and will team up with newcomer Frank Whalen.
“We feel like the town has been neglected for many years,” Cannon said.
“Matawan has a very nice, small-town feel to it, but at the same time, it has kind of been stuck in this deteriorating process [and] we really want to turn that around.”
Born and raised in Matawan and a graduate of Matawan Regional High School, Dapolito-Salvatore said she wants to see the borough return to the thriving town it was when she was a child.
“I remember walking into downtown with my grandmother every weekend, and there would be things to do — clothing stores, soda shops, bakeries, we would stop to talk to the local merchants — and it was fun, but our kids and grandkids don’t have that,” she said in an April 11 interview. “There’s nothing really for them … and hopefully we can do something to make [that experience] come back.”
Dapolito-Salvatore worked as the borough’s deputy tax collector, police records administrator and deputy clerk for nearly 30 years before recently retiring.
“I just love this town,” she said. “I believe Mayor [Joseph] Altomonte and his team are going in the right direction as far as Matawan is concerned and I want to be a part of that team and I want to help the residents as much as I can.
“There is a lot of history in Matawan [and] we need to refurbish the town and I believe they are going in the right direction and I want to be a part of that team because I love my town.”
Cannon was also born and raised in the borough and is a graduate of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
He is employed by Irvington Public Schools as an eighth grade social studies teacher and was recently appointed to the borough’s Planning Zoning Board of Adjustments.
“I worked with Mayor Altomonte on his ‘Restore Matawan Campaign’ last year, and we focused on a couple main topics,” he said.
“One was obviously stabilizing taxes. Matawan’s tax rate is very high, and we want to bring that down.
“We also want to focus on a road redevelopment program and one of the other focuses was [improving our] parks, which Mayor Altomonte has already started since he just got Gravelly Brook Park approved for improvements.”
Cannon and Dapolito-Salvatore agreed a big part of improving the borough is helping to bring in and retain businesses to help lower the tax rate.
“Ultimately we really want to draw businesses into downtown, into the train station and Main Street area, and that has been talked about for years and we really want to go forward with that,” Cannon said.
“If you bring in businesses, it is ultimately going to lower the tax rate for the citizen. Unfortunately right now a lot of the tax burden goes onto the residents … so we want to lower the burden.”
Dapolito-Salvatore said while things wouldn’t happen overnight, having a governing body that continues to care about the town and what its residents want and need and care about makes a huge difference.
“I want to see this town come back to what it used be or even better,” she said.
“It is not going to happen overnight, it is going to take a lot of work but … we want to know what [residents] feel we should be doing, what’s bothering them, what we need to do.
“We really need to know their opinion, and that is what we are trying to strive for.”
Cannon said with both him and Dapolito-Salvatore being lifelong residents, they have seen the full potential the borough is capable of.
“A lot of times if you move into a town, you may not know the inner workings or the history of it or anything of that nature, and with us being lifelong residents and graduates of the high school, we’ve been around the town long enough to kind of have an idea of ‘this is not the way it should be,’” he said.
“Matawan has beautiful neighborhoods, absolutely gorgeous neighborhoods … and the residents deserve a downtown that complements the beautiful neighborhoods we have.”