Civic leaders join forces in Mid’town
Joint council
to provide
stronger voice
The newly established Middletown Council of Civic Associations is hoping to provide a stronger voice for neighborhood groups.
Two activists with different community backgrounds have melded their experiences to form the group and bring others into the fold. Those two are Patrick Short, vice president of the Concerned Citizens of Middletown, the group that has launched a campaign against a proposed 132-acre, $150 million town center; and independent Township Committee candidate Joseph McGrath, who is also a member of the group.
The new council, which met for the first time last week, is seeking to have more input in the township decision-making process and also to get rid of a "not in my back yard" (NIMBY) reputation that some grassroots organizations with similar interests have acquired.
"The Concerned Citizens [group] has gotten a NIMBY label, which we want to get away from," said McGrath.
"Banding various civic leaders together is a way to show the township that we’re serious," he said, while noting that no one is abandoning any one group.
"Quite the contrary, this is a way to enforce the importance of all of those groups throughout town, giving each its own voice to be heard louder and clearer. What we’ve found, so far, is that no matter what the group or its focus, planning is on the forefront of everyone’s mind right now because of the town center issue and the township’s pending review of the master plan," he added.
In line with that thinking, the group’s mission statement reads: "The purpose of this council is to represent the various civic organizations around our town in an effort to collectively bring about proper planning and zoning, and to utilize the organization to share information, support each group’s goals and, as a whole, to participate in the decisions that affect the Township of Middletown."
The group’s mission statement also defines the most pressing Middletown issues to be tackled as: planning and development as it is to be affected by the township’s revisiting of the master plan; the upcoming review of the town center application; municipal spending; and equal representation on governing bodies.
The group may also look at possible modifications to the present form of government, including possibly a full-time mayor, McGrath said. Middletown has a special municipal charter.
So far, leaders representing nine distinct civic associations have joined the group.
"That’s a more balanced representation than what we have now on the Township Committee and the Planning Board," said Short. "As I understand it, the people who the residents did vote in to the committee, for one, all live within a few miles of one another. Their interests are not dispersed equally and far-reaching enough.
"The Planning Board has nine members who represent only three sections of the 13 in Middletown," Navesink River Road, Lincroft and River Plaza, McGrath said.
The nine neighborhood groups include the Ideal Beach Civic Association, the Heritage Hills Civic Association, the Middletown Village Civic Association, the Fairview Civic Association, Knollwood Gardens Civic Association, the Lincroft Village Green Association and the Leonardo Civic Association, McGrath said.
"I think we have Belford locked up," he said, noting the group is trying to get someone from New Monmouth, River Plaza, Port Monmouth and a Taxpayers United organization. They are also trying to help areas start groups. "Some may have issues, some may not," McGrath said.
"We want to help the Township Committee," he said.
On the issue of municipal spending, Short commented that, for starters, he thinks there’s a tendency toward what he called "splinter spending, or satisfying little pieces of fiscal issues here and there to appease, rather than looking to the issue as a whole, satisfying more all-encompassing needs for the greater good of the township."
A similar group was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which McGrath says this one is modeled after. He also pointed out that a former mayor, Robert Waller, who was mayor in the early 1980s, has joined, and there’s room for more who share the group’s interests.
The next meeting is slated for Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Old First Church on Kings Highway. More information about the council may be obtained from McGrath at (732) 495-4776 or Bette Rogers at (732) 671-2651.