MARK YOUR CALENDAR. IT’S VOTING TIME AGAIN!

Eugenia’s Suggestions

1. On Tuesday, April 20^th you will be voting on the budget which is $59,300,000 and the election of three Board of Education members. Due to the fact that over $100 million is about to land on the superintendent’s lap ($46.6 million for construction plus the ever present cost overruns, interest rates and $59.3 million of the school budget) are at stake. I must suggest to you to vote for the only three candidates that have the credentials and the experience to manage large amounts of money successfully and will be able to watch over the ever present cost overruns on the school building projects. These candidates are: Robert Kohlhogen, Certified Public Accountant; Rona Anhalt who has a masters degree in finance from NYU and is a top management executive for a large pharmaceutical corporation; and Aaron Rubin who graduated from Stuyvesant High School (a public school in New York) has a degrees from Queens College. Aaron is Hispanic and the Chief Financial Officer of Docutrend.

2. Think of the Board of Education as a multi-million dollar corporation where the trustees must be able to manage over $100 million. Elect trustees that are fiscally responsible and have the profound knowledge in finance as well as addressing our failing public school education because of waste and missed management of funds. Remember that very little money goes to the classroom. Most of the funds are spent on extremely high salaries for administrators and their assistants as well as tenured teachers who are burned out and refuse to retire because they are paid large salaries and full health benefits. This is why the election of Robert Kolhagen, Rona Anhalt and Aaron Rubin is imperative.

They will be able to address this huge endeavor successfully due to the fact that they’ve faced similar issues daily within their profession.

3. Stay away from school candidates promoted by SEEK, a small group of old-timers and mostly political people including elected members of the MDC, which candidates most likely will let the superintendent do as he pleases. One candidate Mr. Garrison is a prosthetic. The other, Joan Meltzer is a 79 year old woman who once upon a time was a second ward councilwoman. The third candidate is Mr. Brown, an attorney. I have nothing personal against these candidates but we need elected trustees whose expertise is in finance in order to be able to manage over $100 million.

4. Our photo-opportunistic mayor may promote the candidates selected by the local MDC. After all, that is why the MDC gave him the local party line that led him to become mayor, unopposed -- apparently with the condition of backing their candidates. He has done it before publicly with Marsan for Councilman at Large and maybe in the shadows with a candidate for first ward Councilman. Luckily, both candidates lost. The MDC candidates are big spenders and against new tax revenue. Remember we need at least $10 million in new revenue just to breathe.

5. An appraiser will be hired shortly to do the citywide property reassessment. Keep your eyes open and make sure that the inequality in property taxes that exists today is finally corrected (tax records are public information).

6. In the June primary you will have the opportunity to oust at least half of the elected district members of the Municipal Democratic Committee. For the longest time they have been under the spell of the highest paid health officer per capita in the State of New Jersey, V. Cherry, who is also the Chairwoman of the MDC.

7. Elect council members that are in favor of development of our old industrial and commercial zones. Stay away from candidates like Charlotte Schoen who spoke numerous times at the Planning Board against any possibility of development of our industrial and commercial zones. Schoen will most probably get the Municipal Democratic Committee favor because she is one of those elected district members who are against our city’s prosperity and for high taxes.

8. In the future when the Lincoln School students move to the new school do not let your councilmen create a community center out of the Lincoln School. It has 60,000 sq. ft. and is much too large for that use. Beside, it will be extraordinarily expensive to fix and maintain. And, it will create the need for more city employees. If a community center is indeed needed, the ice skating rink in Mackay Park is the correct size and the lease is up in 2009. It will be more cost efficient and a more logical site inside the park. Without a doubt, Lincoln School should become a tax revenue property.

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