Meet the Candidate: Nick Joanow

As a 2nd Ward Councilman seeking re-election, I have a 10-year history of involvement and activism in Bloomfield. 

Prior to my election in 2008 I attended all Bloomfield Town Council meetings and Planning Board meetings (missing only 1 or 2 in an 8-year span).

I stand for:

1. Accessibility and availability to constituents on a 24 x 7 basis (that means ALL constituents).
2. Independence - I work for the people of Bloomfield and not a political party.
3. Fiscal responsibility
4. Listening to constituents and taking their suggestions to heart
5. Ethical policies and behavior in government
6. Transparency in government 

• My record includes:

1. Introduced electronic recycling at the DPW depot on Saturdays and expanded it to North End where recycling is now held Quarterly in the ShopRite Parking lot - this both takes electronics out of the garbage stream so we don't pay for it's dumping and is a moneymaker for us.
2. I have given back over $20,000 to the township that was payable as my stipend for serving as a council representative.
3. I advocated strongly against the sale or lease of our water to a private corporation - the ever changing Sewer Tax that would have removed sewer taxes from our property taxes making them non-deductable at tax time and would have created an new empire running our sewer and water.
4. Voted to cap municipal employee sick time at $15,000 where it had previously been unlimited
5.  Advocated that Bloomfield residents get first priority after veterans in hiring by the Bloomfield Fire Department
6. Initiated street ordinance for cleaning Broad St North of Bay Ave
7. Proposed an ethics ordinance that also has a pay-to-play component. I have no large contributors to my campaign. I do not accept monies from vendors or consultants to the township.
8. Established paper recycling within our school district
9. An active participant in the preservation of flood prone areas in the 2nd ward. One of the initiatives that I worked on with the township grant writer and NY/NJ Baykeeper resulted in 1.9 million dollars in grants to buy property in a flood prone area  in the 2nd Ward and turn it into a park.
10. Facilitated the removal of contaminated soil from the intersection of East Passaic and Darling Avenues (enterprise rent-a-car) by working cooperatively with the Bloomfield Health Department.
11. Responsible for a Cocoa-Cola grant which provided the township with 20 recycling containers for our parks. I was also responsible for the acquisition of public recycling containers all over town where the township receives a portion of the advertising revenue - this provides a revenue stream for the recycling program.
12. Worked with community groups to have Martin St.  changed to one-way to ensure safety of residents.
13. An active participant in annual river cleanups, maintenance in our parks, personally distributed over 400 compact fluorescent light bulbs as part of a nationwide program - Project Porchlight to save both energy and money.
14. State Certified by the NJ Fish and Wildlife department as a member of the Geese Peace Program to humanely reduce the Goose population - initiated a partnership between the township and volunteers to work cooperatively to reduce the goose population.
15. I am an advocate for neighborhood preservation and for the township to strongly enforce it's codes and ordinances. We need to maintain the character of the 2nd ward through responsible  development.

Other thoughts-

The most important issue is stabilization of taxes.

We must aggressively pursue shared service arrangements with neighboring communities.

In addition, code enforcement must be increased within the township.  This is both a health and safety issue as well as an area where revenues can be generated.  Bloomfield is experiencing a dramatic increase in our school population; code enforcement may discover illegal housing conversions which will save the township a significant amount of money.

-- Nick Joanow, October 2011 

On Thursday night, October 27 a "Meet the Candidate" Forum will take place at Bloomfield College’s Van Fossan Theatre from 7:00 - 9:00 pm.  The public is invited to meet the local contestants running for the three ward council seats on the ballot in the November 8 general election.