Moorestown Patch Letter To The Editor: Republicans Spell Out Stance On Affordable Housing

To our neighbors:

Our campaign has received numerous inquiries as to our stance on COAH and the proposal to build 1,450 additional COAH units here in Moorestown.

First, let's be clear: 1,450 affordable housing units is a number that is both unrealistic and unsustainable for our community. An additional 1,450 units built will increase our population by 10-20% and put a severe strain on our public services, including but not limited to trash collection, water distribution, public roadways, athletic facilities, and public education.

All of these things will lead to through the roof spending, and end in higher taxes. For that reason, we pledge to join with other suburban communities to challenge any state-mandated number that will be detrimental to the fiscal health of our town, if elected. The concept of building this many units over our Township's open spaces, parks, or athletic fields is simply unacceptable and would damage our small town.

However, we 100 percent stand behind private non-profit groups such as Moorestown-based MEND and the work they do every single day to provide safe and affordable housing to families in need, seniors, veterans, and individuals with special needs. MEND sets the gold standard for what affordable housing should be, and we believe that their work should continue to be supported at the local level.

We would also like to make clear that we do not support negative campaign tactics and had no involvement with the recent mailers sent to Moorestown voters against our opponents. The political action committee that sent them is apparently running ads in multiple municipalities against candidates that support policies that lead to higher property taxes; unfortunately, their negative messaging does not represent what we believe Moorestown is all about.

Our team has proudly built our campaign on a positive vision for Moorestown and believe it is possible to have disagreements on the issues without stooping to name-calling or negativity.

To learn more about our platform and to view those literature pieces we HAVE run, please click here to visit our website: http://www.moorestownfirst.com/what-we-stand-for-1.html. We hope to earn your vote this Tuesday, November 8th, and pledge that if elected, we will always put Moorestown first.

See you around town,
Mike Locatell, Victoria Napolitano, & Phil Garwood