Toms River Mayoral Candidate 2023: Daniel Rodrick

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Tuesday is Primary Election Day, and Toms River voters have several choices for the Republican nominee for the mayoral race.

Patch sent a questionnaire to all four candidates seeking their responses. Here are the replies from Daniel Rodrick. They are unedited except for typographical errors and punctuation.

Name: Daniel Rodrick

Age: 47

Family: My wife and I have two children

Education: BS in Geology & Environmental Science & MA in Administration

Occupation: Science Teacher for 23 years

Previous elective office, if any: Toms River Councilman Ward 2 since 2018

Do you or anyone in your family work for the state, county or local governments or a position that would force you to abstain from votes?

My wife and I are both public school teachers in Monmouth County.

Making downtown Toms River a vibrant place similar to what exists in Red Bank has been discussed for years. What would you propose to achieve that?

I would immediately halt construction of the 2 10-story towers — using eminent domain if necessary. The area that was the site of the Red Carpet Inn would be planted with grass and become an extension of Huddy Park. My administration would purchase the boat works, demolish it, and build a pier like they have in Belmar. The township would then create a concession license for selling alcoholic beverages on the pier just as is done in Belmar.

As you know, the majority of the Business Improvement District's (BID) budget is used to almost entirely to pay employees. I would work with them to cut half of those employees and use the remaining money to pay for weekly or bi-weekly firework displays over the river for locals on Fridays and concerts in the park, on Saturdays. These measures would create a surge in business activity downtown, without requiring increasing the number of resident in our community. As you know Mayor Hill's towers will not pay school taxes for 30 years. There is no benefit to the town. My plan would create recreational, family fun activities and improve the business environment, without harming the taxpayer.

Toms River has been on the short end of a number of issues with the state of New Jersey in the last few years, from beach replenishment to school funding. How would you break through the political divide to address it?

Demographic shifts have caused a large decrease in school enrollment, which has certainly hurt Toms River's funding. The administration and previous administrations have made efforts to restore funding, but Toms River Schools continue to lose more money each year.

Continuing to expect that the Trenton Democrats will help us is foolish. The township needs to do more to attract commercial retables. Commercial real estate brings in more revenue without the need for increased services. We need to do more to attract large commercial businesses to Route 37 and other areas, to increase local funding without hurting residents. Mayor Hill's Pilot program for downtown Toms River does the complete opposite. It brings in more residents and exempts the developer from school taxes for 30 years. That's just another example of Mayor Hill's failing policies. Hill begs Murphy for more school aid and exempts 500 apartments from school tax for 30 years. Ridiculous!

Homelessness is affecting every community in Ocean County as the cost of rentals skyrockets and availability decreases. How would you address that to assist Toms River residents?

I do not believe Toms River should be the location to care for and house Ocean County's homeless population. If they County Board of Freeholders wants to build a homeless shelter, they should do it in their own town. As you know, the overwhelming majority of those who are homeless are either addicted to drugs or suffer from mental illness. We don't want to invite the Ocean County's homeless to Toms River. I apologize if it sounds callous, but the mayor of Toms River has a responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of Toms River residents, not Ocean County's homeless.