Cedar Grove Chamber Holds Candidate Meet and Greet

Cedar Grove residents, Chamber of Commerce members and council candidates all gathered at Victors Chateau in Little Falls, Wednesday, to give the public the opportunity to meet the candidates face to face.

“The event was an informal meet and greet with a light supper and an opportunity to meet and socialize with the candidates,” said Cedar Grove Chamber of Commerce President Al Rosen.

Candidates Joseph Chiusolo, John Zunic and Stacy Kilkenny were all in attendance. E. Romeo Longo was unable to attend.

Each candidate addressed the group with a short speech before mingling with the crowd.

“I stand for diversity, I think its very important to consider different perspectives before decisions are made,” said Kilkenny. “I also stand for accountability, I think the current town council has done an amazing job with keeping taxes low.”

“Anything we can do to facilitate commerce is also important as well,” she added.

Chiusolo then took the microphone and talked about numerous issues like increasing healthcare costs, municipal tax rates and parking problems in Cedar Grove's downtown.

Chiusolo also spoke about the public question that will be posed on the May 14 ballot regarding the Open Space Trust Fund, which was established to purchase lands, property in the Township for active and passive recreation and for conservation purposes. Since there is not a large amount of open space in the town, voters will decide to keep the money in the fund or let it expire it put it towards tax relief.

“It gives the taxpayers, the voters, an opportunity to decide what happens with that money,” said Chiusolo. “My vision is to give the council the ability to use the 500,000 for future tax relief.”

“I am a very dedicated person and I go working the campaign trail very hard,” he said. “I would hope we have a lot of enthusiasm, not only to vote on the question and to decide who you feel best supports the town, but to get out there because that's a freedom that we have.”

Cedar Grove is a beautiful place in which to live, said Zunic when it was his turn at the podium, because of the residents, volunteers and service workers in the town.

Zunic said as he is wrapping up his first term on the council, he wishes to be re-elected to see through projects like Panther Park.

“I'd like to start doing something with the Pompton Avenue business district because it is difficult for the businesses that are there,” he said, detailing how the Avenue is not exactly clear on its number of lanes.

He also compared crossing Pompton Avenue to the arcade game “Frogger” and talked about ways to bring more visibility to the downtown area.

“If we slow traffic flow, two things happen,” he said.“You get better visibility for the businesses and you get safety for pedestrians.”

“I would like to really focus on a pedestrian friendly business district over the next four years, if elected,” he added.

Zunic says his background as an attorney helps him to research every decision that comes before the council in depth.

Each candidate urges residents to go out and vote on May 14.