You forgot to mention the requirement for bicycle lockers.

I must say, this is one candidate that I cannot support in any way. I have watched her and listened to her over the past 4 years and it just doesn't make sense to me. The way she votes and argues - which is a good thing if done in a respectful way - just pushes this town further in a director no one wants. This is just my opinion.

Just a reminder.. if you want to see responses to a variety of questions from all the different candidates.. go to http://patch.com/A-sPjf
This is a wonderful resource..

I swear, if she gets elected again I am moving!

She clearly lives in a parallel universe

I could have sworn I saw the woman in this picture at an OWS protest on Tuesday, smoking a doobie and holding a sign that said; "Pay if Forward for Social Justice". Whatever that means.

Hey Candidates what are you going to do with the over spending in the schools? A football coach making $110,000 as an in school detention teacher is a big problem and way too many crises counselors and VP’s in the district are wasteful.

I've never met this woman but I could swear I saw her at an OWS protest in the city on Tuesday, smoking a doobie and carrying a sign that read: "Pay if Forward for Social Justice". Whatever that means.

Please stop the personal attacks and stick with the issues gang... appreciate it.

She says "Concerned Citizens of Montclair demanded a 0% tax increase with no regard for the long-term financial health of Montclair, and no concrete ideas for achieving their goal"
Did she miss the detailed list of specific items that were presented by the CCM and other groups. We all heard them and read them. She was there when they were presented. How can she have missed them?

shelly, it is your blog, but this councilor has served her term and made her campaign about character, morals and values - probably more so than any other candidate. are you saying this candidate can't be questioned on these things because this current post is on financial issues or these attributes are off the table?

This candidate, at the League of Women Voters' Forum stated, in a question regarding whether candidates would accept Township health benefits, that "maybe anyone who could afford [their own] health benefits would not be a good steward of taxpayer dollars". This comment was an insult to all of us who have worked hard, paid for their own education, took on multiple jobs to pay off the student loans and have had successful careers in our chosen professions. Judging from the audience response, there were many who were insulted.

The claim that they eliminated the municipal head count by 10% is simply not true. They are counting not hiring open positions as the same as eliminating positions, big difference. That is not trimming municipal staff. Our non-uniformed municipal workers earn 88% more than Maplewood.

http://www.townstats.org/Compare%20Montclair%20Township%20-%20Essex%20and%20Maplewood%20Township%20-%20Essex

Weller-Demming accused one of the mayoral candidates of racism at the CGI event. Everyone ignored her.

There are better choices for the next Town Council. I’ve attended numerous events and spoken with all the candidates. I trust this group to lead Montclair:

Mayor: Turner
At Large (two picks): Carlson and Zorich
1st Ward: Murnick
2nd Ward: Avdicevic
3rd Ward: Swenson
4th Ward: Baskerville (no choice)

For reasons why:
http://www.baristanet.com/2012/05/friends-of-wildwoods-endorses-candidates/#comment-293112

Pamphleteer76@gmail.com
(thank you for all the suggestions)

kathryn - have you been smoking some of the fine natural resources our new medicinal facilities will be selling soon?

we are in desperate need of adult supervision of our town and you should respectfully fade away

thanks

As this thread concerns the At-Large councilors, I want to share my endorsements.

I endorse LeeAnn Carlson for one At-Large position. I had a chance to talk at length with LeeAnn and she is as engaging in person as she is on her blog posts. This will serve her well in the At-Large role. She has good ideas and a laser focus.
I endorse Peter Zorich because he conversant on, and respectful to, a range issues and will represent the all four wards well. I think he can be a strong, effective and a better advocate for the arts – a constituency I think could be better represented on the Council without some of the baggage from this last Council.
Also, Paine's insights for supporting these Carlson & Zorich as At-Large candidates are well worth reviewing as he attended so many of the public events.

I too tired to correct the many mistakes in my post. Sorry.

Thanks Kelly...

There's a better chance of Jackson and Turner sharing a friendly meal together, than KWD getting re-elected.

Wow, talk about selective memory. How about the 2010 budget, which she went along with:
Thirteen towns won approval yesterday to exceed the cap, including the Essex County town of Montclair
“A cut of this magnitude would be devastating,” Fried told the Local Finance Board in defense of a 10 percent tax increase worth $1.1 million. The average Montclair homeowner last year paid $15,585 in property taxes,
Montclair’s credit rating was downgraded one step today to Aa3, the fifth highest, from Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited declining state aid and imbalanced budgets. Moody’s called the township’s application for the property-cap exemption “evidence of continuing financial stress.” MOODY'S DOWNGRADES THE TOWNSHIP OF MONTCLAIR'S (NJ) GO RATING TO Aa3 FROM Aa2, AFFECTING $104.6 MILLION OF GO DEBT. This is what frightens me, a clear lack of understanding of the debt position.

Not to be mean, but I honestly don't think Ms. Demming is intelligent enough to be a council member. Listening to her speak at council meetings is almost painful. At times she can barely get a sentence out. I have heard some pretty unsavory rumors about her I won't repeat, but obviously the voters of Montclair were asleep at the booth when they voted for her. The insane are running the asylum -- can we please have coherent, at least somewhat intelligent representation on the council this time around? She, without a doubt, needs to go back to knitting, baking brownies, whatever she enjoys in her leisurely time.

Kelly,
Perhaps Jerry Garcia and Normal's attempts at humor were unkind, but they are not the people that have embarrassed this town over and over, but rather it is Weller-Demming, Fried, etc that have embarrassed this town over and over, while causing it an incredible amount of financial harm. That isn't personal, it is a statement regarding the decisions they have made while holding public office.

The Turner Spin Machine attacks. Ms. Weller-Deming was called a fascist here. She was called a pothead. I do not work for or support Ms. Deming, but object to this character assassination, outrageous. Ms. Turner's OBAC/CCM demanded budget cuts which will damage our greatest asset, our public schools. The public schools need tax support to maintain our property values. Her campaign evades questions--did Ms. Turner flip-flop on no funds for the library, on calling in the PreK debt, on more trees for Mtc? Did she apologize for trying to recruit Glenfield students to hand out her campaign lit? Did she apologize for inappropriately using the PTA marker for campaign advantage? Did she ever explain how she can fall in love with Edgemont School while praising the BOE chief Lombard who tried to close Edgemont? Has she named her own political party after denouncing Mr. Jackson's alleged affiliation with the Essex Cty Dems? Is she a stealth Republican spinning a schmooze campaign to mislead Mtc Dem voters? I don't know the answers to these questions but as a non-committed voter not supporting any candidate, I need to know. Character assassination of Ms. Weller-Deming is way over the line. Bullying is common here. Ridicule scares off and silences people so the ugliest side can dominate. One Turner advocate suggested I was a ForMontclair supporter, without any evidence, never retracted when called out on it. The Turner Spin Machine undermines civil debate on civic issues.

I am not a Turner operative. I called out Weller for calling Turner a racist without anything to back it up, in public, at a debate. Those are crappy tactics - debate on merits. We have a diverse community and those types of accusations are inflammatory and meant to be.

If you are referring to me Prof., it was actually Montclair 2012 that I assumed you were supporting. That assumption was based on reading your posts which led me to believe that there hasn't been a cut suggested, that you have supported. If you don't want any cuts, then Montclair 2012 is the slate for you. One correction regarding your post; I am looking at the Montclair Moms ad in the April 12 edition of the Montclair Times. There is no PTA marker or banner or whatever you want to call it. The ad mentions that the Moms are members of various organizations and include the PTA in that mention. Nothing illegal, underhanded, incorrect or wrong about that mention. Finally, I appreciate that you are a huge supporter of our schools. Even residents who don't use the schools should be supporters if for no other reason than the fact that there is a direct correlation between property values and quality of schools. Many of our town's residents are also big supporters of the town's incredible diversity. For many of us it is why we chose to raise our children here. We want our children to be friends with other children of every race, creed, religion and family structure that there is. If our town does not get its financial house in order, we are going to lose an important aspect of that diversity. I for one am not in favor of the regentrification of Montclair. I support RPM because the will look for the financial savings and efficiences our town deperately needs.

I understand the argument regarding anonymity on blogs, though I do not agree. But here, on these election posts, I think it is simply spin at best and cowardice at worst to not use your real name when you either state your support for a candidate or discuss what you don't like about someone. Some of these posts pretty obviously cross the line into rumor-mongering and slander. Would you say these things if you had to sign your name? I bet not.

We cannot continue to elude the obvious: The schools, municipal government and the county gov't need overhaul. The schools have continuely failed us as taxpayers. I disagree that our greatest asset is our schools. The greatest asset we have, as in any muicipality is the ability and willingness of the residents to pay taxes to support the various vital functions. We continue to make this campaign about personal attacks....behind the scenes financing/support.........who cares. It should be based on results that the incumbents have achieved. I think we can all agree that they have achieved to divide this town and continue unmonitored spending without accountability. I'm tired of the incumbents being defended about how they aren't to blame....in fact they are. Secondly, vote for those who in the absence of public service success have achieved private success, in any form. This constant bantering has taken the focus off the important issues.