Council Candidate Selma Avdicevic: Town Is Living On Credit Card Debt

Selma Avdicevic, a founder of Woolly Boo—which sells natural, chemical-free bedding for children—has announced she is running for the 2nd ward councilor position in May's local election.

In an email Friday, she said she has not joined any slate as she "personally believes them to be beauty contests. Should there, however, be a slate with candidates that have same interests at heart for the Montclair and all its residents as myself, I will gladly join it. I am nothing if not a team player. In the mean time, I will try to bring forward the issues that have been plaguing us all, AND TRY TO FIND THE SOLUTIONS. Those issues are:

"1. Stop the tax increases!
1a—Deal with the crushing municipal debt.
1b—Create efficiencies of scale in the Municipal Office. It is time they enter the 21st Century.

"2. Help the town recruit and hire a new superintendent of schools.
2a—Create economies of scale in the main office. It is time they enter the 21st Century as well.
2b—Improve test scores.
2c—Improve graduation rates and college admissions.
2d—Close the achievement gap.
2e—Resolve Montclair Community Pre-K funding.

"3. Save things that make Montclair what it is:
3a—Library
3b—Galleries
3c—Theaters
3d—First Night/May in Montclair
3e—Public spaces

"4. Bring commercial tenants to the shopping areas.
4a—Help the Montclair Center Business Improvement District promote Shop Locally initiative.

"Now, before we start a debate about the issues outlined above, I just wanted to let you know that I do believe that these things can be achieved by living within our means. The current Council, the Mayor, and the Town Manager have a tendency to announce and talk about these grand ideas, like carbon footprint, and bike lanes, yet we still have issues with garbage pickup and potholes that are not being addressed. Our town lives on what can easily be described as credit card debt that is being shuffled from one credit card company to another, but everyone cries foul when municipal and BOE jobs need to be cut.

"I can't promise you that any of these things will be accomplished, but I do promise to work very hard with all the members of the Council, the Mayor, and the Town Manager, as well as all volunteer commissions, groups, committees which as a goal have best interests of Montclair and its residents.

"If you agree with these points, and are a 2nd Ward resident, I urge you to sign my Petition of Nomination. I will be available in public to talk about these issues, and listen to any concerns my future constituents might have:

"On Saturday, February 25 on Watchung Plaza, between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
On Monday, February 27 on Watchung Plaza, between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, February 27 at the Watchung train station, MSU bound side, between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
On Saturday, March 3 in front of the Learning Express toy store in Upper Montclair.

"If more dates are requested by the public, they will be posted.

"In addition, for this purpose, the following Facebook page has been created. Please "like" and share with your friends and neighbors not on this mailing list: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Selma-Avdicevic/199186090182653?sk=info

For those using Twitter, you can find me at @selma_avdicevic.