Seeking government change, New Brunswick activists agree to wait for next year

Charles Kratovil, left, Cedric Goodman, and other members of EON at City Hall prior to Wednesday evening's council meeting.: Politicker photo 

NEW BRUNSWICK - Community activists conceded momentary defeat tonight after the New Brunswick City Council secured a stay from a superior court judge to stop a ballot question from appearing on the Nov. 4th ballot.

But they vowed to fight on to get the ballot question placed on next year’s ballot, and in fact claimed renewed energy to topple what they see as an old and ineffectual structure.

"We are in need of change in the City of New Brunswick, and there is nothing they can do to stop us," said Jerry Mercado, a former unsuccessful candidate for city council, who now calls changing the form of government here mission number one.

Empower Our Neighborhoods (EON) wanted voters to consider altering New Brunswick’s form of representation from an all at-large council to a ward system, which would field elected officials from all of the city’s specific neighborhoods.

On Sept. 2, Superior Court Judge Heidi Willis Currier gave EON theCouncil Vice President Joe Egan gets an earful from EON. thumbs up sign after they submitted the requisite signatures for a ballot question. But when the city clerk and legal representatives for the activists subsequently could not agree on the language that would appear on the ballot, the council requested a stay and the judge agreed.

At 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, five activists from EON withdrew their original petition designed for the Nov. 4, 2008 election - and immediately turned in a new petition geared for the Nov. 3, 2009 election.

"We have 12 more months to build the largest progressive movement this city has ever seen," said Charles Kratovil, a spokesman for EON.

Mayor Jim Cahill and the council shrugged their shoulders at the activists’ resurgence of defiance, and tried to claim victory for having stared down the Nov. 4th question in the name of soberly assessing the situation.

Following an EON press conference this evening on the steps of City Hall, Bill Bray, spokesman for Mayor Jim Cahill, read a statement prepared by the mayor as a response.

"The withdrawal of the petitions by the committee of petitioners and the filing of a new petition that attempts to address the issues raised by the city when it declared the petition to be invalid, certainly now appears to indicate that the committee of petitioners agrees with the city’s petition," said Cahill.

"The newly filed petition will be reviewed in due course in accordance with New Jersey law, as will the impact of the withdrawal of the prior petition upon the ability of the previously adopted charter study commission ordinance to proceed," the mayor added.

Later, at the council meeting, members of the activist group scoldedErik Straub assails the New Brunswick City Council: Politicker photo the governing body for initially trying to get the petition thrown out on a technicality and then appealing to the judge to halt the ballot question.

Resident Sean Monahan quoted the city attorney from an earlier meeting in which he estimated it’s cost the city $410 per hour in legal fees for the council to attempt to quash the petition. Seeking verification, "I just want to know how much it’s costing you to fight the will of the citizens?" Monahan asked.

Three council people face no opposition on Nov. 4th. Some of the student representatives of EON cautioned the city council members not to get comfortable. The group plans to retool and regroup and will shake up the system.

If not now, next year.

In response, Council President Elizabeth Sheehan Garlatti tried to justify the council’s reluctance to the ballot question this year when she said, "We were waiting for the process to play out in the courts. There’s been an appropriate result."