Representatives from across New Jersey endorsed a ward-based system for the New Brunswick City Council yesterday on the steps of City Hall.
Advocates said a ward-based election process will promote democracy throughout the city. Under the current system five council members are elected at-large.
“The ward-based system will provide an effective, accessible and accountable representation to all sectors in the decision making structure of our city. Our initiative creates a city council integrated by six ward-elected representatives and three at-large elected members,” said President of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey Martin Perez, chairman of the Coalition for Democracy’s steering committee.
The group pushing for the change is Empower Our Neighborhoods, which submitted a petition to change the city’s form of government.
Unite New Brunswick, a new group that has recently shown up on the radar, submitted a separate proposal to change the system from its current five at-large-elected members to seven at-large-elected members.
UNB fears a ward system will pull the city apart and give less individual representation to each ward, because each ward representative will vote its own way and give less regard to the city as a whole.
EON members disagree.
“We not only love New Brunswick because we love our part of it. We love all of it,” said Charlie Kratovil, EON press secretary.
UNB supporters also worry the large University population will not be properly represented in a ward-based system, because the city will be divided into sections, as opposed to an at-large City Council.
“I’ve lived in other places … where wards have broken up … the city,” said Glenn Fleming, a spokesman for UNB. “Franklin Township has its urban section, but it’s not an urban center like New Brunswick.”
Others opposing wards said the city is fine, with low crime rates, low taxes and low unemployment rate under the current system.
“Every conceivable constituency in the city benefits from a ward system,” said Mike Shanahan, a Middlesex County democratic committee member and Rutgers College senior. “From the student aspect, we [the students] would be able to have a city councilperson for the first time in city history. By splitting the city up into wards, you get representation for each neighborhood, but right now the 6th Ward is almost completely students and they haven’t had a voice in the city.”
Rutgers College senior Steven Perez, a Piscataway resident and commuter, said a ward-based system would offer students benefits.
“Because students are such a large population in the 6th Ward, where College Avenue and Easton Avenue are, a ward system would allow student issues like tenant rights to come to light,” Perez said.
New Brunswick Zoning Board of Adjustment Jerry Mercado dismissed what he called efforts by the city government to paint organizations promoting the ward-based system as student movements.
“This is not a student movement; this is a community movement that includes students,” Mercado said.
EON cites several New Jersey cities where a ward system has been implemented successfully, including Franklin Township, which Money Magazine voted as the fifth best place to live in America in 2008, and Piscataway, which ranked at number 23rd on the list.
UNB supporters said New Brunswick cannot be compared to less urban cities such as Franklin Township, especially since it uses a 5-4 ratio of ward/at-large elected council members, not a 6-3 ratio as EON proposes.
Trenton Councilman-at-Large Manuel Segura said a ward-system benefited his work in Trenton.
“For a councilperson-at-large, it’s more effective when you have a representative from the different wards,” Segura said.
Segura likened a ward representative to a police officer who lives in the same area he patrols.
“If a police officer lives in the community,” Segura said. “It’s much better taken care of.”
Coalition calls for ward-based system in city
Published: Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, September 9, 2009
 "Photo: Andrew Howard / Photography Editor")
Andrew Howard / Photography Editor
Martin Perez, Coalition for Democracy steering committee chairman, speaks at yesterday’s press conference on the steps of City Hall. Perez, founder of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, said several city communities, not just students, will benefit from a ward-based system.
8 comments
Oh yeah, having a councilman from Trenton back a New Brunswick ward system is like having a smoker advocate cancer.