 "Photo: Dan Bracaglia / Associate Photography Editor")
Empower Our Neighborhoods is no longer the only group seeking to change the structure of New Brunswick's City Council.
A new group, Unite New Brunswick, announced yesterday they have submitted a petition to the city clerk on Aug. 24 with 1,000 signatures to add another question to the Nov. 3 ballot to increase the city council from five to seven members, all elected at-large.
This question differs from EON’s, asking voters to choose a system where six wards elect one representative each, in addition to electing three representatives at-large.
“The idea and the sentiment from a lot of residents is that [New Brunswick has] grown so much under this system,” said Kyle Kirkpatrick, a member of Unite New Brunswick’s Committee of Petitioners. “The town has been revitalized, crime has dropped [and] the unemployment rate is the lowest in New Jersey. It’s quite literally the fastest-growing urban center in New Jersey.”
He said the idea behind UNB is to keep the progress going and not switch to a system that could promote division.
“The mayor is pleased that if the city clerk certifies this new petition, there will be another option for New Brunswick residents to consider on Election Day, and choice is a good thing,” said City Spokesman Bill Bray. “The mayor is also happy that the discussion and debate regarding the form of government that will best serve the residents of this city — which otherwise would have been provided by the proposed charter study commission — will now continue … it is very important that voters examine both of these options, become informed of both of these options’ advantages and disadvantages and choose wisely this November.”
With EON’s success in court to have their petition approved, the city’s former idea of creating a Charter Study Commission to evaluate all types of representation was not allowed to be placed on the ballot this year, but their proposal allows for more debate, said Glenn Fleming, a member of UNB’s Committee of Petitioners.
But EON has been trying to have this debate for a long time, said EON President Martha Guarnieri.
“They’ve just been keeping us in court,” she said.
Kirkpatrick said with the at-large system, citizens have the ability to vote for all of their representatives, not just four with the ward system, and this allows representatives to be aware of the interests of all.
“There’s been a lot of information about wards going out there, some of which we disagree with and think might not be practical or accurate,” he said. “And there’s some information that people don’t know about at-large systems.”
Ezra Rufino, a member of UNB’s Committee of Petitioners, said increasing the number of members relieves some of the burden of the individual council members.
Guarnieri said there is wide support for the ward question, and ward representation allows specific issues to receive more attention. New Brunswick’s diversity also calls for representatives sensitive to each neighborhood.
“With a ward system, you have to be held accountable by the people that you live by or you won’t be re-elected,” she said.
The same people run for the at-large system every year, said EON member Jordan Bucey.
“There’s only been opposition three times in the last decade, and those people lost because they don’t have the money that these people have,” she said. “With this, every neighborhood gets a vote.”
Rufino said that is a part of democracy.
“It’s really about if the citizens of New Brunswick want to vote someone out of the council, then they will have the option for [new] council members. You’re always presented with the option to get rid of someone or add someone new,” said Rufino, a Rutgers College senior.
The city has a 20-day period to confirm the signatures and announce whether the question will be on the ballot.
Bennet Zurofsky, a lawyer who has represented EON in the past, does not expect this petition to pass.
“I expect the city clerk to apply the law as it has been applied by the two judges,” he said.
It is not possible for multiple proceedings regarding a change of government to be pending for the same ballot, Zurofsky said. Since EON has already filed a proceeding for the upcoming election, as on Aug. 10, Judge James P. Hurley ruled that City Clerk Dan Torrisi must honor EON’s petition to place their question on the ballot.
Fleming said if their question is not placed on the November ballot, they would still continue their campaign in future elections.
“We’re not a one-time deal … this isn’t something we haphazardly did,” he said. “Whatever we have to do, we will.
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