Blog

Although the bulk of giving this holiday season is over, I wanted to take a moment out to record a special video wishing you all a happy holidays and also reminding folks of three easy ways to give back to your community this year. Watch the video below: 1. Give Blood. 30 minutes can give someone else life.  Find nearby locations to do so here.  2. Support the Squad. And the dozens of volunteers who donate hundreds of hours every week to keep South Orange safe. Donate to the South Orange Rescue Squad here. 3. Find a community group to get involved in. Spend just a few hours a month helping to make South Orange a better place. From SOPAC, to YouthNet, to Clean Sweep, there is a way for you get involved. Full list here. There are of course a thousand ways to give back - between volunteering at a house of worship, being part of a service organization like Rotary or Lions or raising a family of aspiring community leaders, there is something for everyone. So many South Orange residents already get involved, but there is always room for more. And at a time when people feel disconnected...

This month, I’d like to provide a number of brief updates on a few issues we’ve been working on in town.  First, many of you probably heard about the joint decision by Maplewood and South Orange to not pursue a consolidated fire department at this point in time. Although both towns were very interested in this possible shared service, there were no significant cost savings or improvement of fire service that would warrant the expense and time required to complete a merger of two departments that operate so differently. As the discussion progressed, it became clear that Maplewood and South Orange could not come to an agreement to explore and implement a best practices department, rather than starting out with the goal of establishing a Maplewood-led department. 

Read More →

Watch the video summary below!

Click to watch my interview on NJ Today!

Click below to watch the latest meeting summary!

Before folks head off for thanksgiving dinners and hopefully taking a moment out of busy lives to reflect and relax, I wanted to update everyone on our Board meeting from last week, and also provide an update about some interesting things happening in town. This includes the resolution I brought to the Board, which passed unanimously and was sent to the NJ Board of Public Utilities regarding PSE&G, some interesting OEM updates, renovating Village Hall and re-organizing our meeting process. Check out the video summary below, and let me know what you think: P.S. all three questions that were on the November 8th ballot did have support from the community and "passed" with yes votes. Thanks everyone for voicing your opinions! Find full November 8th election results here. Here is a scan of the certified copy of the resolution, which I brought to the Board and was passed unanimously. We are asking other NJ municipalities that had similar experiences to also pass their own version of this resolution:

The general election is coming up on November 8th and South Orange voters will get a unique opportunity to vote on three non-binding questions on the ballot this year.The three questions are related to the charter review process that the Village has been undertaking for many months now. These three questions were the three the Board wanted public input on and you can find a great overview of the questions on our website here: southorange.org/ballotquestions. Here I would like to give my thoughts and share with you why I will be voting yes for all three questions on November 8th.The first question is about changing the name from the current ‘Township of South Orange Village’ back to the ‘Village of South Orange.’ South Orange is indeed not a township but a Village and the township label was only added decades ago to make the municipality eligible for federal grant money available only to townships. That federal program was disbanded shortly thereafter, and the township label has neither anything to do with our form of government (Maplewood is a township, on the other hand, with a township committee, etc) nor provides us any benefit today. Much signage in town never even...

This is an update from the Village of South Orange and the Office of Emergency Management. We are advising residents against going house to house to trick or treat tonight because of the potential danger of downed wires, hanging branches and debris still on the ground. Spooky Spiotta Park will be happening starting at 4pm and we invite all residents to come downtown and celebrate Halloween with us! The Village is in constant communication with PSEG and is working on getting areas in South Orange prioritized as fast as possible. If you have medical or special needs please contact the SOPD immediately.The Library will be open until 9pm Monday night for residents to come in, charge electronic devices and relax in warmth. The Baird will be opened as a shelter if needed overnight, and you can call the SOPD to request that assistance.Residents are encouraged to move branches and debris out to the curb so DPW can remove it. All of the roads in South Orange were opened by the end of the Sunday, due the hard work of our Department of Public Works and other village staff. They will continue clearing debris through the end of the week, while...