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Read more about the budget.

On Wednesday morning, elected officials, Village staff, and most importantly, the team putting together the new Gateway projected, headed by Ed Ayusso, gathered to formally break ground on the Gateway project, which will bring 57 luxury apartments and 9,000 square feet of prime retail space into downtown South Orange, adjacent to the South Orange train station. The project is set to be completed in 2014. Read more: http://thealternativepress.com/towns/south-orange/articles/south-orange-celebrates-ground-breaking-for-the http://southorange.patch.com/articles/south-orange-breaks-ground-on-former-beifus-site  

This is one of the most exciting projets in recent history of the Village. Along with the new Gateway project on South Orange Avenue, this will bring in much-needed dense residential, commercial space and structured parking, all while generating over a half million dollars a year in revenue to the Village, and providing the Rescue Squad with a new and upgraded facility. Check out the powerpoint below to learn a little more about the project. (some of the details in the presentation will change as the project moves along)

South Orange has long been a supporter of marriage equality, performing one of the, if not the first domestic partnership in New Jersey. Just adding my voice to many others in support of marriage equality! We have passed many resolutions in South Orange advocating for this, and will continue to do so until our laws are changed and equal rights are given to everyone.

I spoke to an interested group of engaged Seton Hall students in Professor Kyle Heim's class "Social Media in Journalism and Public Relations" Monday night - check out the article from The Alternative Press. 

We announced an extremely innovative and exciting online budget transparency tool this week. Click below to check it out! Read the press release below.      South Orange launches most accessible municipal budget in New Jersey Cloud-Based Delphi Transparency Enables South Orange to Engage Residents By Inviting Them to Explore the Village’s Financial Data, Village hopes to set a new standard in NJ South Orange, NJ – The Township of South Orange Village and Delphi Solutions, a Silicon Valley software startup, today announced the deployment of a revolutionary tool that visualizes South Orange’s financial data.  South Orange now is able to provide its employees and citizens with an unprecedented ability to access, understand, and analyze the $32 million municipal budget. The tool can be accessed athttp://southorange.org/OpenBudget or by clicking below.   “With Delphi’s Transparency tool, our citizens can see where their money is going with the click of a button,” said President Torpey, a nationally recognized advocate and lecturer in the field of open government & technology. After his election in 2011, Torpey drew attention being sworn in as the youngest mayor in New Jersey and later by open government advocates for a number of initiatives, most notably a transparency initiative releasing South...

Check out the update I co-wrote with Trustee Howard Levison on new technology solutions the Village is rolling out, including a new website, Google Apps, new emergency notifications systems, upgraded IT infrastructure and more!

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I delivered the second annual State Of The Village address Monday night. Thanks to everyone who braved the weather to come out and be part of it. And if you missed it make sure to watch the video below!   South Orange, NJ – Monday, March 18, 2013, Village President Alex Torpey gave his second annual 2013 State of the Village address to a room full of residents, employees, community leaders and local organizations, giving a recap of the past years accomplishment and plans for the future.Among the initiatives mentioned, President Torpey highlighted a budget tool launching this week, putting all of the Village's budget data in an easy to read, visual format, that allows anyone to view and compare budget lines not just for this year, but going back to 2008. President Torpey noted that this was one of many open government initiatives the Village has undertaken and that with the launch of this tool,  "Without a doubt, this is the most transparent municipal budget in the state of New Jersey."President Torpey commended Village employees for their performance, two most recent examples being the recent delivery of a grant-funded $735,000 fire truck at only a $35,000 cost to South...