ARTICLE: We Invested In A Safe First Day Of School in Garwood
By Jen Blumenstock | Published in Clark-Garwood Patch, September 12, 2022
This past week was the first day of school in Garwood and for the 10th year in a row my husband and I did what many parents in our town traditionally do on the first day -- walk our kids to Lincoln School. It’s always a fun morning on the blacktop watching as the kids congregate for the first time in months, seeing them meet their new teachers, as well as getting some time to mingle with all the parents after a hectic summer. It’s always a feel-good way to start the year and this year was no different.
As I left the school, I looked up at the 3rd floor of the school and felt grateful that Garwood now has a rescue platform ladder truck that could readily scale to that level if it was ever necessary. As I crossed the street, I hit the button at the new flashing crosswalk beacon as the crossing guard looked on for oncoming traffic, and a nearby police officer minded the perimeter of the school and I felt safe. When I made my way down the residential streets walking back home, I saw a line of empty garbage cans nicely lined up on the curb of a newly paved street that our Department of Public Works had picked up like clockwork, bright and early before the morning rush hit the road. For that, I was proud that Garwood, unlike most towns around us, has economically found a way to keep trash pickup in-house.
This feeling of being safe and sound comes in part because we fund our departments with the equipment and resources they need. Our volunteer Fire Department has fire trucks to protect all of us, from children to senior citizens. Our Police Department can protect pedestrians, motorists, and our walking students with a properly staffed force as well as traffic safety equipment and ample crossing guard staff. Last, but not least, our DPW has more reliable equipment than it had years ago and a full squad of workers to ensure they can safely do their job.
Just six short years ago, before Marc Lazarow and I were on Council, I wouldn’t have been able to say the same. No rescue platform ladder truck. No flashing crosswalk beacons. Old DPW equipment well beyond their years of useful life, such as a non-functioning street sweeper that cost more to fix than it was worth.
Since then, we’ve made these capital investments responsibly through a 5-year capital plan. We managed debt carefully, allowing us to have a debt ratio well below half of the municipalities in Union County. We funded our departments with the resources and staffing they needed to provide best in class service to our community. We did all of this and yet, we were still able to bring Garwood the lowest successive municipal tax impacts in decades including two years, 2018 and 2020, where there was a zero-dollar tax impact all together.
What I’ve described is not spending. It’s investing. Investing in Garwood is investing in our community. It’s investing in clean streets, a safe walk to school, and having confidence that our children are protected. This is the Garwood I want to live in and the one that we will continue to have if you elect me as your Mayor and Marc Lazarow and Clarissa Nolde as your Councilpeople in November. Wishing everyone a safe school year and happy fall season!
Jen Blumenstock
Garwood Council President
Garwood Mayoral Candidate
https://patch.com/new-jersey/clark/we-invested-safe-first-day-school-garwood-nodx