Happy St. Patrick’s Day! (908) 232-4407 USPS 680020 Thursday, March 14, 2002 Published Every Thursday Since 1890 OUR 112th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 27-112 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. www.goleader.com
[email protected] FIFTY CENTS WESTFIELD COUNCIL SIGNS OFF ON SETTLEMENT TUESDAY Ward Commission Approves Reinstatement of Old Map By LAUREN S. PASS voted against reinstatement of the borhood had felt disenfranchised and old map, while Republicans John wanted to be a part of the Third Ward Specially Written for The Westfield Leader DeSimone of Clark and Mary Ellen again. Now, she said, she would like The Ward Commission met on Harris of Kenilworth voted in favor “to see the whole system (of redis- Tuesday afternoon to adopt a settle- of it. Town Clerk Bernard Heeney tricting) changed to non-political.” ment in the lawsuit of Withers et al cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of The vote cast on October 18, 2001 versus the Ward Commission et al. returning to the old map. was also a 2-2 split, with Mr. Heeney The commission voted to throw The Ward Commission, which is casting the deciding vote in favor of out the map it adopted on October appointed after each census is com- moving the Cacciola Place neigh- 18, 2001, which had put the entire pleted, consists of two Democrats, borhood from the Third to the Sec- Cacciola Place neighborhood into two Republicans and the town clerk. ond ward. The map took effect on January 1 of this year. According to federal stat- utes, each neighborhood should be “compact contigu- ous,” while not showing a difference of more than 10 percent in population devia- tion between the smallest and largest wards.