Vote Count to Take Days

Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus Published Every Thursday Since September 3, 1890 (908) 232-4407 USPS 680020 Thursday, October 29, 2020 OUR 130th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 44-2020 Periodical – Postage Paid at Rahway, N.J. www.goleader.com [email protected] ONE DOLLAR Local Seats Up For Grabs; Vote Count to Take Days By FRED T. ROSSI and with provisional ballots. The county LAUREN S. BARR Specially Written for The Westfield Leader can accept mail-in ballots until Tues- day, November 10, as long as they are AREA – It is very unlikely that postmarked by November 3. On elec- voters will know clearly who all the tion night, municipal clerks in each winners are on election night, given town will receive vote counts only the state’s vote-by-mail procedures from local voting machines, which and the related delays in tallying the will account for a very small percent- many thousands of ballots that are age of the overall vote since in-per- being cast not only for President, son voting is severely restricted. Congress, county freeholders, clerk Two seats are up for election on the and sheriff, but also for council seats Cranford Township Committee. in Cranford and Garwood. Democrats Brian Andrews and Jason “Nobody should expect any mean- Gareis are facing off against Republi- Paul Lachenauer for The Westfield Leader Paul Lachenauer for The Westfield Leader TRICK OR TRAIL...Families enjoyed a ride around Tamaques Park during ingful results on election night,” ac- cans Chrissa Stulpin and Regina Gina FAMILY FUN...Families bundled up for the showing of The Addams Family AddamsFest Trick or Trail last Sunday. Grandmama and Cousin Itt are seen here cording to Nicole DiRado, administra- Black. Whomever is elected will oc- at Dudley's Drive-In, located at the South Avenue train station parking lot, on brewing up something spooky for their guests. tor of the Union County Board of Elec- cupy the seats being vacated by Mayor Friday night. tions. She told The Westfield Leader Patrick Giblin and Commissioner Jean she is anticipating more than 200,000 Maisonneuve, who did not seek re- Westfield Council Debuts ballots to be cast in the election, mostly election. DWC Reviews Quimby Plaza; via mail and the drop-boxes located in In Garwood, Republicans Jesse each town in the county. County elec- Wilson and Joseph Nicastro are facing Ord. For Redevelopment tion officials began processing the bal- incumbent Democratic Councilman Plans For Holidays and 2021 lots last Saturday, a task Ms. DiRado Russell Graham and Vincent Kearney, By REBECCA MEHORTER litions to obtain zoning approval and/ called “time-consuming and labor-in- who ran for a borough council seat in By REBECCA MEHORTER said that if logistics were not a factor, Specially Written for The Westfield Leader or a permit transfer and to remove the tensive.” Tomorrow, the ballots will the 2018 Primary. Republican Coun- Specially Written for The Westfield Leader she would love to shut down the whole WESTFIELD — The Westfield debris or fill any excavations. Viola- start to be run through the vote-count- cilman Richard McCormack lost his WESTFIELD — The Downtown street. However, she continued, it just Town Council introduced an ordinance tors would be punished with a fine ing machines, but the actual reports bid for the nomination in the primary, Westfield Corporation (DWC) held will not be possible. to adopt a downtown Westfield scat- and/or jail time. with actual vote tallies will not be sent and will vacate the seat in the new year. its monthly meeting October 21. Board member Gary Goodman tered site redevelopment plan at its General Ordinance No. 2196 would to the county clerk’s office until after For the Westfield Board of Educa- Board members discussed the future asked Mr. Zuckerman if the Quimby Tuesday meeting. Officials also intro- update the town code regarding street the polls officially close at 8 p.m. on tion, 10 candidates are running for of the Quimby Street pedestrian plaza, Street property owners have had the duced three other ordinances and paving, and General Ordinance No. Tuesday, November 3. Reports with three seats. Sonal Patel is running the upcoming holiday season, a grant opportunity to give the board feed- passed eight resolutions, as well as 2197 would update the definitions of vote counts will be sent to the clerk’s under the platform “Teacher + for federal CARES Act money and back, and Mr. Zuckerman said he had discussing leaf pickup. total and partial demolitions in the office each day afterward and those Progress + Compassion”; Paul businesses moving into the down- not spoken with all of them. Mr. General Ordinance No. 2198, which land-use ordinance of Westfield. numbers will be posted regularly on the Monusky, Leila Morrelli and Sahar town area. Zuckerman said that he would talk to will go to the Monday, November 2 Town Administrator Jim Gildea re- board of elections’ website in the days Aziz are running as “Preparing The bulk of the meeting was de- them individually before the next planning board meeting, acts as the minded residents that leaf pickup starts after the election. Tomorrow’s Leaders”; Wendy voted to discussion of Quimby Street’s meeting and that the board will vote next step in the downtown redevelop- next week. Residents are asked to keep Ms. DiRado cautioned that the ini- Rogers, Deborah Feldman-Kahn and current setup as half-pedestrian cross- on next year’s Quimby Street plan at ment plan. It would affect the desig- branches, grass clippings, hay bales, tial vote counts will represent just a David Sexton are running as “Bright ing. Bob Zuckerman, executive di- its next meeting. nated Lord & Taylor properties, the mums and pumpkins out of leaf piles, small percentage of the total number Futures”; Kent Diamond, Priti Dave rector of the DWC, said the street will Mr. Zuckerman also told the board eight municipal parking lots and the as the extra debris can cause the load to of votes expected to be cast. She and Eldanydia Pavon are running with remain closed to motor vehicles on he had submitted an application for a Rialto property. be rejected from the drop-off facility. expects “tens of thousands” of ballots no declared platform. the south side through Thanksgiving. grant from Main Street New Jersey “It is simply a framework to explain Mr. Gildea encouraged residents to to be submitted on election day, which In Cranford, four candidates are Mr. Zuckerman said he wanted to requesting $57,000. The program is what type of investment the town is pick up leaf bags from the conserva- her office will have to process along CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 hear board members’ thoughts on the run through the state and is distribut- seeking of these properties based upon tion center and to track where the closure and what the plans should be ing federal CARES Act money to the master plan reexamination recom- Department of Public Works is pick- for next spring. main street organizations. mendations,” Mayor Shelley Brindle ing up leaves via the Westfield Con- He said he thinks the public “really, Most of the grant money requested said. The redevelopment plan will in- nect app, social media or the front really likes” the current arrangement. is for holiday-related expenses, Mr. volve “robust public input” in addition page of the town’s website. “So with Covid being what it is, mean- Zuckerman said. He said he asked for to the master plan, traffic studies and Additionally, the council passed ing that, unfortunately for the whole $10,000 to run a downtown ambassa- circulation studies, Mayor Brindle said. eight resolutions from the finance com- world, it’s not going away any time dor program over the holidays. The The mayor also said the actions she mittee. Of note were the last two pre- super soon, I think it’s time for us to ambassadors would hand out masks, and the council are taking are based on sented resolutions. Councilwoman actually start planning for the spring give directions and answer questions responses from a town-wide survey. Linda Habgood said the resolutions again because I don’t anticipate it from shoppers. Another $5,000 would She said 75 percent of respondents related to “increasing the payment being much different come, say, April go to designing and printing holiday believed the town needed to attract threshold on our contract for redevel- 1.” guides and maps. new businesses; 67 percent were inter- opment, legal and planning profes- Mr. Zuckerman said that planning Mr. Zuckerman said he asked for ested in attracting new offices down- sionals.” She further said the increases now would help the board create space $10,000 to set up a holiday visitors town, and parking ranked third on the would be reimbursed and will “have in the 2021 budget to set up the pe- center in a vacant store. He said the list of most important issues. These minimal ultimate impact” on town destrian crossing more properly. He idea would be to let shoppers warm responses, she said, have guided the budgets. said that the closure has been popular up inside and to sell Westfield 300 council’s development plan. Moreover, “The general practice is that towns with residents and that programming merchandise and gift wrapping. the redevelopment plan will diversify will budget for these services and then the space with events has been very Another project expense he re- the town’s tax base, she said, and thus once you get into the redevelopment successful and created a high resi- quested funding for would give a lo- reduce the town’s reliance on taxes process, the developer takes responsi- dent-turnout on both weekends and cal delivery service the chance to paid by Westfield residents.

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