Middletown Democrats Oppose Town Center

 According to Middletown Democrats for Township Committee Patricia Walsh and Jim Grenafege, they join Middletown committeemen Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes in opposition to the Town Center project in the township.

"The Town Center project was created many years ago by Anthony Mercantante, who is now the township administrator, and approved by the former all-Republican Township Committee to become a part of the old Master Plan in Middletown," Grenafege said.

For more than a decade, Grenafege said, this project has been the centerpiece of an inter-Republican feud in Middletown not involving Democrats in any manner.

" Middletown Democrat has never backed the Town Center, approved the Town Center, allowed the Town Center or promoted the Town Center", Walsh said. "There would not even be a Town Center project if the Middletown Republicans on the governing body did not create it."

Consequently, Walsh and Grenafege join with Byrnes and Short about this important community concern.

"However, what has occurred has been repeated attempts by the current Middletown Committee Republican Majority to disobey New Jersey's court system where it involves its recent ruling with regard to this project," Walsh said.

“I am an American, who acknowledges the rights of the courts to decide legal matters in this country," Grenafege said."The fact of the matter is that the Middletown Committee's Republican Majority screwed this up where it involves the creation of this project and, later, in the actions it took to eliminate this project. This majority has demonstrated yet another symptom of its inability to lead or manage."

"What is left to do is obey the American court system. If an appeal of this decision is likely to win, then fine, but I will not pour money into an open hole where it regards this project anymore" Walsh concluded.

The candidates are calling for the appointment of a better township attorney, more capable and successful in litigation, to evaluate the matter in an expert fashion before deciding the future legal pursuit of this matter. "I have to know there is a chance that the township's position will win in court against the project before we put more money into it," Grenafege concluded.