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Talkin Toms River with Mayor Dan Rodrick
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[Music]
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Hi and welcome to Talking Tom's River
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with Mayor Dan Rodri. I'm Jeff Dings and
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we have our mayor Dan Rodri with us. How
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you doing, Dan? I'm doing great, Jeff.
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How are you doing? Doing great. Great.
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We got a lot to talk about. We do.
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There's a lot going on in Tom's River.
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Um, a lot of great things and and a lot
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of things that are being uh vilified.
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Yes. That shouldn't be. They shouldn't.
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So, let's start off
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with Let's go through some of your
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accomplishments as mayor. Absolutely.
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Well, this year we're going to introduce
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our second budget with a 0% tax
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increase. What does that mean? Means
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municipal property taxes will not
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increase. Any increase that a resident
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might see would be uh either the schools
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or the county taxes. But we have kept
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the amount of spending we're doing as a
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municipality flat. Actually, we've
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decreased spending, but taxes will be
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flat. Okay, that's I think there's a lot
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of people are going to like that. Yes,
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we we've actually cut cut a tremendous
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amount of our payroll. We've reduced
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payroll from $55.8 million when I took
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office. Now, it's 50 million 50.3. So,
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we've cut about 5.5 million in payroll.
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That And now, was that like redundant
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jobs or anything that was unnecessary
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that we we deemed to be unnecessary, we
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we uh eliminated. We were Doge before
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Doge was
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cool. And to a lot of people, Doge still
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isn't cool. You know, because so many
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people, they'd rather attack the uh the
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person doing it rather than what was
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wrong with the system beforehand that
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they're fixing. Isn't that the case, you
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know? So, what else? Let's see. We got
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um what about the the towers? Uh well,
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as as many many residents know, the uh
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developer Capidaglia, they had missed
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all of their deadlines. Uh the township
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did have a contract with them, but they
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violated that contract. So we uh we
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repealed the agreement. We pulled out of
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the agreement for the towers. We also uh
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the council supported uh the my my uh my
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desire to eliminate the downtown
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redevelopment plan which allowed
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developers to build up to 150 ft uh
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which would be as as much as 15 stories.
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and it allowed uh future administrations
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to give property tax exemptions out to
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as far as 50 years. So, uh the council
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supported my agenda and we repealed that
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downtown redevelopment agreement as
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well. So, we've been fighting the
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developers taking them on head on
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because it seems to me that 15 stories
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for a town like Tom's River, especially
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where they wanted to put that right on
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the waterfront and people are saying,
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"Oh, it won't affect the view. It won't
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affect the view." But 15 stories is big.
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It's it's it's big. It's it's not it's
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not commensurate with the look and feel
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of Tom Zerver. I mean, we're a big town,
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but we have a small town feel, right? Uh
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it also doesn't make good fiscal sense,
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right? Uh the prior administration, we
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did a great thing going around and
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preserving open space. Uh but often
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times we were purchasing property where
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maybe somebody could have built 10 or 15
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uh single family homes. uh you know, and
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on the flip side, uh they were offering
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property tax exemptions for 30 years to
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put 500 units of housing. Uh and so you
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weren't even going to collect any
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property tax. Uh it's just not not
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fiscally responsible to to put 500
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families somewhere uh with no property
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taxes. Right. Right. Now, what we talked
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a little bit about the budget. Tell me
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more about the budget.
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Well, um it's it's not it's not fully
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unveiled yet, but it it will be a flat
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tax and we have really greatly reduced
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spending, but we will not cut any core
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services. When you say core services,
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what does that include? Uh policing,
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EMS, as you know, not only have we
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reduced our budget, uh uh but we've also
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improved our emergency response times
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and increased uh the amount of resources
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in the police department in regard to
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EMS. Uh we've added dozens of full-time
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EMTs. Uh the township used to have two
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or three uh ambulances on the road. We
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now have six. Uh we cut our response
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time on the barrier island from an
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average of 15 and a half minutes all the
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way down to 6 and 1/2 minutes. And the
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last time we checked, we had shaved an
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average of 1 minute off townwide. So
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when I say we're not going to cut any
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kind of services, uh that's exactly what
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I'm talking about. We've improved
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services. So you're focusing on
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efficiency efficiency and and and kind
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of services that people need. Uh for
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example, we eliminated uh the uh
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certificate of occupancy ordinance. We
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did that right first day in uh the prior
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administration hired nine people or 10
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people and they created this new
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ordinance where you had to get this
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certificate before you could sell your
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home. And uh you know people would have
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to go back 40 years and get permits for
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work that happened in the 80s. They
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didn't even live there. It was taking
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six months for some people a year to
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sell a home. We eliminated that and we
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eliminated all of the workers that were
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hired to enforce that uh absurd
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ordinance. Now were those certificates
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expensive? Like if I went back and and
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had to do that, how much would that by
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eliminating that? How much does that
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save me as a homeowner? Well, it saves
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you when you go to sell your home. Um,
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it it made a lot of money for the town,
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right? Uh, and and it and and it ran the
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gamut, right? I mean, you could have a
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small problem or you might need to pull
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a permit for an extension in which case
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they have to calculate what all of that
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should have cost and then you get build
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based on that. We we we completely
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eliminated it. It was like a North
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Jersey style ordinance. It was the exact
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kind of thing that I moved out of Jersey
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City to get away from it 30 years ago.
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So now, um, because I know that like
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with the budget, uh, especially like
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with the police, there was a lot of, uh,
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negativity going on with that when
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certain positions that you would say
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were redundant were retired out and not
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replaced. Right. Well, we we had I I
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think we've been through this a lot in
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the papers. Uh we had uh a number of uh
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administrative positions that were
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frankly unnecessary. They had nothing to
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do with uh boots on the ground. Uh we
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didn't fire anyone, but as these
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positions as folks retired, we we didn't
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backfill them. And the reason being is
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they were just very expensive. So a
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police captain in Tom's River uh makes a
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salary of approximately $240,000 a year.
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The town is then Can I be a police
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captain in Tom's River? Pretty good
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deal, right? Pretty good deal. Uh and uh
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the the pension payment on that is
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another 37 a.5%. So that's another
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$100,000. That's 340. And then you got
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to do health and unemployment tax and
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all the other social security. It's it's
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close to a $400,000 uh uh a year
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position. Two folks were retiring. Uh we
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didn't backfill those and we use that
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money to put dozens of EMTs on the road.
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Right. Because I do remember there was a
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lot of backlash and negative from the
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from the police unions. Yeah. From the I
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think the general public uh supported
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what we did and that was uh evident in
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the election that occurred immediately
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after that in Ward two where the
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opposition spent a tremendous amount of
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money to say that um you know I was
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cutting cops and I was a bad man, a bad
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leader and they called Bill Burn my
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puppet. Well, Bill Burn won an
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astounding victory uh which I think um
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shows that the people of Toms River are
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behind the good government we're
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bringing. Yeah. In spite of all the
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negativity. In spite of the negativity.
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Right. I Well, I got I got no no
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complaints. Um I remember meeting you
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for the very first time a whole bunch of
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years ago when I first moved in to take
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care of my mom and dad over in
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Silverton. Yeah. and they're both
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unfortunately both gone now. But you
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knocked on our door campaigning and it's
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like who still does this and uh just
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standing outside and and starting a play
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because I didn't want to talk to anyone
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about politics at the time and it's like
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this guy's coming into you know he's
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hustling his his platform. But as we got
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to talk and the next thing you know I'm
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inviting you in get you know giving you
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something to drink. We're sitting down
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on the porch and we're we're having a
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conversation and um even my mom who was
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cynical and um you know she passed when
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she was 90 but even
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then my mom was a little cranky at times
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never to be
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she but her cynicism extended to sales
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like insurance car salesman people who
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randomly knock on your door yeah people
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politicians who knocked at her door she
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didn't like anybody and if you remember
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she came out that day and sat with for
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Lynn talk with us for a while. Good
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woman. And when when you left, she goes,
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I like him. And I was like, you do? Cuz
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she didn't like anybody. So to get her
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seal of approval was a huge step. God
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bless her. Yeah. The person very astute,
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politically astute, you know, just um
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you got great great parents. Terrific.
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Yeah, they are missed. So, what else do
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you have going on that that you think is
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important that we bring to light here
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today? Well, um we have an awful lot of
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parks that we're we we've committed to
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to build. Uh we're going to do a pier
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downtown. You know, we're closing on the
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u the uh boat works building, which is
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no longer a building. The the owner took
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it down as part of the agreement with
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the township. No, where is that? I I
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know. Right next to right
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next to uh Water Street Bar and Grill.
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Oh, the one across the street that looks
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like it had been abandoned for a long
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time. Oh. Oh, god. Since Sandy. Oh,
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okay. And it was a disaster. You
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couldn't You could smell the mold from
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outside. But it has a tremendous amount
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of repairarian rights. So, we're going
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to do a pier. Uh lots of jet ski pads,
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areas for kids to crab and fish. Uh we
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we would also like to get a concession
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in there much like what the state did at
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the Red Fox uh on Island Beach State
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Park. I don't know if you're familiar
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with it. Great restaurant. I think the
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owner runs an operation on the Point
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Pleasant Boardwalk too where they do
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fried food, but the food is fantastic.
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And what's really interesting about it
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is because it is state property,
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government property, we all know that
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liquor licenses are limited. Uh well,
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the government can create a municipality
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can create a liquor license for for
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government space uh like like the show
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gun restaurant at the golf course. So, I
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would like to get a concession in there
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and create that type of uh uh
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concessioners liquor license pending the
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council supports it so that we could get
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some some additional restaurants with
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music tiki bar kind of thing going on
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down there. Great. We also have plans uh
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that we've commissioned to do a spray
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park when you go over that little bridge
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on the island. It'll be real nice for
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all the kids. Uh we want to do a
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revolutionary theme, you know, uh to
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honor Joshua Huie. Uh maybe some red
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coats and some cannons and ships. It'll
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be really nice. I think the kids will be
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awesome. So, I've heard that on
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Saturday, April 12th at 9:00 am there's
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going to be this Easter egg hunt that
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you have every year. Oh, we have that.
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We We tried Well, we This will be the
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second year. Last year we gave it a
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shot, but it was raining, but still the
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Easter Bunny was out there with uh a
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tent and and umbrellas and they they
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gave out an awful lot of candy. This
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year uh we're going to have 20,000 eggs
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and I believe it's going to be separated
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by age groups. So uh I think it's like
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uh up to a certain age is in one area
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and then the bigger kids will be in
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another area. What about big kids like
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me? Big kids like you, you don't get to
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participate, Mr. D, sir. I'm sorry. We
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have rules in Tom's River. Oh well.
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Anyway, so but it should be a whole lot
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of fun, right? I'm looking forward to
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that. I'm looking forward to We're doing
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our summer concert series again uh like
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like uh last year. This year I think
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we're doing up to nine
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concerts works. We do them in Shelter
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Cove. The concerts uh we're and we're
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going to be doing them there again. This
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year we're going to do a few concerts at
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town hall as well on the steps and shut
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down the street just to bring more more
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people downtown. Nice. It'll be it'll be
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great. We had terrific bands, firework
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shows, and again, we've done all these
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great things without raising taxes. So
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Dan, final thoughts as we wrap up this
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segment. What's close to your heart that
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you want the public to know about? that
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we're going to continue to work to keep
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Tom's River a safe and affordable place
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to live, work, do business, raise a
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family. These are the important things.
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That is what the people elected us to
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do. That is what we're going to continue
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to work on.
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So, thank you for joining us today,
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folks, on Talking Toms River with Dan
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Rodri, our mayor. And we've had some
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great insights into what's going on in
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the city, and we look forward to uh
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doing more of these in the future. and
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thank you for uh joining us and being a
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part of this. Thanks for having me,
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Jeeoff. You're very welcome. It was good
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seeing you. You, too.
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