Read this Letter to the Editor as it originally appeared Sept. 15, 2021 in TAPintoNewark. 

After reading the September 13th statement from mayoral candidate JoAnn Neylan in TAPintoWestfield, I feel compelled to share my experience as a founding member of Westfield’s newly invigorated Green Team, revitalized in 2018 under Mayor Brindle’s administration and with the dedicated leadership of Councilman David Contract.

Read this candidate statement as it appeared in TAPinto Westfield on September 7, 2021.

Believe it or not, the first day of school is this week! As one of your Ward 1 Council representatives, I am often asked about school-related topics. I defer all these questions to the Board of Education except for those related to getting to school. It is the Town Council who has responsibility for ensuring that our kids get to school safely.

Did you see my piece in the Westfield Leader about my South Side Pride? Please take a moment to read it here:

I have lived on the North Side near the YMCA and now on the South Side closer to WHS. My children attended both Franklin and McKinley. We had great experiences at both. And the best part is sooner or later you all meet up again. For a town of 30,000 we are the smallest big town I know.

As the representative for Ward 4 and a resident of 16 years it is vitally important to me that there is a connection and a cohesiveness between the North and South sides. Our downtown encompasses both and yet not everyone knows this. Once elected, I set to seeking ways to bring attention to the South Side. I hosted a “ Southside Stroll'' for the South Avenue businesses intended to inspire collaborations, build relationships and create an environment of support.

Building Collaboration and Support Among Southside Business

By suggesting that we host Sweet Sounds “ Local Spot Light'' at Foundation Park two things happened- more people came and used this underutilized gem and local bands brought their own fanbase - providing a nice boost to the local eateries.

"Sweet Sounds" at Foundation Park Increases Exposure to Westfield's South Side

Moving the annual Halloween Parade to the South Side lot brought 4000 participants, many who crammed the food establishments thereafter. Drive-In Movies, and a holiday Elf-on-the Shelf event also brought crowds. 

Innovative Events Bring Crowds to Town and Exposure to the South Side

When the Art Takes Flight butterflies were launched we made sure many of them landed on the South Side, encouraging visitors to come find them- and also find our businesses.

Butterflies Landed All Over Town Drawing Visitors to South Side

After proactively initiating and executing ordinances to allow for desirable new businesses. I worked directly with the proprietors of Lion’s Roar, encouraging them to bring this fresh, longed for new brewery to the South Side to serve as an anchor and a beacon of things to come.

Proactive Ordinances Allow for New Southside Brewery

With an eye to possibilities I focused early on the coffee kiosk near the train station that had long provided a newspaper and a beverage to commuters running to catch their train. Vacated several years ago, this pretty little building was left to deteriorate. I advocated for its proper restoration and along the journey was informed it was historically significant -the only one of its kind left in New Jersey. The kiosk has been restored, a vendor has been chosen and will soon receive historic designation, providing a quality of life service and preserving a piece of Westfield history.

Newly Renovated Southside Kiosk - Convenience for Commuters

And lastly, I wish for one cohesive vibrant town. And to encourage a connection I advocated, fundraised and project managed the Roig murals on the traffic circle. A nod to our past done by an innovative local artist, the mural serves to beckon pedestrians to traverse the space between, creating an unspoken invitation. I am thrilled to also soon bring the Central Avenue Mural Gallery. Two sides, two themes. Welcome’ and “ Charles Addams’. With the mission of telling a story to visitors as they enter downtown, these murals will bring light, color and interest to a dark, industrial space. Another physical and visual connection from one side to the other.

I am a proud South Sider and will continue to make sure efforts not only include the South Side but celebrate it.

I hope I can count on you for your support!

Councilwoman Dawn Mackey
westfieldtogether.com/dawn_mackey

Roig Murals Beautify Underpass Connecting Town's North and South Side.

One of the most important aspects of being Ward 3 Councilman is to keep you – the residents – informed. During the COVID pandemic, the need to do this became even more important. And I made this a priority, ultimately sending out hundreds of email updates and countless social media updates since the COVID pandemic started.

I began doing this by just resharing the Mayor’s daily COVID Updates to make sure Ward 3 was updated with the latest public health and safety information. Then I decided to supplement the Mayor’s updates with other information I discovered on my own that I felt would be useful for Ward 3 residents including additional COVID information and even light-hearted content about ways to successfully manage living under lockdown.

I kept sending out regular updates even after the virus started to ebb this spring because of the positive feedback I received from residents who really appreciated my ongoing updates. Here are a few examples of these comments:

• “I really appreciate and enjoy these updates. Thanks for keeping the third ward in the loop. You’re an amazing council member.”
• “You have been so amazing and of course you have done so much to keep Westfield informed about this awful virus.”
• “Thanks for the daily emails. They are wonderful while staying at home. You have gone above and beyond.”
• “Thanks for sending email daily. it's very helpful to see what's going on in the neighborhood.”
• Stay well too David and thank you for all your hard work and relentless commitment to the really super daily updatesyou send. Thanks for the updates. Really appreciate it.
• Thanks, David – I read your updates every day. I find them very useful.
• I appreciate your daily updates. Thank you, David
• Thank you for always keeping us informed!!!
• Just a little note with sentiments of a BIG thank you for your daily updates, David!

I am still sending out COVID and Town Updates (albeit a little less frequently than before) because keeping you informed remains one of my top priorities. I hope to continue emphasizing this over the next four years with your support on Nov. 2. And, if you’re not getting my updates whether you live in Ward 3 or not, please email me at [email protected] and I’ll add you to my list. Thanks.

Stay well

David Contract

I would like to share my perspective on the Edison Fields Project which I have discussed many times with Ward 3 residents on a one-to-one basis including explaining the planning process being followed and ending some untrue speculation about this project.

First, the Edison Fields Concept Proposal is not a fait de accompli. Several residents who I have spoken with believe the concept plan that was originally presented in June has already been approved. This isn’t true. Hopefully you are aware that at the Aug. 10 Council Meeting, the Recreation Commission -- which is leading this process – announced it is scaling back the project as a result of extensive public input.

This announcement illustrates that the town is following the same planning process it has followed for other major initiatives like the revised Historic Preservation Ordinance that was passed in 2020. This process involves several steps including 1) introducing a proposal or concept plan based on a town priority or strategic planning process, 2) gathering public input, 3) revising the proposal or concept plan based on that input, 4) gathering public input on a revised proposal, and revising it further if necessary and 5) eventually presenting a final proposal to the Town Council for a vote or dropping the initiative altogether. The Edison Fields Proposal is now in the 3^rd step in this process – which is revising the original concept plan based on extensive public input.

I share many of the concerns that have been raised thus far and which I heard directly from you at the three public meetings (two public input meetings and the Aug. 10 Council meeting), a resident meeting I held with Ward 4 Councilwoman Mackey on July 4^th as well as in discussions/emails with many of you. These concerns -- which include issues around traffic, safety, parking, environmental impact, health, noise, lighting and cost – need to be addressed in the scaled back plan.  Please note that I live two blocks from Edison and Kehler Stadium so I am very aware of these issues since I live in the immediate area.

Since I’m not directly involved in this planning process, however, I’ve focused my role on ensuring that your concerns are heard by those members of the government who are involved including members of the Recreation Commission, Town Officials and the Council Liaison to the Recreation Commission. I’ve summarized the issues that I’ve heard and shared them directly with this group to make sure your voices are heard by those leading the process.

I also advocated strongly for the inclusion of residents from the Edison School neighborhood to be part of the planning process going forward. And I am happy to report that 5 neighbors from both Wards 3 and 4 have agreed to be part of this Edison Neighborhood Advisory Council.

Going forward, I will continue to play this same role as a Ward 3 advocate. This includes ensuring you have the opportunity to share your feedback directly with the leaders of the process, making myself available to listen to your questions and concerns and ensure they are heard and lastly, and most importantly, making sure that any scaled back plan addresses your concerns and mine.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.

Ward 3 Councilman David Contract

I wanted to share some wonderful news about how my proactive leadership was able to resolve a persistent issue for Ward 3 residents involving the State of New Jersey.

This past May, during a neighborhood meeting on Myrtle Avenue, residents complained about the loud noise from construction trucks that left Sitescapes Construction and rumbled down Myrtle several mornings a week, waking them up. As I walked around the neighborhood thinking about how to resolve this issue, I noticed that Sitescapes sits right next to the little-used state Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) parking lot on Myrtle. And realized that the most straightforward solution was allowing Sitescapes trucks to go through the MVC lot on their way to South Avenue via Windsor instead of going down Myrtle toward Central.

Though this solution was straightforward, making it happen was not since it involved a State agency (which I knew was preoccupied with many other, more significant priorities and challenges statewide worsened by the pandemic). Despite low odds of success, I pursued it anyway with 110% effort because this is how I approach being your Councilman and solving problems.

I immediately leveraged every contact I had -- both political and personal -- including local and county officials as well as former colleagues of mine who work at the MVC. Eventually, I was introduced to the right person at the MVC (their Director of Legislative Affairs). I set up a meeting with this person in late June, explained the problem and the proposed solution and the MVC official said he would explore it and get back to me.

After several follow-ups from me spanning one or two months, I finally heard back from this official this week confirming that "YES", the MVC would allow Sitescapes trucks to use their parking lot in the mornings to avoid Myrtle. And the official let me know the MVC had already contacted Sitescapes on my behalf and they had agreed to implement this approach.

I am thrilled that I was able to resolve this issue for Myrtle residents and wanted to thank publicly the State of New Jersey and the Motor Vehicle Commission for their partnership and flexibility.

Lastly, I wanted to share this with you so you are aware of my proactive and persistent efforts to advocate for Ward 3 residents and the town of Westfield to resolve issues and drive meaningful and long-lasting change that makes Westfield better. I look forward to your support n Nov. 2 so I can apply this same approach for the next four years. Thanks.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Stay well,

David

I want to give a shout out to every Westfield resident who brought recycling materials to the Conservation Center in 2020. Because of your efforts, 240 tons of materials were recycled instead of being thrown away. This is an amazing accomplishment and a great example of putting the mantra of "Think Globally/Act Locally" into action.

Some may not realize this, but many of the recycling programs you now participate in didn’t exist four years ago. I'm proud to report that under my leadership as Chair of the Public Works Committee and Liaison to the Green Team, the town of Westfield launched 11 new recycling programs at the Conservation Center—at no cost to taxpayers—during the past three-plus years. These include the ability to now recycle Styrofoam/EPS, plastic bags, food waste, #5 plastics, plastic toys, fluorescent light bulbs, household batteries, books, cork, tennis balls, and even crayons. As a result, we helped Westfield families not only clean out their homes, but we also prevented all this material from being thrown out, a win-win for Westfield residents and the environment.

Launching and running these programs isn’t easy, especially given the volumes that are being collected. For example, 50 percent of all the Styrofoam that’s recycled in all of Union County is now collected at the Westfield Conservation Center.

Thanks to my leadership and the hard work and dedication of the Department of Public Works (especially Conservation Center manager Rich Eubanks) and the Westfield Green Team, we continue to proactively find ways to keep existing programs operating at no cost to you while launching new ones. Here are two examples:

Plastic Bags Establishing plastic bag recycling in Westfield required finding a willing partner at a local supermarket. This way, we could take bags collected at the Conservation Center to this local supermarket for consolidation and transport to a recycling vendor. I personally reached out to the store managers at Stop & Shop here in Westfield as well as Acme and Whole Foods in Clark and got Acme to agree to be our partner. And, after the program became a huge success and the volume of bags started to overwhelm Acme to the point that they wanted to stop Westfield’s drop-off altogether, I reconnected with Stop & Shop and arranged for Westfield to drop off bags at both stores, ensuring this program continued.

#5 Plastics In 2018, I heard from many residents who were disappointed when changes in global markets required that the Town of Westfield stop the curbside collection of #5 plastics (such as yogurt and takeout food containers). I too shared these same concerns and remained determined to bring back #5 plastics recycling. Late last year, I learned from a recycling expert and Westfield resident that a market for recycled #5 plastics was starting to reemerge in the US. I immediately requested that our town’s Recycling Coordinator follow up with Westfield’s recycling vendor. After several discussions, Westfield was able to reinstitute #5 plastics recycling at the Conservation Center in mid-April 2021. Since then, more than 3 tons of #5 plastics have been collected at the Conservation Center which otherwise would have been thrown away.

These are examples of the proactive leadership I have brought to the Council over the past three-plus years and hope to continue to bring to the Council over the next four. I'm asking for your vote on Nov. 2 to continue this work moving Westfield forward on behalf of our Town and residents of the Third Ward.

Please contact me at [email protected] or 917-589-1197 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Ward 3 Councilman David Contract

Read this article as it originally appeared in TAPinto Westfield on July 29, 2021

Brightwood Park is one of Westfield’s only natural parks—replete with historical significance, original forest, native flora, migratory birds and walking and biking paths. It was also a favorite Saturday classroom location of beloved science teacher, Noel Taylor, who is memorialized in the Park.

I ran for office four years ago to make Westfield better. One of my chief focus areas was improving the condition of our town roads, which far too many people likened to the “third world” when I was campaigning.

Over the past three and a half years, I’ve helped lead a complete overhaul of road paving in Westfield through my positions as Chair of the Public Works Committee and Vice Chair/Member of the Finance Committee. This has led to many significant accomplishments including:

• a tripling of road paving from 2018-2021 -- totaling 47 miles (nearly half of the town) -- versus the prior four years
• new ordinances that protect our roads from being opened and require utilities that open roads to repave them curb to curb
• a new analytical approach to paving decisions based on road condition to ensure the town paves the right roads first
• a unique partnership with utilities that has led them to pave 50% of our roads for FREE and at no cost to you

Here’s how I helped achieve these successes.

First, I figured out the issues. After talking to Town Officials and benchmarking other towns, the chief issues affecting Westfield’s roads were:

• Not enough funds were being budgeted for road paving
• Utilities were opening our streets and not fully repairing them, causing more patches and more uneven road surfaces
• The Town didn’t use an objective approach to determining which roads should be paved each year

Then, I worked with Town Officials and other members of the Town Council -- especially Code Committee Chair Dawn Mackey and Finance Committee Chair Linda Habgood -- to solve these issues.

First, we increased investment in road paving in the capital budget. By using some of the bloated surplus to invest in much needed town equipment and technology, this freed up capital spending for road paving.

Second, we changed how the town developed its paving plans. Previously, the town relied on qualitative feedback from the DPW, Police, residents and if you can believe this, elected officials. Not hard data. Instead, we hired a well-known engineering firm to objectively grade every town road and subbase, assigning each a PCI score – or Pavement Condition Index. That way, the town could focus on paving roads in the worst shape first. Note: You can see your road’s PCI score on the town website.

Third, we passed ordinances to protect our roads including an ordinance that mandates that any utility that opens a road must pave the entire affected area curb-to-curb. In other words, no more patching.

By taking all these steps, the town was able to accelerate paving in town and build a unique partnership with utilities who have fully paid for half of the town’s paving -- meaning this road paving was FREE to you as a taxpayer.

This proactive approach to road paving is the same approach I take along with my Westfield Together counterparts to address every other issue facing our town. If you want Council representatives who proactively address issues and implement solutions, please vote to re-elect me for Ward 3. Thanks. Let me know if you have any questions ([email protected] or 917-589-1197).

Stay well,

David Contract, Ward 3 Councilman