Meet the candidates for Edison council and where they stand on the issues
The Edison Township Council race is one of Middlesex County's most crowded fields with nine candidates vying for four seats.
Running are four Democrats – Councilmen Richard Brescher, Joseph Coyle and Ajay Patil, with newcomer Asaf Shmuel.
Republican candidates include Russell Azzarello, Paul Bravo, Thomas Comollo and Jerry Shine.
Councilwoman Joyce Ship-Freeman is running as an independent.
Despite repeated requests, Councilman Joseph Coyle, Democratic candidate Asaf Shmuel and Republican candidate Paul Bravo did not provide responses to our questions.
Richard Brescher (D)
Age: 59
Years residing in town: 50
Previous government service (boards and elected office): Current councilman, former Board of Education member.
Volunteer activities: North Edison baseball, Cub Scouts, chaperone for school functions, warrior veteran fishing.
Why are you running for council?
I have had a passion over the last seven years to find innovative ways to reduce government cost without sacrificing quality.
Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?
The public should vote for the people that most align with their values. If spending money frivolously and overbuilding and our genuine quality of life is a issue to you, then I should earn their vote.
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After talking to residents, what is their biggest concern?
The overdevelopment, wasted spending, and internet service.
What are the three biggest challenges facing your town and what is your approach to solving them?
The haphazard way we developed, and a public advocate would help with this. The second would be general quality-of-life issues and maintaining our infrastructure; currently we have been working on this issue for the last four years and will continue. The third is one the general public does not know about and that is our affordable housing. Edison will be entering a new chapter that will require more affordable housing; the big challenges are how do we handle the additional schoolchildren when we are currently overcrowded, and the placement for these units is another issue. I have never been a fan of a town that puts all the affordable housing in clusters, these units should be spread though out the town.
Do you have any special projects you would like to achieve in office?
Working to help the administration clean up our parks and raise our quality-of-life issue.
What is your position on a public advocate and a ward system for Edison?
I am a big fan of the public advocate. Currently our residents feel they have no one to look out for their interests. Our zoning and planning boards act as a court in a way (per land use law), the builders act as the defendants (presenting their side of the story), yet there is no prosecutor to present the state's side. So, I agree with the residents that someone needs to acquire all of the evidence and advocate for the residents in the glaring cases of injustice.
Wards I am for. To put it simply, to get elected in a town the size of Edison it costs upward of $50,000, the reason is it is impossible for any person to get out to all of Edison's residents in such short election cycles, but they can easily see every resident within a ward. We all know that when such large sums of money are needed it opens the door to conflicts where elected officials start to become beholden to the special interest that funded their campaign. If we had a ward system of government it puts the person with the good heart on a much more even playing field with the one being backed by outside dollars.
Ajay V. Patil (D)
Age: 52
Years residing in town: 20
Previous government service (boards and elected office): Councilman since 2016, Council vice president 2019 and Council president 2018. Served on the following boards and commissions: Finance Committee, Housing Authority, veteran community, liaison to Edison Board of Education Committee, Economic Redevelopment Committee, Cablevision Advisory Committee and Municipal Alliance and Ethics Commission.
Volunteer activities: I am a longtime Lions member involved in community service. Serve asa 2nd Lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol, an official branch of the U.S. Air Force. I am involved in various nonprofit organizations and grassroots community service.
Why are you running for council?
During my seven-plus years on the Council, I think we have made significant strides toward making Edison a better place to live and work. I am seeking reelection to continue an agenda of transparency and accountability in local government. I will continue my efforts to hold down municipal property taxes, find ways to curb the financial burden on homeowners from commercial tax appeals, continue lobbying our state and county for Edison's fair share of available financial assistance, continue to maintain, repair, and upgrade our local infrastructure, focusing more attention on neighborhood preservation and residents quality of life.
Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?
I have more than 20-plus years of experience in the Information Technology profession and currently working as a senior director. My professional areas of emphasis are strategic planning, developing and executing large programs through strategic partnerships with businesses.
My experience working with the people and for the people puts me in a unique position to serve while I understand the parliamentarian processes, and how to get work done from the mayor's office within the council power.
After talking to residents, what is their biggest concern?
Traffic, safety, and inadequate recreation facilities.
What are the three biggest challenges facing your town and what is your approach to solving them?
Traffic, water and sewer infrastructure, and recreation and facilities for seniors.
To resolve or mitigate the traffic situation, warehouses will not be allowed in the residential neighborhood. Propose ordinances to limit truck traffic timing in the residential neighborhood.
Our water and sewer system is in dire need of repairs. I will work with the administration to speed up the FEMA and state grant process and come up with a 10-year capital improvement plan with the expectation that major investments will not impact the tax rate.
Edison is the sixth-largest township and lacks a recreation facility. This can be a public-private partnership project but things need to move fast. We need to keep youth away from electronic gadgets and provide them with facilities like parks and various sports facilities (indoor and outdoor). Seniors deserve better facilities and we need more senior centers in the town.
I will work with council members and administration to prepare a short-term and long-term plan to get these things done.
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Do you have any special projects you would like to achieve in the office?
Forming neighborhood safety groups across the town, revamping and preserving various ponds in the township, beautification across the town, and tax reform – fair taxation.
What is your position on a public advocate and a ward system for Edison?
I am a member of the public advocate subcommittee and in full support of implementing it. I am a big proponent of the ward system. This will allow a fair representation across the town.
Russell Azzarello (R)
Age: 61
Years residing in town: 47
Volunteer activities: Edison baseball manager/coach for 25 years, Edison Jets Pop Warner Football coach, Saint Matthews Church with fall leaf clean-ups and winter snow services along with sponsoring the church carnival and assisting with CCD and other activities, volunteered services to seniors, veterans, and other local charities, provided landscaping and lawn services for local schools such as Lindenaeu Elementary School, Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Edison High School.
Why are you running for council?
Edison is changing and it is not all for the better. As a longtime resident and family business owner in Edison, I’ve decided to no longer sit by and watch as my community is being disenchanted. Instead of being a bystander, I am prepared to defend the socio and economic structure of Edison. in which many of my family, friends, neighbors and I call home.
Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?
Through the years as a friend, neighbor, and business owner in town I’ve shown my hard work, dedication and entrepreneurial spirit, along with strong values and a proven commitment to family and community.
After talking to residents, what is their biggest concern?
My neighbors and other residents are concerned about high taxes, traffic, overcrowding of schools, warehouses, and other commercial properties in residential neighborhoods. This impacts neighborhoods negatively by allowing their quality of life to deteriorate due to high traffic and loud noises, especially after ordinance hours.
What are the three biggest challenges facing your town and what is your approach to solving them?
Frivolous and wasteful spending. Solution: upholding accountability and responsibility with the handling of tax dollars
Building warehouses and other commercial properties in residential areas. Solution: I plan to stop the building of these unwanted commercial properties. Therefore improving the quality of life of Edison residents and removing the negative impacts of these unwanted buildings.
Rise of crime and suspicious activity in our community and homelessness. Solution: an increased amount of patrol cars and community policing would be the first step forward to creating a solid deterrent. Initiating a more active neighborhood watch consisting of residents and town-based businesses would be an extra set of eyes for the Edison Police Department.
Do you have any special projects you would like to achieve in office?
I would advocate to hire and train new employees and volunteers for the Edison animal shelter. There is a dire need for improvement at our local animal shelter due to poor quality recruitment and neglecting the advice from the experienced employees and volunteers. Therefore affecting the sufficient level of care being given to the animals.
My second project, would be to improve the living conditions for the Edison Senior building. I’ve been informed by those residents, that the living conditions have declined since the new remodeling of the building and are wary of uncorrected safety hazards. I would also like to provide more activities and bus trips.
My third project is to research and explore a way to fund a safety and quality-of-life construction project on Duclos Lane, consisting of creating sidewalks and upgrading the lighting. At this time there are no sidewalks for pedestrians, including many families with children, who are forced to walk on the roadway, risking the safety of their families amongst many other pedestrians.
What is your position on a public advocate and a ward system for Edison?
I am for public advocate and the ward system.
Dr. Thomas W. Comollo (R)
Age: 43
Years residing in town: 15-plus years
Volunteer activities: blood donor (platelets and red blood cells), New York Blood Center/New Jersey Blood Services; Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (NJ-LSAMP) STEM mentor; visiting scientist, Rutgers University; NJ Public Notary, men’s homeless shelter volunteer, New Brunswick.
Why are you running for council?
I am running for council to bring a novel perspective and analytical thought to the Edison Municipal Council and counter the group think that can go on during one party rule such as exists in Edison at this time. I would also like to bring the idea of humility being a servant of the public back to being a public servant.
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Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?
I am highly educated as a biomedical scientist. I performed postdoctoral work (training beyond the PhD level) at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons after earning my PhD at Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School where I studied Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Molecular Physiology. I also have a MS from University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ in Biomedical Informatics, and not being without knowledge of government workings, a BA in History from Rutgers University. My main employment is as an Assistant Professor of Biology at a private NYC University, and I also have two other jobs.
Perhaps contrary to what my level of education may insinuate, I appreciate that extreme intelligence is found in almost all walks of humanity. I live by a belief that “you have to learn from who you can,” meaning that no one knows everything, and anyone is capable of having expertise that someone else does not have that could be learned from. This attitude and looking at the validity of the fact and not how I feel about the source helps me when filtering advice and making decisions.
After talking to residents, what is their biggest concern?
In my immediate neighborhood my neighbors seem most concerned about flooding and the aging and seemingly not always fully functional drainage pump system. In other areas of town residents are very concerned about warehouses being placed in residential areas and the noise and traffic stemming from such. Other residents are concerned about Edison Water leaving water mains leaking. Still others are concerned that Edison property taxes are high.
What are the three biggest challenges facing your town and what is your approach to solving them?
Like other residents I am concerned about flooding and the aging and seemingly not always fully functional drainage pump system. I will continue and see through efforts to update this infrastructure. Likewise, if water delivery infrastructure is causing flooding that needs to be fixed as well.
Zoning and municipal planning in Edison could use work as well. Better planning would alleviate the concerns about warehouses in the wrong parts of town.
Currently less obvious, but still a concern, are the financial health of governments all over the United States. The country as a whole may find itself in a situation with a crisis at hand and no way to even borrow money or resources to respond. We can help on a small scale in this by improving Edison’s financial situation while making it an attractive place for middle class families to live and affordable enough for long time residents to be able to afford to stay.
Do you have any special projects you would like to achieve in office?
I would like to make Edison more financially stable with less debt and to at least limit any increase in taxes that would be necessary to pay our current debt burden and maintain a good quality of life in Edison. I would also like Edison to be more ready to respond to adverse events in this dynamic world we are living in. Part of responding to adverse events would be having funds and credit available to respond.
What is your position on a public advocate and a ward system for Edison?
Residents could use a voice, like a public advocate, looking out for them in planning the municipality. The ward system would make sure all parts of town have a local representative. I am open to hearing more from residents if these are policies they need.
Gerald T. Shine (R)
Age: 53
Years residing in town: 53
Volunteer activities: I volunteer in many activities from sports leagues to religious organizations.
Why are you running for council?
The reason I'm running for Council is I speak to all Edison residents regardless of political preference and I'm a voice of the Edison resident. When a lot of Edison residents think they have no voice. Time to elect people that want the best for Edison.
Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?
The current elected officials have lost touch with residents and there concerns.
After talking to residents, what is their biggest concern?
I currently live near the Amazon warehouse on Caldwell Road. The noise at all hours of the night is unacceptable. Amazon and the Council have done nothing to solve the residents concerns.
What are the three biggest challenges facing your town and what is your approach to solving them?
Overcrowding has been a problem for years. Time to stop building townhouses and apartments. Traffic safety; we need more police officers on duty. Edison traffic is getting worse and we need more police officers for traffic and emergencies. Warehouses in residential areas is a huge concern.
Do you have any special projects you would like to achieve in office?
I would love to work with the Edison seniors and the children in town.
What is your position on a public advocate and a ward system for Edison?
I'm for a ward system. The ward system gives the power back to the Edison residents and helps residents with concerns in the community that they live in.
Joyce Ship-Freeman (I)
Years residing in town: Family moved to Edison from North Carolina in 1929
Previous government service (boards and elected office): Councilwoman, served as president and vice president; library Board trustee; state Department of Education commissioner for Amistad curriculum.
Volunteer services: Coaching youth leagues, mentoring youth, director of The Academic Assistance Program, Edison YMCA board member.
Why are you running for council?
The reason I am running for reelection to the position of Edison Township councilwoman is because of the lack of representation of women to make decisions about our future. Furthermore, it seems like the hands of the clock are going backwards and we are losing ground on all the advances we have in Edison Township and Middlesex County.
I am very disappointed with our township's administration spending money indiscriminately on items that are not our first priority. We have spent huge amounts of money on frivolous things that are not important to average residents. I have worked hard for fiscal responsible solutions that make sense. However, it seems our tax dollars are being squandered away.
Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?
The reason people should vote for me instead of my opponent is because I place people over politics. Residents know I am not involved in politics for personal gain. I try to get to each event and every neighborhood to address their concerns If possible I will help residents correct the problem or connect them to people who can help them.
After talking to residents, what is their biggest concern?
After talking to residents I found their major concern was traffic and overdevelopment. They want a public advocate.
What are the three biggest challenges facing your town and what is your approach to solving them?
Three of the biggest challenges facing our town are overdevelopment, overcrowded schools, senior programing, and lack of affordable housing. Solutions: Elect or hire a public advocate, work with the Board of Education on viable solutions, get local politicians to support the RAD program and pursue grants that enhance the senior community.
Do you have any special projects you would like to achieve in office?
The special projects I would like to achieve in office would be to complete the rebuilding of the Veteran's Memorial Park, advocate for affordable senior housing and strengthen programming starting with the age of 60.
What is your position on a public advocate and a ward system for Edison?
I was kind of ambivalent about the position of public advocate, but after seeing the destruction of certain neighborhoods I realized the residents didn't stand a chance against the developers. They needed someone to help them understand the technical language and speak on their behalf.The ward system may be a good idea because of the overdeveloped size of this town of Edison. People don't think they are being fully represented. Residents also too much power is given to the mayor and have grown weary of the Faulkner run government in Edison. Maybe the town needs something new.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Edison NJ council election candidate profiles
