Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
Cumberland County Freeholder Lou Magazzu told the New Jersey Association of Counties:
We no longer have an alternative to working together. If we allow this problem to remain unsolved, the state of New Jersey will reach a point from which it may be impossible to recover.
Magazzu ran his re-election campaign on the promise to reduce property taxes. While Cumberland County kind of held property taxes flat this year, Magazzu is pushing for a million-dollar complex for the prosecutor’s office. That will raise taxes.
Perhaps Magazzu can find some shared services within our own county to place the abundance of lawyers so the poorest NJ county those he represents do not have to foot the bill.
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Tuesday, October 17th, 2006
Cumberland County’s favorite blowhard freeholder, Lou Magazzu, is campaigning to be re-elected. The Democrat party must have some money for ol’ Lou has a commercial running locally. In it he promises to lower property taxes.
That’s a great promise and I hope he does so. Yet, color me skeptical. Magazzu has been a freeholder for nine years and he has not reduced property taxes one penny. I wonder why he is waiting until now to do so.
Hmmm . . . I bet ol’ Lou is making promises at election time that he can’t/won’t keep. It seems to be the way of the career politician. Don’t fall for it, dear reader. Magazzu has no plans for Cumberland County other than to remain “boss”.
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Monday, August 15th, 2005
One of the themes here at eCache is that we do not like feelgood government. Naming highways, passing proclamations, and tacking on pork to bills is certainly a way to raise our ire. So, it is with no surprise that Lou Magazzu’s hissy fit at last week’s Cumberland County freeholder meeting has caught our attention.
Magazzu and the other freeholders passed a senseless non-binding resolution calling for the end of the lawsuit filed by Citizens United to stop Millville from proceeding with the proposed Thunderbolt Raceway. Citizens United is using the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, a taxpayer-funded group, to help protect the citizens of Millville. While the lawsuit is yet to be decided, it is one of the constitutionally-protected avenues of recourse disgruntled citizens have when it is perceived government is not representing their interests.
Magazzu does not respect rights of citizens. He has called Citizens United outsiders and has claimed that he is at war with them. Now he wants the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic to drop the lawsuit. He says
It’s a waste of taxpayer money. Our primary hope is to have all the litigation withdrawn. The entire board is going to stand up, unanimously and bipartisan, and say what (Rutgers) is doing is wrong.
The law clinic is provided to protect us. Yes, on the taxpayer dime, but that is what the state university has determined how it wants to spend our tax dollars in providing experience for its students.
But where is the waste of taxpayer money? Is it with a lawsuit which seeks to hold government to the standards it sets or with blowhards squandering meeting time and resources calling for the abandonment of something which is obviously not going to happen? Local politics are the dirtiest. This Vineland lawyer is at war with citizens of Millville who want to ensure that the noise from a proposed racetrack will not negatively affect those who live nearby. He has the audacity to call these folks outsiders.
Magazzu’s claims are hollow. He is blowing hot air on the taxpayer’s dime. Remember this next year when Magazzu seeks your vote.
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Saturday, May 7th, 2005
The proposed Thunderbolt Racetrack in Millville is definitely a political football. While most folks are in agreement that development in the area is good, the racetrack has many issues associated with it.
- The track is near residential areas. There is a concern from those citizens about the quality of life in their neighborhoods.
- The track would be located on the southeastern side of the airport. This land is generally wooden areas, but land which has been earmarked for development in the city’s master plan dating back to the early 1960s. Across the street is Bevan Wildlife Management Area.
- The city passed an ordinance which would cap the noise level on the main track at 80 decibels. At a mile away, it is reported that it will sound like a vacuum claener running in your house.
- The city has not put any restrictions on the dirt oval track.
- The track would run 40 weeks of the year.
- Most of the traffic would arrive from those coming through Millville. The only way to currently do that is from Rt. 49 to Cedar St. This junction is controlled by a blinking light. Each morning nd afternoon, Millville is bogged down with rush hour traffic jams. The four lights along 49 are not sequenced for efficiency. Turning left from 49 onto Cedar occurs only by the good graces of those on 49 who left the cars pass. The only reason drivers would permit this is because the traffic has backed up through the intersection because of the light at 49 and Buck St. This backs up on the overpass to the Maurice River. Unless another pass over the river is built, the traffic issues can only worsen.
So, those are the issues. There is a solution to be found somewhere, but it is not happening.
Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and its Tributaries, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Millville to stop the development of the racetrack. It has secured the services of Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic. This clinic seeks to help protect New Jersey environmental concerns.
But Cumberland County freeholder Lou Magazzu (D) has stepped up the rhetoric. At the 19 April 2005 Millville City Commission meeting, Magazzu was present with his Cumberland County Community College class. He spoke about the lawsuit by calling members of Citizens United as outsiders and claiming we were now at war over the issue.
State senator Nick Asselta (R-1) has joined the fray. He doesn’t think the taxpayer-supported Law Center should be used to sue the city. He is so against this that he has publically leaned on Rutgers President Richard McCormick to get the law center to back off.
And the politics get dirtier. Magazzu has now called for an investigation into the Dun-Rite Sand & Gravel Co. The operation uses an access road in a federally protected river corridor. He wants to see how the sand company’s actions impact the environment.
What does that have to do with the racetrack? Dun-Rite is owned by Peter Galetto. Galetto’s wife, Jane Galetto, is the president of Citizens United.
Isn’t this lovely? If you have a difference of opinion with a freeholder, he will call the DEP on you. Splendid. This is politics at its worse.
There are legitimate concerns about the racetrack. At the 3 May 2005 Millville City Commission meeting, Commissioner Derella stated that the city desired to develop this track of land. He also stated that there would be noise and it would affect the citizens in the area. Why then are our elected officials upping the angst over this issue?
Asselta, Magazzu, and the Millville City Commission have agreed to back the racetrack. The reacetrack is represented by Gary Wodlinger. Mr. Wodlinger stated on 19 April that Mrs. Galetto is nothing more than an economic terrorist. Nice.
Cumberland County deserves better representation than those who support this kind approach to matters. Defending this approach to a lawsuit signifies to me that there is more than meets the eye.
Why doesn’ the city look for other development of the land that would not create the noise issues that are going to impact the area so much? The opposition to the development is not that open space is being used, but that what will be put there is so loud. Surely there are other businesses who would like the tax breaks the city has offered the racetrack developers.
Until then, I shall voice my opinion on this kind of politics Tuesday in the voting booth.
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