What a difference a year makes

In January, angry residents stood in the snow and ice outside the Pines Manor to protest the $40 entry fee to hear Edison’s then-Mayor George A. Spadoro give the annual state of the township address before the Chamber of Commerce.

If you couldn’t pony up the 40 bucks, tough noogies. You didn’t get in.

Spadoro countered with a magnanimous offer that residents were free to watch the speech on the local cable television channel within a few days.

That wasn’t good enough for the residents, and it shouldn’t have been.

This January, things were different.

New Mayor Jun Choi still gave his speech before the Chamber of Commerce. The entry fee was upped a tad to $50.

But unlike last January, after the dinner, the mayor moved into another room in Raritan Center and gave his speech for free to anyone resident who cared to come and listen.

“We just didn’t think it was right to have the speech open only to those who could pay,” said David Donnelly, Choi’s assistant.

How different from last year. And how easy it would have been for Spadoro to have done the same.

The doors of town hall seem to have swung open a little wider over the past few weeks.

Choi also wrote a letter to Planning Board Chairman Henry Cackowski asking him to consider televising the board meetings on the local cable channel.

Cackowski responded by saying he didn’t think that was necessary, but would put the matter to a vote.

It is necessary. And Cackowski’s claim that the meetings will last longer because some people like to be on television is laughable.

It’s doubtful residents will be dolling themselves up or renting tuxes and writing out voluminous speeches just because the board meetings are televised.

And they have spent far too much time in the past trying to get answers from the Planning Board or information on upcoming applications.

It’s time to let a little fresh air in, Mr. Chairman.

And Choi deserves credit for trying to make township government more open and accessible.