Manley challenges Dems for council
BY ENID WEISS Correspondent
The Justin Manley for Metuchen BoroughC ouncilW eb site affectionately calls its candidate who works as chief technology officer for Arch Reinsurance Co. in Manhattan a "geek." And his smiley-face logo sports glasses look a lot like Manley's own spectacles.

Justin Manley

It's part of his image that he's embraced in an effort to get what he calls "more voices" on the Borough Council, which Manely says is dominated by Democrats. Manley is a Republican and grew up in Metuchen, graduating from Metuchen High School. He is married and has three children, who are fourth-generation Metuchenites. Manley is president of the Community Nursery School board of directors, an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen and a member of the Metuchen School Safety Task Force.

Like the incumbents, Manley expects voter turnout to be high. Manley isn't sure in whose favor that might work.

"It's a challenge and that's why I've been working on it since June," Manley said. "I've had signs, billboards, ads in the newspaper … I love the community. I love the people. You can't put your finger on it, but there is a bond and people help each other, I've been helped."

Manley discussed the borough and his campaign during an interview with the Sentinel in his home on Oct. 3.

"Nobody can say I don't have a clear vision," he said as he drew a map of what the downtown area could look like. Looking five, 10 or more years down the road, he'd like to see a modest parking deck built where the Pearl Street lot is now. But it would have about 110 percent of current parking capacity. Then, on the other side of the train tracks, Manley would like to see another parking deck in the Halsey Street lot, using Wernik Place and Halsey Street as a one-way drop-off access to the lot. Doing so would streamline traffic to that deck. Having two parking decks also would help traffic conditions, he said.

"All the activity is primarily on one side of the train,"Manley said. "It clogs up in that direction, and if you can gradually distribute volume to both sides, traffic flows better."

More immediately he would like to strengthen the downtown by eliminating the "change of use" permit fee and process. For example, if a restaurant on Main Street closes, then another business, perhaps a retail shop, tries to open in the same spot and must file a "change of use," despite being one of nine permitted business uses.

"The two most precious things you need to start a new small business are money and time," he said, echoing his campaign literature. "This takes both."

Such regulations are from the

1950s and "We need to adapt to the 21st century," he said. "If we believe downtown Metuchen is going to be a destination, we're kidding ourselves. With the [Menlo Park] mall, a Wal-Mart and the new development in Edison — the Hartz Mountain complex where the Ford plant was — nearby we need to draw people downtown and they spend their money. That's why the Junebug Arts Fest was so successful."

Currently, offices are not allowed on the ground floor of the downtown business district.

"Why?" Manley asked. "I'd like to hear more. If we consider changing it, then we could have more people working downtown … Fifty percent of us get in our cars or on trains and go to work. We don't have lunch in Metuchen. I'd like to help increase business during those off-peak hours."

Taxes are another big issue for Manley. He said municipal debt from capital improvements made since 2001 have pushed the town's budget up 35 percent in seven years. In 2001, our net debt was $7.1 million; in 2007, it was $19.7 million.

"We've borrowed more than double," Manley said. "You can't do this and not expect pressure on the operating budget. All these years you had no dissenting voice. This is what happens when you have single control. In 2008, the operating budget spent $1.3 million on debt service."

Contact Enid Weiss at Metuchen@gmnews.

com.