South Orange BOT election
Your view of Sheena's responses were not shared by any of the dozens of other participants on the thread. That could be because we are all part of some nefarious conspiracy to subvert the government of a village with a couple thousand residents........ or......... it could be that your assessment of the situation was way off base.
What does Occam's Razor suggest?
I read the exchange in question. The questions by the person who ended up being censored were relentless. It took over the entire board.
It was like that nagging child tugging at your sleeve while you're having an adult conversation, and each time you try to gently respond the tugging and whining gets harder and louder.
Sheena acted like a Saint. Much more patient than many of us would have been.
Red_Barchetta said:
Lovesagoodsale said:Do you understand that whatever development you are referring to happened on DDF’s watch also?
I applaud someone challenging Sheena. I hope we can find a way to adhere to strict standards when we develop properties in town. Ignoring zoning regulations and overdeveloping is a problem not easily undone. I welcome any challenger to the status quo which seems to be to attack people who ask questions in public if they don’t adhere to the accepted narrative of the majority. Sad!
Sheena is on the Board of Trustees and the Planning Board.
DDF is not.
Plus Sheena has strong ties to the developer community through her professional work and work as the Village President.
saints or sinners? Hmmm. Have a good day everyone and don’t forget to vote.
I'm interested in what Deborah Davis Ford is running on as a platform.
yahooyahoo said:
Red_Barchetta said:Sheena is on the Board of Trustees and the Planning Board.
Lovesagoodsale said:Do you understand that whatever development you are referring to happened on DDF’s watch also?
I applaud someone challenging Sheena. I hope we can find a way to adhere to strict standards when we develop properties in town. Ignoring zoning regulations and overdeveloping is a problem not easily undone. I welcome any challenger to the status quo which seems to be to attack people who ask questions in public if they don’t adhere to the accepted narrative of the majority. Sad!
DDF is not.
Plus Sheena has strong ties to the developer community through her professional work and work as the Village President.
That's quite an innuendo that you're making.
cramer said:
yahooyahoo said:That's quite an innuendo that you're making.
Red_Barchetta said:Sheena is on the Board of Trustees and the Planning Board.
Lovesagoodsale said:Do you understand that whatever development you are referring to happened on DDF’s watch also?
I applaud someone challenging Sheena. I hope we can find a way to adhere to strict standards when we develop properties in town. Ignoring zoning regulations and overdeveloping is a problem not easily undone. I welcome any challenger to the status quo which seems to be to attack people who ask questions in public if they don’t adhere to the accepted narrative of the majority. Sad!
DDF is not.
Plus Sheena has strong ties to the developer community through her professional work and work as the Village President.
What innuendo? Sheena works with developers in her professional career and in her political career. This is fact, not innuendo.
So is DDF running on an anti-development platform?
It seems to me she has an opportunity. Not that a majority of South Orange residents are opposed to the development that has happened in town over the last few years. Rather because there's a very motivated group of people who can be rallied to vote against Village President Collum. Even if Davis Ford doesn't necessarily offer an alternative vision she can just point at how downtown has changed and certain residents will come out to vote for her because of their opposition to development.
The election is this year, and on May 14, so turnout is likely to be really light. So I can see a focused effort succeeding in unseating Sheena.
mrincredible said:
Even if Davis Ford doesn't necessarily offer an alternative vision she can just point at how downtown has changed and certain residents will come out to vote for her because of their opposition to development.
I don't follow that logic. You do know that DDF has been on the BOT for 12 years and has voted FOR every single development project, right?
mrincredible said:
So is DDF running on an anti-development platform?
It seems to me she has an opportunity. Not that a majority of South Orange residents are opposed to the development that has happened in town over the last few years. Rather because there's a very motivated group of people who can be rallied to vote against Village President Collum. Even if Davis Ford doesn't necessarily offer an alternative vision she can just point at how downtown has changed and certain residents will come out to vote for her because of their opposition to development.
The election is this year, and on May 14, so turnout is likely to be really light. So I can see a focused effort succeeding in unseating Sheena.
https://www.southorange.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1539
How is DDF going to run on an anti-development platform? She was on the BOT when The Gateway and Third/Valley developments and PILOTs were approved.
Sheena wasn't on the board when any of those developments and PILOTs were approved.
The Avenue and Gateway were given the most aggressive PILOTs available - 30 year abatements with 10% AGR and no affordable housing - Sheena wasn't on the BOT for these.
It will be a cute trick if DDF runs on anti-development.
After watching her Bunny’s video, one theme is that “everyone belongs here”. Not too original but open ended enough so people can read into it what they choose.
mayhewdrive said:
mrincredible said:I don't follow that logic. You do know that DDF has been on the BOT for 12 years and has voted FOR every single development project, right?
Even if Davis Ford doesn't necessarily offer an alternative vision she can just point at how downtown has changed and certain residents will come out to vote for her because of their opposition to development.
You are making the assumption that logic wins elections, my Mayhew-living friend. I don't believe it does, especially in a small town election. Davis Ford could run a short focused campaign that enough is enough on the big new buildings, that paints the Village President as the driving force, especially with her well-known relationships with developers. Yes I'm being deliberately hyperbolic.
I'd watch my back if I were Sheena.
I'm making a HUGE assumption because I know nothing about what DDF is running on. "Everyone belongs here" doesn't tell me much. I'll have to watch the video I guess.
VP Collum was elected in 2015 with 1,434 votes. With something like 12,000 registered voters in town it's not hard to think someone could win with a well-planned campaign.
just took a look at the town website. It says there will be a vacancy for village president. Is Sheena running for re-election? Doesn’t look like it.
In this context, a "vacancy" means that the office is up for election - that is, a term is ending.
mrincredible said:
VP Collum was elected in 2015 with 1,434 votes. With something like 12,000 registered voters in town it's not hard to think someone could win with a well-planned campaign.
Everyone was stunned when Torpey won in 2011. I hope his time in office would cause voters to pay more attention to municipal elections. He won by 14 votes.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/southorange/torpey-leads-but-provisional-ballots-still-uncounted
mrincredible said:
VP Collum was elected in 2015 with 1,434 votes. With something like 12,000 registered voters in town it's not hard to think someone could win with a well-planned campaign.
Just for some historical context, the winning vote counts for Village President over the past 20 years:
1999 - William Calabrese - 2066
2003 - William Calabrese - 1782
2007- Doug Newman- 2,516
2011 - Alex Torpey - 706
2015 - Sheena Collum - 1,434
Edited to add in results from 1999 & 2003
It's good perspective.
We lived in Maplewood for the 2007 and 2011 elections so I have no clue what the campaigning looked like. But it's interesting the drop from 2500 votes to 706. Then back up but only 1400 or so.
I am curious to know if any political ads pop up on the local Facebook pages. I'm not a participant in The Social Network so I'll have no idea.
I will start this by admitting that I am a fan of our current VP, but I think elections are good. I like different perspectives. What I don't get is that I have been attending BOT, planning board, DPW, and neighborhood meetings and when DDF is in attendance I never hear a word from her, in support or opposition of whatever is being discussed. I would understand this campaign if there had been open discussions of alternatives to whatever the topics were.
mrincredible said:
I'm making a HUGE assumption because I know nothing about what DDF is running on. "Everyone belongs here" doesn't tell me much. I'll have to watch the video I guess.
She’s probably running on fumes, so I wouldn’t be too worried. She’s clueless
vermontgolfer said:
mrincredible said:She’s probably running on fumes, so I wouldn’t be too worried. She’s clueless
I'm making a HUGE assumption because I know nothing about what DDF is running on. "Everyone belongs here" doesn't tell me much. I'll have to watch the video I guess.
That's an interesting statement. Do you mean she's got no platform?
mrincredible said:
vermontgolfer said:That's an interesting statement. Do you mean she's got no platform?
mrincredible said:She’s probably running on fumes, so I wouldn’t be too worried. She’s clueless
I'm making a HUGE assumption because I know nothing about what DDF is running on. "Everyone belongs here" doesn't tell me much. I'll have to watch the video I guess.
I mean I’ve watched her for 12 years and she’s is useless
Do you think that means she can't get elected? It's not a huge mountain to climb if she can find the right motivated group of voters.
Maybe the right motivated group are those who feel they do not belong here?
annielou said:
Maybe the right motivated group are those who feel they do not belong here?
Republicans??? Lol
At least I know why DDF suddenly wants to be my Facebook friend. LoL
I wonder if her campaign has purchased any Facebook data sets, like South Orange residents.
I wonder how granular the information is which Facebook has collected. Can they provide the campaign with a list of South Orange residents who have liked specific types of posts, or post particular links?
mrincredible said:
vermontgolfer said:That's an interesting statement. Do you mean she's got no platform?
mrincredible said:She’s probably running on fumes, so I wouldn’t be too worried. She’s clueless
I'm making a HUGE assumption because I know nothing about what DDF is running on. "Everyone belongs here" doesn't tell me much. I'll have to watch the video I guess.
You can see it here: https://www.southorangeforward.com/
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I posed the questions. Got detailed answers that didn’t answer my simple questions. I’d urge people not to censor. It is not my job to fix the problems in my town but I will continue to urge people to engage respectfully on public forums.