I recently read Councilman Matt Adams letter to the editor on reflecting on Hurricane Ida one year later and I have to say it’s just more of the lip service we are accustomed to seeing from him with his time on council thus far.
As someone who had the floodwaters in his home, I can tell you that it was a horrifying night and one that I’ll never forget. My family is blessed to be alive and mostly repaired since it hit 12 months ago. I know the impacts and I know we need to implement change from the Federal level down to the local level. When he mentions about how the governor, senate president, and congressman will make us a flood resilient community, it really is just lip service without a plan to help our residents in the near future and down the road. To make it worse, the Scotch Plains Council has no meaningful infrastructure improvement planned from the sewer utility nor their current budget to mitigate local flooding impacts.
As a local elected official, he can vote for infrastructure improvements in the more flood-prone parts of town, and to show our state and federal officials that the local governing body is doing their part. When local officials provide inaction, it is less likely the higher levels of government will invest in our community regardless of if they are of the same political party.
When I see other municipalities nearby like Summit and Bridgewater having spent millions already in infrastructure since the time Ida has passed, and here in Scotch Plains we still haven’t developed an ambitious plan to combat the Green Brook’s flood waters, it’s clear our local officials don’t consider it that big of a deal to them. The good news is that this November we can put a team in place, which will invest in our community immediately.
The Unify Scotch Plains 2022 of Keith DeMatteo, Brian Johdos, and Don Stanzione are prepared to make these investments and actually start the process of making us a flood resilient community. I know that talk is cheap and the team in Column A is ready to walk the walk!
