For those of you who don't know, Edison, NJ, named after the esteemed inventor, is the fifth-largest municipality in the state with a population of roughly 100,000. It's a huge, sprawling expanse of a township, composed historically of pieces of older townships. As most things in New Jersey, it used to be miles of rolling hills and farmland and now it's mostly built out. There is no central downtown (an unincorporated section of Edison known as Clara Barton, comes close, but offers little in the way of a vibrant downtown), you can only drive from here to get there.
That said, Edison is a desirable place to live for its schools, proximity to transit and New York City, budding Indian population, and family-oriented communities.
Oh, and there was recently a revolution in local government there.
A Wha??!! Yes, a revolution. It was a big deal. Edison, along with New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, was one of a dying few localities in NJ's Middlesex County that was still run by an entrenched and corrupt Democratic machine. In 2005, Democrat Jun Choi, a former senior official at the state's Department of Education, beat Democrat George Spadoro -- a long-time mayor who was part of his party's political machine -- in the Democratic primary. It was huge. Two years later, Choi (who, at 34, was the youngest mayor ever to be elected in Edison) campaigned successfully to get elected his own slate of change candidates to Township Council.
Challenges abounded in Edison, from a campaign to build a new high school to how to redevelop a massive expanse along U.S. Route 1 that was the site to the local Ford plant. There was, and still is, promise in Edison under Choi's progressive leadership. Choi was among the first New Jersey officials to support President-elect Barack Obama, while most of NJ's old-guard Democrats fawned over Hillary Clinton (Clinton won NJ handily in the presidential primary), and set a bold agenda for the township.
There have been hiccups along the way, though. In summer 2006, an incident between an Indian man and the police set off a high level of racial tension. Choi sided with the police, though called for an investigation of the officer (who was later cleared) and was criticized for it. The PBA president called for Choi's resignation, but that call was largely dismissed by newspapers and residents alike as part of the "old Edison guard." One local paper actually called for the PBA president's resignation because of his actions
And while Choi has taken bold stances, he comes off as arrogant often times, in curt responses to questions over his style of governance, and the choices he makes in the name of progress. A local paper, The Home News Tribune, reports that the township's communications director, hired in 2006 with a handsome $65K yearly salary has enjoyed a 38 percent salary increase and now makes $90K a year -- an exorbitantly high wage for someone in the communications field that only oversees an assistant, and not a whole department.
In a time when the average Edison homeowner pays roughly $6,500 a year in taxes and New Jersey localities are under pressure to build state-mandated affordable housing, and are limited to only 4 percent annual budget increases as the Legislature lamely tries to address the state's misguided property tax system, Choi, a reformer in his own right, needs to make sure this doesn't happen. Further, he needs to steer clear of arrogantly defending it.
Hell, I'm an experienced editor. I will happily take that job for a mere $70K/year. Mayor Choi -- are you listening? While I'm not a resident, I live right near Edison.
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