An open letter to council President Acropolis

After reading the Aug. 2 Brick Township Bulletin article headed "Council approves Ocean Ice Palace purchase," I am distressed by your carte blanche attitude toward spending the hard-earned money of the taxpayers of Brick Township.

In that article you are quoted as saying: "What happens is that people vote for us to make decisions." You also are quoted as saying: "People will either vote for you (Daniel Kelly) or they will vote for me. I guess that's going to be the referendum." The election is IN NOVEMBER! The headline says "Council approves ..." To me that means the decision has been made to go ahead with the purchase NOW. Is that correct?

I am a Brick Township resident and an independent voter. My opinion is that any such purchase should be referred to a referendum. Also, before purchasing the ice rink structural inspections, estimates of repair costs and renovations should be obtained, all in writing of course. And this information should be made public to the residents of Brick Township.

To go even further, it is my opinion that ALL similar purchases should be by referendum to the taxpayers of Brick; such as, the marina on Mantoloking Road and its use and/or development, the Foodtown site and the massive increase that was made to the mayor's salary.

It is all hindsight (except for the ice rink). Some of these matters were pushed by Democrats and some by Republicans. If you truly care about the township of Brick, you should put the vote on the purchase of the ice rink property into the hands of the residents of Brick. Then there could be no blame placed on Democrats or Republicans or the mayor or the Town Council.

Finally, partisan politics does not put the best interests of the Township of Brick at the forefront. I would like to see no partisanship politics in town elections.

Put the ice rink purchase to a referendum. Who knows, the referendum may pass! And look how good that will look instead of ANOTHER purchase being shoved down the throat of the Brick taxpayers!

Carole Beal

Brick