Group scrambles to get Ice Palace buy on ballot
Mayor accuses petitioners of putting out misinformation
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
The group petitioning to get the Ocean Ice Palace purchase on a November referendum is nearing the number of signatures needed to put the question on the ballot.

Stop OverSpending (SOS) needs roughly 2,750 valid registered voter signatures to get the question on the ballot.

"We are getting really close to that," said petitioner Joseph Lamb. "This is not going to be a problem. We're going to have to build in a really good buffer, hitting around 4,000 signatures. I think that's doable. We are very close to having that 2,700."

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis, the driving force behind the purchase of the 13.34-acre Ice Palace property, accused the petitioners Monday of misleading residents by putting out "misinformation."

"I have had many residents call me to tell me that they were confronted after shopping by people trying to get them to sign their petition," Acropolis said Monday.

Lamb said there is no need to confront residents leaving shopping centers about the referendum. They come to the petitioners, he said.

"Basically, it's like shooting fish in a barrel," he said. "I couldn't keep up early on with the people. People would be stopping by the table on their own."

SOS was formed earlier this month, shortly after Township Council members introduced a $9.9 million ordinance to prepare for the purchase of the 45-year-old ice rink and 13.34 acres of property.

The ordinance included the original $5.25 million purchase price for the site, which includes the rink, a separate building that was used for visiting hockey teams and a 25- yard outdoor pool.

The remaining $4.7 million in the new bond ordinance includes funds for a new parking lot, roof repairs to the ice rink building, streetscaping and landscaping. It will cost roughly $1.2 million to $2 million to renovate the inside of the ice rink building and roof. The rest will be spent on improvements to the parking lot and a senior center, the mayor said earlier this month.

Acropolis stressed Monday that the purchase price of the Ice Palace property has not changed since last year.

"The fact of the matter is that we are buying 13 acres on Chambers Bridge Road that has an operating ice rink," Acropolis said. "That is it. Any future development of the site will be done with public input."

The SOS petitioners have to turn the signatures over to Township Clerk Virginia Lampman- who will examine them to see if they are valid - by May 23.

The SOS committee members include Sal Petoia, an independent, former Township Clerk, former Democratic municipal Chairman George Cevasco, Lamb, Michael Mastroserio and Jeanine Schwartz.

Petoia said the group hopes to get an excess of signatures.

"We need to have many more signatures than required because we anticipate that the council will do all that they can to disqualify the petition and prevent the question from being placed on the ballot," he said.

Acropolis last week called the SOS group a "schill" committee of disgruntled Democrats.

The people who are signing the petition are a mix of Republican, Democrat and Independent voters, Petoia said.

"What is partisan about people having a say about what is done in their community?" Petoia said. "What is partisan about democracy at work?"

Acropolis and Township Council President Ruthanne Scaturro blasted Lamb when he came to the microphone at the April 29 Township Council meeting to ask questions about the Ice Palace purchase.

Lamb said he is still looking for three years of audited financial statements for the Ocean Ice Palace.

"When you deal with a business, a purchase of that size, that's pretty typical," said Lamb, who is a certified public accountant. "People want to see how it operates over several years. They can get a general idea of everything that's involved to operate it."

Group members plan to man tables at most of the major shopping centers in town until May 23, to get as many signatures as possible, he said.

"People are welcome to sign, or not sign," Petoia. "All we want is for the people to decide this."

For more information, go to www.stopoverspending.com.