Your Turn
Stop OverSpending head blames officials for Ice Palace loss
SAL PETOIA Guest Column
Brick Councilwoman Kathy Russell is under attack by her Republican council counterparts for divulging the grandiose Ice Palace hockey arena plan envisioned by Republican Mayor Steve Acropolis. Instead, she should be praised for letting the public know what was really intended for the site.

The proposed purchase of the Ice Palace, its renovations and the additions of a second ice rink, field house, swimming pools, community center, four-story parking garage and parking for over 600 cars and 15 buses, plus the existing Bally's Fitness Center was what got the attention of people anxiously seeking to sign petitions circulated by the Stop OverSpending (SOS) campaign to hold a referendum on the matter.

Mayor Acropolis contends the intense concept plan shown to the public was only one of several concepts being reviewed, but his spokesman, Scott Pezzaras, admitted that scaled-down plans were prepared only after the petition drive began. There should be little doubt that had the SOS campaign not intervened, the purchase and redevelopment of the Ice Palace into Acropolis' originally planned regional ice hockey sports arena would already be a done deal.

Did anyone consider over 600 cars and 15 buses exiting westbound onto Chambers Bridge Road after a major event? What about vehicles wanting to go east? Would many have used the Birchwood Park residential neighborhood to do a U-turn?

The current "spin" by Republicans is that the SOS group has done the township a great disservice by interfering with the Ice Palace redevelopment, and seniors and children will now suffer from not having the facilities that were planned. That assertion is absurd! The SOS group never took a position for or against the redevelopment. Its sole purpose was to let the people decide by referendum whether the project should go through, something Acropolis and his council were urged to do a year ago by then-Mayor Dan Kelly and Councilwoman Russell. But they refused.

Now they are embarrassed and angry and want to play the "blame game" by faulting the SOS group, local Democrats and all the good citizens, including Republicans, Democrats and independents alike, who signed the petitions in good faith and desired that the issue be voted upon.

If the mayor and council want to find fault, they should look in the mirror. Their arrogance killed the Ice Palace. They failed to tell the people the true intent of the project, they failed to reveal the true cost, and they failed to recognize that in these harsher economic times the people have had enough of politicians ramming their pet projects down the throats of the taxpayers! It's no secret that Acropolis has a passion for ice hockey and that he and his family are deeply wrapped up in the sport.

Worse, the council continued to show its contempt for the public by repealing the ordinance to purchase the Ice Palace, thus denying the people the opportunity to decide if they want a sports arena and community center. What were they afraid of? That the people would vote it down? So much for confidence in their own plan and in the voters.

Acropolis and his Republican counterparts bungled this effort. They could have done the right thing from the start, but instead they now need to point fingers and pick on Kathy Russell, charging her with an ethics violation, to deflect attention away from their own misjudgments. How pathetically hypocritical and contemptible!

Where is the outcry for the insults and abuse this decent woman and good public servant has sustained at council meetings by Republicans Tony Matthews, Ruthanne Scaturro and Mayor Acropolis? Attacks on her are partisan politics at its worst.

We didn't have this kind of dissension when we had nonpartisan government. Quite frankly, it would be a privilege to lead another petition drive that would give us the opportunity to return to that saner form of government. Also, a petition calling for a recall election doesn't sound so bad either.

Disappointed supporters of the Ice Palace purchase are suggesting the loss of this "one-time opportunity" is because of local disgruntled Democrats and that they were behind the petition drive.

It was never a secret that the Democratic organization supported the SOS campaign, and that support was welcomed. What other organizations in town had the resources to assist in gathering nearly 6,000 signatures in the short time allowed by law? Certainly the Republicans weren't going to support the cause. What SOS critics should be forced to explain is why they believe letting voters decide the Ice Palace purchase is a partisan issue.

Finally, some advice to the mayor and council: Forget about coming up with any alternate scheme bypassing the voters to purchase the Ice Palace. Nearly 6,000 people are already on alert and watching. If you really want to serve the public (as you were elected to do), hold a referendum that simply asks if the townspeople really want a community and recreational center that includes an ice rink and swimming pools. If the people approve it, consider the existing Foodtown site for such a project, since the township already owns that property. In addition, its proximity to Forge Pond makes that location a natural for additional recreational activities such as canoeing, paddle boating, fishing and picnics.

And any argument that says using the Foodtown site would be losing a potentially good ratable isn't going to wash. When the Ice Palace is finally sold to a commercial developer (as has been hinted to by the Dwulet family), the ratable gained from that redevelopment would likely more than make up for the Foodtown loss, which by the way hasn't been on the tax roll for three years anyway.

Sal Petoia

Stop OverSpending Campaign

Brick

Editor's note: The ordinance was rescinded because the owner of the Ocean Ice Palace no longer wanted to sell to the township