Not everyone seems to be happy with her....I mean him....
OPEN SPACE ACTIVISTS DROPPED BY MIDDLESEX COUNTY
Date: 990116
From: Star-Ledger, 990115
Preservation committee clouded by politics
By Joe Malinconico, Star-Ledger Staff
Middlesex County officials once bragged about what an asset Emile
DeVito of South Plainfield was to the open space advisory committee.
A conservation biologist whose gung-ho spirit energized his academic
expertise, DeVito campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the public ballot
question that created the county's open space preservation tax in
1995.
After the open space tax was approved, DeVito became chairman of the
advisory panel and focused on the meticulous process devising a fair
system for spending millions of taxpayers' dollars on preservation.
But last week, the freeholders dropped DeVito and several other
environmental activists from the advisory committee, cutting outspoken
members who were becoming increasingly critical of the county's
handling of preservation issues.
Government officials attributed the removals to a restructuring of
the open space committee, which reduced its membership. They said the
moves had nothing to do with activists' independent ways.
"Emile has been a very valuable asset to the committee; there is no
doubt about it," said Freeholder Camille Fernicola, who oversees the
open space panel. "Emile brought tremendous environmental experience.
But we cannot please everybody. If Emile feels he has been pushed out,
I'm sorry to hear that."
"Frankly, they don't want me around, because I do nothing but point
out where they're falling short," DeVito said. "Deals were being made
based on expediency, based on economics and based on what the various
political leaders wanted. I haven't seen any deals made based on
preserving natural resources."
The advisory committee was created in 1995, after voters approved an
open space tax that generates about $4.4 million a year for
preservation and park projects.
Among the other environmentalists dropped from the panel are Walter
Stochel of Edison; Edna Peterson of Woodbridge; Barbara Lumina of
Monroe and Miriam Wolin of East Brunswick.
The downsized panel, appointed by the freeholders last week, is
composed of Fernicola; County Parks Superintendent Ralph Albanir;
County Treasurer James Phillips; Joseph Jennings, a labor leader from
Jamesburg; Angelo Franchette, a parks advocate from South Brunswick;
James Campbell, New Brunswick's recreation director, and Theodore
Kruse, a former school board member from Piscataway.
"It's a lot of political people; how about that?" ousted board member
Wolin commented. "I'm sure that's why they got rid of us. We were a
bunch of very idealistic people. I hope the people who will be on it
will be idealistic, too."
In the past two years, DeVito, Wolin and other ousted advisory panel
members have evolved as critics of some of the freeholders' open space
moves.
They strongly opposed the county's decision to allow senior citizen
housing to be built on 350 acres in Old Bridge, a tract that
originally was supposed as part of a massive 2,600-acre preserve. The
housing, the activists argued, would jeopardize the nearby Duhernal
Watershed.
Also, they criticized the freeholders' support of plans to allow a
school to be built on parkland in Jamesburg and Monroe and plans for a
commercial development on 60 acres of environmentally sensitive
property in Edison.
In general, the activists contend their role as an advisory committee
was undermined once the freeholders assigned the Middlesex County
Improvement Authority to handle open space purchases. They asserted
that the freeholders no longer seek their input.
Fernicola and other officials countered that the open space panel
already had served its primary purpose of putting together a list of
sites to be acquired. The details involved in the purchases should be
left to professional consultants hired by the county, officials
argued.
Fernicola emphasized that DeVito and the other removed panel members
would be welcome to attend open space committee meetings and offer
input. Indeed, DeVito emphasized that he does not intend to stop
monitoring the county's open space decisions.
"If they think that by not having us on the committee that they've
eliminated a thorn in their side, they're wrong," he said. "They're
going to have a bigger thorn in their side."