Will the three 3 incumbent commissioners in Ventnor have challengers?
Un-challenged elections are increasingly common along the Jersey coast where on average, 75% of the tax base are non-voting, 2nd home-owners.
Former Ventnor Mayor Tim Kreisher: No election this May (2023). Maria Mento has to run in November (2023), and then all three will run in May of 2024.
In the meantime…
Business Admin Maria Mento was sworn in as Commissioner of Revenue and Finance during last Thursday’s Ventnor Commission Meeting. Mento fills space left behind by former Ventnor Mayor, Beth Holtzman.
Holtzman says she had to step down due to divorce and the sale of her Ventnor home. Holtzman said she couldn’t afford to live in Ventnor anymore.
Commissioner Lance Landgraf is now the Mayor of Ventnor.
In addition to overseeing all commissioner meetings, Landgraf now has the responsibility of selecting Ventnor School Board members and Ventnor Planning Board members.
NOTE: Lance Landgraf works for the State of NJ as an employee of the CRDA, Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
Ventnor residents will regret this.
It’s time to permit voting rights to 2nd home owners. We deserve a voice in our town. Interesting that there is no problem with us paying taxes on our properties, yet we can’t vote. It’s fundamentally wrong.
No election this May. Maria has to run in November and then all three in May of 2024
Question When is the election for Ventnor City Commissioners ? They previously had them for a 4 year ter, in 2012, 2016, 2020. Wouldn’t the next 4 year term election be in 2024 ?
You are correct so from now on 2nd homeowners do not have to to pay Ventnor city taxes.
If your vote is no good your money is no good either so we “THE CITY OF VENTNOR WILL HAVE TO RUN THE CITY WITHOUT 2ND HOMEOWNERS MONEY!!
HOW DOES THAT SOUND!!
You are correct so from now on 2nd homeowners do not have to to pay Ventnor city taxes.
If your vote is no good your money is no good either so we “THE CITY OF VENTNOR WILL HAVE TO RUN THE CITY WITHOUT 2ND HOMEOWNERS MONEY!!
HOW DOES THAT SOUND!!
THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO CONCERNED
If you went to public school, you would have learned that you are not permitted to vote where you are not a resident. A second home does not give you residency.
Just because you own real estate in another community, does not give you the right to vote there.
For years, I have told my neighbors that one of them should declare residency in Ventnor and the other declare residency wherever their other property is located, probably where their children go to school.
That way, they would have a say in what happens in this or any other community.
The irony of narrow tonight’s like this is that the full time residents will whine endlessly about the elected officials, and accuse them of corruption and yet no one including loudmouths like you, Jules, has the fortitude to challenge them. Easier to sit on the sides and complain, and blame second homeowners for your problems.
Please explain “The irony of narrow tonight’s like this is that the full time residents will whine endlessly about the elected officials, and accuse them of corruption and yet no one including loudmouths like you, Jules, has the fortitude to challenge them. Easier to sit on the sides and complain, and blame second homeowners for your problems.”
I do not when you “arrived” in Ventnor, but I did run for office with Harry Hurley and Charlie Cianci. When did you run for office?
Thank You
Jules Freeman
Now we know what to do!
Dear Jules
State constitutional law is not taught in public school.
There are 11 states that allow 2nd homeowners to vote locally ONLY.
Two of them are Connecticut and Delaware.
If 2nd homeowners of NJ were to be given the right to vote locally it will require an amendment to the Nj State Constitution.
How to recruit new members that may be interested in the challenges of city government. Where will these people come from? VBA, new residents that have recently established residency, long time residents with knowledge and experience of our
Community? Since this is a nonpartisan post, there’s really no outreach to invite people to participate.
Allowing owners of second homes the right to vote in municipalities of their second homes is giving too much political power to the average citizen. Its reinstitutiing an anarchonistic and racist system of inequality that once defined citizenship. This is an an idea that belongs in the dustbin in the dustbin of history where it was tossed.
What exactly does this have to do with race in Downbeach? Congratulations on perhaps the most ignorant comment ever made on here.
You absolutely can’t have non-residents voting in local elections, but that doesn’t mean their voice isn’t heard. Attend meetings. Be up on current issues effecting your neighborhood and county.
Regardless of what the post was trying to convey – “ giving too much political power to the average citizen”, we do have the power and rightly so.
If I may ask second home owners a couple of simple questions:
What exactly are the problems that you face here in Ventnor ?
What do you feel is imperative to your enjoying the benefits of having a vacation home at the beach front community, that isn’t being met?
Can anyone name an issue that negatively affects you here, that should be addressed?
If there are issues, then I ask you how many times have you attended a commission meeting, or contacted one of the commissioners and asked for a meeting with them, to address them?
Nobody is 100% happy with decisions made by the board of commissioners. We all have to live with their decisions.
Among the issues is the general disrespect at the hands of full-timers treating second homeowners like daytrippers, or blaming anything that goes wrong in town on them and their families. Yet these locals have no issues taking the 75-80% of the tax monies they contribute that sustains these towns.
The locals are the only ones who can vote, yet vote at very low rates. And then the complaints and typical allegations against elected officials that makes up so must of the comments on here.
Yes, second homeowners can and should engage more where they can with zooms and other meetings/content. And local government should make it easier to do so.
I don’t know you and you don’t know me. However, the disrespect goes both ways. One example is parking. When people park their car, so instead of moving up, or back to allow a second car to also park, the cars are parked in the middle and therefore, taking both spaces. Yes this also happens in the off season, however it is far more prevalent with out of state license plates and at least in the off season, there are other spots, where you only have to walk a few extra feet to your home and not a couple blocks . On weekends in the summer, I personally won’t drive anywhere, for that reason. Another example is where there is an empty driveway and the visitors and their several cars take every available space in the vicinity of their house. Driving on Monmouth, or Winchester is dangerous during the summer months. Inevitably someone is going to blow through a stop sign . You have drivers, who are looking for an address and creep along , instead of pulling over and letting cars behind them pass . May I suggest that you stop and ask someone where that address may be? A one way sign means that you have to drive in the direction that the arrow is pointing and not to just go flying in the opposite direction. When you are walking to the beach and have to cross a street, pushing your baby carriage out, or just walking out in front of a moving car , perhaps it is advisable to make sure that vehicle has enough distance to stop without them getting rear-ended, or flattening you. Ventnor, Margate and A.C. have reduced the speed limits on Atlantic Avenue from 35 to 25, to accommodate your crossings. Being that you , as you say, “contribute 75-80% of the tax monies they contribute that sustains these towns.”, you Do NOT own the town and we are not supposed to just let you take over when you arrive.