Cleared Council President, Near Tears, Says Friend Valori 'Stabbed Him in the Back'

Brian Stanton spoke publicly about Louis Valori's now-dismissed job offer allegations at Tuesday's Town Council meeting.

Poll: Do You Feel Town Council Represents You?

Patch wants to know your thoughts.

Republican Town Council candidate Michael Strumolo says Parsippany's current five-member council only goes so far in providing representation for residents and in holding public servants accountable—and its structure should be changed. Township government since 1960 has been of the Faulkner Act model: Parsippany is led by a strong, full-time mayor with full executive authority checked by a part-time lawmaking council  of five members. The Faulkner Act also allows councils with seven or nine members. Rockaway Township is one municipality that uses a nine-member council, and Strumolo said Parsippany should follow suit. He suggested cutting the current council member salary figure, now about $14,000 per year, and increasing the number to nine…

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Strumolo Rolls Up Sleeves for Last-Minute Council Campaign

Parsippany 'regular guy' wants to represent the people and offers a revenue-generating idea for the Knoll Golf Club.

Michael Strumolo was almost as surprised by his last-minute decision to run for Town Council in the June 4 Republican Party primary election as many others were. "It was a late decision, I'll be truthful," he told Patch. "I didn't have any plans for it, but I thought about the town and thought I could do some good. "I've had concerns about the direction of the community, and I'm concerned about the direction of the Republican Party, with all the in-house fighting," he said."I got the signatures we needed the weekend before [the April 1 filing deadline]. My son Matt and I went out and got 104, 105 signatures for the petition."  Strumolo said his campaign for council will be unlike any others—and will remain focused on tangible issues. "I'm …

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VietNam Vet

3:05 am on Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Hey eye, why don't you show me some inocent people first.   more ›

State Senator Visits Council to Bestow Honors

Sen. Joseph Pennacchio said he was appearing on behalf of himself and his District 26 partners.

Last Tuesday's Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council meeting at Parsippany High School brought back memories of an amazing summer for the township and praised a veteran public servant. District 26 State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio made a special presentation in honor of the 2012 Par-Troy Little League East All-Stars, who went on to become the Mid-Atlantic Little League champions and to appear at last year's Little League World Series. Pennacchio, speaking on behalf of himself and his district colleagues Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce and Assemblyman Jay Webber, said he wanted to "share a happy moment with everyone in this room. "Nothing has ever given me more happiness, more joy, than playing Little League baseball," the senator said. …

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Craftsman Farms Asks Town for $555K in Open Space Funds for Expansion

Parsippany's only historic landmark site has its eye on the future—and transformation.

The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, Parsippany's only national historic landmark site, wants to expand—and the town-owned nonprofit is asking the Town Council to allow a little over half a million dollars in Open Space Trust Fund money to be spent for this purpose. Representatives of the historic site made their annual presentation before the council at its regular meeting Tuesday night at Parsippany High School. Trustee Davey Willans was the first to speak, and he showed the audience photographs depicting how the museum has evolved over time from unused buildings in disrepair to the authentically designed and appointed buildings whose exhibits and public programs entertain and educate thousands of visitors from across the nation each …

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No Tax Increase in Proposed 2013-14 Municipal Budget, Says Mayor

James Barberio said the town faced challenges in appropriations, but made improvements in revenue.

Tuesday's Township Council meeting at Parsippany Hills High School gave some township residents a first peek at the proposed municipal budget for 2013. Mayor James Barberio gave a presentation of highlights from his preliminary spending plan, and he began his summation with news most every taxpayer wants to hear: He is recommending no tax increase. "While there were many challenges, particularly on the appropriations side, there were also many improvements on the revenue side," the mayor said. "I believe that this budget will allow us to maintain our commitment to Parsippany residents and businesses with the same level of services." The mayor spotlighted key aspects of the budget proposal: Barberio said a smaller amount was budgeted for …

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Resident Cites Concerns Over ShopRite Liquor Sales

Dr. Peter King asked the council to weigh in on his worry that a food store selling alcohol is becoming a liquor store selling food.

In June 2012, the Parsippany Town Council approved the Route 46 ShopRite's request to transfer its liquor license to the supermarket so that it could sell alcohol products from the market itself, rather than from a separate storefront. Less than a year later, a citizen brought concerns over the operation to the council at its Tuesday agenda meeting at Town Hall. Dr. Peter King, who said he had opposed the liquor license transfer, told Patch that ShopRite misrepresented itself when it made its request last year. "Instead of being a store that sells food and offers a limited amount of alcohol for sale, it's become a liquor store that sells a limited amount of food," he complained. At the council's June 26 meeting, Shop Rite spokesperson Ned …

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Residents Slam Waterview Proposal at Council Meeting

Development foes made their views heard, but did not appear in numbers enough to shut meeting down.

The sight of police cars outside of Town Hall as people gathered for Tuesday's Parsippany Township Council agenda meeting gave many cause for concern. A host of members of Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare (formerly Don't Rezone Waterview) filed into the municipal building with the expectation that the controversial proposal regarding putting a mixed-use retail and residential complex on 26.6 currently undeveloped acres of Waterview Plaza might be discussed.  And some hoped, as had happened during a January Planning Board hearing on the matter, that enough people opposed to the project might attend that the building's fire capacity limit—188 people—might be surpassed, forcing a shutdown of the meeting. That did not happen. Only about…

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New Name and Resolve for Don't Rezone Waterview

The group, now a nonprofit called Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare, is targeting Council to stop development proposal.

There's a new name and an expanded fight for the citizen's group opposed to the proposed plan to put a mixed-use development on Waterview Plaza including a Whole Foods Market, a big box retailer and a townhome community. Don't Rezone Waterview is now known as Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare. President David Kaplan said the onetime grassroots effort involving citizens of Parsippany and Mountain Lakes is gearing up for a renewed fight now that the Planning Board passed the issue along to the Township Council for consideration. "We went from Don't Rezone Watervew, which was a grassroots, loosely organized effort to a more formal organization," he said, adding that the group is amassing firepower to allow them to stand toe to toe with …

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Waivers, Guest Limits Part of New Housing Occupancy Law

Divided Council approves law that seeks to make town housing law stronger and more humane.

A new maximum occupancy ordinance proposal won three yes votes and ultimate passage at the Feb. 12 Township Council meeting. The news ends a process that began last year after tenants in Parsippany garden apartments found themselves served with eviction notices—and some say, callous and cruel treatment from housing staff—for the crime, the residents said, of having babies, which put them in violation of the maximum occupancy ordinance. Mayor James Barberio's administration put forth a proposed amendment to the housing law that would allow waivers to protect such families. The Town Council refused to consider the measure last August. "This is something that maybe we should not do," Councilman Michael dePierro said at the time the …

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