Vote for Change in Wildwood Crest

To the Editor: 
“All politics is local,” is a phrase most often attributed to Speaker Tip O’Neill, which has been time-tested and proven since he left Congress in 1987. The phrase alludes to the fact that a politician’s first priority must be to keep in touch with those he or she represents in order to maintain their position.
This November, the citizens of Wildwood Crest must decide whether or not their elected officials have maintained their promise to represent them.
Commissioner Don Cabrera, alone, remains in touch with the citizens of Wildwood Crest. Therefore, it is no irony that Cabrera is in his own column on the ballot this November, separate from the other incumbents. As the only commissioner not to serve as mayor, Cabrera deserves a chance to lead, with fresh faces at his side.
Commissioner Joyce Gould should be familiar with the aforementioned phrase, as she entered public service just two years after O’Neill left office. Gould has been a commissioner in Wildwood Crest since 1989 and served as mayor from 1989 to 1993. Mayor Carl Groon has served for 12 years, since 2005, and Cabrera, the youngest commissioner, since 2001. With each commissioner having served over 10 years, the team of Groon and Gould are promoting business as usual in the Crest.
This campaign platform should worry voters and residents. Wildwood Crest, in just the last four years, has seen an increase in wasteful spending, unnecessary policies, and disorganization. The reconstruction of New Jersey Avenue along Sunset Lake has caused the street to become more dangerous, the opposite of what Groon and the Wildwood Crest police had promised. Cars parked along the lake have made driving New Jersey Avenue more difficult. In addition, the fork at Bayview Avenue has become a persistent issue, requiring modification from original plans, at the cost of the taxpayer.
The citizens of Wildwood Crest are fortunate not to have had to bear the cost of the Pacific Avenue median program, despite having to pay for the administering of a special ballot proposition. If Groon, the main proponent of the medians, had listened to the opinions of his fellow commissioners, and the public at large, he would have been aware of the eventual result of the proposition well before he opened the polls.
These are just two short examples of how Borough Hall in Wildwood Crest has become a high castle on Five Mile Island. Groon, in particular, has perched himself so far above his constituents, that he can no longer hear the voice of voters. With Gould and Groon having spent parts of their tenures as mayor, it is time for new voices and new leadership.
I have been a resident of Wildwood Crest for 20 years. For the last three years, I have been a political science student in Washington, spending three semesters as an intern in the U.S. House of Representatives. I have been witness to enough politics to know that truly impactful politics is local. I know that the Crest will never see positive change as long as we have elected leaders who have been on the ballot for longer than the youngest voters in Wildwood Crest, such as myself, have been alive.
Citizens of Wildwood Crest, on Nov. 7, when you enter your voting booth, select Don Cabrera, Dave Thompson, and Darleen Devlin as your commissioners. Vote for change in Wildwood Crest, not just more of the same.