Dear Editor:
When Mayor Soriano ran in 2017, the theme of his campaign was “Cleaning up Parsippany.” This has been a continuing theme of his first term as mayor. Following this summer’s Town Council Ordinance banning single use plastic bags, he can check off another box on this theme thanks to the hard work of elected officials and residents of Parsippany.
But let’s first give credit where credit is due. Councilwoman Janice McCarthy, Environmental Committee Vice Chair and candidate for Council Judy Hernandez, Environmental Action Committee Chair Lisa Plevin, and others acted as the driving forces behind this ordinance. Their hard work was met with overwhelming support from Parsippany residents following more than a year of educating the public around town about the environmental and economic benefits of the ordinance.
We all remember the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra started in the 1980’s and most of use have done a wonderful job of implanting this behavior into our homes. However, the complicated network used to properly transform our plastics into other usable products has started to become more costly and we need to revisit the neglected, yet most important part of the pyramid, Reduce. This plastic bag ban goes straight towards reducing our plastics usages and will save out town money in the disposal of these bags, not to mention the damages incurred from stray bags to our sewage infrastructure. This action will save our town considerable expense for years to come and helps us fulfill our obligation to protect the planet. Who says environmental policies can’t be win:win.
Although this new law may take some time for all of us to get used to, it goes without saying that Democratic leadership in town has proven that they want to work with residents with their future, and our town’s future, in mind. Without the efforts of the Democrats in power, this ordinance would not have even been brought to the table. Too often we have seen our entrenched leaders be content to deflect attention away from impactful issues and neglect our town’s resources by depriving the of necessary maintenance and investment. This is a refreshing change.
Democrats care about the issues at affect us all. They don’t neglect the town’s resources, or the responsibilities of their office and they don’t deflect attention away from difficult issues to protect their bid for re-election. Democrats get things done. If you want to continue to see our town progress further into the 21st century, please vote for the entire Democratic ticket in Parsippany.
John Von Achen
